Looong Weekend...

Indeed it was, and I didn’t have a chance to catch up on my much needed sleep as I was busy entertaining. The in-laws are in town and having a wonderful time with my wife and I. My nephew dropped by for an over-night visit. Films were watched, games were played, restaurants perused, jet fighters cheered…oh, and dogs were walked and coffee consumed. But nada mas blogging.

Watched the first two hours of the extended Watchmen DVD last night. So far, so friggin’ cool. I enjoyed the film in the theater enough to purchase it, though I remember being a bit under-whelmed by the Laurie/Silk Specter actress. In the extended version (it’s three hours +!) her character is more fleshed out (extended film = extra scenes), and I am so far pleased all around.

You know in the OLD days, they used to screen three hour plus movie epics (Spartacus, Gone With The Wind) and the theater would give the audience an intermission. Call me Nostalgia’s Champion, but I sure wish our society would stop trying to pump up the quantity over quality (i.e. shorter films = more showings = more ticket $$ potential).

Even my wife, who neither saw the film in the theater nor read the Moore comic, is enjoying it, though there’s a lot more cringe-inducing violence than she expected (extended film = extended brutality also). She finds it intriguing and very interesting for a “superhero” film.

Let’s see, what else…

Saw the Blue Angels air show Saturday, as I try every year. In case I haven’t mentioned this before I am pretty much a complete pacifist in real life. I know the difference between a Colt Anaconda and Python (thank you Vampire the Masquerade!) and I am a military history buff. But in the 21st century, I don’t believe people should be killing other people for any reason. One doesn’t invade a sovereign nation because a handful of criminals blow up a building or two. That’s retarded.

[I know that this is not in line with many gamers’ beliefs on this subject, just as I know that for the last couple decades the U.S. military has had a policy of recruiting “early and often” direct from the gamer community…sorry, folks, it is what it is]

So why would I support an exhibition of U.S. Navy fighter pilots and the splendor of their F/A-18 Hornets? Well, mainly ‘cause I feel it’s the best use we can get out of our military fighter craft. I think the Navy should be doing MORE air shows (and less bombing runs!). Entertainment is different from real life harm, and I can distinguish between the two. If I see dudes dressed up in armor jousting at a renaissance fair, that’s entertainment. Same with folks that reenact civil war battles. Or costumed characters in a film laying the beatdown on some punks.

The challenge, of course, is to teach the younger generation (i.e. kids) to distinguish between the two as well. Plane flying upside-down with landing gear out = fun. Dropping bombs on third world nations whose beliefs are different from you = fucking evil.

Even if humans are a violent species (which I don’t believe is our base nature) we have developed constructive outlets for this: sports, video games, RPGs, martial arts training, etc.

Anyway, I don’t think watching the Blue Angels = war-mongering. If nothing else, I’d rather the pilots (and vehicles) are performing here than dropping bombs over-seas.

Let’s see, what else…

A surprising amount of gaming went on this weekend…probably 10+ hours, all told. My nephews wanted to come over and play more D&D after last week’s introduction to the game, but the older one bagged out when he found out the in-laws were over (he didn’t want to be an “imposition”); the younger one (S.) had no such qualms…which was great, because one of the reasons my wife and I got the bigger house was to entertain MORE people!

We played Dark Tower along with my wife and mother-in-law (all the more fun/interesting because ella no habla inglese! O nada mas…). THEN we played a marathon of Monopoly (hoo-boy! Capitalism at its finest!) wherein S. ended up being the first one bankrupted despite making an early deal to obtain colored properties, and putting up hotels before any of us had a single house! Ah, well. I clawed my way back from dead last to a respectable third place finish, but my wife crushed us all with her Boardwalk and Park Place (mi suegra fue segundo).

We DID play B/X D&D as well…about 6 hours worth (three and a half on Saturday night, and the rest broken up between two sessions Sunday evening). Since S. was by his lonesome, I decided NOT to continue the Keep on the Borderlands without his brother (though we talked about teaming up his Elf with my wife’s Elf, she ended up going to bed…it was a long weekend for her as well!). So instead I had S. roll up a new character, gave him a few extra levels and pulled out X1: The Isle of Dread.

Man O man…can’t wait to post about it!
: )