January 2020 - Media Binge

In January of 2020, I played the following:

MANTIS (12)	7 Wonders: Architects (6)	7 Wonders (5)	The Castles of Burgundy (3)	Codenames (3)	Illusion (3)
Lost Ruins of Arnak (3)	The Oracle of Delphi (3)	Scythe (3)	7 Wonders Duel (2)	Carcassonne (2)	Champions of Midgard (2)
Fiction (2)	Heat: Pedal to the Metal (2)	Las Vegas (2)	Numbsters (2)	Patchwork (2)	Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (2)
Above and Below (1)	Alhambra: Mega Box (1)	ArcheOlogic (1)	Arraial (1)	Break the Code (1)	Carcassonne: Winter Edition (1)
Cartographers (1)	Cascadia (1)	The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition (1)	Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure (1)	Creature Caravan (1)	Crokinole (1)
Ethnos (1)	A Feast for Odin (1)	Final Girl: The Happy Trails Horror (1)	Final Girl: The North Pole Nightmare (1)	GAP (1)	Hadrian's Wall (1)
Hamster Roll (1)	Honey Buzz (1)	It Happens.. (1)	Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game (1)	Little Alchemists (1)	Love Letter: Batman (1)
Magic Maze Tower (1)	Merlin (1)	Mission Control: Critical Orbit (1)	Nemesis (1)	Nickelodeon Splat Attack! (1)	Pete the Cat Groovy Buttons Game (1)
Rajas of the Ganges: Cards & Karma (1)	Roma (1)	ROVE Jr: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer (1)	The Search for Lost Species (1)	Shadows in the Forest (1)	The Shipwreck Arcana (1)
Splendor (1)	Takenoko (1)	The Taverns of Tiefenthal (1)	Time of Empires (1)	Trails of Tucana (1)	Unconscious Mind (1)
Wilmot's Warehouse (1)	Wingspan (1)

7 Wonders Duel (16)	On Tour (6)	Escape Room: The Game – 2 Players (3)	Dingo's Dreams (2)	King of Tokyo (2)	Nemesis (2)
Paladins of the West Kingdom (2)	Blackout: Hong Kong (1)	The Castles of Burgundy (1)	Cinephile (1)	The Crusoe Crew (1)	Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis and Clark (1)
Everdell (1)	Foodies (1)	HATE (1)	The Isle of Cats (1)	Junk Art (1)	The Lost Expedition (1)
Love Letter: Batman (1)	Maharani (1)	Mansions of Madness: Second Edition (1)	MegaCity: Oceania (1)	Palm Island (1)	Pax Pamir (Second Edition) (1)
Res Arcana (1)	Robin Hood and the Merry Men (1)	Scythe (1)	Shaky Manor (1)	Spirit Island (1)	Tapestry (1)
Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends (1)	Vadoran Gardens (1)

This Month's Winners

The Isle of Cats - Honorable Mention When this game launched on Kickstarter, I was very tempted to back it. However, I already had so many games with polyomino pieces that I was worried this might end up being just more of the same. My wife and I recently got to play our friend Dan's copy and this game is great! I found the way cards are drafted and revealed at different phases of the game to be a little wonky but everything else felt really smooth. While I don't know if this game's design is innovative or revolutionary in any way, it combines a lot of familiar but satisfying mechanisms in a cohesive manner that gives the game a solid, light to medium weight. Along with its accessibility, the artwork is great. The theme could be more present but there's always room for expansions! I can't forget to mention the clever little touch they added to the box lid (i.e. a "place cat here" graphic).

Paladins of the West Kingdom - 3rd Place I've played this game 3 times since it arrived via Kickstarter. What I discovered only after my 3rd play was that, every time I've played this, I've played it completely wrong! While this may impact my opinion of the game slightly, at the end of the day, there is a lot to love about this design. Shem Phillips has done a great job creating games that feel familiar but, also, completely different. Unlike Architects of the West Kingdom, this game involves far less direct player interaction. That makes it far more appealing to my wife and her "don't mess with my points" attitude towards board games! Something present in this game and my 2nd place pick is the element of variable player turns. In Paladins, your turns per round are dictated by the number of workers you have available for that round. I love this. It makes the game feel very much like a puzzle with every choice more important than the last!

Everdell - 2nd Place I have only played this game twice and hope to play it quite a bit more once my copy from Kickstarter arrives. Having played a lot of board games by the time I experienced Everdell, I noticed that it feels very much inspired by a variety of different games that came before it.  I am always excited when a game does this well because the game represent an amalgamation of good ideas, blended together like a milkshake... with cake... and candy inside! Delicious. The artwork is beautiful and the component quality is excellent. I do have to say though... the tree... stupid. I'm short and find it tough to see the public objectives resting on top of the tree or hidden in the shadow casted by the tree. There is so much to like about this game. It is very satisfying trying to manage your resources as efficiently as possible to maximize the turns you can take each season before passing.  I absolutely love this one!

Nemesis - 1st Place I've always love the Alien franchise. When this game was announced on Kickstarter, I backed it without doing much research into the game mechanisms or contents. Not often can I say this about more expensive Kickstarter projects but I am 100% glad I invested in this game. I have played it 4 times since it arrived. Management of the AI and bookkeeping in this game takes a bit of time to master but once you do, the game moves at a great pace. The game starts with an exciting sense of exploration. You feel safe knowing that it is almost impossible to trigger an encounter for at least a few turns. Player actions and objectives are easy enough to understand. Of any element in Nemesis, the end game win conditions is my favorite. There are so many factors you must consider, most of it not all of which are influenced by your personal objective. Need to destroy the nest? Just break 2 engines and take off in an escape pod. Have contamination cards in your hand but forgot to scan them before abandoning ship? Chances are you're infected and won't live long enough to celebrate completing your objective! This game is incredibly thematic, tense, and atmospheric. The gameplay is engaging, long but never dull, and always memorable. The quality of components, artwork, and graphic design is excellent! Just writing about this makes me want to play it right now!

In January of 2020, I watched the following:

The Art of Self-Defense This film took me by surprise! The trailer for this film gave me the impression that it would something like a nervous cousin to The Foot Fist Way. Dear God was I wrong... This movie was truly dark with a dry sense of humor that made it difficult to tell just how serious the film was taking itself at times. Jesse Eisenberg does his best Jesse Eisenberg impression as a nervous and socially awkward individual who shows some stereotypical behaviors characteristic of an autism spectrum disorder. If you're looking for a hilariously violent film similar in tone to something like I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, check this one out!  "Punch with your foot and kick with your fist!"

Jojo Rabbit This film was fantastic! Early on, this film reminded me of Moonrise Kingdom but with very strong elements of Taika Waititi's style, tone, and personal sense of humor. The premise of this film is fairly straightforward: A young boy (Jojo) with aspirations of joining the nazi party discovers that his mother is harboring a teenaged Jewish girl (Elsa), causing him to grapple with the conflicting natures of his love for his mother, his own instincts of self-preservation, and his sense of duty to his imaginary friend, Hitler (played by director, Taika Waititi). I can't readily name another film that manages to weave together scenes that conjure completely  opposing emotional responses; this film made me laugh out loud, suppress ugly crying in a public place, and smile from ear to ear. It's too early to tell but this may end up being my favorite film of 2020!

Booksmart This film got a lot of positive buzz last year and I don't have a good reason why my wife and I didn't see it until now. While watching the film, I turned to my wife and said, "This is like a Superbad reboot but not as good." The best part about that comparison is that I had completely forgotten the fact that Beanie Feldstein is Jonah Hill's younger sister when I made that comment. This film had some funny moments for sure but I had a few problems with the development of the two main characters as well as their relationship. This film follows two high school seniors of questionable moral integrity (much like Superbad) on a series of misadventures (much like Superbad) in their quest to attend a party (also... like Superbad) where they hope to win the affection of specific classmates with varying degrees of success (Superbad) before a major fallout occurring between the main characters because one of them has withheld information from the other that ultimately resolves with them hugging it out in the end (SUPERBAD). Not a bad movie but not a Supergood one either lol.

The Nightingale A few reviews said this film was the most disturbing thing they'd seen in awhile so I had to check it out! This film has a scene or two that are very hard to watch but it is the things you don't actually see or the implications of some characters' actions that are truly disturbing. I would say that this film is similar in tone and theme to the 2010 remake of I Spit on Your Grave but written and directed with the intentions of winning awards. While Aisling Franciosi was excellent as Clare, my favorite character from the film had to be Bill, played by Baykali Ganambarr. Billy has a heartbreaking backstory and really conveys the pain he feels over the loss of his family and those among other Aboriginal tribes. This movie confronts issues of oppression, rape, violence towards children, and a bittersweet dose of revenge.

In January of 2020, I read the following...

Penny Dreadful: The Ongoing Series - Volume 1 My wife and I LOVE the Penny Dreadful show. When I found out about these comics, I just HAD to read them. I ignored some negative reviews in favor of extending the life of the characters I had come to know and love. I read through the entire first volume in a single sitting as comics are fairly short. This comic picks up shortly after the conclusion of the show's final season with some characters exploring a tomb in Egypt. This book introduces any Universal horror icon (i.e. the mummy) with connecting threads to a sibling rivalry between Lucifer and Dracula. I enjoyed this volume enough to decide that it was worth reading the remaining two volumes in the series.

Penny Dreadful: The Ongoing Series - Volume 2 The second volume of this ongoing series felt a bit rushed. We deal with death of a major character and the resurrection (in a way) of another. I liked seeing the character of Dr. Jekyll/Lord Hyde fully realized but some of the things he does moving forward just seemed too silly to have ever actually happened in the show. I believe it was in this volume that Lily reunites with Mr. Chandler; however, this reunion felt odd given Lily's drastic shift in character. She not only acknowledges her former life with Ethan but admits to still having feelings for him. Not much else I'd like to say about volume. Afterall, they're very short...

Penny Dreadful: The Ongoing Series - Volume 3 I finished it. The 2nd volume ends with members of the team leaving on a side quest to find Dracula somewhere in Scotland where we are introduced to the existence of Sirens... for a single page before moving on completely (lame). Once they obtain a magical torch (yes... it's old and full of magic) and convince Dracula to help put an end to Lucifer's efforts to destroy the world, the team returns to face Lucifer and his horde. We are given a neat and tidy resolution to this story. We get to see a brief glimpse at the origins of Dorian's portrait before he decides he no longer wants to live. Lily helps Dorian find peace before setting sail with Ethan and a little, baby antichrist. I don't like to spoil things for people but this was not great. My favorite part of the show, John Clare, was largely missing from any of the volumes, save for a few brief glimpses at him that included a cliffhanger between him and Frankenstein. Perhaps this property can be redeemed by the spin-off show set to debut in the spring of 2020!

The Amory Wars: The Second Stage Turbine Blade I am a longtime fan of the band, Coheed and Cambria. When I first learned that the band's lyrics actually followed a science fiction fantasy narrative, I thought that was an amazing idea! While some singer/songwriters may have trouble finding inspiration for new lyrics, approaching the process as Claudio Sanchez did offers a potentially endless well for lyrical content. I was not introduced to the band until their sophomore album (In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth - 3) and never gave much attention to their initial album after which this book was titled. Despite not having the songs from SSTB burned into my brain, I still enjoyed the numerous (and I mean NUMEROUS) nods to various song titles, lyrics, and iconography introduced by the band (e.g., keywork , dragonfly, etc.).  The content of this book is mature for sure but not to the same level of other comics I've read (e.g., Preacher, The Boys, etc.). At times, I felt overwhelmed with Claudio's world-building efforts. So many things were name dropped without much explanation or elaboration. I also found the narrator's dialogue to be a bit tedious and hard to follow at times. Overall, I enjoyed this introduction into the The Amory Wars; I only wish we had more time with some of the characters before the book ends. I suppose this may be satisfied by the first book in the series (Year of the Black Rainbow) but I had initially avoided it after reading some less than stellar reviews. Perhaps I will check it out once I am finished the other 2 volumes currently available.  As far as the art goes, I loved most of it. There were a few pages early on where there appeared to be blurry blood splatters that were poorly rendered, creating an unattractive juxtaposition to the crisp and vibrant art work surrounding them.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3 This book seemed to kick off with a time jump that shows the primary protagonist, Claudio, a bit older and down on his luck. I really enjoyed the manner in which this book was narrated with Claudio sitting outside his former girlfriend's bedroom window late at night, talking to her dog, Apollo. Something even more evident in this book than the last is just how derivative the overall story is of other popular literary works in the sci-fi and fantasy genres (e.g. Star Wars; John Carter, Warlord of Mars; The Dark Tower, etc.). A few examples include: Wilhelm Ryan, the primary antagonist and Emperor Palpatine-esk figure; Star Cecil, an alien friend to Claudio that very much resembles 2-armed versions of the Tharks from John Carter, Warlord of Mars; and, the dark tower-esk House Atlantic that feeds of the energy of living creatures (i.e. "stars"). All of these threads weave together nicely but little time is spent developing the relevance of some characters or locations.  I have a feeling many fans of the band will overlook any faults in these books in favor of the various winks they make to the music that preceded them. When compared to the first volume, this book was more accessible than as it did not have to spend as much time introducing readers to the Amory-verse. Furthermore, this book's artwork is excellent. I did not notice any further use of that horrible blood splatter effect and couldn't have been happier with the visuals provided.  I am looking forward to reading the 3rd and final (for now) volume; however, I did find myself rolling my eyes a bit at Claudio's last line in this book (i.e. "Good Apollo... I'm burning star IV."). While not quite at the level of Daenerys Targaryen, Claudio's titles are quickly becoming many (e.g., the son of three, the crowing, burning star IV, etc.). Unless I missed it, there was not context to this last line and, like a few of the books' references to the band's music, this line felt like lazy fan-service.

The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Having finished the series, I think GAIBS4 may be the best of the 3 existing volumes. This book introduces a meta-character, Ryder (aka The Writer) who is actively typing the story introduced to us in the first two books and continued in this 3rd volume. I've seen some people criticize this element but I actually liked it quite a bit, especially the way it wraps up at the end. Knowing that the band has created several albums since the one inspired by this book's story, I am very curious to know more about their content. How does the story continue as the end of this book feels like a fairly definite conclusion to The Amory Wars. Overall, I would recommend these books to fans of the band; for everyone else, I might look explore some of the  original properties I've previously mentioned that inspired this story. Finishing this series has only made me more excited to start reading The Dark Tower Graphic Novels next month!

The Boys Omnibus: Volume 3 This series is excellent! I had no idea what to expect when I started reading The Boys last year and only started because of the announced series on Amazon Prime. While the first two volumes were certainly crude, violent, and everything depraved, Volume 3 doubled down on the explicit sexual elements present throughout the series. Without too many details, this volume include a superhero convention called Herogasm that... well you can guess what transpires. The story was a bit slow at times but one of my favorite aspects of this volume in the exploration of origin stories for each member of the  "Boys."