Weekly (?) Recap - November 6, 2010

General/Intro:
Whoops. Got a little busy and even the lightweight work of re-posting Facebook took a back seat. I wish I still had blogging discipline (which sounds like something dirty, but isn't) so I could blog regularly like some of my favorite bloggers (Kari of Haiku Mama, Jen of Blag Hag, etc.) I've mentally constructed a half-dozen posts about politics, TV, games but lose them before I get to the computer. But I'll at least try to get back to posting these update things every week.

This is my giant catch-up post. I've added more categories so readers can easily skip the boring parts. Which, in fairness, is probably most of it, unless you happen to be related to me.

Halloween:
Took Katy and Aaron out trick or treating tonight. He was a firefighter, she was a vampiress. Both had a great time, and our neighborhood is really good in terms of folks participating. We could have gone down two or more streets, but the kids were tired (OK, Katy was... Aaron could have kept going all night) and their bags were *packed* with candy.

Home Office Reorganization:
Home office reorganization done, and it only took a month or so. Big 'ol entertainment unit given to friends, computer desk switched, TV trays to replace tables and bookcases bought due to the largess of my awesome parents. This is where a picture would go if I ever took pictures. But trust me, it's spacious and organized and awesome.

NYCC:
My general take? I got tired four hours in, and with a couple bright spot exceptions, probably would have been better off skipping it. The crowds were pretty much San Diego level, without the same amount to do, and the lack of name badges was a *huge* mistake, as I'm sure there were folks I knew from online but just didn't recognize (and vice versa) and so it was all a bit isolating.

Bright spot exceptions? Cajun omelette at Delta Grill, The Jane was a great hotel, had a good time walking around with Chad Thomas, and got to say hi to a few folks I rarely see like Chris Schweizer, Jason Horn and his lovely wife Jessica and recent Austin expatriate Paul Benjamin. On Friday, I went to the NCSoft/City of Heroes party and got to meet old Usenet pal Hosun Lee, and that was a lot of fun, *and* included free rum and cokes. On Saturday, Zack Smith put together a pretty swanky dinner at an italian restaurant with a ton of writers he knew, and that was a fun evening.

So mostly the fun I had was outside the show. Although the Comics Alliance panel was a blast. Oh, and watching cosplayers dance to the Michael Jackson game was endlessly entertaining. And I got my picture taken with a Bolter from Warhammer 40K, which is my new profile picture.

Also, the JetBlue terminal at JFK? Pretty fantastic. Free wi-fi throughout the terminal, plus a place to plug in and order food from the nearest grill, right at the gate! Which was fortunate, since the flight got delayed and I wound up stuck there for about four hours. During which time I watched a lot of Avatar The Last Airbender.

TV:
There are two No Ordinary Family episodes stacked on my DVR, and I gave up on the boring Undercovers and disappointing Running Wilde. Hawaii 5-0 continues to be a pleasant surprise, although my DVR missed an episode and I didn't particularly care. Other than Terriers, Community and Cougar Town, my favorite thing I watched in October was the three seasons of Avatar The Last Airbender Season two on Netflix Instant and Castle Season Two on Netflix rented DVDs.

Here are five reasons to watch Terriers. Number six is "I will be very sad if it doesn't get a second season."

If I didn't already love Community, the Halloween episode would have made me love it. Fantastic, and the equal of last year's "Modern Warfare" episode. If you aren't watching, here's a fun remix to show you what you're missing. And I expected a comedown after the terrific Halloween episode, but this week's episode might have actually been funnier.

Whereas his 10 seconds were hilarious and her moments were mostly painful and unfunny, I move that Scott Adsit be given all the time currently given to Jane Krakowski on 30 Rock. Do I have a second?

Next idea to improve NBC comedies, based on the last two weeks of The Office? Stitch together all the pre-credits sequences, which have been hilarious, into one or two great episodes. With all the extra time left over, run Parks & Recreation Season 3. Boom. You're welcome.

And earlier this week, I watched the new Sherlock Holmes and the first episode of The Walking Dead. It was a *goood* two days for TV.

Second episode of the TV Dudes podcast, covering... well, a lot of stuff actually. Had a lot of fun recording this one.

Episode three of TV Dudes: Rubicon & Mad Men finales!

Episode four of TV Dudes: "Live" commentary for Walking Dead episode one. Probably my favorite show we've done so far.

Movies:
Kind of surprised how happy everyone seems about the news that Zack Snyder is taking on Superman. Isn't conventional wisdom that both 300 *and* Watchmen were terrible films? And isn't his current Owl movie also awful? The Dawn of the Dead remake may have been the anomaly. Although Sucker Punch looks like over-the-top fun, I'll admit.

Comics:
My favorite comics right now? Chew, The Sixth Gun and Unwritten. Hawkeye & Mockingbird is on there, too, but apparently it's transitioning to being part of the Widowmaker miniseries, and then transitioning into being canceled. :(

Hellboy/Beasts of Burden was pretty great. It's gonna help us sell a lot of Beasts of Burden hardcovers to new fans. Or it would, y'know, if Dark Horse had bothered to get the book back in stock at Diamond in time for the one-shot. *facepalm*

Games:
Not surprised, but disappointed, that Rock Band's new website wasn't up in time for the game launch. And it took a while to get the linking even halfway working. Still, for a big overhaul, it wasn't too bad in terms of lateness/functionality problems.

Overall, I love Rock Band 3. Great setlist, took me a while to figure out the new navigation, but now I really appreciate it, and the keyboard is a fun addition, as is the regular use of three vocalists. However... it's gotten a lot harder. I can't play Expert Guitar on a lot of songs now.

The combination of peer pressure, Halloween and the ability to ride one of the horses of the Apocalypse won out over Doors DLC. So I've been playing Undead Nightmare since Halloween. Zombies are dicks!

Politics:
Y'know, if politicians worked even half as hard at doing things in office to benefit me as they do at getting me to vote for them, I might not be so disgusted by politicians in general. The last week before the election, I was ready to start answering the phone "Hello, we voted already! Stop with the damn phone calls!"

Private sector jobs way up, government jobs way down... shouldn't the Tea Party be in love with Obama about now? ;)

When I think of local Texas politicians, I tend to think of right-wing fuckwits who are slowly but surely fucking my state back into the 19th century. It's nice to know there are guys like Joel Burns in office in Fort Worth.

This makes me so remarkably angry. It looks like cowardice, or worse, politics over principle, from the Obama administration. "We want the political points from ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell! And we pinky swear we're going to do it. This isn't like that time 2 years ago when I said I was going to do it and then didn't."

Much as I love it, The Daily Show usually leaves me feeling angry with someone. The Rally, however, left me feeling more optimistic and in a better mood than I went in. And had kickass music by The Roots.

This was a great closing speech that apparently *none* of the 24 hours news networks carried. Gee, I wonder why?

Not depressed by the election results. Mostly because I've been working through the rage and depression over the last two months, when it became incredibly clear what was going to happen.