Not nearly horrific enough

So lovely wife and I watched Apollo 18 last night. It had potential. It certainly started off decently and even offered some glimpses that it might be a fun little found footage horror flick set in space. And then it got boring. And didn't really do enough spooky stuff. There were certainly some great moments at the end, but too little too late. Plus I'm still not certain about Moon Spiders being the culprits. So, if you're a die hard found footage fan, this might scratch the itch for a while, but really, there's better stuff out there.

Season 2 of the Muppet Show has been a lot of fun to watch. The kids are well and truly hooked now. It's great. And rumor has it that a plush Kermit is making its way to me. Yaaaaaa-a-a-a-aay. He said in his best Kermit voice. I love Kermit.

I have encouraged little sis to snag Ticket to Ride Pocket for her iPhone. Now I must get her to play. I will crush her feeble dreams of being a rail baron in America. Hive was free over this past week. It might still be, I'm unsure. Upon downloading the electronic version, I realized that I have been playing that game completely wrong. I thought you had to completely surround your opponent's bee with your own tiles. It just needs to be surrounded. Yours, theirs, the color of the tiles is irrelevant. This completely changed the game and made something that was sort of interesting, but prone to locking up a lot, quite a bit more interesting and fun.

Nintendo needs to be better about getting their quirkier games to retailers. I want to play Rhythm Heaven but so far we're getting a lot of blank stares...

I thoroughly enjoyed The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett. It's a pretty fascinating little mystery that follows a forensic pathologist (think Kathy Reichs' Temperance "Bones" Brennan or Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta) that left the job after his wife and kid were killed. Of course he can't leave it for long. (Or really, why would there be a book in your hands) It's well written and I liked the characters. Some nice little twists and turns. Give it a look.

Weekly dose of books and such

Finished Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It's a steampunk take on WWI, so you have giant robotic war machines on one side and living zeppelins (and other home brewed beasties) on the other. The story itself follows the young not quite heir of archduke Franz Ferdinand (the guy what got assassinated and started the whole shindig) on one side and a young girl masquerading as a boy so she can join the military on the other. The only down side is that this is the first book in a series, and so while it wraps a few things up there's still plenty to come. And I can't wait. It's typical readable Westerfeld with some fun characters and lots of good bits. Check it out.

Who watches the Watchmen? I watch the Watchmen. That's who. Movie was a decent adaptation of the graphic novel (which is still better). I'm not convinced the altered ending works as well as some have claimed (honestly I have a pretty big problem with it), but it's definitely standard Snyder. If you liked either 300 or his remake of Dawn of the Dead you'll find some decent bits here too. Lots of stylish slow-mo and some effective color palette use. (Strangely I wasn't as drawn to the opening montage as everyone else either. I think I'd have found it horribly confusing if I hadn't read the graphic novel and understood the history it was compressing. I'll have to double check with lovely wife and see if that's true...) I guess I can only really say it was alright. Not great, not horrible. I'm not convinced the message in this one holds up as well as something like V is for Vendetta. Cold War ended a while ago and most folks my age really can't relate.

I've started The Lost Symbol. It's... not good. It is standard Dan Brown. You'll get lectured a lot. The bad guy is a caricature (tattoos instead of albino-ism in this one). The plot is mind blowingly stupid. (I've spent most of my time yelling why would you do that?! No really, except for the fact the author needed you to, why would you do that?!) But it's strangely readable. And you sort of want to know what the big secret is. Guy's got a struck a deal with the devil to get it writing style, I'll give him that. So, turn brain off and read. Or wait for everyone to talk about it and nod along. You're probably not missing that much.

I really need to come up with a way to snag the two player board for Ticket to Ride. The problem is, you need either the original game, or the European sequel to cannibalize for parts. We've got Marklin. I suspect I'd really like the 2 player version of the game it's actually built for that number of players. The other boards really seem built for lots of players. At least that's my impression of Marklin. It's fun, sure, but also pretty cutthroat. If you happen to be lucky and don't end up heading for the same sections of the map the game is alright, but if you do... Well. You've been warned. Actually now that I think about it, I suspect the 2 player version probably ends in tears a lot more...

Oh and a quick plea to Dad - Send more Skinny Cows. That is all.

virtual break

Have I rambled on about Ticket to Ride: Marklin yet? If not, I regret the oversight. It was the boardgame we picked up for the family this Christmas. And a rather enjoyable game it is. Apparently Days of Wonder has a design philosophy that entails simple instructions, set up and game play. Note that that does not mean simplistic - there's quite a bit of strategy involved. I will mention that the rules can be a little fuzzy, but the forums over at Days of Wonder help clarify any questions you might have.

Basically, you're claiming train routes in Germany in order to connect destinations that you've drawn. You can also send passengers over the routes you've set up. There's quite a bit of tension as every player cannot connect the same routes and as you try to link cities you may find yourself having to go the long way around. The game itself is rather pretty and the pieces are all high quality. (Although the point tokens that get placed on the cities could stand to be a bit bigger.) My wife and I have enjoyed several games against each other and it's been received pretty well by those we've introduced it to. If you like strategy board games (think Settlers of Catan and so on) then this one is a no brainer.

My wife would like me to point out that total chaos is going on in the background (which is why I chose the title I did - I was attempting to tune it out to no avail). I've no idea what we've been feeding the little monsters lately, but apparently we need to switch to moldy bread and stagnant water...