November 2020 - Media Binge

In November of 2020, I played the following:

One Night Ultimate Werewolf (12)	Codenames (4)	Chess (3)	That's Pretty Clever! (3)	Letter Tycoon (2)	Star Realms (2)
Alchemists (1)	Alhambra: Designers' Edition – Mega Box (1)	Betrayal at House on the Hill (1)	The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (1)	Deus (1)	Dingo's Dreams (1)
Feudum: Big Box (1)	Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar (1)	Imperial Settlers (1)	Islebound (1)	L.L.A.M.A. (1)	Las Vegas (1)
Love Letter Premium (1)	Mansions of Madness: Second Edition (1)	Rajas of the Ganges (1)	Santorini (1)	Stone Age (1)	Sushi Go! (1)
Tang Garden (1)	The Taverns of Tiefenthal (1)	Trade on the Tigris (1)	Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (1)	Welcome To... (1)	Yokohama (1)

This Month's Winners

Trade on the Tigris - Honorable Mention Trade on the Tigris does not hit the table enough because it encourages a level of player interaction my wife does not appreciate very much. Players draw a variable number of "goods" cards (e.g., fish, barley, clay, etc.) and then a 5-minute timer starts before everyone frantically tries to negotiate trades in hopes of obtaining larger sets or unloading unfavorable cards from your hand. Once the timer sounds, players sell their goods, resolve any good/bad effects on cards, and compare their level of culture as well as the number of barbarians that have plagued your area. This game does a lot of things really well from the real-time trading to the tableau-building that impacts your goods production and end-game scoring points. I love that it also accommodates player groups of 5 or 6. It is often hard to find anything but party games that can be played by a group that large so I think I'll keep it around!

Yokohama - 3rd Place Yokohama is a wonderful game with an overwhelmingly busy aesthetic that matches the sheer number of possible actions a player can take on their turn. Players will take turns building "routes" by placing their workers (i.e. little pawns) on tiles, allowing their president (i.e. big pawn) to travel across any tiles containing its worker(s) before taking the action associated with that location. Actions include gaining resources ex: fish, copper, raw silk, etc.), developing rule-bending technology, completing objective cards, expanding your own shops across different industries, etc. While the theme may sound incredibly boring to some, the mechanisms at play are excellent!

Imperial Settlers - 2nd Place Imperial Settlers is an excellent tableau building game where players control different factions of people (ex: amazons, barbarians, etc.), spending resources to add cards to your empire that provide resources, additional actions, ongoing bonus effects, and end-game scoring bonuses. My wife and I love this game and the numerous expansions that have been released by Portal Games. The most satisfying part of this game for me has to be the variable number of turns based on how well you optimize your resources to take as many actions as possible!

Alchemists - 1st Place Alchemists is a brilliant mash-up of worker placement and deduction mechanisms into a fun theme with excellent production value. Everything about this game is vibrant, colorful, and just a tad bit silly. There are oversized player screens that hide your information while holding tokens that document what you've learned about the mixing of various ingredients (ex: What do you get when you brew a bird claw with a screaming root?). The rulebook for this game is massive and we have never played beyond the "apprentice" version which is intended to serve as an introductory game. I haven't even had the courage to try the expansion content we have owned for a few years at this point. However, I love this game for what it accomplishes with the use of an app. Deduction games are too much fun!

In November of 2020, I watched the following:

Wayne This show was a pleasant surprise! I had only seen a trailer surface on Youtube and it did NOT do the show justice. In fact, the trailer's only selling point was that it mentions being by the writers of Deadpool. This encouraged me to read the trailer's viewer comments which revealed nothing but positive praise. The story is simple: Wayne meets a girl named Del and immediately invites her to travel from Massachusetts to Florida where he intends to steal back his father's car. Every episode offers a fair amount of action, mayhem, and interesting side characters. I love the cast and the writers do an excellent job with gradual character development. I watched this entire season in just two sessions. The closest comparison I can think of for people on the fence about watching Wayne would be... Shameless (the American remake since I've not seen the original UK version). Loved this one!

The Queen's Gambit I LOVED this show. I've never been very interested in chess beyond occasionally playing (badly) with a neighborhood kid when I was younger. This show did not shy away from the complexity of the game and I really appreciate how much time they devoted to the game without trying to over-sensationalize the gameplay. I've seen a lot of talk online about this show generating a ton of interest in the game and it is well-deserved. I've caught myself looking at chess sets online! I only hope that the buzz this show is creating translates to the larger hobby of tabletop games! Board games are not just for kids!

Run This was a pretty good movie about a mother (Sarah Paulson) with a pretty disturbing attachment to her daughter (Kiera Allen), going to extreme lengths to keep her daughter close to her. Kiera Allen is absolutely excellent in this film and deserves the spotlight despite Sarah Paulson's chilling performance. I can't say much more about this film because I don't want to spoil anything. If you like this movie, I highly recommend a similar film called The Harvest that I feel has an even more disturbing reveal.

I Hate Suzie. I liked this actress in Penny Dreadful so I was excited to see her front and center in a new show. Unfortunately I don't think this show is going to last as her character is an unlikeable actress caught up in a sex scandal with her director. Midway through the season they focus an entire episode on her trying to find an appropriate masturbatory fantasy. I'm just not sure who I'm supposed to like in this show.

The Mandalorian: Season 2 This season has been a welcome distraction in the month of November. I only wish they had chosen to release the entire thing rather than doing a week-to-week release schedule. I really enjoy this show and think that Star Wars as a franchise may be served best as a long-form narrative for awhile. If anything, it's proven that we don't need a Skywalker to carry the franchise forward.

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

Aliens Omnibus - Volume 3 Labyrinth - This story is among my favorite in the series so far. It features a ton of action with xeno-slaying mech suits, research into the behavior and telepathic communication abilities of xenomorphs, and flashbacks concerning one scientist's time as a prisoner in a xeno hive. These flashbacks really offer a lot of info about the hive mentality of xenomorphs, the way they treat humans like cattle for food and breeding, and it even dives a bit into the way xenos use the "royal jelly" mentioned in previous issues and later seen in the films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. There's a fair amount of body horror in this issue, including the birth of humanoid xeno fetuses!  Salvation - I have read this story twice now, having previously read it digitally. Salvation is a fairly short story about a cook and ship captain who are stranded on a planet after a team's attempt to drop of a cargo of xenomorphs went horribly wrong. This story has strong religious undertones as the cook often narrates as if he is speaking directly to God. The cook discovers that the delivery of xenomorphs to this foreign plant was no accident as the planet is home to a race of fast-breeding primates that would perfectly supply the xenomorphs with an abundance of hosts for their own reproduction. The cook finds an android who reveals in her last moments of "life" that their employer had planned to create a reserve of xenomorphs on this planet for later use. The cook decides to eliminate the xenomorph infestation on the planet as a small kindness to the primate population. Not the best storyline. I really think they missed an opportunity to show the offspring of these xeno/primate hybrids. Although, I feel like I remember seeing something like these in another issue before. Advent/Terminus - I've read that this issue was the inspiration for the first Alien vs. Predator film, following an explorer into an Egyptian-style, alien-infested tomb. Not a super long story but I enjoyed seeing the early threads of the live-action adaptation. Reapers - This issue introduces a new species in the Aliens universe called reapers. These buff, green, humanoid creatures actually hunt and eat xenomorphs! This issue was rather short with no text. I like the idea behind it and would love to see the reapers in live-action form! Horror Show - I don't remember much about this issue other than scientist were doing something virtual-reality therapy AND, at one point, a woman puts on a xenomorph exoskeleton like armor similar to the concept art introducing Ripley in a similar suit for Neill Blomkamp's unrealized vision for the Alien franchise.

Crossed: Volume 2 - Family Values This series is seriously twisted. I was hooked after the first volume and Family Values just continues to deliver on the carnage that survivors of the Crossed virus endure. This volume focuses on a highly religious family of 9 and their close friends who are descended upon by hordes of the Crossed with the absolute worst of intentions. This story includes a disturbing amount of incest with the family's 7 children already exposed to horrors before they are even attacked. The authors of this volume do a great job pushing the narrative forward where Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows left off with the first volume. Knowing that this series eventually commits to a 100+ year time jump, I'm looking forward to seeing if the newborns who manage to survive in these early storylines influence later stories! I would never recommend this book to anyone unless I knew they were fans of disturbing horror content... because that's exactly what this is!

The Dark Tower - Fall of Gilead This was one of the most memorable books in the series so far. I would compare Fall of Gilead to the Red Wedding from the show Game of Thrones because so... so many characters we've come to know over the first 3 books are taken out in pretty brutal fashion. Gilead is the city in which the Gunslingers are raised and they are forced to defend their home against a horde of mutants that does not end well for the main protagonist, Roland Deschain, and his friends due to the betrayal of someone within the city. I was so satisfied with this volume that I immediately dove into the next, Battle of Jericho Hill.

The Dark Tower - Battle of Jericho Hill Battle of Jericho Hill picks up 9 years after the Fall of Gilead storyline with the surviving Gunslingers forced to attack in a last ditch effort to hinder the Crimson King's minions. Despite reading this one more recently, I don't remember as much about the story. It felt very much like a dystopian wasteland-type story with a pretty heartbreaking conclusion to another prominent side character in the story. I believe this volume serves as the final chapter in young Roland Deschain's life as the next volume's cover features an older, more grizzled-looking Roland. I really appreciate having had these 5 volumes as a prequel of sorts for the character with whom I was first introduced in the Dark Tower live-action feature film.

October 2020 - Media Binge

In October of 2020, I played the following:

One Night Ultimate Werewolf (9)	5-Minute Mystery (3)	That's Pretty Clever! (3)	Alhambra: Designers' Edition – Mega Box (1)	Calico (1)	Carpe Diem (1)
The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game (1)	Concept (1)	Flight from Hall Mano (1)	Fort (1)	Hojo Pojo (1)	In the Year of the Dragon: 10th Anniversary (1)
Legendary Encounters: The X-Files Deck Building Game (1)	Love Letter (1)	Macaron (1)	Nemesis (1)	Point Salad (1)	The Quacks of Quedlinburg (1)
Rialto (1)	Roland Wright: The Dice Game (1)	Saboteur: The Mother Lode Bonus Pack (1)	Sushi Go Party! (1)	Takenoko (1)	Wingspan (1)

This Month's Winners

Carpe Diem - Honorable Mention This is one the better Feld games I've seen him release in the last 5 years, beating out Merlin and The Revolution of 1828. This game features ever-popular mechanism combo of polyomino tile-placement! In my opinion, one of Feld's greatest strengths as a designer is his ability to create interesting mechanisms through which players get to select the action(s) they take. Whether it's rolling dice and deciding how to use the #'s rolled, dropping cubes into a tower and selecting an action from those colors that emerge, to this game's use of pawn movement between tile locations along a pentagram-shaped movement track. This game is one of his lighter designs as far as pre-planning is concerned. You have many goals to pursue with most turns giving you just enough options to feel like no turn is ever really wasted. This not his best design but it is one I'll be keeping for the foreseeable future!

5-Minute Mystery - 3rd Place My wife and I really enjoy the earlier games in the 5-Minute franchise (i.e. Dungeon and Marvel) so when 5-Minute Mystery promised a similar experience with an element of deduction, I couldn't resist! This game is an excellent combination of "I Spy" challenges, real-time cooperation, and deduction. The components are excellent, including a bulky codex tool that really helps to sell the experience. I wish that the art cards you art meant to inspect as a team were a bit larger but, overall, this game is awesome!

Fort - 2nd Place This game has some interesting mechanisms at play with a ton of different card abilities that fills every round with tough and interesting choices. The artwork and color scheme are fun and light, really complimenting the silly theme of building a forth, eating pizza, and collecting toys. This game is a reworking of an earlier version called SPQF that we found very problematic. However, with addition development and improved visual elements, this game really shines!

The Quacks of Quedlinburg - 1st Place Quacks is a excellent game that we don't play enough. In this game, you are brewing a potion, throwing unique ingredients into your bag that you collect along the way, drawing ingredients from your bag to add to your cauldron in an effort to make the best potion possible! However, you have to be careful not too draw too many explosive ingredients (i.e. cherry bombs) as these will cause your cauldron to explode, limiting you access to points, new ingredients, and additional bonuses. I love this "push your luck" style game and highly recommend it as an excellent "fall-themed" game. It even comes with pumpkin tokens!

In October of 2020, I watched the following:

Save Yourselves! This was a quirky little indie film that came to our local independent theater. Save Yourselves! is a film about a couple of 30-somethings who decide to take a week off from social media and technology, retreating to a cabin only to discover an alien invasion has begun once they arrive. The aliens are silly, critter-like creatures with sticky spear tongue things that they use to drain anything containing ethanol. The ending of this movie is ambiguous and abrupt which I always hate but I had a fun time watching this couple react to the chaos around them so I'll give the ending a pass. This is worth streaming but I can't recommend spending any money outright to see it.

Wentworth: Season 8 This show is an excellent blend of drama and comedy, succeeding where I feel that Orange is the New Black failed to strike a balance. I am often shocked at how this show continues to push forward without characters you view as central to the narrative. They do any excellent job of creating villains and then breaking them down, making them sympathetic in a way you wouldn't think would be possible! Last season crushed me, this season made me excited for another.

Schitt's Creek: Season 6 Schitt's Creek is a show we discovered late and I'm glad that we did. Being able to binge most of the seasons before the last season aired allowed us to grow attached to the characters without any significant gap in time between seasons. The characters created by this cast are excellent. Everyone has something unique to contribute and I just love how perfectly this story plays out. The last episode is a bit cliche and I was surprised at how abrupt it ended without allowing the audience to really celebrate. You have a big event that is immediately followed by a farewell scene that leaves you feeling like "Oh... I guess that was it..." I love this show and I can see us rewatching it very soon. A definite highlight during the 2020 pandemic!

The Boys: Season 2 This season didn't leave me as excited as the first season but I really have to give credit to the writers for crafting a completely new storyline that only borrows characters and major themes from the original comic series. I was kinda bummed by a choice made mid-season with Black Noir but I'm sure the showrunners knew that they couldn't use him in the same way they did for the comics. I love this show and I love the comic. I highly recommend both to anyone who isn't easily offended or shocked. Pure gold!

Yes, God, Yes As my wife and I watched this, I said that there's just something I love about watching someone's strong religious upbringing compromised by their conflicting biological impulses. This film follows a young girl who becomes preoccupied with sex and self-stimulation only after these topics are introduced by her religious school community. She starts to realize that the people around her are not as innocent as they appear and this results in a fairly mild tailspin into her own sexual urges. This film is a watered down, PG version of what Saved! did far better. I enjoyed seeing Natalia Dyer in a property other than Stranger Things but I can't recommend it.

The Witches Everything about this film could be potentially traumatizing to a younger audience from the abrupt and unnecessary death of the main character's parents to the horrifying witch and mouse transformations. This is a film my wife had never seen so I wanted her to see what I was talking about. She agreed pretty strongly that the visuals were awful and some of the scenes in which the boy pleads with his grandmother to save him are incredibly sad! I will say that the practical effects are excellent and still hold up 30 years later! I am planning to watch the 2020 remake of The Witches soon but I can't imagine it's going to come anywhere close to the horrifying visuals featured in this 1990's classic!

The Lie This film follows a young girl (played by hit or miss Joey King) who assumedly pushes her friend off of a bridge to her death who must now, with the help of her separated parents, cover the entire ordeal up. My wife turned this film on while I was cooking dinner so I was not 100% engaged at first. However, as the film progressed, became more interested in it because of the excellent performances of Peter Sarsgaard and Mireille Enos. The ending to this film is very unexpected and, in some ways, not entirely earned. I told my wife that it felt very much "off" tonally, almost as if this was an adaptation of a foreign film where the big reveal would feel less awkward because of the audience's limited cultural contextual understanding. Sure enough, my wife pulled up the info and shared that this was actually based on a German film called We Monsters. I was pretty proud of myself for calling that one. Not a great film but worth a lazy Sunday watch!

Terminator: Dark Fate It took me a long time to get around to watching this one. I've enjoyed all of the films in the Terminator franchise and I think this one got a bad reputation when it was first released. There are some interesting ideas in this film from the augmented human sent to protect the main protagonist to the new hybrid terminator design that combines the tech used from the first two films. Linda Hamilton's return had its highs and lows. She came off a bit strong at times. I didn't really care about the new protagonist and she felt like the studio's attempt to draw in a new demographic. This 120-minute film felt like it dragged on for 3 hours. I have no idea where this film fits into the franchise given the big changes to the timeline that occurs. I won't recommend this film but I also won't discourage anyone from checking it out.

Hubie Halloween This was the best we could come up with for Halloween night and only because I was too tired to walk upstairs and pull out a DVD/Bluray from our horror collection. Adam Sandler's Hubie Halloween is a lot like Kevin Smith's Jay & Silent Bob Reboot; it serves as a self-referential, "greatest hits" of his previous films. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about this film. It's a fine watch for families. The humor is suitable for kids and often feels like it was written specifically for that kind of audience. It's forgettable in the most forgivable way...

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

The Punisher: Volume 2 - Kitchen Irish This second volume follows Frank as he wages war on various Irish mobsters after suffering injuries during an accidentally bombing in a cafe. This volume introduced a few interesting characters: Finn Cooley (a man with his face falling off due to self-inflicted bomb-related injuries), Maginty (a ruthless black Irishman) and Napper French (an old man with a legendary reputation for dismembering bodies and making them disappear). This story seemed to focus more on the various mob bosses fighting over an inheritance than it did Frank Castle. In fact, Frank's motivation (i.e. the diner bombing) seemed kind of shallow as there was far less focus on the influence of his past trauma on his agenda with the Italians. I say this as if being bombed while eating in a diner isn't cause enough to wage war on anyone... I'm loving this series and can't wait to read the next volume, Mother Russia!