Vacations with Friends and General Updates

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We’re headed up to Dallas today for tri-monthly trek to visit boardgame friends.

I’m glad we still see them so often and they live so close so we can play “hardcore” games with people we like. It’s a big commitment to start playing a massive 8+ hour game with a group of people, only to find out in to hour 2 you really can’t stand how the guy across from you takes 20 minutes to do his turn.

I try not to let on early to people in casual conversation that sometimes we play games that you MUST start at 9am or it’ll go until 4am. They tend to look at you funny. But how is it different from binge watching Downton Abbey on a Saturday or tailgating at a football game? Those things take all day, and cost way more money. But you still get the funny looks and comments, “you just sit and play all day?”, yep and get a little drunk of course.

We’re planning on playing/bringing:

Realm of Wonder

Descent

Cthulhu Wars

Civilization (always an option for this group)

XCom

Ribbon Drive

 

Other updates:

John will be done with school this semester, cool and scary! He’s hoping to get a local internship and get his foot in the door doing something in RTF. We’ll see what happens!

I’m taking a stats class on campus, to get me used to taking classes again. The general consensus is that I need to get my masters in something to move up in the world, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’ve re-dedicated myself to getting fiction writing done. Although I’m not the best at keeping up with my non-fiction duties, I’m not liking the voice I’ve developed as a critic. I’d much rather spend my time focusing on creating then tearing others down or pointing out the mistakes of others. I need to keep hunting for things I love instead of focusing on the negative.

 

Trailers! Trailers! Trailers!

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No…this title doesn’t work either…

 

“Charlie Countryman”

http://www.hulu.com/watch/543417

Hurray! Another trailer that tells us the WHOLE STORY in 3 minutes. Glad I didn’t need to waste $12 to see Rupert Grint get shot in the head and a hole blown through Shia LaBefouf. Sure the hole in his chest the size of my head could just be a fantasy/dream as part of the movie but no where else is there magical realism, so this seems like real plot to me. Plenty of rave reviews splash up during dramatic tension of the music and various scenes, but also flashed up quick enough that I believe they are from moviesarecool.com, say hello to Shia LaBefouf’s first Oscar sprint.

“Adventures of the Penguin King”

http://www.hulu.com/watch/551923#i-1,p0,d2

Another documentary about penguins! Right? This is what it’s supposed to be? Oh no wait, a fart joke in the first 10 seconds and now Tim Allen as a narrator. Heaven forbid we just let kids watch an educational movie? We have to have Tim Allen crack crappy jokes. I expect this to do well, but nothing like it’s predecessor.

 

“Bettie Page Reveals All”

http://www.hulu.com/watch/552738

I’m very interested in this look at Bettie Page and her expansive career. It’s even more amazing that Bettie actually narrates the movie herself. This is an in depth look at the sexual revolution brought on by Page and the photographers that shot her.

“Ill Manors”

http://www.hulu.com/watch/550245

Film Buff studios (or are they just distributors?) has been hitting the trailer sites rather hard lately. Some look promising some are just crap. This one could be a solid B movie, with it’s twisting plot lines and rough stories. By the opening narration from the director/writer Plan B doesn’t bode well. I wouldn’t look for this one in the theaters, it’ll most likely be pushed on to VOD and Netfilx quickly.

 

 

 

Movie Trailers! A Post!

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Don’t worry I’ll come up with a snappy title.

There are two things that will send me on down the black hole of the internet, only to immerge hours later slack jawed but satisfied; blooper reels and movie trailers.

Don’t ask me why I love these two things to such an extent, I just do. But what I’m able to wield some of this ungodly power? What if I could turn in to something we could vaguely call productive?

A trailers review post! Hurrah!

 

Now I mainly rely on Apple Trailers, IMDB and Hulu for my trailer updates. There are many many other sites out there, but these are my big three. 

Why movie trailers? Isn’t it just another form of advertising for the movie and not really you know…important to the film?

You are correct Ms./Mr. Smarty Pants!

But doesn’t a trailer help inform you briefly about the movie? Like reading a book jacket or a synopsis on a movie site? How many times have you watched a trailer that portrayed a movie as something it really really isn’t in the theater? Also, it means you get to see the gist of a really bad movie and waste only a few minutes of your time instead of an hour or two. 

So below are a few select musings on what can be found at the Apple Trailers website.

Old Boy (2013)

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/filmdistrict/oldboy/

The original Old Boy is on my must watch list, as in Sarah hasn’t watched it yet but needs to or so I’ve been told.

I like Josh Brolin, it’s like we get a sexier more light hearted Tommy Lee Jones 2.0, and that’s just generally nice. 

The new Old Boy looks like it’ll be just as gory as the original and I’m already interested in the story. Go ahead and tell me it’ll be nothing like the amazing original, and a fart in the wind in comparison. I still like to see re-makes if only to point out to everyone else where they went wrong. 

 

Visitors (2013)

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/visitors/

I’ve seen two trailers for this movie and I still don’t know if it’s supposed to be a scary alien invasion or just an art film.

I hope it’s both?

 

AntBoy (2014)

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/antboy/

A badly dubbed children’s movie. Maybe this will be new Italian Spiderman? Probably not. There are a lot of screen quotes being flashed up with words like “LIGHTHEARTED!”, “GOOD”, “FAMILY FUN”, hurrah. If I were to see this as a child it would drive me just as bonkers now that what they are saying isn’t matching up with their mouths. 

I bet you can get away with watching the trailer and convincing people at a party you saw a kid’s movie as epic as Italian Spiderman. 

Post-WorldCon

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I’ve returned from World Con relatively unscathed from the experience. I imagine it would have been a very different con if I’d gone with John instead of my Dad, but still enjoyed the weekend immensely. I’ll post a link soon of my RevSF article, there was some bitching about “these old fogies”.

Austin Board Game Bash!

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This past weekend we attended the Austin Board Game Bash!

This is an intimate con/get together mostly of central Texas board gamers to play tournaments, buy/trade games, play awesome games and do some general social networking and drinking.

John got to demo the Star Wars X Wing tabletop mini game, which he’s now placed at the top of his must buy list.

Sarah played in a tournament of 7 Wonders (went horribly) and Dominion (went less horribly, but she hadn’t played any of the expansions so that may have helped?) and had a lot of fun meeting new people.

We also discovered several other gaming groups beyond the South Austin Gamers Group but also Moontower Gamers! We recommend if you’re in the Austin area to check out either one of these awesome groups for a good time.

We were nicely surprised by the HUGE shared library of games, almost any game you saw being played at a table could be checked out of the library to try out as well. It was also nice that there were little white board signs to be used for tables to identify what game you were playing, if you were looking for more people to join in (great way to make new friends) or to set up a longer game for a later time. The staff at the Hilton Garden Inn were more than accommodating and friendly to a bunch of weirdoes  carrying around board games by the dozens, even if the beer was a touch over priced.

This is a great event to add to your gaming calendar if you live in Texas or surrounding states and plan on attending things like BGG con anyways. This is much more intimate and down to earth.

Whose Turn Is It Games? was out in force, offering great discounts on games and even special orders!

We picked up the following at the con: Tokaido, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Tzolk’in, Twixt, The Pit, Facts in Five, a pristine copy of both Civilization & Diplomacy, and High-Bid !!

Check out the con here: Austin Board Game Bash

Losing 7 Wonders!

Losing 7 Wonders!

WorldCon! aka LoneStarCon3

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WorldCon is going to be in San Antonio this year! There is zero excuse now from anyone in the Texas/Oklahoma/Louisiana/New Mexico/Old Mexico to not attend. We’ll be there not only as attendees but also as press. So if you’re hosting a booth, panel, or just want to rant at someone shoot us an e-mail!