Books

A roundup of some of the things I've been reading recently:

• BONE: This is a series of graphic comic books by Jeff Smith that were published between 1991 and 2004. It follows the Bone cousins (Phoncible, Smiley, and Fone Bone), who have been cast out of Boneville and find themselves lost in a valley. They end up getting involved in a war with rat creatures and other unfriendly beasts. It's fantasy, and very well told. There's a good sense of humor about the series, though the tone does get much more serious and scary as the series progresses. There are nine collected volumes available published in black and white (the original version) and colored (though only the first seven are currently available in color), as well as a 1300+ page collection of the entire series in original B&W. It's very much aimed at younger readers, but there's a lot for everyone to enjoy. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy. (I hear a movie is being planned. Originally, Nickelodeon Studios were going to do it, but their plan was to use child actors for all the voices and to include pop songs by artists like Britney Spears and N'Sync. Thankfully, Jeff Smith hated the idea, so now the project is with Warner Bros.)
• ONE CHILD - When I was in college, I took a class about emotional and behavioral disorders. The books assigned by our teacher were all by Torey Hayden, an educator who has chronicled her adventures with some of her more challenging students over the years. The first one we had to read was One Child, the story of Hayden and a six-year old named Sheila who was awaiting placement in the state hospital for burning a three-year old boy. The story is about how Torey broke through her shell and helped her start to achieve her potential. It's a beautiful, if disturbing book. I recently reread the book, and am currently rereading the follow-up, The Tiger's Child, which tells of Hayden meeting Sheila again while working on One Child. It really helps complete the story of the first book, especially since we find out that there was more going on we never found out in One Child. Hayden has a website where you can find out more, and even find out where the people in all her books are now.
• THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS - I'm actually listening to this one on audiobook right now, but I've read it before. This is by C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia stories, and is a collection of letters from one demon (named Screwtape) to his nephew, a junior tempter named Wormwood who is trying to procure the soul of a young man. The book is a very well thought out treatise on the intricacies of temptation and vice, and I wonder what a letter about me would look like. Read, think, laugh (the chapter where the young man finds his true love is very funny), and enjoy.

Happy reading.

TMBG vs. WAY

For our new musical selections, may I present two of my favorites - They Might Be Giants and Weird Al Yankovic. First off, let me say that I'm limited in my choices as to what is legally accessible online. Some of these songs aren't necessarily my favorites, but I still like 'em enough to put them here.

From They Might Be Giants:

• Doctor Worm - Of course.
• Man, It's So Loud In Here - A techno offering.
• Older - A realistic look at aging.
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - This was the first TMBG song I heard, on an episode of Tiny Toons.
• Boss Of Me - The theme song to Malcolm In The Middle.
• Particle Man - The second TMBG song I heard, on the same episode of Tiny Toons.
• Spy - A TMBG espionage song.
• Dead - Philosophical, yes. Strange, yes. TMBG, absolutely.
• Alphabet of Nations - I never knew West Xylophone existed, but they even have a web site.
• The Mesopotamians - From TMBG's latest album.
• Whistling In The Dark - Fun, bouncy, strange.
• Birdhouse In Your Soul - If you ever wondered what went on in the mind of a night light.

From Weird Al Yankovic:

• Smells Like Nirvana - Al's parody of Nirvana.
• Pancreas - A tribute to Brian Wilson and an underappreciated organ.
• Trigger Happy - A style parody of the Beach Boys.
• White and Nerdy - A parody of Chamillionaire, and Al's most recent hit.
• Spatula City - And now, a word from our sponsors, courtesy of UHF.
• Alternative Polka - A polka medley of alternative music from the mid-90s.
• EBay - The Backstreet Boys meet Weird Al. Check out the vibrato at the end.
• You're Pitiful - James Blunt's record label wouldn't give Al permission to release this on an album, though Blunt did. Al subsequently released it for free on the internet.
• Dare To Be Stupid - A style parody of Devo.
• It's All About The Pentiums - Al takes on Puff Daddy.
• One More Minute - Doo-wop.
• Don't Download This Song - Al's tribute to tribute songs.

Previous playlists can be found on the posts for January 28 and February 28, 2008. I guess I broke tradition by posting this one on the 18th, huh.

Ambushed

A new one on Bloglish Tales...it's called "Ambushed", and part I can be found here. Whenever I watch one of those stupid hidden camera shows, I feel very sorry for the people who are the victims. I see them getting humiliated on national television, and they're just supposed to laugh and be a good sport about it. I can't imagine the extra humiliation they get from people that know them. So, I wrote this story about a victim, and tried to present the negative effect the show had on his life. It's probably a little dark for some people, but there you go. Some of the pranks I originally came up with did not make it into the published draft, either because they were stupid, or obvious, or plagiarized from other sources. I hope the final result is at least semi-original (thanks to my wife for helping me with the taxi scene, which was really dumb in my original outline).

It seems like I've been doing more with Bloglish Tales than any of my other blogs lately. I did just post a new list in the Eleven, but I haven't done anything with Hamville or the Game Zone in a while. I think with Hamville, I'm just recharging my creative juices with other projects. With the Game Zone, I'm trying to find other games I can use. It doesn't help when most of the games in books don't work for the population I want them to work for.

Lots o' shtuff

It's been busy around lately. To recap:

1. We're moving to Illinois at the end of May so I can go to graduate school at Illinois State and so the wife can hopefully go to U of I for library science.
   
2. We found a house to rent for $250 less than what we're paying now.
3. I had jury duty today, and got called with the first group, but the case resolved as we were sitting in the hall and I got to go home.
4. I register for classes tomorrow.
5. Work continues to be hectic.

I haven't been blogging much, what with everything else, but I'll post some more as time goes on.

1000 Blank White Cards

I was going to post this in the Game Zone, but I'm not sure it really works for any of my groups. Possibly Group Three, but I think this game would be better posted here.

1000 Blank White Cards is another game I discovered on BoardgameGeek. It's a public domain game, and all it requires is something to write with and a bunch of index cards. You don't necessarily have to have one thousand, but you may get there eventually.

To begin with, on your very first playing of the game, pass out six blank white cards to each player. Each player then must put three things on the card - a title, an illustration, and an instruction.

• The title should be a brief description of what the card is. It can range from serious (POT OF GOLD) to silly (MEATBALL ATTACK) to meaningless (FIZZLE LUMPKIN).
• The illustration should illustrate what the card is about. If the title was POT OF GOLD, you might draw a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. If the title was MEATBALL ATTACK, you might draw a meatball with fangs. If the title was FIZZLE LUMPKIN...you get the idea. Don't feel like you have to be the world's greatest artist. A stick figure or smiley face is fine. But please put a little effort into it - scribbling on the card is no fun for anyone.
• The instruction is what the players must do now. It can be absolutely anything. +100 points, -200 points, take an extra turn, lose a turn, draw an extra card, jump up and down ten times, bark like a chicken, whatever. It may be a good idea to set a limit on number of points that can be awarded or taken away by a single card, such as +1000 or -1000. You don't have to, though, if you don't want to.

Once the cards have been made and placed face down in the center of the table, the dealer adds four more blank cards per player to the deck, shuffles, and deals five cards to each player. The rest of the deck goes face down in the center of the table.

The player to the dealer's left goes first. First, they draw, then they play. They can play a card on themselves (which they may want to do if it adds points), in which case they'll put the card in front of themselves. They can play a card on anyone else (which they may want to do if the cards takes points away), in which case they'll put the card in front of one of the other players. They can also play the card, but if its usefulness is done after they play it (such as lose a turn or take an extra turn), they discard the card face up next to the draw pile. These cards may not be used again, unless a card comes up that makes them playable again.

During the course of a game, players will come across some of the extra blank cards that were shuffled into the deck. The players may create those cards as the game goes on as they see fit. If someone has given themselves +infinity points or something ridiculous like that, players can create cards for themselves that negate that amount.

When the draw pile is depleted, players no longer draw first, but play their cards one at a time on their turn. When one player runs out of cards, the game is over. Add up all points in front of each player to determine the final score.

However, most serious 1KBWC players don't see this as the end of the game. In the game's epilogue, all cards used in the game are laid out, and each player picks five cards (not their own) that will be used in the next game. Many players say that whoever has the most cards picked at the end of the game is the true winner. The cards that are selected go into a seed deck for the next game, while the other cards can be disposed of or saved for posterity.

In future games, players should only create 3 cards before the game (unless it is their first time). Four cards are still added to the deck for each player in the game.

This is a pretty fun game. I've played it once, trying to nail down the intricacies, and I'm ready to play again.

I apparently didn't learn my lesson

So, a couple of months ago, I posted my jubilation over Duke beating Carolina. Since then, Duke's season went south. Duke lost a few games to bad teams, lost to Carolina in Durham, lost in the second round of the ACC tournament, nearly lost in the first round of the NCAA tourney, then lost for one last time in the second round. Carolina, meanwhile, didn't lose. They won the ACC regular season, the ACC tournament, and the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament by a combined score of 372-271. So, have I learned my lesson about gloating?

NO! Hooray for Kansas!

Seriously. I know Kansas loved beating Roy, and I know all faithful ABC fans like myself were dancing in the streets last night, especially when Carolina a favorite. Actually, I think I heard as many people picking UNC as were picking Kansas or UCLA. I don't think I've heard anyone pick Memphis, though they've proved everyone wrong and I wouldn't be surprised if they won it all. I am picking Kansas now, since my original champ lost (UCLA to Memphis).

Now, it's on to baseball. Go Cubs!

The Secret of Twah

Hey, folks, a story just ended its run on Bloglish Tales. It's one of my favorite jokes from when I was younger, and I fleshed it out into a story. It's really funny (to me), and I hope you enjoy it. Go here for the first part, and click on the links at the end of each part for the whole story (there are nine parts in all).