I could come up with a wicked awesome title if I really felt like it, but I don't, so I won't.

So I started playing Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders the other day. I have to say, this is one of the best takes on both the RTS and the action/brawler genres I have ever seen. You control a general in a medieval fantasy setting. Unlike most RTS games, the player is not some strangely omniscient but faceless general, but rather one specific character with a unique set of special abilities. You start out with a squad of infantry, and then add archers, sappers, cavalry, and paladins to your command. Each squad can be moved individually, and use unique abilities. However, once your primary infantry squad enters melee with an opposing force, the play-style switches to a more action-oriented mode, wherein you as the general go in and whoop some serious ass, showing why they promoted you. Each type of squad has its own particular uses. Infantry is basically your straightforward melee combat unit. Paladins are like a slightly weaker infantry with the ability to heal. However, healing and other holy magics can only be used outside of melee. Thus, you generally want to keep your paladins out of melee whenever possible, so they can restore your other forces. Archers are basically useless in melee, so you have to keep them back a ways, peppering enemy units from long range with arrows and fire arrows. Sappers are pretty much non-combatants, but are incredibly useful for devising traps, setting explosives, and lighting stuff on fire. Cavalry is quite effective against opposing infantry, and is best used to charge, then withdraw, and then charge again. However, if they get caught up in protracted melee, they are simply easy targets. And I haven't even mentioned the spearmen, bombers, and griffon riders. At any rate, definitely a title to look for. It has a sequel coming out at the end of this month. I will be most interested. But what do I know?

Long-ass weekend

Yes, it was in fact as the title asserts, a long-ass weekend. Mom, Dad, Anna, and Andrew came out on Saturday. Egads, but they do like to suck up my time. We met for dinner Saturday night downtown, and generally just hung out. Anna needed some of her stuff stashed in my flat, so we then loaded a whole shit-ton into my room. Apparently she's gotten quite paranoid. We then met up with James's family for dessert, which was fun. Sunday morning rolled around, which meant time for personal piety. My parents are big on it. I'm not, but I go with them for their sakes. Then we went to lunch with Trev. Pursuant to that, I took Andrew to the mall for a bit. My ever-uninformative little brother seemed to derived at least some modicum of enjoyment from the proceedings. Mom, Dad and I then sat down and had one of those famous chats that they love to give. After that, we went to dinner. Following that, I returned home, and hung out with the visiting Dunc. That is always fun. Then Justin showed up, and it was UNex time. A good time was had. Monday was spent moving Anna's stuff into her dorm. Unlike me, she likes to use the rest of the family as a sort of moving service. We had to go in and re-arrange the room and change the way her room-mate had set everything up. In the process, I managed to inadvertantly offend her RD. All I noted was that humming "jingle bells" was just a tad out of season for my tastes. Apparently that pisses the woman off. How was I to know? It was just a simple observation. At any rate, we then ran all sorts of errands for Anna, getting her groceries and the like. During lunch, I received a call from Decken, indicating that he was back in town. After a bit of telephone tag, we decided to hang out in the evening. So we did. Tuesday was rather dull, so I won't bore you with the details. And here I sit, telling you about nothing.