No...longer...as...awkward?

So, uh...remember a couple days ago I posted about those reports about Dave Arneson being dead, and then it turned out that he wasn't actually dead? Well, uh...it turns out he's dead now. That's a fuckin' bummer right there, dude. No word on whether his having been reported dead on the Internet then contributed to his actually being dead. But even so...I'd hate to be the guy who broke that story, you know?

The things you learn

Okay, so I know I've gotta be super late to the party on this, but I was just cruising around the 'Net on an Eric Roberts kick, and I just learned he is Julia Roberts' brother. I so did not know that. I'm actually...mildly afraid of having learned that fact.

Anyway. The real meat of the coconut was that I also learned that Eric And Julia Roberts were in a Celebrity Deathmatch against Donny and Marie Osmond. Holy crap, man. I so regret not having seen more of Celebrity Deathmatch. Maybe someday they'll have a DVD collection or something. That would be great.

Tax-related injury

Well, I finally put my last year's taxes to rest today, having received the last forms I needed in the mail and having transcribed all the numbers and junk from my scraps onto the necessary, government-approved scraps. I signed things, wrote checks, and got everything ready to send on its way. I slept in a little bit today, having worked last night, so by the time I got everything prepped and made copies, I was running really short on time to get everything down to the post office before it closed. It wasn't really necessary that I get everything shipped out today, but I just wanted to do it because...well, I'm pig-headed, and I got it in my head that I could get everything taken care of today, so I wanted to get everything taken care of today.

I took the Jitney down to as close to the post office as I could get, and by the time I hit the street, I only had a few minutes left before they closed the doors, so I jogged the rest of the way down there just to make sure I made it on time. I haven't talked about this in my entries, but I quit smoking earlier this week, so for the last several days I've basically been lost in a haze of withdrawal. I mention this now because today it felt really good to get my muscles going and pump my healing lungs full of fresh air. It was nice to feel my insides full of clean, essential molecules instead of the usual sensation I experience of what amounts to my mucus membranes being coated in a fine patina of dust and tar.

Anyway. I only bring that up because after that brief adventure in physical activity was over, I realized that, because I am a fat, lazy slob who gets no exercise, I managed to fuck up one of my legs. So I've spent much of the intervening time since then sitting at home on the computer and nursing an injured calf muscle. Oh, but I made it the post office on time, so that was nice; I was the last customer in before they locked the doors. 2008 taxes done and first quarter of 2009 taken care of. Nothing to worry about now in that department for a couple more months.

I celebrated my accomplishment by swinging by GameStop and picking up a few more used GameCube games. Hopefully that'll keep me occupied for a while to come now. At the moment, my couch is a giant mess of discarded tax paperwork and copies of forms. Eventually I gotta sort through all that crap and dispose of it. Until then, I'm basically zoning out and digesting my celebratory meal of Chinese takeout. Overall what I'm trying to get across here is that I did very little with my day today. :)

Peace! Smell ya later.

Bring the Payne

In the original Video Game Movie Project lineup, the House of the Dead series was going to follow DOA, with Max Payne to come after that. It turns out, though, that Max Payne got extra recs and House of the Dead got wee bit panned, so I decided to bump up Max Payne in the queue, and I gave it a screening last night. The short version: pretty good stuff!

( The long version )

So, yeah. Overall, a pretty enjoyable ride, I'd say. There was a lot of over-the-top violence, but it wasn't intense or...overwhelming, really. It was just kind of...there. And violent. And no one cared, if you think about that kind of stuff. Plotwise it was pretty standard fare: renegade cop with nothing to lose, seeking out vengeance at any cost...blah blah. But it was presented well in a nice neo-film-noir wrapping, and it was all pretty stylish and fun. There were lots of shoutouts to Norse mythology. There was Mila Kunis being pretty badass, which I found refreshing. There was also Olga Kurylenko, who, amazingly, is continuing her streak of showing up in movies, getting naked, and almost but not quite having sex with people. (The best in this streak, though? Still Hitman.) You go, girl. There was, actually, Ludacris, but I can't say he really stood out at all, which was unfortunate. And last, but not least, there was Mark Wahlberg, skulking around and frowning all the time, and occasionally gunning people down and not giving a shit. It occurred to me as I was watching this unfold, that Mark Wahlberg is like the perfect Evil Matt Damon. Check it. :)

So that's all for this installment, everybody. When I get around to it, then, the House of the Dead series will be up next. And I think that will pretty much wrap up this marathon incarnation of the Video Game Movie Project, save for the epilogue I'm saving up for the Mortal Kombat series, which I'm sure is quite familiar enough to you, faithful readers. So until next time, everybody. Peace!