What I’m Consuming

Yeah, yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I noticed that during TV season, other entertainment (mostly TV) cuts into my gaming time (and consequently into my blogging time). Significantly. It’d be nice to do it all, but it just doesn’t work that way. I need more hours in a day…

But, I try to be culturally rich (even if it is mostly pop culture) so these are the sacrifices I make.

In terms of TV, I am still not sure how I feel about how final season of Lost ended. I orginally had my theory of how things were going to shake out but I was pretty far off. I’m okay with how it ended, I just felt unfulfilled. It was still worth it, sticking through the seasons, though. Outside of Lost, I’ve been watching the Thursday night offerings from NBC: Community, Parks & Recreation, The Office and 30 Rock. I hate to say it, but both The Office and 30 Rock are really losing steam while Community and Parks & Rec are really coming on strong. Modern Family and Cougar Town have been taking up my Wednesdays.

I haven’t seen many movies lately, but I did take in Avatar in IMAX 3D a few months ago. Not sure what to say that hasn’t already been said. I am a fan of 3D, but just for movies. Leave them out of my games. I recently saw Iron Man 2 which was better than “okay” but just that. I was finally able to see District 9 and I really enjoyed it. It has a couple plot holes that I have trouble reconciling, but overall it was an excellent movie. It is in the top 3 movies I’ve seen in the past few years, hands down. It may even make it in to the Top Ten All Time. (One of these days I’ll have to sit down and actually figure out what those top ten movies are.) Next up, hopefully soon, are Pan’s Labyrinth and Moon. I just haven’t had time to get to them. Oh, and I did finally see Fight Club, though. (I know, welcome to 1999, right?)

Since my last update, I’ve finished up a handful of books: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson – As I said on Goodreads, HOLY Goto Dengo this book is long. I don’t know what I was thinking when I started that behemoth, but I’m glad I did. Overall it was an enjoyable book with plenty of math and cryptography to nerd out on. Stephenson certainly knows how to build elaborate, engrossing stories.

Dune – This was part of my ongoing education with the Sci-Fi Classics. I had seen the movie when I was younger but I never read the book until now. Dune still holds up pretty well after all these years.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster – On the recommendation of a friend, I took in Into Thin Air, a book about the extremely ill-fated 1996 expedition up Mount Everest, as fast as I could. Even knowing how it ends, it was still a page turner. This book affected me a whole more than I thought it would. It starts out slowly, building the necessary foundation but quickly becomes riveting and then profoundly sad. Some people were meant to do and endure things I will never be fit for.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – It is no secret that I love McSweeney’s, but AHWOSG (written by the founder of McSweeneys) didn’t do it for me. There were moments that were heartbreaking and other parts that were clever or insightful enough to be considered genius, but as a whole I was left feeling mostly hollow. I’m not sure if I should be able to relate to Eggers, we both being Gen-X’ers, but I didn’t have to live through what he did. I do have respect for him after reading what he went through, though.

I don’t have a lot of new music to talk about. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of movie soundtracks, mostly the Matrix Trilogy soundtracks. We’ve also been listening to a lot of children’s music by They Might Be Giants. If you have kids, their music is a must! The music is really catchy and beats listening to Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Kookaburra. Ooh la ooh la!

What have you been consuming?