Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.
Showing posts with label The Kitchen Sink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Kitchen Sink. Show all posts
OK, so the blog's been in hibernation for a while... suffice it to say that my life has been complicated, my job (though financially a blessing) is a time sink, and I've been using precious blogging time to actually play board games. I'm going to try and get going again - though I will warn you ahead of time that there could be dry spells through the early fall. If you have a question for me to answer - it can be personal, spiritual, weird or just hobby-related - leave it in the comments section. I'll see if that doesn't inspire some more interesting (and offbeat) posts.
Recent & Recommended
APP - Descent: Road to Legend (app for the iPad that works with your Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2.0 games & expansions to create a GREAT cooperative experience)
BOARD GAME - 7 Wonders: Duel (fantastic re-imagining of a multi-player classic as a 2 player game... can't wait for the expansion!)
BOOK - The Aeronaut's Windlass (first book in Jim Butcher's newest series... steampunk-y and creative)
CARD GAME - Bear Valley (weird little racing game that is easy to teach and fun to play... a run through bear-infested wilderness)
MOVIE - Captain America: Civil War (all the ways it could have gone wrong... and it didn't)
MUSIC - Andrew Peterson: The Burning Edge of Dawn ("The Rain Keeps Falling" is the song of my heart some days)
PODCAST - Revisionist History (Malcolm Gladwell + odd bits of history + musing on human behavior)
TV - Limitless (it's on Netflix... and it's cheerfully wacky)
It's been a while since "The Kitchen Sink" appeared here on the blog... the place where I share various bits of stuff that really aren't big enough to deserve their own posts. You may now proceed to ignore and/or enjoy this as needed.
coulson lives Just finished watching the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on DVD - and I loved it. It took a while to ramp up - but once it did, it combined sly humor, comic book references, great action sequences & Whedon-esque twists & turns. I particularly like how events in the Marvel films (Thor: The Dark World & Captain America: The Winter Soldier) play an important role in the storyline of the series. I've DVR'd the first few episodes of the second season and look forward to watching them this weekend. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Agent Carter series on the way this spring.
dominion In the very first Kitchen Sink post in September of 2013, I told you guys that I had reached 1000 plays of the long-defunct Dominion iPhone app. I noted:
(There's an official one now through Goko, but I haven't bothered with it.) I don't even own a copy of Dominion (it's low on my list of "deck-building games I like" - sorry, Dale)... but this app manages to run a 2 player game in about 5 minutes, making it perfect for standing in line/waiting around time-killing.
Well, it's October of 2014 - a little over a year later - and I've made it to 2000 plays. The AI is pitiful - I've managed 1,451 wins (72.55%).
quote of the week "When a king forgets who he is, he looks for himself in the rubble of conquered cities. He is haunted by a bottomless pit in his soul, and he will pour the blood of nations into it until the pit swallows the man himself." (Andrew Peterson, North! or Be Eaten)
I know, I know... it looks like a kid's movie (and it is) - but there's some wonderful stuff in there and some really nifty twists that I don't want to spoil.
So just go see it already...
disney dish podcast
The Unofficial Guide folks have teamed up with Jim Hill (who has a long history as one of the most interesting Disney Parks behind-the-scenes bloggers out there) to produce a series of really enjoyable podcasts. Give them a listen.
baseball highlights 2045
I'll probably write a full post on this in the next couple of weeks, but when Mike Fitzgerald (the designer of the Mystery Rummy series - which I love) puts out a game that Tom Lehman (the designer of Race for the Galaxy and Fast Food Franchise - both of which I love) gushes about, it's time for me to back it on Kickstarter.
Check out the project... and give it some financial love!
I haven't seen any of the nine Oscar-nominated Best Pictures... and I can only think of a couple of them that I really want to see. Sigh.
music & movies
I wonder how long it's going to take for the mainstream media to figure out that Joni Eareckson Tada (who is singing the Oscar-nominated Best Song from the film Alone But Not Alone) is an evangelical Christian author & speaker... as well as being a quadriplegic. (It's probably no surprise that hearing her speak on suffering & unanswered prayer is much more convincing than, say, some rich white guy with slicked-back hair & an expensive suit.)
games
I haven't really played with anything on the JavaScript Board Games site... but I think it's just incredibly cool that someone would go back & code old TV and movie tie-in games so we can play them. Granted, they probably stink (most of the ones I've owned over the years certainly do) but it's still a noble endeavor. (I look forward to trying The Six Million Dollar Man: Bionic Crisis game - I remember seeing it in the store when I was a kid. And I was in love with Jamie, the Bionic Woman.)
sex & scripture
For your (deeper) reading pleasure... an excellent article on whether premarital sex is a sin. (Yes, I know, it's really long and sometimes kinda technical... and a subject that people don't really want to talk about. Whatever you do, don't miss the last paragraph.)
“Sexy” in our culture is a sad, pale cartoon made up of too much cleavage, too little self-respect, too much butt-crack and too many tramp-stamps, and over-tight clothes. “Sexy” testifies to our emptiness, a hunger, but not real desire. Lots of energy, but is it really passion? Lots of smoke, but not a fire to light your life, warm your soul and nourish your heart. The eyes of the goddess are painted, but the eye-holes are empty.
We haven't made a trip to The Kitchen Sink in a while... and a lot of good stuff has piled up, waiting to be shared with you guys out there on the other side of the computer screen. a movie to see
Dear Mr. Watterson is a documentary/love letter to the creator/artist/genius behind Calvin & Hobbes, quite possibly the best newspaper comic strip ever conceived. I haven't seen it (yet!), but it's been released.
a board game app to play
StreetSoccer is one of my favorite 2 player board games... and it's tough to find a copy (as it's OOP). But the iOS app recently appeared, giving the rest of you a chance to enjoy this very cool backgammon-ish soccer game.
a bit of insanity to ponder
While waiting for the elevator the other day, I was reading the FLSA poster. (That's Fair Labor Standards Act, and yes, I was bored.) I was surprised to learn that there are a number of exceptions to child labor laws... the most interesting of which is:
child labor rules do not apply to... youth working at home in the making of wreaths composed of natural holly, pine, cedar, or other evergreens (including the harvesting of the evergreens)
"I didn't even know candy corn and Oreos were dating ... now they have a kid?!" A trio of preliminary notes to this horror show masquerading as a snack treat:
I really hate NPR pledge drives. (Actually, I pretty much hate any pledge drive - so it's not just an NPR thing.)
With all that said, I must recommend to my gentle readers a very funny article from the humorists at Wait, Wait on the release of the limited edition Candy Corn Oreo.
Ian: I hope these Oreos are vegan, so vegans have something to not eat.
the TAGIE awards Matt Leacock is a nice guy and an incredible game designer - and he's been nominated for the Excellence in Game Design at the TAGIE Awards (Toy & Game Inventor Awards).
late to the party Yes, this is so last summer - but Shari just showed it me last night...
For the record, I think even Cookie Monster would reject the limited edition Candy Corn Oreos.
quotes of the week "Until Christians realize they’re neither Republicans or Democrats, they'll never be the prophetic voice politics needs."
(James Emery White)
"Statistically, the unchurched lean heavily Democrat. So-- and I know it's just me talking crazy now-- if you want to reach the unchurched, maybe constant Facebook posts about how stupid Democrats are might be a bad idea."
add it to appshopper First, if you have an iPhone and/or iPhone and don't have AppShopper installed - why not?
Second, I was going to recommend that you seek out the free version of Reiner Knizia's (yes, board gamer friends, THAT Reiner Knizia) Yoku-Gami - but it's been removed from the App Store. (I actually like it better than the paid version - esp. at the new price of $4.99!)
Since it's that expensive, I'd suggest putting it on AppShopper and waiting for the price to go down.
grace church The church we are a part of is expanding to a second campus this week... so, if you're on the north side of the metro Nashville area, you're invited to join us at Grace Church this weekend either in Hendersonville or in Gallatin. (Follow the link for worship times & places.)
i will follow The lead pastor at Grace Church is Ed Stetzer - a guy I have deeply admired long before we started attending the church. You can learn a lot by checking out edstetzer.com - and you can follow him on Twitter as well.
jackson book of world records Set a new personal best on the solitaire version of Roll Through the Ages (playing on my iPhone) this week... playing Late Bronze Age, I managed a score of 90 points! A great dice game, btw - both the boxed & iOS versions. One line description: "Civ meets Yahtzee."
quote of the week "Forgiveness is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for reconciliation."
"with great power comes a ton of weirdcrap you are not prepared to deal with..." Joss Whedon is back on TV with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - and in addition to continuing his (commendable) policy of employing actors from previous shows (hi, Shepherd Book! howdy, Charles Gunn!), the pilot shows a lot of promise.
not #1 CBS may be #1 in producing shows with initials in the title (CSI, NCIS, etc.), but they are certainly not #1 when it comes to producing useful viewing apps for the iPad. Heck, even the CW manages to get full episodes up for me to watch (hey, I like Arrow... and my summer reality TV guilty pleasure is Capture) - but CBS can't be bothered to do that for their shows that I watch. Boo, hiss...
in the queue I'm working on a review of Geoff & Sydney Englestein's Space Cadets: Dice Duel. After one play, I'm prepared to say the following three things:
I like it!
Not everybody will like it.
The game could fit in a smaller box.
follow you, follow me If you want to follow me on Twitter, just click here.
One of the people I follow on Twitter - cuz he's laugh out loud funny - is Matthew Baldwin. Some examples:
Twitter is like one of those brainstorm sessions where they say there are "no dumb ideas" and are immediately proved wrong.
Two of my coworkers are chronic interrupters. Hearing them converse is like scanning the radio dial.
If you see a parent who appears well rested, call 911 because she's kidnapping those children.
Follow Matthew by clicking here. Extra points this week for identifying the source of the title of this section of the Sink.
quote of the week "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." (Maya Angelou)
And thus begins a new (and hopefully weekly) feature here on the blog: "The Kitchen Sink", where I share various bits of stuff that really aren't big enough to deserve their own posts. You may now proceed to ignore and/or enjoy this as needed.
play, play, play, yeah, yeah In a fit of 80's nostalgia, I created a Pandora station this week that I named "Guitar-Shaped Spaceships." (And I'm proud of it.) Extra points for those of you who can guess what bands are prominently featured before you go take a listen.
dominion Well, I reached 1000 plays of the now-defunct Dominion iPhone app this week. (There's an official one now through Goko, but I haven't bothered with it.) I don't even own a copy of Dominion (it's low on my list of "deck-building games I like" - sorry, Dale)... but this app manages to run a 2 player game in about 5 minutes, making it perfect for standing in line/waiting around time-killing. I will say that the AI is incredibly weak. Out of 1000 games, I've won 688 - and any AI that I can smack around like that is the proverbial 98 pound guy who gets sand kicked on him.
If you're looking for better (read: games I like) deck-builders, I'd strongly suggest checking out Eminent Domain or Core Worlds (with the Galactic Orders expansion).
quote of the week "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." (pastor Steven Furtick)
follower of Jesus, husband, father, "pastor", boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 58 as he did at age 8
