McAmy.net: The Weblog

Review: The Television Run-Down

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits. It was originally dated on October 6, and covers episodes from the two weeks before that.

This weekend I caught up on my television. I almost always tape things and watch them later, partly because I save several things on tape, and don't necessarily have the time or inclination to watch them twice, and partly because that way I don't have to sit through commercials. So I had shows from the first two weeks of the new season to watch, including some bits, new and old, that I wasn't sure about. Thought I'd do a little run-down; there's nothing on Monday nights (though I keep meaning to try some BBC America mystery series), so we'll start with Tuesday.

Tuesday: Tuesday's line-up used to have Frasier. Then, the year before last, I dropped Frasier because it had become boring and tried out 24. Then last year I didn't watch 24, but taped it in case I wanted to watch it later. I didn't. So Tuesday night was clear just in time for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. QE is in repeats this month, but I had the last new one to watch, and I enjoyed it, as always. The show is very much fun, always makes me giggle, and, of course, makes me want them all to come to my house--except I'm scared of what they would say. This coming Tuesday, the guys are going to be on Good Morning, Miami (which I watched last season but gave up because it moved to Tuesdays--and because it was pretty much crap), so set your VCRs. ;)

Wednesday: I really thought about giving up Ed. Ed and Carol got together at the end of last season, at least in part because the show was at risk of being cancelled, and I thought that would be a good place to stop. Ed was so charming and silly and fun the first season, but it's gone downhill since then, and I've been bored with it. I did enjoy the first episode of the season though, and the second managed to pull it out, even though I was starting to be bored, with its reminder to Carol about Ed's divorce and how it's affecting him now. Phil is, as always, my favorite. But it seems like everybody but Ed and Carol just has less and less to do that matters. But I haven't given up yet.

The West Wing still has me worried. Two episodes in a row now have had a very solemn sort of tone, and they're going to need to find the lightness and bring the funny again soon. I fear, though, that they will turn to the Big Crisis of the Week writing of Wells's other series, E. R. (see below). I can't judge yet how bad it's going to be, because these two episodes have been atypical. Still, the preview that has Amy and Josh kissing makes me think they're going for the relationship card, and I am ambivalent about that. But Zoey is coming home safe, and there is good material to be played in the aftermath of her kidnapping, so we'll see. And maybe Danny will stick around.

New on Wednesdays is Angel. I have seen only season 1 of that series, though I have season 2 in my stack of things to watch. It's not great, but it's worth watching so far. And now that Spike is coming to town, that's all I need. I usually watch things in order, especially dramas, but I don't mind skipping a few seasons and watching them later for this series. While Buffy depended on character development, and would have lost a lot if read or recounted in summary, the friend I have who's watched all of the previous seasons says I'm not missing much, and definitely not enough to keep me from watching Spike. I haven't actually watched the first episode of the season yet--it's the last thing I have to catch up on--but I watched the important part there at the end. ;)

Thursday: Thursday has the show that has never failed me: Friends. I can watch any episode of Friends and laugh out loud, no matter how many times I've seen it, and no matter if it's a favorite or least favorite. It has not yet lost its sparkle for me, and that is a rare thing. As for the new (and last) season, I have no doubt that we're heading for Ross and Rachel redux, but I'm glad we're going to get to see her and Joey together for a bit in the meantime.

I've always Scrubs as well, though I don't think it stands up to repeated viewings. I don't mind if I miss it either, and probably wouldn't mind much if it got cancelled. But it's nice filler between the things before and after.

Will & Grace has gone downhill since its first season. I still love it, it still makes me smile, but it keeps repeating itself, and the variations they're trying out--Grace's marriage, Karen's husband's death--aren't working. I'm still watching, but I recently watched the first season on DVD, and it is so much better than what's airing now. It's too bad.

I tried a few more minutes of Coupling, thinking that I didn't really give it a fair chance, and still turned it off before the end. The cast just can't pull it off.

And last but not least, E. R.. I got to the first episode of the season on my tape, and I decided I just couldn't do it anymore. Carter is the only character left that I have any interest in; the others are either new and boring (or poorly written), or older but on longer engaging (or, again, poorly written). I'm tired of the plotting, of the depressing tone, of the seeming pointlessness of most of the storylines. The show rambles around, pulls in Sally Field every so often for some excitement, and really doesn't know what to do with itself anymore. I dreaded having to catch up with it last year, and am relieved to have given it up.

Friday: I tried Joan of Arcadia on its first night, and, like an online acquaintence of mine, turned it off after 13 minutes--though I did fast forward commercials, so my 13 minutes got me through the appearance of God. Uh-huh. I watched because the show had gotten good reviews, but primarily because it stars Amber Tamblyn, daughter of Russ Tamblyn, who used to be on my soap opera. Though her plotlines there were typical whiny teen fare, I always thought I wanted to see her on something else to see what she would do. Her delivery was still whiny. And the rest of the premise didn't do anything for me. I taped the first three episodes of Carnivale this past Friday, and need to catch the new episode sometime this week. I haven't watched any of it yet, though.

Sunday: Nothing on Saturday, but Sunday is Alias night. After Friends and West Wing, Alias is my favorite show. It manages a balance of sense and sensitivity, if you will--both the intrigue/action scenes and the more personal scenes work well. I adore the father/daughter bits, and I am in awe of the way J. J. Abrams crafts narrative. That, and the Bristows kick ass.

I also tried, the first Sunday it was on, The Lyon's Den. I turned it off in about 9 minutes (faster than the aforementioned online acquaintance this time, I think), because the tone wasn't sitting well with me, and I was put off by the little set piece in the first ten minutes with the political asylum case. I didn't like the attitude I perceived from Rob Lowe when he left West Wing, and this series seems crafted to give him what he wanted--big stories and big scenes centered on him. The rest of the cast was un-engaging, though there were familiar faces throughout, and I just decided I didn't have the time to spare.

My final admission is that I taped and watched the first episode of Tarzan on the WB. And I did not turn it off after 9 minutes, or even 13. It's pure escapism, not very good, but it has Nick Pileggi. I may or may not watch it again, but it didn't suck. Or if it did, it was fun anyway, which is more than I can say for the other new shows I tried.

Review: Schoolhouse Rock

Last weekend I went to see School of Rock with a couple of friends. I knew almost nothing about the movie, and had only seen the preview once. It looked like it could be either really fun or really stupid.

It was really fun.

Jack Black gives an infectious performance--and that is the only word for it--as Dewey, a wannabe rocker who gets fired from his band and has to come up with some extra money for rent or his friend (and his friend's horrid girlfriend) is going to throw him out of the house. When a school calls for the friend, needing him to substitute, Dewey takes the job, and the School of Rock is born as a class project. New schedule: History of Rock, Rock Appreciation, and their very own rock band.

Though the premise could indeed lead to something stupid, it leads instead to a movie with a big heart, a love of classic rock and roll, and nothing too unbelievable. Yes, you have to suspend your disbelief that Dewey and the kids could carry on that long without being detected--and that such smart kids wouldn't figure out that their class project was more than a little fishy. But the movie doesn't overplay the after-school-special moments. It also doesn't become too silly, too sappy, or too cute.

Black's performance dominates the movie, but it didn't grow old; we laughed almost constantly. Instead of an overblown Chris Farley spoof of a substitute teacher gone bad, Black's Dewey is someone who genuinely loves music, and who genuinely, it turns out, loves teaching these kids. And they love having him as a teacher--and they love rock and roll.

Joan Cusak plays the principal, and she was perfect all around. The scene where Dewey takes her out for a beer so she'll agree to a field trip is one of the highlights. And though I was leery of them, the kids manage not to be annoying. The drummer has a Draco Malfoy-esque quality to him--if Draco Malfoy knew how to have fun (and went glam every once in a while). And the others were just as enjoyable, from the keyboard-playing geek who longs to be cool to the girl with a solid gold voice who thinks she's too fat to be a singer. None of them are break-out stars, but I think that's why I liked them. They were an ensemble, and they looked to be enjoying themselves almost as much as Black. And that's saying something.

School of Rock is not a brilliant piece of film making. It's formulaic, the kids are only average to good, and the plot is just over the line of believability. But the movie is a lot of fun, Black's enjoyment is infectious, and the soundtrack...well, the soundtrack just rocks.

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

Perhaps, perhaps...perhaps not.

I know that it's had a lot of people chattering about it, but as I was watching the first night of Thursday Must See TV--Friends and Will & Grace (the former holds up after even this many years, while the latter just went downhill after its first season; I'm thinking of dropping E. R.)--I left the TV on for the opening of Coupling. This is the American remake of a British comedy that I like very much. I own the first series on DVD, and will buy the second one when it becomes available.

All the opening did was make me turn off the TV and plan on watching the DVDs again soon. The script was a complete knock-off, but I knew it would be. And really, I figured they'd do worse when left on their own. The British show has three series of about 6 or 8 episodes, so for the American show to fill out more than a season, they'd quickly run out of borrowed material. But all I could think was, "That's the wrong actor. Especially for Jeff. And it was much funnier on the original." And really, if this Jeff can't sell it, they're doomed.

So I think I'll take a pass on Coupling, American style, and stick with the Brits. I just don't think I can take it.

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

Review: The West Wing 9/24/03

I was worried about The West Wing, when the news about the backstage changes came this summer. I am still worried about it. But the first show of the season wasn't bad (I haven't yet watched the second; I'm already behind with my television and the season has just started). It's not going to go down on my list of favorites, but I was hypersensitive to anything I wasn't going to like, and found myself letting out a sigh of relief.

I think it helps the new regime that Zoey's kidnapping gives them a reason for a different tone. We don't have time to miss the banter in the hallway (at least not yet), because there is too much gravity in the situation. And at the same time, the writers managed small touches here and there--Will's hair, the dog, Leo accusing Margaret of moving his brown folder.

Unlike some, I liked the dog. I thought it was a nice, concrete way to put a little humor into the "watch them bite their tongue" scenes of the staff and the temporary President. It could quickly be overdone, yes. But tonight's bits I liked.

And I do love John Goodman. If this President had to happen, I am very grateful that he's here to play him. I still find myself thinking, "You can't do that!" But he can, of course, and everything he does seems very common sense. He's not hateful, but he's not fitting in either--and that's a fine line to write, I think. The rest of the Republicans are smarmy, and seemingly purposefully so. So I don't like them. But I don't hate this guy. He's not what we're used to, and he's not what we want sticking around. But he's not horrid.

Leo was brilliant, of course, on many counts. John Spencer is tremendous. And while I know some were criticizing the episode for not much happening, I thought it did a nice job both capitalizing on some things from last year. (And you have to wonder if Sorkin left behind any outlines of what was going to go on here at the first, as you know he had ideas for writing them out of the corner before he did so. In other words, I don't buy the suggestion I've heard floating around that he did it out of spite before he left.)

And the best thing was the way that the revelation of the assassination hit the First Family--especially the First Lady. I wanted to scold her, but I know that she's going through it right now, so I refrained. I did a double-take at the second daughter to arrive, because I thought it was Amy Garner. But the moment where Ellie brings her dad his cup made me cry. Always a good sign. ;)

Favorite line for tonight? "He has a dog." Favorite non-verbal moment? That bit with Ellie.

My sister says she'll be pleasantly surprised if Zoey survives. I don't know. I'm guessing that she will, and that's how we'll get ourselves out of the corner. And I suspect things aren't quite so bad as Josh would have everyone believe. Was it bleaker than usual? Yeah. But the kidnapping was bleak from the get-go, and I'm thinking maybe the point is to build to something better by the end of the season.

That said, I'm still not convinced the show is in good hands. I'm not convinced this is the last season, either. But I won't hold my breath for another Emmy.

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

Review: Medallions are in, don't you know.

I recently went to see The Medallion, the newest Jackie Chan movie, with a couple of friends. One of the friends is a big martial arts fan, and, due to her influence, I have seen more marital arts movies than I otherwise would. I usually enjoy them, so I continue to go with her.

The thing about action sequences is that my eyes have a tendency to glaze over a bit during them. So in the case of something like Tomb Raider 2, which is simply a string of fight scenes, I wind up getting bored. I do better with more plot, more character, more variation.

That said, Chan's movies are usually enjoyable, and this one was no exception. It wasn't great, but it was an amusing way to spend a Sunday afternoon with friends. I suppose I find his movies enjoyable because they do achieve some variation--the fight sequences are never the same, and are often blended with humor. The characterization is definitely shallow, however. Chan's character and his ex-girlfriend have almost no development, so their reunion at the end was ineffective. The plot held together all right, as far as a humor-action picture goes, but it's that combination of humor and action that--while it appeals to me in lots of films--leaves me off-balance a bit with Chan movies. I can't decide if there's a little too much slapstick, or a little too little. What I mean by that is that much of the movie "reads" like any other action movie, with hints of humor here and there, but with Chan, you wind up not only with slapstick or otherwise comic sequences, but touches of slapstick in the middle of other things. So in the middle of an action sequence, you have Chan's character's male partner doing a comic bit. Sometimes it works, other times I roll my eyes. But mostly it's enjoyable. I suppose my complaint would be that the movie can't really decide what it's doing; it tries to do some of everything. But Julian Sands was delicious as the villain.

I always love the outtakes at the ends of Chan movies, even if it does mean that everyone stays, instead of clearing the theatre. I was also happy that we got to see the preview for the new Captain Hook movie--er, Peter Pan movie--as well as Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I'd heard the title but not read anything about it, and so had the enjoyment of realizing that it was a sequel to El Mariachi and Desperado (I've only seen the second, but saw it multiple times at the theatre), and seeing that Johnny Depp was going to be what promises to be a very delicious bad guy in it.

Speaking of Depp, I saw, also at the end of August, Pirates of the Caribbean, another movie who's plot centers on a medallion (this thought came to me in the middle of a glazed-eyes portion of the Chan movie, and amused me probably more than it should have). Most of my friends list have written about the movie or made icons (I want one with Captain Jack that reads, "Definitely swishy"), so there may not be much more for me to say other than I really enjoyed it and am thinking about seeing it again. I will put it on the list of things to buy on DVD, if only for the cast.

But the cast had wonderful material to work with. The setting was divine, and the characters loads of fun--and the plot and script strong enough to let them have their loads of fun and get away with it. Depp stole the show, with Rush not far behind, and even Jonathan Pryce got more than one good bit in, as if wanting not to be left out.

The one who was left out was Orlando Bloom. Though I enjoyed the token girl more than I expected to (I do think she had a Princess Bride vibe going on), the male romantic lead was so flat, so dry, that in any other movie he might have risked being boring. As it was, I now have proof that I find Bloom more attractive with darker hair, and he was not so bland so as to actually bore me. I just think maybe they were counting on his character to balance out the others, when they should have let him have more fun.

I found myself thinking of other, older Disney films. Maybe it was just the pirates, but I thought Pirates of the Caribbean had the same sense of fun and adventure as things like Swiss Family Robinson--things that I enjoyed so much when I was younger, and which still hold up when I watch them now, my enjoyment laced with a lovely feeling of nostalgia.

Pirates, however, didn't need nostalgia to help it out. It did quite well on its own, from the excellent cast to the incredible special effects on the skeleton crew. After several mediocre films, it was just what I needed. Yo-ho indeed.

Note: This post also appeared on my LiveJournal.

Review: More Like a Recommendation

I told myself I didn't have to go out and buy the first season of Alias on DVD yesterday, the day it came out. So I went out and bought it today, instead. ;)

I started watching this show because it looked fun: English graduate student (which I was) playing spy and kicking butt (which I wasn't). And for the first half of the first season, it was just that--good fun.

But in the second half of the first season, Alias began to get more complicated. The stakes--national, familial, personal--were higher, the intrigue was more involved, and the characters just kept getting better and better. In the second season, Alias really hit its stride, and I started telling people not, "This is enjoyable," but "You have to watch this."

I'm fascinated with Alias because of the way it handles cliffhangers--I'm fascinated by watching good writers reveal their narrative structure--and because of the father/daughter pair at the center--I'm a sucker for father/daughter pairs.

So if you haven't seen Alias, you can see the first season on DVD now, from Netflix. It'll be much better if you see it from the beginning. The second season's coming out in early December. And believe me, it's going on my Christmas list. ;)

Note: This post also appeared on my LiveJournal.

Review: Well, at least Ciaran Hinds wears a good suit for most of it.

Note: Here there be spoilers. Also, this entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

I went, with a few friends, to see Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life recently. I had been singing "The Circle of Life," from The Lion King, all day, so when the elephants showed up, I couldn't help but giggle. Unfortunately, that's just about as much fun as I had for the duration of the film, which was, as my mom would say, "just ok."

I didn't go in expecting much. Just some good action sequences in an enjoyable action movie, and Angelina Jolie looking, well, like Angelina Jolie, which is not a bad thing. (Especially for one of my friends--though she was hoping for a bit more nudity, she admitted.) There were action sequences, but they were strung together like beads on a string, with very little connecting them.

So maybe I was expecting a bit more than that, given that Jolie, in interviews, has touted this as a better movie than the first, and has claimed that they have finally "understood" Laura (I think that's the right word)--given her depth and character.

If they have, I didn't see it. The ultimate tests for Laura, coming at the conclusion, were telegraphed far to clearly for them to have much impact, and the character-building scenes--for any of the characters--were too few and far between. The romantic angle, though not identical to every other movie in the genre, was familiar enough not to be of much interest, and the gadgets wore thin, after so many James Bond movies. That, and the shark looked fake.

I think the opening sequence, with the underwater temple, was the best action sequence. It certainly wasn't the ending, which looked like it was being played on the set of Star Trek: The Original Series, and made me think of the ending of Labyrinth. It looked more fake than the shark, in other words.

Aside from the burning questions of how Laura could touch something that melted a gun five minutes before, and the ents-on-speed of the penultimate action sequence, there wasn't much to engage us. But my main complaint was that it simply wasn't fun enough. The villain--and Ciaran Hinds was the main reason I was there, after all--had far too few really good villainy moments, though his motive for doing something that could kill millions of innocent people was very amusing (it ran something like, "Haven't you ever looked around and thought that the world would be a better place without most of these people in it?"). The best moment of the film, for me--and I'm pleased to say Roger Ebert liked it to, though he likes the film, on the whole, much better than I do--was when the villain and two of his goons were heading up on an elevator and a mother and her child got on with them. The child promptly pushed every button, so that they would have to stop on every floor, and gave the villain a grin. The villain, in turn, gave him the most delicious look.

But sad to say, that really was my favorite moment in the movie. And the delay caused by the button-pushing didn't even have a pay-off, other than the look (which was, again, most delicious, but still). The movie on the whole just fell flat to me. Not fun enough, not thrilling or risky enough, and lacking in any real sense of character.

Though really, having started to play the video games at long last, the whole point of the thing is Lara Croft's breasts, and on that point, at least, the film succeeded.

Bracing Myself for The West Wing

I had heard this news before, but my sister recently passed along an article about the upcoming season of The West Wing (it's spoiler free). The show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, and another executive producer, Thomas Schlamme (Tommy Schlamme!) left at the end of last season. This article has the new executive producer (though I think he was involved with the show before), John Wells, comments to the press on the new season.

Yeah, I'm going to notice that the banter is gone. The small talk and banter were one of the best things about that show. The language, the dialogue, the comedy, the connection between the characters. The phrase "gut-wrenching and emotional," coming from the man who executive produces the now-crap E.R., scares the bejeezus out of me--because that show no longer has any sense of narrative structure, character development, pacing, or genuine emotion anymore. And did they ever stop to think that the reason the show got all those awards, listed at the end, was because of the banter, at least in part?

I was trying not to worry too much about what The West Wing--which is, at present, one of my top five favorite shows of all time--might become with the next season. Even as I watched the last few episodes of E.R. from last season earlier this summer, I tried not to worry.

I am worried.

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

Review: League of Mediocre Gentlemen

Note: The following contains spoilers for the film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Proceed at your own risk. Also, this entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.

Last night I saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with friends. We agreed on two things: 1) that there were some good/fun/cool parts in the movie, and 2) that we were glad we hadn't paid full price.

We didn't hate the movie, but we didn't love it either. The best way I know to put it is that it felt like they had put all these great characters in a room and didn't quite know what to do with them. Very few of them were completely fleshed out, and there was lots of potentially good development that was skipped over to make way for Alan Quatermain (Sean Connery) and Sawyer (we were convinced he was "Tom," but I don't think that was ever actually in the movie), the young American.

Not that I mind Sean Connery, by any means. But even Quatermain seemed to get short shrift. Maybe it was because the plot was uninspired, but lots of what should have been really cool fell flat after the initial introductions to the characters who made up the League. The member of the League who got the most attention after the aforementioned pair was Dorian Gray, and there, at least, I felt that the script came closer to doing that character some justice.

While they spent far too much time with the ship on the screen, the special effects for the characters were good, especially Mina and her entourage of bats. The Invisible Man looked good, as well, at least in his white face. When they did things to let you know he was there, but invisible, it looked like effects from those old Disney movies, or things on wires. My favorite was probably all the effects surrounding Jeckyll and Hyde--though those didn't hold up post-transformation, as it were. And the uber-Jeckyll in the battle near the end didn't cut it for me, either. There were several places where things didn't look "real." Occasionally, I think that was on purpose--as with the buildings near the start--to give the look of a graphic novel. But sometimes--as with the shot of Moriarty running away with the burning factory in the background--I don't think they were supposed to look quite that fake.

And I've given it away, there. Moriarty is "M," the villain of the piece. Woefully underdeveloped, yes, but the Holmes lover in me was thrilled at that reveal.

That was the only reveal that surprised me, however. For the most part, the script telegraphed the "twists" far in advance, and really rather loudly, so that the Dorian Gray storyline, by the time it paid off, was completely unsurprising, and definitely undermined by the writing--though it remains my favorite part of the movie. As for what I expected that did not happen, I was utterly convinced that we would get the "the kid is really Quatermain's son" reveal, but we never did.

I had been warned about the end of the movie, and as I had imagined all the horrid things it could be, I wasn't too put off by it. But by that time, I knew not to expect too much, after all.

Finally, I suppose the best thing about seeing the movie was that it convinced me to read the gothic novel, which I'll add to my list of things to read in the future if I can ever get around to them.

Review: Computer Games Past, Present, and Future

As I am currently unemployed, I've had a lot of time to spend playing computer games recently, and this, combined with an article I recently read on upcoming games, makes me want to chat about computer games for a while. I promise there'll be good recommendations and good links. ;)

Games Present

Currently installed on my computer are Neverwinter Nights, The Sims (with the expansions through Unleashed), the original Tomb Raider (Gold Edition), Dark Age of Camelot, and few other, smaller games, which I'll get to in a minute.

I sort of go back and forth between NWN and The Sims, as I find I need a break after either of them after a while. As for NWN, I'm somewhere in chapter 2, and still intend to finish it (even though I gave up on Dungeon Siege once I'd gotten all but to the end because I just was completely bored and didn't want to go through the last level). I just find that I can't play it for days on end; I need a break. I miss the larger parties of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I miss getting to control the other members of the party. I miss the interaction. Here, I find that most battles are pretty much the same. I've even rolled up a few other baby characters to try out other classes: playing a thief keeps you more occupied, and lets you get all the loot, even early on; playing a mage gives you more choices, but really the spells aren't that varied early in the game.

The Sims rolls on. I still can't believe that after all this time they can't make that game less buggy. It's doing pretty well, this installation, so maybe Unleashed has helped, but I'm not holding my breath. I've got some downloaded stuff put in the game, and with that, it usually either works or it doesn't; the installation just finally gets old enough and splintered enough that you have to reinstall. I still enjoy playing it, though, getting all my houses in order and everyone where they're supposed to be, moving them up the career ladder. But it runs in phases, as well, so I trade, as I said, between it and NWN. And I haven't bought Superstar yet. My computer doesn't have the room, or the chops, I don't think, to run it, and I have plenty of other Sim projects.

My newest game is Tomb Raider. I've wanted to try this series out for ages, but never thought I'd be much good at it. I had tried another platformer/shooter, recently, and did all right with it until I got to a boss that I couldn't pass and gave up. And so when I saw TR 1&2 together for $9.99 on the sale rack at Best Buy a few months ago, I bought it, thinking I'd try it out when I had the time. Because of changes in video cards, it's very pixilated, but I can still see well enough to play easily. I tried a download that let me run it as it should look, but it branded the game with something I couldn't see around, and it was going to cost $10 to register--the cost of the two games together, after all. So I'm cruising along with some bad graphics, but it doesn't affect me too much, and I don't mind it.

I'm doing ok--though I didn't even start before I'd found a site with good walkthroughs. I don't always set out with a walkthrough in hand, but sometime I do. And I want to know when the bats are going to dive bomb me. I've only just finished level 2, so we'll see how it goes from here. I'm grateful I'm not playing it on the playstation, as you can apparently only save at certain places, there. I save all the time. Make a jump, save. ;) But the underwater stuff sort of freaks me out--even more than the creepy music. (I was really freaked out the first time I heard the Myst music--the first "real" computer game I played, back when it came out--so the music thing didn't surprise me. For that matter, the underwater thing didn't either.)

I enjoy classic games, and have played a lot of them. This one runs in DOS, I believe, as do some of the RPG/adventure titles I have. I'm hoping that they'll all run on Windows XP, which I'll eventually have. But they work great on Windows 98. It's just that Windows 98 doesn't run all that well, these days.

And I still really enjoy playing Dark Age of Camelot. I've got main characters up to levels 10 and 13, and I've been soloing a Huntress lately. I don't play this one for days on end, either, but I enjoy it when I do go on, either by myself or with a friend. I've started crafting, too, and can make arrows and bows and rag dolls, which amuses me. Now if only there were gnomes, to raise my woodworking skills...

Also on my computer, I have several smaller games. First, NetHack, which I'd heard mentioned before and finally tried a couple of months ago. I suck at NetHack, and don't have the patience to play it, apparently. Either that or I can't find a set of instructions good enough for my dense head, I don't know. Second, Bejeweled & Alchemy, puzzle games by PopCap Games that I'd tried on the web at the realplayer site and then found on the sale rack at Hastings for $5 on one disc. I haven't played them in a while, and could probably uninstall them, especially as a friend of mine has gotten me addicted to another game of theirs, Atomica (which you can find on their site, above). I cannot get past level 23. Finally, I have Pretty Good Solitaire, which is a collection of (to date) 500+ solitaire card games. I stumbled across this game at some point, and when I paid, I got a note back from the wife of the guy who designed it, saying she knew me from a previous fandom's usenet newsgroup. Small world. So I keep my copy updated, figuring it's good for my karma. plus it's a great game.

And of course there's always Hunt the Wumpus. ;)

Games Past

When I decided to install Tomb Raider, it wasn't my only choice. I have more games than I could ever play, probably, and I had to decide between something new and something I'd played before and enjoyed. I was really tempted by Planescape: Torment, an RPG by the Baldur's Gate people that I highly recommend (and which is on sale racks for cheap, lately). But there were two others I came really close to installing. The first was Gruntz, which is a puzzle game that defies description. I love it to pieces, and it amuses the hell out of me. You guide little gruntz around the game board, through obstacles and such. The official site is gone, and you probably won't be able to find a copy anymore, but if you ever come across one, and like puzzle games, check it out. The second was Croc, a platformer with this cute little Crocodile that you have to guide through different levels. I love it, and it has been on sale racks still, in recent memory. It has a sequel, as well, which isn't quite as good as the first, but is still really fun. Maybe I'll get around to them after I uninstall something else...

Games Future

The August issue of PC Gamer has an article on their 20 top games from E3, the recent gaming show. I don't play battleground games, or war games, or real-time strategy games, really, though I might try a good one of the latter (and the good thing about the magazine is that they send you CDs of demos, and I have a few I want to try). I also don't do very well--and am not interested in, really--first person shooters. Or driving games. Or fishing or hunting games...

So sometimes I have a hard time finding new games to get excited about. But there were several in the article, some sequels, some new. There's a new Myst coming out--URU: Ages of Myst--that will have an online component as well as a single-player adventure. I haven't finished the third one, yet, so I suppose I should do that. (And replaying the first two were also on my list of possibilities, above.) Also, The Sims 2 is coming out, in which your sims age and die--EEK! I think I'll have to try it out, though, because it looks to be incredible. And maybe they'll have fixed the bugs. (Still not holding my breath.)

The one I hadn't heard of, but that I think might be really fun, is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It's an RPG set in the Star Wars universe--made by BioWare, the people who did Baldur's Gate and the others. Color me excited!

There's also a sequel to Thief coming out--another series I've wanted to try--and a D&D-based game called Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil. I might pick those up when they hit the sale bin.

I'll probably take a pass on The Movies, a sim where you direct movies and build up a studio, and I've never played the first Deus Ex, so I won't be buying the sequel. But while I was amused by the prospect of planning world domination in a game called Evil Genius, and while I think Vampire: The Masquerade--Bloodlines would scare me too much to play it, my favorite "game I won't buy" was Call of Cthulhu, which is a survival horror game, first-person shooter, based on H. P. Lovecraft. Seeing the gore in the game drives you insane, and the goal is to keep it together long enough to solve the case, because you will commit suicide in the end. Crack me up. In an odd sort of way.

Note: This entry has been reposted from my LiveJournal, with a few minor edits.