Tremors Vs. Dinoshark

* = If you say it in a bad Connery accent it really is quiet funny...I'm looking at you Dave...

I got back on the mowing kick this weekend, getting up early and knocking out the whole yard in about an hour or so. I’m paying for it now. You have to understand that our ground is like quicksand, due to the moisture, the sandy nature of the soil, and because I am super heavy. So mowing slowly becomes a struggle. I did get it done before a small smattering of showers rolled through though. Otherwise I was completely unproductive over the weekend, with the exception of a shopping trip to Sam’s Club and surviving a short excursion into the wilds of Wal-Mart.

I did finish another Old School Doctor Who serial though. “The Sensorites” (**** out of 5) was a bit long and somewhat meandering, BUT it started to build the foundation of The Doctor that I know.

First off we get the first reference to The Doctor and Susan not being human, secondly both display a small bit of telepathy, and more than anything else we see The Doctor as the wanderlust filled diplomat. I’ve come to both love and loathe William Hartnell’s ‘Doctor’. There is a sense of keen wonder that he portrays wonderfully, but at the same time he can give the feeling of an awful curmudgeon who is not only difficult for Barbara and Ian to deal with but is domineering and controlling of his granddaughter Susan as well. I do like that he’s subtle manipulative, that he’s always working two to three steps ahead, but he also seems to be very flippant about health and survival of his two human companions. It’s an interesting contradiction to the more modern post Time War interpretations. As for the episodes I did enjoy all the political finagling, the plots, and the sort of bizarre resolution. I do have to say that I watched the first part of the next serial, “The Reign Of Terror”, it’s another six parter. I’m intrigued though by the setting of the French Revolution since I know so little about it. So far it’s been intriguing.

I also took some time and watched Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (**** out of 5).

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but what I got was interesting. It’s more of anthology of tales of the Green Lantern Corps framed by Hal Jordan trying to get new Lantern Arisa prepped for a HUGE battle with Krona, who is invading from the Anti-Matter Universe. We get versions of ‘The First Lantern’, ‘Mogo Doesn’t Socialize’, & ‘The Five Inversions’ all of which, if memory serves me correctly, are adaptations of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons tales. The other tale about Laira was serviceable. There were of course adjustments to the adaptations. ‘The Five Inversions’ was heavily adjusted with Geoff Johns G.L. mythology, which was built upon Moore’s work. I loved the fact we get to see Abin Sur & Sinestro working together to take out Atrocitus. Not to mention, knowing how things will eventually go it’s sad and chilling to know that Abin Sur dismisses Atrocitus’ prophecy of Sinestro destroying the Corps and ruling with fear. It sort of makes one wonder that if Abin Sur had not been killed would Sinestro have went down that path or would he have remained ‘Greatest’ of all Green Lanterns? I think it’s another example of how Sinestro makes such a great villain, because he doesn’t see himself as a villain at all.

I didn’t, and won’t, get any painting done this week. It’s a shame, but I have to put stuff away with my mom and sister visiting from this Friday to next Monday. Space will be at a premium and cleanliness is always a must, so I can’t have a table full of half painted minis and paint all over the place. I’m hoping that once I’ve survived this visit I can get back on track with the painting, possibly even knock some out before the D&D session on July 16th.

We did get the ‘True Blood’ crew back together last night. Dave & Liz came over and grilled first, and then we settled down to watch some sex and violence. True Blood is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me at least. It’s not particularly smart, or even always entertaining. It does have some very interesting characters, it occasionally veers into actual horror, and I do enjoy the campy ‘badness’ of it.

This season opener didn’t blow me away; it was decent enough to keep me interested for a while longer. I do have to say I liked the Fey in it quiet a bit, beyond them throwing ‘repulsor beams’ at each other.

Overall it’s a solid weekend of ‘meh’.

RANDOM CRAP!

- We grilled our keisters off yesterday and it was glorious. I’m enjoying the idea of one side of the grill being the ‘hot’ side and moving the seared meat to the ‘cool’ side to let it cook indirectly and smoke. It keeps items incredibly juicy, gives them good texture, and gives me a tad more control on cook time. The ultimate experiment will be the turkey I’ll be cooking next weekend. I’ve got to start to figure out my brining liquid, and by Wed. get that thing in its bucket.
- I’m also intrigued to try making some baked ‘fried’ chicken. The premise is sound, and delicious.
- I broke down & pre-ordered my Terraclips

from Miniature Market dot com. With there significant mark down and free shipping I was able to get double what I planned of everything and pay basically just a tad more than I had expected. I can’t put into words how incredible it will be to use for D&D, Warrior Heroes, and even perhaps for the fabled Sci-Fi Basement War.
- Speaking of Sci-Fi Basement War I put together a slew of minis this weekend for it. Who knew that the Kroot were so fiddly.
- I started re-reading Clive Barker’s ‘Cabal’

this morning. I’m already a quarter or so through it. What a fantastic read. Now I need to go back and watch the film version, Nightbreed again.

- I need a Movie-A-Thon soon.
- Last Friday night the Cross Council Of Board Gaming resumed at David’s and we busted out Cadwallon City Of Thieves (***** out of 5).

I’d picked this one up relatively cheap from Cool Stuff Inc dot com when I purchased Conquest Of Nerath.

I have to say it’s a brilliant little game. You play different gangs of thieves who have been given specific missions by the Thieves Guild in Cadwallon. You then compete with each other to swipe the most loot and avoid the authorities in the city district. The minis look really good, and I’d consider getting the pre-paints just for D&D if they were a tad cheaper. The board is solid visually, but still evokes a nice bit of flavor. While the characters all have the same stats, each has a special ability that helps give them some mechanical differences. That along with your hand of ‘tricks’ really does evoke some very cool individuality in your gang. The system is easy to learn and plays really fast. I highly recommend picking up this game.
- R.I.P. Gene Colan.

It's a damn shame when someone who directly affected the visual make-up of your imagination. Thank you sir, for being an inspiration to so many.
- I have to vacuum tonight.

With that nugget of truth I suppose it’s time to get back to what matters.

“And I'm a black rainbow, and I'm an ape of god
I've got a face that's made for violence and porn
And I'm a teen distortion, survived abortion
A rebel from the waste down

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah

I wanna thank you, Mom, I wanna thank you, Dad
For bringin' this fuckin' world to a bitter end
I never really hated a one true god, but the god of the people I hated!

You say you want an evolution? The ape was a great big hit!
You say you want a revolution, man? Well I say that you're full of shit!
We're disposable teens, we're disposable teens,
we're disposable teens, we're disposable.”


* = I think I missed my opportunity to run a sprawling desert D&D Campaign with my last group. Perhaps one day I'll take a group to Athas.