...briefs and shorts about games and movies, that is.  Ohhhh, I've got jokes.  
 
-I played through a bit of Heroes of Might and Magic V this last week.  Still not a good game, despite my love for the series.  There's a sudden jump in difficulty towards the end of the Queen's missions that still has me shaking my head, as everything up until that mission feels right.  But the storyline is as bland as any fantasy game or novel I've ever read, the "reveals" are foreshadowed a mile away, and there's just a peculiar lack of care to the game, as though it were the PC's version of a paint-by-numbers project.   Uninstalled it, and am moving on to Might and Magic VI-VIII, which should hopefully get full reviews, write-ups, and the whole Sparky treatment soon. 
 
-Ended up keeping Red Dead a little longer, thanks to my brother, who is far more patient with people returning stuff than I am.  I feel like I've played through the bulk of what I want out of the game, and beyond maybe nabbing a couple of more achievements, I think I'm done with it for a good long while. 
 
-Only three more achievements in Forza 3 until I get my first S-rank.  Exciting stuff.  I nabbed the elusive "Connoisseur" achievement after finally earning enough money to purchase a car from every manufacturer - and mind you, that's after all the DLC car packs came out.  I should hit level 50 soon, leaving only the "get all gold" and drift achievements to nab.  Still practicing my drifting occasionally, but I've been mostly concentrating on knocking out gold medals and getting to level 50.  Favorite cars in that game to date, either to drive or to look at, are: Saleen truck, 370Z, Morgan, and just about anything Ferrari or Lamborghini.  Very stoked to see how Gran Turismo 5 turns out, though I'm still waiting to hear if it has hirable drivers. 
 
-Games I'm looking forward to the most in the next couple of months?  Fallout New Vegas and Fable 3.  There are a TON of great looking games coming out, which makes me sorta glad I can't afford to spend any more money on games at the moment.  Fallout 3 and Fable 2 were two of my favorite games of the last decade, and both would be in serious contendership f or favorite game of all time, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with their new releases. 
  
-Getting into Fringe.  It's a hard show to like at first, but once you get beyond the "case of the week" format, there's a lot to enjoy.  The overarching storylines are far more interesting to me than Lost's, although the characters aren't as compelling.  They're still fantastic and they definitely get a lot more interesting towards the latter half of the first season, so I'm really psyched to check out the second season when it hits DVD. 
 
-I Sell the Dead is a superb movie.  Starring Dominic Monaghan (of Lost and Lord of the Rings), it's a buddy monster movie that's light on the horror.  Good stuff, and excellent writing. 

Music I'm Gaming To 

1.  Korn - Word Up 
2.  Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance 
3.  Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man 
4.  Radiohead - Reckoner 
5.  Jay Z/Linkin Park - Numb/Encore 
6.  Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies 
7.  Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Kiss the Sky 
8.  Tenacious D - Double Team 
9.  Mannie Fresh - Real Big 
10.  Flipsyde - Someday 
 
What You Should Be Reading Instead of This
 
Sweep's recent blog about the 10 GB features you never knew about is all sorts of awesome. 
  
TDS418 is running a hell of an interesting blog series on revisiting the early parts of the Xbox 360 catalogue.  Give it a read.