On a roll...

Was quite busy over the weekend...hence the lack of blogging over the past few days...

Saturday, spent the day with Doug moving from one end of the cultural spectrum to the other. We started out the afternoon by going to the MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. It was um...interesting...I don't know whether it was the exhibit or just the nature of the museum, but both of us just didn't quite get into it. And I have been to art museums before (the Getty was the last one I went to and it was superb), but this one left me a little cold. Mounds of earth separated by mirrors as art? I dunno...there were a couple of paintings which I liked, actually one was quite amazing. I forget the name of it, but as a whole, we just weren't compelled by it.

Since we had a bit of time to kill, we walked around the Walt Disney Music Hall. WOW...what a cool building. Seeing a concert there has been added to the "things to do" list.

As evening fell, we did something a little less on the high-brow side. We went to see "Team America: World Police." We both really liked it. Lots of funny moments and a great analogy about people's places in the world told in a way that only Trey Parker and Matt Stone could tell it. The songs were hilarious and puppet sex never looked so hot...wait, that's wrong. Forget I said that. It doesn't quite get to the brilliance of "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut," but then again, doing so would take a lot. Definitely recommend it...

Before we got home, we made a little pit stop at Best Buy to use a coupon I got in the mail. I went there with the goals of getting the "Aladdin" DVD, the "Taxi: First Season" DVD, and the "Team America" soundtrack. Alas, I was thwarted on all but one of those goals. They were out of the "Taxi" DVD and I guess "Team America's" soundtrack isn't out yet. I did end up getting in their places another Midway arcade collection for the Playstation 2 and...Katamari Damacy, a new game for the Playstation 2.

"Kata-WHAT?" you say? That's exactly what *I* was saying as I looked at the box with its serene illustration of a cityscape, a meadow with cows grazing, and a bright rainbow in the background...with a giant mount of random stuff including a squid, baseball stadium, and whale sitting amongst the city skyline. "Hmm...this game looks a little offbalance," I thought to myself. "I must read the back cover!" And just by reading the description and seeing the low price, I decided it. I didn't regret that impulse buy.

Katamari Damacy is one of the best new games I've played in a while. It follows the tenet that any classic video game should follow. It's simple and you can pick it up in a matter of minutes. This is a game that would have fit well with the best arcade games of the 80s. What's the premise? Just roll your sticky ball (or "katamari") over all sorts of shtuff and watch it grow bigger. And keep rolling and rolling and rolling avoiding things that will knock your ball down or get in your way. Hit the goal size for your katamari and voila...you've won the round and move on to the next stage. How can something simple-sounding be so fun? It is...OH, it is. The moment I rolled my katamari over and picked up a dog (at which point it started barking), I knew this was fun. I just wanted to roll over all sorts of stuff on the screen just to see what I could pick up! It's twisted, but oh so great!

Sunday was just as packed. Thanks to Todd Newton, I was able to sit in the audience for the finale of VH1's "Search for the New Partridge Family." It was a very fun show and Todd did a great job hosting as always. And I definitely agree with the audience's picks for the cast, especially for Keith. When I watched the Battle of the Keiths, there was just something about Leland Grant where you sensed that he had "it' after you saw him take the stage. Ahh...I just remembered...I have to empty the confetti from the big finale out of my jacket pockets. Heee... :-)

Closed the weekend out by getting together with John Sly and Marc Green (from Golden-Road.net) and a bunch of my game show cohorts for a little gaming. Good mix of games this go 'round from Press Your Luck to Pyramid to Price is Right to Password. (The essential "P"s of game shows!) Best moment of the night...Press Your Luck. That seems to fire up the room any time we play it. The worst moment of the night for me...When "MACRAME" popped up in the big money lightning round while I was giving clues...MACRAME?!? Needless to say, my partner and I were screwed.

Sooo tired...and there's work tomorrow! EEEEE! Gots to get to bed...