- tuesday 12 28 04 -

Oy vey. The good, the bad, and the ugly, all rolled up in the last several months since my last post.

The worst - 65,000 dead and counting. Unimaginable, and nothing to do but watch the Asian subcontinent sink further into the mire of grinding poverty, overpopulation, and despair. An untenable situation made exponentially worse.

The bad and the ugly - that smug asshole got re-elected. Every time I walk by a Time magazine and see that smirk, I just want to chew nails. Another four years of coffee-can roadside bombs shredding the legs of Guardsmen who've been granted the dubious honor of officiating over the next Vietnam. Another four years of "oh, wait a minute, you mean this deficit thing is something we have to worry about ... ?" Another four years of tax cuts for the rich, non-greased ass-fucking of the middle class and poor, inadequate or non-existent health care reform, continued destruction of the already failing public education infrastructure, redirection of my hard-earned and easily stolen Social Security funds into the flailing market where it can disappear into the coffers of the top tenth of one percent that already have the other 95% of the wealth in the nation, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseaum. And Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and the other oil-crazed pit bulls running the country now are ready to stick our collective foot into the seething anthill of Iran. If it wasn't for the other 500,000 or more civilians living here, I'd pray more heartily for an small clean nuke to go off at about 4AM some day. Then we could let St. Peter and crew determine which road these sorry fuckers get to travel.

The good. As long as I don't follow politics or world affairs, there's actually good to be found. The ostrich-with-his-head-in-the-sand routine only works for a little while, but ...

Games - I now own Halo 2, Call of Duty, Doom 3, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher's Bay. Three of four mix incredible visuals, gameplay, sound, story, and all the other things that make PC and XBox games great, and the fourth brings back the good old days of fighting a shitstorm from the depths of Hell with a handful of grenades and a ferocious 12-gauge shotgun. Halo 2 is in a class of it's own, continuing the gorgeous story arc started in Halo and mixing perfect weapon balance, level design, and rich story-telling to great effect, with the only issue being the abrupt end (which hopefully points to Halo 3 on the horizon). However, the best thing I've touched lately has been The Chronicles of Riddick. I was hooked on Riddick by Pitch Black, and this prequel game is a perfect example of what game developers need to target - cinematic, story-driven games that grab you and put you into an immersive, absorbing world somewhere a long way from your living room.

Movies - finally got a copy of Return of the King, and it is every bit as gorgeous and stunning as the theatrical version, with the added material just piling on the goodness. A perfect ending to the what stands as the best fantasy epic committed to film so far. Just saw Collateral last night, and it was great to see Michael Mann returning to form. This was a perfect showcase for his directing style, with stellar performances by Cruise and Foxx as a charming sociopath and struggling everyman thrown together for a wild night in the Los Angeles jungle. Tight, clean, and polished, this hearkens back to the glory of Thief or Heat, or the best episodes of Miami Vice where you actually gave a damn about those cheesy vice cops and their Ferraris.

More later.

- thursday 11 04 04 -

I am expected to have another long, rambling post on the state of the nation in this post-2004 election week, and I will have that at some point. However, I only have two things to post today, one happy, and one very sad. First, today is my daughter's 10th birthday. Although she's not here with me, I had a chance to talk to her for a while, which as anyone with children knows becomes rarer every day at that age. Sadly, my father-in-law passed away today as well, after a year-long battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed by all of his family and those who knew him. I hope that he is at peace.

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