Saturday, January 30, 2010

Gentlemen, start your engines and put out your candles

And here is Pitchcar. Up close and personal. As you can see, you build a racetrack and then use the little discs to simulate the race. On your turn you flick the disc and make your way around the track three times. Race is over, to the victor go the spoils. It really is great fun. The next time we have the stunt track addition (ramps!) in the mix I'll take a picture and you can see just how crazy things can get.

I really need some sort of placeholder conversation so I can put the other picture I have in the mix. That's the problem with Pitchcar, there are like two rules in the entire game so explaining it doesn't really lead to much in the way of writing. I suppose I can mention that if you flip your car over you lose your next turn (it's spent just flipping it right side up) or if you knock someone off you both go back to where you were (depending on the variant you're playing) and if your car goes flying off the track it goes back to where it was (maintaining the side it landed on). So yeah, rules.

While I have your attention I'll pass along the one quick M story I have. As you may be aware we were working on science fair projects this week. M decided to do the make some carbon dioxide and pour it out of a glass to extinguish a candle trick. Thus proving that CO2 is heavier than air and inflammable. So she and lovely wife gather the necessary parts and proceed to create CO2 by mixing baking soda and vinegar. It bubbles and froths and she is suitably impressed by that. They mix a little more just to make sure she has enough and M then pours the gas onto the candle and it goes out. She does that surprised intake of breath thing and her eyes go wide and she says, "Light it again! Light it again!" So lovely wife does and M puts the candle out again. "It's SCIENCE! Look Mom! Science!" So yes, you too can do Science. Just like the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra insists.

Oh and in case you wondered who won the above race. Well. Let's just say this is not a game that would ever show up in the Games My Wife Hates column. Although I did win one of them. Just not two out of three of them...

Enter the mascot

cthulhu shadow
cthulhu shadow,
originally uploaded by dkun.
And here is dread (cute) Cthulhu come to devour you all. Leaping forth from the shadows like some heinous long forgotten eldritch thing. Cherish your loved ones while you can. Poor mortals.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

In which very little happens - or how the letter 'd' does a quick roundup

You were very nearly greeted with something resembling Cthulhu based fiction. That's because the blog does indeed have a new mascot, and I have taken a picture of said mascot, but I've not bothered to get it off the camera or onto flickr. So, well, no mascot unveiling for you. But yes, brief glimpses of dear ol' Miskatonic U, the library with it's aging copy of the Necronomicon, a poor student troubled by dark dreams and darker realities. Of course these little bits are far better than what might actually have shown up here, so let your mind fill in the gaps and try not to go insane.

I finished up Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout the other day. I liked it right up until the end. And there were a couple ok bits about the end, but I'm not convinced I like the actual ending. It is a fun romp through Norse mythology though and that still counts for something. Follow the conflicted Valkyrie as she teams up with the outcast Aesir (Norse God to you heathens) in an attempt to stop Ragnarok. Now exactly why anyone involved with the Norse pantheon would really want to stop Ragnarok is a bit beyond me, but, well, there you go. The story does take some fun twists and turns, but like I said the ending is a bit more whimper than bang (Note to self, find a good Durm and Strang joke for this for later... Note to reader, there will not be an actual Durm and Strang joke here later...). I guess that's what you get when you're trying to stop one of the bigger bangs around. (Note: I did not at any time make an are you ready to Rok?! Get ready for Ragnarok!! joke - see the restraint I have?)

Played another round of Blue Moon City last night. It ended up being a closer game than it had any right to be, but letter 'r' managed to eke out a pretty decent victory. I will note that not at any time was a victory by myself in the cards, err, tiles, well both really. Well, if there had been another 2 turns or so and the other two players for some strange reason were unable to move and... yeah. Moving on.

Oh, just so this blog actually has something amusing in it, go read this.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

In which I sell out a little bit

Well, sell out is a little strong really. A few posts back I received a comment from Jason Thompson, the author of King of RPGs. The graphic novel was about to come out and he wanted to know if I wanted a free copy to poke through. I tried to warn him that all of two people read this blog (one of which would have been my cat if I had one - a situation I constantly try to rectify much to lovely wife's lament - and one of whom is lovely wife). Ok, there might be three if both siblings happen to be poking around this week. At any rate, with true authorial verve he didn't care, he just hoped I'd like the book. And hey, free book. I've certainly not got any sort of free book habit. Stop looking through my bookshelves. I do not raid the ARC shelf here at the Library regularly. It's more like very regularly. I even pointed out that I work for a rather nice Library with a rather nice graphic novel section and I could very easily request a copy (I did). He still wanted to send the book.

So Del Rey graciously sent me a copy of King of RPGs. The postal service did their level best to ensure that I never saw it by attempting to mangle it beyond readability, but I know a few tricks and rescued the poor thing. And then read it. First off, this is a niche title. It's a story about gamers and manga/anime culture that follows those tropes while poking fun at them. So, I'm sure you're wondering why he'd want to send me a copy. I have no interest in any of those things... ahem Moving on. I rather enjoyed this first volume. The characters all have brief little moments where they get to shine while the real fun is watching Shesh, Mike and Theo interact. And explode. Sometimes relatively literally. I have a theory (that I'm currently testing out on lovely wife) that you really need to have some gaming/anime culture to really enjoy the book, but I'm not entirely certain. So far lovely wife was pleased to have caught the Final Fantasy VII ref (which admittedly was a gimme, but still) and she really got a chuckle out of Theo's DM style. Cockroaches indeed... Honestly I suspect my wife has been around me enough that she's not really the best test subject. The book can be a little wordy as it tries to cram in lots of exposition (it's almost as much love letter as it is parody) - which might also help those not as familiar with this scene - and some of the jokes are a little more forced than others (most noticeably the parody game names) but overall it was a good time. And I'd totally read the next one. So thanks Jason for letting me get an early glimpse at this one.

(As a last aside, honestly the best thing I can say about the book is I had a very strong urge to go get out my dice and roll up a character. Any character. And play something. Although I do wonder just what was up with Shesh's jester hat...)

In brief child related news, we managed to build a battery out of quarters, aluminum foil, paper towels, some wire, an LED and some salt water. It was tougher than it looked. But one science fair project is complete and McK heaved a big sigh of relief. I will merely point out that should you attempt this on your own, the step most instructions leave out is letting the thing sit to build up a charge. Kind of important...

It's also worth mentioning that Bomberman '93 is $6 well spent on the Virtual Console. It plays up to 5 people and is an absolute blast and the kids won't stop asking to play it so they can blow each other up. So there is that downside (y'know if you have this idea that kids spend too much time playing the vidjagames. Or blowing each other up.)

And that will do for a random Tuesday post. Yes. That will do. (pig)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I got nothin'

Another week has been vanquished by the ravages of time. That time is one bad dude. Always marching on, turning the past into the present, siphoning away your future.

We had a pretty good weekend at casa del 'd'. Aside from G being under the weather we managed to have quite the game filled Saturday. J brought his girlfriend along and we consumed good food and good games. Some Rummikub, a little Citadels, Ra the Dice Game, Gang of Four, Coloretto. Seems like there was another one or two, but I can't recall what they were now. Point is we had fun and spent most of the day having a grand time. Even the girls joined in during Citadels.

We also picked up the first 9 episodes of the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon for $5 at Target. It was mostly a silly purchase, but it has been a little fun to watch them. The kids seem to find them pretty interesting. I find that amusing too. Speaking of watching silly things, in a fit of sheer boredom I let lovely wife throw in the first couple episodes of Roswell. It's better than Twilight, I'll give it that. It's silly, but certainly not the worst thing I've ever sat through.

I have come to the conclusion that I have little tolerance for broadcast tv. I much prefer it in DVD or taped format. That way I can watch it at my leisure and at my pace. Can't stand commercials and tying myself to a broadcast schedule... Which is causing problems now that several of the shows we watch are back on. Oh well.

I have a new mascot for the blog, but I failed to get a picture taken to share with you lot. So that will happen soon. As a hint I will only comment that it is plush and madness inducing.

Oh, in a very brief political comment I will simply point out that 5 out of 4 Supreme Court Justices are complete morons. Allowing corporate funds for elections indeed...

See? Nothin'. I shall attempt to actually have some content for you next time.

Friday, January 15, 2010

In which I attempt some photos


So here's the start of Ra: the Dice Game. As you can see there's a score track around the outside of the board, the sun track (the timer for the game) is at the top, the green row is the Pharaoh track, the blue row is the Nile track, the colored column on the left is the Civilization track and the colored columns on the right are the monument track. You roll five colored dice (up to three times keeping the ones you want) in an attempt to place your cubes on the various tracks. The game is played over the course of three rounds scoring all tracks except the monument track for the first two and then all tracks including the monument track at the end of round three. As you roll suns on the dice the counter advances on the Sun track (or you can score points if you roll enough or cause a plague if you get 4-5 suns in one turn - good for you bad for everyone else.

And this is what the board can look like at the end of a two player game. When playing with more than two players the sun starts further left along the track. The game can end pretty quick with any number of players depending on how you roll. In this picture you can see that blue managed to get further along the Pharaoh track scoring some points, both parties flooded and scored the Nile (green got more points), each player managed a Civilization thus not losing points, but not scoring any and blue managed to score quite a few points on the monument track. Yeah, yeah you don't know how many points or why exactly, just take my word for it. Now if this had been that first game you could pretend that the colors were reversed and my lovely wife won. Instead here you see me managing to eke out a victory. I actually tend to do pretty badly at this game. Even McK will walk all over me at this one.

Ra: the Dice Game is actually a toned down version of a game called (wait for it) Ra. I know shocking right? Ra is an auction game that uses a lot of the same scoring methods (I believe). We may try it out some time to see how big brother is, since we like this one. At any rate, this is a pretty decent little dice game that will play 2-4 people pretty well. It lasts a little longer with more players, but is still mostly a light game when you're in the mood to just pass the time. Casa del 'd' gives it the stamp of approval.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

In which our writer of very little brain throws lots of words together

Well, probably not lots of words. I would like to tell you that this has been an eventful week, in which secrets were revealed and plots overthrown and lessons learned, but in reality I've spent most of it recovering from my head cold. We did manage to take in all three Matrix movies and that was exciting. It also led to a rather strange, if amusing, dream in which I fought zombies. I don't believe I was a hitman this time around (why does my wife get all the cool dreams?) but anything is possible.

I'd like to point out that I actually like all three Matrix movies. It might have helped that we watched them so close together, thus cutting down on plot related confusion, but I just find them to be good entertainment. I don't know that I'll bother getting into all the philosophy involved, I think I'll just enjoy them from a good chop-socky point of view.

I'd also like to point out that if you have a zombie problem, I may, or may not, be able to assist you with it. Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink. (This paragraph totally for you H)

And so time passed and kids dealt with being back in school and they complained about dinners and played Mario and Wii Sports and had wedgie fights instigated by only possibly lovely wife (wedgie fights? Really dear?) Wait. I think I'm losing focus.

We have since caught up with the release schedule for Hikaru no Go (the books). I probably shouldn't mention that the last few volumes have actually been a little sad. I mean Sai is gone (yeah yeah, spoilers blah blah blah) and Hikaru is struggling with issues of identity and... what?! Why are you rolling your eyes at me?! This is serious!

I'm also still really enjoying 20th Century Boys. I'm just about caught up with it as well and that's frustrating. I want to know what happens next! Or in between. Or back then. Well, if you read it you know what I mean.

I actually have some pictures of Ra: the Dice Game to put up, but they're still on the camera. Lovely wife totally stomped on me in the first game so I deleted those and just kept the pics of the second game where I won. If you want, you can pretend it's the first game and assign my colored blocks to her. We're going to have a bit of a gaming weekend in a couple days as some friends are coming down, so maybe I'll get some new pictures. We'll see.

Oh and jumping lunges are evil. Stupid EA Active...

Thursday, January 07, 2010

In which I try (and fail) to gather my thoughts

I finished reading Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein. It was a pretty interesting read. A fascinating look at the underworld of Japan from a foreign reporter's perspective. Jake Adelstein was the only foreigner to get a job for the Japanese press covering the police beat. He tells some funny stories and some awful stories. Worth reading if you like crime stories or have an interest in Japan. Note: not all the stories are for everyone and they don't all end well either.

I have also read a few more volumes of 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa. I'm really enjoying it. I think I might like it a little better than Monster, but that remains to be seen. It's a little confusing at first, but soon settles down a bit. That or I got used to it. Follow Kenji as he tries to save the world from someone that's acting out a doomsday scenario he and his friends came up with when they were kids.

Boardgame playing is down a bit (although we've gotten in a little more Pitchcar) as lovely wife and I have started an exercise regimen in the evenings. So EA Active has been taking up a fair amount of our time. I like it. It definitely seems to be a better workout than Wii Fit. We'll see how well we keep up a routine (I've got a bit of a sinus thing at the moment that may make exercising a little more difficult than it should be...). We're also playing a lot of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and I'm deep in the depths of Silent Hill. So, yeah. It may be a bit before you get to see pretty boardgame pictures.

We're settling in to the new year. Kids are back at school and I mostly worked through the holidays so no real adjustment there either. I've not really bothered with resolutions. I hope to keep working out and that's about it. Although I suppose I should try to eat better too. (I think we're going to try a ginger soy salmon recipe this week that' supposed to be like something they make at PF Chang's, I'll let you know how that turns out.) Of course we got a fryer recently so that will undermine those efforts as I really want to try making English chips (potato wedges to you heathens). Mmm salt and vinegar and potatoes and... ^_^ Well that and a bloomin' onion and maybe donuts and... heh.

I'm waiting to see if rumors of the Apple iTablet materialize in an actual product. Might have to sell one of the kids to acquire one. Ok, two of the kids. I'm sure lovely wife won't mind. Well, maybe if I substitute the dog for one of the kids...

As you can see, I've not really got anything this week and aforementioned head cold is keeping me from focusing my thoughts. So off to the wilds of the internet with you. (Note: those links should most likely not be viewed by people with no sense of humor or overly sensitive dispositions. Or kids. Yeah, no kids.)