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| Thursday, December 8, 2005 05:52 PM |
| More Ketchup |
 by Fëanor |
- So, I watched Heat Vision and Jack, and I've been meaning to give you folks my opinion of it. It wasn't quite as awesome as I'd hoped, but I enjoyed it. It's really above all an homage to/parody of sci-fi/action shows from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, like The A-Team, Knight Rider, Star Trek, and The Incredible Hulk. It emulates all of the most embarrassing elements of those shows: unbelievable story; formulaic structure; over-the-top melodrama and acting; lame fight scenes involving lots of chopping with the hands and double-fisted punching; dated costuming; cheap set design, special effects, and production values; corny jokes; general cheesiness. Even the way it's filmed reminds me of those shows, with the gauzy filter for romantic shots of the love interest and so forth. In fact, it does such a good job at being a cheesy, lame clone of other action/sci-fi shows that, well, it's kind of cheesy and lame. Still, it's also often totally hilarious, especially the scenes with Ron Silver. I'd say it owes a little of its wonderfully silly, parody-based humor to shows like Police Squad. But I don't want to over-emphasize how much it's like other shows; Heat Vision and Jack is definitely its own animal, and I've never seen another show exactly like it.
In case you missed my earlier link to this failed TV pilot (possibly soon to be resurrected as a major motion picture!), here it is again. If you don't have BitTorrent, don't worry, neither did I; just go and download and install it. It's quick, painless, and easy.
- The site is not in English (is that...Portuguese?), but it's amusing in any language - the thirty lamest video game box covers. I actually think some of these are kind of cool, but most are horrifying, ridiculously ugly, or so poorly put together it's hard to understand what the designer was thinking. And, WTF, that's not Popeye! And just what is going on in this picture, anyway? (Via Joystiq)
- I'm not familiar with half the movies on this list (the exceptions being the excellent The Apartment, the disappointing The Magnificent Ambersons, and the wonderful Duck Soup), but I like the overall concept: Cinematical's Seven Best Christmas Movies for Jews.
- I hadn't heard about this - World of Warcraft: The Boardgame. It weighs more than 10 pounds, costs $80, takes 3-9 hours to play, and contains nearly 1000 components. You can play as any one of 16 heroes in 9 classes and 8 races, battle 120 monsters of 13 different types, and advance from level 1 to level 5, increasing your stats, abilities, talents, and equipment as you go.
I'm sorry, but I have to make this joke now:
WoW, indeed.
But seriously, can you hear me drooling? This is just the kind of game that I'm irresistibly and suicidally attracted to. I fear the MMORPGs, because they involve interaction with strangers on the web, which for some reason terrifies me, and also they seem to consume people's lives. I just don't have the time for that. Whereas, I'm sure I could spare nine hours every once in a while to play the boardgame version.
I mentioned this game to poppy and she's horrified; she has already forbidden me from playing it in the house. Regardless, I think I still may have to purchase it. Depending on what kind of reviews it gets, of course...
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