Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Media

Oh, the things I do to avoid painting ogres:

Supernatural. Despite the fact that everyone in this series is far too good looking, I enjoy the story lines. Two brother fight the supernatural, and often themselves, in a matter of fact, male Buffy kind of way. I feel dirty.

The Economist. Still my news source. I've been reading the articles online lately, since the afternoons are a bit slow. It has a great calming effect. British news never gets too emotional or sensational.

The Dresden Files. I'm reading the first book, Storm Front. Similar to Supernatural, it's a mystery-fantasy modern day story. I found the TV series entertaining, and the books are equally fun. I'm told they get even better after the first three.

The Wire. Season 4 is on Netflix finally. I was able to watch the first disc but now the second is unavailable. This season is about how the kids and schools fit into the drug crime equation. It's good watching, but not as compelling as the first two seasons.

Sopranos, Season 6.5: Also new on Netflix. Some fun stuff with the various characters, but again, the thrill is gone.

The Office. This one took a while to grow on me, but man is it compelling after a while. Every character is interesting and the inter-office love affair had me consuming vast amounts of "Watch Instantly" programming like a wussy couch potato. I watched everything available on the American series and now I'm starting the British version. Unfortunately, the US version lifted many of the plots, so the British one is less enjoyable. Plus I think I may need subtitles which I can't get online.

Sim City Societies. It's sad, but I spent all day Sunday playing this game. I got hold of some bad milk the day before, so I was feeling sick. I attempted to re-create Las Vegas. It worked, except that I couldn't get the crime under control. No amount of police power would put those pesky sims in line. This game is just less fun than other sim city games. It's more of a simulator than a good game. It's just too easy. You want to make an artsy happy city? Great, you do it. You want to make a crime ridden hell hole? Great, here you go. Where's the game? It didn't keep me from blowing a day off though.

New Games. I learned to play Alhambra last night. It seems like a fun, light game similar in appeal to Carcassonne, but a little more difficult to explain. I'll need to play a few more times to get a better feel for the mechanics. Last week I had fun playing Cutthroat Caverns, a cooperative dungeon delving card game that requires you to come together as a party while trying to back stab your buddy. You can't win without them, but you need to come out on top. Fun.

5 comments:

  1. You really needed to stay for "Felix, the cat in the sack".

    Once we got over a few stumbles in the rules (translation from German leaves a few things vague), everyone enjoyed it.

    At $15, and being quick, fun, a bit silly, and family friendly, you need to find a way to get it back in stock.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just found a second source for it. It will be back in on Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hate you all!

    No computer games for me as my computer is sitting about six miles south of here still sitting in its relocube. Apparently they can't deliver the things while it's raining, and it's been raining almost continuously since the third day after we got here. I'm currently using my wife's laptop and leaching my neighbor's internet.

    I don't know if there's any board gaming going on here yet, the local game store has an anemic selection, but I noticed some open store copies on one shelf. I haven't had time to talk with anyone there yet.

    One of the two local sources listed in White Dwarf for carrying GW products turned out to be a custom T-Shirt company whose owner appears to be scamming GW for a dealer discount. The other is a new Hobby Town that just opened to the north of here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It just gives you more incentive to get back to CA :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. We're saving you a seat at Boardgame night.*


    * And the FoW events, and other activities, and...

    ReplyDelete