Sunday, November 16, 2003
Weekends exhaust me more than weekdays. Since the only time I can do ANYTHING are weekends, I stay up all night trying to do everything. I still have this huge stack of downloaded TV shows to watch, new games to play, and new DVDs to watch. And that's just new stuff -- there are a lot of old games I'd like to play (and FINISH), old movies I have the itch to see, and old books to read. Oh, and people to be with.
I've spent every free second (when I'm reheating midnight snacks, etc) re-reading Harry Potter, for instance. I haven't touched any of them since reading Order of the Phoenix for the first time in the summer, and figured I'd go through it again now that I've had more than enough time for my initial thoughts to settle on it. And when I finished it, I realised that I hadn't read the other four in ages, so started on them again. Oddly enough, just as I started reading Prisoner of Azkaban the trailer for the movie came out. I mentioned it and the new director last time out, but reading the books has me more excited especially since the previous movies followed the books to the letter, but the trailer alone for Prisoner of Azkaban shows new scenes and heavy modifications for older scenes. There's a change to the general atmosphere too (love the way the uniforms aren't "perfect" anymore -- anyone who's gone to a British school will like the way ties and shirts are horribly untidy now) and it looks slightly more surreal and stylistic. I can't wait to see more, especially since little was shown of the new characters. Sirius Black was given a brief outing and doesn't look bad (even though I STILL think Sean Bean would make a PERFECT Sirius), and Gambon's Dumbledore has the briefest of looks, but there's nothing of Emma Thompson's Professor Trelawney (ironically the best casting job since Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart), Paul Whitehouse's Sir Cadogan or one of the most popular characters in the series, Professor Lupin. June 4th is a long time to wait... but then again, I've been waiting for The Incredibles' November 2004 release ever since the teaser came out in May, so it could be worse.
In DVDs, I managed to score the big bad Special Extended Edition DVD of The Two Towers, complete with an extra disc on the creation of Gollum and a neat Gollum statue. It's not as cool as the Pillars of Argonath that came with the Fellowship of the Ring, but it's still superbly crafted -- hell, the whole set is superbly crafted, right down to the little paper insert that lists the chapters. In most DVDs, it's just one side of paper that lists chapters. This one not only lists the chapters, special features AND shows them in a menu tree so you know how to access each feature without pecking through the menus... it's also printed on brown paper that has the look and texture of an ancient, faded document. It's such a small thing, but it shows the attention to detail evident in the whole series. Mind you, I'm not planning on watching the DVD any time too soon: I've resolved to save it until the day when I can watch the Fellowship of the Ring Extended DVD, then Two Towers Extended DVD, and then run to the cinema to watch Return of the King. Sad? Probably. But I'm not alone. My friends and I pretty much agree that Return of the King will probably be the best movie we've ever seen. It's unfair to heap that much expectation on a film, but really... can you blame us? Can you blame us when the first two were fantastic, and that even the mere TRAILER for the last one gives me goosebumps?
Speaking of goosebumps... I saw episode 3 of 24's third season. It's finally ramping up. The first two episodes introduced a lot of new characters and a lot of interesting plot threads, but were effectively treading water in 24 terms. There was little urgency or tension. Not anymore. It's all kicked off now, the twists are coming thick and fast, and the general tension level has gone way up. Episode 4 comes out on Tuesday...
Aside from working on a super-secret special project (totally unrelated to work!), I've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on GameCube. And I reviewed it for 1UP on Friday. You can find the review here. I'm a bit miffed about that Second Opinion (which I was totally unaware of until it went up), not because it differs from my own -- that's what a second opinion is for, after all -- but because it's nonsensical flamebait. "Recycled crap" with no depth, fixed gameplay and primitive graphics... that's straight 5.0-7.5 (ie, "average" to "above average") material? That doesn't make any sense, and is indicative if anything of someone unloading on a game to spark heated debate. In any case, my review didn't quite spark off the same firestorm as the Kirby Air Ride review, which in some ways is a bit of a pity because I rather enjoyed that! Incidentally, something else to enjoy on 1UP are these classic reviews from EGM of Super Mario Kart in 1992, Mario Kart 64 in 1997, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit in 2001. I love that Super Mario Kart review... it tells you virtually nothing. How times have changed, eh?
Posted at 11:22 PM
