Weekend viewing, playing and eating

I didn’t do much in the way of diverse pop culture consumption this weekend. My plans to attend the last Saturday of the Durban International Film Festival kind of fell apart after embarking on an ambitious cooking session earlier in the evening. Inspired by the bf’s recent trip to the States we ended up making chili con carne, cornbread and chocolate brownies all from scratch. I celebrated the achievement with a glass or 3 of wine and was unconscious by 9:30pm.


I also got to try several other American culinary delights for the first time this weekend, including beef jerky (soft, sweet, smoky and tasty – but very different from South African biltong) and a couple of different chocolate bars, from awesome Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Baby Ruth (similar to our New Look, but even better thanks to a thick strip of caramel in the centre!), to the utterly vile plain Hershey’s chocolate. Yuck. Give me Cadbury and Nestle any day!

Anyway, on the topic of food, this is probably a good point to mention what has become one of my favourite websites. Check out This Is Why You're Fat. The site content frequently disgusts me, but I have to admit (embarrassingly) it also frequently makes me very hungry.

Film:
The only film I caught this weekend was The Happening, which I rewatched, or, rather, re-listened to while I was working on the next Girlz ‘N’ Games web comic. When I saw the film at the cinema I found it to be more mediocre than anything else – an interesting concept ruined by a tame execution. Experiencing it again this weekend, I found The Happening to be laughably bad. I felt especially embarrassed for Mark Wahlberg, who has to spout some truly shocking dialogue.

Gaming:
Despite the fact that my World of WarCraft account expires in 2 weeks or so, I ended up creating a brand new character, a Blood Elf Priest to accompany the bf’s new Hunter, based on his tabletop Dungeons & Dragons character.

I can’t say I’m especially impressed with the Priest class. I’m sure it’s very good for group support but as a solo character, at least during the first 10 levels, it feels frustratingly weak.

Television:
Most of the weekend was spent watching some of my favourite shows. I must say that as big a Family Guy fan as I was, watching episodes from Season 7, and then switching over to the Volume 4 box set of American Dad! I have to say my allegiance is changing. I actually think I prefer American Dad! now. Being story focused, and centred on (slightly more) realistic, but damn hilarious characters, it doesn’t feel as tired and formulaic as Family Guy has become.


I’m also now several episodes into The Tudors Season 3. I can’t say the show is quite as good as it once was, seeing as a large part of the series’ appeal was the passionate love-hate relationship between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (Boleyn was beheaded at the end of Season 2). However, in last night’s episode the kind-hearted, almost too-good-to-be-true Jane Seymour (Wife #3) died giving birth to Henry’s male heir, so I’m expecting relationship torment to flair up yet again to accompany the political intrigue and religious rebellion already underway.

I also ended up watching several episodes of House Season 4. As much as I enjoy the medical mystery solving, the more I think about it, the more I realise how depressing the show really is. Although the series rarely goes all out to wring sobs from the viewer (as Grey’s Anatomy does), and the patients almost always are saved, the series seems to be populated with dissatisfied to hopelessly miserable characters. And although he hides behind his amusing sarcasm, Hugh Laurie’s Gregory House is actually the worst of the lot.