February 2011
This is a list of posts published in February 2011.
Up in the ‘Heir’
Everybody hates March.
Shakespeare himself warned us of the Ides – those dastardly days. It’s a dreadful month; chock full of too many hours that straddle that finicky temperate line that mars the month – mild then frigid then mild then frigid again – melting and freezing massive banks of snow into sickly pools of frozen slush, “the color of television tuned to a dead channel”*. At least February has the common decency to exit in 28 days. March just seems so endless.
*That’s a line from William Gibson’s Neuromancer, about a dude who gets lost in The Matrix (well before anyone knew what The Matrix was). It is months like March that make you wish we were all just batteries for the machines.
Last year, I figured out a fool-p... Continue reading »
Everything Will Be Fine… Double Fine
Tim Schafer is a gaming God.
Bow down to him. And while you’re at it, make sure you say 12 Hail Miyamotos too.
We’re living in a pivotal time in our hobby’s existence. Video games have never been more popular. Much as the hardcore would hate to admit it, you have your Wiis and Kinect and Farmville to thank for that. The casual crowd has fully embraced gaming as a legitimate pastime and that’s win-win for everybody. The more money tossed around out there, and the greater demand for gaming; the more we see niche genres getting some love too. Digital distribution helps towards that end; a thought I’ll get to in a moment.
It’s not all sunshine and 1Up blocks, though. As popular as gaming has grown, the superstar developers have yet to yield cross-over household recogn... Continue reading »
Netflix Notes – “We’re Getting the Band Back Together” Edition
This year couldn’t have come any sooner.
In reviewing my current Netflix queue, I discovered that I am getting shockingly close to the bottom of the barrel. After all, this is a repository that used to number in the hundreds and now I’m down to about 20 flicks – some of which I keep shuffling to the bottom because I’m not really in the mood to see them. They’re my rainy day flicks.
I’ve got a fair number of the recent releases on standby – waiting for that magic day when they’ll shuffle up above the fold, awaiting departure – but that’s it.
So, yesterday I performed a little exercise aimed at refilling the coffers. Using Wikipedia, I pulled up a list of movies per year – from 2008 on, to see if ther... Continue reading »
Netflix Notes – ‘Scarlet Letter’ Edition
From 2003 through 2008, I saw maybe 5 movies… and one of those was Starsky & Hutch. Dark days, my friends. But that’s what I get for doing my part to insure the survival of the human race.
Of course, with every year that passes following the birth of children – you realize that some of that time you thought lost to the ravages of… well, time… anyway – it starts coming back. The thing is, by that point, you’ve grown so accustomed to getting so much done in so little time, that when you start getting major chunks back, you are at a loss with how to fill it.
For me – Netflix helped fill that void. Anyone who knows me – or knows this site – knows that I have an unquenchable thirst for cinema. It is my water of life and I’d drink it by the gallon ... Continue reading »
Sticker Shock
Editor’s Note: As some of you, I have a fairly professional gig writing video game reviews for the site, Avault.com. From time to time, my work there helps color the content here. This is one of those times.
I never buy protection.
Now, before you go fleeing for the exits thinking you’ve wandered into a Very Special Episode of The Ed Zone – relax; this is purely gaming related. I’ll leave the pharmacy chat for Dr. Oz.
No, I’m speaking specifically about that Game Disc Protection Plan that every counter jockey at your friendly big-box game store has been coerced to offer you each time you look to purchase another game. I guess $3 is not that steep a charge to save you from yourself – but if you have even the tiniest bit of self-control and can be counte... Continue reading »
Happy ‘Something Something’ Birthday Andi
What – you thought I was going to reveal my wife’s age in print?!?!? Sorry pal, but I value my life. Plus, somebody has to do their part to insure chivalry reigns in this text-crazed society. So, all you need to know is that today is my wife’s ‘Something Something’ Birthday.
But if it’s absolutely killing you, you could always hit up my pal Justin who shares the exact same Born-on-Date as mi amor. And here’s where I kill two birds with one stone. Happy Thirty Eighth Birthday Justin!!!
It’s become a bit of an Ed Zone tradition in these parts. Each year I dedicate a few paragraphs of prose to pay tribute to my nearest and dearest – our immediate family. February 11th kick-starts the annual run down – as each of us turns a new year older in the first hal... Continue reading »
Lab Report
A couple of weeks ago, I revealed the sad news that during a fairly routine visit to the vet for our beloved eight-year old black lab, Chatham, we identified a very large mass that was most likely cancerous. Positioned just behind her left hind leg, the vet encouraged us to have a biopsy done to see what we were dealing with. The initial signs they saw on their sample were troubling, to say the least.
So, that’s what we did – even though Andi and I had been trying (and somewhat failing) to mentally prepare ourselves for the hard decision we would have to make if things came back as dire as they seemed. Afterall – this dog had been across this bridge once before (two years ago) and now – at this stage – surgery and radiation of anything that isn’t a minor skin bump seems a lot more ... Continue reading »
Snow Patrol
About a week or two before Christmas, I finally came up with the perfect reply to my wife’s pleas to please tell her what I wanted for Christmas.
“Just once – I want to be walloped by winter. I want a big-ass snowstorm. The kind that justifies all those idiots who troop out to Home Depot for a new shovel the moment they even sniff the white stuff in the air.”
(As an aside – you don’t need to buy a new shovel every snowstorm, people. They’re not disposable. In fact, they’re quite handy to keep around. And then you don’t have to worry about me mocking your mug when I catch the inevitable live shot on the 5 o’clock news as you are trooping back to Home Depot for your fifth shovel of the season.)
Well, I didn̵... Continue reading »
The Dark Tower Rises
A few years ago, I wrote a fairly scathing indictment of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series.
This was coming from a jilted lover – as I sought a break from a series that burrowed its way into my heart when I was a mid-teen – that time when your lifelong passions really start to take shape. It was later in life that I felt this series wasn’t treating me as well as it once did, so I contemplated ending things before I could get to the grand finale.
It was The Drawing of the Three (the second novel in his epic 7-part sci-fi/fantasy/apocalyptic Western) that initially caught my eye. While on vacation in New Hampshire’s White Mountains region with my family, I found the newly released paperback edition in the book rack of the town’s general store and snapped it up. Ha... Continue reading »
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The Ed Zone and EdHumphries.com is maintained by Ed Humphries - a man with a tenuous grasp on the nature of narcissism.
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