Here’s another comic — yay for updates.

I’ve been using Netfilx (since I just started it a few months ago) primarily to watch TV shows in big chunks, but I also throw in all the movies that I kinda wanted to see but never got around to. As a result, I always feel dissapointed when I open up that envelope, I’m like… “yeah…. another over-hyped movie that I kinda wanted to see but was too far at the edge of my radar and now I don’t care about…”

This has led to finding some genius movies (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, and The Assasination of Jesse James etc…) but it has also led to some major dissapointments. I just finished watching “Stranger Than Fiction,” and I have to say I was very underwhelmed. I don’t mean to rat on it, because I lot of people liked it, and I’m sure there was good reason (I certainly don’t want to rain on anyone’s enjoyment of a film they like, I just enjoy discussing movies, even the ones I don’t like), but I just did not have anything good to say about it — other than Maggie’s ridiculous hotness, of course.

I don’t like all the comparisons to “Truman Show,” one of my favorites, because it has nothing in common with that. I don’t like the argument that Ferrell put forth this great drama performance, because he didn’t at all–not that it was bad, it was just… normal, and nothing we hadn’t seen him do before. Not to mention the “genius work” the author in the movie was supposed to be writing sounded really lame… Most of all, I didn’t like the story because no one questioned what was happening, how it was happening, or what it meant — that fictional characters were coming alive (and somehow existing in the same timeline as the author, not to mention the same physical space). When I see meta-fiction like that, I want it to be explored as an idea of it’s own (as in Grant Morrisson’s “The Invisibles” and “Seven Soldiers of Victory”)but Stranger than fiction ignored the massive implications it brought up, and used it as a vehicle for a quaint little fable.

I guess thats fine, if thats what you’re expecting, but I was expecting some sort of intellectual stimulation, and when I didn’t get any, I felt cheated. Thats all.

A lot of times, expectations can make or break a movie like that, so maybe its purely my own fault that I didn’t like that movie. There’s several movies where I went in hoping for a certain thing, and when it didn’t pay off, I leave dissapointed, although the movie may have paid off in other, perhaps even better, ways.

Allright, I didn’t mean that to turn into some kind of essay on film… I’m out guys — see ya friday with another comic!

It’s snowing on Mars.

But not in Texas.

Back to bed.

Man, I’m excited because this storyline and especially monday’s strip has generated so many conversations, both in the comments section here, and just with people in my life, about great old gaming experiences and classic gaming memories. I feel like a total nerd for saying this, but I remember how highly regarded the NES was when I was in grade school. It was like some golden key that unlocked riches of happiness and bliss — and anyone who had it was instantly the coolest person around.We used to have big parties and play games for hours, taking turns and drinking orange soda, mountain dew, and going through huge bags of cool ranch chips. The Nintendo Entertainment System was like some magical item that had to be seen to be believed, and it was completely life changing…

At some point I’ll tell you the weird, wheels off story about how I got my NES… but today I just wanted to think back about those great gaming experiences, how the videogame not only entertained, but enriched your life… the first time you pulled an all-nighter for a game, the times you paused it and left the power on while you slept so it would all be there waiting for you in the morning. The times you traded off turns with others, and shouted for them as they played. All with 8-bit graphics and cheesy (yet genius) sound effects and music.

Ahh… I love videogames.