Buys
Though I haven't read a lot on my month's vacation, I did note that I only had three Doctor Who New Adventures left on the shelf, and by all accounts, not the strongest ones (Blood Harvest and Strange England), except First Frontier I think. So I went on eBay and found me the next five after that, all from authors I've enjoyed before. That gives me a kick in the pants to get me through the aforementioned novels. The titles: St. Antony's Fire (Mark Gatiss), Set Piece (Kate Orman), Warlock (Andrew Cartmel), Parasite (Jim Mortimore) and Falls the Shadow (Daniel O'Mahony).
As for DVDs, the BBC got a lot of my money, with both the Ultimate Blackadder collection and Being Human Series 1. And I shored up my Kung Fu classics collection with Chang Cheh's Ten Tigers of Kwangtung.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: You know, if I'd seen more than 3 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my entire life, I'd be surprised. And I'm probably counting the movie in that number. But Firefly and Dr. Horrible made me Whedonite enough to grab all seven seasons on sale. Now that I've gulped down the short first season, I can confirm that I don't regret the purchase. Sure, the plots are silly, but that's not why you'd watch Buffy. The dialog is crisp and fun, and the villains have a goofy charm. I look forward to delving into later, better seasons. The release has a very good commentary track by Whedon on the two-part pilot, and rather short interview pieces with him and David Boreanaz that barely averages one anecdote per episode.
I also flipped The Enforcer (not the Jet Li film, but the third Dirty Harry movie). While it doesn't have a real catchphrase or particularly memorable showdown with a "punk", it has a much tighter plot structure than the first two films. The real reason to watch it though is Tyne Daily as Harry's Lady Cop partner. She's wonderful in this early role, which doubtless played a part in the creation of Cagney & Lacey. The theme of bureaucratic impediments carries from the other films right to a comico-tragic ending. The DVD has an anecdote-filled commentary by the director, a vintage featurette and a good piece on violence in cinema.
On Kung Fu Friday, we watched Jet Li's so-called "last" martial arts epic (actually only his last wushu-focused film), Fealess. It's a love letter to wushu retelling the life of famed master Huo Yuanjia and constructing a counter argument to Fist of Fury/Legend, revenge films that start with Huo's murder. Without a doubt, I've never seen better acting from Jet Li. He creates a whole character here, and doesn't rely on his usual stone-faced persona. Fearless is to Jet Li what Ip man is to Donnie Yen, if that means anything to you. We actually watched the Director's Cut, which has 35 minutes over the theatrical release, including a lot more texture to the village scenes and an ultimately smile-inducing cameo by Michelle Yeoh (watch the credit sequence). Aside from this superlative version of the film, the release is a bit disappointing. The Theatrical and International cuts are both included, but the latter has barely a minute more, just being slightly more bloody. The theatrical version has a very different structure and completely different (poorer) translation, so is worth watching for its own sake. The deleted scene on that disc is restored in the Director's Cut anyway, and the 16-minute featurette is Hollywood through and through (though not without its insights).
RPGs: We played Evernight twice this week (it's just the way the schedules came out), as what I call the set-up finally winds down. From here on out, the world is established and the players should be able to explore it more. In the first session, I made use of instant karma as a character too greedy for loot got his favorite weapon stolen. This has actually created an intriguing subplot for the group as tensions between them intensify. I sure hope the character's player has an interest in giving himself an "arc" with this. The second session required a certain amount of trust from the players. Forced into slavery by overwhelming enemies (avoidable, but since they didn't...) was really a chance to have them learn more about the enemy (a holdover from my recent Doctor Who RPG days). It also gave me a chance to introduce the concept of Savage Worlds Allies (players control all forces on their side), which of course, will continue to play a role in the game (escalating to mass combat?).
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 18 new cards pulled from Planet of the Ood, lots of Ood support
Hyperion to a Satyr entries this week include:
I.v.The Ghost's Tale - The Banquet
I.v. The Ghost's Tale - Classics Illustrated
I.v. The Ghost's Tale - French Rock Opera
Though I haven't read a lot on my month's vacation, I did note that I only had three Doctor Who New Adventures left on the shelf, and by all accounts, not the strongest ones (Blood Harvest and Strange England), except First Frontier I think. So I went on eBay and found me the next five after that, all from authors I've enjoyed before. That gives me a kick in the pants to get me through the aforementioned novels. The titles: St. Antony's Fire (Mark Gatiss), Set Piece (Kate Orman), Warlock (Andrew Cartmel), Parasite (Jim Mortimore) and Falls the Shadow (Daniel O'Mahony).As for DVDs, the BBC got a lot of my money, with both the Ultimate Blackadder collection and Being Human Series 1. And I shored up my Kung Fu classics collection with Chang Cheh's Ten Tigers of Kwangtung.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: You know, if I'd seen more than 3 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my entire life, I'd be surprised. And I'm probably counting the movie in that number. But Firefly and Dr. Horrible made me Whedonite enough to grab all seven seasons on sale. Now that I've gulped down the short first season, I can confirm that I don't regret the purchase. Sure, the plots are silly, but that's not why you'd watch Buffy. The dialog is crisp and fun, and the villains have a goofy charm. I look forward to delving into later, better seasons. The release has a very good commentary track by Whedon on the two-part pilot, and rather short interview pieces with him and David Boreanaz that barely averages one anecdote per episode.
I also flipped The Enforcer (not the Jet Li film, but the third Dirty Harry movie). While it doesn't have a real catchphrase or particularly memorable showdown with a "punk", it has a much tighter plot structure than the first two films. The real reason to watch it though is Tyne Daily as Harry's Lady Cop partner. She's wonderful in this early role, which doubtless played a part in the creation of Cagney & Lacey. The theme of bureaucratic impediments carries from the other films right to a comico-tragic ending. The DVD has an anecdote-filled commentary by the director, a vintage featurette and a good piece on violence in cinema.
On Kung Fu Friday, we watched Jet Li's so-called "last" martial arts epic (actually only his last wushu-focused film), Fealess. It's a love letter to wushu retelling the life of famed master Huo Yuanjia and constructing a counter argument to Fist of Fury/Legend, revenge films that start with Huo's murder. Without a doubt, I've never seen better acting from Jet Li. He creates a whole character here, and doesn't rely on his usual stone-faced persona. Fearless is to Jet Li what Ip man is to Donnie Yen, if that means anything to you. We actually watched the Director's Cut, which has 35 minutes over the theatrical release, including a lot more texture to the village scenes and an ultimately smile-inducing cameo by Michelle Yeoh (watch the credit sequence). Aside from this superlative version of the film, the release is a bit disappointing. The Theatrical and International cuts are both included, but the latter has barely a minute more, just being slightly more bloody. The theatrical version has a very different structure and completely different (poorer) translation, so is worth watching for its own sake. The deleted scene on that disc is restored in the Director's Cut anyway, and the 16-minute featurette is Hollywood through and through (though not without its insights).
RPGs: We played Evernight twice this week (it's just the way the schedules came out), as what I call the set-up finally winds down. From here on out, the world is established and the players should be able to explore it more. In the first session, I made use of instant karma as a character too greedy for loot got his favorite weapon stolen. This has actually created an intriguing subplot for the group as tensions between them intensify. I sure hope the character's player has an interest in giving himself an "arc" with this. The second session required a certain amount of trust from the players. Forced into slavery by overwhelming enemies (avoidable, but since they didn't...) was really a chance to have them learn more about the enemy (a holdover from my recent Doctor Who RPG days). It also gave me a chance to introduce the concept of Savage Worlds Allies (players control all forces on their side), which of course, will continue to play a role in the game (escalating to mass combat?).New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 18 new cards pulled from Planet of the Ood, lots of Ood support
Hyperion to a Satyr entries this week include:
I.v.The Ghost's Tale - The Banquet
I.v. The Ghost's Tale - Classics Illustrated
I.v. The Ghost's Tale - French Rock Opera
Comments
I do like Jet Li more than i ever expected i would. Have not seen this one, but will have to check it out. Unleashed as well.
You've definitely got some great stuff ahead of you!
I'm pretty far from high school, but I do appreciate the effort (it's not just monster of the week, thought has been put into it), even if I don't empathize with the teens.