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Tom Wilson is funny! (If you don’t recognize his name, I’m sure reading his website or looking at his IMDb entry will set you straight soon enough.

Some friends and I went to see his stand-up show last night. And man, is that guy funny. His act opened with him doing a little muscial number and some audience interaction, which lead to him mocking those who were just there to see him say things from that famous trilogy he was in and ended that portion with a hilarious song about all the questions people ask him. I laughed long and hard, largely because I knew he was talking about people like me. With that out of the way, he proceeded to tell humorous stores about himself, which included some hilarious audience interactions and finished with some funny songs.

All in all, it was quite enjoyable, and I’d say that if you ever get a chance, you should definitely see him in person. Just don’t expect him to say more than a few lines from those time-traveling movies he was in.

I was part of a group outing to see 300 this weekend. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but not for the reason you might expect.

First off, a little background. For those of you not aware, 300 is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, which in turn is modeled on the historical Battle of Thermopylae (and also apparently draws inspiration from the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans). I say “modeled on” because while there are many similarities to the actual battle, this movie presents a story that is as much fantasy as anything else.

Which is fine, I certainly can’t fault anyone for taking a historical basis and trying to make an enjoyable story out of it. What ended up happening for me though, was that the movie began spiralling into absurdity partway through. To the point where by the end I was laughing at the movie. And not just at the scenes that were meant to be funny, but even the scenes where limbs were being severed and people were dying. Either I’m just seriously disturbed, or the movie managed to get so over-the-top ridiculous that even the action scenes became funny.

But it is enjoyable to laugh like that, and so I enjoyed the movie in that “so bad its good” sort of way. But that’s not to say there’s nothing redeemable about the movie. I think stylistically, the movie is very well done. Many of the scenes are very artistically done. It also captures the feel of a comic book more better than most other comic book adaptations. The music, while MTVesque at times, is good and generally fits the tone of the movie. And I’ll admit, the “dying to protect the freedoms of others” theme tugged at the ol’ heartstrings at the very end. (Ignoring for the moment that the real-life Spartans owned slaves, and several thousand of them also died at Thermopylae)

Should you see 300? Well, that’s up to you, but I hope you have a better idea of what you’re getting yourself into now.

Courtesy of my dad, one freakin’ hilarious video.

It’s forty minutes long, but this video is well worth it if you’re a fan of old-school console RPGs.

It was a weekend for parties. We had our yearly Christmas Party on Saturday, filled with games and Secret Santas. Quite a lot of fun, and got to try out some new games. I got a very nice Corvette book, a Corvette calendar, some DVDs, and more Sin City books. Sweet.

The next day was, of course, New Year’s Eve, and some of us packed ourselves into Jeff’s apartment to ring in the new year. We also played games (how could we not?), one of which was the semi-traditional drinking game. This year’s version was drinking to the movie Clue. Basically, everyone chose a suspect/weapon/room combo and took a drink whenever one of the three was mentioned. Not a game for the faint of heart, or the intolerant of alcohol.

On New Year’s Day itself, we hung out, watched a movie, played some games, and dreaded returning to work the next day. Except for Jeff, who went into work on New Year’s. All in all, a good time.