Food Of The Gods Vs. Night Of The Lepus

* = Crap like this is why I think Reality T.V. is a pox on humanity.



I hate when the weekend isn’t restful at all. When you work harder on your days off then on your days on. That being said it feels ‘Gangsta’ to get that much crap done in two short days. Oh and I did have time to do some nerdy crap. So all in all it wasn’t that bad. The best part is I’m done raking, for the rest of the year. Those that didn’t get mulched got bagged. The yard looks pretty decent, it could look better, but I’m not obsessive compulsive about it. We ran a crap ton of errands, I did my weekly dusting, Halloween stuff got taken downstairs, and I cooked an outstanding beer cheese soup.

On the nerdy end I was able to get all my NPC’s & Monsters done for D&D this coming Saturday. I feel good about the Encounters I have in mind, I like the build of my baddies, and I hope it’s a good opportunity to push the players in new & interesting ways, especially considering their moral ambiguity. I also finally got off my dead ass and printed off a TON of villains for the D&D Adventure System. Now if I can just get my lovely wife to finish gluing the items I need for D&D and laminate all the stuff I’ve got ready for the D&D Board Games I’ll be happy as a pig in crap. I also spent some time thinking about December’s Castle Ravenloft Extravaganza and I’ll be making some notes tonight and start building encounters this week. There are a lot of viable options on the table, I need to start to part and parcel it down into a manageable size for a day’s worth of play.

On a side note I watched a couple of flicks as well;
- Snow White A Tale Of Terror (*** ½ out of 5) – With both Sam Neill & Sigourney Weaver in it I was slightly surprised at this little gem. Now don’t get me wrong a more serious, Brother’s Grimm, take on the old story doesn’t equate to greatness. The sad fact is beyond Neill & Weaver the acting is pretty ‘blah’ and uninspired. The ‘love story’ portion has all the passion of a piece of cardboard. Now that being said Sam Neill is almost always pimp, and this is now exception. Better than that is Sigourney Weaver is outstanding as the wicked stepmother/witch. She seriously plays crazy to the hilt, her plot’s are fiendish, her motivation realistic, and her end outstanding. While it’s not a ‘must see’ flick, it’s a nice, fun little flick to see.






- Alice In Wonderland (** ½ out of 5) – Well I finally watched it, & it was o.k. I loved the look of it, and not the Burton touches, but the lush and dark vistas. It was fantastic imagination fodder for the Feywild in D&D. The sad thing is that for the most part I found the ‘actors’ in parts to be annoying as opposed to the beasties and voice work. The whole movie just felt like spectacle unrealized. I really wanted to like it, but it just sort of floundered.













I also watched the pilot episode of the new Animated Green Lantern series (***** out of 5).
At first I found the CGI art a tab irritating. Then I started to notice how it really was just the Timm/Dini stuff animated with a computer. I really, REALLY liked the guy they found to voice Hal Jordan. He comes off as cocky without being smarmy, and overall just very heroic. The other voices were just sort of there, which is a surprise for me since when it comes to DC Animated stuff the voice work is usually top notch. Having the Red Lanterns as the main villains was a nice change of pace from the normal ‘Sinestro-centric’ stories. I really love the fact that Earth is currently off the table as the series opens. Although that limits the use of a lot of the G.L. villains I do like; Hector Hammond, The Shark, Black Hand, Tattooed Man, The Invisible Destroyer, & Dr. Polaris. It also means that I hope you enjoyed that tender moment with Carol Ferris, ‘cause it looks like we won’t be getting that for a while. Does that mean Hal will be pimpin’ across the cosmos? He did manage to seduce the A.I. of the ship he and Kilowog are using, so I guess that’s a yes. One more thing I think needs mentioning, HOLY CRAP are they not afraid to kill Green Lanterns on this show. Zilius Zox (who’s like a more sadistic M.O.D.O.K.) & Razer (who’s a little to EMO for my tastes), being the two low end Red Lanterns, go on a killing rampage throughout the episode. Now they don’t show anything really on screen but they don’t shy away from it either. Atrocitus, who looks suitably messed up, is the main big bad, and I for one really like how he basically cleaned Hal Jordan’s clock the entire episode. The good guys did not ‘win’ and yet it wasn’t a down or depressing episode. I have high hopes for this show, and so should you.

RANDOM CRAP!

- New Paizo Pre-paints!
Ok, so this is more what I was looking for. The Ogre looks good. Which bodes well since the next set is Rise Of The Runelords, and in that Adventure Path there is an incredible Ogre-centric story with just some outstandingly messed up imagery. So I’m hoping that we’ll get some of those Ogres in that set. The Minotaur looks all right. For some reason I’m not really that excited about it, which is weird since Minotaurs are friggin’ sweet. As for the Chimera, I love everything but the face. Now that could just be the angle or the paint job, but the face looks really ‘meh’. The pose is decent, the tale looks nasty, and it’s a beast I’d use in a campaign. So Paizo & Wizkids are slowly pulling me in to pick-up some singles, but overall I’m still waiting & desperately wanting to be wowed.
- I started some Photoshop tutorials last week. I’m really trying to figure out how to hammer out some D&D Adventure System Heroes, Monsters, Villains, etc. I know it should be easy to do, but my attention span for it is really short, so I always end up getting distracted. Maybe this week I’ll devote some more time to it.
- My wife & I are food hoarders, but at least we won’t go hungry.
- Approximately 3:45pm today I have to brave the ‘wilds’ of Ikea. I have no desire to do this, but it is for the best cause, Cassandra. Today we go get her chosen birthday presents, furniture. I know, I know “Furniture isn’t a real present”, but it’s what she wants, so it’s what she gets. I just hope it’s sort of dead in there, because I really can’t stand being around so many people.
- I screwed something up in my mid-torso on my left side and it’s friggin’ killin’ me. I don’t think it’s a hernia, but damn if it doesn’t hurt. I think maybe I just yanked a muscle out of whack.
- I found a copy of Bat-Manga this weekend! Two plus years of searching for a ‘cheap’ copy has paid dividends and it truly is all I thought it could be. Japanese Batman is just outstanding.










- Conan The Barbarian is in the que for tonight.
- The grill will be fired up this week. For my wife’s birthday week she’s getting steak. I’m thinking some cheesy, garlic, bacon packet potatoes, maybe a nice small refreshing salad, and then just a perfectly cooked steak. Tuesday, if the weather is good will be the day.
- WTF Chiefs, WTF! Denver, you’re going to lose to Denver, and Tebow only completes 2 passes? Unbelievable. I think it may be time to pull the plug on the Matt Cassell era and go find a quarterback who can lead and win. On a good side note though I got to watch the Jets lose, and that’s almost better than the Chiefs winning.
- I still desire to get in an epic game of Smallworld this week.

And I think I’m done with this today…

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The seven legged sow will see to the after-show.
Don't you think the candelabra gives a pleasant glow?

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* = I miss the Blood War...