Better

Okay, now that the weekend is well and truly over, I have calmed down and am feeling, as the title suggests, better. On Friday, I went over to Levenworth (pseudo-Bavaria, though they try to pass it off as the real thing. For the love of God, my apartment is more Bavarian than Levenworth!) The purpose of this visit was to see Renee and get stuff between the two of us sorted out once and for all (see previous post). However, first I had to sit through the Sound of Music, in which she was performing. Understand that I do not like this play especially much. I never have. I find it naive and insipid, filled with empty sentiments and trite plot devices. The truth is, the von Trapps had it good as far as the whole Nazi thing goes. The only threat they faced was military service. It's not like they were on the list to go to a concentration camp. I would like to see them singing about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens while being marched through the gates of Dachau, as the guy above them is worked to death, shot, and cremated. Lot of help those warm woollen mittens are going to do now, huh? Don't feel so bad? As I said, naive and trite. Did I mention I'm a horrible person? At any rate, I had the temerity to mention this to the cast members, who came over to Renee's after the show to hang out. They thought it was funny, so that's a relief. In the process of this, I got to meet Renee's new boyfriend (see previous post), and truth be told, he was a likeable and cool guy, from my interactions with him, at least. As much as I wanted to dislike him, I could not do so in all honesty. The next morning, i made Renee breakfast, and we got to talk over our issues. I had known all along that she had to make the right decision for her, and while I had hoped (in vain, as it turned out) that I would be that right decision, I was realizing that I most assuredly was not. Once we got that out of the way, I proceeded to tell her that she and Brian had my blessing to continue with their relationship. That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt a bit, but at least it's over with. Thus, I left for Spokane again Saturday morning, and needed a good drink with Ryan and Trev when I got back. We went to Fizzie's and had a few, and it was better.

Sunday, I did laundry and watched Fantastic 4. While I was never a huge fan of the FF in their comic incarnation, I have to say that it would not have hurt the movie to stick with some of the comic book elements, such as the origins of Dr. Doom (Reed Richards' Latverian college room-mate, horribly disfigured in a scientific experiment gone awry, dawns a suit of armor for the rest of his life to hide his scarred visage. No powers, just really awesome armor that does everything he needs it to). There was no need to give Doom powers. It was as if the movie was made by people who had only a passing familiarity with the FF, as in, oh, them. Doesn't that Doom guy have powers or something? Matters were not helped by the fact that they decided to make Doom into a scheming CEO on the outs a la Norman Osborne in Spiderman (seriously, the two characters are almost exactly the same), except that Willem Dafoe is always an interesting and complex actor, whereas Julian MacMahan was just over the top and one-dimensional. That said, there were some things that the movie did right, mainly Human Torch and the Thing. Human Torch has always been the coolest character in the FF, mainly because he actually gets out and about, and has a good time. The movie does a good job capturing this, but not enough to carry the movie. The ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing was also a plus, namely because of the performance by Michael Chiklis (even though the suit didn't look to great). The movie is at its best when Torch and the Thing are on-screen together, though that is not as often as would be best. Reed and Sue are somewhat stale, though. The problem is that Reed Richards is in many ways the father of the Marvel Universe. Whenever anybody in the 616 has any sort of trouble, especially if it's scientific in nature, they go to Mr. Fantastic. Why? Because he's wicked smart and knows a thing or two about life. However, in the film, Reed seems more like a socially-stunted idiot who spends all his time with his lab-toys. Sue never really comes alive, and even though we are told that she is an expert in genetics, we almost never see her display her expertise. Instead, she just reads a machine display. The result is that she is almost as invisible on-screen as her name would suggest. Granted, Jessica Alba fills out the spandex quite nicely, but her character remains flat as paper.

Other news: started the game Advent Rising for X-box. It's got a story by Orson Scott Card, one of my favorite authors, which helps to make up for the insane amount of bugs and the choppy cut-scenes. However, the choppyness of the cutscenes actually make sense, because they double as the loading screens. So while the huge battle is raging on-screen, your machine is busy loading up the actual level for you to play. The long and short of it is that you don't have to wait for both a movie and a level to load separately. The gameplay itself is quite smoothe, making it so that all of the weapons in your arsenal are easily accessible and fun to use. One interesting aspect of the game is that the more you use a weapon, power, or ability, the better it becomes. Whereas in many RPG's, you build XP and then spend your points on whatever you want, with this game, you level up each ability separately. How do you build up your jumping ability? Jump around a bunch. How do you get good with a particular gun? Use it. How do you master energy projection? Practice. Thus, every ability makes sense. The most fun aspect of the game, though, and the true center-piece of the action, is the psionic powers. Basically, you become a Jedi. All you need now is a lightsaber,and you're set.

Other other news: Bowser and I did some more painting on Wyma's office yesterday. We're almost done. Next time we'll paint the shelves and put everything back the way we found it...joy.