"By Blood A King, In Heart A Clown." -- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I suppose I should have waited for "V Day" to post the volcano pic, but I found it today and thought, "Wow! I need to use that tonight!" Yeah, that's me, I jump the gun like that sometimes. Click the pic and look at it bigger... Nice. Wonder where that phrase came from, "jump the gun"? Too lazy to Google it... yep, that's me, Mr. Lazy. Except, I suppose, when it comes to cranking out A-to-Z blog posts that have waaaay too much content in them. Yep, that's me, a poor judge of proper limits.

[EDIT: Duh... the saying came from track-n-field! Doh!]

I am grateful that you dropped by to skim today's post, however! Yep, that's me, Mr. Grateful. Taking a look at what remains of my Favorites List, looks like today ("T Day") and "W Day" will be the only days with a glut of content. The rest have either 1 or zero items... so, start the month with a bang, end with a fizzle. Yep, that's me, Mr. Fizzle...

Well, I have a lot of random stuff saved up from recent web lurkings, so I'm sure I'll find stuff to post... and find a creative way to make it work with the letter of the day.

And now, the letter of the day!

Favorite Movies (T):

Tombstone (1993): Terrific western with a huge ensemble cast. Eminently watchable and quotable, in spite of Bill Paxton being in it! Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday steals the show upon first viewing, but repeated viewings will reveal that he was actually overdoing it half the time, and the more subtle performances by other cast members begin to really shine, especially Kurt Russell's turn as Wyatt Earp. Michael Biehn was great as Johnny Ringo, and Sam Elliott is ALWAYS awesome. Cameos by Billy Bob Thornton, Charlton Heston, Billy Zane and others help to round out the film.

Twenty-One Grams (2003): I went on at length about this film back on "D Day", so I won't rehash this here, except to say you'd be hard pressed to find a group of more powerful performances in any film, any genre, than Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in this movie.

Favorite Games (T):

Torchlight (2009): Torchlight is an Action-RPG that was released during the interminable wait for Diablo 3 - and filled in so well that many think it will be hard for D3 to beat when it is released next month (after a decade-long development/wait!). I'm a big fan of Torchlight. It's light-hearted and beautiful (in a cartoony way) and surprisingly deep, gameplay-wise. Basically, you create a character, explore dungeons, kill baddies, get loot, rinse, repeat. Sounds boring, but trust me, when it's done right it is both addicting and satisfying.

Titan Quest (2006): This is another great Action-RPG that I spent several hundred hours playing. It incorporated Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, as well as Oriental influences. What I loved the most about it was the wide array of character-types I could create, and the wonderful sets of armor and special weapons I could collect. A very well-made game, which I still occasionally will dust off and play. Good times. Just ask Dry or Bob (if they ever pop back in here). They were experts as well. We used to hang out in the IGN TQ forums together and give advice and answer questions to/for all the noobs that floated through.

[Honorable Mention: Total Annihilation (1997)]

Favorite Bands (T):

Third Day: If you've heard of Third Day, it's pretty much a lock that they're one of your faves as well. If you've never heard of them, you've got some terrific music waiting for you to discover. Third Day is a Christian band that's sort of a country-rock hybrid that I find very enjoyable to listen to. And they write some great lyrics and worship music as well. Highly recommended.

Favorite Songs (T):

[Honorable Mentions: This Is Your Life, by Switchfoot

This Is Your Time, by Michael W Smith

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, by Genesis

Too Many Times, by Michael W Smith

Toxicity, by System of a Down]

Odds & Ends (T):

Favorite Movie Characters: The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

Speaking of Diablo 3, it was the Free Beta Weekend April 20-22, so I got to take the game for a spin... trust me, you likely have no idea how long I've been waiting for this game... the verdict? It's very good - basically, it's what I expected, nothing more. So on the one hand, that's great... on the other hand, a bit disappointing... will I still buy the full game next month, when it's released? Probably. If you get it too, let me know and we'll save the world via co-op...

In my post-Abercrombie let-down, having finished my re-read of the First Law Series (so, so good). Currently reading a surprisingly good book by an author named Susan Ee (yes, that's right), called Angelfall. It's sort of a supernatural urban fantasy survival story, only the apocalypse was caused by angels this time, instead of zombies or nukes or viruses. I'm about a quarter of the way through it. If it holds the current level of writing, I'll write a review for sure.

So you have that to look forward to. Yep, that's me, Mr. Book Reviewer...

Adios for now. I hope your week is a great one.

Dave the Turd