Watched The Pact last night.  Not a bad little horror film.  Low budget but doesn't look low budget.  Some genuinely creepy moments and a nice little twist ending (that's telegraphed a bit too much towards the middle of the film..but still fun).

I really enjoyed this one especially on the bigscreen. My wife jumped out of her chair quite a few times.

Hopefully a new laptop but that means no games this week.

I have about 5 hours into the game and it's a lot of fun. I didn't play much of the PS2 version because I couldn't get over the graphics on my big screen. On the Vita it's gorgeous. I can't believe it takes 2 1/2 hours to get going, though.

I'll be the judge of that!!

No kidding. It will take a lot to scare me after sitting through the most terrifying movie of all time - Jesus Camp.

I got an iPad Mini this weekend. I wasn't really considering one because I have an ipad 3 and I was worried about the screen resolution.

Then I saw one.

It really is hard to put down. The form factor and build quality is amazing and it weighs 7 ounces. Color me impressed. About the screen resolution. Quite frankly I got over it in about a minute. A retina display would be gorgeous but it would also make it heavier or thicker.

I finished David Wong's This Book Has Spiders and I think it was my favorite book of the year so far.

I just burned through half of Tad Williams latest book The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Can't seem to put this one down.

It looks like the only thing they have kept from the book was the name. Brad Pitt is "in a race against time to save the word" ... yikes.

The CGI looks silly. Wouldn't it have looked better to do traditional zombies ala Walking Dead? Not to mention the cost since the movie's budget has soared to 180 million. The zombies remind me of the CGI from I Am Legend.

We will have to deal with a Lidelof ending. Blech.

I live in Washington state and voted to legalize it. I have not smoked it in at least ten years and I don't drink. Like others I think it's high time (giggle) that pot was legal. If I could walk into a store and buy some I might try it again.

Is the single player campaign lengthy?

[Borderlands 2!]

Borderlands 2! The game really clicked for me this weekend. I've put about 5 hours into a Mechromancer and really enjoying the game now. Before it was simply too hard and I had the same problem as Gratch. I was constantly out of ammo, no money, and stuck with crappy weapons. It was purely luck that I got a few decent weapons at the start including a bad ass sniper rifle. I spent time grinding my Mechro to level 5 to get the pet then tore through the first area after that. I was going to pick up AS3 this weekend but Borderlands has leapt straight to the top of my gaming time.

Hang in their Gratch. I think the problem is the random nature of the game. If you can get a decent weapon early on the game is a hell of a lot more fun.

Ok, so I admit it, I'm a terrible person for laughing at this.

This week on Honey Boo Boo.

Cohen the Barbarian!

downloaded for 39.99. Will install this weekend.

Where did you buy it for 39.99?

The only thing holding me back from jumping on a mini is the display. This is an iPad 2 minus  a couple of inches so the price isn't a problem for me. I am amazed that it weighs 7 oz and that is a huge draw. The screen resolution is the real turn off.

Is the resolution on the Mini worse than the iPad 2? 

Same resolution with a higher ppi

Thanks.  I'm used to my wife's iPad2, which I think looks good.

After having Retina I just can't imagine. Of course I say that now. As soon as I see one in the store I may throw my wallet at the cashier.

The only thing holding me back from jumping on a mini is the display. This is an iPad 2 minus  a couple of inches so the price isn't a problem for me. I am amazed that it weighs 7 oz and that is a huge draw. The screen resolution is the real turn off.

Love the gore! I also feel like it's closer in tone to the first movie. I think it's going to be hard for any 'cabin in the woods' type movie to be as good as Cabin in the Woods.

Carmageddon is out today and free for today only.  
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carmageddon/id498240451?mt=8

The port to ipad is terrific. I beat the first mission last night by destroying all my opponents.   I even remembered the football stadium to build up the clock.

It'll be three hundred and it will wax your car on the weekends, do your girlfriends hair on weeknights, and go ten hours without a shot of viagra.

I just finished reading Among the Living. I really enjoyed it, a lot more than I thought I would. So the next logical question is, is there  a release date for Among the Dead on Amazon yet?

Awesome.  Thanks for checking out my book.

The sequel, Among the Dead, will be released in January. The release will coincide with the audio version.

I don't use it that often but here is my page.

I hope it's a (die) Hard R rating with lots of blood, guts, and gratuitous F-bombs.

So far I am very pleased with the new TV and equally happy that it works. Our old LCD was really annoying with it's constant flickering and shutting off at random times.

My family room has a large sliding glass door to the side and sunlight streams through it so any chance of a Plasma was pretty much out the window when I viewed one of the Panasonics at the store.

The 3D on this LG is pretty freaking amazing. I have to admit that I was not all that interested in 3D but this set has changed my mind. Since it uses passive 3D it is very similar to the Real3d movie theaters. We picked up Hugo to give it a whirl and the movie was quite breathtaking. I still can't believe I got this set for under $1400.

Best Buy had this set for $1398 on their site so they matched it in store. It was priced at $1899 in store - even the manager that had to okay it was like "holy shit." ...They did have an smaller Panasonic Plasma but I just couldn't get over how dark the screen was even after messing with some of the settings. I have 45 days since I'm a BB silver/platinum-whatever-they-call-it member so I can exchange it if I change my mind. I don't think we'll watch a lot of 3D but my wife really loved the passive tech this set provides over the Panny. This TV was such a steal it was hard to pass up.

One thing I don't like is that we had a 60" before even though it was a larger backlit LCD. The size difference is noticeable. Actually I have the LG temporarily setup because I have to take the old set down and mount the new one on the wall. I'll post a pic later.

I can't find a single store around here that carries the TV. ARGH! I'm not going to spend the money if I can't at least see the picture. I may be getting an LED after all. I read that Panasonic's really hurting financially.

2 was okay. 3 was better and had better scares.

Slip your wife an Adderall before the movies. 

I hope they keep it up. My wife is a 'jumper' and I LOVE taking her to these every year.

Okay. I'm sold. Thanks for everyone's input. I'll check Costco but I found the set I want for $1600 (!!!) on Amazon and that seems like a freaking steal. I'm looking at the 60" version.

After fighting with Sharp for almost a year we have decided to dump our 60" LCD and get a new TV. During my research I came across some amazing reviews of the Panasonic plasma TV TC-P60ST50. Does anyone have experience with this set or with newer plasma in general?

Our current TV was awesome but last year it started flickering really badly and shutting off. Sometimes it shuts off 5 or 6 times over and over and it's ridiculous. Sharp sent techs, they replaced the power supply, the input board ... nothing worked. When the extended warranty time ran out they refused to let me renew it so in the trash it goes. Pretty sad that a 2 year old $2000 television is such a piece of crap.

Anyway, Panasonic - good? The cnet review blew me away. I thought Plasma was dead tech.

Borderlands 2

I'm really have a tough time actually,it's a lot harder than BL1

I'm glad to hear it's not just me. I wondered if I was doing something wrong or missed something in the first hour or play. The game is really freaking hard for me. I gave up on playing an assassin and switched to the brute guy. I'm not sure how much more I will play. After 4 hours I'm pretty sick of the difficulty level and will probably put it aside for a while.

arise!

planning for the future- what is the best way to sync iTunes with an Android phone nowadays (or even a replacement)?  I've heard about DoubleTwist and isyncr, any preferences for either one, or is there something better?

isyncr works surprisingly well. I've used it to move a couple of hundred tracks from itunes to my Galaxy s3 on both USB and wirelessly. It was very much worth a couple of bucks.

Even though I thought it was terrible I plan to watch it. LOL! I may have brain damage. The end of the first episode actually caught me off guard and made me want to watch the next one. I hope it gets better. But honestly, Walking Dead has kind of ruined it (in my mind) for post apoc shows.

Oh! And wouldn't living in medieval times be a sure fire way to cure teen angst?

This was ... terrible. Absolutely terrible. Every single woman looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They haven't had power in 15 years but villages are surrounded by trees. The men all have that "I just woke up scruffy facial" look. An airport hasn't been completely picked over in 15 years. They covered the entire power outage in 2 minutes. I guess that means plenty of flashbacks - this is JJ Abrams, right?

Terrible.

I have to point out that Walking Dead, in my opinion (and that show is far from perfect), at least gets the scrambling to survive part right.

Barnes & Noble has Yahtzee Croshaw's book Mogworld on sale for $2.99 for Wednesday 9/19 only.  I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like fun -

Thanks for posting. This looks like a blast, off to download.

I'm also underwhelmed. Hmm. I thought I would be more excited for a new iphone.

Skyline - worst movie ever made. Ever.
Rec 3 - so very disappointing.
Serbian Film - glad I sat through it but I have no desire to watch it ever again.

Oldboy - I loved this one and have seen it 4 or 5 times
Dead Alive was a great gorefest. I actually met Timothy Balme this weekend at a horror con in Indy and he was really cool and interesting to chat with.

Bastion looks amazing on the new ipad. I only had a few minutes to play but so far I love the narration and the hack and slash action was quite fun.

That first episode of this season was great. Then it went down hill, fell off the hill, crashed into a SyFy writing convention, hit a bus full of useless side stories, narrowly avoided Forks WA, and slid into the ass end of a Saw It On TV store where it was devoured by suckzilla.

The new Lidelof ending:

FADE IN

BRAD PITTS ROOM - NIGHT

Angelina Jolie lays on a perfectly coiffed pillow, hair brushed except for a single lock that crosses her forehead.
Brad Pitt tosses and turns, his forehead slick with sweat. His lips open and close as a nightmare wracks his sleep.

BRAD

(Screaming)

ANGELINA

     Brad, what is it? Did you have a nightmare, love?

BRAD

(obviously shaken)

     I was on an island and it was filled with the dead. They were everywhere and I couldn't find you. I! couldn't! Find! You!

ANGELINA

     It was just a dream, baby, just a dream.

BRAD
(Visibly shaken)

     A dream. Sure.

The bedroom door rattles. It slowly creaks open allowing light to. Tiny fingers scratch at the door frame. They aren't voice, they are keening and crying.

Brad and Angelina clutch each other in bed.

Their 47 children from other countries rush the bed.

BRAD
(horrified face)

     Jesus Christ! It was real! The nightmare was reaaaaal - blarghughaphlargh!

FADE OUT

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is now on Netflix Instant.  Awesome study on dedication to a craft.

Thanks for the heads up. I was really looking forward to this one as well.

and did you guys know that your Promtheus Pal Damon Lindelof is writing the screenplay for this? (First screenplay apparently got thrown out)

He's rewriting the last third of the screenplay. Apparently they didn't think the movie was screwed up enough so they called him in finish the fuckening.