This week I partook of the sweet nectar that is “what everybody else is doing” (versus my usual activity of “mostly working and not much else”). Yes, I picked up a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV: Lord of Illusionsand I went and saw Iron Man on opening weekend.
Iron Man made eleventy-billion-ten dollars and seventy-five cents domestically, and five-twenty times that combined with its international numbers. (I know because I work in entertainment journalism, so don’t get too impressed.) Oh, and the $10.75 was from me, thank you very much. So you know it had to be a good movie, even if our particular screening didn’t show the secret scene after the credits.
Grand Theft Auto IV, on the other hand, lets you punch a bitch out for absolutely no reason. If you’re like me, you do this often enough that it actually gets in the way of your trying to do the missions in the game. Like, I’ll need to get from point A to point B — it’s simple really, just go there. But on the way a homeless man asks me for money, so I hit him with a brick. Then the cops come (since when do cops care about homeless people?) and I have to steal a car for a fast getaway, which makes them even more duty-bound to stop me, or whatever. So now I really need to escape, except I’m not very good at driving yet because I’ve spent most of my time hitting people with bricks. It doesn’t help that in my panic I inevitably grab some delivery van or airline luggage cart. So it takes a ton of time to lose the fuzz, and by then I have to go do something in real life, and I can’t finish the original mission: getting from point A to point B.
You learn a lot about yourself from playing this game, which means it’s educational, which means it’s good for kids.
I realize that because of NaBloPoMo (motto: “Sounds like a disease!”) this has sort of turned into a mini diary, but that’s fine. Why fight it? One of the things Sin Pies has always lacked is focus. Even the name is just some stupid thing I came up with one day while daydreaming in a college Spanish class. It’s two words with many meanings in different languages, but when I put them on the site header, they instantly say nothing. Why should the content below the header be any different?
Jaxon’s birthday was fun, but you know what they say: What happens in West Hollywood (or wherever the hell) stays there, as well as in our minds and hearts and bank records too. The important thing is we helped Jaxon turn 29 successfully.
I love movies about killer insects. Preferably normal insects, rather than giant insects.
Speaking of movies, here’s a retroview for you: Spider-Man 3 is a waste of time. My first thought was: “So sad how the mighty fell.” Then, after some consideration, I realized that none of the Spider-Man movies was truly great. The first one was decent and the second forgettable, but the third was laughable. Not good. Oh Spider-Man 3, how thou art terrible, let me count the ways. About 19. That’s just off the top of my head. There could easily be many more ways thou art terrible.
Anyway, light posts for the next three days while I toil at the slag pit. After that, I’d like to finish the month strong, but I’m not really sure what that means.
Two posts in one day! A 2007 record [SFX: champagne corks popping]. To fit with the theme of this post, I should have written [SFX: Ballatore champagne corks popping]. Because it’s about product placement! And humor! Just watch:
Checking in … so … tired. I’ve been working a lot lately, so it’s pretty much impossible for me to come up with anything worthwhile to post here. What I do, essentially, is read other people’s writing all day. Then I rewrite it. Then I reread what I’ve rewritten. Then I usually rewrite it again. For a typical 500- to 700-word story, this lasts about a half hour, at which time I’ve rearranged it back to its original form (minus the requisite spelling, grammatical, and factual errors, natch) and then go refill my mug with hot water for tea and start the process anew.
What does that have to do with my writing, you ask? If I had even half of my brain functionality right now I’d come up with some awesome analogy to illustrate my problem. But I don’t have it in me. And that’s just it!
Anyway, I’d like to keep this from devolving into a little diary where I say things like, “This week, so far, is the worst” and “I had a burrito for lunch.” (Both of those things are true, by the way. See how I did that?)
I watched The Prestige tonight. Pretty good. Unfortunately I already knew half the ending because of an article I had to edit for work. It was an interview with Christian Bale in which he talked about his approach to the role. A good read, but I would have enjoyed it more if I’d seen the movie before I read it. I guess that’s life in the rip-roarin’ world of Hollywood. And everywhere else, for that matter.
Okay, this is getting dangerously close to becoming a journal entry. Thanks for reading, anyway. It won’t be long before I’m back in the saddle. Or at least back under the saddle. Or whatever you would call what I usually do around here.
This week I partook of the sweet nectar that is “what everybody else is doing” (versus my usual activity of “mostly working and not much else”). Yes, I picked up a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV: Lord of Illusions and I went and saw Iron Man on opening weekend.
