The Christmas haul

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate).  Ours was great as we got to spend time with Barb's family from out of town and my own family as well.  The kids were great and Santa was very good to them as always.

Santa was also good to me.  I got some outstanding gifts including sweaters from Barb and the kids, a really nice blanket and Beatles Trivia Pursuit (as if anyone is gonna play me in that) from Barb's parents.  Barb also got me an outdoor fire pit so we can enjoy ourselves during the cold season with a nice fire.  Awesome gift!

Of course I also scored some great movies including the new Criterion Collection release of The Human Condition (perhaps the greatest portrait of humanity on film and one of the staggering achievements in cinema history) and Downfall, which I finally got around to seeing.  That's also a wonderful film, with a tremendous performance by Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler during his final 10 days.  Highly recommended.

I also scored a couple of CDs (Norah Jones, including her latest) and of course I got some games.  I got Mass Effect, which I have played through once already.  I wanted to play through it again to have a saved file for when the sequel is released early in 2010.  I also got a couple of PS3 games (Pete, take note), the God Of War Collection and Ratchet And Clank Future: A Crack in Time.  I used a gift card I received for 2 more games (both PS3 games Pete!), InFamous and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift which was on sale for $20.  I got a chance to mess around with InFamous, Motorstorm and Ratchet And Clank last night.  All 3 were great fun.  InFamous is really gonna draw me in, I can see that already.  Motorstorm is more of the same, a lot like the original.  It's not the deepest racing game around but it is gorgeous, fun and a great pick-up and play game.  And I have a real soft spot for Ratchet And Clank.  I loved their last PS3 game (Tools Of Destruction) and this one picks up right where that one left off.  It's great fun and something with a much lighter tone than what I have been playing lately, so that is a welcome relief.

So that's about it.  As you can see, someone thought I was a very good boy last year.  I still have an iTunes gift card from last Christmas and I think I am gonna use that to download the latest album by Grizzly Bear.  I have heard a lot of great things about it. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!