Looking back

The question of the week on the Dice Tower podcast last week was all about what game got you into gaming. I decided I'd jot some thoughts here about that question. In my youth it was probably Monopoly that held my interest. The old Red Box Dungeons and Dragons wasn't too far behind though and occupied a good chunk of my school years. Axis and Allies was probably the closest thing to a hobby game that really had me hooked back then. In college it was things like Canasta and Boggle. And then I didn't play many board games for a while. As far as my current interest in board games, that's probably down to Settlers of Catan. I'm pretty sure that's the one that really got the ball rolling and made us realize that there were lots of interesting games out there. It's kind of interesting to look back and see what sorts of things held my attention and how I've evolved as a gamer.

Speaking of games, due to a nice little trade at our local game store, I managed a new copy of Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small for the princely sum of 0$. (They wanted Balloon Cup and I really didn't) I'd say we got the better end of the deal as lovely wife and I will actually play Agricola. This is a 2 player version of a much more complex game. It's worker placement (similar to Lords of Waterdeep) with a farming theme - you're trying to raise animals on your farm. You have to divide the land up into various pastures before you can place the animals and then each pasture can only hold so many before you need to add a feeding trough. There are a few resources to handle and you have three workers to place each turn and there are 8 turns. I believe. It's a nice little game with lots of decisions to make and you will mock each other's farm and then yell as you score the game and realize you didn't have enough pigs and have to lose points, but you did have horses, but wait - your significant other actually had enough of every animal - and what do you mean I lost?! And then you'll play again. I really do recommend this one if you're in the market for a nice two player game.

Watched Zen over the course of the last week. It's a BBC detective show similar to Sherlock in that it's only three episodes and they're in the hour and a half range. I rather liked it. The last episode was surprisingly funny. Might have to track down one of the books.

We managed to get out house refinanced so I guess that's one thing the recession has done for us. I can't believe we have an interest rate in the 3% range. Plus we managed to shave a couple years off the loan. So yay for that as well.

G and I have been building forts lately out of the couch. It's been good fun. We've taken to building a fort and then watching Gravity Falls on the ipad (since we no longer have the Disney Channel). If you've not seen that show, you really should as it's awesome.

afternoons and coffee spoons

I've always liked Eliot. So I borrowed some of his best for the title. If you've not read The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock you should. It will certainly be more entertaining than the couple little paragraphs you're going to get here.

Finished off Riordan's recent collection of  Percy Jackson inspired short stories. They were fine. One of them was apparently by his son. Slightly different writing style (his Dad tends to be funnier and not quite as ... formal I guess is the best word) but not bad. If you like the Percy Jackson stuff and have followed up with the new series you'll like it well enough.

We watched The Woman in Black the other night. Well, lovely wife watched it. I dozed through the beginning and then watched the last half or so. Which is a shame, as it looked like it was pretty good. It is a little slow (period horror piece after all) but don't blame the movie for my inattention. That's all sleep deprivation. It differs a touch from the book, but it's fine. Mostly the ending. And the beginning, but you need to see the ending for that to make sense.

I want to see the new Bourne movie...

The kids are all back in school. That's nice. They are no longer quite as bored as they once were. Although McK is longing for the days when she could sleep in. Early morning seminary is apparently quite early. She's even up before I leave.

Not today

Too much stress, too little sleep.

Swim the Fly was fun crude boy humor. The Cabin in the Woods Visual Companion was a fun inside look at the movie.

And yeah, that's all I've got.

Other than happy birthday M! Don't shoot the dog with your bow and arrows.

Sounds like that tomato-y stuff on burgers

Was pretty under the weather last week. Kids started off with it and were kind enough to share. I'm mostly past it at this point, but other forces are conspiring to keep me not at my best. So, well, don't expect too much. (Of course if you've read anything here before, your hopes should be sufficiently low already)

Avatar was indeed brilliant. Really enjoyed all three seasons. The kids managed to make it through the live action movie, but mostly on the power of mocking. So yay for mocking I guess.

Lovely wife and I have been making our way through The Dresden Files again because it's still amusing. We're also watching Dollhouse. That's a pretty trippy show.

I watched the Samurai trilogy courtesy of the Criterion folks. I rather enjoyed them. I also enjoyed the brief commentary that was on each disc talking about the real Musashi Miyamoto and how his life differed (or mirrored) the movies.

I finished reading The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross. More brilliant Laundry Files fun. At this point you either know what the series is and are reading it as well, or me telling you the fourth book is also fun won't matter.

I'm giving the Song of Ice and Fire series another go. I've read Game of Thrones before, but I've decided to read it again just to remind myself of all the little details before jumping into the next one.

So yeah, lots of reading, lots of watching stuff. We did finally manage our game weekend and fun was had. Shadows Over Camelot is a pretty brilliant little cooperative game. We played it twice and I'd have given it a third go, this time throwing in the traitor mechanic. Lots of hard little decisions to make and not enough time to do all the things you need to do. We eked out a victory in Elder Sign (ok I eked out a victory as I was the last one standing). Managed a game of Lords of Waterdeep and I forget what else. Some Hearts I think.

Kids are ready to go back to school and Summer is indeed drawing to a close. I am glad. I'm ready for some cooler temperatures. Although apparently the US has been the hottest it's ever been this year, so who knows what we have heading our way. I will pretend it's Winter though. With cold and some snow.

Curses, foiled again

I have nothing of great interest to pass along. Lovely wife has been tooling around town some with her early birthday present - one of those cruiser style bikes. I find them to be difficult to turn, but she's getting a kick out of it and can go on bike rides with the kids. So there's that.

I suspect the kids are ready for school to start up again. They're starting to go a little nuts around the house. We try and throw them out every day, but they keep coming back. No idea what that's about. If nothing else, I'm ready for the kids to go back to school again. Although lovely wife would probably disagree when factoring in carpool and increased after school activities again.

Wizards of the Coast is trying to take my money with the recently released Dungeon Command. Turn based card driven combat with cool minis?! What's not to love there?

We're on the final season of Avatar and it's been quite good. Not sure what we'll latch onto next. Lovely wife's been trying to interest the kids in some old TV show called Voyagers. I only vaguely remember it. Not sure I watched that one much. I've heard good things about Gravity Falls over on Disney. May need to find a way to check that one out. Twin Peaks for kids or an animated Eerie, Indiana are the two ways I've heard it described. Again, what's not to love there? Maybe I should start tracking down Twin Peaks...

We've had some rain lately so the lawn is doing its best to demoralize and kill me. It's succeeding.

I've got nothing

No really, there's nothing to see here.

The original Avatar: the Last Airbender animated show is awesome. The live action one is not (I could only take 5-10 minutes before turning it off in disgust).

Alas, games were not played last weekend due to a rampaging fever, courtesy of M. We are attempting to reschedule.

The cheesecake ice cream, poured into a pie crust and served with blueberries, was quite yummy however.

Yeah, that's really all I've got.

Ugh, the heat

While my sisters more than likely have it worse temperature wise, I am very tired of the heat. And we're only about half through July. Joy.

Been watching the Alien movies again. I wanted to do this closer to when we saw Prometheus, but oh well. The first one is (sadly) a little on the boring side. I am aware of this and am even known to enjoy slow Ridley Scott sci fi (Blade Runner says hi) but this film could move just a touch faster. There are moments of real beauty and horror and camaraderie, but, well ... still kinda slow. I think due to that it actually holds up pretty well though. Aliens on the other hand is a goofy 80s James Cameron action flick. It may have been new to the space marine scene when it came out, but that milieu has been mined, parodied and generally beaten like a dead horse by film and video games a lot since then and watching it again it suffers some. It does get better towards the end of the flick, but during that first little while I kept expecting the Terminator to show up or something. Cameron definitely has his grubby little prints all over this film. We'll see how the other two go. I'm one of the few people I know that liked the third film and the fourth... well... umm...

I am still trudging through Dan Simmons's The Terror. It is interesting, but that guy needs to learn to write shorter books. Or I need more time to read.

Psst. Quantum Conundrum is really just more Portal. And that makes it awesome. The demo is a lot of fun. I may need to snag this one.

The new Laundry Files novel is out. It's sitting at my desk taunting me. Must. Read. Now.

There has been a distinct lack of board games in my life lately. Fortunately this weekend should remedy that. I believe we will finally get to try Shadows Over Camelot. I am looking forward to that. And more ice cream. And cheeseburgers. Which unfortunately means I really need to get back to exercising. Alas.

Brief thoughts

Not much remains of Dad's visit, but it has been a good one. I suspect retirement will suit him well. I suspect retirement will suit me well, but alas that won't happen for quite some time, milestone birthdays or no.

Brave was quite good and certainly worth seeing. It was enjoyed by all. There were varying levels of enjoyment for Chronicle and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I liked both of them well enough, but I'm more suited to them, so that's no real surprise.

Summoner Wars and Haggis are both theoretically available in the iOS app store. I've been trying to download the former since yesterday, but there seems to be some sort of issue with its availability. Curses.

Other than that, I don't really have the energy to write up all the happenings. New computer. Trips to Planet Play and the pool. J Dawgs. (I think that's how that's spelled) Homemade ice cream. All the things that make for a successful summer and an enjoyable visit with family. We'll all be sad to see Dad go. Especially as he's leaving at some unholy hour in the morning and needs a ride to the airport...

We also got to watch the fireworks over at letter 'r's last night. The wind played havoc with the display a little and it was strange to see the fireworks juxtaposed with the forest fire on the mountain, but they were certainly pretty.

Mentally checked out

My brain is off wandering around somewhere, so this will be short and pointless. As opposed to the normal almost short and pointless.

Re-watched the Daniel Craig Bond flicks. Casino Royale still excellent. Quantum of Solace still not great, but also not horrible.

The Secret World of Arrietty was mostly ok. I thought it started a little too slow, but the last 1/3 or so was pretty decent.

And yeah, that's about it. Vacation looms nigh as does a visit from Dad, so that's grand. I am very much looking forward to it. Hopefully brain will not be so much tapioca...

Prometheus and other space oddities

As a belated anniversary date lovely wife, some friends and I went to see Prometheus. We opted for the 3D version and I must admit that's probably the first movie where I can say the 3D was pretty dang cool. It offered an amazing sense of depth to the film. As for the movie itself I really liked the Alien nods. And sure, there were some "boy those scientists sure are dumb" moments, but I thought the film was fine. It's a different creature (HA) from Alien and I'm ok with letting it stand on its own like that. There are indeed lots of questions, but if you've been on the internet at all this past week and have any sci fi web surfing tendencies, you've seen lots of debate and answers and interviews that offer thoughts on that sort of stuff. So yeah, good to see Ridley do some sci fi again.

I finished Paolo Bacigalupi's The Drowned Cities. I'm not quite sure what my opinion on that is. You'll see the 3 star rating over there on the sidebar (if you ever look at that thing) but it's really more of a 2.5. I didn't want to go as low as 2, but 3's a bit of a stretch as well. I rather liked Shipbreaker, and this one was set in the same universe, but it just wasn't as interesting. I did get into it enough that I wanted to finish it, but that's about it. I read a preview of the book where Bacigalupi talked about how this book was born out of the current political strife we're going through here in the states (and the setting is an apocalyptic jungles based DC - Drowned Cities, get it?) and that probably should have been more of a warning to me than I took it for. Not that the book is terribly political (at least at a story event level, it's more of a thematic undercurrent) and that might have been part of the problem too. Oh well.

We played Power Grid over the weekend. An interesting little area control game. A little math heavy and it can be quite cutthroat as well. I'm willing to try this one again, but I suspect it's not one I'll feel the need to pick up.

And this weekend is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to Dad. I am a slacker and have not gotten anything in the mail to him, but he'll be here in a little over a week, so I don't feel that bad. Alas I have to struggle through the Fathers and Sons campout this weekend before I can get any pampering. Whose idea was that?

I'm heeeerre

Honestly I never left...

I was saddened to learn that Ray Bradbury passed away yesterday. Something Wicked This Way Comes is still a favorite of mine. As is a lot of his short fiction. I should really get around to reading The Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine... I enjoyed his settings and the way he breathed life into seasons and locales.

Watched The Innkeepers last night, Ti West's latest horror flick. It's another slow burn set a little in the past. I enjoyed this one more than his first film, House of the Devil. It wasn't quite as slow as that one and the ending was much better. Plus it was actually creepy in places, something I don't remember the other film really pulling off that well. So little sis and K should check this one out.

Finished reading Spell Bound, the latest Hex Hall book. It was fun. I was a little annoyed at the love triangle in this book as I don't care much for the person she ended up with and I didn't really like the way the author resolved said triangle, but whatever. The rest was still pure silly fun.

Vacation was nice. I need to arrange a permanent version. Although the kids managed to finish the school year and promptly drove me insane. I have wished lovely wife a decent amount of luck in dealing with them. We managed some games and some ice cream and so on. Just made chocolate this time, but it was quite yummy. I think we've done about 4 gallons of ice cream since just before Mother's Day. Which explains why I need to go back to exercising...

I snagged Assassin's Creed II on the PS3 while it was on sale on PSN. It's an enjoyable game in a wander around Renaissance Italy and kill people sort of way. G and I also managed to make it through Pixel Junk Shooter. It was a lot of fun to play together. We might have to snag the sequel at some point.

Lovely wife has decreed that I am no longer able to make the hamburger patties. Just because I added too much bbq sauce (is it my fault she buys boring bbq sauce and I think it needs more?) and the burgers fell apart while I was grilling them. They may not have been burger shaped by the time they were done, but they were delicious... I need more potato salad.

So Prometheus comes out tomorrow. I think lovely wife and I and some friends will actually make the show this weekend. A late anniversary date. Speaking of, I suppose I should point out that I've managed to somehow put up with her for the last 17 years now. In spite of things like a lack of anniversary gifts and so on. Now, if you listened to her, I'm sure she would claim the lion's share of putting up with over those years, but this is my blog, so I get to color things my way. People continue to point out that this makes us old. Well that and having a kid that's technically going to be a Freshman next year (even if she isn't in the High School yet). Or a certain birthday I have later this year with the numbers 4 and 0 in it. Eh. What do they know? All I have to say is that I've earned every gray hair I've got and I wear them with pride. So happy anniversary sweetie. Even if you are old. And don't get me anything.

A brief list of things that are awesome: blackened mahi mahi fish tacos, my Mom's potato salad, cheeseburgers, kicking my wife's butt at mini golf, ditto for Rivals of Catan, watching her win 250 tickets on the stack 'em game at the arcade (even if she did then spend them on a pirate duck), horror movies.

Prelude to nothing

Vacation looms. This is good. I am in need of some down time. Alas we shall have to wait for another month before Dad can make it out and we really goof off. I expect this time will consist of some grilling, some ice cream and some games. And lots and lots of nothing. Except maybe sleep. Sleep sounds good.

Killer Elite was an interesting little action movie. Apparently it was based on a true story. It certainly ended ridiculously enough to be true.

I am sort of addicted to Ninjatown: Trees of Doom. It's just a non stop climbing game, but it's strangely compelling. And Motoheroz or however they spell that is worse. It's a Trials-like racing game on the iPad. You're trying to get the best time on a short race course that involves lots of jumps and hills and so on. You control the angle of the vehicle as well as its speed. It plugs right into the OCD center of my brain. Must get perfect run and beat stupid computer ghost car...

I introduced McK to Settlers of Catan last weekend. We didn't make it through a whole game. Mostly because lovely wife was about to throttle me. I had managed to cut one of her cities off onto one little corner of the board. It produced ore pretty reliably but we were racing for the 2:1 ore trading spot. If I'd managed to snag that spot she'd have been pretty dead in the water. McK wasn't too much better off. Ok , so we really stopped because it was late and McK needed to go to bed, but I like the other reason better.

Psst, the third Hex Hall book is out. It's pretty good so far. Although I have issues with the love triangle.

Alas poor blog

I finished both Let's Pretend this Never Happened and Red, White and Blood over this past week. One was extremely funny and worth reading, the other had it's moments but wasn't quite as good as the two previous installments. A shame really. Lawson's book (the funny one) was hilarious, horrifying, and surprisingly sweet. Quite often at the same time. If you've read her posts over at The Bloggess, you know what you're getting into. Otherwise be prepared for lots of humor, swearing and randomness. Giant metal chickens will be mentioned.

Farnsworth's book (the vampire one) is enjoyable enough, but doesn't quite match up with the two previous Cade novels. I'm not quite certain what it was either. The plot is decent enough and the characters are fun to hang out with again (except for Holt, really don't care for her) so I'm not sure why I didn't like it as much. The ending certainly leaves you wondering what will happen in the sequel. That book has some potential.

(Psst, the third Hex Hall book is out. I'm going to have to read it.)

Last week there was a giant sale on Pixeljunk games over on PSN. I snagged about 4 of them for $3. They are all rather enjoyable. Racer is a fun little slot car type game with a lot of different game modes. Plus the multiplayer can be pretty good. Monsters is tower defense, Shooter is a sort of Defender like type game with a heat mechanic (your ship will overheat and explode if you don't cool it off), and Eden is a puzzle/dexterity game where you need to help grow a garden by guiding a critter around the level in search of pollen and seed type things.

McK is trying to overcome a serious losing streak in softball. They've had to cancel one game and lost the other three. Four, possibly five to go. M has her first game (I believe) tonight. We shall see... Well, lovely wife will at any rate.

Epic Games over in Lehi does a family game night on Mondays. We finally managed to make it over and learned to play Evo. It's an interesting little game where you play dinosaurs trying to stay alive as long as you can before the meteor crashes into the Earth destroying everyone. It has a nifty little mechanic where you can bid on traits that will help you survive (fur for colder areas, umbrellas for warmer areas, feet to help you move more dinosaurs, etc.) by using your victory points. So you can potentially bid lots to get what you need, but then lose the game because you spent your points. G now wants a copy. I wouldn't mind one either. Unfortunately, we were playing the first edition of the game and the reprint changed things up some. So you no longer get little chits to attach to your dinosaur to show your upgrades and so on. It looks like it's pretty hard to find the first edition. So if any of you run across the old Descartes/Eurogames edition, let us know (not the new Asmodee box with the realistic looking dinosaurs on the cover).

catching up

Finally had a chance to watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and it was indeed a fine continuation of that series. I think I still liked the third one a touch more, but this is an enjoyable follow up. More missions. More impossibles. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here. And I was glad to see Simon Pegg get some decent screen time. Too bad about the mask.

Takenoko  is an addictive puzzle-y sort of game where you are trying to grow a bamboo garden while a panda eats some of your efforts. You take turns performing a couple of actions such as placing a new bamboo plot, growing bamboo, eating bamboo, irrigating a new section of the garden etc. in order to complete objectives you have (found on cards that you can draw). Once one player has completed a set number of objectives remaining players get one more turn and then scores are tallied. I find myself thinking about this game a lot and wanting to play it more. Definitely worth playing.

Speaking of playing games, we had our monthly board game weekend and celebrated Cinco de Mayo at the same time. Games! Fish tacos! Ice cream! A pinata! Taco Soup! It was a grand time. Plus we got to play a lot of games. So yay.

And speaking of ice cream, our second batch was not quite as successful as our first. This time we tried for a chocolate peanut butter ice cream, but it was a slightly different base and we managed to scorch it just a little. If you didn't know better you might think we had just used a very dark chocolate. Having been involved in the creation process, I could tell it was a little burnt. Alas. We shall continue to try though! More ice creams!

G managed to score a goal in his last soccer game of the season. He told his big sister he was going to score one for her since it was her birthday. Of course, he also told her they'd win their game. Or at least try to. And it sounds like they were off to a decent start. They were tied 3-3 when I managed to get there, but at that point the other team pulled ahead and the game ended 6-3. Oh well. He had fun and did manage to score a goal, so good for him.

I haven't finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, but I can confirm it is hilarious. Of course if you know who she is, this comes as no surprise. It's pretty darn funny. And then you feel bad for laughing at her misfortunes.

Now if we can just convince the kids that they don't all need to be sixty different places at once...

And in case you missed the reference up there a Happy Birthday to McK. I refuse to believe she's as old as she thinks she is. For some strange reason she wants to have a birthday party where she and her friends play some board games. I can't for the life of me figure out why. There certainly won't be any adults at this party she can force her presence upon... Weird. Oh well, I suspect she'll have some fun anyway.

Screaming

I have been forcing a couple episodes of Masters of Horror upon lovely wife. Mostly because I always meant to watch some of them and I finally decided it was time. John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns was pretty interesting. It reminded me a little of that old Johnny Depp movie The Ninth Gate only substituting a film for a book. Or possibly In the Mouth of Madness,  which if I remember right is another John Carpenter film... Anyway, guy asks other guy to track down long lost film print that was only ever shown in public once. Riots ensued, people went crazy, etc. etc. It was fun. Stuart Gordon's Dreams in the Witch House was a decent adaptation of the Lovecraft story. Those non-Euclidean angles...

For an early Mother's Day gift we picked up lovely wife an ice cream maker. Mostly due to this book. We tried it out by making a gallon of the malted chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate chips. It was as wonderful as it sounds. Soooo goood. We're going to try another flavor this weekend for our gaming/Cinco de Mayo get together. I think there will be peanut butter involved. As for the machine itself, we opted for a nice little electric 4 quart ice/salt contraption. I kind of wish it was hand crank, but I'll be stealing Dad's hand crank machine, so I've got that base covered.

G has officially won one soccer game. It may be the only game his team wins. And strangely, soccer is far more appealing to watch than softball... I'm as surprised as anyone, I don't really like soccer.

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.

Hunger. Games. Both at the same time.

McK and I went to see The Hunger Games last Saturday. Personally, I'm of the opinion that they did a pretty brilliant job with the film. I wasn't crazy about the shaky cam that wandered through District 12 at the beginning, but I think it made sense for the battle scenes. A couple of the places I wander around the internet took issue with the movie, but I think they missed some of the point. First, partially due to said camera, the violence was never glorified. You weren't really given a chance to "enjoy" the fights which would have been counter productive to the point of the whole film.

I've also managed to come to some sort of terms over the whole Hunger Games/Battle Royale thing. At least as far as the film is concerned. There's certainly a lot of overlap in the stories, but Hunger Games gets spun through a more American perspective where Battle Royale is certainly more Japanese.

I managed a victory over lovely wife at Summoner Wars the other evening. The game should have been much shorter than it was, but after my initial couple of turns (where I had her Summoner down to a couple life points) I could not roll a three or higher to save my life (or more appropriately end hers). But in the end the Swamp Orcs declared victory over the Benders. So yay for that I guess. I'm looking forward to the eventual release of this game on the iPad.

Speaking of, 100 Rogues was free the other day and is once again filling me with roguelike glee. I still enjoy Shiren a touch more, but this is a pretty decent game for the iPad. And we're still pretty far down the Draw Something rabbit hole. We have lots of colors now...

I took G and M to the Library on Saturday for the Dinosaurs and pizza story time. It was pretty fun, even if it did take the kids a few minutes to get over some of their shyness. It's so amusing watching them in groups of people. Not that I can fault them really, I suspect a decent amount of my own introvertedness has rubbed off on them.

We watched Tintin over the weekend as well. I felt it was ok for the first two thirds. The last third suffered from existing (movie felt a little long) and some silliness. (A crane fight? Really?) I'd watch a sequel though, so that says something.

Managed to earn $10 in iTunes through that Viggle app. So yay for rewards for watching TV. Especially as we don't watch much.

I need a nap...