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MJ’s house in Gary, IN 2
composing in gerunds: dice rolling, fitful sleeping, xboxing, playstationing, D&Ding, writing, reading, and watching tv
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the rules are a bit confusing, my rule book is missing a page, and the turn order gets a little messy with things to remember, but overall, a fun experience, even if I was the “host” and I did not infect anyone because my android died by the second round….i certainly felt the panic of having an infection yet did not know how to infect anyone. i was like hamlet, but with an alien parasite inside my guts.
(Source: crowsnbones.com, via crowsnbones)
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Free, Legit, Online Boardgaming; for when nerds move away
Apparently, there are a few good sites out there that host web-based, free, legit, nerdy boardgames. So, I’m compiling a list for all my nerd friends since many of us are in grad school and will eventually be moving away…boo.
The famous card game has been ported to a chat-based, web interface, complete with all the expansions. And, while the artwork is just generic pictures, the game is a really great conversion. My friend Lee and I are playing it in the office right now! Damned be our dissertation work!
I have no played this yet, and it’s a complex game, but I’ve tried the practice, play-against-yourself application, and it’s pretty neat. It’s designed by Martin Wallace (A Few Acres of Snow), and there are some similar game mechanics. This is an asynchronous game, and very heavy on the strategy with an almost-zero luck factor. Though, I think the first few games will be me just making choices without knowing much of their consequences. This is a game I could get into.
Yucata (featuring A Few Acres of Snow): This is a collection of online boardgames, which includes my favorite, a beta of A Few Acres of Snow. This is a really nice idea because many of these games are out of print or limited printing. I haven’t played anything on here yet, but people seem to like it. I’ll post on more specific games in the future, but for right now, this is just a central list I’ll be keeping track of.
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I finally won a game of Settlers of Catan…
by 1 point.
I had split the island, people - cut everyone off, performed dastardly deeds, exploited the free market, threaded all the loopholes, and I only won by 1 point last night.
It’s a big deal, though, because whenever I host a game night, I lose. Mostly we’ve been playing Dominion, both the original and Intrigue, and Settlers of Catan because the group changes a bit and several of my friends are new to board games. Plus there’s the issue of time. The games I like take a long time to play (I’ll post about that later). But, when we’ve been getting together lately, we’ve only had a few hours.
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Demon’s Souls
I just started Demon’s Souls for PS3.
Well…I’m trying hard to finish the expansions to Fallout 3 on xbox 360 first, but I saw DS used at Gamestop yesterday, and just HAD to get it bc I NEVER see it at my favorite CD Max/Exchange. Anyway,
The GS geeks behind the counter were just all up in my stuff for buying the game. They were like “ya, i have a level 300 so-and-so with 9 playthroughs plus one whatever blah blah blah.” I had no idea what the fuck they were talking about.
I did play the tutorial and got instantly hooked. I am a big fan of what Atlus puts out (for the most part, as long as it’s not a puzzle game - I HATE puzzle games, even the NYT Sunday Crossword, barf).
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There and back again: Frodo Baggins Queering the Shire
I’m not as well-versed in queer theory as I should be or want to be, but it behooves me to indulge in this brief observation because those contemporaries of mine who are, may refuse to take this up. “This,” of course, is the Frodo/Sam dynamic that arises in the final pages of Lord of the Rings.
Now, many have made their Brokeback Mountain jokes about Sam and Frodo’s journey into Mt. Doom. Such jokes are in poor taste and too easy. But, let us for a moment take Sam and Frodo’s relationship as it plays out in the final days of their life together seriously, as a true alternate configuration of friendship and love.
First, Frodo is settling in nicely in his hobbit hole, and he invites Sam to come and live with him, in fact, assumes that he will. Sam seems troubled because he’s feeling pressure to marry Rosie - a good kind of pressure - he wants to marry Rosie, but he says he’s conflicted. He wants to marry Rosie, but he also wants to live with Frodo - equally, he seems to imply. Sam, truly torn about what true love means, about caring for his ring bearer and trying to choose one, torn about how he might split his affections equally and ethically.
Frodo does not hesitate. He invites Sam and Rosie to live with him. A compromise or the fulfillment of a dream that he’s really wanted. It’s clear that Frodo’s love for Sam knows no expectation, no boundary, and no social constraint, and this is how the Lord of the Rings ends, lovingly and generously.
Theme: Linear by Peter Vidani
