This Week in Geek (16-22/06/08)

Buys

Found a pretty incredible deal on the Six Feet Under DVD boxed set, and having enjoyed the first couple of seasons before my schedule took me away from it, I jumped on it. Plus, I've got a friend who desperately wants to borrow it and I do so love acting like my inner circle's library. There's a grassy cemetery plot on top of the box that's either supremely silly or wicked cool, but I can't decide which.



"Accomplishments"

Books: Finished Douglas Coupland's Generation X, his first and best known book. I must say that it captured lucidly the particular quirks of my generation (I'm tail-end, to be sure, but GenX nonetheless). On numerous occasions, I was surprised to read something that I thought was unique to my world view (or at least, non-generational). If there's a theme to be drawn from the novel (and thus, the group of people it depicts) it's that of impermanence. For GenXers, relationships, jobs, families are not permanent and not expected to be so. We half accept this, and half scurry after pieces of nostalgia to make permanent. A kind of idealistic cynicism permeates the book. And my apartment.

DVDs: Flipped The Wire Season 2, or "the one that takes place on the docks". It's an environment you don't see often, and held my interest with the usual deft direction, sparkling writing and fine acting. A break from the projects, but keeping tabs on those as well. One character I really loved from Season 1 bites the dust, so that's a minus, but on the whole, a thumbs up. Two episodes have commentary tracks, and I have to say the first is marred by atrocious sound mixing. They've got Dominic West (McNulty -whom I wouldn't have pegged as a Brit!) real loud, and Michael K. Williams (Omar) lower than the episode soundtrack. It's too bad because they're pretty entertaining.

RPGs: Finished off the spy game I was running on Role-Playing Monday, and I can now admit to having used the You Only Live Twice scenario from the James Bond 007 (didn't before in case my players took it upon themselves to rent the film). Lots of differences anyway, so it wouldn't have worked out for them. In fact, it didn't anyway. It was going along real well there, and then they failed to destroy the volcano and let a deadly virus out into the ocean, killing millions and bringing the USA and USSR on the brink of armageddon. Can't win 'em all!

New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 20, all from Logopolis.

GTA4 completion: 65.60%. Addiction Level: Buying in Bulk.

Someone Else's Post of the Week
Mark Engblom is celebrating Superman's 70th birthday all month long over on Comic Coverage, and each new day brings new Superman-related material, and not just from the comics either. Mark manages to make everything look so pretty too. I'm just going to grab a random post from this week, but do try to browse the entire month. I can't really decide, so how about Part 3 (of 5) of the Kryptonite Chronicles?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Quote:
...and let a deadly virus out into the ocean, killing millions and bringing the USA and USSR on the brink of armageddon.


What an achievement to cause, by your own actions (or inaction), an ecological disaster, a pandemia and a global thermonuclear war at the same time.
I just love the way RPG's end in a way that real life and movies don't.