* = Ass over Tea kettle gentlemen...
So I fell on Monday morning, and when I say fell I mean utterly and completely decimated myself in the driveway. I haven’t wept out of pain for a LONG time, and I actually was a gibbering idiot after this. My right knee is black and blue and just aches. My right arm has been even more numb than usual, I hit my fat head, and I generally just feel like ten pounds of warmed up crap in a five-pound bag. Oh and did I mention I fell into an inch or so of filthy water, so I was soaking wet and cold? I didn’t? Well I did, and it sucked. Monday was awful. Cassandra was the only thing that made it bearable. ‘Big Ups’ to my wife for helping and putting up with me.
You’d think that I would have got a lot done while I was ‘laid up’, but you’d be wrong. We did watch All-Star Superman (Infinite *’s out of 5) for Valentine’s Day. Before you say what Cassandra said, “WHA!?”, when pressed to view this, let me explain. All-Star Superman the comic (Infinite *’s out of 5) by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly is the best modern Superman story ever told. It’s simply amazing, and finally made me love Superman. When I heard that this was the next Direct to DVD DCU animated flick I had trepidations. How could they capture the nuance, the subtext, the pure Silver Age joy, the pathos, and the love of that tale? I was wrong. They did it. The reality of this tale is it’s the “Twelve Labors Of Superman”, sort of a high sci-fi re-working of the classic Greek myth. Oh and did I mention it’s a love story? Oh it is. It so is. In fact it moved my wife to tears. Let’s be frank, and everyone else can be Barney, I love comics. It’s true. In all their myriad of forms and flavors I dig them. To be honest though I’ve never been much of a Man Of Steel guy, until Morrison put All-Star Superman out. It’s everything that is good about comics while not pandering to tropes. I highly recommend the flick, and no I won’t spoil any of it except to say it’s darn near a perfect translation with one exception, so go see it. Even your girlfriends and wives will dig it, mine did.
Last night as we lounged on the couch we watched some DVR’ed stuff. First off was the second season opener of FX’s Justified (I won’t review until end of season). This show is fantastic. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t be able to top last season, but the reality is the second season’s open was even more intriguing. It tied up everything from last season in a satisfying way, and yet laid the threads for the tapestry of this season. Oh and Boyd Crowder is the most complicated & interesting ‘villain’ on T.V. Hell, I don’t even know if you can rightly call him an antagonist, he’s that complex. I’ve never read an Elmore Leonard book, but this show is making me start to contemplate it. After that we decided to finally watch the Christmas episode of Doctor Who (*** ½ out of 5). It was a bit of a heavy handed riff on “A Christmas Carol”, that being said we did get a frozen woman and a little boy riding in a cart driven by The Doctor being pulled by a flying shark. Yes, yes you read that correctly. The beauty in Doctor Who is it does not want to take itself to seriously. Sure you’ll get preachy messages occasionally, but at the same time it’s wrapped in something so imaginatively wild that it’s enjoyable. The Christmas episode is just a placeholder anyway to get us to the next season, an enjoyable diversion before the proverbial crap hits the fan. Apparently the crap will hit the fan in America this season. On a side note, I really think Matt Smith is hitting his stride as the Doctor. He’s got the humor and the charm of Tennant & yet that brooding intensity of Eccleston. It’s going to take some time though for him to come into his own.
Anthony has kicked loff making D&D Adventure Game, aka Castle Ravenloft, monsters into overdrive, here’s what we have so far;
The beauty is all I need to do is distill a monster down into some memorable components to get it to work in the game. Oh and the fact that I we both own a crap ton of minis. I’m still working on Domains Of Dread: Lamordia, and doing this with Anthony is only going to serve to make it better. My hope is to make as many as we can, then post them to the Board Game Geek boards and get feedback. Thus far that plan is working brilliantly. I’m also tossing around some ideas for Henchmen, sort of building off the mechanic in Advanced Heroquest. Possibly doing so with a random deck of possible Henchmen, who have some personality quirks. The one thing this game seems to be a tad weak on is a narrative story, then again I play actual D&D for that, but if I can find ways to build it in then I should. I have a responsibility not only to me, but to the people who play it with me, the community of Board Gamers, and to my wallet that supports it. I’m going to have keep refining this idea once I get my hands on the new Villagers mechanic. Anywho, I have to say it’s mainly due to Ant being a friggin’ genius that this is getting done, and done well. Seriously, if your going to engage in a creative endeavor it is always paramount to surround yourself with folks WAY smarter than you. In this case mission accomplished.
How ‘bout some
RANDOM CRAP!
- I called it on Egypt! That softens my horrible football picks this year a tad.
- Yesterday as I was still recovering from ‘Fall 2011’ I made a beef roast. I sort of threw it together on a whim, and you know it was damn good. I wonder what would happen if I really tried to make it?
- Wrath Of Ashardalon will be at my house on Friday. YES!
- My lovely wife Nerded me for Valentine’s Day! She got me Gamma World. She is the best.
- I’m thinking of starting a Hammer Flick A Week exercise since there are so many I haven’t sat down and watched. Maybe a Saturday morning thing while the lovely wife slumbers. It also might give me some further ideas for when I steer the D&D group towards the Domains Of Dread in the Shadowfell.
- I need to get some painting done this weekend.
- While sitting and icing the knee I put together all of my Thule Doomtroopers for the Basement Sci-Fi War. So that means I’m basically done with that group, well except painting. I have the Trenchers, my common troops, Doomtroopers, my elite troops, my General, some artillery units, and a few of what I’m calling ‘Chosen’. They're massive genetically engineered monstrosities. On a side note I have a HELL of an Alien Legion for my Albion Conscripted Forces. That along with my Lions of Albion and just other crap lying around means I could put together two armies conceivable. Once Mike and I set down I’m going to sit down and put out the call to see who wants to get in on some of this Basement Sci-Fi bloodshed in a future full of WAR!
- How the hell did Donald Pleasence fall so far that he did some of the flicks he did? Pumaman is unwatchable without Mike and the Bots.
And with that I’m off to down some Ibuprofen and pray for a quick death.
“You thought you'd conquered space
But now your reign is through
Dissect the human race
Until they conquer you
Fame is now mine
Even though it's illusion
Space and now time
Has just reached its conclusion
2000 years ago
My race created you
We turned you loose in space
Now a polluted zoo
Fate is no crime
I can face this illusion
Space and now time
Has just reached its conclusion
Light years are passing before me I'll soon begin
Carnivores roam the stars all in the place of men
Singular manifestation of time
And as your kingdom falls
I've taken after you
You may have wished this on me
And now you see it through
Your time is rolling over
My time is coming soon
I'll resurrect the ancient spores
Eclipse the Vargr moon
Matter warps space
So now time is illusion
How can I face this miraculous conclusion?
Light years are passing before me I'll soon begin
Right from the start I can see you're an alien
Singular manifestation of time
Your stories do amuse me
Although your eyes are vacant
I did not wish this on you
Your madness is quite blatant
Inside your mind I see the source of your hallucinations
Your body's wasted but your brain's on fire
The future still looks grim now
The human race is wasted
But soon you must turn over
The power you have tasted
In all your mercy I can see you are an ideal agent
To bring this curse upon the galaxy
Wait and see
Light years are passing before me I'll soon begin
Carnivores roam the stars all in the place of man
Infinite manifestation of time”
* = "I didn't stab that Elf, she was dead when I got here..."
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