Here's your article for the day.
Why I Hate Web Logs. It's a good read.
"This person suffers from a serious personal attention debt. " That's an excellent phrase, right there, "attention debt". While it is probably quite appropriate to web logs, I've noticed this more in real life. Usually while waiting in line.
I'm probably most likely to fall under the Self-Important Moron category, I think. Not that I think this blog will save the world or anything.
Well, we finished the trilogy with Return of the Jedi last night. My sister thought the Ewoks were cute and silly, which should come as a surprise to no one. Her favorite movie is Empire (again, no big surprise).
As for the other trilogy of movies, we went to see Return of the King last week. I was really surprised at the number of kids at the show (it was an afternoon matinee) but I must admit that they were exceptionally well-behaved. I can't see any reason to bring a young child to a movie that lasts over three hours. However, they weren't disruptive so I can't complain at length (as much as I'd like to *grin*).
There are a number of reviewers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy who haven't read the books recently (or even at all). Are these reviews valid? Some say that the movies should be viewable by everyone, not just the "select few" that have the patience to read the book. However, I think that it's not uncommon for some forms of entertainment to require pre-requisites.
Let's take an extreme example - weekly television shows, such as soap operas. If I watched a random soap opera, could I complain if things that happened previously weren't explained sufficiently? Of course not, that would be foolish. Likewise, could I critize Austin Powers 2 for not repeating character development that was done in the previous movie? No.
But what if the pre-requisite is in a different medium? Let's look at the opposite situation- Could I review the Nitpicker's Guide to Star Trek: The Next Generation without ever having seen an episode of the television show? What value would that review have for you? In my mind, reviews of the Lord of the Rings movies by people who have not read the books should be treated just as lightly.
Session Report: January 5, 2004
Games Played: high Society, Frank's Zoo, Catch Phrase, Samurai, Alhambra
Gamers: Mark, Rob, Josh, Lewis, Chip, Marianne, Rob, Chris
Thanks to Rob for hosting.
HIGH SOCIETY (0:15)
Mark: 16
Josh: 9
Marianne: 5
Mike: 0
Chip: 10 (eliminated)
Josh taught us High Society, a quick bidding game with various bonus and penalty cards in addition to values 1-10. When Mike arrived, Rob gave up his seat to see to various hosting duties.
I'll refrain from judging a game on a single play, but it seems to me that I'm particularly bad at setting values on things. I've seen this trend in Modern Art and other bidding games; I'm sure I'd do horribly at The Price is Right.
FRANK'S ZOO (0:12)
Mark: 6
Rob: 5
Josh: 4
Mike: 3
Marianne: 2
Chip: 1
We opted to play Frank's Zoo as it took 6 players and Chris (who has vowed never to play this game again) wasn't around to object.
I don't really have a handle on this game yet. It seems light and quick enough, but I haven't grasped any strategy yet - if I can play, I do. I don't find myself making decisions and getting feedback on those decisions. Still, it's not a bad game, and I'd play it again.
We played a single hand during which Chris and Lewis arrived. Now with eight players we decided to break into two 4 player games.
ELECTRONIC CATCH PHRASE (0:24)
Chip, Marianne, Rob, Chris: 7
Mark, Rob, Josh, Lewis: 5.5
Continuing our course of appetizers, we played a single round of Electronic Catch Phrase.
Memorable moments: Lewis was prompted with "Push Button" and mistook it for an instruction from the game rather than a phrase to be guessed. I was particularly happy with my own clue, "Word Chekov couldn't pronounce correctly in the Star Trek movie" for "vessel".
The randomness of the "hot potato" aspect of this game still irks me. It seems that every time this game is played there's at least one disagreement regarding who was holding the game when the buzzer went off. We usually agree to not award any points in this situation, but it's still annoying.
SAMURAI (0:42)
Marianne: 5
Rob: 3
Chip, Josh: eliminated
Josh taught us Samurai - Rob had played once years ago, and Marianne and I were new to the game.
The mechanics are appealingly simple and the game seems nicely balanced. Josh did an excellent job of explaining the most complex (and more important!) part of the game - the scoring.
I lost all track of which player took which tokens, and I think that worked against me. I'd be willing to try it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
ALHAMBRA (1:00)
Mark: 98
Lewis: 102
Marianne: 71
Chip: 127
Marianne and I lobbied for Land Unter!, but I couldn't resist the call of Alhambra. After a quick review of the rules (and a not-so-quick history lesson from Professor Towler), we began.
I started off with an abundant lead in gardens, which I retained for most of the game. Mark concentrated his efforts on Towers, and Lewis and Marianne split most of the rest. I paid more attention to building a long wall, occasionally building separate sections and then tying them together. This hard work paid off, as I ended the game with a wall of length 26.
This game is still on my purchase list. I like it a lot and will play it at the drop of a hat.
I feel so unprepared for the new year. I don't have my pocket calendar or a desk one-a-day calendar either. I made my resolution (such as it is) a few days late, and I don't generally feel like it's a new year yet.
My resolution, for those of you keeping track at home, is to set aside a weekend each month for house-keeping and relaxation. Weekends tend to get cluttered up with fun stuff (not that this is bad, necessarily), leaving me without the time I need to keep everything in order. It's not much of a resolution, but at least it's a start.
My resolution for last year, if you recall, was to keep track of the board games that I play. This resolution was a resounding success, as you can see by the various Session, Monthly, and semi-annual reports posted here. It'd be nice to add pictures of some of these games (especially the tile-laying games), but that would require more work (:
