The Tao of Gaming

Chris Farrell has a new post, so back onto the blogroll.

For a minor celebrity, Rich Sommers has pretty good taste in games. On an almost related note, there's the "Brushes with Fame" geeklist.

Time's up gets a deluxe edition. I'm not sold on the "fourth round" (with pantomiming) ... it's a good idea, but difficult. We tried making the 4th round simultaneous. All players on one side close their eyes and the other side poses. That stops any problems with trying to quickly open and close your eyes over 30 seconds. Still didn't quite work.

I do think that the "Titles" (instead of Celebrity names") idea is good, although everyone seems to want to put in a title that is also a name. (I liked "Tom Jones," personally).

I read the three-way discussion with Michael Barnes, Ryan Bretsch, and Eric Martin a few days ago. There was one good point (by Barnes):

That whole “different strokes” approach winds up undermining the whole point of having an opinion, discussing it, and defending it. That’s fine in day-to-day life and that’s how I live in pretty much all respects, but when it comes to opinion-making and criticism that shouldn’t be the de facto defense.

BGG has polls. Now they need to stop having so damn many (A geek-dime fee per poll. You heard it here first).

I almost turned Cloverfield off several times, but persevered. Not bad, not great. I spent part of the movie trying to remember where I'd seen the Bad Robot logo before. (Guess who gave up on Lost in season 1).

If anyone says that schools are desperate for science & math teachers, well.... Here's a hint, desperate people don't make someone pony up $5,000 for the privilege of taking a pay cut. Desperate people, I don't know, offer more money.

I finally watched Sarah Connor Chronicles (last week or two). A nice series, considering that absolutely nothing resolves. So, which was better, 9 hours of terminator or this one comic? Tough call.

I haven't given up hope for the Orioles, although if they just stay at .500 that will be the first time in a decade. Here's hoping. I'm not watching basketball. I'll leave that to others.

Still haven't started watching BSG season 4. (OK, saw the 1st ep). No spoilers in comments, please.

The Carebears would totally smash the smurfs in a fight. But could the Carebears make Batman happy? Tough call. I say yes, assuming they had a chance encounter (and he wasn't stalking them for some reason ... then they're toast).

My daughter has informed me that Pokemon are real, under the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The kid who manages to get into that world will probably be the best trainer of all history, using their encyclopedic knowledge gleaned from CCGs and TV in this world (instead of having to traipse around the world to gain knowledge there).

I heard multiple Kabuki Actors this weekend (in multiple locations) make the exact same exasperated comment -- "It's a metal detector." (Said after a person went through, got beeped, and then made a show of pointing to their multiple necklaces/bracelets/etc). I almost had sympathy for them, too.

Is there a single word for Kabuki actor? (Probably). Kabukist? Kabukijin?