Mood: Triumph!

OMG, I BEAT ARKHAM ASYLUM ALL BY MYSELF! :B Sure, I had it on easy mode and it's taken me over a month to trudge through it, but I totally did it without handing the controller over even once! For anyone who knows what a crappy excuse for a gamer I am, this is a fairly big deal. I only have two big complaints about the game:

1. For a game that is so ridiculously gorgeous and highly detailed in design, it's pretty ridiculous that you spend practically all of your time in Detective Mode and don't even get to enjoy any of the eye-candy.
2. The final boss battle against the Joker is just plain disappointing. It was probably one of the easiest fights in the entire game (and I use the term "fight" loosely, considering you hardly even take a swing at Mister J and spend the entire time fighting henchmen instead) especially compared to Ivy, who I died six times with much swearing and gnashing of teeth before I managed to beat.

In any event, it has been the highlight of my lackluster gaming career to date, and I'm super excited for the sequel, Arkham City, to come out in 2011. Catwoman and Two-Face and even more Joker, oh my!

Iroh went in for his annual checkup and it turns out he really is getting a tad tubby. All this time I thought the extra weight was just the whole second year "filling out" stage that cats apparently go through. *Sweatdrop* The doctor says he should loose around 1/2 - 1lb, so in an effort to not end up with a rolly-polly kitty, I'm cutting back on his wet food in the evenings. *Iroh is very sad*

While we were in at the clinic, I also took the chance to ask the vet about how to put on the Soft Claw nail caps. (Iroh has been caught one too many times scratching at our sofa downstairs, and certain individuals were two whiskers away from having a conniption.) The caps were easy enough to apply (though I have no doubt that next time I try it by myself Iroh will fight me to the bitter end), and they seem to work pretty well. Other than visibly wigging him out when he walked anywhere for the first day of having them on, they don't appear to bother him much at all -- aside from any regrettable injury to his kitty pride he may bear, that is. Sometimes he'll shake his paws in annoyance and give me such a dirty look, like I've betrayed a sacred trust or something.

Poor Iroh. Vet visits, dieting, and no more scratching at the furniture. It's been a bad week for him. ^^;

Update on the kitchen renovations! And by that I mean that we've scrapped the kitchen reno idea for the time being (we're going to wait until we have more money to burn for that big project), and instead we've sort of -- and almost entirely by accident -- decided to redo the upstairs bathroom. What started as an outing to buy a new toilet seat turned into a new shower curtain, which in turn escalated into new bathmats, towels, and paint to match the new shower curtain, and has ended up with us buying a new vanity from Jysk and light fixtures and shopping around for the best deal on floor and wall tile. We haven't even done any of the big changes yet and already it's looking so much prettier! I'll post before and after pictures when we get it finished~

Mood: Mostly sleepy.

I had my first volunteer shift at the Stanley Milner Library yesterday, sorting books for their upcoming book sale(s) down in the basement. There were less volunteers than I thought there'd be, and I turned out to be the youngest among them (looks like most of the EPL volunteers are older people who are retired or don't work full hours and have oodles of spare time... so we have something in common then), but it was a good time. It also helps that for each volunteer session I help out at, I score four dollars of free used books! XB (When we're talking used books, four dollars buys a respectable pile of new novels to add to my collection~) They also have a drink fridge and sneaky filing cabinet drawer full of snacks to nibble on while you're sorting. Definitely worth waking up early for yesterday morning.

Mason and I watched the new DC animated movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood the other evening, based on the whole Jason Todd reborn storyline. Verdict? Pretty sweet. :B I've read "A Death in the Family" and I'm familiar with the general plot points of Red Hood's origin, so it was neat to see a video version of the story (and according to reviews from people more comic-savvy than I, the adaptation is pretty well done.) Pleasing art and animation, good script, and much more blood and violence than I've seen in the past Batman animated videos. My only sad note is that this movie changed all of the usual voice actors I've come to know and love from the animated Batman universe -- it's silly, but there will always be a little part of me that shuns anyone who tries to fill Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamill's shoes. On the other hand... Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing is awesome! *Glee*

On that thought, why is it that random street thugs know that Nightwing was formerly Robin...? o_O Did Batman post memos up all over Gotham? Is there an official Batman newsletter?

Mood: A pretty neutral day

I went out with my sister and mother this week to see the infamous Puppetry of the Penis, and I have to say that frankly I'm beginning to doubt all your guys' cringing and whining about the pain of getting kicked in the balls when you can twist, stretch, and contort your genitals to the degree that these two men did with ease. D: It was amazing and horrifying at the same time, with emphasis on tricks such as the Snail, the Pelican, and... *shudder* Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'd be interested in knowing how many of the men who allow themselves to be dragged to PotP go home and immediately try out some of the "installations" for themselves. Brings a whole new meaning to the concept of "playing with yourself".

Kudos goes out to my sister this week -- she managed to summarize the whole and entire subject range of my Twittering and compile them into a comprehensive, easy to read pie chart:

It is, sad to say, a fairly accurate representation. -_-; As a result, over the past few days I have become an increasingly self-conscience tweeter.

And oh god, after years of constant willpower I'm starting to read fanfiction again. It's like horribly addictive fandom crack and I'm trying to keep it to small quantities. Save me before I fall off the edge of the world and am never heard from again.

Mood: Chilly

What's this? We have a second bunny hanging around our house. He's (she's?) been a constant visitor to our front lawn and backyard since we moved in; we probably see him at least once a day. I never see the bunny on any of our neighbors' lawns, so I can only assume there's something drawing him to ours. *Looks suspiciously at a certain young black and white bunny sitting innocently on the couch* Toby, I think you're having a torrid long distance affair with this wild rabbit. I see you perched up at that window pretending not to look at him (her...?). What a scamp. My bunny, the heartbreaker. But they're two bunnies from two different worlds. It's like Romeo and Juliet but with long ears and fluffy tails -- and like all Shakespeare it can only end in tragedy. D: I tell you, I will have no part of it! Plus this rabbit is like three times the size of poor Toby and would probably squash him flat.

It's funny because every time Mason see's the other rabbit, he rushes out of the house with his airsoft pellet gun like an overzealous protective father -- only instead of caring about illicit bunny affairs, he is more perturbed that the rabbit is shitting on our lawn. It is kind of annoying, because I can't bring Toby outside in a backyard pen if there's wild rabbit feces that could make him sick. We'll have to see if this furry stranger decides to become a permanent resident or not.

I got my new Edmonton library card! I didn't have time the other day to spend a lot of time at the local library, but I did take a quick peak around. It's disappointingly small. :c I thought it had two floors like the St. Albert library but it turns out it's only one; though the fact that I can transfer any book from any of the other Edmonton branches to mine is pretty neat and makes up for the lack of physical shelf space. I immediately put a hold on The Time Traveler's Wife which I've been meaning to check out for a while, before realizing that with the bigger city comes the much bigger hold queue. (405th in line... *Sweatdrop* Should have expected that with all the movie hype.) Thankfully Sarah is kindly lending me her copy or I'd probably be on the waiting list until next year.

I'm getting very excited for the new Batman game Arkham Asylum being released on the 25th. Paul Dini himself is reportedly heading the script, and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are both reprising their roles as Batman and the Joker respectively (though from what I've seen from the trailers, Hamill has toned his readings down to something significantly darker than his work on the original Batman animated series' *glee*), and word is there are parts of the game you can actually play as Mister J~ THAT IS EPIC FTW. :B Mason's promised to only play it when I'm in the room so I don't miss any of the story or animated sequences. Depending on how frustrating and hard the game controls look, I may actually take a stab at playing this one myself. Maybe.

Mood: Every now and then you should have a good ranty blog post

I really need to stop reading the books before I see the movie adaptations. Coleen and I went and saw My Sister's Keeper last night and I'm undecided whether I walked out so disappointed simply because the film wasn't that great, or because it was so completely butchered from the original novel version.

I understand that book-to-movie adaptations always involve some inevitable but necessary plot trimming, but I can't stand when for no apparent reason they cut out all these wonderful scenes from the book and then end up writing all-new scenes to fill up all that extra space that don't even end up doing the original's justice at all. Why don't they just keep the original bits? There were scenes in the novel that displayed the emotional battle this family is going through so simply and vividly -- whereas the new movie inserts were fairly bland and too drawn out.

I'm also a little irked that they completely changed some of the key character's personalities. They made Anna loud, annoying, and obnoxious. In addition to giving Jesse's self-destructive personality a complete 180 degree rewrite, they also cut out his entire storyline. And poor Campbell Alexander's character should never have been given to the likes of Alec Baldwin who is both much too old and not at all good looking or charming enough to pull off the role. Though I can't say they even gave him much a role in the film -- Campbell's entire subplot with Julie (who wasn't even in the movie) was trashed, and his health condition was barely even touched upon.

And did I mention that they completely changed and reversed the ending? D: That is most ridiculous rewrite of a story wrap up that I've ever seen. There was no heart wrenching impact or twist to the movie's finale! It was anti-climactic and completely negates Anna's entire purpose in the story that contributes so much to the title My Sister's Keeper. What a sham. *Grumble mumble grumble*

On a different but still petty fangirlsh rant, I'm about so sick of all of the recent Dark Knight LedJoker fanart that I could spew. I don't think I can stand to see another dozen duplications of the "Why So Serious" poster, the infamous playing card or head quirked shots, or Ledger sitting on the damn jail cell bench. (Don't even get me started on the amount of cosplay photos you have to swim through now. Ugh.) Don't get me wrong, I like DK Joker. It's just that that seems to be all you ever see now. The Chris Nolan Batman franchise has spawned a whole new generation of Batman fans that probably don't even realize that Heath Ledger is just this one microscopic version of Mister J in a pile of Joker incarnation gems of the past in cartoons and comics. *Sad* It makes weeding through the DeviantArt results to find interesting pieces very tedious.

(Hahaha, okay, but I did come across this creepy but adorable LedJoker chibi. So cute in a creepy-clown-doll sort of way.)

Also, has anyone else noticed how funny and a bit disturbing at times it is that pretty much no matter which popular fandom or character you search for on DeviantArt, you'll inevitably end up finding a picture of them depicted as either some sort of canine, feline, or horse relation? Look! It's Joker as a wolf! Look! It's a Jack Sparrow horse! Look! It's a Severus Snape lion! And well hey now, that seems to be a bit of strange anatomical position to put him in with that Dumbledore lio-- ohmygodmyeyes *close tab close tab CLOSE TAB!* DX I guess it just goes to show there's a crazy furry enthusiast in every fandom. Though for the sake of the rest of the fan community there should be some sort of browsing filter.

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: 26

Mood: Watching Batman Beyond episode 3. Highly disturbed.

Oh god, why oh why does Bruce have Harley Quinn's and other rogues gallery villains' costumes displayed in the Batcave? Does he just steal their outfits as soon as they change into the ugly orange Arkham jumpsuits? Harley fell down a giant chasm -- did Batman climb down and strip her costume from her broken, bleeding body? D: Is it like stamp collecting but with people's clothes that he then goes and trades for other better clothes with fellow Justice League members?

I don't care if you're a super hero or not, that's just creepy.