Sewer adventure update: painful, but not fatal

So, I think I've got a handle on everything for my upcoming sewer connection... between trenching, laying pipe, re-plumbing my basement, taking care of the old cesspool, permitting, and taxes, I figure I'll be out something short of $5000. That's still a healthy chunk of change, but well less than what I feared. Of course, there's still likely months yet before all's said and done, so plenty of time for unexpected extras to come into play... but hey, I'm feeling optimistic, for the time being.

DVD pick: Sita Sings the Blues

OK, Sita Sings the Blues is odd, even by my standards... but it simply works. Basically, through a rotating pack of art and animation styles, the old Indian story Ramayana gets told (in a couple of different ways), interspersed with both a story of the film creator's own breakup and "musical numbers" set to 1920s-era recordings. The musical numbers in particular caught my attention: the art and animation stylings struck me as the sort of thing that cartoon studios back in that era might have done, if color were available/affordable... and are especially fun to watch when they're depicting fight scenes in cute counterpoint to the lyrics in play.

I list this as a DVD pick because you can get it that way (especially fun if you care about extras like subtitles, including LOLspeak subtitles)... but, if you just want to check it out now, it's available online through its own website, here. You won't miss that hour and a half anyways... :)

Recettear

There are certain words that I just don't use often, for one reason or another. One such is "charming", but that's truly the best description I can come up with for Recettear. It's a fine example of the sort of offbeat game that you just never get to see in "mainstream" gaming... in this game's case, both because it's an indie game and because it's a translation of a Japanese game.

If you've ever played one of the many RPGs on computers and game consoles, you're familiar with the concept of the "item shop", where your adventurer/party converts their unwanted loot into cash, then buys wanted loot. The idea behind this game is that your character runs such a shop... but, to prevent it from becoming just a market simulator, they involve a couple of other features. First, the reason you're running the shop... it turns out that your father went and got a large loan to kit out for a life of adventure, then disappeared, leaving you to make payments on the loan or lose your home. It's not as grim as it sounds, but it's still a good rationale for why you set up shop in the first place.

The other odd feature... while there is a "merchant's guild" where you can buy and sell stock for your shop at a discount, the smart money is on hiring an adventurer. Basically, in exchange for a small fee and whatever equipment you care to loan them, they clear out a dungeon for you, keeping any cash but giving you any items they run across. Of course, you get to accompany them on their task, totally protected from harm, able to use items in your inventory to help them out... but, should they fall, you only get to keep one item from the various stuff you brought along or found.

All in all, if you've got a Windows machine to play it on, I'd suggest you follow the link above and download the demo from Steam. If you decide you like it, it's only $20 to buy the full game, or $18 if you pre-order before the full game releases on the 10th. Me, I've already pre-ordered, which is something I Just Don't Do, so that should give you some idea of how well I like what I've seen so far.