The generally exceedingly hilarious and previously blogged-about Shitmydadsays twitter account is being turned into a tv show that will probably suck. But I’m still ok with it if it means 1. the dad gets paid or 2. the son gets paid because seriously one or both of them probably should be. Oh, there’s going to be a book too I guess.
Archive for November, 2009
Shit my Dad Watches
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Word of the Year
Friday, November 20th, 2009Well, Merriam-Webster’s words of the year list is out, and the numero uno most-looked-up word this year is “Admonish”. The site states that this is due to the usage of the word in the White House’s statement regarding Joe Wilson’s outburst, and it was apparently confused for a purely technical term by many news outlets. I really had no idea it was that rare.
Also near the top of the list is “pandemic,” appropriately enough. Amusingly, “rogue” makes the top ten for the second year in a row. Who knew Palin would be expanding people’s vocabularies?
Hammer
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Perhaps my horror jag has gone on a little longer than a week, but it has been a pleasant surprise stumbling upon some gems from Hammer Film Productions. Hammer was a British production company responsible for the Hammer Horror films of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, featuring, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in many prominent roles. What follows is a summary of my first three Hammer experiences. As a horror fan I’m embarrassed to say that aside from a few clips, I’ve never watched a complete Hammer film until this past week.
I won’t go into too many details, but those looking for some great horror should really check out these films.
Horror of Dracula (1958) stars Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) is another Cushing-Lee double team.
The Devil Rides Out (1968) stars Lee in one of his very few performances as the hero.
In the case of the first two films, I highly recommend them over their Universal counterparts. It’s unfortunate that it has taken me so long to get around to them, but I’m really glad I’ve finally got a taste for Hammer, and it’s a taste that won’t be going away soon.
Games
Sunday, November 1st, 2009Team Fortress 2 has been on sale on steam for $2.50 on and off, so be on the lookout. I was fortunate enough to grab it, though I haven’t played it yet. It’s been one of those games I’ve been meaning to get around to, and since that’s less than what I pay for a sandwich I figured why not.
Torchlight is basically Diablo “II.V”. I’m really torn on whether to laud it for being such fun or deride it for being such a ripoff. There are several improvements over DII (many of which I know from previews will be in DIII) but the core gameplay identical, as you can tell from this Youtube trailer. I’m actually really tempted to list all the similarities but I’d run out of room. Diablo wasn’t exactly a unique game in some ways, but still. Anyway, Torchlight fills the void of waiting, and I wound up getting it after playing through the demo. It actually gives a serious taste of DIII (having 3D animated enemies fly through the air from your powerful attacks instead of just doing The Death Animation is even more satisfying than I thought it would be). All it needs is a horadric cube. Or… wait… no, it has one of those too, actually. Nevermind. [Edit: Single player only, though supposedly an MMORPG version will be coming out in a year or two.]