Geek +1

Got to try a new game today: Kingdom Builder.

Kingdom Builder is a board game on my wish list that didn't get realized since tabletop gaming sessions ended for me when I switched department.

With TTG 2.0, a lot of games are now available to choose from, and I didn't waste any time to pick Kingdom Builder. =)

I enjoyed the game play, it's a strategy game with a bit of luck factor and a lot of replayability given the number of mix and match maps and game objectives. Player interaction is inevitable as the players expand their kingdom and try to hinder each other.

The play duration is about an hour for a four players virgin game, most likely shorter when we are all familiar with the game.

Definitely a game that I will play again.

Other |geeky gaming| category entries.

随想

原本这周末想要写篇认真的文章的，那种自己觉得很有意思，别人看了会受益、会被启发、有所领悟的那种。

当然可能只是我自己这样觉得啦，呵呵！

题材是在上周日朋友即时简讯的对话中就想到了，只是整个上周很忙，所以打算周末有时间才好好的写。

不过这周末我太没精神了，觉得写不出我要的水准，所以干脆不写，等有精神、有时间时才写吧。

二月很短，每月要有十一篇文章，我今天就应该写些什么，不然剩下的二月那几天周日会有些急迫，毕竟近来工作比较忙。

慢工出细货，我对自己的文章水准是有要求的。

冲凉时想了想，我要写看书后感。

曾经我在部落格里会上载我看过的书的评介，然后有段时间是在面子书上。

但我朋友群中喜欢看书的太少了，好像完全没有那样，所以我也懒得再上载分享。

其实喜欢记录的我一直都有记下开始和看完每本书的日期，写个阅后评介，打个分什么的，只是没有分享而已。

刚刚看完了九把刀写的《杀手：末路花开的美梦》，有那被他消费的感觉。

他大刺刺的翻炒之前写过的故事，很多篇章原文重贴那种。

真的有被骗钱的感觉…

我打算重看《杀手：回光返照的命运》和《爱情，两好三坏》，看看他究竟直接「复制」和「粘贴」了多少。

除了那些翻炒的故事之外，《杀手：末路花开的美梦》还可以啦，还有独特的题材让故事有三分之一的新鲜。

如果他下一本杀手也是这样多篇章直接的「复制」和「粘贴」旧故事的话，我真的要杯葛他的书了。

随兴随想 |系列|

Loyalty

Running Man, the original Korea version, has been a disappointment lately.

The whole tour-themed series since the two new members joined has been boring. Good thing it's finally over.

Not sure if it's the theme, the games, the cast interaction, or the editing, but it's just not entertaining like it used to be.

I am watching out of loyalty, and hoping from this week onwards they will do better.

The China version has been entertaining, feel like I am being disloyal for liking the China Running Man more lately.

Other |temperamental thoughts| category entries.

Budget approved, part deux

Home finance minister approved budget for card and board games purchase at the end of October.

I think of it as buying myself, to date, the most expensive birthday present ever and I have finally got all the games as of Tuesday this week.

*happy* ^_^

new toys! Seven games and two expansions

Qwirkle and Gold Mine are bought primarily for family gaming sessions, they are suitable to play with the little monsters. Perhaps Alhambra too, though I bought Alhambra not with the kids in mind but because I like the game.

Sketch it! is my answer to the annoying die mechanism in Pictionary. Now this is a game that really rewards player for his or her drawing and guessing skill, not die rolling luck.

In a somewhat similar vein, Libertalia is my answer to Jamaica. Besides getting rid of the die rolling luck that predominates Jamaica, I also like the same starting hand mechanism of Libertalia, so much room for strategy and replayability.

my card and board game collection bought in recent years

Elder Sign is my second cooperative game, the first being Forbidden Island. While die rolling luck predominates this game, it does provide a lot of mechanisms to counter lousy luck. It can have up to eight players and the game mechanics is such that players can drop in and out half way, which is pretty nifty as there are those who like to sit on the fence on game commitment and those habitual latecomers in my regular gaming group.

Saboteur was not on my radar until a friend bought it, I looked it up and like it, so I bought the expansion Saboteur 2 as well. Quick and fun game that can accommodates up to twelve players with the expansion, ten without.

Scoundrels of Skullport is the expansion for Lords of Waterdeep. I love Lords of Waterdeep, so buying the expansion is a no-brainer. It adds the sixth player too.

games bought more than seven years ago, very seldom get played nowadays

Started playing some of the newly acquired games with my regular gaming group, can't wait to play all of them! =D

So many games, so little time. Game on! =P

Monday Couple moment in Emergency Couple

Spoiler alert: this entry is about Gary's cameo in Ji Hyo's Emergency Couple drama.

I am a Monday Couple fan, so when I was told that Gary had a cameo in Emergency Couple, a k-drama with Ji Hyo being the lead actress, that k-drama got put on the "check it out when have time" list.

There are probably a gazillion entries about this on the web from the many Monday Couple fans around the globe, but this one is mine. It will serve as a reminder when I am older that I have once been on this band wagon. =P

Anyway, Gary appeared in episode 6 of the Emergency Couple drama series, a short few seconds as a taxi driver who drove a drunk Ji Hyo home.

The scene started with Gary supporting the drunk Ji Hyo out of the restaurant.

Ji Hyo was singing Gary's 'Shower Later' song while Gary was grumbling about the state his passenger was in

Before Ji Hyo entered the taxi, they got a short funny moment beside the car door. Ji Hyo asked if the taxi driver was Gary, to which he replied:

Gary: "who's Gary? I am Dary." (in his typical slurred speech)

then Ji Hyo commented that he was so handsome

to which Gary replied: "I heard that quite often. You should get home to sleep."

Ji Hyo, in a talkative mood, bragged about her earlier success operation in the drama storyline.

Ji Hyo: "I have the hands of God." Gary: "Oh, really?"

Then they crossed their fingers and we get the usual shy Gary moment. ^_^

After he successfully got Ji Hyo into the taxi back seat, Gary commented that:

"I have a feeling I will bump into you on Mondays."

And just before the taxi drove off and thus ended Gary's cameo, Ji Hyo sat up in the back seat and said:

"You are the type I like."

=D

Short few seconds, but so hilarious, so many Monday Couple jokes, really "laugh die me". =P

Got to say that after watching four of Ji Hyo's earlier movies and one of her earlier dramas, I don't think much of her acting. Perhaps it's her role in those, but I simply love her best in Running Man, the rest have been meh for me.

Having said that, I am currently at episode 13 of 21 of Emergency Couple and I am giving her thumbs up for her acting. Gotta say she is much much better compared to the rest I have seen, I think this kind of role suits her.

Anyway, this is my Monday Couple fan service done and done. =)

Walk the Plank!

You know, market is bad, companies all over doing headcount reduction, firing people left and right.

Predictably instead of firing that lazy manager who gets a fat pay cheque every month doing nothing of value whatsoever, it's the twenty employees actually doing the job who get the shaft, since it takes the combined salary of twenty working employees to make up that manager's fat pay cheque.

It's the same for pirates, and that's the background story for the game Walk the Plank!

 

Okay, I just made that up, the game background story isn't exactly that. =P

Anyway it's close enough: captain pirate only wants two pirates left from his pool of lazy and slow-witted crew, the rest of the pirates in that worst of the worst group are sent off the plank as Kraken food.

Walk the Plank! is a fun and easy to learn game for three to five players. Each player starts with three pirates and the aim is to be the one with at least a pirate alive by the end of the game.

two pirates in Kraken's belly

Game ends when there are only two pirates left, meaning it can either be a single player with two pirates or one each from two players.

What do we do to keep our pirates alive? Well, we push others off the plank, of course! =P

And we do that by strategically playing our cards. The cards represent predetermined actions that we have to follow through in sequence even if they are actually detrimental to our pirates.

That's actually the fun and hilarious part, seeing your pirate suicidally charged off the plank, hehehe. Okay, maybe it's only funny if you have a wicked sense of humour like I do.

a good time to retract the plank and send the two pirates to Kraken

There are more actions than simply shoving each other, there are pulling, dragging back, randomly running around, retract or extend the plank and more, giving a good mix of strategy. Some cards cannot be played twice in a roll and we can only ask our pirate to charge as the second or third action.

I guess the only downside is that this is an elimination game, if you got ganged up on (like I did), you would be out of the game in the first few rounds and you would have to wait for that game to end before you could play again.

That said, it's a relatively quick game so the wait shouldn't be too long. The listed play time of 20 minutes is pretty accurate. For our virgin gaming session yesterday, the four of us managed to get five games in about 1.5 hours.

Fun, quick and easy game, all you need is a group of geeky fun-loving, easygoing friends. Sense of humour is a plus, wicked sense of humour an icing on the cake. =P

Mayday Games should feel free to send me more of their games for review and advertisement. =)

Crap, no crab masala!

Many years ago, wifey and I have decided we will stop celebrating Valentine's Day on 14th of February due to it being over-commercialised, the businessmen taking it too far in their greed.

So we celebrate Valentine's Day every day except 14th of February, specifically, we do not buy gift, flower or go out for meal on the 14th of February.

Any other day but 14th of February.

This year though, I had an urge to go try out the newly opened Indian restaurant near to my house, the crab masala picture on the banner kept on calling out to me everyday I drove pass that restaurant.

So wifey and I decided that if they inflate the price or put together some "special", "romantic" set meal and charge an arm for it, we would leave immediately and go to the hawker centre nearby.

Good thing they handed us the usual menu. Wifey had been there, so she knows.

drinks come in cup this size

It's my first time there, and I am ashamed to admit that I did the silly 'take photo of each dish to post online before eating' thing.

*hang head in shame*

the tandoori was nice

To my absolute disappointment, they do not have crab masala, but... but... the banner hanging outside the restaurant said...

Bollocks! =(

I ordered chicken tandoori with plain naan instead, which turned out quite nice.

the curry chicken of the banana leaf set was nice too

Elder son ordered the chicken banana leaf set after the waiter assured us that it's not spicy. Younger son went for chicken fried rice, and wifey decided to not order anything but to finish up whatever leftover from the kids. I ordered another maggi goreng, thinking to share with wifey.

maggi goreng with chicken pieces

The chicken from the banana leaf set turned out to be the spiciest of all the dishes we ordered, my elder son couldn't take it, so I gave him half my tandoori chicken instead. No thanks to you, waiter! =\

The maggi goreng was a huge let-down. HUGE. It probably has more chicken pieces in it than noodle, and the chicken pieces were like salted fish, only in chicken form.

Subaidah mamak restaurant, please come back, I miss your maggi goreng...

chicken fried rice

After the tandoori, the curry chicken from the banana leaf set, and most of the maggi goreng, there wasn't any space left to try the chicken fried rice. But according to wifey, it's salty.

I guess the restaurant gets really good deal on their salt purchase or something.

Anyway, I would only recommend the tandoori, definitely not the maggi goreng, and not the fried rice. Banana leaf set is okay if you like spicy food, just okay.

Haven't tried the other food offered there, wifey and younger son had tried the roti canai, not the best they had, but okay. The price was alright, not hawker centre cheap but not too expensive, slightly more than average.

Will probably go there for convenience sake, like when I was left home alone, but will probably not go there otherwise.

As for crab masala, found another place in the neighbourhood that has it, will go and try it one of the days. ^_^

Frankenstein versus RoboCop

With some family members back for Chinese New Year, I managed to go for two movies while ditching the little monsters to them, hehe. =P

Watched I, Frankenstein with wifey.

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It's a good take on the Frankenstein monster as well as the function of gargoyle. I was aware of gargoyles as decorative water channels for buildings, the movie took a fancy twist on the belief that gargoyles guard the building they are on from evil spirits.

It's the story of the Frankenstein monster assuming it exists and survives till modern era, and some fantasy stuff about gargoyle and demon fighting over human, one to protect, one to possess.

The story can get a bit confusing and the flow a bit fragmented, but plenty of computer generated graphics and actions.

The Frankenstein monster is a tad too pretty (stitched from eigth corpses, really?) while the gargoyles a tad too ugly. =P

Watched RoboCop with my eldest brother.

image source

RoboCop is a really well made movie. It captured all the classic RoboCop elements and made it a very believable movie.

Police officer critically injured and revived as a cyborg, came back to uphold justice, to settle unfinished business, and while doing so unearthed some corruption in the force and went ahead to kick some butts that needed kicking.

All done in a fast, smooth pace. The story flow is good and clear, the actions are nice.

The only smudge, for me, is the movie ends with a typical arrogant American statement. Oh well.

Anyway, I would give I, Frankenstein a 6.5 and RoboCop a 8.5 out of 10. Remember, all reviews are subjective. =)

Running Man

Running Man is a weekly Korean variety show that started airing in July 2011. It's a game show with fixed cast members and usually with famous Korean celebrities as guests doing missions, races and games with large spoonful of hilarity and laughter.

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all other images from this source

It has been my daily dose of stress relief and unfailing entertainment since two months ago, never fail to crack me up.

Before then, Running Man was just a name a friend kept on mentioning, which piqued my interest since I like game shows (Fear Factor, Wipeout, et cetera), but not enough for me to actively look for it since it's in Korean.

I ain't too interest in things in language I don't understand. Hence K-pop is not my thing.

hilarious games aplenty

But who would have known, that a chance pen drive test, which needed large files to fill up the drive to test for defect, would make a Running Man fan out of me?

I watched the Running Man episodes copied into the pen drive out of curiosity...

... and the rest is history.

Darn poison! =P

raw egg on the forehead, totally self-inflicted, absolutely hilarious

Unlike the other game shows I have watched, Running Man has fixed cast members participating in the games every week. While it has plenty of games and races introduced throughout the years, often funny or outright ridiculous, it's the casts interaction and banter that's the real jewel of the show.

purposely answers wrongly so teammates get punished is not uncommon, hehehe!

Kudos to the producers for coming up with new games every so often. Toe wrestling, gym karaoke, wearing pants without using the hands, just to name a few. It can even make classic like 'rock, paper, scissors' an adrenaline pumping, heart rate racing game! And I think it has made it's famous hide and seek name tag ripping game a classic.

love it when all Running Man casts work together as a team

I haven't a clue about the guests, they are supposed to be famous celebrities in Korea but I am pretty ignorant in that regard. On the other hand, since Running Man fixed casts are in every episode, I get to know and love them. =)

even (sporting) guest got dragged through the mud along with the regular casts

* this is G-Dragon, I recognised the name because of a colleague nicknamed G-Snake, who is supposedly some long lost sister to G-Dragon. But that's another story...

Of the seven cast members, I like Gary and Ji-Hyo the most. Okay, Ji-Hyo more than Gary since I am a guy. =P

I like Gary for his caring and honest character, and Ji-Hyo for her fearlessness, for giving her best, and her sweet sweet smile. ^_^

sweet <3

But of course it's really when the two of them are being the lovey-dovey Monday Couple that I love most. Doesn't matter that it's just for the show, the Monday Couple chemistry is good and it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that makes me smile silly.

If I am a fan of Running Man, then I am totally a fanboy of the Monday Couple! =P

like!

Not knowing the Korean language, I am at the mercy of the translator. Not sure how much was lost in translation but thus far I got my laughing fix in every episode.

Fearless Ji-Hyo enjoyed the bungee jump while the male casts were too scared to do it. She really deserves her 'Ace' moniker

For two months, starting from episode 1, I religiously watched at least an episode of Running Man every night, and went into weekend warrior mode of marathon watching as many episodes as I could in the weekends.

And I have finally caught up with the current latest episode (174) at the time of writing this. It's good to have no social life. =P

more Monday Couple moment

There are good episodes and there are lousy ones, but without fail all of them made me laugh. It's my stress relief, it's my laugh of the day, it's my fix for craptastic day, temporary though it may be.

Today is the first day since I started that I no longer have a Running Man episode to watch. What am I to do now that I can only get my fix once per week?

I think I am suffering withdrawal syndrome... *twitch twitch*

baseball code really! At least that's what Gary said

  

中了「那些年」的毒

看了「那些年，我们一起追的女孩」那部电影后，我开始听「那些年」这主题曲。

听了「那些年」好几遍后我开始点击观看You Tube里和「那些年」有关的幕后花絮和网民上载的相关影片。

其中有个是九把刀和几位演员出现在戏院里给台湾影迷一个惊喜的，柯导九把刀在问答环节中的一些答案真的是棒极了。

两天前，我去书局买了九把刀「那些年，我们一起追的女孩」的小说。今天中午我看完了这生平第二本爱情小说。

我看的第一本爱情小说（妻子买的）是Cecelia Ahern写的「PS, I Love You」，也是看过电影后才看小说的。所以「那些年」可是我生平买的第一本爱情小说，和我生平看的第一本中文爱情小说！

现在我很想要看未剪的完整电影，甚至认真考虑要收藏。

天啊！我想，我真的是中毒了。

真是的，明明就是他人的爱情故事，我干吗要被那些情怀感染？

搞得心里情感起伏滔天，感触很深，久久不能释怀。

真是莫名其妙！

不过也因为看过电影和小说后都会被唤起这样的感觉，我给个： 9/10

那些年

刚刚看了「那些年，我们一起追的女孩」，感触良多。

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虽然我中学时就读的是全男校，所以我没有剧中的那些经验，但戏里的情感却深深烙在我心中，动人心旋。

也许拍得好的戏就能触动观众感性的那面，唤起一种共鸣的感觉吧？还是只是自己感情丰富所以容易感动？

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怎么都好，我终于明白，为何朋友在唱这出戏的主题曲时有那么多的情感。

我在想，究竟，同时给这么多人追的感觉是怎样的？

如果有下一世，我想做迷人可爱的女生！

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女主角笑时的酒窝，让我想起一位朋友的笑容。唔，她还好吧？