Jasmine
19 Oct 07
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The jasmine flowering in our backyard … the perfume is wonderful.
More Lovingly-Designed Boardgame Reference Sheets
18 Oct 07
For you boardgamers who visit the site, I’ve added several new listings to the Boardgame Reference Sheets page. There’s a rules summary for the new Flying Frog zombie game Last Night on Earth, a rules summary and new reference sheet for the Z-Man Games card game Camelot Legends, a rules summary for Days of Wonder’s latest, Colosseum, and most significantly, a whole pack of reference material for the new Take on You/Fantasy Flight Games alternative-history occult Nazi-themed combat skirmish game Tannhäuser. Zombies, Arthurian knights, Roman impresarios and magic-wielding Nazis—don’t you love boardgaming?
Update: Rules summaries for the superhero mischief of Fantasy Flight’s Marvel Heroes and the Z-Man Games bidding and trading game Silk Road.
Web Economy Bullshit Generator
17 Oct 07
Become an instant web expert with the Web Economy Bullshit Generator
How to disarm 10 difficult client observations/requests
15 Oct 07
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Computer Needs Caring Home
03 Oct 07
Oh come on, someone buy my old computer. It’s been cared for, the price is good, and surely it’s soaked up lots of creative vibes over the last few years. It needs a home …
Update: At last, my computer found a buyer. A nice guy, a photographer, who assured me it will continue to be taken care of. There was a sad moment as I packed it into his car and waved it goodbye—we’ve shared a lot of work hours together, that computer and I. You can easily get attached to Macs.
Film Review: Stardust
01 Oct 07
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The Princess Bride was a funny, charming, irreverent film made back in 1987 that has become something of a classic, and it’s wonderful to see some of the same magic recaptured with Stardust. This lovely fable, based on Neil Gaiman’s second novel and directed by Matthew Vaugn, is an entertaining ride from start to finish–that is if you still have a soft spot in your heart for tales of ghosts and witches, kings and princesses. If you don’t–be off with you, hardened cynics with no imagination!
The story has simple faery (isn’t it wonderful how changing just one letter recaptures the magic the word ‘fairy’ has lost?) story roots, but a healthy mixture of inventiveness and a determination by the cast and crew not to take anything too seriously keeps the film fresh and fun throughout. Of course readers of the original novel may disagree, and say that Vaugn has been far too influenced by The Princess Bride. That may be–I have yet to read it–but as a film Stardust works. The cast throw themselves into the fantasy with relish, the Scottish and Icelandic locations are stunning, the effects are excellent and the directon is, for the most part, stylish and interesting.
In some reviews leads Charlie Cox and Claire Danes have been accused of being flat but I found them both charming, especially Danes who has a wonderfuly animated face and brings so much more to her role than would most characterless ‘pretty-actresses-of-the-month’. It’s also wonderful to see Michelle Pfeiffer back and stealing the show as nasty witch Lamia, desperately pursuing the prize of eternal youth in a role an actress more of a prima donna would balk at. All the players are obviously having fun and make the most of their parts, especially Mark Williams doing a hilarious turn as a goat turned into an innkeeper, David Kelly as the old man guarding the wall between England and Stormhold, Robert de Niro bringing a new dimension to pirates in a post-Pirates of the Caribbean world, and Julian Rhind-Tutt as one of the hilariously detached ghostly princes. Everytime the film is forced by the demands of the plot to dally dangerously near the pretentiousness that fantasy is sometimes prone to, a well-timed and frequently subtle joke brings it back on course. It’s a trick that looks easier than it is, and requires a good eye for avoiding the obvious and a desire to avoid treating your audience like fools.
If you have a little magic left in you, and are touched by fables that end with ‘and they lived happily ever after’, Stardust is for you. Four can-cans out of five.
PS Sorry about the dearth of entries lately. I’ll make an effort to update a little more frequently.
Richard Dawkins Talking to US Students
26 Sep 07
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Intelligent, reasoned, well-expressed responses to mostly befuddled questions.
Matching Outfits for the Family
15 Sep 07
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Matching outfits for the family What every good far right Christian Republican family is wearing this season.
What a Geek!
14 Sep 07
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Back when I was in school I probably would have hated being called a geek, but when you’re over forty these kind of things lose their sting. And besides, it’s almost a term of endearment these days. So allow me to revel in the honour bestowed upon me this week by my most-visited of internet destinations, BoardgameGeek—that of 105th Geek of the Week.
Once a week the boardgame-obsessed community at BoardgameGeek get to rip apart one of their members and see what makes him or her tick, and this week it’s been me. Now’s your chance to learn everything you always wanted to know but were too disinterested to ask about your host, Universal Head!
Get the Glass!
15 Jul 07
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Get the Glass! One of the most beautiful Flash promotional games I’ve ever seen.
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