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The artist wife has been miserably sick this past week. It’s a fate I thankfully avoided, but if I tried to draw the comic as well as write it the results would be… well, let’s just say drunken chimpanzees come to mind as an analogy. So for this here Wednesday we’ve got everything but the color, and worry not, the color should be along shortly. (EDIT: And here it is! Note you may have to refresh the page if you have the black and white version already cached.)
Dawn has, in fact, been sick enough that the lion’s share of Left 4 Dead 2 play has fallen to me, a hardship I undertook for the good of all. Actually I do have to admit that “hard” is an appropriate term. I have a group of three other fellows that I regularly played the first L4D with, and all four of us had managed to get the “What Are You Trying To Prove?” achievement, meaning we survived all four campaigns on Expert difficulty. L4D2 is humbling us on Normal and is going to require a lot of rethinking of the tried and tested strategies that made cakewalks (albeit dangerous cakewalks) of the first game’s levels.
We haven’t tried out the new Versus yet, although I’m hearing tell that Xbox 360 people are having a rough time with lag so I suppose it’s just as well. Anyhow, I have to say Valve did an excellent job in rewriting the playbook, and putting together some wonderfully atmospheric and creative new experiences. Even if I can’t figure out how we’re going to get through Expert mode on several of them. Time will tell.
On the Western front (har), we watched the original version of 3:10 to Yuma this week. Earlier this year I’d checked out the remake and was a little underwhelmed, particularly concerning the ending. Dawn had already seen the 1957 version priorly and so was even more underwhelmed, and had been bugging me to Netflix the older one.
Anyhow, yes, on viewing the original I realized just how much unnecessary padding had been piled on for the remake. Not just in set pieces, but emotionally. What at its core is a film about the interactions between two strong-willed, complex men gets all but buried under explosions, cliches, and a very bizarre ending change. And this despite having Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, two very capable actors, in the leading roles.
I won’t get into the observation that in the 21st century, America has gotten to the point we had to outsource our cowboy roles to an Australian and a Brit. Back in 2007 one of my friends already wrote a blog post about that very subject, although he further pointed out that tough guy actors in general seem to be in short supply today within U.S. borders.
Anyhow, if you’re not afraid of a little black and white film and a measured pace, check out that first run of the 3:10 to Yuma train. It’s just one man’s opinion, but I surely wasn’t disappointed.
I’ll wrap up this week’s entry with some potential bad news for the indecisive. The prediction I made on Oct. 7th regarding the San Diego Comic-Con 2010 4-day passes has come to pass, and at least a month earlier than when I figured they’d be gone. It’s pretty crazy. We found out they had moved up the deadline this year to apply for Artist’s Alley by several months as well, and we got our rejection notice for the Small Press Pavilion space we applied for.
Ah well, we did at least try. Dawn should still at least be able to host some of her work at the Art Show, which she’s been doing for several years already. But seriously, San Diego in July is becoming the new Vegas at New Year’s, or New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Here’s hoping all these advanced deadlines are a sign it will be better organized on-site.
Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day to everyone celebrating tomorrow! May your bellies be full and may you not be taken advantage of as you lie around torpid in the aftermath.