ChrisTalbot.com

Jacquie and I went to see Return of the King yesterday afternoon with some friends. I'm glad the series is finally over. As usual, I think this Lord of the Rings movie was just too bloody long and could've easily been shortened by a half hour or more. Some of the battle scenes were a little too drawn out. They could've been cut shorter and not had any significant impact on the story.

Overall, though, I think this last LOTR film from Peter Jackson moved along at a quicker pace than the first two. By this point, the actors seemed to have their characters down a little more, and even the director seemed to learn from the post-production of the other two. While the movie still wasn't great, I think it was better than the first two movies.

Well, I survived this morning. After opening presents here, we went over to my parents' house for more gift opening and brekky. Jacquie and I hung out there for a few hours, played a game of Sequence with my mother and Sean (while my father was napping on the couch) and then dragged our haul home.

I got a whole bunch of DVDs, a Game Boy Advance (finally I can play Pokemon again!), some clothes and such. Jacquie and I got a dartboard (a real one with a cabinet and everything) from my parents. That can replace the electronic one we bought a couple of months ago. It's very nice, too.

Now that we're home, Jacquie's upstairs having a nap (I think -- she hadn't quite decided what to do but seemed like she was going to be napping soon) and I decided to quickly pop online to see what's up...and to make this quick post. I think I'll be off to watch my Red Vs. Blue DVD after I'm done here. I've been looking forward to watching that. I wouldn't dare watch anything else (with the exception of the third season of The Simpsons on DVD) without Jacquie.

So far, a good Christmas. I haven't really barked at anybody yet. :)

Jacquie and I went out to grab a few last-minute gifts today. We'll be leaving shortly to go over to her parents' place for a gift exchange with Jacquie's family (that is, her parents, her brother, her cousins, aunts and uncles -- whoever happens to be over; but I hear it's a smaller occasion this year). We won't be staying too long, because then we're heading to my parents' place for dinner. It's Sean's birthday, and I try to never miss his birthday. To me, that's more important than Christmas. My brother and I have been fairly close most of our lives. Hell, we even have a lot of the same friends.

Tomorrow will be utter hell. Breakfast at my parents' house and then dinner at Jacquie's parents' house. We'll be running all over throughout the day. Add in Christmas music, people wishing a merry Christmas to everyone and anyone, insanely happy, annoying people and all the other shit I can barely tolerate on December 25th...and I'll be in a foul mood by the time I go to sleep tomorrow night. ... Fuck, I hate Christmas. If I post to the site tomorrow, it will be nothing but hostility, so I might just wait until Boxing Day. That way I'll at least be cooled off.

Bah humbug.

Here's something I really don't understand: My favourite computer gaming magazine, Computer Games, has possibly the worst distribution of any PC or video game magazine on the market...at least in Canada. It's fairly difficult to find. Most book stores don't carry it. Most magazine stores don't carry it. I have a hard time finding it every month, and I often miss issues because of this. However, for some reason, Loblaws grocery stores seem to carry it. I've checked several Loblaws locations and they always seem to have it. ... What gives? A grocery store has a particular magazine, but book and magazine specialty shops don't. Such silliness.

Two days before Christmas and we still have several presents to buy. Bah. And I've got a full day of work ahead of me, so I can't skip off and go shopping during the day. Well, I'd better get to that full day of work. :(

I didn't realize Ralph Bakshi was still kicking around in the film business. I stumbled onto The Official Ralph Bakshi Home Page while surfing during my lunch hour. This guy is truly unique. If you've never seen any of his animation work, especially Fritz The Cat, get thee to a video store promptly. While I haven't seen everything Bakshi has worked on, I've seen enough to really love his style. As soon as you start watching, you just know you've found something unique.

Well, Jacquie and I were just too busy to go see Return of the King over the weekend. Seeing as Jacquie's father wants to go see the movie, we're postponing our viewing to sometime between Christmas and New Year's. Hopefully the crowds will have died down by then. Of course, maybe they've already died down...although I seriously doubt it.

No Civ turn today. Rob's on vacation, and I don't think he has easy access to his email and computer right now. Looks like the game is on hold until the new year. Or so I assume...but in journalism school, they did teach us never to assume. ;)

I've started searching for my VGA Planets disks. No luck yet. I think I made a backup on a CD-R anyway, seeing as floppy disks tend to degrade far too quickly for my taste. I'll have to check my CD-Rs when I have a few minutes and see if I can find VGAP. Since that post yesterday about it, I'm just dying to play a game...even it means I'm playing solo against dumbass AI players.

Just checked the Civ III Website, and I'm positive Lawrence is playing the Babylonians. The Babylonians are a scientific/religious civilization, so I can expect Lawrence to put forth his best effort through temples in cities and heavy emphasis on building up through the technology tree. Of course, I know he's a better player than I am, so my only chance is to push my military technology and might so far that I can pound down the walls of his cities and crush him like the bug he is. ... Pshaw! Like that's going to happen. Lawrence plays Civ III a lot more than I do.

As for Rob, he's playing the Germans, which is a scientific/militaristic civilization. He's proven the militaristic aspect already. He informed us a turn or two ago that he had attacked the Japanese. The crazy fool! Or maybe not. If he's already strong enough to go to war, then I can only hope he's far away from me. I couldn't make war with a butterfly right now. Unfortunately, Rob also plays the game a lot more than I do, but I do believe he plays it even more than Lawrence. That could mean that he will win the game. At the moment, if I were to place bets, I'd say...Rob. Yes, Rob is going to win. ;)

In terms of strategy games, one game I really do miss playing a lot on the computer is VGA Planets. I first played the game (Version 3, that is) years ago when I was still in high school. A bunch of us used to play it. For a long time (and maybe still), it was the most popular game played via email and bulletin board systems. I used to run games way back when, but I haven't played it in three or four years now. I should still have my floppy disks with my registered copy of VGA Planets 3 around the house somewhere. I'll have to dig them out and install the game. I could really go for some space exploration, colonization and conquest.

I've also been waiting for several years for Tim Wisseman, the creator of VGA Planets, to finish Version 4 of the game. I just checked the Website, and Tim's still in open beta of VGAP 4. I can't really blame the guy, though. He does this as a hobby and side business. He has a full-time job (as what, I do not know). Also, everything I've read about VGAP 4 says it's far too complicated for me. Tim once admitted on his Website that he was really into micro-management and that VGAP 4 would reflect that. I'm more into top-level strategy and tactics than managing the minute details of a vast empire. It just takes too damn bloody long. I mean, even Civ III is far too detailed for me at times (again, probably why I always lose).

Jacquie and I have barely been home today. In the late morning, we got to her parents place so I could help them hook up a router so they could share Internet access amongst their two computers. No problemo. Jacquie helped wrap presents there while I did the networking magic.

We've been at my parents' place since early afternoon. Jacquie is finishing up some Christmas crafts that are going to be presents for family and such. Cool. I'm not a crafty person (in that sense of the phrase, anyway), so I brought a couple of magazines along to keep me busy when I wasn't chatting with my father. I read through Outdoor Canada and then focused on Computer Gaming World (which used to be my favourite electronic gaming magazine but has since been replaced by Computer Games). Well, I finally finished both magazines...so now as Jacquie and my mother continue to do crafts and my father has nestled down in front of the boob tube, I turned myself toward the upstairs computer room.

One thing I noticed about CGW since I last read it is the Tom Vs. Bruce column. This is a pretty cool column idea. Basically, it pits two gaming columnists against each other in some head-to-head game and has them record their thoughts on their strategy, their opponent's strategy and the game in general as they play. This month (or last month -- I might be behind on my reading), the two went head-to-head in Age of Mythology, which is a pretty cool game. I do enjoy RTS games, but I've typically put a lot more time into Age of Empires (yes, the original) than any other one. I do have to admit that I'm looking forward to the upcoming releasing of Axis & Allies RTS, though.

Anyway, I reviewed Age of Myth when it first came out for Toronto Computes. Tom and Bruce were using the AoM: The Titans expansion, which I'm not yet familiar with. I haven't played AoM enough to really love it so much that I'd go buy the expansion. However, this column put some ideas into my head. I think I'll start giving updates on the head-to-head-to-head Civilization III: Play The World game that I'm involved in with friends Lawrence and Rob. However, I'm not at home, so I don't have access to the turns. One thing is for sure, though: We've got 30+ turns under our belts and I (as the Scandanavians) are winning. Unfortunately, my lead is diminishing as the computer players start to build out their budding empires.

I think as of the last turn, I had 82 points, and the closest computer player had about 73 or 74 points. Rob and Lawrence are somewhat further back in the ranks. I don't expect my lead on them to last, though. The Scandanavians have an advantage from the get-go with their scout military unit (thus upping their point value from the start), but that's part of being a military/expansionist civilization. Unfortunately, what is likely to happen is that I'll lose my lead because I, quite frankly, really suck at being militaristic and expansionist. I was hoping to change that this game and truly learn to engage successfuly in Civilization war. We'll see what happens. I have Egypt and England as immediate neighbours and Lawrence's...uh...civ (can't remember what he's playing off-hand) just beyond Egypt, putting the two of us fairly close. Perhaps we will ally to wipe out the Egyptians and then put up a united front against the English...but I'm thinking Lawrence will stab me in the proverbial back somewhere around this time and wipe out my empire. Oh well, at least I won't be the first to go down. I'm pretty sure it will be the Egyptians.

This just pisses me off. I've been waiting for a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D to come out since I first played the game back in 1996. Now the fuckers responsible for getting the game out are saying Duke Nukem Forever, which was originally supposed to be out in 2001, are saying the release will be Q4 2004 at the earliest. Knowing 3D Realms, we're looking at 2005...maybe!!

I'm starting to get the itch to do some work in radio again. I mean, y'know, radio spots. I'm certainly not the DJ/host type. Back at CCP, I did several radio interviews as a technology expert or gaming expert (even did TV once). For about three months, I worked on weekly radio spots for a show CCP and Ottawa radio station CFRA did. The show was The Computer Paper Radio Show. It ended in around May or June when CCP bowed out.

I checked the CFRA Website today. The hosts are still doing a weekly tech show. Very cool. If I was in Ottawa, I'd listen (being in Toronto makes it difficult -- I've never been happy with the quality of Net radio). Now it's called The Computer Radio Show.

Dear Santa,

I know I haven't written in several years, but I figured it was about time I pounded out a letter to you. My apologies for being so distant over the last fifteen years or so. I was upset and angry with you.

Santa, I just don't think you realized how much you hurt me. After our beagle Judy died, I don't think you understood just how much I really wanted another canine companion. But no, every year I put "dog" or "puppy" on my wish list, and every year you ignored me. I could almost hear you laughing at the hapless lad who insisted he would feed it and love it and play with it if only you would bring him a puppy for Christmas.

Alas, every year I went to the tree to open my presents and not a single one barked, not a single one scratched from the inside, not a single one even yipped in delight at being freed from its awful prison of cardboard and wrapping paper. I suppose I should be thankful that no puppy had to endure an evening in a dark cardboard box, thus requiring years of therapy at one of those animal psychiatrists I read about on the Internet. Still, man, I really wanted a frickin' puppy.

That's all behind me now, Santa. I understand that you thought I wouldn't care for him. I understand that you thought I was a careless child who would send some poor dog off to the Humane Society after I grew bored with him around New Year's Day. But honestly, couldn't you have at least glanced at my report cards and realized that I did my homework, that I had good grades, that I wasn't some dumb kid like the rest of my classmates? Okay, not fair -- my friend Rawl was and still is pretty smart. I think I'm smarter, but he might have words with me over that. Maybe I should challenge him to a game of Trivial Pursuit and we'll just see who's the smarter of the two of us.

Anyway, after years of waiting for a puppy, I grew up and finally gave up. Then, my parents suddenly decided five years ago this past summer to bring home a beagle pup. T the Terrible is a good friend -- a much better friend than you, ya pedophilic old coot.

That's right. I know what you do with those children on Christmas Eve. You're a sick bastard, you know that? I'm calling the fucking cops on you and they'll be banging down your door by the 23rd of December. Just in case, I'm CCing this little note to the Don Jail in Toronto just to make sure you get it. And you know what they do to sick fucks like you, right? Yeah, enjoy your stay…until you get gutted with a shiv. I'll be looking for your picture in the paper around February, asshole.

And all of this could've been avoided, Santa Claus, if you'd just brought me a puppy when I was a child as I'd asked. I hope your court case is long and painful and that the guy who slices open your rectum in prison keeps you alive just long to feel the pain.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go start a letter to the Easter Bunny about some stale chocolate eggs.

Sincerely,

Christopher Talbot
(who is most definitely going to Hell for this, if there is such a place -- good thing I'm an atheist, eh?)

A nice, rather long list of Canadian blog sites: http://portal.eatonweb.com/country/Canada

I hesitated before adding my site to the list because they are rated...and I'm pretty sure I'd get a bad rating (I suck, after all). However, I noticed how long the list was and figured nobody would ever find this blog on the list anyway.

Jacquie suggested to me this afternoon that I should add a way for readers (all two of you) to add comments to my posts. Hmm...not really sure how to do that. I'll have to look into it. However, if either of you readers care to share how I could accomplish that with little work, let me know. Thanks. ;)

While waiting for an interview to come in, I scanned through this essay from 2000 on the history of Weblogs (which amounted to only a couple of years at that point, really). Check out Rebecca Blood's Weblogs: A History and Perspective.

It's an interesting look at what Weblogs are and how they've evolved. It also contrasts Weblogs with mainstream media, but the author obviously didn't think to compare blogging to gonzo journalism like that of Hunter S. Thompson, which I think would be a fair assessment. Blogging basically strips out all of the traditional media guidelines (face it -- few went to journalism school; I'm an exception) and basically tells the story from a participant's view, which is basically what Thompson and others who fall under gonzo journalism did (and still do, in Thompson's case).

However, that gonzo journalism ideal is something that has also contributed to much of the crap we see on the Web -- unedited, completely biased and poorly written. Take, for instance, Ain't It Cool News. Harry Knowles is basically a film geek who got in on the ground floor of online news and reviews. However, Knowles could seriously use a spellchecker and grammar checker. I like the little news tidbits that get up on that site, but the fanboyism that also exists there and the big "fuck you" that Knowles and his comrades seem to give to the English language makes it difficult to read.

Hmm...I've gotta come back to this topic when I have more time.

Apparently Scott Kurtz, who does the PvP comic strip, liked it: http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20031217

So Return of the King day has come and gone, and here I am still not having seen Peter Jackson's last (thankfully!) Lord of the Rings film. Am I the only person in the world who thinks these movies aren't all they're cracked up to be? Am I the only person in the world who thinks Ralph Bakshi's animated version of Fellowship of the Ring was better than Jackson's live-action pictures? The answer is: Almost definitely. :(

I saw both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers on their respective opening nights, and I couldn't be more disappointed in a movie or in a director. Y'see, I'm a little familiar with Jackson's earlier works...back when he was just an independent film director in New Zealand making bizarre shlock horror films. Take Bad Taste or Dead Alive for instance. Both are classic Jackson -- horrific violence, characters with serious problems, creative scripts, hilarious situations...oh yeah, and did I mention the most gruesome violence ever put on the silver screen?

What happened to the edgy Peter Jackson, the director I admired for his sense of humour and his talent in crafting a film that nobody else would dare do. Well, I guess that edginess up and pissed off when Jackson was offered the chance to direct Lord of the Rings. I definitely hold no ill will against him for deciding to do so, but I do wish he had stuck to what made him a fine director in the first place. The first two LOTR movies (can't comment on the third yet) lacked edge so badly that they were more like spoons. In fact, I fell asleep for a few minutes during FOTR. People, I never fall asleep in the movie theatre, but it was so dreadfully boring and uninspired that my brain conked out for a few minutes.

The Two Towers was a touch better, in that at least there was more action. I'm hoping ROTK will save Jackson's trilogy and make the pain and suffering of watching the first two movies worth it. However, I'm skeptical.

On the plus side, watching any of these movies is certainly better than the utter crap that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. The LOTR novels must be the most overrated pieces of fiction currently on the market. They're long, repetitive and frightfully boring. My brother became obsessed with the novels (starting with The Hobbit and going through the whole LOTR series) when he was a teenager, and after many failed attempts, he finally succeeded in putting the books in my hand.

First, I started with The Hobbit. This is a book where you can definitely tell it was made for children. Small children, that is. Those that can't even read yet. It's a tale that you know was meant to be told to kids by parents as they were falling asleep. I read the novel when I was around 20 years old. It wasn't written well, the poetry was lame and the story was okay. I put it aside, happy I had finally braved it but disappointed in it as a whole. Some time later, I tried to read FOTR. The truth is I only made it through the first half of the book before quitting in frustration. It was by far the worst thing I had ever read. I returned FOTR to my brother mostly unread.

I've since stated my opinion on many occasions about the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, and I'm usually tongue-lashed by the various Tolkienites out there that take my dislike for their precious books as a personal attack on them. It's like dealing with Gollum over and over again, I swear.

Chris: LOTR has to be one of the most overrated books of the 20th Century. It's repetitive, poorly written and shows little writing talent.

Tolkienite: What!! Fuck you, man! Tolkien was brilliant! How dares you insults the books...my preciouses. Masters is bad man! Hees lies to us. Hees makes funs of the preciouses. Masterses musts die!

Chris: Uh...yeah, dude. Chill out. It's just a book.

At this point, the only safest route is to back away slowly in the hopes that Gollum will not eat my eyes out or anything.

Jacquie and I are probably going to see the final LOTR flick this weekend. I'll try to avoid provoking the Tolkienites...hmm...or maybe not. A theatre full of Gollums might be amusing. :-/

Woo-hoo! My Red Vs. Blue DVD arrived today. The entire first season of Halo comic goodness on DVD. Yay! ... Unfortunately, Jacquie is home sick today, so she swiped it and said I couldn't have it until Christmas. Damn! So now it's sitting upstairs as a present waiting to be wrapped.

That annual holiday panic is starting to kick in. I woke up yesterday with a numbing fear taking over my body. Don't worry, it happens every year about this time. Between the end-of-year deadlines (usually I have to do more work in a smaller period of time) and the holiday shopping that I've barely had time to think about, let alone start, my mind starts to panic. It's not a pleasant feeling, so I'm sure you can easily understand why I dread the holidays.

Things were a little better today when I awoke, but that panic is still in the back of mind. If there was any way to skip the Christmas holidays and go right to January, you can bet I'd do it. I haven't enjoyed Christmas since I was a little kid, and over the past several years, I've tried to ignore the holidays more and more. Of course, that only makes it worse, as I constantly get rude awakenings wherever I go. The malls are filled with festive music and decorations galore. Some Toronto radio stations have switched to Christmas music 24/7. And of course, friends and relatives have decorated their homes, play Christmas tunes on their stereos and wish me and everyone around them a merry Christmas. Here at Chez Talbot, Jacquie has thrown up a bajillion decorations and plays Christmas music pretty much every day or every other day now. Me, I hide in the basement in the hopes that if I ignore Christmas, it will just go away. (Sadly, it has not worked yet.)

People around me know I hate the holidays but don't understand it. They seem to ignore it and continue to try to get me into the so-called "Christmas spirit." That just pisses me off, and I usually end up telling a few people off around this time of year. The only thing that really lets me survive the latter half of December is my brother Sean's birthday. It lets me take my mind off the fucked up things going on around me and reminds me that I have a brother who is going to want to have a couple of drinks after his birthday dinner (however, brutal reality quickly sets in again when I remember that my brother drinks sissy drinks *sigh*).

Bah humbug.

I just saw the trailer for Garfield: The Movie. A CG Garfield. ... I don't know about that. Can it be any worse than a CG Scooby-Doo, though?

Ugh. The entire main floor smells like popcorn this morning. I'm not sure how many bags of popcorn were made in our microwave last night, but I know it was a hell of a lot. I have a feeling we're going to be putting up with popcorn smell for a couple of days.

Jacquie had some of her co-workers over tonight to make some popcorn. The entire primary division of the school Jacquie teaches at is going to see The Cat In The Hat tomorrow, so they were just getting prepared for it.

For the last couple of hours, I've been playing Wallace & Gromit In Project Zoo while Jacquie's been upstairs watching the finale of Survivor. I guess it's over now, though. I honestly don't know what anyone sees in these so-called "reality TV" shows.

I rose this morning to the rather loud sounds of Christmas music coming from the main floor (we live in a three-floor townhouse, with the bedrooms upstairs, my office/gaming room in the basement and the normal living room/kitchen areas on the main floor). Things could only get worse from there, and yes indeedy they did. Jacquie was screeching (not really, but when I'm half awake, it sounds like screeching) about how it was snowing. Setting myself into denial, I looked out the bedroom window onto our driveway and the street beyond...all covered in snow and more flakes falling steadily from the sky. Bah frickin' humbug!

I'm impressed. That AudioBlogger thing works. I was skeptical, I must admit, but it works. ... Damn. That means that post is permanent. Damn you, AudBlog! ;)

Can you believe I recorded that thing four times, and that was the best take? ... Knowing that, can you believe I've been on radio?

audio post powered by audblog

Outside of the general chaos going on this weekend, I think I'm going to be immersing myself in Wallace & Gromit. ... No, not the cartoon but the PS2 video game from Bam! I'm way behind on my reviews for Game Over, so I need to get this thing played and reviewed. I'm a little concerned about the game, though. First off, I'm not too familiar with W&G, so I can't compare it to the cartoons (big deal, right?). I'll just stick to the gameplay and rate it on how well it plays and how fun it is to play.

Another worry is that Bam! is a completely hit or miss company. It has its gems like Way of the Samurai for PS2 (haven't played that in awhile--gotta break it out soon), but then you get games like Reign of Fire or Wipeout Fusion that just aren't fun at all. Does this give me a bias going into the review? Nah...again, Way of the Samurai is a kickass game. :)

Geek-out time... In EverQuest, I've been having a rough time finding a good guild to join. The first guild I joined was several months ago with my ranger, Crispinus. It was called Warriors of Eternal Darkness, and the best way to describe that guild is to compare it to Lord of the Flies. The kids were in charge and going wild. The last straw was when one of the senior members got into a pissing match with someone in the Plane of Knowledge and got his account suspended. Not really a good guild to be associated with. I lasted maybe a week.

The second guild I joined was with my froglok warrior, Jarilokbak. Shen`an Calharr was a social guild, but they didn't really do much. No guild raids, no guild grouping, no nothing. I stuck around for a couple of months or so, but eventually left to join Luna Rising. Both Crispinus and Jarilokbak are currently in Luna Rising, but the guild is going through some chaotic times, I'm afraid. Several active members have become inactive or left the guild, and the planned guild raids have been less than successful. It's really too bad, because they're a good group of people. I have friends in guilds that seem to be fairly active, so I'm thinking I might try to move one of my characters over into one of those guilds to give it a try.

Ugh. Drank too much and stayed out far too late again last night at the H&K party. Must stop doing this to myself. My stomach is churning this morning (I hope these Tums I'm chewing will help), and I probably made an ass of myself once again last night. ... I think the Tums are helping. Yay!

I'm supposed to be going to Jacquie's staff party tonight. No alcohol tonight, though. Pinky swear!

Going downtown again tonight. As I've said (typed?) many times, I don't get out much anymore, and it's getting rarer and rarer that I get into downtown Toronto. Tonight is the Hill & Knowlton holiday party up around Yonge and Bloor Streets. I just let Jacquie know (who's at home today), and it seems I may have forgotten to tell her at all that I had this party tonight. Heheh. Good thing she hadn't started working on dinner yet or I surely would've been dead.

My review of Once Upon A Knight for PC has been posted at Game Over Online. I was quite harsh on the game.

Very cool. Amazon.ca has launched an anime and manga store.

Speaking of anime, I recently saw the first episode of a series called Blue Gender. Violent, bizarre and bloody freaky -- just my style.

Jacquie and I sat down to watch Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle last night. While I thought the first one was okay, this one had some serious script and directorial (not to mention to acting) problems. The story was quite choppy and made little sense. Some characters seemed to exist for no reason whatsoever (i.e. the return of Crispin Glover's character from the first movie). The acting went from bad to terrible at times (except John Cleese always kicks ass, even when handed a bad script--Monty Python forever!), and the entire movie came off as more of a spoof of action movies than as an actual action movie (even moreso than the first flick). And after about the thirtieth '80s tune, I really wanted to curl up and die (enough with the nostalgia stuff, please!). The '80s turnes were probably just fine as far as Jacquie was concerned, though. Of course, labelling Bon Jovi as heavy metal in the course of the movie was enough to make even her gag.

Maybe we'll watch Pirates of the Caribbean tonight. While I thought it was a half-decent movie when we saw it in the theatres, I'm kind of looking forward to seeing it again. Aside from Johnny Depp's character, Pirates also had...uh...uh...Keira Knightley? ;)

Jacquie's birthday was this past Saturday. I've been so busy that I didn't even post on the 6th. She'd probably hurt me if I said how old she was on the Internet, so I'll refrain. ;)

I've been kind of busy lately. Getting ready for the holidays and dealing with things to do each weekend, as well as trying to do a bit of game playing (and reviewing) has kept me going and giving me too many excuses to avoid posting to my site. Not that I've had a lot to post, of course. Again, I've been busy.

Let's see, quick notes... I bought Jacquie the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD for her birthday. We'll probably end up watching it tonight. I finished a review of Once Upon A Knight for Game Over Online. I finally finished reading Hunter S. Thompson's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Good book. Interesting snapshot of Americana. My parents had their kitchen completely remodeled...and it's all done now and looking good.

Yeah. There ya go.

Well, it's definitely the holiday season. Neighbours are bringing out their gaudiest Christmas displays and hanging them out for all to cringe at. There's a house a few streets over that puts the Griswolds to shame. I'm going to take my digital camera over and snap a shot and post it here. You've gotta see this house. These people have obviously completely forgotten about our power outage this summer.

In addition to the holiday ornaments adorning the neighbouring houses (what the fuck is up with those inflatable snowmen this year?), it's also the holiday party time of year. I was at the High Road party last week...drank too much, made an ass out of myself (as always) and then went home to pass out.

Jacquie and I rented a couple of movies on the weekend. Her idea, of course. I rarely have a desire to go to the video store (unless it's Suspect Video in downtown Toronto--that place rocks!). When we do go to the video store, it's usually a long trip. As with just about everything else, we have different tastes in movies. Well, this time she didn't give me a say in what to get. She picked up The Italian Job and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.

Neither movie was exactly spectacular...just more Hollywood garbage. At least The Italian Job had Donald Sutherland in it...even if only for the first fifteen minutes. The second was almost purely chick flick, although it did have its amusing points (and I picked out a couple of annoying things the female lead was doing and said, "See? I told you. Guys hate it when women do that. Stop doing that." ). Overall, though, neither movie was worth a second viewing.

Is it just me or are Hollywood movies getting even worse?

// posted by Chris @ 8:50 AM 0 comments

I ran my Dungeons & Dragons game last night (yes, I'm 27 years old and I still play D&D). It had been six weeks since I was last able to run the game, and the group was in the middle of an adventure (so some heavy recapping was necessary). All went well, though.

My campaign is set in the World of Greyhawk setting, and although the adventures are typical of D&D, there's a backdrop to the adventures where the orcs of the Pomarj nation and Celene elves are getting ready to go to war with each other. However, I've been kind of ignoring the brewing war for awhile now, and it's about time to get back to it. After all, I need to keep the player characters on their toes.