They just keep teasing me…  Yet another AvP video, but still no playable demo.

Years ago, I saw a movie on TV about killer rocks.  These things would grow when they got wet and topple over on top of people.  If you were unfortunate enough to be touching the rock when it was wet, it would turn you to stone.

It left quite an impression on me, but I never caught the name of the movie.  So I was never able to see it again.

Then, a couple weeks back, there was a post on the Pharyngula blog that happened to link to a YouTube trailer for The Monolith Monsters – the movie I’d watched all those years ago.

We found it on Netflix…  They shipped it out…  And last night I got to watch The Monolith Monsters once again.

Obviously the movie is a bit dated.  It’s still in black & white.  But the picture was amazingly well-preserved.  Very crisp and clean.  The acting was a bit formulaic…  But that’s to be expected from sci-fi movies of this era.

It was a ton of fun.  I think I liked it more this time around than the first time I watched it.

And it left me with the same oddly fascinated feeling…  It isn’t often that you see a movie where the antagonist is simply a pile of rocks that might fall on you.

I stumbled across a great little game last night – Gratuitous Space Battles.

The gameplay is pretty simple, but crazily addictive as well.  You design ships ahead of time…  Sticking various weapons and shields and stuff onto different hulls.  Then you deploy those ships against an opposing force and sit back to watch the carnage.

You can set some basic orders for the ships as you deploy them…  But once the battle has begun, you can’t do much.  You can’t tell them where to move, or who to attack, or what weapons to fire.  You just sit back and see how your designs and strategy play out.

The ship building reminds me of designing ships in Master of Orion, and that was always one of the parts I liked best.

The actual combat, however, is more like a tower defense game.

The visuals are very nice, but not amazing.  It’s done in a 2D style that’s very reminiscent of Master of Orion II.  You’ve got just enough modules and hulls to make you ponder your choices, without having so many as to be overwhelmed.  There are a couple different races to play as, with unique ships.  And some of the maps have weird anomalies in play that screw with your shields or weapons.

The end result is a very fun, very relaxing game that I played for hours last night without noticing the time passing at all.

There’s been a steady stream of new gameplay videos for Aliens vs. Predator.  Today’s is a gameplay video featuring the Predator.

Looks very cool.  I always enjoyed the whole stalking your prey aspect of playing as the Predator.  This game seems to play up that aspect quite a bit.  You have the ability to project a voice recording, to distract your target.  And it looks like you can asses your target’s strengths…  Determine what kind of equipment they have and whatnot.  Looks good.

My only complaint, at this point, is that I still haven’t seen a demo.

Slashdot | Apple’s “iPad” Out in the Open

The (0.5″) skinny: 1.5 lbs, multitouch, up to 64GB of flash, 9.7″ screen, and a 1Ghz “Apple A4″ chip (more about the A4 in Engadget’s developing story). The iPad is closer in concept to an expanded iPhone (OS and all) than a miniaturized laptop, though it doesn’t have quite as much connectivity as you might expect, with no 3G connection built in. (You’ll have to make do with 802.11n, Bluetooth, and tethering.) Live coverage is ongoing at gdgt live, Engadget, and Gizmodo, as well as various others.

Well…  I can’t say I’m all that impressed.

iPad is a pretty unfortunate name.  I preferred the rumored iSlate name…  iPad is too similar to iPod, I foresee confusion.  And it just doesn’t sound that nice.

It looks like a giant iPod Touch.  Runs the same software as the Touch and iPhone, but it’s got no 3G.

It will presumably have access to the app store, and be able to play music.  I didn’t see mention of a camera or microphone…  No Flash support…

There’s mention of putting newspapers and magazines on it.  Mention of how much like reading paper it is.  But if it’s got a backlit LCD I’m skeptical…  I get some serious eyestrain after looking at a backlit LCD after a while.

Ultimately I’m just not sure how useful such a device would be.

It seems too large to replace an iPod Touch…  And not functional enough to replace a laptop or netbook.

This week has been painful, to say the very least.

My Grandmother died last weekend.  It wasn’t a surprise…  Her health has been failing for a couple years now, and she’d been in the hospital for several days already.  But it still hurt.

Terri is in the hospital.  I spent all day on Tuesday sitting with her in the Emergency Room.  Then she finally got admitted…  I ran home to pick up some things, and then spent most of the evening with her as well.  Didn’t get home until later and still had to come up with something for dinner.

Then I had to be up early in the morning, to get Christopher off to class before I went in to work.  Had to get the kitties to the vet.  Went right over to the hospital to visit Terri after work.  Left there around 8:00, stopped to buy some groceries, didn’t get home until about 9:00.  Had dinner and crashed.

And that day set the pattern for the rest of the week…  I’ve been up early every day to get Christopher off to class.  I’ve been working my ass off all day long.  I’ve been visiting Terri after work and getting home late.

I’m not sleeping well.  I’m stressed.  I’m tired.  I’m scared.  I’m definitely hurting.

And every morning, as I take Christopher in to class, we drive by a church with a sign out front…

Hurting?

Jesus understands better than anyone.

And it makes me angry.

They don’t know me.  They’ve never met me.  They have absolutely no idea what I’m going through.  And they smugly presume that their dusty old book is going to solve all my problems.

I’ll readily admit that it would be nice to have someone to talk to.  A sympathetic ear would be great…  Maybe a shoulder to lean on…

But that’s not what they’re offering.  I’ve heard the kind of answers they provide…  “God works in mysterious ways.”  “It’s all part of His plan.”  “Have faith.”

I can come up with more reassurance than that with a quote of the day!