And I'm feeling no pain.
Entrepreneur talks about board games and the Board Game Barrister.
And I probably won't be back until after shabbat. See you on the other side.
Yehuda
Friday, August 17, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Review: Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth, aka El Laberinto del Fauno on IMDB.
Synopsis: Pan's Labyrinth is two stories. One tells of a young girl, Ofelia, and her mother, newly married to a fascist Captain in Spain 1944. They arrive in the countryside where the mother is ready to give birth soon, and the Captain is mopping up the resistance hiding out in the hills. The Captain is brutal, the resistance is receiving some furtive assistance, and all is not well between the Captain and Ofelia and her mother.
The second story is of the fantasy realm Ofelia discovers in a stone maze behind the house in which she is staying. There she meets a faun who tells her that she is really a reborn immortal princess who needs to accomplish three tasks before the moon is full in order to reclaim her true parents and her immortality.
The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles (by the screenwriter, and not by some translating service, by the way).
Reaction: The movie is lovingly shot and well acted.
Unfortunately, both stories are essentially rehashed fairy tales with little in the the way of surprises, only shockingly immodest on-screen brutality and gore. Things that could have been powerful in subtlety are shot simply with full lighting: guts, bloody heads and faces, sliced open belled and mouths, etc...
The characters, with little exception, are one-dimensional and stereotypical. As cliché stories with one-dimensional characters who experience no growth go, the story is well-told.
Exceptionally good in his role is Sergi López as the brutal Captain. He manages to imbue a small amount of sympathy for his character, even as he tortures, kills, and destroys everyone around him. Indeed, his is the only character who experiences some slight growth within the story. Alas, not enough.
The fantasy story is the weaker of the two stories, as Ivana Baquero, though capable enough, doesn't manage to leave us with anything particularly memorable about her portrayal of Ofelia in her hellish situation. She plays nearly the same character as Stephanie Leonidas did as Helena in Mirrormask, but without exuding a sympathetic or captivating personality.
Incidentally, Mirrormask is a better movie. Naturally, Pan's Labyrinth is rated in the top 250 on IMDB, while Mirrormask languishes somewhere in the netherworld of well-regarded but not quite highly rated enough.
Ah, well. I'm looking forward to seeing Stardust (IMDB), anyway.
Yehuda
Synopsis: Pan's Labyrinth is two stories. One tells of a young girl, Ofelia, and her mother, newly married to a fascist Captain in Spain 1944. They arrive in the countryside where the mother is ready to give birth soon, and the Captain is mopping up the resistance hiding out in the hills. The Captain is brutal, the resistance is receiving some furtive assistance, and all is not well between the Captain and Ofelia and her mother.
The second story is of the fantasy realm Ofelia discovers in a stone maze behind the house in which she is staying. There she meets a faun who tells her that she is really a reborn immortal princess who needs to accomplish three tasks before the moon is full in order to reclaim her true parents and her immortality.
The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles (by the screenwriter, and not by some translating service, by the way).
Reaction: The movie is lovingly shot and well acted.
Unfortunately, both stories are essentially rehashed fairy tales with little in the the way of surprises, only shockingly immodest on-screen brutality and gore. Things that could have been powerful in subtlety are shot simply with full lighting: guts, bloody heads and faces, sliced open belled and mouths, etc...
The characters, with little exception, are one-dimensional and stereotypical. As cliché stories with one-dimensional characters who experience no growth go, the story is well-told.
Exceptionally good in his role is Sergi López as the brutal Captain. He manages to imbue a small amount of sympathy for his character, even as he tortures, kills, and destroys everyone around him. Indeed, his is the only character who experiences some slight growth within the story. Alas, not enough.
The fantasy story is the weaker of the two stories, as Ivana Baquero, though capable enough, doesn't manage to leave us with anything particularly memorable about her portrayal of Ofelia in her hellish situation. She plays nearly the same character as Stephanie Leonidas did as Helena in Mirrormask, but without exuding a sympathetic or captivating personality.
Incidentally, Mirrormask is a better movie. Naturally, Pan's Labyrinth is rated in the top 250 on IMDB, while Mirrormask languishes somewhere in the netherworld of well-regarded but not quite highly rated enough.
Ah, well. I'm looking forward to seeing Stardust (IMDB), anyway.
Yehuda
Don't Forget to Submit an Article to the Game Carnival
Get linked to by me!
Get read byboth all of my readers!
Let the world know what you have to say!
Be part of the game blogging community!
Even if you don't want to submit your own articles, submit something you've found and want to share with others. Let's make this a great carnival.
Submit content for the game carnival here, or just email me. You have until the night of August 21.
Yehuda
Get read by
Let the world know what you have to say!
Be part of the game blogging community!
Even if you don't want to submit your own articles, submit something you've found and want to share with others. Let's make this a great carnival.
Submit content for the game carnival here, or just email me. You have until the night of August 21.
Yehuda
Session Report Up, in which I give one of my long Puerto Rico game reports
The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up here. Games played: San Juan, Lost Valley, It's Alive, Puerto Rico.
We enjoyed all the games this evening. I took complete notes during Puerto Rico, and give a full report.
The Naperville Sun discusses yet another couple who quit their jobs to push a locally produced game that looks terribly average (all theme). Some discussion on the difficulties in the game market are discussed.
The Denver Westwood newspaper blog talks gaming and mentions local game groups and Board Game Geek.
Reiner Knizia's games are not only going computer, they're going mobile, starting with Samurai. Knizia is a brand.
Cranium WOW just won, not a game award, but a graphic design award from Communication Arts magazine.
Mattel's toy recalls are beginning to make consumers question card and board games from China, too. I've seen a few stories with tangential references to this. I'll link if I find anything more concrete.
Yehuda
We enjoyed all the games this evening. I took complete notes during Puerto Rico, and give a full report.
The Naperville Sun discusses yet another couple who quit their jobs to push a locally produced game that looks terribly average (all theme). Some discussion on the difficulties in the game market are discussed.
The Denver Westwood newspaper blog talks gaming and mentions local game groups and Board Game Geek.
Reiner Knizia's games are not only going computer, they're going mobile, starting with Samurai. Knizia is a brand.
Cranium WOW just won, not a game award, but a graphic design award from Communication Arts magazine.
Mattel's toy recalls are beginning to make consumers question card and board games from China, too. I've seen a few stories with tangential references to this. I'll link if I find anything more concrete.
Yehuda
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Real Cave of Zork (Colossal Cave Adventure)
Raph and BoingBoing both point us to the real caves that were the map for the original Adventure aka Colossal Cave Adventure aka Zork. They look scarier in real-life than they do in plain text.
In my continuing coverage of chess maniacs, the Russian serial killer was apparently trying to fill in all the spaces of his chess board with his victims.
Here's Games Day at the Salvation Army.
North Star Games' Wits and Wagers seems to be soaking up the spotlight, getting featured in Time Magazine and now carried at Target stores nationwide.
Jurors waiting for selection at the Northampton County Courthouse in New Jersey will now be offered card and board games while they wait.
You can also get board games on the deck of a Greenland coastal cruise, as well as a Sony Playstation with a widescreen monitor. Which may defeat the point, somewhat.
The Post Standard lists the Go books available at the Syracuse public library, as donated by the local Go club.
Technology Review has a long article marking the tenth anniversary of computers beating Kasparov in Chess, and what it really means for a computer to play Chess.
I've also lots more to say about Web 2.0, but further coverage about this topic will be on my new blog.
Yehuda
In my continuing coverage of chess maniacs, the Russian serial killer was apparently trying to fill in all the spaces of his chess board with his victims.
Here's Games Day at the Salvation Army.
North Star Games' Wits and Wagers seems to be soaking up the spotlight, getting featured in Time Magazine and now carried at Target stores nationwide.
Jurors waiting for selection at the Northampton County Courthouse in New Jersey will now be offered card and board games while they wait.
You can also get board games on the deck of a Greenland coastal cruise, as well as a Sony Playstation with a widescreen monitor. Which may defeat the point, somewhat.
The Post Standard lists the Go books available at the Syracuse public library, as donated by the local Go club.
Technology Review has a long article marking the tenth anniversary of computers beating Kasparov in Chess, and what it really means for a computer to play Chess.
I've also lots more to say about Web 2.0, but further coverage about this topic will be on my new blog.
Yehuda
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The Boy Who Cried Wolf: A Metastory
Once there was a boy who wanted his whole family to see him in a play.
One day the town's theater put on a production of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which was to play for three nights. The boy auditioned for the part, but he didn't get the lead role. He got a position as understudy in case the boy who played the lead role couldn't make it.
One day, as a practical joke, he told his family that he will be playing the lead role in the play The Boy Who Cried Wolf that evening. His family was delighted, and they all went down to the theater that evening. When they found out that he wasn't the lead role, he laughed at them. They were all angry at the boy, but he said it had all been a good joke.
The same thing happened the next evening. The boy told them he was the lead, the family went to see the play, and they found that it wasn't true. Once again they were angry at him.
The next evening, which was to be the last evening of the play, the boy was run over by a car and died. No one liked the boy, so they all ditched the funeral and instead went to see the play.
It was great.
Yehuda
One day the town's theater put on a production of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which was to play for three nights. The boy auditioned for the part, but he didn't get the lead role. He got a position as understudy in case the boy who played the lead role couldn't make it.
One day, as a practical joke, he told his family that he will be playing the lead role in the play The Boy Who Cried Wolf that evening. His family was delighted, and they all went down to the theater that evening. When they found out that he wasn't the lead role, he laughed at them. They were all angry at the boy, but he said it had all been a good joke.
The same thing happened the next evening. The boy told them he was the lead, the family went to see the play, and they found that it wasn't true. Once again they were angry at him.
The next evening, which was to be the last evening of the play, the boy was run over by a car and died. No one liked the boy, so they all ditched the funeral and instead went to see the play.
It was great.
Yehuda
Necessary Invention: Stop Processing Key
I need a key, or an app which responds to a key, that will stop all application and network processing immediately. And I mean, immediately, drop dead, stop processing Now.
The biggest waste of my time on my computer is waiting for a window to come back to life: a video to stop loading, a clicked window to raise, and so on. Trying to cancel this is no use; even the Task Manager won't work until whatever it is relaxes.
Somewhere, some part of the processor refuses to stop until it hits a timeout or gets an answer. I don't want to wait a minute for this every five minutes, and I don't want to turn my computer on and off, and I don't usually need more memory.
This is in my top ten critical problems with my computer.
Anyone?
Yehuda
The biggest waste of my time on my computer is waiting for a window to come back to life: a video to stop loading, a clicked window to raise, and so on. Trying to cancel this is no use; even the Task Manager won't work until whatever it is relaxes.
Somewhere, some part of the processor refuses to stop until it hits a timeout or gets an answer. I don't want to wait a minute for this every five minutes, and I don't want to turn my computer on and off, and I don't usually need more memory.
This is in my top ten critical problems with my computer.
Anyone?
Yehuda
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