Whedon and Waterdeep

First let me say that Cabin in the Woods is brilliant. I really won't say much more than that in case you've not seen it yet. (Shame on you!) Rectify that as soon as possible, because this is a great movie. Also, the people responsible for marketing this movie should be shot. The less you know (or think you know) going in the better. I caught the trailer and honestly that gave away too much. So yes. Go see!

Lords of Waterdeep is our new gaming obsession. It showed up late last week and over the course of the weekend I think we played it 3-4 times. You are one of the titular Lords tasked with hiring various types of people in order to complete quests. The board consists of several spaces that allow you to hire said characters or gain money or new quests, etc. You can also add spaces by building new buildings. The game is played over 8 rounds and each round consists of a number of turns. As long as you have an agent (represented by a wooden counter) you can take a turn and then complete a quest (if you have the right assortment of characters/money). It's a constant challenge to decide where you'll place your agents as you'll always want a little of everything. It plays pretty quickly and even when you're behind, it's possible to eke out a victory towards the end. Highly recommended.

I believe just about all of us have been sick at Casa del 'd' over this past week. Lovely wife is about the only one that's avoided the plague. And for her sake I hope she manages to continue to avoid it. It wasn't pleasant.

G has finally managed a tie game in soccer. 0-0. They obviously need some more work. But he's no longer all losses...

I read the volume one graphic novel for Game of Thrones. It was Game of Thrones in graphic novel style. I suppose I should really get around to reading more of that series. I liked that first book well enough but wasn't quite ready to tackle a second (and more) once I was done. I needed some breathing room. Which has led to the inevitable problem of only sort of remembering what happened in that first book. Not the best place to start the second one from.

And that pretty much makes up all the coherent thoughts I can string together at the moment. Look forward to some thoughts on the book of ice cream recipes I've checked out. Mmm home made ice cream. Must get Dad's hand crank ice cream maker...

Gimme the usual

We had quite the board gaming week this past week at casa del 'd'. Last Friday we had some friends over and played some Zombie Dice with the new expansion dice, Drakon, Incan Gold, and Elder Sign. We even managed to give old Azathoth the heave ho in Elder Sign and save humanity once again. Saturday followed with more friends and Galaxy Trucker, Blue Moon City  and Hanabi. It was good to root through some of our older games and give them a chance again. I've actually really been wanting to get Galaxy Trucker to the table again with four people (it gives a much better chance that someone's ship will go BOOM in creative and hilarious ways).

We also checked out the new game store that's not too far away from us. We may be frequenting them for game nights and rentals soon. They're certainly in the starting phase of store ownership, but there's some potential there.

Lords of Waterdeep is our newest acquisition and I am very excited to give it a go. It looks pretty simple while offering a fair amount of choices and strategy. It's a Dungeons and Dragons themed worker placement game. Should be pretty good.

We are now caught up on The Guild. We have watched all five seasons and were suitably entertained. I'm also really enjoying the shows on Geek and Sundry. The motion comics are a lot of fun as is Felicia Day's The Flog. Tabletop even got me messing around with that Small World iPad app some more. I finally managed a victory over the AI. So that's worth something.

We're all still very addicted to the Skylanders app. I'm not sure what it's secret is, but we can't stop playing...

I gave up on Zone One. I have decided that I'm a genre snob. I don't like it when "literary" authors tackle genre books. This one might have been better than the horribleness that was The Passage, but I really have no idea. I just couldn't get into it. I might try again later, but it's doubtful.

So that pretty much encapsulates what's been going on. The lawn is once again a tyrant and I find myself having to mow it into submission. Stupid lawn. We need to decide if we're planting anything this year. I think we really need to refresh the dirt some. I'd still like some tomatoes and peppers and onions. Who knows what we'll do though.

The kids are caught up in various activities. G is running around a field pretending to play soccer and having far too much fun. The girls will start softball soon. They're all certainly around the house a lot less...

Quack quack quack

Title is mostly referential of the current weather here. I like rain. Moreso when I can hear it, but it's nice to see it  as well.

So let's see, we watched the PSA that was Hugo (I don't remember the book being quite so Film Preservation Society! as the movie was, but it's been a while since I've read it). The movie was alright I guess, just preachy. There were a few genuinely good moments. Too bad it was filmed from a soap box. Bad Scorsese!

The kids decided to watch The Muppet Movie without me, so I've not gotten a chance to play with the blu ray yet. I want to pause it and watch Statler and Waldorf make with the funny.

Easter was fine and the kids seemed to have a good day. We colored some eggs this year. I opted to make a Portal inspired turret egg.

We picked up the expansion dice for Zombie Dice. One for Santa (he brings you brains for Christmas, possibly his depending how you roll), one for the Hunk (he'll shoot you twice) and one for the Hottie (she runs away a lot. In high heels.). It's more silliness for an already silly game. Brilliant.

The kids have been enjoying Spring Break and lovely wife has the sunburn and bruises to prove it. Hiking! Biking! All manner of -ings! Fortunately it soon draws to a close.

I'm tired of this cough. Can someone please come and take it for me? Kthxbye.

Let's hear it for incoherency

I don't know if it's the evil that is Daylight Savings Time or pollen/allergies or what but I have been far too tired of late.

We are just about caught up on all the seasons of The Guild. Lovely wife and I finished season 4 the other night and season 5 is on hold and I believe that makes us current. It's still pretty amusing. Felicia Day recently launched a youtube channel, Geek and Sundry which I highly recommend checking out. Wil Wheaton's Tabletop is a pretty good show centered on boardgames. The first episode covers Small World. There are a lot of other shows to check out as well. I just need a better internet connection so I can watch them without having to restart the show every 5 seconds.

Real Steel was a fun little robot boxing flick. I rather enjoyed it as did G.

The Bourne movies are also still excellent. And still in spite of the camera work. (I think I'm obligated to harp on that whenever they're mentioned)

Other than that things are fine around Casa del 'd'. We're only sort of ready for Easter or Spring Break or any number of other kid related type things. M gave a fun little report on Jim Henson and G has started soccer. Lost their first game 6-0. Admittedly they'd only had one practice up until that point. McK is being swallowed by stage crew again. Silly kids and their activities.

Apparently all lawnmower troubles are carburetor related. Went to try and mow the lawn last week and could not get the mower to start. After replacing far too many bits and bobs we ended at a little small engine repair place staffed by people with some flavor of Russian accent. When the guy looking at our mower implicated the carburetor in the troubles the rest of the staff yelled "Carburetor! Always carburetor!" I suspect they had a drinking game as well...

Oh and I should point out that Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is an absolutely wonderful little graphic novel. It follows Maggie, an up til this point home schooled girl, as she's about to go to High School for the first time. Where her three older brothers have been for a couple years. It's funny and touching and occasionally puzzling (what is the deal with that ghost? I personally think it's a stand in for the issues relating to her mother.) Check it out.