Having no big plans for the evening, we next saw Hurt Locker, which was equally outside the standard box that producer think we need. No huge message, no over-reliance on special effects. Really, just an interesting story about an interesting group of characters….. and a ton of violence and shit blowin up. Neither of these movies required the big screen for what they are trying to do, so catching them at home would be no big loss, but neither would leave you feeling like it was a waste of money either.

The Happening
Zooey Deschanel and Marky Mark had the WORST CHEMISTRY EVER in a movie, and I like both of them, but together, they just sucked. And what was with his voice. It was like a parody of the skit on saturday night live. Oh, and don’t zoom in on your actors if your makeup artists are drag queens.

Alas Babylon
Sometimes falling back on the classics is a good thing. This book was amazingly well written, but now I want to dig a bomb shelter! Not sure why they never made me read this in all the literature classes I took to be a well rounded nerd. It was “interesting” to get a view into the world of 50 years ago, where men where different than women, black folk where still black (and great at things that kicked ass when civilization went to shit, not rapping or embarrassing crackers on the basketball court), military vets where respected and appreciated, and our enemies were awesome in their ability to receive a beatdown from big bombs. Many times I thought of my grandparents while reading this book, because their take on values, society, and different types of people where in full effect throughout the book. The author’s ability to create unique and vivid characters was inspiring, and something I will think about if I ever attempt some fiction.

Now, if you don’t have a clue what that means, you may just want to go somewhere else for a few months, as that is what I will be talking about here for a while. Maybe check out that video of a cow eating a baby chicken, or go find some tool chatting about the presidential race as if it really matters in this game of global hot-potato (really, who would want that job, they would have to be as retarded as… well, as the candidates raising their hands and saying they want the job).

I will be focusing on Death Knight mayhem, inscriptions, and general leveling and enjoying the new content. This will be a huge change for me, as I have been multi-boxing for the last month, so going back to playing one toon at a time may be a challenge, but who can resist and opportunity like this to play around with the big expansion to the biggest game EVER. Hopefully I can get the “enjoyment” out of the way so I can powerlevel my butt of when the retail release happens.

Normally, if a game has awkward controls and a difficult to use interface, I give up on it pretty quick because there are plenty of good games out there. This one though is more a reflection of my slovenliness, not crappy coding, so my training persists. I particularly enjoy the insight into my craptastic posture and balance, which probably goes a long way to explain why my back hurts whenever I run a marathon or something.

If you have a Wii, get the Wii Fit. If you don’t have a Wii, this alone would be hard to justify as a reason to buy it, but it is still money better spent than all that other crap you buy, especially if it makes you healthier so you can attract better quality friends.

Of course, when it is all working, it is good fun, especially when you get a fatality mid way through a big pull. A fatality is a nice little reward for killing something with a combo instead of a normal attack, but it only happens if you get a critical strike. The beauty of a fatality isn’t the massive stamina regeneration, but the splattering of blood on your screen followed by a sweet animation of you chopping their head off or plunging a sword in them before twisting it and putting your foot against their chest to pull it out.

Another bonus, in AoC, instead of a surly midget wanting you to go pick up the tools he dropped, it can be a smoking hot babe, sending you to find her sister…..
As you can see, the quality of the graphics are just stunning. Little touches like fish jumping in a waterfall or shadows on the ground from birds flying overhead really make it something worth checking out.

For me though, it wasn’t enough to keep me around. I will probably play a bit more before my subscription runs out to try out my new combo moves (I just hit 40, hence the big war mammoth), but I cancelled my auto-payment for now. Too many bugs. Too few quests. Too little to care about. I have yet to see any meaningful impact from new gear, and the end-game is pretty empty from what I have seen. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever come back, but right now, I have better things to do than beta test their game for them, especially because they don’t seem to care. Maybe I can chat with them about that when I go to Norway to see the old country?