Resolution 2004
This year’s resolution is ambitious, considering the move, the car and parenthood, but here we go:
Stay in the black.
That’s it. I’d like to arrange matters such that I end each month with a positive bank balance. It doesn’t have to be a large balance (yet!), but it should be steady.
Guess the Pixelated Superhero Torso
Pixelated Superhero Torso Quiz
I scored 18/21. Read into that what you will.
[via Toast]
Fifty Words: Recap
I’ve reviewed 164 comics, 48 DVDs, 11 movies, 14 books and 11 games. There’s been a definite shift towards short form reading material and DVD-viewing from 2002, which is entirely attributable to Ben – less time for reading, and many late hours spent watching television. What will change in 2004?
Discoveries and Disappointments of 2003
These aren’t strictly Best/Worst lists, because some of those answers are obvious. This is what took my by surprise.
DISCOVERIES:
- Comics: Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan and Planetary.
I overcame my Wildstorm and Doom2099-induced aversion and picked up Transmet at the prompting of a co-worker, but it was Planetary�s metacomics that truly astonished me. - Movie: Laurel Canyon.
The performances hold together like so many facets on a gem. Uniformly excellent. - DVD: Sports Night and Ultraviolet.
These are two terrific TV shows that I missed during their initial runs and wish were still playing today. - CCG: Initial D.
I didn’t get into many new games in 2003, but this one attracted my interest immediately with its sleek design. - Video Game: War of the Monsters and Ratchet & Clank.
Both games feature wholesale destruction; one starts with giant monsters and robots, and the other brings the giant robot for the finale. Hours of gameplay here. - Board Game: Monkeys on the Moon.
A great party game of monkey mayhem. Exactly as wild and humourous as I’d hoped.
DISAPPOINTMENTS:
- Comics: JSA: All-Stars.
This should have appealed to me: an anthology series about heritage in comics history, but I dropped it after two issues. Just a trite bunch of retcons and mini-revelations. - Movie: Hulk.
It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again: There was no excuse for this movie to be thatbad. Somebody stop Ang Lee from writing, and keep him directing! - DVD: The Rules of Attraction and Far From Heaven.
I expect my meta-genre pictures to grab my attention, and, though these started strong, they felt more hollow than they should. - Video Game: Onimusha 2 and X2-Wolverine’s Revenge.
The first is beautiful, the second ugly; both suffer from poor controls, and have fallen to the bottom of my playing stack. - Board Game: The Hobbit.
This is a disappointing hash of die-rolling, peg advancement and useless arrow spinning. Leave out the fake trivia, and you have a good game for 5 year olds.
Boxing Day Madness
Okay, it’s not really madness when much of your shopping is done online with a gift certificate, but I did manage to pick up one item from each of my Buy Nothing Steve forbidden categories – all on sale.
Now the slate is clear for the lead-up to my birthday. wOOt!
The Cutest Reindeer
Weekend Roundup
I was very happy when the bosses closed down the office for Christmas Eve, which gave me more time to get Ben ready for his first Christmas! We loaded what seemed to be his every possession into the car: his high chair, his co-sleeper, bags of clothes, diapers and toys, and all of his cereals, bottles and sundry feeding supplies.
There was so much stuff to bring that we barely had room for us! We piled all the presents on either side of Ben�s car seat, ensured that everything was secure, and then drove up to the Townships in the fog and rain. Aside from the weather, the trip was uneventful but uncomfortable with all that gear. We were happy to arrive at Dina�s folks� place�but not as happy as they were to see Ben!
After a quick snack, we gave Ben a special holiday treat: his first meal of vegetables. Dina had cooked and milled a bunch of organic carrots, and I fed the puree to Ben. The carrots were certainly more flavourful than his usual meals of rice, oats, or barley, but his initial surprise at the taste quickly gave way to eager enjoyment. The only downside to the carrots that we can see is that they stain his bib and his socks (when he makes a mess, he really makes a mess!).
Then, we drove up to the farm to visit Dina�s grandmother, aunt and cousin. There was the usual buffet spread, a gift exchange and a lot of Ben-cuddling by all parties. We had a great visit, and then drove back to the house. We put Ben to sleep before Santa was due to arrive, and then the grown-ups settled down with glasses of eggnog and watched the fireplace show on the local PBS station.
On Christmas morning, Ben awoke with a smile, and we sang him a song (the same song my Grandmother used to sing to us in the morning: �We wish you a Merry Christmas / We wish you a Merry Christmas / We wish you a Merry Christmas / I wonder if Santa was here!�). Then we looked at the Christmas tree lights, admired all the presents, and waited for the present distribution to begin.
Dina set up the video camera to capture the unveilings, I distributed the gifts under the tree, and then we all took turns opening the gifts. Dina had wrapped Ben�s gifts in the lightest, most colourful tissue paper she could find, and Ben cooperated by batting his gifts open and then trying to eat the paper (oh, believe me, there will be pictures soon)!
As always, everyone had a pretty good haul. Ben found some blocks, a stuffed bear from Scott, a stuffed monkey from his parents, and lots of outfits; and Dina and I both received a stack of DVDs to watch over the holidays. But we spent less time looking at our stuff and more time watching Ben enjoy his new sights and sounds.
In the afternoon, Ben took a long nap, Tilly prepared the turkey dinner, and I tried to run some of the DVDs on my laptop, but I experienced technical difficulties. Both Intervideo Windows DVD and Windows Media Player 9 either froze or crashed with each of the new DVDs. When I�m back to my high-speed connection, I�ll try downloading updated versions of both pieces of software. Not that I spend a lot of time watching DVDs on the laptop, but I�d like to know that I can, should the opportunity arise.
Dinner was terrific. Ben had more carrots, and demonstrated more enthusiasm for vegetables the second time around. Snow started to fall during the meal, and he spend the rest of dinner staring out the window, watching the flakes fall.
The rest of the evening sped past in a tryptophan-induced lethargy. Ah�Christmas is good.
The snow kept falling overnight, giving us a very white and windy Boxing Day. I told Ben that today was the day that we put him a box and exchanged him for a set of sneakers. He just laughed at me!
After an initial feed, I gave Ben his bottle and Dina went back to bed for a well-deserved snooze. After the bottle, Ben played a new game with his blocks: �Throw the block as far as I can and see if Daddy can find another one.� He has four blocks, so we played the game four times. And then we settled down for some singing and dancing until Grandma and Poppy woke up.
While we waited for the snowplow to come and clear the drive, Ben put on quite the show for his family: he talked and laughed and tried to eat his toes and his blocked simultaneously, and then jumped up and down on Dina�s lap. When the drive was clear, we all loaded into our cars and headed over to Caroline�s parents. We normally visit once a year, and this year, the whole family was in residence � including Caroline�s brother and his fianc�e, both of whom teach English in South Korea.
It turns out that snow clearing was an issue. The roads in Mansonville were pretty well cleared, but the highway to Caroline�s place had been cleared only once, and was full of drifts, and the road itself didn�t seem to be cleared at all. Lou and I had to push Dina�s car over the snow berm at the edge of the highway, and then we headed up the hill. But without success. Fortunately, a neighbour at the base of the hill let us park the car, and we loaded into the Trailblazer, and used the four-wheel drive to get up the hill. And we needed every last bit of power.
Ben made his best first impressions on Caroline and her brothers, and wowed Wolf and Audrey with how much he�d grown since our last visit. With all the snow outside, the happy baby inside and the roaring fire in the fireplace, we settled in for a long and happy visit. I hadn�t seen Caroline since the wedding, so it was nice to catch up in person.
Then, we made our way towards Sutton to Kuan�s father�s house, where we saw Ryan and Chris, as well as Maggie and Andrew and their kids. Colin and Robert were dashing around the house, playing with an old cache of Transformers and GoBots (and I knew I felt old when I couldn�t figure out how to transform any of these toys into their appropriate form. That and seeing a helicopter Autobot. Since when do Autobots turn into flying vehicles? Well, except for the Omega Supreme space shuttle/station, but I digress�) while Ryan and Ben got re-acquainted.
Ryan is so tall! He�s a very happy, expressive baby with a deep, sustained laugh. Ben cackles and shrieks and hoots without joy, but Ryan has a rolling �Ha-ha-ha� that is utterly charming. The cutest moments were when both babies started grabbing for each other as if they were shaking hands, and when they�d take turns babbling. Clearly, they were conducting high-level negotiations.
Sadly, that visit had to come to an end as well, and we had to drive around the mountain and head back to the apartment. Everyone was pooped after their long day. Ben achieved that mystical state of being �over-tired� and required a lot of extra care and soothing in order to fall asleep. But he did, and the rest of us followed his example soon thereafter.
Saturday was different than the last three years. Usually, Dina and I would be up at some ungodly hour and waiting in line to board the first train to Toronto/Windsor to visit my folks for the holidays (and to see the latest Lord of the Rings movie!), but this is not the case this year. There�s just no way we could manage all the gear and hassle of a two-stage, 10-12 hour train ride. Six hours, maybe. But nothing that takes all day like the Montreal-Windsor run.
Fortunately, Mom and Scott were each able to make a pre-Christmas visit to Montreal, which lessens the sting, but we won�t be seeing Dad this year, which is sad. He can�t get away from work over the holidays, so we�ll send more pictures and videotapes, and make more phone calls, to make up the difference.
Despite our clever plan of only asking for small, portable gifts, we had just as much gear to pack for the return trip as the first. In fact, we left at exactly the same time, but with bright sunshine to guide our way home.
Once we unloaded the gear and consoled the kitties, we set up the video camera and taped Ben opening up his remaining gifts, as well as certain items left in his stocking by Santa (good thing Santa knew all the right addresses!) As always, Ben was completely spoiled, gathering a stack of gifts taller than himself. He as very happy, as were we with our gifts.
Then, we ordered some souvlaki out of exhaustion, and settled in to play one of my gifts from Scott: Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando. Faster, funnier, richer, deeper and much better than the first one. Sweet!
Sunday, as you might imagine, revolved around R&C2. Well, that and Ben�s decision to go without sleep for a really long time. In fact, aside from an early-morning nap, he didn�t sleep from 10 until 8, despite being red-eyed and hoarse from his tired, tired tears. Poor little dude must have missed all the attention and excitement of the holidays.
As for ourselves, Dina and I had grandiose plans for working on the apartment, but the regular upkeep of our current place kept us occupied. Still, a fitting day of rest and closure for the holiday weekend.
If Ben had this much fun at 5 months, imagine how much fun he�ll be next year!
Parents CAN Go to the Movies!
Love, Actually
Exactly as shameless, manipulative and fun as you think it will be. Some of the storylines lack much suspense or punch, while other avoid the easy Hallmark-special resolutions, showing that love is as much an ache as a swelling. My favourite scenes involve the British fantasies and views of America.
Return of the King
Incomplete, but neither imperfect or unsatisfying. I didn’t feel the passage of time through the movie, thrilled to the battle of Pelennor Fields, loved the Smeagol:Deagol::Gollum:Frodo symmetry and cheered for Eowyn with the crowd. I may have wished for different content, but I’ve had the LotR experience I’ve always wanted.
Game Day Recap
Monkeys on the Moon
A terrific game of monkey education, appeasement and rocketry. Players increase the technology of a specific tribe, appease the angered rival tribe with a bribe, and then bid on monkeys to staff their spaceships. The bidding/bribe system is very well balanced and easy to learn, and the advancements are hilarious.
Zombies!
A tile-laying boardgame where you play someone trapped in every zombie movie you�ve ever seen. Roll the dice for movement, for combat, pick up shotguns, ammo and healing, and be the first to reach the helipad to escape. Best news: when you die, simply start again as a new character!
Holiday Movie Watching
Charlie’s Angels II : Full Throttle
I expect less of most sequels, and certainly less of the Charlie’s Angels franchise, but I could never have imagined that they’d make such a charmless excuse for a movie. The principals seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they were the only ones. Even the blithe double entendres fell flat.
Firefly: Complete Series
Joss Whedon�s space Western is a mixed bag of tropes and plots. The love-hate relationship between the captain and the madam inexcusable (even in Whedon’s own commentaries!), but the hackneyed crazy escapee plot became very promising. The three unaired episodes are the best of the lot. Bring on the movie!
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
There�s the seed of a worthy companion piece to the Moore’s series hidden amid this rubble. Remove the Venice sequence, explain why everyone seems to know how to use Nemo�s own inventions, give more screen time to Gray, and we’d have something interesting. The set design and costumes are terrific.
Pirates of the Caribbean
I expected this movie to fun, but I didn’t expect it to be so sly and swashbuckling. Johnny Depp deserves every accolade for carrying the film in his pocket, and the effects team brought my favorite 7th Sea decks to life in the crew (and monkey) of the Black Pearl.
Whale Rider
A rewarding tale of a little girl in New Zealand destined to be a chief, despite her grandfather�s resolute unwillingness to see the signs of her destiny. He wishes to preserve an old order against modernity while she wants to lead her people into new territory, like her mythological namesake.