Rather Insane Boardgameblog Update

I had a rather crazy last four days worth of gaming, so it resulted in a largish batch of review material. The first tranche has just been posted to Boardgameblog: Two games by James Ernest, Falling and Give Me the Brain!, Uwe Rosenberg's Mamma Mia!, Michael Schacht's Paris Paris, and the Leo Colovini/Alex Randolph collaboration Inkognito the Card Game.

Four day break coming up!

Religious holidays. We will mark them with some relaxation and some gaming.

Boardgameblog is updated with last Saturday's gaming.

Also have the poster of the upcoming Robert Rodriguez film "Sin City" up on Silver Screener. It looks really good. And it's got Jessica Alba in it as a stripper. Hubba hubba. Although I bet she'll do a Nat Portman and not actually strip. Hey, it's ok, it's all good! :)

Boardgameblog Update: Review of Elfenland and our March 12th Game Night

Now up on BGB, a review of Alan Moon's Spiel des Jahres-winning game Elfenland, and our last game night report.

Silver Screener Update - Cellular and The Village

Added reviews to The Silver Screener for the action flick Cellular and M. Night Shyamalan's latest "twist flick", The Village. Neither were memorable...

The Last Sandman

Michael Zulli, the artist for Neil Gaiman's The Wake, is doing his final portrait of Morpheus and documenting its progress here. It's so fascinating "watching" an artist work, and his commentary is intriguing.

Lots of updates for both sub-blogs, but haven't found the time to put them up yet. Will try to do later today...

Book Review: Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code

Yes, I read it.

I wasn't overly impressed.

Brown has an informal style that's not hard to read but is likely to drive sticklers for construction batty. The Da Vinci Code (TDVC) is essentially a conspiracy theory cum mystery thriller. Brown uses a fictitious secret society called the Priory of Sion and builds a mystery around it. It's not half as clever as it sounds, but Brown's efforts to weave in a lot of information on how Leonardo da Vinci's works tie in make the work intriguing to many who haven't heard of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (HBHG). HBHG was published in 1982, predating TDVC by 20 years, and it recounts the "history" surrounding the Priory of Sion.

Too bad the Priory thing was a complete hoax. (Follow the link to wikipedia.)

Anyway, TDVC's setup is more than competent. It builds on a bunch of "interesting" interpretations of Leonardo's works, and weaves in some more "facts" surrounding the Opus Dei, the de facto antagonists of the book. (Yes, yes, there is a twist somewhere in there.) The problem is that Brown loses his way in the middle, when the "interesting interpretations" lose their charm and the whole plot starts to lose steam.

The ending, well, sucks.

So, TDVC has a decent opening third, a mediocre middle third, and a subpar final third. Not a waste of time, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to look at.

The final note here is that while TDVC is certainly a work of fiction, or perhaps alternate history if you prefer, it does use a real-world setting. The Opus Dei does indeed exist, and a lot of people on the planet do believe that Jesus Christ was a god. The controversy potential of the book is so good that I'm not surprised it got published. I'm even more surprised that it's apparently flying under the radar in this country, which is partly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church and where the Opus Dei has a not-insignificant presence.

Will TDVC come and go quietly? I wouldn't bet on it.

VentiDecafNonfatMocha FrappucinoLessWhipPlease

Great post on Matt Baldwin's blog about Seattle's Starbucks Coffeespeak. The comments are hilarious.

Come to think of it, I'm hearing that sort of thing a lot more around here, in the upscale areas (the Starbucks in 6750 for one).

Boardgameblog Update - Game night and reviews of King's Breakfast, You're Bluffing, Bluff

Largish BGB update over the weekend. We had Saturday night dinner and games, in celebration of my friend Nix's birthday. Also posted reviews for three filler-type light games: King's Breakfast and You're Bluffing, two card games (okay, You're Bluffing isn't really a filler), and the 1993 Spiel des Jahres winner Bluff, which is a dice game with strong ties to the traditional game Liar's Dice.

Tala and Titus, if you're reading this send me the pix you took last Saturday!

Weekends

Sometimes I wonder about the utility of weekends. It’s a constant struggle between wanting to do stuff you have no time to do during the weekday due to work or school or whatever it is you do during the weekday if you’re an eight-to-fiver, or shutting down and recuperating from a crazy week in preparation for another crazy week. The compromise seems to be to spend a day out, and a day resting, but that’s seldom possible since there are so many demands upon your time. It’s personal time that’s usually sacrificed, the quiet moments that you try to take to reflect upon your direction in life and where you want to go. I guess that’s why so many people get stuck in cruise control, with little incentive to change directions because it would entail allocating a lot of time that you don’t seem to have. If your current situation drains away all your time such that you’re unable to find a quiet moment, how crazy would it get if you’re trying to get into something new? Opportunity costs are a real pain.

Uh-oh

Harry Potter fans, rejoice! J.K. Rowling has announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Book 6 in her wildly popular Harry Potter series, will be released July 16, 2005.

Megalomaniacs look here!

Ever wanted to be like Darth Vader and destroy the Earth? Well, you're going have to find a way to make a Death Star, because current means are unlikely to work. This article summarizes the ways that you can try to blow up Mother Earth, and why you'd fail miserably.

New Blog - Titus's Games

My friend and German game supplier Titus just started his own blog. Check it out at Titus's Games and Hobbies. If you're from around here and need a game fix you can visit his same site at Ubergames.

The Silver Screener Updated - Reviews of Sideways and Ray

Got to see Sideways and Ray leading up to the Oscars. Sideways was a good show all around. Ray was ok, but it had a big flaw.

Did pretty good on my Oscar picks, though Natalie Portman didn't win. It was a long shot anyway.

Boardgameblog Update - Blue Moon and Mexica Reviews and a Game Day Report

I just posted reviews of the Kramer/Kiesling game Mexica, the third of their Action POint-driven "Mask Trilogy", and Reiner Knizia's Blue Moon, a not-so-good attempt at a collectible card game without the collection but with "expansion".

We also had a good game day on February 26th.

Write on!

I should remember to resume my search for the ideal portable writing hardware solution. I’m sitting at a Starbucks writing this on my notebook, but this notebook is far from portable. It still requires a bag to carry around, it’s heavy, and it’s not exactly something that you can carry around with you wherever you go and pull out when an idea crosses your mind. I do still want something with a keyboard, as close to full-sized as possible. I know that there are folding keyboards that you can hook up to a pocket PC. It’s the pocket PC that I ultimately wasn’t enamored of after an initial love affair with the idea. They were too clunky and unstable to blow a wad of cash on, and they tried to do too many things that I didn’t care about.

If it exists out there, what I’d like is a mobile phone, say a stripped-down smart phone without video and whatever bells and whistles they’ stuck into them. Just a regular phone, with SMS and whatever, with a word processor – plain text is just fine - that you can hook into a folding portable keyboard that you can stick in your pocket. So when inspiration strikes you, you pull your phone out, unfold your keyboard, sit down and type.

I’m almost certain that there is something like this out there, probably a smart phone with some basic Wordpad app in it, that hooks up to a Targus or whatever folding keyboard. Assuming it all works, I wonder how much that’ll set me back.

Time to go Google or browse Engadget. I’m close to having the full amount needed for a 40GB iPod, but I’ll happily blow it on this writing instrument.

Memory

Memory is such a fragile thing. Unless there is something tangible to record events in the past – photographs, documents, books – we rely on memory. The old Chinese saying “the faintest ink is greater than the clearest memory” is right on the money. In a world so concerned with backups, it’s a wonder that people tend to rely on their memory far more than they should. This becomes a problem when an important even occurs, and no record of the proceedings is kept. When something needs to be recalled about that event, various participants in the proceedings have different recollections of the event. The more details you try to gather, the less coherence there tends to be among the participants.

In a world where technology is making it so easy to record information, how long before we each get a permanent record of every minute of our lives? Every conversation, every event, every transaction recorded indelibly and accurately. We’ll no longer have trouble remembering things – we won’t need to. We’ll just consult The Record when we need something recalled.

Of course, it’ll then be impossible to forget anything, even when we want to.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Bruno Faidutti's Citadels

I don't usually go for Bruno Faidutti's trademark chaos and luck-infused designs. Citadels is the exception not because it has no luck and chaos (it does), but because the game is fast and fun. See my review for details.

Browsing.

I’ve always underestimated the joy of browsing, but now that I think back on it I’ve been an inveterate browser all my life. The earliest thing I can remember enjoying browsing is the supermarket. Aisles and aisles of stuff, mostly food, made my head swim and my mouth water when I was a kid. I was unhappy that my short little legs didn’t get me from place to place fast enough, so I’d break down and cry in the aisle until mom came and got me.

Later in life I took to haunting used book shops and music stores. When I was at university there were a lot of secondhand bookstores nearby. Between classes I’d head on over and spend hours poring over the books. I’d even buy a few once in a while. I don’t think I read half of what I bought, but since mom is a big reader too at least someone made use of some of the volumes that I didn’t get to.

Up to this day I like browsing, even if I don’t have any intention of purchasing anything. Some people get frustrated at that kind of activity, but it appeals to my planning nature. If I see something I like I can plan to purchase it in the future. In the intervening period I’ll do a bit of research to see if whatever it is is any good or if there’s something better out there for the same deal or better. Doesn’t really work for tech gadgets since they become obsolete so quickly. I put off buying a digital camera for so long because I wanted better resolution, more memory, more compact form factor, long battery life… and realized that the improvements would never end and I’d never but one. I finally bought my first camera in 2002.

The Silver Screener Updated - Training Day, Collateral, Closer

Posted three new reviews on The Silver Screener. The two "twisted buddy flicks" I was talking about, Training Day and Collateral come first. The third is the excellent Mike Nichols "love story" Closer.

I should have something on Academy Award nominee Sideways shortly. I'll also be making some Oscar guesses over at Silver Screener before the show on Monday, my time.

A Day Off...

Any day that you’re able to take a break from the rat race and devote a bit of time to your hobbies is a pretty good day. This is why I don’t advocate people being able to take sick or vacation days, blow them off and convert them to cash. People need days like these to breathe and reflect and recharge. Sometimes you underestimate how much a single day off from what you do everyday can improve your spirits and outlook in life.

I’m cooking as I write this. I miss having a lot of time to putter around in the kitchen. Cooking is something that I don’t really mind doing. It’s fun, and it’s useful as long as the output is edible. The cleaning up afterwards is the part I’m not so fond of, but it’s a necessary evil. The trick is to try to use as few pots and plates and utensils as possible, and to do partial cleanups during the “dead spots” when you’re waiting for the pan to heat up or for something to boil or simmer. Sure beats staring at a huge pile of stuff in the sink to tackle afterwards. That kind of sight can intimidate and generate procrastination. It’s never good to defer basic hygiene.

I got to see two films today. Eerily similar in theme: twisted buddy flicks. Training Day was more of the straightforward good cop bad cop show. Collateral had some interesting things to say, and had an interesting way of delivering the message. Cruise looked good in the salt-and-pepper style, and I thought he made a kickass assassin. Both were pretty good. I’ll write up more thoughts on Silver Screener soon.

Enjoying playing some of the discs I haven’t listened to in quite a while as I cook and write here. Mark O’Connor’s Fiddle Concerto is still one of the grandest pieces of music written for that instrument. It’s joyous and kinetic, if a bit mainstream and Baroque-ish. My complete Sibelius works haven’t gotten a lot of ear time since I moved back to Manila. They’re still some of my favorite orchestral pieces.