Weeknotes 2022 Apr 7

Spring has finally arrived. Locally, at least in Texas, it seems masks are practically a thing of the past. Some businesses seem to still require their workers to wear them, but generally, I rarely see them out and about.

I'll have some big news to share in my next post including a recap of a short trip we're about to take to Santa Fe, NM I'm looking forward to.

Work

Work-wise, I'm planning to segregate posting about it over to my other site at Updrift. I may mention stuff here that's more of a personal nature but most work-related stuff will move over there.

First though, I want to identify the CMS I want to use for it. Right now I suspect it will be Ghost CMS which is what I'm typing this into now. But I may opt for CraftCMS which intrigues me, but probably overkill for a basic site.

While WordPress is a go-to for many, I'm just not a fan.

Movies

• The Adam Project was a fun little movie. One of those direct-to-Netflix ones that feels like it would have been a direct-to-video release.
• The King's Man is a prequel to Kingsmen: The Secret Service. It was fun except for a few scenes that really kick you completely out of the film. Honestly not sure what the director was thinking.
• The Lost City was an entertaining throwback to 1984's Romancing the Stone which I liked a lot. I left the theater smiling.
• Turning Red is Pixar's Asian coming-of-age story which was fun but not one of their best. Really loved how they brought a lot of great Japanese anime influences into this one more than any other Pixar film so far.

Reelhouse Foundation Films

• The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) is about a black man trained by the CIA to help revolutions in other countries who turns his training into a mission to plan a race-centric revolution against the United States itself. Sounds pretty interesting, but overall, that descriptions makes it sound like it would have been much better.
• Grease 2 (1982) Wow. As great as the original film was, this one really wasn't that great. At all.

• Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999) The first film, Freeway, is a film I own and enjoy quite a lot. It's a different take on Little Red Riding Hood. This sequel is based on Hansel and Gretel. Very adult, very fun with some twists and turns that help keep your eyes glued to the screen.
• Electric Dreams (1984) is a rom-com about a guy whose new computer seems to be competing with him for a girl's affection. Watching it today, it certainly nailed a lot of things, like home automation, that likely seemed like far-future stuff at the time. Kind of eerie.

Corsairs of Valeria

My boardgame group has been playing through Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion our past few get-togethers. I could swear that I've taken photos of those sessions but I can't find any, so I'll just mention it now and remember for next time.

We had a little extra time for a smaller game and played Corsairs of Valeria. It's a pirate-themed game that I found to be really fun.

Return to Dark Tower followup

In my last post, I'd only just set up the board for this yet haven't played yet.

I showed a friend this pic and he didn't know the game had a related app that goes along with it. The app is required to play the game. Some people really don't like apps, so it's worth pointing out.

I am generally concerned about an app eventually becoming unsupported or unavailable on future platforms. I do think they can add a lot to a game by enabling solo mode for games that require multiple players, plus dynamic extensions/add-ons to increase replayability.

Only time will tell. Almost forty years later I can still play my original Dark Tower game. I am skeptical that an app-supported game would survive intact that long. I guess it's always an option that someone could create some physical replacement for the app, though. It's basically just rolling dice and drawing cards for you anyway.

Another concern people have had about this game is that it seems too easy. I've only played once thus far and did win my game. I'll have to play through it a few more times to see how I feel about it. Typically, the recommended starting scenario (which is what I played) is easier as a teaching game.

Overall, though, it did elicit the feeling I remember playing the original game, only with a bit more stuff going on.