Thursday, July 26, 2012

Batman Blooms

The Dark Knight Rises

An amazing movie to end an amazing trilogy. The best batman movies of all time and the best superhero trilogy ever made. The Dark Knight Rises does not disappoint. It is true that Heath Ledger's role as The Joker couldn't be topped by Bane or Catwoman, but Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway really hold their own in the film. I was actually very pleased with Anne as Catwoman even though I was worried. That gives me hope for the new Superman movie Man of Steel as well, because even though there are big names, I am a bit worried to see how Amy Adams does as Lois Lane. Anyway, not totally off topic, there was of course the Man of Steel teaser trailer in front of The Dark Knight Rises. The trailer was a bit confusing to everyone I think, but I still think that this new Superman movie has great hope.

Knowing a bit about Bane from my comic book reading and Batman novel reading, I was pretty pleased with how the movie was done. Joseph Gordon-Levitt also does a great job as a supporting cop/detective role. The movies are just so well done, and this last movie ties all the movies nicely together. Very happy with it.

Garden Turned Flowers

Well, for those who knew of my pot garden last year (a garden grown in pots...not a literal pot garden), this year I decided to just plant flowers. I am very happy with that decision. My Dahlia plant is especially doing well, and it is by far my favorite. Anyway, check it out! The pictures turned out great too.









Remember to take time to smell the Dahlias and only 6 more days until the beginning of AYPAD (A Yoga Pose A Day) and that is How Lou Sees It.




Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Game A Day In Review

A Game A Day

70 straight days of playing a different board game each night and writing a review. From Day 1 I wasn't really sure how many days that this project would last; I was hoping that I could make it past 40 days. Thanks to the support of friends and family letting me borrow some of their games, the support of Rio Grande Games, Minion Games, and MindWare for their game donations, and especially the amazing support from The Wife who put up with me blogging every night and playing a game when the day didn't even have time for it. A big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU!

I am still amazed that I made it this long. And yet, there are many more games out there to be played. I will definitely continue to review the games that I own and have played for you all. You will be able to find a list of all of my game reviews which I will organize alphabetically. I love board games. Sometimes I will just find myself reading reviews and rules to board games just for fun. This has really been a really fun project and I have enjoyed it immensely and I hope that you have as well.

If you didn't notice, most of my reviews were 3 fingers up (equivalent to an 8 out of 10 or better. This is because most of the games I played are games that I actually own...and why would I buy a game that I don't love? So, there are a lot of 4 fingers up (or 9/10) which are all amazing games, but the top games that all received a thumbs up (10/10) are listed below (Chess and Scrabble are not included in this list just because they are so well known already, but they also received the full 10/10 thumbs up):
Top 10 (listed alphabetically)
Now on to the Scoreboard results. The Wife and I were pretty much neck and neck throughout the project although The Wife had a winning streak of like 13 games in a row I believe. In the end, I came out on top (even with my losing record, I had the most victories):
                            W-L-T
Lou                      32-35-3
The Wife              28-39-3
Nicole                  3-2-0
Nathan                 2-4-0
T.B.I.L.                1-0-0
Sauron                 1-0-0
F. I.                      1-0-0
Jackie                   0-1-0
Spencer                0-1-0
Bryan                   0-2-0

I did not get to play all of the games that I would have liked to, but that is one of the great joys of board games. There are so many fun games out there that all offer something a little bit different. Some of the games that I did not get a chance to play or review include (consider it my watch/wish list in no particular order; I have played a lot of these games, but I do not own or have easy access to them):

Tsuro, The Resistance, Black Friday, Friday, Crows, Flash Point Fire Rescue, Ricochet Robots, Fearsome Floors, 7 Wonders, 221 B Baker Street, Nuns on the Run, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride Europe, Alhambra, Le Havre, Blokus, and the list goes on and on.

Thank you again for supporting this project by checking out my blog. I may be taking a break from the Game Reviews for a while, but don't fret everyone. I have a new project on the horizon. Everyone prepare for (drum roll please) .... A Yoga Pose A Day. Now, it may be a little while before I start this project. I have to start some research and find a killer Yoga outfit, but I plan on at least attempting a different Yoga Pose every day and posting a picture to prove it! If only they had a Yoga themed board game. Get excited folks and that is How Lou Sees It!