Quack quack quack

Title is mostly referential of the current weather here. I like rain. Moreso when I can hear it, but it's nice to see it  as well.

So let's see, we watched the PSA that was Hugo (I don't remember the book being quite so Film Preservation Society! as the movie was, but it's been a while since I've read it). The movie was alright I guess, just preachy. There were a few genuinely good moments. Too bad it was filmed from a soap box. Bad Scorsese!

The kids decided to watch The Muppet Movie without me, so I've not gotten a chance to play with the blu ray yet. I want to pause it and watch Statler and Waldorf make with the funny.

Easter was fine and the kids seemed to have a good day. We colored some eggs this year. I opted to make a Portal inspired turret egg.

We picked up the expansion dice for Zombie Dice. One for Santa (he brings you brains for Christmas, possibly his depending how you roll), one for the Hunk (he'll shoot you twice) and one for the Hottie (she runs away a lot. In high heels.). It's more silliness for an already silly game. Brilliant.

The kids have been enjoying Spring Break and lovely wife has the sunburn and bruises to prove it. Hiking! Biking! All manner of -ings! Fortunately it soon draws to a close.

I'm tired of this cough. Can someone please come and take it for me? Kthxbye.

Not nearly horrific enough

So lovely wife and I watched Apollo 18 last night. It had potential. It certainly started off decently and even offered some glimpses that it might be a fun little found footage horror flick set in space. And then it got boring. And didn't really do enough spooky stuff. There were certainly some great moments at the end, but too little too late. Plus I'm still not certain about Moon Spiders being the culprits. So, if you're a die hard found footage fan, this might scratch the itch for a while, but really, there's better stuff out there.

Season 2 of the Muppet Show has been a lot of fun to watch. The kids are well and truly hooked now. It's great. And rumor has it that a plush Kermit is making its way to me. Yaaaaaa-a-a-a-aay. He said in his best Kermit voice. I love Kermit.

I have encouraged little sis to snag Ticket to Ride Pocket for her iPhone. Now I must get her to play. I will crush her feeble dreams of being a rail baron in America. Hive was free over this past week. It might still be, I'm unsure. Upon downloading the electronic version, I realized that I have been playing that game completely wrong. I thought you had to completely surround your opponent's bee with your own tiles. It just needs to be surrounded. Yours, theirs, the color of the tiles is irrelevant. This completely changed the game and made something that was sort of interesting, but prone to locking up a lot, quite a bit more interesting and fun.

Nintendo needs to be better about getting their quirkier games to retailers. I want to play Rhythm Heaven but so far we're getting a lot of blank stares...

I thoroughly enjoyed The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett. It's a pretty fascinating little mystery that follows a forensic pathologist (think Kathy Reichs' Temperance "Bones" Brennan or Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta) that left the job after his wife and kid were killed. Of course he can't leave it for long. (Or really, why would there be a book in your hands) It's well written and I liked the characters. Some nice little twists and turns. Give it a look.

Grave Incoherency

Let's see, finished off season one of The Muppet Show (it was awesome and season two is waiting in the wings), most of season one of Mindfreak (mostly enjoyable, but the boring bits were really boring), Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle (I really don't know what to make of that book...), and I'm most likely giving up on Murakami's 1Q84 (it's ... not really that great).

That pretty much catches you up. I have a few more words about Burke and Hare a rather amusing little movie starring Simon Pegg (if I need to introduce him go away and never darken my blog again) and Andy Serkis (he was the guy that made Gollum, Gollum). The best part of the movie is that most of it is true. It recounts the lives of Williams Burke and Hare as they stumble into the grave robbing business and then go on a bit of a killing spree as demand for bodies is pretty high at the time due to the medical colleges trying to understand what makes the human body tick. So it's a slightly black comedy but it's certainly worth watching. K, you need to see this one. Little sis would probably get a kick out of it as well.

I suppose there are probably other things I should regale you with. Stories of G demanding that lovely wife play a boardgame for each hug she took (I'm so proud). Or possibly horrifying tales of a daughter signing up for Freshman classes (I'm so old!)? Or cautionary tales of another daughter trying to find a Valentine (really need to get that shotgun from the father-in-law...)?

Nah, think I'll just call it a day. Too tired.

Mostly Muppets with some Magic thrown in

We're almost through season one of the Muppet Show. It's been a lot of fun to watch. The kids have really enjoyed it as well, which is nice. I'm glad to see them having such a good time with it. I'm not sure if I have a favorite episode, but I did get a pretty good chuckle out of vampire Kermit in the Vincent Price episode. I'm also amused by how many muppet/people getting eaten jokes there have been in season one. And how lovely wife seems to find that amusing just about every time...

Over the weekend we watched Make Believe a documentary that follows six teenagers as they try to win the Best Teen Magician contest in Vegas. It was really good. The DVD also features a tutorial section where they teach you some tricks. The kids ran around for part of the weekend doing magic tricks. I recommend checking it out if you stumble across it.

I've also been watching season one of Criss Angel's Mindfreak. Once you get past the reality tv/street magician trappings, there's a pretty good show there. I like a lot of his tricks. G and lovely wife have enjoyed it as well. Between the documentary and this I have a moderate desire to try and snag this and learn some card magic. Card and coin are certainly my favorite sorts of tricks.

So lots of imagination and wonder going on at Casa del 'd' lately. That and some head colds. Stupid weather... Kids are starting to shake theirs just as lovely wife and I come down with our own. Good thing I have some down time over the next couple days.

Still need to play some board games. And find a Kermit stuffed animal...