Plans within plans

Oh yeah. Tonight. After the Tetsuya Mizuguchi thing, I'm going to meet up with the missus and a couple of her mates for dinner. Vietnamese, I think. Then we're going to go home and play EyeToy for a bit. And probably have too much to drink. Good times.

Tomorrow, I think we're also going to be drinking with some mates. Online ones, this time, from here. I do hope, however, that I can spend at least some of the weekend simply sitting around on my arse. I'm in my 12th straight day at work at the moment, and I'm a bit sick of it. More than anything, I really just need a rest.

At the moment I'm playing Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox, and Beyond Good and Evil for the PS2. I'd like to spend some time with them, partly because I enjoy them, but partly because I just want to finish them off - I've got a huge backlog of games to play, and there's a staggering amount of 'must play' stuff coming out over the next little while. I won't bore you with an enormous wishlist - let's just say it's considerable.

While we're talking games - game of the year so far is Burnout 3. If you haven't played it yet, please do. It'll remind you why you liked games in the first place. And I'll give you a hint: realism, non-linearity and narrative had nothing to do with it.

I'm re-reading Dune at the moment. I still find it really compelling, despite the fact that I feel like an enormous nerd pulling it out on the tram. Still, it's no worse than pulling out my GBA SP, I suppose. But anyway, there's just something about Dune. I think it's the sense that what's going on extends so far beyond what's covered in the actual text - it really does give you a sense of coherence that's more effective than even that in, say, Lord of the Rings. It doesn't quite have the charm of that book, but it's actually even more impressive, in some respects. There's just something about the scope of the thing.

I'm tempted to take another look at the film. It's a failure, but at least it's a beautiful and fascinating one.

Speaking of films, I saw Steamboy the other night. Not bad. Not bad at all. The plot's predictably crappy, but it's a whole heap of fun. And about the best animation I've ever seen. It's no Miyazaki film, in terms of its content, but it's actually even better presented, if anything. Four stars.