I finally got it!

After months of waiting, I finally got it--"LEGO Star Wars II: the Original Trilogy" (PS2 version). The price dropped to about $19.99 recently, and I saw it in the nearby mall's Gamespot store (or is Gamestop?). I was so excited about the game that I played all the way through Episode IV (A New Hope) today. I got to play as General Antilles (from Leia's ship), Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and as the droids a couple of times. I even got to fly Luke's X-Wing in the Battle of Yavin and drop a torpedo into the Death's Star's reactor. And the game's cut scene films were great. It was just like the original movie, only funnier. For instance, when Leia is giving Artoo the plans to the Death Star, he/it shakes his head like "I'm not taking that." So she just pops open his head like the lid of a garbage can and drops the plans in. Funny stuff. Plus, you can build vehicles as you go and ride around in them. For example, there was a chapter about mid-way through Episode IV where you're running around Mos Eisley as Luke and Obi-Wan. As Obi-Wan, you could use the Force to assemble the parts to a Chicken Walker (AT-ST), then drive it around. Pretty cool stuff. I'm eager for the chance to fly around in the Millennium Falcon (probably in Episode V and/or Episode VI).

The weekend thus far, game update.

Well, I'm most of the way through the second day of a three-day vacation from work (due to Memorial Day). On Saturday, I did laundry and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End with Harry and Liz. On Sunday, I did my grocery shopping, some ironing, and played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" and "Kingdom Hearts II."

Speaking of "Kingdom Hearts II," I've made more progress. In the alternate Twilight Town, we found the entrance to the "Darkness." Inside the entrance, we found ourselves in a space between worlds. Nobodies attacked, but I got some help from Axel. He used himself up in the process, but he told me where Kairi was. We entered "The World that Never Was" (which has a heart-shaped Moon) and looked for a way to the castle Axel said Kairi was in. Heartless repeatedly attacked us, and I ran into a mysterious figure dressed like someone from Organization XIII wielding Keyblades. It turned out it was Roxas, but Goofy and Donald didn't see him. When we got to the castle, we found ourselves up against more Heartless and Nobodies. After fighting those, I ran into another member of Organization XIII, Xigbar, after we spotted Kairi on a different level of a huge inner chamber. After beating him, we made our way to Kairi. She was with Xehanort's Nobody (who had been calling himself Ansem in the other game). We were shocked to learn it was Riku, who had altered his appearance somehow to infiltrate the Organization. We made our way up the outer walkway's of the castle, only to get ambushed by another member of Organization XIII, Luxord (or was is Luxard?). He trapped the others, and I fought him solo. I won, and my group was freed. If I'm not mistaken, then I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game......

Just my average weekend.

Well, it was pretty much my average weekend. I spent some time with Diana, Gwen, Cosmo, and Wanda on Saturday. Later, I went out with Harry and Liz to see Shrek the Third. It was a lot more upbeat than Spider-Man 3. We ate out at the mall afterwards.

Today, I played games on my new PS2 (the old one was having trouble reading some of my game disks). I played more "Kingdom Hearts II": after completing a Gummi Mission ("Assault of the Dreadnought"?), I paid a visit to Twilight Town with Donald and Goofy. We fought a lot of Nobodies, then headed for the old mansion. We ran into Roxas' friends outside, and they said they believed the mansion had a gateway to an alternate version of Twilight Town. Mickey joined us, and we headed inside. We fought more Nobodies, then found a device that opened the gateway (similar to a "Star Trek" transporter) to the other Twilight Town. Mickey went with us as we headed to the other Twilight Town.

I kinda messed around a little with "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance." I tried a new team: Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Thor, and Spider-Woman, all classic versions. I went through the Helicarrier and Omega Base levels, then quit.

Life in general.

Well, I spent a lot of time with Harry and Liz on Saturday. We went to see The Invisible, which is kind of a dark movie, but has an important lesson. The lesson? I think the lesson was that people can do bizarre or dangerous things when they feel ignored and neglected by those around them ("invisible," if you will).

After the movie, I went grocery shopping with Harry and Liz. Back at Harry's place, Harry and I played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" (XBox 360 version). I got to try out some characters not available to me on my version (PS2) of the game--Venom and Colossus. It was kind of weird playing as Venom, since I normally play the game as Spider-Man. Harry played as Dr. Doom and the Hulk (the Planet Hulk version?) We had frozen pizza for dinner and watched The Fantastic Four.

My pet spider (Peter) is still alive. I've had him for about a year now, and I've been able to keep him alive by providing him with water and live prey (mostly ants and a few small spiders I've caught in my apartment). I was a little scared a few months ago when it was really cold out and live bugs were scarce, but he survived it. I will interested in seeing if he lives longer than the hermit crab I had a few years ago....

Spider-Man weekend.

Well, this was a Spider-Man weekend. I watched part of Spider-Man 2 on cable TV on Friday and Saturday nights. I saw Spider-Man 3 on Saturday with Harry and Liz. It was as good as Spider-Man 2, though parts of it didn't appeal much to me. I also picked up a free Spider-Man comic book (it was being offered as part of Free Comic Book Day) on Saturday.

Today, I got a few more Spider-Man themed books. First, I got the Spider-Man 3 movie novelization by Peter David (an excellent writer of Spider-Man stuff, and I'm not just saying that because his last name is the same as my first name). Second, I got a book I didn't even know existed (before today) called The Spider-Man Handbook: the Ultimate Training Manual, by Seth Grahame-Smith. It has a lot of interesting stuff in it about fighting bad guys, building things, etc. It even has brief profiles on various Spidey foes, including Dr. Octopus, Electro, and Venom.