It’s the end of the world as we know it …

An article by Don Quixote    3 Comments

… and I feel fine.

In shocking news this weekend, I found out that the so called “evil empire” MSN has purchased the rights to make an online version of Settlers of Catan. That’s right my fellow addicts, soon, you’ll be able to cure that jonesin’ online at the drop of the hat. No longer will you have to wait to find three of your friends who are in a gaming mood. Also, it would appear that MSN Games will be offering a stand-alone single player version that you can download.

All this useful information and more can be found at www.catanonline.com. There isn’t a whole lot there, but at least you can download some cheesy Catan based wall papers.

This was a pretty good movie weekend as I had a chance to actually go out of the house again (second weekend in a row) and watch a movie in the theater, so that was kinda thrilling. I also had a chance to break out some dvds that have been sitting on the shelf. Here’s the run down on those:

I, Robot
Overview from movies.com: The story, set in 2035, focuses on a detective named Del Spooner (Will Smith), who is investigating the murder of Dr. Miles Hogenmiller, an employee at U.S. Robotics. A robot named Sonny is the prime suspect; for Sonny to have committed the crime would be a violation of the basic laws of robotics. Dr. Susan Calvin, a psychologist, helps Spooner in his investigation.

I really didn’t have any expectations for this movie at all. I have never read the story that this is based on, and I don’t really recall any of the reviews, other than seeing Will Smith on American Chopper for the I, Robot bike, that was it. Now I like Will Smith, I think he’s a pretty decent guy, but his movies have been a little (okay a lot) flat lately. What was the last movie he did before this one? Bad Boys II? Men in Black II? I mean honestly, since the huge disaster that Wild West Was, has he really made a good movie? All that is to say that my expectations were low.

Wow was I impressed. The movie was actually a really good one. The special effects were amazing, the robots where clean, they had shape and form and a very solid nature and Will did a pretty good job as well. I would say that this was certainly a solid 7. If you’re into special effects you might want to catch this one at an afternoon showing, if not, you’ll certainly want to catch it on dvd.

Kill Bill, Vol. 2
In the follow-up to Kill Bill, Volume 1, The Bride (Uma Thurman) is closing in on the man who shot her at her wedding, Bill (David Carradine), her former boss and lover. Before she gets a chance to fight him, though, she must face The California Mountain Snake (Daryl Hannah) and Sidewinder (Michael Madsen).

If you didn’t catch Kill Bill, Vol. 1, then you’re most likely not going to be into Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Basically this film was Mr. Quentin Tarantino attempt to bring a Japanese comic book “The Bride” to the movies. Now Japan-anime is completely different than what we are used to. It’s an amazing aspect that I know little about, but I certainly want to explore (you’ll see that later on). But the basic plot was this. Uma used to be an assassin, decided to get out, Bill (her boss) tried to kill her at her wedding. 4 years later she wakes up and is pissed. She decides to go kill Bill and the people who helped him. For those who have seen this, man, the eyeball scene was awesome.

Vampire Hunter D
This is Old School anime, circa 1985. Even considering it’s almost 20 years old, I was very impressed. The story was simple, this town in the future is infested with demons and monsters and ruled over by a vampire who has been alive for nearly 10,000 years. A girl gets bitten, and she hires a vampire hunter to kill the guy. This is probably my second exposure really to anime (Spirited Away really being my first), I am constant amazed at the amount of moral platitudes that are subtly expressed at every turn. Good, honor, justice, etc. That and the amounts of blood .

Gungrave
This is totally new school anime, circa 2004. WOW what a difference. The story telling is still much the same, but the animation is just stunning. The color, the detail, the angles are just… wow. The thing I always enjoy about Japanese story telling is that they drop you in the middle of a story and you have to hit the ground running, but they always go back and fill in the story and almost every thread is tied up. This is part of a series so Michelle and I only got to see the first four episodes, but I must say, I’m hooked. Oh, best part the guys name is Brandon Heat.

I made hibachi-Bob this weekend and it was amazing, and Monday is game night. I also finished fixing a computer for one of my bosses, as well as new graphics for the site. All in all, not a bad weekend.