It’s an Impromptu Holiday. Whee? Nope, It’s Just Too HOT to Work…

Posted on July 5, 2013 by geelw

Myahhh. MAN, it’s HOT out. Some like it that way, but I do NOT. “How hot is it?” you ask? TOO damn hot, it’s too damn hot. To be more precise, it’s hotter than Georgia asphalt out, my energy level is draaaaining faster than the Bandy tract (sslurrrrrrrp!) and I think I’m melting. How are you feeling? Hot, hot, hot? It feels like today is the day the earth stood still AND caught fire. I could go on and on with the movie references, but my poor brain has gone and walked on out of my head and is sitting in the freezer taking a nap. And my feet are about to go join it there.

Anyway, back later tonight, or at most, by tomorrow morning to afternoon. I’m so beat that on the way back from shopping with ingredients to make a niiiiice soup, I thought of the time I needed to spend chopping up stuff to toss into a pot, made a detour and had a slice of pizza and the rest of that bottle of formerly ice-cold water I’d been toting around all day.

OK, I did get three insanely hot peppers cut up and into a jar with some oil for later use, but while saving the seeds to plant (hey, free peppers are a side benefit and easy to grow too!), I accidentally rubbed my eye (thankfully after washing my hands) and had a small sun frying one side of my face for a bit. Oh, it’s fine now, but I was about to act out the ending of The Man With the X-Ray Eyes for about five minutes or so. OK, I’m going to take another shower and collapse onto my bed with the fan on. If I pop up later tonight, it’ll be a miracle…

DARK “3D Features” Trailer: Riding The Double Gimmick Wave…

Posted on July 5, 2013 by geelw

This latest trailer for RealmForge’s upcoming Xbox 360 and PC game DARK shows off both modern and “vintage” 3D visual options. I’m still one of those skeptics about that Oculus Rift being anything but a developer’s dream more than a gamer’s go-to peripheral, but that’s because I haven’t tried those damned fancy eyeball curtains and am getting tired as hell of hearing people claim that it’s such a hot deal. I’m sure I’ll get to give the Rift a go one day and be a-mazed out of my skull, but I don’t trust a product without a release date nor a price point that claims to be affordable and the best thing since sliced bread with bacon baked into it. I guess the best thing to do is dig up my ancient cardboard anaglyph 3D glasses and see how that mode hold up as I look into snapping up the more expensive version of that old tech in the future to see if it’s worth what it’ll cost (which probably won’t be as cheap as I’d like). Eh, whatever – if the game is good without the extra distraction of something on my face, it’s a better thing at the end of the day…

Random Film of the Week: Yankee Doodle Dandy

Posted on July 5, 2013 by geelw

Like most Hollywood musical biographies, Yankee Doodle Dandy plays fast and loose with its versions of the facts, but also does a really fine job of keeping you hooked in thanks to great casting, a zippy pace and plenty of great, memorable scenes. James Cagney’s performance as George M. Cohan is thrilling enough (he rightfully won an Academy Award for it), but every other actor playing a major role here does an excellent job or keeping up with Cagney’s fast-talking, speak-singing, loose-limbed portrayal of the legendary multi-talented entertainer.

Released in 1942 to a country recently plunged into the Second World War, the sheer level of flag-waving, heart-clutching, voice booming Pledge of Allegiance patriotism here is eye-popping to the point of unintentionally funny, but it manages to works flawlessly as a morale booster of the highest order. It’s also a pretty decent comedy when it needs to be, as George’s early days are well-played by a young actor who nails his part for some early comic gold before succeeding his part to the snappier, snazzier Cagney.

Continue reading →