28 weekends later

notes from the weekend:

- rocked out with some Rock Band with coworkers Friday after work. actually almost lost my voice. not my best session. still a good time was had by all.

- cut the Halo time down this weekend, only playing about 4 hours Friday, 4 hours Saturday, and 2 hours Sunday. did not play well at all. i'm either reaching a level where the other players are just plain better than me and the only reason i'm ranked so high is because my teammates do well and win for us, or i'm just getting a little sick of the game - which is weird, because i still LIKE the game. might have to cut back some more.

- continued watching Star Trek: The Next Generation this weekend. about 2/3 of the way through Season 1. still liking it, but still can't believe it ever aired - it's way too slow by today's standards. still on track to finish it sometime this summer.

- watched the movie 28 Weeks Later Saturday night. see the above post for more.

- i finished a video game! Eternal Sonata for the 360. see the above post for more.

i read this weekend. A LOT.

- read the first volume of the Scott Pilgrim series, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley. this author/artist previously wrote/drew one of my favorite graphic novels, Lost At Sea, a real soul-searcher. this new Scott Pilgrim series is a complete 180 from Lost At Sea. it's a comedy/drama with lots of nerd humor. follows the life of 23 year old Scott Pilgrim and his trials and tribulations with his band and his love life. it's a good read, and there's 3 more out currently that i'm thinking of picking up - but i gotta say, i really wish O'Malley would have done another soul-searching graphic novel. oh well. OH! almost forgot - Scott Pilgrim is being turned into a movie, directed by Edgar Wright - the creator of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. right up his alley.

- read the first volume of a comic called DMZ. this first trade is called DMZ: On the Ground, written by Brian Wood and drawn by Riccardo Burchielli. reason i picked it up is because Brian Wood is the author of another one of my favorite series, Demo. anyway, DMZ is set in a not-too-distant future where the US is suffering from another civil war and New York is the current battleground. the island of Manhattan is the DMZ. series follows a photojournalist straight out of college that is thrust into the DMZ and decides to make the best of a bad situation and report on how people live there. the series so far reminds me of Y: The Last Man and The Walking Dead - series that both deal with a dystopian future. it surprised me how much i liked DMZ (i thought it might be too preachy, too anti-American policy, too political - but it's not really, it just tells it how it is, or would be) and am going to pick up the next volume ASAP.

- read the 3-volume series The Waiting Place written and created by Sean McKeever with art by Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim, and Mike Norton. reason i picked this up is because McKeever is the author of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (you all know how i feel about that one) and another series i liked, Sentinel. oh, and he's from Wisconsin, and The Waiting Place deals with life in a small fictional town in Wisconsin. never before have i read such a real portrayal of small-town life. it also had one of the most real portrayals of high schoolers i've read in a while. the series deals with an ensemble cast of about 20 characters, most of them high schoolers, and all their different problems. it's about the trappings of small-town life. it's about hook-ups and break ups, friendships formed and friendships lost. it's about life. my only complaint is that there were a few too many loose ends when it concluded, but the author explained that away with a speech he gave one of his characters at the end. it's New Year's Eve and the character has this to say about New Year's: "Everyone thinks, like, when the clock strikes midnight you've suddenly entered this new chapter in your life, but it's nothing like that, you know? You still have the same bills to pay, you still have to go to the same job. You still have to look at the same you in the mirror. Life isn't made of nice, neat little chapters. Not really." to drive the point home, another character checks his watch and notices it's 12:42 - well past midnight. they didn't notice because, well, another chapter HADN'T started. it's the same chapter. same everything. still... just out of sheer reader's curiosity, i wish a few more plotlines would have been wrapped up.

what did you do this weekend?

-k