Evening, folks. Nothing in particular happening right now. Stuff has been happening, though. I’ve put in that order for the Red Vs. Blue Season 1 DVD; the only person to chip in was Gav, so I’m buying two DVDs. With any luck we should have them by early next week.

Vickie and I are feeling the bite of a triple-hit rent month (when three rent withdrawals fall between two of my pay days). I’m holding off spending money on me in preference of paying the bills when they come in. This means Six-String Samurai and Battlefield 1942 will wait until my next pay.

I’m fiddling with a revision to that “Cars Needs Women!” PDF. I’ve been catching some typos, editorial mistakes and grammar errors ion subsequent read-throughs. I’m also revising some of the material so that it reads better and adding in new stuff from the Saturday night play-through at Dan’s.

I charged down the video shop yesterday to return an overdue War of the Worlds (I watched it as research for a possible revision to the Cylon.org article) and picked up five weeklies. Yesterday evening, Vickie and I watched the 1990 film production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, directed by the writer, Tom Stoppard. It was intellectually engaging and very funny. Gary Oldman and Tim Roth starred as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. (Or was it Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?) The set design and staging were very theatrical, which helped make the viewing experience unique. It was a surprise to see Richard Dreyfuss as The Player. It was a definite departure for Richard, who usually plays everyman roles, and although I can see some people wishing that another actor had filled the role, I think he gave it an air of smug mystery. It was definitely a worthwhile spending of two hours.

Of course, we’d had Universal Soldier: The Return to clear the palate beforehand. I’ll say one thing about Jean Claude Van Damme: he has a quite expressive face, which he uses well. You’re gonna call me crazy, but Van Damme actually gives this otherwise cheesy sequel to a dark action film more charm and class than it deserves, and yes, that is saying something. Michael Jai White is also good at being bad as SETH, the supercomputer that goes mad (as they do) and miniaturises itself into the body of a super-UniSol. White was in phenomenal shape, and both actors also kick an imperial fuckton of ass; in the modern era of special effects-laden action flicks and wire work, it was rather refreshing. Vickie especially enjoyed it, as she’s done some martial arts training herself. (Vickie likes White, so I’m going to get the somewhat less mediocre, but still mediocre, Spawn out soon.)

And of course, there’s Big Bill Goldberg. I’ve never seen him wrestle, but he gave a better performance than I was expecting, and it’s almost a shame that he’s not really done much since. The most annoying thing was what looks like a post-production decision; I think he was brought back for some ADR to give him more dialogue (including some very cheesy action lines) in parts where you can’t see that his lips aren’t moving. Used sparingly, it might have been forgivable, but it’s used so much that it becomes annoying by the end of the first half-hour.

About an hour ago, I finished watching an odd little film called Hardware. I picked it up as part of an effort to uncover some Psychotronic cinema, so I can get a better feel for the zany atmosphere that octaNe is meant to have by default. It was a little darker than I was after (though I was sort of expecting that), with some cheesy apocalyptic themes thrown in for good measure. It’s also one of Dylan MacDermott’s earlier pieces, and underground cinema / metal rock geeks will probably love it for the twenty-second appearance of Lemmy as a water-cabbie, not to mention Iggy Pop in crazy-ass radio DJ mode (although you never see him). Still, it’s worthwhile seeing for a little (as Jared Sorensen likes to put it) inspirado.

Continuing the Psychotronic thing, I also got Roadhouse out, although I suppose it’s more Grindhouse than Psychotronic. I’ll watch it tomorrow.