Monday, October 18, 2004

Cubicle Gnomes

Yes, I do realize that it's been a large space of time between this post and my last. I've been busy and also took some time off from work to spend with Kristin since she was nice enough to come down and visit me over her long weekend break from college. In an attempt to catch up, I'm going to simply toss whatever comes to mind up in this post and hopefully you'll find something interesting.

Just in time for Kristin to come visit, the weather turns really cold, windy, and totally sucktastic. Because of the wonderful conditions outdoors that Mother Nature decided to gift us with, we spent most of the time indoors. In being cooped up indoors, we managed to play some video games, watch some movies, do some reading, and just indulge our laziness. Let's look at each of these topics individually, since that's what I feel like doing.

Video game department: Before Kristin arrived, I picked up Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for us to play on the Xbox. It had co-operative multiplayer, so I thought it would be fun for us to play. We actually put in a ton of time playing it (probably 6-8 hours or so) and so far it's been an ok game. It's nothing too wonderful, but it kept us entertained.

While Kristin did some of her homework, I managed to finish up Max Payne 2. I was hoping that it would be a lot better than the first, but it didn't quite surpass it. It also wasn't any worse, though. Pretty much if you played the first, just expect a lot more of the same. There's nothing really new in terms of gameplay or content, just a further exploration of the Max Payne story. That being said, I really had a fun time playing it and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great 3rd person action shooter that actually has a plot (and a pretty good one at that).

Movie department: With our mutual appreciation for the character and the recent passing on of Christopher Reeve, Kristin and I set out to watch all four of the Superman movies over the last few days, but we actually only made it through the first one. We'll just have to finish watching the other three in the box set I got for her when I got up to visit her.

In watching the first Superman movie again, I realized just how far special effects have came in the last 30 or so years. Even with the leaps and bounds forward in special effects, storytelling hasn't gotten too much better, however. The original superman movie is a little cheesy and a little hokey, but overall the story is good. The best parts of the movie are the interactions between Lois & Superman and Lois & Clark. The climax of the movie is somewhat laughable, but could easily have fit into a story written in the comics.

To get out of the house on Saturday, Kristin, Ryan, and me all went to see The Forgotten. Most of the reviews made it out to sound like an ok movie, which is pretty much exactly what it was. I was really enjoying it up until the end, at which point they didn't really explain what was going on throughout the entire movie, thus shattering all of the suspense and mystery that was built throughout. If it wasn't for the totally lackluster ending, I think this would have been a pretty good flick.

Reading department: For this, you should go visit my other blog, Behind the Times. I review what I read there.

Other: Yeah, well, we played some cribbage, watched an episode of Smallville, had dinner with my Grandma, and acted lazy. It was good to have some time off from work to vegetate, but now it's back full bore working as I have a bunch of help files that need to be hammered out right quick. To top it off, while I was out on vacation my cubicle got pranked. Apparently someone or a group of someones decided that it would be neat to move all of my stuff (everything, even my file cabinets), except for my phone and computer, into a closet. I'm thinking I'll just leave everything there and only go get stuff when I need it as I really don't want to redecorate my cube right now.

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