Also this week, with Wade being back in town for the briefest of times, I got a chance to Zombies!!! The two of us played, joined by Marq. Now it’s fair to say that I have a pretty pro-zombie attitude. I’m pretty much right in this game’s target audience. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell something is crap even when it has zombies in it. That said, this is not crap. I very much enjoyed this game. Wade got the rules out relatively succinctly for such a complex game, so it isn’t too confusing so long as you’ve got someone who knows what they’re doing (and it probably isn’t so bad for people who can, y’know, figure things out by reading instructions, but in that category I am not). The game went pretty quick, it felt, and the final run for the winning spot had Wade look like he had it in the bag, only to wind up with me then coming even closer (one move away if that zombie dog hadn’t got me!) and then Marq finally closed in and won. The rapid turnover at the end really made it quite fun. Five out of Six Pieces of PDR’s Reviewing System Cake.

While I was ordering from the Telltale Games site I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to also order a shirt with Max, of Sam and Max on it. Unfortunately, instead of ordering a Men’s XL, I ordered a small girl’s shirt. Between this and my recent overly-shiny Ghostbusters shirt, what the chunks is my Internet Shirt Ordering Subconscious trying to tell me?

The reason I’m currently calling it an idiot is I’ve started to notice the “Plot Keywords” section. It’s probably always been there, but I only noticed it within the last couple months. At first glance it makes sense to have keywords that sum up significant things in the movie so someone who is looking for say, Viet Nam films is gonna be able to sift through them.

But look at some of the things that turn up in the Keywords! I’ll go to the Dark Knight page to get examples. There’s the ones that make sense, of course: “Vigilante”, “Dark Hero” and “Superhero” are all well and good. But then there’s the truly mundane: “Funeral”, “Gun”, “Bruise”, “Butler”, “Billiards” and “Applause” are all in there.. And we also have the truly inane: “Altered Version Of Studio Logo”, “Heavy Rubber”, “Number In Character’s Name”, “Title Spoken By Character ” and “Punched In The Face” leave me questioning the point altogether.

My main concern here is that these things rarely fit my definition of PLOT keywords. Seriously, if there is anyone who likes “Billiards” enough that they’re looking up movies about it, they’re going to be disappointed by the Dark Knight.

Also, there was a character with a number in his name?

And for the record, I’ve eaten like three tubs of Rocky Road ice cream this week to make up for not getting one when I wanted it that time. Oh yes, I can set goals and accomplish them. Threefold.

Little else to report at this time.

The first night we stayed in Kashgar there was a concert going on about a block from the hotel we were in. It was in front of a statue of Mao. Fireworks were going off, but there was apparently no attempt to time them to the music or anything.

The next day we were walking around and we saw a big jumbotron thing showing footage from the concert. The audience was not at all rapt. They sat their in matching businessperson shirts and watched with the same level of excitement I give the average episode of one of those home remodeling shows. With all those blank faces I can’t imagine why the cameras ever bothered turning away from the performers, who did seem to be giving it their all. I’m left assuming that attendance of the event was mandatory for those chumps.

Also, though it has come up in my Facebook comments, I have to comment that Neon Lights are apparently the future over there. If someone were to visit China two years from now and tell me that the government had begun installing neon lights on the trees, I would believe it, because they’re running out of space for them on the buildings.

And finally I will mention that on my second night in Shanghai, the night it poured rain and ruined my shoes, I also got a haircut. First they rinsed the hair in one chair, then washed it in a sink in the back, then cut it in a third chair, then rinsed it again in the sink again and then I got confused. They wanted to take me to the third chair again to blow-dry my hair. I don’t dry my hair usually. I let it dry itself in the air, so I felt like I was done after the second rinsing. We did not speak the same language and it took like two minutes for me to know what was going on. At one point the guy tried just using a towel on my head as I stood. It was awkward.

That’s it for now. I might put up another Facebook album like tomorrow or something. I’ll see.