[X] My Assistant

[Wesley Street]

Best Moment was still when AHNOHLD stepped out of the steam/fog to deliver an ass kicking, even if his face was molten off about 5 seconds into the fight . .

That was a very awesome moment. They CGI'd Arnold's face onto Roland Kickinger's body (who was one of Arnold's body-building proteges) but it looked seemless. I also liked how McG managed to nail the James Cameron tropes, like shots of feet, and all the other little hints to the earlier Terminator movies.

[Synner667]

Just finished reading "The Osiris Ritual" [by George Mann].

A gentleman detective of the Crown, and his feisty female assistant, are involved with a mummy's curse renegade Crown agents in a steampunk London.

Not a bad read, with some interesting ideas for mixing steampunk technology, occultism, and archetypes such as gentlemen, journalists, policemen, scientists, steampunk cyborgs, usable assistants, spies, street urchins.

All good fun !!

[Freejack]

Just finished reading Black Rain, a novel by a Japanese writer which was translated into English. It's a regular person's experiences when Hiroshima was bombed. It was a very interesting and at some points, disturbing novel. Some of it was pretty graphic. No finger pointing though, no American Aggressors or anything.

Now I'm reading the Illuminati trilogy.

Just watched As Good As It Gets and Aliens before that.

My wife is taking me to see Avatar on Christmas.

Carl

[Eugene]

Just finished Elmore Leonard's "Get Shorty." It was pretty good, a lot of twists and turns, but a little TOO into the Hollywood thing for my own tastes. Never saw the movie, so I can't compare there.

[Starglyte]

Reading Miami Babylon right now and just finished Fool's Paradise. Both are books about the rise and fall of Miami Beach.

[Maelstrome]

finished terminus experiment, now im reading dead air.

[Stahlseele]

I don't know why people seem to hate Terminus Experiment and Dead Air . . i thought they were both good.

Me, myself and ?, We are reading Fallen Angels by Michael Flynn, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

[Lass]

Just saw Avatar in 3D - friggin' awsome!!!!

[DWC]

Just finished rereading One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, and Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarer. Right now I'm reading First In by Gary Schroen. My wife got me a Kindle, the Amazon ebookreader, and I'm loving it so far. Next on the list is BIAS by Bernard Goldberg. Secret government commandos, ties between politics and macroeconomics, and corruption in the media driven by political extremists. Is there any wonder that I love this game?

Moviewise, I just saw District B13 thanks to the wonder of Netflix. The last thing I saw in theaters was the atrocious Ninja Assassin.

I still only watch television for football, but I'm in the middle of season 3 of The Wire, and eagerly looking forward to the HBO miniseries "The Pacific".

Videogame wise, I got bored of the multiplayer of Modern Warfare 2 after about a week of listening to people I was playing against get yelled at by their mothers, breathe heavily through their mouths, and dealing with trying to play what should be a keyboard and mouse game with a pair of thumbsticks. It doesn't help that the kill streaks are both unfun and self-perpetuating. Having gotten sick of it, I'm back on the World of Warcraft grind and annoyed that we have to wait 2 more weeks for new content in Icecrown. Saurfang was amusing, but really the only thing that made the fight hard in 25 man was having to cram that many people onto the platform.

[Backgammon]

Finished reading last night "Automatic World" by Struan Sinclair. I has nothing to do with Shadowrun. It's more "litterature" than a book. It's art this thing. The plot is not important. It's the flow of words that is astounding. Still, not everyone's cup of tea for certain. Just got 2 massive compilation books of Raymond Chandler books. I'm so excited! I LOOOOVE these!

Playing the shit out of Modern Warfare 2. My wife too. Turns out she's really, really good at it, even though she understand nothing outside of the gameplay screen. She can't even read the minimap. Yet she kills everything in sight. Go figure. Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun too.

Also playing Dragon Age. I feel it's a little disappointing because it's from Bioware. The bar was set higher. Not a bad game by any measure, and I'm enjoying it, but I see flaws, and I shouldn't be.

[Stahlseele]

i was disappointed by dragon age, because i thought it would be in FPS mode like Fallout³ <.<

[Sengir]

Currently flipping though the 4A BBB. Been some time since I bought a hardcopy game book, and in German to boot, but all the anniversary extras finally convinced me to put it on my shelf.

It's even got a TOC and an index. Both in the same book. In the first printing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)
Pathetic as it sounds, for German SR books that is a minor sensation...sure, the master index from the English version is missing, but that would have been too much to ask for (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Freejack]

Currently watching Young Frankenstein if that helps. Excellent movie.

"I was gonna make cappuccino"

Carl

[PBTHHHHT]

Just finished rereading One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, and Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarer.

Heh, I bought that book a while back along with Generation Kill by the embedded reporter with them. What's interesting is to read both of them.

[DWC]

Heh, I bought that book a while back along with Generation Kill by the embedded reporter with them. What's interesting is to read both of them.

The one I'm waiting for is Rudy Reyes's book. Having the outsider's view in Generation Kill, the commander's view, and the perspective of one of the NCOs should make for a really interesting combination. I always like getting so many perspectives on a situation. The only reason I picked up Warrior Soul was because I wanted a second perspective on Beirut to compare with Eric Haney's book.

[Wesley Street]

The family was ultra-nice to me this year. I received Batman: Arkham Asylum, GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City, and Modern Warfare 2 for Christmas. I'm moving in a month so I'll probably hold off on playing MW2 until I can get XBox Live set up in my new apartment. I started playing "The Lost and the Damned" in GTA; the characters aren't as engaging as Nico and company (though his cameo in the intro montage was amusing) but it uses the same platform as "IV" so it's still fun.

Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side wasn't nearly as funny as Blue Harvest though Peter as Han's reaction to Leia/Lois before being frozen in carbonite had me crying in hysterics. There were a couple of other LOL moments. This Star Wars adaptation felt more like an attempt to recreate Empire shot-by-shot with cell-shaded CGI than to spoof it. It was too pretty.

I keep trying to watch a post-cyberpunk movie with Bai Ling called The Gene Generation but it's so horrible that there are other ways I'd rather waste my time.

[Bitten the Bug]

Well, the latest I've read was Nigella Lawsons cookbooks and some of Jamie Olivers. Go ahead and laugh, but I like to cook and it gets a wee bit droll with the same 50 recipees and variations there off mulling about in the ol' skull. And watched Dicken's Ebeneezer Scrooge. Muppet style! Only way to do it. *giggles* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

What I want to read is Go rin no sho (pardon my atrocious spelling) again and Shogun, but an american puff (Richard Chamberlain) actor is keeping me from it. Then there is Erik van Lustbader's Ninja repertoire...
What I do want to see is Avatar and Sherlock Holmes probably mangled by the colonials. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) It's a joke guys.

There is only one in my lifetime Sherlock Holmes: Jeremy Brett. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif) Otherwise my hat is tipped in favor of Basil Rathbone.
Or rather, they share a first place.

[Backgammon]

Hey I got 2 cookbooks for chrismas Bitten, so don't feel bad!

I saw Avatar last night. Visuals: above anything you've ever seen. Acting: good enough, maybe a little overacting by the lead alien chick. Story: exactly the same as Dances with Wolves, which, you know, is not that great.

[PBTHHHHT]

The one I'm waiting for is Rudy Reyes's book. Having the outsider's view in Generation Kill, the commander's view, and the perspective of one of the NCOs should make for a really interesting combination. I always like getting so many perspectives on a situation. The only reason I picked up Warrior Soul was because I wanted a second perspective on Beirut to compare with Eric Haney's book.

Oooo, didn't know that one was coming out, I'll definitely get that to read.

[DWC]

Oooo, didn't know that one was coming out, I'll definitely get that to read.

Came out back in October. http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Living-Strides-...8332&sr=8-1

[Critias]

The family was ultra-nice to me this year. I received Batman: Arkham Asylum, GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City, and Modern Warfare 2 for Christmas. I'm moving in a month so I'll probably hold off on playing MW2 until I can get XBox Live set up in my new apartment. I started playing "The Lost and the Damned" in GTA; the characters aren't as engaging as Nico and company (though his cameo in the intro montage was amusing) but it uses the same platform as "IV" so it's still fun.

I've got Batman from GameFly right now (and am loving it, as a hardcore Bats fan all I can say is "they got it right"), and ditto on Lost and the Damned for GTA. The character isn't as likeable as Nico was, but it's still a good time, and I love the tweaks to bike handling/endurance (unrealistic as they are, it's nice not to go flying off your two-wheeled engine and die as easily).

[JongWK]

Watched Avatar in 3D. Twice. I'll definitely see it again.

Acting: good enough, maybe a little overacting by the lead alien chick.

There is some speculation about Zoe Saldana getting an Oscar nod for Avatar. It'd be a first for a CGI performance.

[Wesley Street]

Story: exactly the same as Dances with Wolves, which, you know, is not that great.

Or even more like Poul Anderson's Call Me Joe.

Cameron was legally forced to give Harlan Ellison a writer's credit after he cribbed bits out of one of Ellison's short stories for Terminator.

The character isn't as likeable as Nico was, but it's still a good time, and I love the tweaks to bike handling/endurance (unrealistic as they are, it's nice not to go flying off your two-wheeled engine and die as easily).

Those bike races are frustrating the hell out of me. I guess I need something faster than the Hexer if I want to compete against the little street racers.

I like the San Andreas-style bits where you can toughen up the motorcycle club by engaging in gang battles.

[Critias]

Those bike races are frustrating the hell out of me. I guess I need something faster than the Hexer if I want to compete against the little street racers.

I just give 'em a few extra wacks with a ball bat. It's perfectly in character AND it makes me smile AND it helps me win the races. Everyone wins! By which I mean I win!

I like the San Andreas-style bits where you can toughen up the motorcycle club by engaging in gang battles.

Never played San Andreas, but to be honest I'm finding them irritating. I like the gang battles themselves, but I'd like 'em a lot better if I could leave all my worthless friends at home and go murder ten guys by myself. There are so many cars exploding during the fights against anyone but the Angels of Death, I invariably end up losing everyone who goes into a fight with me except for the two named guys.

I roll up on some Russians or whatever, we start shooting and folks pile out of cars or get off bikes...and all my douchebag friends go running up and, point blank, blast the enemy sedan with shotguns and whatnot. Then they stand there and get their stupid asses lit on fire, and/or die in the explosion that soon follows, while trying to take cover behind said flaming car and continuing the gunfight.

On the bright side, there tends to be plenty of guns, money, and bikes lying around after the gang wars are over. All for the good of the club, of course. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[PBTHHHHT]

Came out back in October. http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Living-Strides-...8332&sr=8-1

Speaking of Rudy Reyes, I think he's the host of a new show.
Armageddon man, a scenario survival show, he teaches what to do in a post apocalyptic environment, best places to scrounge, etc.
http://www.history.com/shows.do?episodeId=...p;action=detail