Yesterday Dave and Nick took me to a favourite haunt of theirs, a small place called gameLAN. Much like the various LAN arenas that are opening up in the UK, inside were about two dozen networked PCs with an assortment of multiplayer games. For about $10 you could buy a good four hours or so of gaming time, provided your eyes didn’t pack up before that from the frantic action and flashing pixels. There was a decent mix of strategy games available, but most played were the various First Person Shooters on offer. My personal favourite, Unreal Tournament, was nowhere to be seen, but I quickly got into the counter-terrorism antics of a “CounterStrike” server, although I am very much of the opinion that the dated Half-Life engine is really not up to scratch in comparison to (for example) Unreal Tournament “CounterStrike”-style rip-offs (err, “homages”!). Similarly, a Matrix-themed mod “The Specialist” just never seemed visually up to the UT varients, nor could it play as fluidly. That said, there was something distinctly satisfying about diving into a Quake 3 Arena fragfest and obliterating a bunch of arrogant American brats. 50-15! L33T!
Today Nick had a music recital in one of LSU’s very cool little concert halls. Brilliant accoustics meant the varied abilities of the performers did not detract badly. Nick’s drumming was particularly well-received and we celebrated at a Chinese buffet restaurant, The Great Wall which is certainly to be recommended (it’s been moved and redecorated since I last ate there over Christmas).
Although I am by no means a fan of the Harry Potter books, I must confess to being particularly excited about this forthcoming movie. The third installment looks far darker than its predecessors, combined with maturing actors and a great new director (the Mexican helmsman of the awesome road trip movie Y Tu Mama Tambien). A new documentary I saw this evening has further piqued my interest, so I have high hopes. My current plans are to see Kill Bill, vol.2 early in the week and maybe drop by a high school graduation party too. It’s weird the invitations you receive with a British accent…
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