While certainly enjoyable, I wouldn't rate it higher than a few other things in my life. Perhaps I'm just not doing it right.
: - (

I feel so darn special here. I haven't been around much due to being crazy busy. Work, home, garden, everything. Spring will do that.
My garden is just dandy, thank you. It only gets harmed if we get a hard frost right after the tender new leaves emerge, which we haven't. And even then, most plants have enough reserve "food" to push out a second batch if need be. No worries!
Nan's birthday is tomorrow. Every year I get screwed(Leave the gutter, please) due to proximity of her birthday to Mothers day. I end up buying a batch of gifts, then deciding which goes with which. Then I have to come up with some special breakfast that Benjamin and I will make for her on Mom's Day. I rocked it last year with this awesome Chocolate Cherry Coffeecake. Not sure how I'll top it. The stress! It burns!

We've s l o w l y been going through Season 2 of Game of Thrones. Just watched Blackwater last night. It was pretty darn good, but I couldn't help but think how much better it could have been in a 2 hour time slot. The ending was so darn abrupt. That's the one thing I didn't like about it. They needed another 20 minutes or so to flesh it out.

Been watching all the new eps of Doctor Who as well. Kind of fun, but nothing amazing. I wish Moffat would stop with the whole mysterious companion thing.

Yup. Downtown Chicago in the Summer is awesome for this. We do work at some of the colleges, and I know our guys like going there just for that reason.

The Last of Us comes out June 14th. I have a feeling that's not really your kind of game, though.

I don't quite get what you mean by this. Are you criticizing people for going outside? Or for buying more games during the Fall/Early Winter season?
When I was younger, the time of year didn't affect my game playing at all. Sure, we'd play outdoors plenty. But I also spent gobs of time playing games. *sinks into Summer Nostalgia*
Now I spend more time playing games during the Winter months, due to my landscaping/gardening lifestyle.
I rarely buy games upon release, anyways. I'm happy to wait for a more opportune time, and a better price.

Not much time for gaming lately. Despite this, I ordered the new Tomb Raider after seeing it for 38.50 on Amazon. I look forward to playing it.

I haven't had much time to post lately. Spring will do that to a mad gardener and landscaper.
My pathetic body is still totally sore from walking all over the University of Illinois campus on Saturday. My wife was in the Illinois Marathon, and I dragged the kid around to their gardens and arboretum. Too bad it was miles from the hotel. Oops.
The place was impressive, and so damn sprawling. Really made me happy I never went there like a lot of my colleagues. I just can't stomach large colleges/universities with thousands and thousands of students. Just feels like an ant colony. Plus, the whole obsession with their sports teams would drive me crazy.
On the upside, there sure were plenty of attractive young ladies about. Causes the eyes to wander a bit too much. Good thing Nan was off running. I wonder what my 12-year old was thinking. He hasn't shown much interest in the opposite sex yet, but I recall being 12, and I KNOW that I already had crushes by then. He's just such a quiet kid. We'll see.

Dude, you should have posted this in the Soundroom or General. I don't know if a whole lot of people check out the Brush and Quill section.
Plus, it's music related and, well, Soundroom says it all.
But, hey, you get Neals input, and that's all you really need. Sarcasm? I think not!
(Just messin')
; - )

Feast of Crows was a bit of a slog, but still pretty darn good compared to many other series. I would never call it bad, by any stretch. The real problem is that it's missing certain perspectives. And the ones you get in turn are not a fair trade.
Like many others, I just had to keep going. Fortunately, I found book 5 a bit better. Especially the latter half.

Yeah, I have to say that Todd has changed quite a bit from way back then. I remember you being pretty much nothing more than a troll. Or at least not very prone to mature conversation and discussion.
My only real change is that I hardly ever get to play all the games being discussed. And most certainly not any classic-type rpgs. That whole responsibility thing. Or different priorities, anyway.
Nowadays, unless a review extolls the virtues of a games brevity I chalk it up as yet another game I'll never play.

Indeed I did miss the point

I have yet to find a reason to get a 3DS. Now I have one. This looks beautiful. Although I'm a bit iffy on the "turning into a drawing" business. It just doesn't seem to jive with the "rules" of this world. We'll see.

Melancholia -
Right from the start this was one bizarre as hell movie. We have a weird, slow motion opening that is obviously all symbolism for what's to come. Then we transition into some fancy pants wedding reception.
Something is going on with the Bride( Claire), and we wonder what's up with her, and her relationship with her new husband. She acts like an out of it drug addict for most of the movie, leaving us wondering how her new husband ever fell in love with her in the first place.
I was confused about all the side characters and who was related to whom, and how. I remained confused all the way to the end.
Then after this horrible reception, we are suddenly dealing with a rogue planet on a collision course with earth. No one truly knows if it will pass by, or score a direct hit. We deal with the reactions from everyone, good and bad, to this circumstance.
All throughout this, Claire continues to act like a strung out druggie, and Michael is nowhere to be found. We never get any explanation for any of it.
I believe this whole thing is supposed to be "arty" and open to interpretation. Too bad I found it to be overly long, pretentious, and filled with characters that I cared nothing for. A little backstory might have helped, but we get nothing. It feels like two different movies slammed together, with many of the most important parts spliced out. Not good.
P.S. I just don't get the Kirsten Dunst thing. She can be a decent actress, but I've never found her attractive at all. So it's weird when people in the movie keep calling her gorgeous and beautiful. Reminds me of the scene in The Dark Knight when The Joker was talking to Rachel(Maggie Gyllenhaal) and saying how beautiful she is. I love Maggie as an actress, but have never found her to be beautiful. Attractive in a quirky way, yes, but not beautiful.

Damn, I've been busy lately. Not much time for computer stuff, which is probably actually a good thing.
I'm pretty much exhausted after this past week. I'm crazy busy at work(Landscaping in Spring. Duh), trying to get my own landscape/garden in order, and am now doing volunteer work as a U of I Extension Master Gardener. I haven't had much time to game at all. Bummer.
It was awesome out today. Hovered around 70 all afternoon. I managed to get my son involved with getting all my seeds potted and set up, so that felt good. He's kind of grown out of wanting to help me in the garden, so whatever we can do together nowadays, I savor. He's such a great kid.
Congrats everyone on all your accomplishments. It's great to see people getting things done. I know how good it feels to kick ass at something and want to share it with the world. It's hard to be humble sometimes. Today, I had a lady pull over her car and tell me how much she loves my garden, and looks forward to seeing it when she's out walking. It feels good to be recognized for all my hard work.
Neal, my wife runs pretty much every day. Her goal this year is to run 1500 miles. She just hit 500 today. She's running her 3rd marathon in two weeks. She's not all that fast, but has tons of determination.
Women DO look damn good in those black yoga/spandex/whatever they are pants, don't they? My wife wears those, and I quite enjoy it when she does.
: - )

Mr Smith Goes to Washington -
Trying to catch up on my movie reviews. I watched this over a week ago, but haven't had time to sit down and write a review.
I'm amazed at how relevant a 1939 movie is to modern politics. Every politician should be made to watch this before taking office.
Jimmy Stewart isn't exactly the worlds greatest actor, but his whole "aw shucks" routine works well for him here.
I'm not sure I'd call it a great movie, but I certainly liked it quite a bit. I don't see it's central theme ever not being necessary, so that alone makes it worth a watch.

Sophie's Choice -
Man, this was a long one. I'm surprised it took so long to see this, but I suppose the topic is what kept me away. I figured, like Mr. Smith, that I had to see it eventually.
The most amazing part of the movie is Meryl Streeps transformation. She was incredible. The accent. The mannerisms. She obviously did her homework, and became this woman. The movie was worth seeing just for her performance.
I never did get the romance between Nathan and Sophie. Seems to me that he was simply taking advantage of a under-privileged woman who had nowhere else to go. But he was quite a bit "off" himself, so I guess the pairing kind of worked.
Oddly enough. I didn't know what Sophies "choice" actually was before seeing this. I thought it was about having an abortion or something. What ti really was would haunt you for the rest of your life. This movie floored me once again at the depths of depravity the Germans stooped to back then. I truly wonder how any of these men slept at night.
The movie certainly dragged in spots, and really could have been edited down to 2 hours without any loss of theme, or characterization.
Despite the melancholy the movie brings about, I'm glad I finally saw it. Definitely a good movie, but far from the classic I was expecting.

Rise of the Guardians -
This was a bizarre combobble of a movie. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost, as a team of Guardians(super heroes, really) . Facing off against the Boogey man, known as Pitch Black here, to save the world from darkness and despair.
How could this possibly work? Well, it actually does, for the most part.
We get much more interesting versions of these characters than previously known. Santa(North, here) wielding samurai swords? The Easter Bunny with an Aussie accent busting things up with boomerangs. The Sandman, who doesn't talk, somehow being the most interesting(and powerful?) character.
This is wild, creative stuff. Fortunately, the filmmakers took advantage of this premise, and made a fantastic looking movie, with some great scenes. I imagine it works pretty well in 3D.
It actually kind of feels like The Avengers Lite. This is not a bad thing.
Pitch Black, while seeming familiar, is still one cool baddie.
The movie does suffer from far too many cliches, and story predictability, but I still enjoyed it. I wonder about the possibilities for a sequel. Groundhogs with superpowers? Leaping Leprechauns? Turkeys out for revenge? The possibilities demand it!