Last weekend, Janice and I went for a brief hike in the Blue Hills Reservation south of Boston on Saturday. I also helped out at the Mansfield Animal Shelter, where Janice volunteers every Sunday morning, by walking a few dogs. On Monday, I hosted and ran the latest D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" game. I also chatted with members of the Westchester crew (friends of mine since high school and college in downstate New York), partly to celebrate Damon F.P.'s birthday and recent home buy.

We had HBO this past weekend, so I caught "Ray" and "Rome." The biopic featured a solid performance by Jamie Foxx as the musician, and the quasihistorical series had good production value and lots of sex and violence, but not especially compelling writing. I'm also looking forward to the return of football on television–go Pats! I've spent most of the week since then catching up with work, but at least the late summer/early autumn weather has been pleasant (although the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina weighs upon us all–give to charity if you can).

In the coming weeks, I expect to catch a few more movies, attend some festivals and genre entertainment conventions, and maybe begin playing "City of Heroes" online with Dexter V.H. and other friends… Please post to this weblog or e-mail me if there's anything you'd like me to weigh in on here…

I hope this posting finds all of you well. Work has still been busy and is getting busier, as CW's copy desk prepares for the systems migration and an increasing workload of editorial content for our Web site. Janice and I successfully set up our new printer/copier/scanner; now we just need to send our old Dell PC in to be recycled/donated.

This past Saturday, Janice and I enjoyed the nice weather and visited the book shops of Harvard Square, Cambridge. We then met Brian W. & Beth S. in Dedham, Mass., for a late matinee of "Brothers Grimm." Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam's latest comic fantasy movie was a bit too dark for most of us, but I thought the plot was a bit more linear than in many of his other films, such as "Jabberwocky," "Brazil" or "Twelve Monkeys." While it was fun to guess which elements he incorporated from various fairy tales, there was more horror than myth. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger put in good performances as the folklorists, shown here as 18th century con artists. Overall, I'd give it about a six out of 10.

We also visited Brian & Beth's lovely home in Newton, Mass., and ordered takeout from a local Thai restaurant. On Sunday, I dealt with home computer stuff and began preparing for tonight's D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Mystical Harmony" game, in which the band of musician/adventurers will be dealing with the departure of Dan A./"Ol' Pete"… While there will be some fallout among the Boston-area role-players, I see this (and the imminent departure of Paul J./"Sai" for college) as an opportunity for a more cohesive and fun party…

This past weekend, although neither my parents nor Dexter V.H. were able to visit the Boston area, Janice and I kept busy. On Saturday (20 August 2005), we took advantage of the nice weather to the Marshfield Fair, which had rides, arts and crafts, livestock and produce, and of course, abundant fair food (we plan to meet Janice's folks in western Massachusetts late next month for the "Big E" or Eastern States Exposition, sort of New England's multistate agricultural festival). We also caught the British computer-animated comedy "Valiant," which we liked, in the same vein as "Chicken Run."

Yesterday, I spent much of the day setting up our new home computer. I transferred data from our old Dell, successfully set up the wireless network, and discovered that our four-year-old printer/scanner/copier won't interface with the USB-driven new machine. More shopping to come, no doubt.

I've also been in touch with friends in metropolitan New York (like Ron J.K., who'll be visiting next weekend and may join us for Terry Gilliam's "Brothers Grimm") and northern Virginia (Steve M.R., Corbin A.Y., and Hans C.H. & Carolyn M.P.). Alas, I'll be spending some precious leave time tomorrow and Wednesday with Janice's and my dental appointments, but at least tomorrow night's D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Mystical Harmony" heroic fantasy session is still on…

It's been yet another busy, sweltering weekend here in the Boston area. Although Janice and I were invited to join Cliff & Eliza Y. to visit the beach and town of Rockport, Massachusetts, I was tied up with long-distance telephone calls (including David I.S. and Dexter V.H.) late this past week and unable to respond to them in time. As usual, the local role-playing group is also keeping me busy with administrivia, but new gamer Atilla C. seems promising.

In the meantime, Janice and I have also been sprucing up our place in preparation for a potential visit by my parents next weekend: new armoire, repainted the bathroom, and added/fixed some minor home furnishings. We also ordered a new home computer–a Dell 9100, which, thanks to a wireless LAN, will soon be able to communicate with my Apple PowerBook laptop for work…

Enjoyed the latest episodes of "Firefly (in repeat), "Stargate SG1," and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica."  Apparently, VH1 yesterday had a string of its countdown shows featuring hard rock and heavy metal musicians, as well as the Metallica documentary, "Some Kind of Monster," some of which I caught. I've got genre news and gaming notes to catch up on, but stay cool out there.

Welcome to the latest iteration of Gene's World! This is a test of the Yahoo 360-degrees beta site, which I'll try to periodically update with photos, weblog entries, and links I'd like to share with you. Work, gaming, and other pursuits are likely to keep me busy. I'll also be dealing with new computers both at home and at work, so please bear with me as I crawl into the 21st century…