The Violin Is Climbing The Bookshelf

This weekend was a pretty good one, despite the fact that I'm in withdrawal. stickypawz didn't really have a game to run or anything on Friday, so we ended up hanging out for much of the evening instead. I also took down half a bottle of this really great zinfandel (Rabbit Ridge, natch), blathered on to a friend or two in an embarrassingly honest manner, and went to bed feeling great love and affection for people in general. No writing was done, alas.

On Saturday, I thought I would treat local job hero arlekin to a Guys' Day Out, and so we went to have lunch at the Hogs' Breath Eatery and see a movie. Lunch was actually pretty decent; I've always loved the name of the restaurant precisely because it sounds like a very painfully typical D+D tavern. It turns out it's really just a greasy spoon that specializes in customized baked potatoes. I got the burger instead this trip, because it's a good measuring stick to judge a new restaurant by; if their burger is solid, then they probably have enough culinary know-how to tackle other stuff. If they neglect their burger skills for other stuff, then who knows what else they'll be lax about? ;) But the burger was good, so no worries there. Next time I'll have to try their mutant baked potato with broccoli and cheese.

So yes, then came "Robots." I was actually a little blase about going to see the movie until I learned that William Joyce had done all the production design on the characters and the enormous city of...well, Robot City. I'm a really big fan of "Rolie Polie Olie," (and no, I'm *not* ashamed to admit it) so I was pretty stoked suddenly. :)

The writing in the movie has its clever moments; unfortunately, almost none of them belong to Robin Williams, who seems to be coasting on natural charm these days when it comes to comedy. The really good lines he had were really quick, though, and so I found myself suddenly laughing two or three beats behind this joke. It made me look a bit daft, I think. :) Anyway, the movie is very sweet if not particularly engaging, and the characters are fairly likable. I found myself strangely attracted to this Big Weld guy, even if he was a PAINFULLY OBVIOUS Walt Disney stand in, and even if Phineas T Ratchet was an EQUALLY PAINFULLY OBVIOUS Eisner stand-in. The cooler parts of the movie more than made up for the parts where the movie dragged; the mass transportation system was just incredibly awesome, the very elaborate domino scene was equally wondrous, and using Tom Waits in a children's movie to introduce the seedier aspects of society is a trend borne of genius and I sincerely hope it continues. :D (I nearly jumped up and danced when he started playing in the bar during "Shrek 2.") Arlekin and I both rejoiced heartily when we heard him.

Anyway, after that, Hastings and the Beating, where I took care of the rest of my zinfandel and spazzed to someone about the importance of gaming in preserving the power of oral storytelling. I'm at this point where I think I need to seriously start boning up on all the Campbell and Jung out there, because the more I think about the Story itself, and storytelling as an artform, the more excited I get about it.

Sunday was spent making a character for this online Eberron thing I'm going to try out. I have the first story and I think it's a neat one, but I've never run Dungeons and Dragons before in any capacity, so I'm nervous about how it'll turn out. lazarusrat is the font of all patience with me, and I doubt toob will catch too many of my goofs unless they're sickeningly obvious.

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