So. Gen Con's a few days away, and as with every year, that turns my days and nights into a weird sort of state of mounting dread. It's not quite as bad, I suspect, as it is being on death row, or waiting to have some sort of scary experimental surgery... but it's not a pleasant sensation nonetheless. I've never been to Gen Con except for work, and as a result I've never experienced it as anything close to relaxation. Combine that with my super-human powers of sweating (powers that, when exposed to Indianapolis-level humidity and heat, result in me sweating so much that I look like I just climbed, fully clothed, out of a pool of water), my general distaste for the majority of midwest food (shortage of seafood and spicy food = troubling), and my demophobia (as in crowds stress me out in the same way a lot of folk get stressed out by spiders or heights or public speaking) all work together to make Gen Con a relatively stressful and not all that enjoyable scene for me. I kid you not that I pretty much start dreading the next Gen Con the day after I get home from the previous one.

Now, that said, Gen Con does have some enjoyable parts. Hanging out with friends is always cool, and once I'm doing stuff I'm not as distracted by HORROR of the crowd or the embarassment of so much sweat. But I gotta tell you, the dread is always there, lurking in the shadows and waiting to strike every moring during the show in the time between waking up and getting to the booth. That early morning walk to the booth is the hardest part for me, to be honest, since I know I've got a whole day of crowds and sweat to look forward to.

So... I don't quite have my new movie rating thing all worked out, but I DID earlier today finally get to see Rogue, which came out on DVD earlier this year. You may remember I was very disappointed that this movie was only released onto 10 screens earlier this year here in the USA, and it only remained in theaters for a week.

Now, having seen the movie finally, I'm sorry to say that the disappointment is legit. Rogue is my second-favorite movie of the year so far, and Dimension robbed me of the opportunity to see it on the big screen, and of being able to include this one in the 52 as a result. Why bother releasing a movie theatrically in the first place if you're only gonna squat it out onto less than a dozen screens? Frustrating.

Anyway, it's on DVD now. It's MUCH better than Greg Mclean's last movie, Wolf Creek, as I suspected it would be. Wolf Creek was VERY well made... it was just a bit too nihilistic and depressing for me. Rogue, on the other hand, is a great movie. They filmed it in actual saltwater crocodile country in the Northwest Territory of Australia, in regions that have never been filmed before. The movie looks GORGEOUS as a result; the Australian outback is very much a character in the movie.

Best man-eating crocodile movie ever.

Under my old system, I'd give Rogue five stars. I suspect when I get around to figuring out my new rating scheme, I'll come back and give this a for-real rating.