What I’m Consuming

I never meant for almost a year to pass since my last “What I’m Consuming post. I know the conversation around here is mostly video games, but I enjoy the occasional discussion of other forms of entertainment, and I feel bad that it’s taken me so long to get back to these posts. I enjoy the discussion and hearing what you guys are watching/reading/listening to. This one could get long. I won’t let that happen again.

First, this summer was supposed to be lousy with exciting blockbusters. It turned out to be a giant turd of a summer for me, movie-wise. With the exception of Star Trek and District 9, I think I caught them all. I’ve seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, Transformers 2, Harry Potter: Half-Blood Prince, and G.I. Joe in the theater. To put in perspective how bad this summer was, G.I. Joe was my favorite movie of the lot. That says a lot, both for G.I. Joe and the rest of the movies. Wolverine didn’t impress, Terminator: Salvation was okay but nothing special, Harry Potter made no sense to me (it was my first HP movie, having still never read the books) and Transformers 2 was an unholy abomination that most likely ushered in the beginning of the apocalypse. It was so terrible I don’t have the vocabulary to sufficiently eviscerate its awfulness. On a positive note, I also got to see Up and “9” and loved them both. But it was kinda dusty in the theater where we saw Up. My eyes kept watering.

Through a combination of DVDs, cable, Netflix on the 360 and the ShowBox app, I also finally was able to enjoy some movies I’ve missed in the past, filling some gaps in my movie reperotire. These included Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy (had some hilarious moments), Matrix Revolutions (confusing, frustrating and ultimately buzz killing), Young Frankenstein (haven’t laughed this hard in a while), and No Country for Old Men (A must see, friend-oh).

Also, through the power of Netflix, I’ve been on a documentary binge. I mentioned Confessions of a Superhero earlier, but the wife and I have also watched Bigger, Stronger, Faster (a sad commentary on the state of sports) , The King of Kong (which Nat mentioned earlier and I think is one of the best documentaries ever) and Man on Wire (not as good as King of Kong, but still interesting. I got dizzy and sick to my stomach watching him lie down on the wire between the twin towers).

I’ve also continued down my educational path of the Sci-Fi classics, this time finishing up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (still holds up exceptionally well, but I could help but hear Ford’s Deckard in my mind as I read it), Snow Crash (with the exception of one section, I really enjoyed this one), and Ringworld (whether this was an inspiration to Halo or not, it was still an exceptional read). I also gave Codex a read (nothing special, but has a gamer slant which was enjoyable) and I got my first taste of Pratchett with The Color of Magic (I am deifnitely looking forward to the next one). Now I’m in the thick of Dune, a book I wish I would have read years ago. And when my eyes are too tired to read I play a little game with my new animal jam codes!

Music-wise, I haven’t been listening to a whole lot of new stuff. I’m still digging on No More Kings and I’ve been dabbling in the nerd-core, mostly listening to MC Frontalot. (Here’s “Final Boss” by Frontalot, a favorite of mine. I think it gets played at the end of Penny Arcade’s first game on XBLA)

Phew, that’s a lot. What have you been consuming?