Apostle Reflections

Judging a Book by Its Cover

2007-10-26T10:55:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine mentioned how he'd recently read some books by Lois McMaster Bujold, and how he thought they were really great. Well I'm always on the lookout for a great new author and I researched her. Well...I hate to admit it, but I don't want to be caught dead reading her books simply due to the craptacular covers. Petty and silly? Maybe. But they're bad.

<-----Take this one. Cheesy, awful picture of disembodied hands handing a sword to her? What?! It looks like a scene from the most boring first-person shooter ever. This other one ----> has a terrible split cover. Is that weirdo on the cover even human? Why would I buy and read this book? Am I 8 years old? This seems to be a problem this publisher's (Baen) books have in general. All of their books have covers uglier than Dan Dierdorf.
<------Now here's a magnificent cover. It's evocative and well-done. I want to know why there's a starship above this primitive African village. It's magnificent simplicity.

This cover from a Gene Wolfe novel has nothing to do with any story in the book...but it's still great. --------->

So I'm sure I'll read at least one Bujold book. I mean, she's won the Hugo at least three times, and surely other awards. But thanks to those crappy covers I'll probably never buy one; I'll just get them from the library and read them under cover of darkness.

Sammich

2007-10-22T11:29:00.000-06:00

Is there anything better than a turkey sandwich on white bread with a ton of mayo? (Not deli turkey, mind you. Plucked-from-a-bird turkey.) Probably...but I'll bet it's a short list.

Note to NBC

2007-10-19T12:48:00.000-06:00

Please stop airing hour-long episodes of your 1/2-hour comedies. Even brilliant ones such as The Office can't sustain themselves over that time period. Please. Less is More.

I haven't missed this, though

2007-10-11T08:39:00.001-06:00

By diving into the lives of teenagers, sometimes the stark reality hits you in the face.

One of the guys in my small group is really hurting at home—and it's hard to admit that lots of kids out there have less-than-prefect lives outside the church walls. So it's that much more important that we introduce him to Jesus—the real Jesus—who is the perfect cure for our imperfect lives.

I thank God for the opportunity to be a loving force in this kid's life.

Boy, I've missed this

2007-09-19T15:16:00.000-06:00

My wife and I have settled into our new church, and while she'll be helping out with the women's ministry, I've joined the youth pastor in his ministry. I'm helping out during the Sunday morning service, the Wednesday evening service, and I'm teaching a senior high small group on Wednesdays.
So we went through prayer requests at the end of our time on Wednesday, and one of the guys--a really funny kid--asks us to pray that he'll be able to make good lemonade for some sort of home economics class. I saw him on Sunday and asked him how his lemonade turned out.
Afterward, it struck me that I've really missed out on these sort of small, magical interactions with teens, as I do my best to help them understand and grow closer to Jesus. I thank God for this opportunity, and I believe I'll learn as much from these guys as they'll learn from me.

I Love My Wife

2007-09-13T08:34:00.003-06:00

A lot.

The Horror of It All

2007-07-23T11:14:00.000-06:00

I went to the library the other day, and decided "I want to read a horror novel." Since I'm terribly impulsive--and the library was about to close--I grabbed one by an author I'd never read before, but whom I'd seen on store shelves. The book was To Wake the Dead by Richard Laymon.

Where to begin with this awful book? First, I have no idea whether this is typical of his books, but this was absolutely steeped in sex. It was bizarre, really. Nearly every character in the novel has sex, is forced to have sex, and constantly thinks about sex. It's the sole way all of his characters interacted, and it seemed completely silly. It makes Laymon seem juvenile. It's like he doesn't understand that it's the 1,000 small moments of the day that bring two people together, in addition to the intimate moments.

The plot was hackneyed. A mummy has been released and is wreaking vengeance on the world at night. Yes it's a simple, cliched plot, but I honestly thought he'd do something new with it. Nope. A "seal against evil" has been broken and the mummy kills until it's destroyed in Hollywood fashion. Yawn.

The characters are awful, too. I write this with no exaggeration: Not one single character acted in a believable way. I don't claim to know everything about human nature, but I'm wondering what kind of screwed-up life Laymon had (he died in 2001). It's as though he never actually interacted with people, but wrote from things he read or saw on TV.

The book has a high body count, but these characters were so poorly drawn that I didn't care if anyone died.

I think the most important question I have to ask myself is: Why did I keep reading? The truth is it was like a horrible car accident--you know you shouldn't look but you want to know what happened. Also, Laymon was quite popular in the UK, and won some awards. I kept reading thinking, Something's gotta change; this can't be all there is to him. But it was.

In the introduction to the book, Dean Koontz wrote something like, "Richard writes drastically different books than I do..." I think I know exactly what was meant by that. Say what you like about Koontz and his writing, but at its core there beats a heart--a soul. Laymon's novel was absolutely soulless, from the plotting to the characters to the sex obsession to...everything. I truly don't understand what people liked about his writing.

I will never read another word the man wrote, and I'm glad I checked this out from the library rather than spending money.

Taking the Road

2007-06-07T14:39:00.000-06:00

I finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road a few weeks ago. It's as good as they say.

If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be "terrifying." I don't recall ever being scared by any book or story...until my son was born. Then things changed.

I first noticed it when I read "Pay the Ghost" by Tim Lebbon in a collection of Halloween stories. It's about a man who takes his little girl out trick-or-treating and she vanishes while holding onto his hand. The next 20 pages deal with his fight to get her back—and I was scared to death as I read it. It was heartbreaking, and I know I wouldn't have felt that way before The Squirt was born.

The Road is the same way: There wasn't a single sentence—not one word—where it wasn't
me in that situation, struggling to survive with my own young son. I remember coming to one sentence and having to physically close the book because I was so rattled. Again...wouldn't have happened if I weren't a parent.

In other Cormac news, the Coen Brothers have just wrapped up the film version of No Country for Old Men. Should be amazing.

Hi Dad

2007-05-05T08:59:00.000-06:00

What in the world!?!

2007-04-17T12:21:00.000-06:00

Now McCarthy's The Road has won the Pulitzer! What is this world coming to?

I'm thrilled, mind you. Just shocked.

The trouble with abstracts is it always gets worse

2007-04-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

I've always been someone who said, "I hate abstracts."

But I've recently given in and played—and bought—a few...and ya know what? I like 'em! I do so like them, Sam-I-Am!

It started with an online game of DVONN, which intrigued me to no end. I played Torres after that, and it jumped into my Top 10. Then it was Ingenious, which was just...um, ingenious. A game of Yinsh convinced me that maybe these Gipf games were worth checking out.

And when I look at other games in my collection, they're arguably abstracts with the thinnest of thin themes: Bridges of Shangri-La, Hive, Through the Desert.
So what's the problem? If I play any of my abstracts even a couple of times, I've probably got a huge advantage over anyone I play who might be new to the game. This means I couldn't just bring one of these out with my wife, otherwise I'd crush her...and that's just not fun.

So while I'm finally coming around to them, I wonder how much they'll actually get played. Unless I can convince my wife—or one of my regular gaming buddies—to get in on the ground floor, I'll have no one to play these great games with. Maybe that's why "I hate abstracts..."

Oprah's outta her mind

2007-03-29T15:53:00.000-06:00

I get an email every week from Borders with picks and coupons and what-not. I nearly soiled myself when I got the latest, because apparently Oprah has chosen Cormac McCarthy's The Road as her latest book club pick.

For those who have read his stuff, let that settle in for a second. For those who haven't, let me describe his writing. Bleak. But not just bleak, it's bloody, idiosyncratic, jarring, violent, and just plain...well, NOT Oprah. Blood Meridian is practically a horror novel, despite its Western setting. And No Country for Old Men reads like a Coen Brothers movie.

And The Road is about a father and son trying to get through a violent post-apocalyptic landscape alive. I can't imagine one of her Followers picking up anything else by him: The screeches would be deafening.

But the absolute worst part is that I'm now forced to buy a hardback copy of the book rather than the brand new trade paperback, which will be soiled by that little "Oprah's Book Club" mark on it. Sigh.

I don't think this will be a popular choice at all.

New Wolfe!

2007-03-28T12:04:00.000-06:00

Woo-hoo!!

So as I'm delving deep into a new book by Tim Powers--my second-favorite author--I read that a new Gene Wolfe book will be out in November! As he's my very favorite author, this is good and surprising news indeed.

I've also just found out about, and ordered, the above chapbook, which contains two short stories. I can't wait.

Why 30 Rock is the second-best show on TV

2007-03-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, The Office is the best thing on TV...but every time I watch 30 Rock I come away laughing almost as hard.

Tina Fey has created an amazing cast of characters--starting with the hilarious Tracy Jordan. Every single thing that comes out of his mouth is comedy gold. When he appears on the screen I find myself literally leaning forward in anticipation of what he's going to say. Tina's funny. The other writers are funny. I find myself amazed at what Alec Baldwin's done with Jack--he's an incredible character.

The characters are all surrounded by this smart, biting, hilarious writing by Tina Fey that targets everything and everyone. In last night's episode, with one razor-sharp line she absolutely skewered Kabbalah. Tina's a fantastic writer, and I'm in awe of her.

But the best part of the show is how so many times it tiptoes on the precipice of sentimentality or a cliched wrap-up, only to yank the rug out from under you in a completely surprising way. Last night's episode found her almost getting the guy, only to have it completely and hilariously spoiled by Pete's last-second comments that end up totally out of context. We'd been set up for it, but it still surprised me.

I love this show, and hope it stays on for years.

Here I Stand...and Wait Around

2007-03-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

I was able to play my first game of Here I Stand this weekend—a 6-player slugfest. I was really excited to give this a shot. Ultimately it was disappointing. (Before I give my thoughts, two of the players had played before, and one was a veteran wargamer who knew everything about every power. So this isn't a case of us "just playing it wrong.")

For the first 5 hours, we were all LOVING it...seriously. We commented on how the time was flying by, how the powers seemed balanced, and how fiddly things had been abstracted. At one point the guy playing the Papacy yelled out, "I want that guy DEAD!" after Luther screwed up his plans yet again. It was perfect. We were having a blast.

But then, somewhere between 5 and 8 hours, the flaws started to come to light. For one, there's a fair amount of downtime—particularly if you're not the Papacy or the Protestants—and we were playing quickly. This problem seems to get worse as the game progresses—you wait around for 10 minutes just to play a card and put some troops on the map. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. For the Papacy and Protestants it turns into a dicefest, and over the course of the game spaces just flip back and forth, and the P&P scores go slightly up and slightly down. By the end, those who weren't playing the P or the P commented that we were glad we weren't playing the P or the P.

The cards weren't full of interesting choices: It was either a great Event for you that you'd obviously play, or it was equally obvious that you should just play it for CPs. There were pretty large differences in the strengths of the Events. One gave 2 VPs to the Ottomans if they played it. What?! Our game was incredibly close, and that sort of swing for just drawing a card was wacky.

There was some bash-the-leader with those cards too. The Ottomans were set to win, but the Haps had a card that let him cause a revolt in a city, booting the Ottoman out and costing him the VPs. On the next turn the Ottoman player recaptured the city...but the Haps player had the drawn the SAME CARD on that turn and foiled him again. It was a less-than-gripping way to stave off victory.

There's also a rich-get-richer problem: As people gain Keys they gain VPs and cards, so if you lose a Key you're losing cards (turns) and your ability to gain a key back is limited further.

Another problem was the different setups for the different scenarios. We chose the 6-turn scenario, which skips the first three turns of the regular campaign. But the setup is completely wonky. Somehow France loses Milan, the English aren't anywhere to be seen in the New World, and the Hapsburgs are all over the New World—including circumnavigating the globe! There's very little chance of a real game that started from the beginning being at that point 3 turns later. So France was screwed from the beginning, and England was down in New World VPs from the start.

In the end, I wish the game could hold onto that first-5-hour-feeling we all had. Alas, we were quite happy for it to end by the time it did. The weird thing is, everyone said they'd play again, so I think we all recognized that it's SO close to being a great game. I liked the history; I liked the varying powers and varying ways to play each of those powers—which makes replay value through the roof; I didn't at all mind the length. It just feels like a nearly there game.

Heroes

2007-02-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

I've been watching closely the newish show Heroes. This despite the fact that the plot is thin, the dialogue laughable, and the coincidences unbelievable. Some of the characters are genuinely interesting: Namely Hiro and Syler.

I was okay with the whispered "Save the cheerleader, save the world" line that was all over the mini finale.

But this week's promo continues the whispering tagline with "Somebody flies; somebody dies." This is a bad trend for a show that's just barely keeping my attention. What's next? "Somebody sneezes; somebody eats Cheez Whiz!" "Save Hiro; eat a burrito!"

Even Lost is...well, losing it. The first season was the most compelling TV I've ever seen. But the show has lost its way. They're not convincing me they can write characters. Once they move beyond the interesting surface of characters, they get much less interesting.

Think about mysterious, mystic Locke early on in the show. Now he's...what exactly? Brooding, petulant, and rarely seen.

The only reason Eko will forever remain a compelling character is that they killed him off before they could screw him up.

I'm afraid that this show will end the way X-Files did: Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Update: Oh no! Heroes killed off Simone! A barely encountered, surface-level character who wasn't interesting enough to care about! How will I sleep at night?

Skin Deep

2007-01-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic column about the real story of the Super Bowl: Two men who are at the top of their games, and openly acknowledge that it's all from God. And the fact that it's written by a black man makes it even more powerful.

Truth?

2007-01-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

We've started a new class at church--The Truth Project. It's about getting back to a Christian worldview and reacting to postmodernism.
The thing that's most intriguing is that it takes on deep subjects head-on--ones the church often won't tackle within the congregation because they're afraid they'll scare people off by making them "think too much." So the topics are Ethics and Philosophy, Theology, Science, Sociology, Law, and Anthroplogy--I can't wait.

We watched the first video last week, which dealt with Truth, and whether there is Truth--which is, of course, so much a part of postmodernism. They had a "man-on-the-street" interview segment, which asked people about their ideas on Truth. The most interesting response was from a Universalist/Unitarian, who said that the world is a cathedral, and truth is the light coming through the windows, and everyone sees and interprets that truth differently. It seemed she was saying that because we all have different views, we can't call anything truth.

People chuckled every time she spoke, but I felt it was profoundly sad. This is the sort of wishy-washy, nonoffensive, politically correct junk the world loves to hear: "Now THAT'S a Christian I can sign on with." It was amazingly unbiblical! What about the call to be either hot or cold? What about the narrow path with few on it? What about the fact that we're labeled--by Jesus--as either a sheep or a goat? That's black and white. That's Truth.

Edit: Thanks to Drew for pointing out that I was less-than-clear on why the Unitarian's thoughts seemed sad to me. Since I'm going from memory, I fear I've understated her thoughts. As I understood her position, she felt that because we're seeing truth through our own perception, that we can't really call anything truth.

CCM=Crappy, Corny Music

2007-01-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I get promos of most new Christian CDs, and yesterday I realized it has been months and months since I got something worthwhile from the "CCM" market. It's all rubbish!
Why?!

I sorta wrote about this once before...but I just can't let it go because I listen to a LOT of music, and part of my job is trying to find stuff to recommend to youth pastors. And right now I've got nothing in my bin. And don't give me Switchfoot. They're a fine band, but everyone knows about them and will buy their stuff anyway.

Where's the interesting music?

I don't read most "popular" Christian writers, because they often talk about the obvious and the safe...and they all sound the same. It's no different with music. I want someone who will challenge me. I don't necessarily agree with them, but if they get me to think, and maybe solidify my own views, then it's well worth it.

So the best album I've listened to in 6 months is Tom Waits' newest, Orphans. He's certainly "interesting," but he's also challenging, original, and not afraid to shine a light into dark places to see what scurries out. He fascinates me, and I'd rather listen to his stuff than 30 CCM albums.

There are some bands who are succeeding...and they're doing it on major labels and in mainstream stores. Thrice's newest album, Vheissu, is full of unashamedly Christian lyrics, wrapped around fantastic music. The song "Like Moths to Flame" is about Peter's denial of Christ, fercryinoutloud!

I don't know where I'm going with this. I'll continue to shop at Target and Best Buy for my music, because that's where the interesting music is to be found. And I suppose as long as it's found, that's what counts.

The Squirt

2007-01-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Every day with him is better than the last.

How do writers blog?

2007-01-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a writer...so why is updating my blog so hard for me? I can pop off 100 words on just about anything in no time flat...but updating this doggone blog is almost impossible.

I think it's because most bloggers aren't writers. They just barf whatever's on their minds onto their blog. (I'm not saying that's a bad thing.At least they're updating.)

Whereas I'm constantly self-editing everything. Even to the point where I'm wondering if what I'm writing is even worth writing about.

So I suppose I can make a resolution to update more frequently. But like most resolutions, it'll likely fall to the wayside.

Tune in tomorrow when I opine on whether toilet paper ought to roll from the top or the bottom. (Here's a preview: Only Nazis have theirs roll under.)

There and back again

2006-10-25T12:10:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Two major-ish things have happened.

1) I got a promotion at work: Associate Editor. That's a loooong way from a temporary part-time copy editor covering someone's maternity leave. So along with the new title comes new responsibilities. I'm loving every second of it. I get to write and edit, stretching my creative muscles to make things read better.

2) My wife and I left our church. We'd been there for nearly 6 years, but we've recently felt God telling us it was time to move on. So we're searching, and trusting, and full of hope. We visited the local Wesleyan church, and liked it immmediately. And apparently the Squirt made quite an impression on the nursery staff. We'll visit again next week, and delve deeper into who and what this church is. It would almost seem too easy to find a church home so easily. Especially after it took us nearly a year to find the one we just left. It's hard to even write those words.

So both of these big changes have been a lesson in trust and patience for me. I say I trust God. Then I get to prove it by taking steps of faith. And if he's guiding our steps, we'll be in just the right place. And safe.

Firefly

2006-09-11T12:38:00.001-06:00

Target has the complete series of Firefly on sale this week for 19 bucks. For whatever reason, I'd put off buying the series, but it's paid off in a big way. What a deal.

I watched the "first" episode when it premiered on Fox—I had no idea they were already undercutting it by showing the third episode first. I loved it. I was never a fan of Buffy or Angel, but I always admired the dialogue and the writing. Even though Joss didn't write/direct every episode, his influence is on all of this fantastic series.

I admire writers who can write good dialogue. Elmore Leonard is a master at it, and Joss Whedon is very good. I've always wondered why people are so forgiving of writers who can write a good plot, but whose dialogue sounds more wooden than my coffee table. (Cough—Robert Ludlum—Cough)

Games:
I'll be trying out Stephenson's Rocket tomorrow night. I've read the rules at least 4 times, but I have no idea what a good strategy might be. This is one time where having read the rules beforehand will earn me absolutely no advantage. Still sounds interesting, though. And it's a Knizia...

Delivering mail to Blue Moon City

2006-08-09T12:32:00.000-06:00

It was a good night. I got to play two new games that I'd been interested in, and they were both very good. (Sorry for you guys who played Conquest of Pangea—though I'd like to hear what was bad about it.)

Thurn & Taxis

This is a good game. It's a "connection" game a la Ticket to Ride, but there are much more meaningful decisions to be made here. (I'm not bagging on Ticket, I'm just saying that this is the next step up in complexity from that.) The board is gorgeous and very functional.

This one is all about choices: Whose help do you enlist each turn; which card(s) will you take; which city card to lay down; when to score the route—now, or wait a bit and get the VP chits; should you place houses in numerous regions or concentrate on one? The more I think about it, the more I see that this seemingly simple connection game hides lots of interesting decisions.

Thumbs up

Blue Moon City
Reiner Knizia is a genius. I honestly can't fathom how someone can create so many completely different games while maintaining such a high percent of hits.

So you're tasked with rebuilding Blue Moon City, and to do so you're using cards with 7 different "suits." What's intriguing is that while each card has a building value of 1-3, most of them also have a special power—and you can only use the card for its building value or power, but not both. As Dan said, it's full of killer "big moves" where you'll go in, complete a building for big points, but it costs you your entire hand, using values and power combos to do it. So you've scored lots of VPs, but you're now powerless. Or you could spread your influence far and let other people finish the building for you.

This was a great game. Lots of tension, lots of meaningful decisions, and (especially with the different set-up each game) lots of replay value—at least for a while. He's also integrated the Blue Moon universe into this well—for the most part, the powers of the races match their abilities in the regular card game. No small feat, in my opinion.

Big, big thumbs up.

In Defense of the Re-Play

2006-08-03T09:17:00.000-06:00

I love my game group...well, mostly. But if there were one thing I could change about it, it would be the tendency to play a game once and then move on to the newest and latest.
Some of this is undoubtedly because of the Davis Horde. When you have literaly any game you want at your disposal, you've got a lot of games to churn through. But I really think we're missing out on some gems by flying though them. Even when we play a major rule wrong, it's VERY rare for someone to suggest we play again with the correct rules.

So when I hear people like Mark Johnson talk about a Game of the Month, I'm very intrigued. I think I'm going to suggest something along those lines. We'll see if it gets shot down.

The Power of Doubt

2006-06-29T11:12:00.000-06:00

Yeah...so I say "God stuff soon"...and it's now over a month later. Oh well, I think my wife's the only one who reads this blog anyway.

So I write a column for Group Magazine's email newsletter, and this month I tackled the subject of doubt and faith. I like where I ended up, and the fact that one of the magazine's other editors (and one of my good friends) vehemently disagrees with me. That makes it a good subject to write on. Anyway, here's the column: http://www.youthministry.com/ArticleTempl.asp?ID=1214

Meh-dina

2006-05-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Well, Medina did get played and Verrater did not.
I'm not sure what to think of Medina. I liked some of the mechanics, but it seemed too short, and not very...fun. I'll definitely try to get it played again, but we'll see if anyone bites.

Das Endes des Triumvirats was the big game of the night. I'm still not sure what I feel about it. There are some very cool mechanics going on. I really like games where there are multiple ways to win, and it's fun jockeying for position in something while watching out for someone else winning in another area. In the end, though, it seems to suffer from the multiplayer wargame problem of..."Ahh, you just won a big battle against the other guy. Well done. And now that your forces are depleted I'm going to waltz in and take it from you. Bwaa haa haa..." Like I said, great ideas, but I'm not sure I'll be buying. Plus, since Z-Man is producing it, it'll likely be at least $10 more than comparable games from publishers like Rio Grande Games. If you're going to overcharge me it had better be a great game...like Reef Encounter.

I've been writing a lot about games. God stuff soon.

Games and More Games

2006-05-15T21:05:00.000-06:00

It was a great Tuesday, in no small part because Daren and Cory made an appearance after a while away.

First we played Kreta. This was one I'd been wanting to try after hearing great things, but alas, it's only available as an import. It's an area-control game, which has been done to death, but this has some cool new twists: There are numerous different pieces, such as the Abbot, villages, and ships, each of which has different powers and influence. There are also cards from which you choose roles, allowing you to move pieces, and even control scoring, which is a very cool mechanic.I really liked it, but I'm not sure I need to go to the trouble to hunt one down. If an American publisher picks this up, though, I'm all over it.

Next up was Saboteur, a new filler I'd picked up. It's good, and lives up to expectations: A 20-minute no-brainer that doesn't overstay its welcome. Plus it's got hidden roles...which I like a lot.

Last was Keythedral. The first time I'd played this I'd liked it, but I wasn't wowed. This time was MUCH more enjoyable, and I count this a major success. My favorite thing is that it's a completely cutthroat game wrapped in a cute little package...I love that!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to play Medina and Verrater for the first time. We'll see.

Tichu

2006-04-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

If there's one game that is almost universally loved on the Geek, it's Tichu. And being a fan of trick-taking games, I really wanted to play...until I played. You see, Tichu is one of those game where anyone who has played before has a massive edge over someone who hasn't. And as we decided what the teams would be it fell this way: Dan (who was the one person who'd played before) teamed with Randy (who has played more hands of Spades than everyone else I've ever met...combined). That left skippen and I as a team. We should have split them up differently, but we didn't. So it was a massacre.

The mechanics are alright, but very obtuse. We should have played at least one hand open, explaining why we'd want to do such and such. Instead, Dan's method of teaching was: Here's how you play. Now I'm going to crush you. Wasn't that fun?

No.

I don't blame Dan, though, because the stupidest part of the game is the bombs. "Oh, you had an 11-card straight? That's nice. I just happened to get dealt four of a kind, so I'm bombing it. Ha, ha." What?!? How in the @#($*! is that fun?

Anyway...it wasn't all bad because after that we played my very favorite game, The Princes of Florence. I adore that game. I once played a 5-player game that ended in a tie, and I won because I had one more florin than Cory. Now that was an absolute blast.

Hi Clay!!

2006-04-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Clay, whom I don't get to talk with nearly as often as I should, has apparently found my humble blog. And since he doesn't know Amun-Re from shinola, I'll just devote this post to saying "Hi." I miss you, but you're where God wants you...so I watch Scrubs alone--and think of you every time.

I'll endeavor to write more nongaming posts...and to write more often. But I've said both of those things before, with less-than-stellar success.

Finally Encountering the Reef

2006-03-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to play Reef Encounter for a long time, and a BGGer named Drew kindly offered to teach Daren and I on Spielbyweb. I feel like I'm someone who's generally able to pick up on rules and mechanics quickly, but this thing had me soooo baffled. The tile-laying and shrimp eating came along fine, but the alga container...whoa, that was impenetrable.

Then, on my next-to-last turn, it just clicked. I saw what things did, and how they worked. I'm still struggling to see the strategies, but I get the game now. And it's a good one.

First SpielbyWeb game...I actually won!

2006-02-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has played with me will realize the importance of this statement. I'm one of those people who rarely win games, but have a heckuva fun time losing. So when I win, it's total gravy.

I'm intimidated by BSW, so finding a Web-based gaming environment in English was great. The only game I knew how to play was Amun-Re, so when Alfred mentioned in his great blog that he was starting up a game, I jumped on it.

Not sure what exactly I did to win, but I'm very happy. He and I are playing a second game, but I think I'm going to crash and burn on that one. That I'm used to. And Alfred, if you ever want to start another game, lemme know.

~Firestone

Tom Waits for no man

2006-02-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

I was feeling really cruddy today. So to make me feel better about my scratchy throat, I decided to listen to someone who always seems to have one...Tom Waits. I've only got one of his CDs--Real Gone--but I listen to it constantly. If Don't Go Into That Barn isn't the creepiest song out there, I don't know what is.

It got me thinking about how much I like people who seem to have an exceptionally complex relationship with God. Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Bruce Cockburn, Nick Cave, Bono, Bob Dylan--these people are fascinating to me. You'll never find their CDs in a Christian music store, yet the things they sing about and the sentiments they express are so much closer to my experience as a Christian than the syrupy stuff you hear on the radio. They wrestle, and doubt, and stumble, and fall (sometimes very, very far), and the answers aren't easy...and the Bible is full of just that sort of complexity. Look at David and the Pslams if you doubt that. Thank God there's room for those feelings on this journey. Thank God.

Santiago...my white whale

2006-02-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

There is no game that frustrates, eludes, confounds, and fascinates me like Santiago. Every time I play this game I lose...and I don't just lose by a little. I'm way, way, way behind everyone else. Not one decision I make ever seems to be the right one: I drop out at the wrong time; I pay too much; I pay too little; I choose the wrong crop; I put it in the wrong place; I misjudge where everyone is going. Yet I still love the game. It may kill me, but I'll get this game...or die trying.

I played the Moon/Weissblum game Oasis for the first time. It seemed an awful lot like New England--a game I hate. Some interesting mechanics, but it just didn't grab me. I have yet to play a game from this pair that I enjoy...with the notable exception of San Marco, which I really, really like 3-player.

And finally, I was able to play Oltre Mare. This was the much-lauded game that was released by a very small publisher in a very small edition. So when Rio Grande Games--God bless you Jay!--announced they would pick it up, I was anxious to play it. It was...just okay. This is the epitome of the hand-management game. But in the end it felt kind of clunky to me; like the pieces didn't quite fit together. I'd probably play again, but I'm glad I played before I bought it.

I find myself being less impulsive with game purchases now that I've come down off the yearlong high of finding Eurogames. I think this started when I was this close to buying Revolution: The Dutch Revolt sight unseen. I mean, it was going to be my next purchase, bar none. Then I was fortuitously able to play it on a Saturday all-day gaming session. Holy smokes did I dodge a bullet. It's not that it's a bad game--I believe that it's a well-done and well-balanced game (and that's saying something when there are 5 distinct powers at work). It's just not my type of game, and I didn't know that until I played it. All that to say that I feel blessed to have James and Sheila Davis in my gaming group. Knowing that I can play literally anything--even the impossible-to-find stuff--is an incredible boon.

Sword of Rome

2006-01-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

Our all-day gaming session was dominated by a 4-player game of Sword of Rome--GMT's card-driven wargame. I was anxious to play for many reasons--I've always wanted to play a card-driven wargame, I'm interested in the Ancients time period, and there are few multiplayer wargames. It's been marketed as an homage and multiplayer version of the classic Hannibal:Rome vs. Carthage. I've never played that one, so I can't comment on how it compares.
All I know is that I enjoyed myself. The rules and play took a full 7 hours, but I must say it went by rather quickly. As the Greeks, I was fairly isolated from the other three powers, and my only real conflict came in the form of the nonplayer power Carthage. They were activated by the other three players through card play, and then they just came and wreaked havoc on my plans.
As usual we underplayed some aspects, and got others flat out wrong. We made no alliances, we tried no interceptions, we didn't attempt to avoid battle, and we flubbed the rule that Carthage can never attack Italy. That always happens in wargames, though, so no big deal.
The "problem," though, is that this is the sort of game that only gets better the more you play it. Once everyone learns how to play each of the four powers, things will flow better and be even more tense. And then there's the fact that it would be interesting to play the other powers, because each power plays completely different. So where's the problem? Well, go back to the 7 hours of game time, and you get an idea of why I'm hesitant to buy this one. It would absolutely go more quickly the more familiar we were with the game, but you're still looking at 5 hours. And that just doesn't happen very often. So do I pass up this great game because I'll likely rarely play it? Or do I go ahead and get it, and live on dreams, like I do with so many other games? Whatever. In the meantime, I'll happily play this again; but this time I'm going to be tenacious in sending the Trans-alpine Gauls after Cory. Then, victory will be mine.

Santiago

2005-12-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

We finally got this to the table on Tuesday, and all I can say is...wow. It combines auctions, negotiation, money-management, area control, player interaction, and screwage into one package--but it never feels like a mish-mash. I lost horribly--and I type those words far too often--but I enjoyed it. It's mathy, which may be why I lost, so it could be prone to slowdown with people who suffer from Analysis Paralysis. But I tend to play by the seat of my pants and in-the-moment--which is almost certainly related to the aforementioned losing tendency.

We followed that with a card game called Five Crowns. We thought it was a trick-taking game, but after Randy read the rules it was more like a rummy game. Similar to Phase 10, but without the urge to drink poison after 3 hours of playing and realizing you're only on Phase 4. One good thing that came of playing this was that, unlike any Game Night I'd attended, we actually talked. We discussed movies, music, books, funny stories. It was great! Usually we're too busy staring at a board and figuring out our next move to actually get to know these people that we spend one night a week with. I heartily recommend playing a fluffy game once in a while, just to connect. I had a blast.

Hernia-Inducing Fantasy

2005-12-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

Most of what I read is science fiction, and occasionally nontraditional fantasy that falls under the New Weird moniker (Mieville, VanderMeer, Ford). However, I've never completely turned my back on what brought me into the world of reading in the first place--the doorstop fantasy. I got the urge recently to delve into some epic fantasy and decided to break my own rule of never starting a series until all of the books have been released. I picked up George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, and away I went.
The quick and dirty? I like it. It's not full of elves and magicians and scullery boys who turn out to be players in a great prophecy to bring down the Dark Lord. It's very political, with various Houses vying for control of the kingdom's throne. It's not reinventing fantasy by any means, but it's fairly well-written and has some very clever concepts. Telling the story from various points of view also allows us to see more of the motivations of characters, helping us realize that even heroes have unsavory sides and that villains have motivations other than the need for some nebulous "power." I'll likely continue with the series. I won't be buying any volumes while they're in hardcover, however. It's escapist fantasy...something I need on occasion.

The board game based on the books is quite good, though. It's the sort of game I stink at, but I enjoy it all the same.

In contrast, I just got Gene Wolfe's latest collection, Starwater Strains. Reading Wolfe will likely make me rethink my estimation of Martin. Wolfe makes nearly every other writer look...well, pathetic. He's a wonder.

Going Over the Edge

2005-12-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last night I realized just how far I've fallen for gaming.

Because I help out with the youth group and teach a Sunday school class, our church graciously gave me a gift certificate to Borders. So in I went with a 30% off coupon to blow that gift certificate. I saw plenty of books that I'd like to pick up, but I also noticed they had Knizia's Lord of the Rings. It's a cooperative game where players are working together to battle the game itself rather than each other.
Now I've played LotR once, and while I didn't think it was a bad game, I felt no need to own it. But I started to think about what a good deal 30% off was, and I knew people, such as Chris Farrell, who adore the game, so I figured I must be missing something. In the end, I picked it up since it was basically like getting the game for free.
My point? This is unheard of for me. I have always blown money on books, and for me to voluntarily choose a game over books is crazy. Part of my reasoning was that I'd just received the gigantic 22nd Annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology as a Christmas gift from my wife...so I had a fair bit of reading ahead of me. But still...
As an upside, I think Janna might take to this because it's cooperative. Plus it plays as few as two. We'll give it a spin soon.

Tonight we're playing one of my new games, Santiago, for the first time. I am really looking forward to it. Report to come.

Goa and Vegas Showdown

2005-12-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Kind of a haphazard gaming night. Nobody brought anything because everyone assumed others would bring something, so lots of indecision...I hate that.

So when someone suggested Goa, I jumped on it. It's one of my very favorites, and I'm always willing to play. This game ended with two players tied at 39, and one (me) at 38. Doesn't get much closer than that.

Then we played Vegas Showdown, a newer Avalon Hill game. It has nothing to do with gambling; each player is trying to build the best casino. Better rooms, better connected rooms, and various other things give victory points. It's basically an auction game. Each round various rooms are up for auction. There's a minimum bid on each room, but for every round that that room isn't bought, the price drops. The bidding is very close to Knizia's great Amun Re. Once you purchase a room, you place it on your mat, a la Princes of Florence. Apparently there are similarities tto Alhambra, but I haven't played that one yet, so I can't comment.
In the end, it wasn't a bad game. It's nice to see Avalon Hill, whose games target a more mainstream audience, taking good mechanics from good games to showcase. But if given a choice, I'd MUCH rather play one of the games from which the mechanics have been taken.

Siena...Don't believe the hype

2005-12-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Siena has been getting a lot of buzz lately. So I wanted to see what everyone was talking about, and I had the chance on Tuesday. Bottom line? It's a game that's hamstrung by its own cleverness.

I can only assume that the game was designed around the painting that acts as the game board. It's certainly a novel idea. But just because something is novel, doesn't mean it should be acted upon.
Whereas with most games the art serves the game, here we have the game serving the art. What this ends up doing is constricting the game to the point that every single rule and mechanic feels forced to fit into the world of this painting.

The illustrious Mike Siggins said this: "Ridiculously overblown and fiddly game that presents as a full hour of impenetrable rules and card reading. We struggled through and found an average game that revolves around timing decisions. Too tied to the city theme, in need of a developer's careful trimming. Interminable game end. It takes a long time to play, and has that annoying 'feature' where you work away at something (in this case production) and someone else comes along at the finish and steals all your hard graft. I LOVE that."

This was my experience exactly...right down to the hourlong reading of the inscrutable rules. If you're curious, by all means play it...when someone else brings it. I wouldn 't rush out and buy it though.

TV Wasteland--Part 2

2005-10-19T10:26:00.000-06:00

I admit that I haven't watched everything new this season, but the truth is that most of it is dreck.
There are a few notable exceptions.

1) Everybody Hates Chris--I like this show a lot. Unfortunately, I've forgotten to watch it on at least 3 occasions. It's just not implanted itself in my psyche so that I set aside time to watch or tape it.

2) The Office--I never watched the BBC show, so I'm kind of sick of everyone comparing the two shows. Who cares that it's not as good as the original?! From where I'm standing, The Office is fantastic. There was one episode that was so over-the-top with the sex references that I almost wrote it off. They really went off the deep end with that one, but all other episodes are incredibly clever.

3)My Name is Earl--This is the kind of originality and hilarity that hasn't been duplicated since Scrubs showed up on the scene. Well-acted, clever, thoughful, and so funny that I find myself watching the entire show with a big, stupid grin on my face. Make room on your Tuesdays for this one.

Age of Steam in Korea and Revisiting Power Grid

2005-10-05T08:45:00.000-06:00

We played Age of Steam last night, opting for the Korea map, which was a first for all playing. It was a 4-player game, and it seems that this is the ideal number for this map--room to expand at first before we start wrecking into each other. The thing I love about the Age of Steam maps is that each one isn't just different geographically--though they obviously are--but each one introduces a new twist that makes each map feel like playing a whole new game. The Korean twist is that instead of cities being a predetermined and unchanging color, each city takes on the color of the cubes contained within it. This makes long connections much harder since you're more likely to run into a city containing the color you're trying to ship. If that happens you stop and score from that city. I was able to make a couple of 5-point runs midgame, but on the last turn the best I could manage was a couple of 3-pointers since the cities were clogged with all kinds of colors. I eked out a 2-point victory...and for some reason winning at Age of Steam feels like a real accomplishment since things are so tight and it's so brutal. I love this game, and every time I play it crawls higher in my Top 10 list of games.

The AoS victory was needed because just before that we'd played Power Grid for the second week in a row, and I'd experienced a downward spiral like I'd never experienced before. In last week's game, Skippen had gotten behind early and was never able to catch up. Since it was my first time playing I wasn't prepared to say that it was the game's fault, but after experiencing the exact same thing I am rapidly losing confidence in Power Grid. So on my turn I'm pretty broke, which means I can buy a better power plant OR buy resources for my crappy power plants OR expand my network. We were playing a full 6-player game, so the power plants were being blazed through, and before I knew it I was having to pay 30+ for a decent one. Can't afford that so I buy lots of resources to power my obsolete plants just to power my pitiful 4-house network. It's a spiral I can't escape because every turn I'm making a piddly 40 bucks. If I buy a better plant I can't buy resources or get income. I'm just baffled; because this game is so adored on the Geek I was prepared to say that I'm just missing something--and that may still be true--but I fear it will be a long time before I'm prepared to give this game another go. Sitting there for 90 minutes, knowing from the 3rd turn that I would never catch up and couldn't affect the game in the slightest, was just no fun. And I game to have fun.

Merchants of Amsterdam and Power Grid

2005-09-30T12:16:00.000-06:00

I finally got to play these two games.

Merchants of Amsterdam is one of the more overlooked Knizia designs. People seem to think it's just okay, and there's considerable debate about the damage-prone timer. We decided to each put a finger around the timer as the auction was going on. There was still tension, but the timer wasn't banged nearly as hard as it could have been.
I enjoyed the game. There are many arenas to remain balanced in, and the scoring rounds always seem to come around just before you get that ruling market in Africa (or wherever). I like the decisions about where to lay cards. It's a gamble, and it doesn't always pay off. Finally, the maligned timer is actually a great addition. The tension is just ratcheted up by not having the luxury to sit back and debate whether you'll increase the last person's bid. I'm not very good at auction games, and I'm always suspicious that a good strategy is to not buy anything (same goes for Modern Art), but what kind of lame game does that make for? Why would I want to spend 90 minutes playing a bidding game and not bidding? I'm still debating whether to purchase it before it's gone forever, but I'd definitely play it any time.

Power Grid is an enigma. I can think of few games that received more gushing praise over the last year, so I was really anxious to finally play it. As an aside, I think the map art is magnificent. Some complain that it's too busy but I just love it.
Three of the four players had never played before...and that was good because I think this is one of those games where someone who's played before has a huge advantage over a novice. First, the game is really fiddly--I don't particularly enjoy having to check off a bunch of little housekeeping things every round. The auctions are interesting. You see that great plant in the Futures Market, but do you wait and hope it comes up this round, or just buy something else? The commodities market is great. I love how certain commoditites get more scarce and thus more expensive, while others slowly beome cheaper and cheaper. I'm surprised I liked this game at all, simply based on the amount of math involved...but I did. It one of those games that after one playing I feel like there's a lot bubbling just under the surface--I felt this with Liberte, and Euphrat & Tigris too.
I definitely want to play again. And since the map is two-sided and you only play with limited sections, the replayability is through the roof.

TV Wasteland--Part 1

2005-09-20T11:09:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year...where I make an effort to watch every single new show that sounds even mildly interesting to see if anything sticks. In the last few years (or seasons, or whatever) the new shows have been just terrible, but this year I still have high hopes as the networks are trying to cash in on the Lost phenomenon and create interesting, mysterious shows. In my opinion, Lost and The Office are the only good shows to come out of last year--with Lost being the most gripping show I think I've ever seen.

I've taped a few of the newbies to be watched when I have time, but I did manage to see Supernatural and How I Met Your Mother.

Supernatural is on the WB, and was genuinely interesting and creepy. It reminded me of The X-Files: Weird happenings in small-town USA, complete with crazy local characters and some mild humor thrown in to diffuse the creepiness. Unfortunately, this probably won't get watched much by me, as it's on Tuesdays (my regular gaming night), and is on at the same time as My Name is Earl and The Office, which will be the recipients of my precious VCR time.

How I Met Your Mother...I have to read the USA Today for my job (looking for interesting articles to write my own articles about), and they gave this show 3 1/2 out of 4 stars--whoa! How could I not watch it?
This was beyond bad. The show is "cleverly" staged as a father telling his kids about how he met their mother (hence the title). But the believability issues start with the first of many sex references that are unlikely to be included in even the most liberal parent's love story told to the kiddos. The writing is lame, the dialogue unbelievable and unfunny, and it's delivered by actors who are clearly not used to doing a traditional sitcom. They deliver these stiff lines, and there's a hesitation, or maybe expectant pause, at the end as if they're leaving room for the laugh track. It's TERRIBLE. I want that half-hour of my life back...and I'll never trust the USA Today again. What witless simian is reviewing TV over there?

The good news is that so far Mondays are wide open TV-wise. If the MNF game is good, I'll watch. Otherwise I have an extra night. To be continued...

Constantine

2005-09-06T08:54:00.000-06:00

I finally saw Constantine this weekend. It's a movie I wanted to see when it first came out, but it wasn't the sort of thing I'd go to a theater to see. Plus, since my son was born, we've seen a grand total of one movie in a theater...so that's precious real estate that I have to save for something worthy (like Batman Begins).

This is a fantastic movie that is just ripe with theological discussion starters. I don't know how anyone could leave this movie and not wonder if there's actually a hell...and if they could end up there. Aside from Gabriel's unbalanced ending, his (her?) plain and simple explanation of grace to Constantine was just brilliant.

And the line from Angela that she doesn't believe in the devil, and Constantine says, "You should. He believes in you." Fantastic.

Midnight is an intersting character. He runs a bar that is "neutral ground" for angels and demons to play in. But by the end of the movie he realizes that by remaining neutral, he's actually chosen the side of the devil.

Much of the theology was absolutely screwy, but there is a ton to think about, ponder, and discuss from this movie. Don't dismiss it as a religious Resident Evil. It's much more.

Crusader Rex

2005-08-26T14:46:00.000-06:00

So Skippen and I played our first game of Crusader Rex, the new Columbia block game about the Crusades.

My first impression is that I'm going to like this. We played a MAJOR siege rule wrong, and surely some small ones that I haven't noticed yet. It was tense, and there were some interesting decisions to be made. It's also shown me that I don't have the mind-set for wargames...at least yet. I never feel like I'm planning anything other than that very move. Long-term? What's long-term? I'm just along for the ride, and then the end comes...I've won or I've lost. And I'm not sure why, either way.

I read someone's session report and how they used the Turcopoles (I think) to block roadways to fortresses because they fight first and so can just retreat, slowing the enemy up considerably. I literally smacked my forehead on that one. It would have taken me forever to think of that...if I ever did. And that's a fairly basic tactic, I would think. D'oh!

I love wargames...and I keep buying them. In fact, Carthage arrived yesterday, and this thing is a Beast. In terms of complexity, it makes Crusader Rex look like CandyLand. Will I ever play it? Maybe. Will I win if I do play it? Most likely, no. Will I have a blast losing? Yes.

A First Attempt

2005-08-26T01:26:00.000-06:00

Nobody will likely read this, other than my wife, who loves me and will at least feign interest.
I don't have an agenda with this. I love God, and I'll surely talk about that. I love my family, and they'll play a big part in this. I'm a fan of board games--German or Eurogames mostly...with a smattering of wargames thrown in--I'll likely talk about those some.
Books? Yep.
Music? You betcha.
Movies? Okay, sure.
T.V.? If anything other than Lost shows up on the radar.

That's it.
That's me.