Initial Thoughts on Dominion Alchemy

One of my sister-in-laws visited me a week and a half ago and I finally got to try Dominion Alchemy.  I had been dying to try this as I’ve been a huge fan of anything Dominion based so far.  I was very happy to see her bring this and she knew I would jump at the chance to play it.  I’m not going to break this down into a point-by-point comparison and evaluation, etc, etc.  I’m going to keep this as simple as possible.

Dominion Alchemy slows the game down by a decent margin.  Keep in mind, I tried this using 5 cards from Alchemy and 5 from the rest of the sets.  I’ll talk about that issue in a little bit.  Alchemy introduced a new kind of treasure to us, potions.  By gump, those potions can help you buy some handy cards, but in the end, they just clog up your deck.  The good thing is, cards that require potions are fairly cheap, so if you buy a potion early on you can utilize it a decent amount.  But you then have to question whether to go after more potion cards or not and if you get too many they aren’t worth that much to you.

So why does it slow the game down?  Well, the extra treasures you have in your deck and it seems that even the good cards you buy with potions are limited.  They don’t give you much in the way of additional actions usually.  So burn through your deck, you will not.  That being said, it makes you try and device new strategies based on that.  Do you even spend time on potions?  You almost have to, so it’s hard to calculate sometimes.

The next part is where I’m not big on Alchemy.  To me, you are best to do 5 cards from Alchemy and 5 from the rest of the sets.  Well, I love to just randomize everything and get a different experience every time.  With the other sets, if I only got 1 or 2 cards from them, that was fine.  With this set, if you only had 1 card from Alchemy it would be a “weaker” card since the potion would be a space waster.  And there aren’t a lot of cards in the set to begin with, so you would have to keep using them or just leave out Alchemy altogether.  To me, that’s a huge weakness that none of the other sets suffer from.

My final opinion, Alchemy is simply a “nice to have” set, but NOT a “Must Have!” set.  And considering the past expansions, this one is disappointing to say the least.  It does add some interesting flavor and ideas, but those ideas require you to utilize at least a certain number of cards from that group.  Maybe some will like that bit of change in Dominion, but to me it’s just limiting the game.  Let’s hope the next expansion doesn’t continue down this slope. 

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Initial Thoughts on Dominion Alchemy

Internet killed the Video Store

Technorati Tags: internet,red box,blockbuster,video,dvd,vhs,video store

I remember how there was no place like the video store.  Back in the days of VHS, some of those movies, to buy new actually listed for around $80-100, except for the big Blockbuster mega-hits.  And the smell of all those plastic VHS tapes and boxes always made the aroma of a video store unique to say the least.  Picking through potential movies that you may have seen hundreds of times or some rare but potentially hidden gem that might be lying in wait for you.  It was all part of the adventure.  That adventure is now gone.

It started with the death of VHS.  Don’t get me wrong, the death of VHS is a good and necessary thing.  However, with these bulky albatrosses sent on their farewell tour and the advent of the nice slim DVD, the whole world changed.  DVDs were cheaper to produce, less heavy and bulky so cheaper to ship, and faster to produce as well.  I remember the slow crawl video stores had with switching to DVD.  At first, it was really annoying because all the old movies would only be on VHS, so for awhile I never rented anything old.  Eventually the DVDs crawled into the cheap sections and soon entire stores switched over to this friendlier media.

In the meantime, while video stores dawdled with updating their inventory, some smart people apparently started up Netflix.  What a great idea it was.  They dealt exclusively in DVDs, no VHS.  Shipping was cheaper because of a thing known as media mail.  So all we had to do was log online, pick our movies, wait for them to arrive and ship them back.  Best of all, no late fees!  No more having to travel to the video store.  Sit in your home, comb through their selection and you’ve got years and years worth of viewing at a fraction of the cost. 

I still liked the video store though.  There was just something about viewing the boxes and covers and reading about them that couldn’t be beat.  But the problem was, most of these stores never adapted their prices.  Some stores did and that would always capture my business when they did $1 rentals.  Blockbuster never did that, so I rarely wanted to visit them.  There is also the need to have something RIGHT NOW.  Netflix couldn’t teleport those DVDs, so if you and your friends were talking about a movie, you had to wait for your Netflix queue or visit the evil and heinous Blockbuster and pay their hefty fees.

With the previous thoughts in mind, along came another wonderful invention which in the course of a few years has completely changed the movie rental industry.  It is called Redbox.  Now, we have a rental that only costs $1 per day, so you have instant gratification and a reasonable cost, and plenty of places to return the DVDs to, since you can return it to any Redbox location.  Genius!  A few drawbacks, such as our terrible midwest winters which sometimes freeze those touch screens so bad you can hear them screaming “WTF is this???”  That and you have a limited selection.  But overall, a wondrous invention.

Finally, add in the fact that you can watch your favorite TV show and movies in numerous ways on your computer and it is officially over for the video store industry.  The reason I’m talking about this is seeing the local Hollywood Video closing their doors.  I hadn’t even considered renting from them in years, but I sure snapped up some deals on DVDs.  But in a way, it brought back some of the nostalgia for those dark and smelly little video stores that you sifted through hoping to find a gem.  Those days are gone thanks to DVDs and the internet.  Will they ever make a comeback?  Not in their current state, possibly never.

All of this poses the curious question of, what do people who don’t have credit/debit cards do?  What do people without the internet do?  Basically, cash is being eliminated from your rental equation.  It all goes on your plastic.  If you don’t have internet, your options went even further down.  We’re almost starting to make these things all requirements for our society to function.  This has positive and negative implications on us all.  I guess we’ll find out when that ship has sailed.  It ain’t that far away!

Internet killed the Video Store

Moville Moped Mania!

Every year or so, I try to make it back to the small town I grew up in, Moville, for their annual citywide rummage sale.  So, being a determined sort of fellow for anything waxing towards the nostalgic, I loaded up the conversion van with family in tow, eastward bound to Moville.  Well, ok, the wife loaded up the family, but I drove, which is half the battle.

When we arrived in Moville, as usual, I had trips through memory lane running rampant in my head.  Remembering days that now seem long gone.  Some buildings new, some buildings gone, some dilapidated beyond repair.  But my objective was to just rummage and find bargains, not to be one of those people who harkens back to their glory days (of which I had few).

As I was sifting through a pile of books for my boys I noticed a girl come through the alley on a moped.  Immediately this caught my attention.  I then recalled glimpsing one driving down a side road as well a few blocks back. Now, anytime I see a moped driving through Moville, I can’t help but just kind of stare and remember.  But if you don’t know, or perhaps need a refresher course, I’ll elaborate why, mostly to make sure you don’t believe I just gawk at girls on mopeds.

When I grew up in Moville, a friend of my dad was selling his son’s moped.  My dad saw this as a good opportunity to give me a sort of vehicle to travel around with.  It gave me all sorts of mobility, which can be valuable at the age of 13 or 14.  After my first ride on it, I was hooked.  When I got it, I couldn’t legally drive it on the road.  So what did a young man with a taste of horsepower do?  I drove it around my yard in circles and occasionally ventured out onto the gravel road.

The moped was a nice red moped, but I’m not very good with details.  It kept having different problems starting and sometimes sputtering out.  Instead of trying to constantly figure out what was wrong, my parents decided just to get me a new one, since I would be able to legally drive it and get back and forth to school now.  There was still a fondness for that first moped, but honestly, I think it was dying of the boredom of my house.  We lived on an acreage, but come on, there’s only so much you can do on that chunk of land.

One fine weekend, we decided to drive to Sheldon as they had a motorcycle dealership that sold mopeds.  Off we went and soon I had found the shiniest red moped you ever laid eyes on.  It also had a storage compartment mounted on the back of it.  Think of it like having one of those lame baskets on the back of your bicycle, or more appropriately, a fanny pack for your moped.  Cool right?  Nope, but I thought, hey this is useful!  What’s more important than useful?  For the next few years, this compartment would see little actual use as it was easy to put my school bag on the moped floorboard.

Another peculiarity about mopeds.  You have to have a flag on the back of them.  Now, there’s several trains of thought here, so bear with me.  There was the camp that said you need it long so people can see you.  Others chopped those damn things down so far you thought they were coming out of their posterior.  I was in the first camp, because if there’s one thing my mother instilled in me, it is to be careful.  So I had that flag so damned long that when you went too fast it leaned so far back that it was almost parallel to the ground, thus defeating the entire purpose of that annoying thing to begin with.  Eventually I decided to trim it a bit (not too much) so that it wouldn’t do that and mostly so I wouldn’t be ridiculed the whole time.  Then again, the storage compartment still didn’t help.

Now there were three of us (mainly) who utilized the increased mobility of the moped on almost a gang like basis.  Me, Kelly Heeren, and David Flewelling.  I can’t tell you how many adventures we went on with those mopeds.  But what I can tell you, is that at the time, we were not exactly the cool people.  Kelly (God rest his soul) at least had the stylish Vanilla Ice haircut going for him.  And I gave many a people rides to and fro.  I’ve almost never been a small guy, so this must have been quite the sight.  So that moped got more use out of it than some people do out of their cars.

The one thing that truly catapulted the moped to infamy was an incident that involved two of my best friends. Nate Higgins and Mike Stark were feuding and it probably escalated due to something about Dungeons and Dragons, bologna loving reindeer, and other such nonsense.  However, an epic moment truly occurred the second Nate uttered “3:30 after school by Wilson’s moped!”  Suddenly the moped was not just an object, but a location!  Not just a location, but a real freaking destination.  And boy was this whole thing advertised and promoted like nothing else.  The fight itself is not so important, but the moped and that saying soon evolved into legend.  To the importance of Moville, this is akin to the importance of Zeus to Greek mythology.  Pretty impressive stuff really.

So what the heck am I rambling on about?  Well, I think it should be obvious by now, and if it isn’t, my road map probably got us lost.  Not the first time that’s happened.  But the more I went around Moville today, the more I saw of one thing.  Mopeds.  Now all girls on mopeds, but mopeds nonetheless.  So this leads to one conclusion.  The reason they ride those mopeds is because of me and the ground I forged.  Much like Larry “the Cable Guy” plowed the field of tolerance towards rednecks and hillbillies, so too, I have created a lasting legacy.  These teens may not realize that the reason they’re experiencing such an amazing freedom is because I planted that seed.  They don’t know me; the stories of me are probably slight mummers in the stories their parents tell each other at night.  But I’m proud of this legacy and the traditions created.

I’m not just here to extol my virtues.  In fact, most of the moped riders I saw were girls.  So, I think that proves the fact that I am a role model for teenage girls everywhere.  No need to shower me with gifts and adorn me with titles though.  Part of me thinks, wouldn’t the ultimate twist of irony be if I opened up a store for mopeds in Moville?  And how many people would pee their pants laughing if I did?  Well, damned good thing for you all that I don’t have any money.

Moville Moped Mania!

Jobbers, They’re Good for America and Pro-Wrestling

This has been on my mind lately, and don’t ask why, but the nearly extinct art of being a jobber has disappeared faster than a BP certain solution.  So we’re going to take a look at the very definition of a jobber, their value in today’s sport, and how wrestling should get back to this once almost proud tradition of getting your ass kicked.

Being a jobber or “enhancement talent” is an art form almost unto it’s own.  In professional wrestling, it is the role of getting one’s rear kicked repeatedly for the betterment of another talent that you’re trying to “push”.  Now, most of you probably remember these guys barely ever doing anything in the ring and wondering how they got a job.  They usually were scrawnier wrestlers or wrestlers who just didn’t have that “it” factor.  But they had one thing in common, they could make their opponent look like a million bucks.

By tradition, most jobber were poorly dressed guys who looked like they lost a bet.  Take Larry Santo for example, back in WCW days, this guy looked like there was a sale on shiny Easter season spandex.  And he tried to wear two totally clashing colors at once.  Top that all off with a lanky physique, he was a jobber of choice.  There were many others, guys like Duane Gill, Barry Horowitz, Jake “The Milkman” Milliman, and “Iron” Mike Sharpe.  If they came on TV, you knew one thing, they were going to lose.

The 1990’s redefined the role of the jobber and eventually led to their demise.  With all the competition of WWF, WCW and eventually ECW, the companies raised their levels.  Now you could regularly watch what would be PPV Main Events are your weekly main event.  Other bouts that would be big PPV draws became big Monday Night draws instead.  You had four star matches opening shows and creating an exciting atmosphere.  A great deal for the wrestling fans right?  For the most part, it was, especially at that time.  However, there is something that was vital about these matches during slow periods of the business.  That’s our current status.

So the value of the jobber during times like this is three fold.

1) The jobber helps talent get over faster – Now when you introduce new talent, they can come in and establish themselves with fans.  They can get used to the “signature moves” and “finishers” that they should be trained to look for.  They can also help you determine a pecking order.  If you want the fake rankings system, hey, the more TV time you’re getting the higher your ranking is likely to be.  I like seeing rankings, they almost make it seem more real.  They get you excited to see your favorite climb up into the rankings and get a shot at the title.  This makes for easy match making and a way to sell the match.  But this equation is MUCH harder without jobbers.  With jobbers, you can put more matches on your show and then put a few big ones at the end of the night.  Or you can do a main event at the end of each hour.

2) Sell-out your tours! – Now that we’ve seen some of these jobber matches on the TV shows, there’s not as much time for those big main event matches, right?  Now you’ve got a selling point for your house shows!  House shows used to be pretty big business, but not as much nowdays.  Part of that is because they can see all those matches on TV almost every week.  Now the only place they’ll see it is at a house show or on PPV.  That makes those house shows seem a little more special to the fans!

3) Your PPVs seem bigger! – Now those big matches they haven’t seen five times already.  If they’re looking, they’ve got a tiny preview of it or seen something specially at a house show.  Now the fan is hungry to see the real deal, the big pay-off!  A fan is much more likely to shell out money for something they haven’t seen before.  I bet AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle a few months ago would have garnered more money and buys for them if the fans had a build-up but hadn’t seen them wrestle every Impact episode.  Instead, Kurt Angle might have wrestled a mid-carder in a “big” match in preparation for the PPV.

I know, you’re saying, Mark, I hate those matches.  Did you really though?  Sure, they weren’t good matches, but they served a purpose.  When there was a new wrestler I was always glued to my TV set to see what they could do.  What cool new moves would they perform?  Would they be the next big star?  That’s what you tended to care about.  More time was focused on the interviews in short little bursts.  I loved interviewing wrestlers after they were done with a match to get their thoughts.  To me, these are the things that are missing that during these down cycles of wrestling are so important.  Would I watch Shimdog job to John Cena?  Absolutely, as long as he eye gouges me and gets some heat, I’m happy.

Jobbers, They’re Good for America and Pro-Wrestling

Testing

Just testing out a few Blogging programs for Windows 7.  Seeing if there’s anything worth a poop!

Testing

VerminCon, Chock Full of Goodness!

Well, another fun trip to VerminCon is behind me and many others now. What is VerminCon? Well, it is a perfectly wonderful game convention held in scenic, but never rustic, Vermillion, SD. Over 100 gamers showed up to play board, card, miniature, roleplaying and live action games. This year it was hosted at the brand spanking new Muenster University Center (affectionately nicknamed the MUC). In years past it has been at the Armory in Vermillion, which usually brought a new meaning to the word "cold".

This year, like last, I only got to spend one day at VerminCon and we always try to make sure we're at least there the same day as our favorite gamers, the Walsh family. So we made all the proper arrangements for Saturday and made the short journey northward bound. With the cost of the Convention only being $5, this is one of the cheapest weekend retreats you can make for a local convention. As usual fun was had!

First off, the new site is awesome. There is plenty of room and the MUC is just a phenomenal location. The lighting was excellent, acoustics were fine, the place was very comfortable. There weren't as many table as the con would have probably liked, but in the future that may be remedied. They opened up a few extra rooms when we got crowded. I understand there were a few problems with the University invoking last minute rules, including closing at 11pm instead of our usual midnight or 1am, but that was ok by us. In fact, it made sure we got back home to our babysitter on time as we only had her until midnight (thanks Mom!). The food that was available was pretty good, lots of nearby restaurants. Overall, couldn't have asked for better there. I hope they work out their problems with the University as I think this is a great site for gaming.

The next part, the people. I love the people at this convention. It's a smaller group than our normal MAGE Conventions (www.mage-page.com for more info), but it is always a fun time catching up with friends. The smaller settings at VerminCon lead to a much more family feeling at this gatherings. You just feel that you are always amongst friends and that's a good thing. Steve Thum and Todd McCracken always put on a good convention for us and work hard to get it all together. They're a huge reason this con is a success. If it wasn't for them, there wouldn't be a VerminCon. Major thanks guys!

I have to mention the games as that's the main reason to come. I played several boardgames and a few of them were new to me. We started off by playing Ad Astra. It's kind of like Settlers of Catan in space with a bit more exploration feeling to it. It works very well, I enjoyed it. A little hard to figure out how to play your action cards at first, but a very simple but fun game. Production value, great as always.

Another game that I loved was Homesteaders. This is the first game produced by Tasty Minstrel Games and it is a good one! They had some production issues, so the quality isn't quite what it could be, but the game is wonderful. So many options in this game that I need to play it again to get a better feel for it. Won't get real in-depth here, but visit www.boardgamegeek.com for information on these games.

I'm very glad I had the opportunity to attend this event again this year. It is my wife's favorite convention and I can't blame her. I really like it myself and is a Con I would hate to miss. At $5 for the whole weekend, it is an awesome bargain! You cannot go wrong with this convention. Like I mentioned earlier, www.mage-page.com has a listing for local conventions and game days. So check it out if you ever want to attend one of these events. Most Sioux City game days I work during or can't get a babysitter for, so there isn't much for boardgames there usually, which is too bad. You can also join the boardgame group at my.siouxlandvoice.com and I'll post local meet-ups there as well.

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VerminCon, Chock Full of Goodness!

Today's Paradise, Ditch all your Shopping Carts

It takes a lot for ME of all people to say this, but damn, some people are just plain lazy. The latest proof of this comes from an early Sunday morning visit to Target. My wife decided to sit in the car with Liam while Reed and I went in to purchase a present. During that point, several observations about laziness were made.

Apparently, if you're a perfectly able bodied person, it takes too much effort to put a cart into the aptly named cart corals. There must be something about them that pushes people away, like some sort of mosquito repellent theoretically, but never practically, repels said mosquitoes. What was observed on this perfectly normal Sunday morn? Mothers with teenage daughters unloading their cart and just pushing it into an open space nearby. One girl even let her cart roll into another car, as if the cart were no more than a leaf fluttering down into a gently flowing brook. Somehow, I would put money on the fact that if somebodies shopping cart hit their vehicle they would pitch a fit and want to file charges on the nearest heathen who could perpetuate such an act of gross negligence.

Note: This is not from actual said incidents. Just a brief example.



So what creates this situation? Do people believe that it's simply too off-putting to spend their time putting a cart into a coral? Are they truly that lazy? Do they just have no care for other people who now have to deal with this obstruction? Do they not have the slightest appreciation to the hard work that the cart pushers at this store have to do, especially in this cold, snow-packed winter wonderland in which we live? Is their time simply too valuable to waste two seconds putting something into it's proper place? Heck, I'm negligent on that last one, but at least I do that in my own home. My bet would simply be, a bit of all of the above.

To me this shows a general lack of awareness in one's world. These are the people who are probably oblivious to the plight of others around them. People who probably thought, boy, that Obama makes good speeches, I bet he'll do something. Or maybe they're the people who say they agree with Rush Limbaugh's view on Haiti simply because they can't see past their own small world. These people probably aren't that interested in politics though, as that requires too much thought and would make their brains hurt. See? Even I can bring two opposing points of politics into my blog! Heck, I managed to bring politics into a post that has NOTHING to do with them. Go me!

I really think that my main point of contention is this. Stop being so damned lazy! Put your shopping carts where they belong and make life easier on the employees who earn far too little so that you can buy your damned Revlon for 20 cents cheaper. If you can't manage something so small and simple, maybe we shouldn't trust you with any other decisions you make in your way too important lives.
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Today's Paradise, Ditch all your Shopping Carts