While I was away, I put my Netflix account on hold, but going away wasn’t the only reason I stopped the flow of movies. I had simply not been able to find anything that I really cared to watch. Yesterday I unfroze my account to watch an 80 minute documentary on Helvetica, based on the suggestion of Tycho over at Penny Arcade. It’s not for everyone, but I found it mildly interesting. Then again I’m the kind of person who likes to ponder hyper-linking as language.

One of the reasons that the posts have been going up so late is that I have become entranced by Crayon Physics. The designer definitely exceeded my expectations after playing the original project. I wish I had a tablet.

The other reason the posts have been late is that I’m having the hardest time adjusting to the time zone. This time of year the difference is only 6 hours, but it’s just messing with me.

On Tuesday I again went to the mall. I played a game of Race for the Galaxy, which I’m starting to think might be worth buying since I don’t have a copy of San Juan. The only new game I got to play was The Battle for Hill 218. It’s slightly unbalanced (the second player has an advantage), has some randomness, and may only have a few set strategies (I’ll have to play it more to find out), but it’s fun, quick and very cheap. There’s also a free online version.

Since every other time I’ve gone I had to wait around, I decided to go a bit later. Because of this, I missed the chance to play Steam over Holland with Scott. I guess it’s one of the easiest/shortest 18xx games. It looked interesting anyway. I was also told by the new spokesman for the group that I was deprived because I haven’t played Imperial.

Just so you know, I went back and put some screenshots into the Hobbiton post and one into the post about Mt. Ruapehu.

[Joe]

is Boron.

One of the first things to come out of Digg’s new recommendation engine was a link to these videos about the elements in the periodic table. They’re fun and informative. Watch for the explosion in the first video, stay for the hair.

If you want to watch the movie with a half-bald Lt. Gordon, Hulu has it up for free, like all of their stuff. This summer they’ve been putting up a movie/show each weekday, including some pretty interesting stuff. I’m happy to say that today’s movie is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which was released earlier this month, but finished it’s run on it’s own website shortly thereafter.

Dr. Horrible is a musical (yes, that’s right, I’m recommending a musical) created by Joss Whedon and a few others and is about an evil genius trying to join the Evil League of Evil. It was created as a reaction to the writer’s stike, but still has pretty good production values. It stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. I don’t know if you have till the end of the summer to see it on Hulu or not, but I recommend checking it out when you get a chance.

Felicia Day was unknown to me before Dr. Horrible, but through Penny Arcade, I found out that she stars in an online short comedy about gamers called The Guild (the official website seems to be down at the moment). It’s production values are a good bit less than Dr. Horrible’s, but it’s still worth watching if you’re into MMO’s at all.

[Joe]

“So make the Bad Horse gleeful
Or he’ll make you his mare…”

Here’s a little Valentine’s Day present for us Indiana Jones fans. I’m really crossing my fingers on this one.

In other Lucasfilm news, the new CG Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be in theaters August 15th and then the series will be released in the fall. It’s not clear to me if the one in the theaters is it’s own movie, or just the first three episodes put together. Should be interesting.

[Joe]

One of the trailers attached to Cloverfield is the brand new teaser for Star Trek. I noticed that on IMDB it’s sometimes called Star Trek XI, which by the old rule means it’s going to suck. It is a prequel though, so shouldn’t it be numbered 0? Maybe then it has a chance.

The cast listing on IMDB is interesting…
Chris Pine … Kirk
Zachary Quinto … Spock
Eric Bana … Nero
Winona Ryder … Amanda Grayson
Zoe Saldana … Nyota Uhura
Karl Urban … Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
Bruce Greenwood … Christopher Pike
John Cho … Sulu
Leonard Nimoy … Spock
Simon Pegg … Scotty
Anton Yelchin … Pavel Chekov

[Joe]

You can check out the trailer for Prince Caspian at NarniaWeb.

The poster for the new Indiana Jones movie is out.

I’m not sure what to think of The Dark Knight. Batman Begins got some points for style, but the action scenes and the physics were crap. At least they replaced Katie Holmes.

Continuing with the comic book theme, Iron Man looks interesting.

I’ve read that Keira Knightley of Pirates fame (and Episode I, if you were paying close attention) is going to be in the next Jurassic Park movie. It’s sad, I know, but I’m still hoping they’ll make a good sequel.

I’m going to get around to seeing Ratatouille one of these days, but I think WALL E might be more my style.

Coming up a bit sooner is J. J. Abrams’ (co-creator of Lost) latest project, Cloverfield.

On the topic of Lost, the mini-episodes have gotten more interesting.

I’m a bit late to the party, but can somebody explain this freaking starburst commercial to me? I think my head is going to explode.

[Joe]