Wintry Platypus Entertainments

I can't really say that it's been a long December yet, and I don't really have any reason to believe that next year will be better than the last.  It may be some consolation that I've been out of the L.A. sprawl for more than five years now.  At any rate, Winter is coming.  Winter doesn't mean much in meteorological terms in Houston, but there is still a special sort of je ne sais qua that permeates the last month of the year.  Some books, some games, some movies, and some music (without special regard for their Christmas-i-ness) feel more appropriate in December regardless of where one happens to be.

Now that the month has begun, my thoughts are turning toward the right artistic combination for the season.  In two weeks, my students and I will all be going to see the final installment in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy at the end of finals week.  In the meantime, my wife and I are in the middle of Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha, a beautiful and slowly-unfolding samurai epic with just the right notes of melancholy and retrospective.  We'll see what else comes down the pipe.  Some J.R.R. Tolkien (perhaps Smith of Wootton Major?) is definitely in order.  I may also go back to Hellboy.  Whatever happens, you can be sure that I'll share any worthwhile reflections here at Platypus of Truth.