In September of 2020, I played the following:
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 |  Slide Quest (1) |  Sonora (1) |  Specter Ops (1) |  Takenoko (1) |
This Month's Winners
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Roam - Honorable Mention I love almost every game that Ryan Laukat designs, illustrates, and publishes. Among those, Roam is likely my favorite small-box game he has published. Like all of his games, Roam is beautifully illustrated and features some satisfying mechanisms such as pattern building and card activation. I strongly urge anyone interested in modern board games to check our Ryan Laukat's company, Red Raven Games.
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Megacity: Oceania - 3rd Place This is not a game that I personal own but I've really enjoyed my two plays of it. Players take turns drawing randomly-shaped plastic bits out of a bag, adding them to their supply. Then, players attempt to stack these bits to resemble futuristic building structures before carefully sliding them across the table until the touch the growing metropolis to which everyone is contributing structures. Points are scored for a building's material type, position, and height. By the end of each game, the board looks very cool with a ton of oddly shaped buildings sprouting from the island you and your opponents have developed.
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The Shipwreck Arcana - 2nd Place This is my favorite deduction game (and I own quite a few). It is small, simple, and beautifully illustrated. This is the type of game I could play every day just to get my gears turning! If you enjoy cooperative games where you have to make inferences about the information your teammates have hidden based on the decisions they make, this is the game for you!
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Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game - 1st Place To say that I love the Alien franchise would be an understatement. I've always enjoyed the Alien films but ever since films like Alien vs Predator and Prometheus explored to possibility of a larger connected universe, I've not been able to get enough of the lore surrounding the franchise. This game does an excellent job at simulating many of the most memorable elements of the Alien franchise. At any point in the game, players could be scanning the ducts to see what enemies are approaching, trying to kill a facehugger before it plants an embryo, or just waiting for a chestburster that was previously shuffled into their deck to appear, killing them instantly. This game plays great as a solo experience but really shines with more players due to the inclusion of mechanisms that allow players to utilize cards out of turn order in an effort to assist the active player. The artwork is gruesome and the gameplay is memorable. I just love this game! |
In September of 2020, I watched the following:
 | The New Mutants This film was delayed for multiple years and the final product doesn't leave much to the imagination as to why. This film has been described as The Breakfast Club meets Stranger Things and that is accurate in every way but quality. The film has some weird tonal shifts, paperthin character development, and a villain about whom we learn next to nothing before the end of the film. I can't recommend this film to anyone but lovers of young adult dramas because that's essentially what this film felt like. |
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The Boys - Seasons 1 & 2
My wife and I rewatched the first season of The Boys in anticipation of Season 2's release. I loved the first season and was happy to see that the showrunners chose to tweak the storylines from those in the comic series. I was disappointed to find that episodes for the 2nd season would be released on a weekly basis. We've seen 4 episodes so far and I have to say that they've fallen a bit flat for me. I'm hoping that things ramp up soon but, at the rate they are going, I could totally see The Boys favoring a 3 or 4 season series in total, ignoring a lot of the side character storylines featured in the comics. I still recommend this series to people looking for a more "mature" superhero property. They really push the envelope with some of the subject matter!
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Cobra Kai - Season 2
I enjoyed this season quite a bit more than the first season! The introduction of several new characters really helped to flesh out the story and the way this season ends with so many cliffhangers was insane! I am really looking forward to the 3rd season and have enjoyed some of the theories floating around the internet concerning the return of some characters from the franchise! |
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Primal
I saw someone mention this on Twitter so I decided to check it out. Primal is one of the few animated series that I have found that I enjoy and that really surprised me since the show features no dialogue. You follow a man during prehistoric times who quickly loses his family, befriends a dinosaur, and defends against several threats that inhabit the land where he resides.
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Class Action Park
This was a very entertaining documentary about a crazy water park in New Jersey that was finally closed down in the 90's after a slew of lawsuits surrounding the dangerous, and sometimes fatal, attractions found within the park. I can't imagine slicing my leg open on some poor soul's tooth that had been embedded in the wall of an enclosed water slide. If you like documentaries and/or are a bit of a 90's nostalgia junkie, check out Class Action Park! |
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The Karate Kid
We started watching all of the films in this franchise after finishing Season 2 of Cobra Kai. This film further reinforces my dislike for Ralph Macchio's character, Daniel. I found his character's personality obnoxious and his awkward use of martial arts to be embarrassing. I also never really realized how abrupt the ending was after the final showdown in the tournament.
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The Karate Kid Part II
I enjoyed this film's exploration of Miyagi's back story and the decision to move the film overseas to Okinawa. Admittedly, I fell asleep during this one but, from what my wife has shared, there was even less karate in this film when compared to the first one. I'll have to give it a rewatch before the month is over. |
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The Karate Kid Part III
While Cobra Kai kind of spoils the ending of this film by letting you know SEVERAL times that Macchio's Daniel is a 2-time champion, I had high hopes for Daniel's inevitable demise as one of the worst cinematic martial arts practitioners, just marginally better than the likes of Chris Farley in Beverly Hills Ninja. When this film ends exactly like the first in the franchise, I turned to my wife and said, "This franchise is a lie." The "everything is karate" concept is beaten to death by the end of this trilogy and the only thing more tired than that is LaRusso's insistence on wearing that damn hachimaki (i.e. headband). At one point in the film, I noticed that Miyagi had a stunt double for a fairly simple fight scene; this made me sad as he is the heart and soul of this terrible franchise.
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Raised By Wolves - Season 1
This season has been a mixed bag for me. I love the world building that Ridley Scott does and these androids share some similarities with those from his previous franchises (i.e. Alien and Blade Runner). The introduction of additional cast members in the later half of the season is where things have fallen off for me. I don't particularly care about the religious community looking to rescue the children kidnapped by the female android after her failed attempt to colonize the planet with an earlier batch of human embryos. The strange use of CGI makes this show feels like it was released in the earlier 90's but I don't really mind that. I just hope that something interest happens soon because watching each episode feels a bit like a chore than it does entertainment. |
 | The Devil All The Time I was drawn to this film because of its huge cast. Because knew nothing about the film before watching, I was immediately hooked after the first major death scene. This film has a fair amount of violence and dark subject matter. At times, I had some trouble determining if the film was showing me different periods in time. However, I was never bored and highly recommend this film to people who like dramatic thrillers. Be warned, the ending feels a bit abrupt but, finding out later that this was based on a book, I can 100% see the book ending in a similar fashion. |
 | Urban Legend This movie is campy as hell. Watching it as an adult, I couldn't help but judge a younger me for liking it as much as I did! I swear there is an uncredited appearance in this film by actress Katherine Heigl. This film has some genuinely creepy moments that feel more appropriate as campfire tales than they do a cohesive storyline. Knowing the ending of the film makes you realize just how heavy handed the characters are with the foreshadowing of the ending. |
 | Enola Holmes This film was delightful! I don't really have strong feelings towards Sherlock Holmes so I was drawn to this film because of its cast. From the trailer alone, Millie Bobby Brown looked like she was having a blast as the titular character and I wanted to see how she did with a role that demanded more from her than things like Stranger Things and Godzilla: King of the Monsters did. This film does a great job introducing you to her character and never letting her older brothers steal the spotlight. MBB is super cute in this film and I highly recommend it to adults and families alike! |
 | Ratched This show was very entertaining and felt very much like a season of American Horror Story at times. I have no familiarity with Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and, even now that I've watched this show, I'm still not sure how the timeline of this show ties into the film. I really enjoyed this show and hope that the ending suggests a continuation with another season! |
 | Unseen My wife chose this documentary to watch one night while I was painting and I caught myself 100% invested in the story of a man who had brutally murdered several women and attacked several more. Some of the victim testimonies are very shocking and sad. I don't know who I'd recommend this movie to but... it's on Amazon Prime if you're interested. |
 | Wentworth - Season 8 My wife and I just started the 8th season of this excellent Australian female prison drama. I often recommend this show to people who like Orange is the New Black because Wentworth's drama seems a bit more grounded in reality and the acting is just better all around. This is one of those shows where no character is safe forever so... don't get too attached! |
In September of 2020, I read the following...
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Aliens Omnibus - Volume 3 Rogue - This was a pretty cool introduction to the concept of a King Alien being grown through genetic modifications. In my opinion, the look of the King was much more menacing than the Queen. It was cool to see the King Alien facing off against both, smaller Xenomorphs and the Queen. Sacrifice - This was a fairly dark story concerning a woman who discovers the colony she's found herself in has been sacrificing infants to a Xenomorph in exchange for their safety. When she interferes, the Xenomorph turns on the colony. As a result, it is revealed to the woman that the babies are grown in a lab but this makes no difference to her. It is also revealed that the woman is a priest and she decides to fashion a spear and face the Xenomorph on her own. The colony members eventually come to her aid and they defeat the Xenomorph. However, the priest loses her sight in the process and the story ends with a bleak sort of conclusion where she accepts her new life, partnering up with a man (whom she'd previously rejected), as the one to care for her for her remaining days. |
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