So I’ve been feeling pretty good as of late. How come? Well, in addition to maintaining a strict regimen of video game playing, comic book reading, and DVD watching, all while trying to get actual work done (oddly enough, if I allocate time for goofing off, I end up getting things accomplished!), I’ve recently adopted “Potpourri Tuesdays” in which I do something different each week, so long as it involves me not being hunched over a computer (mostly just hanging with friends that I normally don’t see that much). And since I’m not online as much, I’m behind with the news, I’ve been pretty shitty about responding to emails, and I haven’t even touched this site, hence the lack of update for the past week…
Last Tuesday marked my first real attempt at “Game Night” to help supplement “Movie Night”. Basically, I just went over Mike Rovin’s place with Soul Calibur 3 and Tekken 5. Mike & I used to play versus in Bushido Blade and Tekken 3 for insane amounts of hours during college and its always fun to face off against each other since we’re so evenly matched. I also got the chance to see Smash Moron, a Flash Gordon spoof that Mike starred it; there’s 12 parts, each just a minute long, and its designed for purchasing and viewing for cell phones. Basically, Mike plays Smash, a well meaning but slightly dimwitted adventurer as he leads a rag-tag crew against an evil army of robots and cats. Everything was all shot in the director’s bedroom with every onscreen element created on a computer, and a bluescreen which I believe was simply a huge bed-sheet. I’ll be helping out on the next round of episodes by lending the services of the far more technically proficient SVA facilitates.
Wednesday night marked another Movie Night with Sullivan’s Travels, the Preston Sturges classic that’s been celebrated for its biting use of satire and irony, which was revolutionary at the time and which is still pretty effective today. Beforehand was the usual random collection of clips, but the one stand-out was from a 60′s sex-comedy called Candy which Jeff described best as “a slutty Alice in Wonderland.”
Thursday was Thanksgiving, and once again, I spent the holiday with Dave and his family (this year marks my 9th Thanksgiving with them). The highlight had to be, aside from the mountain of delicious food, was Dave realizing that I was dead serious when it came to my admiration for the Golden Girls DVD box arts.
On Friday I went to Target for their after Thanksgiving Day sale to scope out a $28 copy of God of War. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, they were sold out, but I did get season 1 set of Lost for the same price. Later in the evening MK came over and we watched the Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior which Rob lent me last weekend. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I LOVE professional wrestling, at least gawking at those who are so wrapped up in their craft, which is basically dressing up in leather and pretending to fight, to the point that they loose themselves in their character, like the WWF’s iconic Ultimate Warrior. And again, I miss the days when pro wrestling weren’t “real” people, with first and last names, and dealing with real issues… I liked it better when it was zombies, aliens, millionaires, hair dressers, escaped mental patients, voodoo priests and clowns all beating the shit out of each other for no good reason.
On Saturday MK & I went holiday shopping. We both got some really awesome finds at the Christmas village at Union Square; MK almost bought a neat looking skull necklace at a flea market but thought against it when she figured that it felt too much like the plot of a horror film. She’s cute like that. Plus I finally got the chance to go to Robot Village in the upper west side; they had a huge voice activated, and totally mobile, R2-D2 that I have to get my hands on. While MK was making her robot related purchase, I asked about the robot party that was advertised and was disappointed to hear that it was just some guy parents could hire for their kid’s birthday party that would teach everyone how to build robots… I was hoping it would be some guy dressed as a robot that you could throw shit at.
Also picked up Doom 3 at Circuit City for just $10(!) as well as Ratchet & Clank 2 & 3 (there was a get two Greatest Hits games for $30 deal going on), and some toys at the Giant Robot store. While at the Virgin Megastore, I ran into an old friend from college, one that’s actually a bona-fide rockstar. I feel weird mentioning him by name since I don’t want to be perceived as name dropping (though when I do, I try to keep it strictly in the realm of video games), but close friends will know who I’m talking about. Anyway, he’s in town for a bit doing some holiday shopping and it was nice seeing the guy again. About ten minutes afterwards I came across another familiar face, but this guy didn’t notice me and I’m super glad… I don’t even know his name, but everytime he sees me, the guy always hits me up for a job.
Once we got home, we made holiday cards while watching another shitty episode of the SNL (it was the only thing on TV at the time). Then I showed MK another favorite film of mine, Tron. Unlike the Blue Brothers and even Popeye, she just couldn’t get into it. At least she admitted that it looked cool. Then afterwards we watched a classic episode of SNL from the mid 80′s which NBC repeats 3 in the morning, and it still holds up today (especially when compared to the current show). I loved MK’s response to the old Dennis Miller Weekend Update: “Holy shit, that only took ten minutes instead of thirty!”
And yesterday while MK was at a drawing jam with the Robin and Liz Baille, the girl that dressed up Harley Quinn on her wedding day (the results of which can be seen here, here, and here), I spend the whole day trying to download anime and putting up Xmas lights in my bedroom.
The thing is, I LOVE Christmas, but that feeling has been slowly chipped away each and every year due to associated stresses and annoyances, especially due to my rather unique family situation. Well not this time… I will not be going home this Xmas, and instead will return to Washington in January; the difference in airline fare is just insane (its like $300), plus it should hopefully make an already uncomfortable time even less so without the holiday atmosphere intensifying things. Though I was hoping to see the few remaining friends I have back home this year since it does mark the 10 year anniversary of me leaving for a better life, but Christmas in NYC is too much to pass up (besides, I’m certain that Almost Live is completely off the air by now).
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As stated before, I’m totally out of the loop with gaming news, but I do find the time to surf Insert Credit (obviously) and came across news about a new giant robot game for the PS2 that looks sorta like R.A.D. (Robotic Alchemic Drive). It’s called Remote Control Dandy SF…
