Thursday, September 30, 2004
Having written so much about yesterday while yesterday was still going on, I find myself with little to say this morning. Which is fine. Time to give it a rest. If only for a few hours.
At last count, 104 people had voted in the "Best Novel" poll. Yeah, this thing was about as scientific as a creationist textbook, but it was still interesting. If we pretend these numbers carry any sort of actual statistical significance, then Low Red Moon would be my most popular book so far, with 46 of the votes. Threshold comes in second at 24. Silk and Murder of Angels tied with 16 votes each, and The Five of Cups came in last with only 2. The reasons that these numbers don't really mean a great deal, the many biases involved, the shortcomings of the methodology, etc. are, of course, too numerous to mention. I could start with the fact that Sissy has confessed to having voted twice. But what I find interesting is that, if we omit the results on Murder of Angels, citing its very recent release, the places where the books fall out perfectly express my own feelings about each novel relative to the other. Of those first four, Low Red Moon is by far my favorite, with Threshold in second place, Silk behind it, and The Five of Cups at the rear. It's an interesting coincidence, if you believe in coincidences.
Anyway, my grateful thanks to everyone who took part.
Today is a "day off," which means that as soon as I attend to a few writing-related e-mails, I can do with this day as Spooky and I please. She's leaning towards the botanical gardens. I'm leaning towards a bar stool.
Argh. These frelling allergies!
Last night, we watched the pilot episode of Dead Like Me, which we both found quite entirely delightful. I wasn't sure whether I'd like this one or not. I'd avoided all the reviews, etc., so I had no notable preconceptions. I thought it was very funny, and the ending of the pilot actually gave me chill bumps. It helps that I'm a Mandy Patinkin fan from way back. Between Dead Like Me and the entry tagplazen made about LSD, ferrets, and dildoes, I laughed much more yesterday than is healthy. After the DVD, I tried out Armed and Dangerous. This is far from the perfect game, but it is a lot of fun. Think the events of Star Wars run through a blender via some "Unrealized Reality" and spat out in something that bears a very vague resemblance to a Monty Python skit or a Terry Gilliam film. Having seen a review of this title on G4, I knew pretty much what I was getting into. Lots of moments where Lucasarts is allowed to poke fun at the cherished franchise, but the game ultimately seems to pull its punches. Which isn't a shock or anything, just a disappointment. The action's nice, the animation's so-so, the weapons are cool (though we're not talking Ratchet and Clank here), but the game is loaded with invisible walls, which gets frustrating very quickly. Probably worth a rental, especially if you, like me, just get a kick out of blowing shit up.
Okay. I think that's about it. Eat your Wheaties.
11:29 AM
Comments:
Post a Comment
