And So I've Taken January By Storm

Taking things by storm now that's an expression I love. I really do. So now here I am at the crux of Febuary with a nice little month to review. So lets get some disappointing news out of the way. Totally fucked my writing goal. I got about half done and that's pretty sad. At one point I got a fire lit under my ass and I made some serious headway but I made the conscious decision to not complete it. The whole thing is to manage my time better not to ram all the stuff I want to do at the end of the month. Still I suppose I could of done much better. I didn't even get halfway done. Still live and learn. This month I am going to amend the writing goal to edit a lot of the stuff I have written as well as producing new stuff. That way I can start feeling my progress a little bit more.

Moving on. I rekindled my minecraft addition. I am not sure how I feel about it. I do love me some minecraft though, good god let the stone flow. I have one map on survival mode and while that is fun and all I recently started one on creative. I like creative mode and I am starting to have a lot of fun with it. More so than survival even. Sometimes it is just nice to cut loose and build things.

I also started playing Europa Universallis 3. I've been wanting to play this game forever but I've been intimidated. Still I somehow got James addicted to it and I decided to take the plunge. All I can say is what an utterly worthwhile expendature of time. I am having a great time playing it. I've made some mistakes and I am having some problems but more and more I am getting a better handle on things and having a great time with it. It is such a good game.

I've also started learning Advanced Squad Leader. I was aiming to get the 3rd starter set but I ended up with the second one. This was disapointing to me then but now I realize that I made the right choice. The rules aren't that complicated but seriously, no really seriously, fuck whomeever wrote those damn things. Fuck them right in the ass. They use abriviations for everything and their ability to make simple things sound overly complicated puts shit english majors to shame. Anyway I got the basic troop movement and stuff down and I have a pretty good working knowlage of how artillery works so on Monday I think I am going to try to teach it to cory. I've also worked out how to make new chits based off of some scans I took of one of the chit sheets before I punched them out. So once I figure out the best way to mount them we will have full access to any scenario the game can throw at us. First though I want to play a few games with what we have just to make sure we like it and that we find it something worth persueing. On a personal note should Corey and James not find it to their liking I'll persue the solitair options that the game has to offer and online play. Still nothing beats table talk.

In other exciting news I went to not one but two birthday parties full of strangers. This is really exciting for me. One because I am 29 years old and I have never been to a party where I might know only one maybe two other people there. I am anti social and the whole thing was nerve wracking to say the least. But I did it not once but twice. I was nice, I met new people, told stories, had fun, and I genuinely enjoyed myself which is kinda awesome. I'll be a little honest I did it mostly for myself but hey I did it and I've overcome a major part of myself.

That's pretty much the month in review. It was a good time. Lets see what the next one will bring.

Well now onto the media summery.

Week 1 12/29 to 1/4

Movies:
Into the Void- Gasper Noe at his finest. I adored this movie thought the flashing lights did give me a pretty severe headache.
Funny Games- The remake I wrote a blog post about it. Good times I love the idea of the consent of the viewer.
Boardwalk Empire S2- FANTASTIC. I am not even gonna get started.
Little Deaths- Kinda meh. Horror shorts broken into 3 segments. The first could of been better the second one was whatever and I loved the third one. BDSM going wrong is one of my favorite themes.
Asphalt Jungle- Nice old school noir. Grand movie.

Games:
Tanto Curo twice
Diplomacy once
Tower of Babel twice
Battle Grounds Fantasy Warefare once
Hero Clix

Read:
Eclipse Phase Gatecrashing from cover to cover

1/5 to 1/11

Lost S3 16-24
Amilie- Cutest movie EVER
Zatoichi (newest)- Every time I watch this movie I am stunned as to how good it is.
Samurai: Rebellion- Oh man this movie was fantastic.
Samurai: Part 1- About the like and times of Musashi. It isn't very good.

Games Played
Tanto Curo Twice
Diplomacy once
Tower of Babel Twice
Dominion 4 times
Segigahara once
On The Edge

Read:
War the of the Green Lanterns- I should write a blog post about this to show how utterly different this book is to Mavel's fear itself.
Batman: Black Mirror- Oh man Scott Snider writes a bad ass batman story. Pick this up.
Lock and Key vol1- It is unfair how good these books are.

1-12 to 1-18
Movies:
Samurai Part 2- Yeah well I realized the second one wasn't very good either
Eastern Promises- Cronenburg! Russian mafia movie. This movie was fucking intense.
Lost S4 1-4- Still loving lost.
Guilty of Romance- Oh man. This movie is the ultimate celebration of murder sex and madness.

Games Played:
Pandemic 3 times
Confusion once
Super Dungeon EXPLORE! once
Segigahara

Read:
Invisables 1-4 Every time I read these books I have a hard time comprehending how they can be real

1-19 to 1-25
Lost S4 E5 to end By lost season 4. I liked this one a lot though the show is undergoing some massive changes.
Cold Fish- This movie is insane. This is coming from someone who loves insanity. This movie is all of it and more. SEE IT!
The Artist- This is damn near a perfectly entertaining movie. I simply adored it.
Underworld 4- This movie is terrible. It was made so much worse because I watched it 5 minutes after seeing the Artist. The only reason I went to go see it is because sneaking into things is delightful.

Games Played:
Confusion once

1-26 to 2-1

Things Watched
Lost S5 1-8 Man I didn't watch shit this week. I am really digging the 5th season of lost. Lots of good Ben moments and Sawyer is really come into his own.

Games Played:
Summoner Wars 4 times
Agricola Twice
Cosmic Encounters 4 Times
Puerto Rico twice

Things Read:
Lock and Key 2-3 - The second volume seems a little bit like a place holder. Don't get me wrong it is good but it is utter eclpsed by 1&3. It sets up 3 perfectly and the whole series is a delight.
Morning Glories 2 NEW FAVORITE INDIE SERIES
Fear Itself- God this things was just aweful.
Invisables 5&6- These two volumes are actually my favorites.