Friday Five: 1/30

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Empty" - Del Amitri
"And you're sitting there wishing you'd never been born/ With that self-inflicted crown of thorns/ And we do not lie side by side and mock the thought of you/ And I don't take her hand and ask 'Is this what he used to do?'" Yeah, I've had to deal with ex-boyfriends, too.

"Incredible Bittersweet" - The Judybats
The lyrics are mostly forgettable, but there are some very nice guitar hooks.

"Helter Skelter" - U2
"Here's a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back." I know Rattle and Hum (the album and movie both) sometimes gets panned because it is pretentious and self-important, but to me its genuineness is its chief selling point. I enjoy irony as much, if not more, than the next person, but sometimes it is nice to come across something that isn't afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve.

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" - Stevie Wonder
Not my favorite of his, but nice.

"All I Want Is You" - U2
It doesn't seem like this song gets brought up often when discussing U2's best songs, but I think it is fantastic. I was just the right age to be a high schooler in a tragically complicated relationship when it came out, though, so I guess that might cloud my judgement.

Song & Joke Man

A while back, I speculated that the dialogue in Guy Gavriel Kay's historical fantasy wouldn't bother me as much as his works featuring modern characters. After reading A Song for Arbonne, I can confirm that guess was true. The slightly too-formal phrasings do work much better in late medieval pseudo-Provence than they do in the modern version of the same.

However, a lot of the other niggling things that bugged me his writing were still present, particularly the hyper-capability of the main characters (seriously - at least half a dozen characters made a highly improbable shot with a bow/crossbow as if it were nothing). In fact, it is hard to come up with an example of an instance where a major protagonist failed at something, and if he or she did have a setback it was only because another character was even more successful at preforming a contrary action. From a role-playing perspective, it is an interesting tack to take, but it doesn't always make for immersive reading.

In many ways, the story's milieu is reminiscent of George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice series, so it is hard not to draw comparisons between the two while reading. The contrast between them was most apparent during Arbonne's climactic battle scene, where the entire conflict was decided by a one-on-one duel and the gambits of a handful of characters. The armies existed only as faceless drones, an extension of the will of their commanders. While Martin's Westeros also concerns itself with the scions of great houses, there is a much more visceral feel where you get the sense a sword wielded by an anonymous soldier might change the course of history.

I think a lot of why I am not as satisfied with Arbonne as I might have hoped is because the subgenre of romantic fantasy, which Kay fits squarely into, has less and less appeal to me as the years drag on. The story is fine. The writing is fluid (if a bit florid at times). The whole exercise just feels a bit anemic to me, though.

...

Recently, Mike lent me the new hardback re-issue of The Killing Joke. Its odd because, even though I had never read it, I knew everything that happened in it. Geek osmosis. It was a good story, but there were no mind-blowing moments. I have to wonder how much of its status in the pantheon of Batman stories is due to shock value that I, reading it for the first time 20 years later but knowing everything about it, did not feel. I almost enjoyed "An Innocent Man," the backup story by Brain Bollard (Killing Joke's artist) more. In many ways, it was a much more realistic, and thus frightening, version of sociopathy than the cartoonish Joker.

Friday Five: 1/23

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Try a Little Tenderness" - The Commitments
Things you may not have known: Andrew Strong (the guy who played Deco, the lead singer) was 16 when they filmed The Commitments. 16! And he sings like that. Amazing.

"Barely Breathing" - Duncan Sheik
One of my favorite one-hit wonders of the '90s.

"What a Good Boy" - Barenaked Ladies
"This name is the harishirt I wear/ This hairshirt is woven from your brown hair/ This song is the cross that I bear/ Bear with me, bear with me/ Bear it with me, be with me tonight/ I know that it isn't right/ Be with me tonight." The other song that convinced me BNL were more than just a gimmick. Extraordinary song.

"Just a Girl" - No Doubt
I suppose most grrrl power aficionados would consider this song pretty anemic, but it has great energy.

"City of Blinding Lights" - U2
"I've seen you walk unafraid/ I've seen you in the clothes you've made/ Can you see the beauty inside of me?/ What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?" It was very cool seeing them preform this at Obama's pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, even if Bono was even hammier than he normally he is.

What, No Hello Kitty?

Apparently there is a South Korean company making a Barack Obama 12" action figure.

It is unclear whether the daisho is included or not. However, it will allow me to construct a diorama showing what will happen if Dick Cheney is investigated for any sort of wrongdoing during his term as Vice President (although, it looks like someone has already beat me to that).

Cultural Shut-In

Nominations for the Oscars were announced this morning. There are only 3 categories where I have seen more than one film nominated (visual effect and the 2 sound categories). Comparatively, there are 12 categories where I haven't seen any of the nominees (including best picture, directing and 3 of the 4 acting categories). For reference, the list of nominated films I've seen consists of: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Wall-E.

So, do I suck, or does Hollywood suck?

What If They Had a Restaurant War and Everyone Sucked?

Since my last post on Top Chef, we have lost Melissa and Eugene (no real surprises there), Ariane and Radhika. Both of the latter were deserved, but I was a bit surprised they didn't last longer. While Ariane obviously butchered the butchering, any member of that team could have gone home. Radhika, meanwhile, seemingly grew more flustered and overwhelmed with every episode to the point of disappearing (maybe the editors were on to something).

Is it just me, or has the judging has gotten quite a bit harsher ever since the "Christmas" episode? Especially on Colicchio's part - he seemingly grows more and more exasperated each week at the crap that is turned out of the kitchens. I swear during judge's table for the farm-fresh challenge he looked like he wanted to vomit and/or slap someone.

Anyhow, the remaining chefs are:

• Carla: Somehow, she is still around. Not for much longer, I think. She especially did not endear herself to the judges after the whole "putting love into it" thing during the last challenge. Gone soon.
• Fabio: Even though Stefan won the last challenge, Fabio's charisma is what gave that team the win. On the other hand, he hasn't been exceptional in the kitchen lately. I agree with the TV Without Pity reviewer though, in that I hope even if Fabio is eliminated at some point they keep him around to narrate the rest of the season.
• Hosea: I hope the whole "relationship" thing is over now. I sort of wrote him during the early episodes for some reason, then started to like him, then got sort of skeeved out by the Leah thing. He's obviously pretty talented, but needs to focus on cooking.
• Jaime: She stills annoys me, because she doesn't realize she's as arrogant as Stefan, just more passive-aggressive about it.
• Jeff: I don't know what he's doing half the time, aside from running around like a headless chicken. Too many ideas, not enough execution.
• Leah: I think she is also suffering from Radhika Syndrome. Not for much longer, though.
• Stefan: I've seen no indications yet that he is not the one to beat. And granted, he's an asshole, but in a somewhat charming way that Hung or Ilan never conveyed.

Projected finalists: Stefan, Jaime, Hosea.

Games Were Moderately Fun

Scheduling for last Friday's game night somehow got completely FUBARed. By the time we got all 4 of us together in the same place, it was about an hour after when we normally start. The uncertainty of what was happening, when added to my general mood previously in the day, meant we stuck with board games for the night.

First up was Pandemic. Things got a little hairy towards the end when we were being overwhelmed with the black disease and only had one cube left (having to place a cube you don't have caused you to lose). Other than that, things went pretty smoothly for us. I think we are definitely ready to move up to the 'Normal' challenge level - we'll see if everyone thinks it's easy then.

After that, we played Settlers of Catan. It pretty much came down to a race between Matt and Jay, with Mike and I being non-factors. I swear I went about half an hour without getting a resource card (and this with being next to an 8). Very frustrating.

We finished up with a couple of games of Bang! In both, Mike was the sheriff, Matt was the renegade, and Jay and I were the outlaws. The outlaws won both games.

In a fit of nostalgia, I recently acquired a copy of James Clavell's Noble House. Unfortunately, nobody seemed up for learning a new game that night. I was really sort of hoping to get into a longer, more involved game. Short games are a good change of pace, but they seem like all we have been playing recently.

Friday Five: 1/16

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Synchronicity II" - The Police
"Every single meeting with his so-called superior is a humiliating kick in the crotch." I never got into this song when it was first released, but I can definitely say I get it more now (I suspect being a suburban family man helps). I also really appreciate Andy Summer's gorgeous guitar work on it much more now. Unfortunately, they did not play this one when I saw them in concert.

"More Than This" - 10,000 Maniacs
Cover of the Roxy Music classic by a post-Natalie Merchant 10,000 Maniacs. One of my favorite moment from Lost in Translation was when Bill Murray's character sings this song at the karaoke bar. I was half expecting him to launch into his old SNL lounge singer character, and for a moment I swear you could see him contemplate it before going ahead with a much more nakedly vulnerable version. Maybe that's not what was happening, but I thought that tiny facial gesture was just genius. This version, with the vocal duties taken over by Mary Ramsey, is very lovely as well.

"Fast Cars" - U2
"You should worry about the day/ That the pain it goes away/ You know I miss mine sometimes." I love this track, stuck way at the end of How to Dismantle... Definite Middle Eastern influence to the guitar parts, which seems appropriate for a song that seems to be about PTSD.

"What's the Frequency Kenneth?" - R.E.M.
I don't know what what's better, the guitar riff in this song or the fact that it was inspired by one of the more bizarre crimes in recent history. The rest of the album was so-so, but this song kicks some serious ass.

"1999" - Prince
This one doesn't seem so relevant now, for some reason.

Games Should Be Fun

We've had two sessions of the Tuatha de Danaan campaign since the last time I've done an update on it (one just before Christmas and one last Friday). Well, half-sessions more like. I'm afraid the campaign has entered into an all-too-familiar death spiral: the players don't seem engaged, and so I don't expend much effort preparing for the next session, and so the next session sucks because it is unfocused and haphazard, and so the players become even less engaged, and so on until there is nothing left but bitter recriminations.

I am beginning to wonder if I am done as a roleplayer. It is probably something I've been in denial about for a while, but I just don't have very much fun roleplaying anymore. There are the usual laughs and stupid jokes that go with hanging out with friends, but those happen when we play board games, too, and those take a heck of lot less work.

I suppose it is possible that I am just still burnt out GMing. Ever since I put my Buffy/Angel campaign on permanent hiatus (could it be over 3 years ago already?!), I haven't really had a campaign that's generated enough momentum to become self-sustaining. Neither, for that matter, has anyone else. In fact, I can only think of one "campaign" from last year that wasn't put together by me, and even that was more to fill up time than anything else.

I've sat here for about half an hour trying to come up with a conclusion for this post, but there really isn't one. As much as I hate to throw in the towel on yet another campaign, I hate going through the motions just as much. I don't know. We'll see what happens. Maybe. As of right now, only 1 person has confirmed for tonight - another sign of apathy or me reading too much into things. Stay tuned to find out.

Friday Five: 1/9

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Come Dancing" - The Kinks
From their odd little early '80s coda period. My dad always really enjoyed this song.

"Cecilia" - Simon & Garfunkel
Irresistibly infectious. The percussion parts are fantastic. Just an all-around great song.

"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" - U2
A mellow groove from Achtung Baby. I've always liked how it serves as an introduction to the dark back half of the album.

"All Because of You" - U2
"I like the sound of my own voice/ I didn't give anyone else a choice/ An intellectual tortoise/ Racing with you bullet train/ Some people get squashed crossing the tracks/ Some people got high rises on their backs/ I'm not broke but you can see the cracks/ You can make me perfect again." A great rock song with a driving beat nice guitar work from How to Dismantle...

"The Humpty Dance" - Digital Underground
For non-serious good-time music, it doesn't get much better than doin' the Hump. Bonus fun fact: Tupac Shakur got his start as a member of the Digital Underground.

Can We Have a Playoff Yet?

My dad spent the latter part of his formative years in Oklahoma, so I grew up in a Sooner household (which wasn't always easy considering we were in the heart of Cornhusker territory). Even though I root for the Hawkeyes now, the crimson-and-cream remain my secondary team. Obviously, last night's game was a bit disappointing. Still, I have to give credit to Florida's defense. Even though they were the beneficiary of 2 extremely unlikely interceptions, they played a terrific game and kept the Oklahoma offense in check all night.

As tense as it was, though, the BCS title game actually did very little to determine the incontrovertible champion of college football (which, with that being its raison d'etre, makes it something of a failure). Consider the Utah Utes, undefeated (again) and dominating a 1-loss major conference team in their bowl game. Consider the USC Trojans, a 1-loss team who were (arguably, naturally) playing the best football down the stretch. Consider the Texas Longhorns, who beat one of the teams playing in the championship and were only denied a spot in their conference championship because of what a computer algorithm thought.

Of course, this isn't telling anyone who is a fan of the sport of college football anything they don't already know. The problem is that the decisions are made by fans of the business of college football. Until there is extremely unlikely boycott of BCS bowls by the hoi polloi, we will continue to be stuck with whatever bullshit solution is foisted upon us by the conferences, bowl committees and media (all the while telling us they just can't figure out how to do something that works on every other level of college football).

---

Since I probably won't be getting a playoff anytime soon, can I least make a simpler request? How about an announcing team that is marginally competent? I don't even know who the clowns on Fox were last night, but when you can't stop verbally fellating Tim Tebow for long enough to figure out what down it is, you have no business being on the air.

The Queue

A new periodic feature in which I regale you with thrilling tales of my Netflix queue.

Ugly Betty (Season 1): We only made it through 1 disc before deciding that it wasn't for us. Not that it was bad, exactly, but there seemed to be a certain sameness to the plot of every episode.

The Office (Season 4): Not as good as previous seasons, but still entertaining. The 'super-sized' episodes that led off the season felt too padded, and the writers strike obviously hurt as well. However, once it got rolling, there were some very good episodes. Steve Carrell just gets better and better as a clueless, aggressively incompetent man who still manages to retain his warped version of dignity.

House MD (Season 4): We are through 2 discs (of 4). The selection of the new team was OK at first, but the plot line started to drag so I am glad it is finally over. Again, not quite as good as previous seasons, but we'll see how it finishes up.

30 Rock (Season 2): Only 2 episodes into the first disc, but it is very enjoyable thus far.

Love Actually: We've seen it before, but I thought with the Christmas season upon us it was worth another viewing. We didn't actually get to it until the 27th, though.


Upcoming: More House, more 30 Rock, 1st season of Justice League, 1st season of Sex and the City (my efforts to stall it from rising in the queue having finally failed.)

Doing My Part for the Economy

I had an opportunity to visit the Indifferent Local Game/Comic Store on Sunday. My haul consisted entirely of things I really didn't need, namely: Old World Armoury for the Warhammer Fantasy RPG (used), Star Crusade for Fading Suns (also used), The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, and Serenity: Better Days.

I read through Better Days very quickly, and was not impressed; I'm hoping that it is better with a more leisurely reading. I've also noticed that some of the early Batman stories - particularly Batman vs. the Monk, I think it was called - are much more cursory than I am accustomed to (Batman goes from Gotham to Paris - stopping on a cruise ship in between - in the space of a couple of panels) and quite bizarre (I didn't think vampires and werewolves were interchangeable).


Edit: I forgot to mention that what I really wanted was Freedom's Most Wanted for Mutants & Masterminds and/or the new Song of Ice and Fire RPG, neither of which are out yet. Or so I thought.

That's a Lot of Sheep

For Friday game night, we were missing Jay and I was too lazy, errr busy, to prepare anything for our role-playing campaign. So, it ended up being "Board Games What I Got for Christmas" night.

First up, we broke out Settlers of Catan. I took the win with 5 settlements, longest road, largest army, and a 1 VP development card. Mike was a close second, with 4 cities and a 1 VP card. His cities were placed every 2 corners though, and he would have had to build 2 road segments to accommodate another settlement (all of which required wood, which he had a hard time acquiring). I, on the other hand, had a hard time acquiring ore (Mike was the magnate, but wouldn't trade it to me, so I had to rely on a 3:1 port), which made upgrading to a city difficult. Mike eventually caught on to my strategy of buying as many development cards as possible in hopes of picking up a VP card. I just happened to win that race. Matt was a distant 3rd.

After that, we played Agricola, which Mike had brought over. Unfortunately, Mike had only given the rules a quick read-through so it was figure-it-out-as-you-go, which I don't really care for. Apparently I won by a single point over Matt, but I couldn't really tell you how or why it happened. It seems like it could be a fun game, but large parts of it felt like 3 people playing 3 different solitaire games, which again, is not my favorite.

Last up was Cowboys: Way of the Gun, also one of Mike's new ones. Again, it was figure-it-out-as-you-go, but the this one was pretty rules-light so it wasn't as hard. In one scenario Matt and I attempted to re-create the death of Wild Bill Hickok while Mike figured out the rules. All 3 of Matt's special cards gave him townsfolk as minions, though, so it ended up being a 6-on-1 fight that didn't go so well for me. In the second scenario, Matt and I were a sheriff and deputy who had to face down a lynch mob (16 townsfolk, 1 of whom was removed from the map each turn, and a 'real' character). It ended being a shooting gallery - could Matt and I kill them before they got in enough lucky shots to whittle us down? Answer: yes, primarily due to some well-timed special cards from Matt's hand. Overall, the game felt a little light to be interesting for too long. I would prefer Gunslinger for my western gunfighting needs, even if it is a bit too weighty.

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On Saturday, I played a couple games with the kids. In Carcassonne, Maddie and I ended up tying, with Corry a distant 3rd (we almost lapped him). In Settlers of Catan, I was the winner but I don't recall the details (I think I was distracted by football). Maddie (10) is right at the bottom of Catan's age range so she gets the game, but I think some of the larger strategies elude her (she does just fine at Carcassonne, though). Corry (almost 14) not only gets the game, but actually stopped me from building a settlement only 1 corner away from one of his (I was trying to break up his road) by citing the rules. As a part-time rules lawyer myself, it did me proud.

Friday Five: 1/2

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Call Me" - Blondie
Blondie is one of the first real bands I remember being aware of. My uncle was a big fan, but I think that maybe was as much for Debbie Harry as for the music.

"All of Me" - Willie Nelson
Another selection from Stardust. If you've never listened to the album, you really should.

"Mister Cellophane" - John C. Reilly
From the Chicago movie soundtrack. I think this is my favorite song from the show - Reilly did a great job portraying a sad sack who manages to hold onto just a shred of dignity.

"Gin and Juice" - The Gourds
Bluegrass cover of the Snoop Dog rap. The first time I heard it, I thought it was hysterical - I mean it was gangster rap lyrics with a drawl and backed by banjo and mandolin. About the time it got to the breakdown, though, I realized that these guys could really jam. So, while the song still amuses me, it is also a pretty impressive work on its own merits.

"Hello, I Love You" - The Doors
"Sidewalk crouches at her feet/ Like a dog that begs for something sweet." What?

Cocks Stuffed in Outback

In what has been the only bright spot thus far for the Big Ten(-ish) conference this bowl season, the Iowa Hawkeyes beat the South Carolina Gamecocks 31-10 in the Outback Bowl yesterday. The game, which was probably extraordinarily tedious to anyone who isn't a Hawkeye fan (and truth be told, a bit tedious even to fans such as myself), wasn't even as close as the score indicated as Iowa lumbered to a 31-point lead before giving up 10 garbage time points to an anemic SC offense.

Now, the bad news - stud running back and Doak Walker award winner Shonn Green announced after the game that he is leaving school to declare for the NFL draft. Naturally.


Also, my apologies to any confused visitors from Google.