Wednesday was my last day on Jury Duty. I was released after that due to a slow week. Took some time on Thursday to just enjoy the family. Friday we dropped the kids off with the other house for the weekend. That night Lisa and I watched a couple of movies. The first is called Cthulhu, and I was expecting to really like it. The trailer made it seem that it was based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth, my favorite of Lovecraft's stories.
It might have been, but I'll never know. A short way in I realized that the story was actually "Successful gay man returns home and must deal with religious father who scorns his sexual orientation." I have nothing against LGBT film or literature, but I don't appreciate disguising it within something else.
The next film was called Asylum and it was HORRIBLE. It was full of horror-flick stereotypes and had a villain who was a poor rip-off of Freddy. I mean, the stereotypes were horrible too: Tough, defensive latino girl? Abused by her boyfriend. Pretty blonde chick who acts all slutty and sex-crazed? Sexually abused by her father. Annoying jock obsessed with his looks and physique? Formerly obese loser from an obese family forced to overeat by his mother. The story was just plain uninteresting, though they got some decent gore into the film. Just goes to show - movie covers can make a film look intersting, but sometimes they're just wrapping paper over crap.
Saturday I went down to Origins to meet up with the old Athens Wargamers crowd. Well, actually the big bar on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt is more accurate, since I didn't shell out the money for a convention pass. Got to catch up with my friend Chris who now lives in Bavaria while serving as a combat cameraman in the Army. My friend Ryan was there, who I haven't seen since he moved to the Toledo area. Bruce, another old friend who lived in Athens (and still does, plus he works for the University now), caught me up on the changes to campus (Holy Shit! Athens has a Chipotle now!). Larry was there and bought the first (and only) round of beer. Kelly was there, and I probably haven't seen him 3 or 4 years. A couple other Wargamers were around, but they were doing Con stuff, and I didn't get to see them. Met a few of the next generation of Wargamers too. Good fun. Paid too much for a "Philly" cheesesteak, even if it was pretty good.
Today we picked up the kids and did some grocery shopping. I tried out a new (to me) recipe from Alton Brown for a pork tenderloin marinated in lime juice, lime zest, garlic powder, honey and a bit of adobe sauce. Then cooked the sucker over the grill until the thermometer read 140 degrees.
I took two bites and tossed it in the sink. Very disappointed. I usually really like AB's recipes, but this turned out very disappointing. The pork had a strong lime taste around the edges, but nothing on the inside. I couldn't taste ANY of the other flavors in the marinade, which was surprising because after I made the marinade I tried a little and thought it was quite good. I was really looking forward to this meal, and it just sucked. Well, not the whole meal. Lisa makes great mashed potatoes, and the steamed peas were pretty good too. I ended up eating a rice cake with the peas and potatoes, and now I have a large portion of a tenderloin that I don't want to save. The kids said they liked it, but I don't really trust them when it comes to food. They ate it all - which is good enough, I suppose - but they'll often say something is good even if they hate it. Lisa didn't seem to care for it, said the lime was too strong. I have to agree.
I'm reading a bit more of Laurell K. Hamilton's The Laughing Corpse and I STILL can't tell if I like her series or not. I'm not sure why it isn't clicking (or failing to click) with me. The character... well, she seems like she has a lot of potential, and she has several intersting qualities... but she's overshadowed by things like the descent into trashy romance novel territory whenever she's around the master vampire of the city (I know, they're supposed to be "erotic thrillers" but still...), the obsession with proving that Hamilton is familiar with guns, and a slow pacing filled with unnecessary entries (we get that Saint Louis is hot... do you need to have her constantly moan about how uncomfortable she is wearing long sleeves to hide her gun?) that take away from some of the good parts. Hamilton also fails to explain a lot of things... a prime example is the fact that Anita Blake is on retainer with the St. Louis police department to help explain supernatural goings-ons... and apparently she can do forensics analysis too! Please... they give a plausible explanation as to why she would be considered a supernatural expert (she has a degree in the field), but not where her keen detective skills come from.
Whatever. We'll see where it goes.
That's it for now. It's late, and I don't feel like rambling any more.
End of Demented Rambling.
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