Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Birthday Treats

Today I turn a venerable 33 years old. Decided to take a vacation day from work and Linda and I are headed for a fun-filled day to Atlantic City. I received a very nice card from my grandmother (containing some money) as well as a $50 gift card to Borders from the parents. Not bad so far! Here's hoping AC delivers something nice. Wish us luck!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

IJ: KotCS

Oh, where to begin reviewing this Indiana Jones sequel? Don't expect the following discussion to be spoiler free...

Aliens: At first, I thought I'd have a problem with aliens in the movie. But as the "story" unfolded, it wasn't that bad. I mean, the movie was true to the era it depicted, right? So, aliens as subject matter...okay. But how about that look? Did it seem to anyone else that the crystal skull seemed to be a miniaturized version of the critters from Cameron's Aliens? I had no problem with their supposed purpose on Earth as archaeologists (and while they're here, why not teach the locals of the time farming, etc.?). So...aliens not terrible.

Russians: Couldn't Indy fight, oh I don't know, Russians that sound like Russians? With Ms. Blanchett as Colonel Doctor Spunky, it's like casting Tim Curry as a Russian (oh yeah, they did that in Congo but at least his accent was passable). As a whole, these baddies were just bland. I mean, how did they not only grab a convoy of American vehicles but also gain access to the location of Area 51? And apparently their accuracy is on par with that of stormtroopers since they couldn't hit Jones at a mere 10 feet distance. Just, blech. Next time, flush the Russians and bring back the Nazis (perhaps in the form of Oddessa).

Jones: Harrison still looked good as Indy but man did he manage to mumble alot of his lines. Uh, Mr. Ford, could you please pay attention to what you're doing?

Plot: There's really too much to go over in one blog post. Let's just say that what plot there was was strung together loosely by minor characters and Indy was just along for the ride. He stumbled from plot point to plot point like a drunken sailor. It was good to see Marian again but she was pretty much useless except to (repeatedly) reinforce the fact that Shia's character Mutt was Indy's son. By the end, their marraige just had no emotional impact on me. It's been too long since we've seen her and it's not as if any of the characters were in danger throughout the movie anyway. Between the overly long jungle chase/fight, the waterfall drops, and their immunity to Russian bullets, any sense of jeopardy was shifted to whether or not the theater's popcorn was too salty.

Music: At the very least, I was expecting a decent Williams soundtrack. Bzzz! Wrong again. Between the snippets I've heard online and what I could hear in the theater, I'm not impressed. It was nice to hear the Ark theme, Last Crusade father/son theme, and Marion's theme again but any new material was simply phoned in by the composer. The skull's theme and action cues were brief and uninspired.

The Good?: There were a couple brief authentic chuckles for me. First was when Indy and Mutt slid through the library and the student asked a question of Jones. And then again when the kid was told not to stay in the library for real archaeology. Second was when Indy rocketed the jungle shredder and, after the CGI had dissipated, John Hurt's Ox repeated his mantra, "Henry Jones Jr." Another soft giggle came when Indy began to insist that Mutt finish school after he found out the kid was his son. Although that joke was visited too many times.

Final Thought: The true measure of a movie for me is whether I plan on adding it to my dvd collection. Sadly, the answer here is "no." I will not tell anyone, despite what I've noted above, not to go see KotCS. It is, after all, and Indiana Jones flick. Just don't expect it to be as good as the others. Indy's good years are gone as a franchise. Unfortunately, they had to make just one more movie in order to figure that out.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Holiday Weekend

Been awhile! How's everyone doing? Not too much planned here for the 3-day weekend but I'll find something to occupy my time. There's scant work to do yet to finish BtS: Feather Fall so that's one goal. I'll probably finish my re-read of Dragons of Spring Dawning (I was going through these and splicing in the new Lost Chronicles trilogy by Weis & Hickman but with the recent report that the final book will not be published, I figured I'd just better finish reading the original trilogy and move on). I started Paul Kemp's Shadowbred but am not terribly far into yet. Yeah, I know it's been out for awhile but trilogys take so long to come out that I didn't want to rush jumping into it lest I forget what happened in the book before the one that is most recently released.

As you can see from the Tricky Owlbear blog, the print version of BtS: Compendium is coming along well. There's a long thread on the Paizo board where I'm hawking it to the folks there who don't appear to have any knowledge of the series (gasp!). Come on over and join the fun here: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/dnd/behindTheSpellsCompendiumPrintUpdate

In other news, one of my co-workers died suddenly this week and I attended his memorial service yesterday with about 15 other co-workers in Reading, PA. Robert "Buz" Wrenn was a good man who I spoke with every day, sometimes at length, as I made my way through the plant. He was only 47 and the cause of death is not yet known (to me anyway--rumor is blood clot). Tragic...he leaves behind numerous children and a wife who not long ago lost her first husband. :(

This is a weekend to remember fallen military men and women but don't stop there in your remembrances. Take a little time to recall the good times with all lost friends and relatives...and cherish the lives of those you can still spend time with. Have a great weekend!

Saturday, May 03, 2008

I Am Iron Man...

...the last words of this really good movie which I saw last night. There was excitement aplenty and a couple good laughs (by good, I mean which make me do so out loud and not just chuckle at). I know nothing about Iron Man's comic history and I don't feel like I missed a thing in my ignorance. Go see this flick if you enjoy superhero movies in general (also got to see IJ: KotCS and The Dark Knight previews = good).

And this must be the weekend for good things as more GSL details shake loose. Looks like companies can now produce OGL and 4e products as long as they are on a product line basis--meaning a company can publish for both rules sets but not in the same line. I couldn't do a Behind the Spells 4e upgrade unless I somehow created a whole new way of going about it. But, to be honest, the rules I've seen as of now still haven't convinced me that I'll be dabbling in the 4e sandbox anyway so that's OK. I can always change my mind down the line and jump in at any time.

I'm working this weekend on completing BtS: Feather Fall in an effort to stick to Tricky Owlbear's release schedule. BtM: Gargoyle is in layout with Scot now. Looks dreary out today anyway so I say it's a good day to work inside.

In other news, my sister Katy arrived safely with her family in Hawaii yesterday. Her husband is in the Army and was just reposted there from Arizona. Katy is expecting her 3rd child within a month's time so I'm glad they're situated for awhile. Er, well, they're in a hotel room until more permanent accomodations are procured for them but at least the military doesn't let you in the street. :)

Contrary to Popular Belief...

...I'm still around! Feeling a little nostalgic for the old blogging life tonight so decided to stop in and post an update. Oh, life, yo...