David is off to Europe, but Jeffles the Peripatetic Perambulator is unexpectedly back from Seattle! The Tall One paid us a surprise RussCon visit. Expect more Honey Bears to be played at future RussCons. Go red bear!
The Virgin Suicides is a well-done downer of a movie. 70s nostalgia meets hardcore teen angst and dysfunction. And the Dobie is doing a Peter Greenaway midnight series: Thursday night you can see The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Friday through next Thursday see The Pillow Book. Last week I saw Drowning by Numbers, which was cool.
=====
Please Recycle the RussCon Way:
Cans and bottles (both glass and plastic) are recyclable, so please do so, but don't just drop them in the recycling box -- that spills sticky soda and attracts bugs!
Give the cans and bottles a quick rinse in the sink first, please, before putting them in the recycling box.
You can also demonstrate your manly prowess (or feminine charms) by squeezing and crushing the can after rinsing if you like. Advanced players may attempt to flatten the can into a disk by stomping it on the floor if they feel adventurous, or by pressing them against their foreheads if they feel stupid. Crushing of glass bottles, on the other hand, is not advised. The RussCon Management appreciates your cooperation in this matter.
Thanks to folks who have been bringing drinks and munchies.
=====
Game Results:
Acquire 5 WendyWhe 4 RussW 2 Clayton 0 Tim -2 Marty -4 SchottenTotten 2 Bob 1 Allen -1 Abalone 2 Allen 1 Bob -1 TajMahal 5 JeffF 3 BobR 3 Steve 0 Dan -2 JP -4 Drahtselakt 5 JP 4 JeffF 2 Steve 0 RussW -2 BobR -4 MasterLabyrinth 3 Tim 2 Clayton 0 WendyWhe -2 BigCity 5 Marty 4 Bob 2 Jeffles 0 Dan -2 Allen -4 MitListUndTucke 5 BobR 4 RussW 2 JP 0 Marty -2 Steve -4 MerchantsOfAmsterdam 5 Bob 4 Allen 2 Dan 0 Jeffles -2 JeffF -4 SchnapchenJagd 3 Dan 2 Allen 0 Jeffles -2A very exciting game of Acquire where Wendy came from behind to squeak ahead of me by a couple thousand bucks in the end. Poor Marty finished incredibly poor. He loves 4-player Acquire, so whenever a 4-player game is starting, he wants to join in as well as 5th player. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?
The tightrope game Drahtselakt was cool again. Round 2 I took 16 points (that's very bad, you want to get 0). Luckily I managed to get 0 in a later round, which let me cancel the 16, but I had 12 from another round hurting me, alas. JP ended up winning the game again! He is the Drahtselakt Devil.
Mit List und Tucke plays slowly, we discovered, about a half an hour per round, for 5 rounds in a 5 player game. But it's cool. I made a hideous silly game-costing brain fart blunder which is easy to do in this game due to the unusual trick-taking mechanics, but still managed to keep ahead of that Devil JP who won the previous game of this. BobR did an impressive come-from-behind in this one.
Bob wishes it noted that Allen backstabbed him ruthlessly in Merchants of Amsterdam. At least that's Bob's side of the story. I suspect whatever happened probably doesn't compare to some of "Dirty" Harry's shenanigans (for which Harry has been banished to the wastelands of Athens, Texas).
There have been sightings of Save Dr. Lucky, so I expect we'll be seeing that at RussCon in the near future.
=====
Evening's Soundtrack:
Cake, Motorcade of Generosity
Cat People, Original Soundtrack
Fish, Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors
Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust
Calvin Russell, Dream of the Dog
Allergens for me or various of my friends. No one guessed this theme! It might have been easier to guess if I'd had a CD with "pollen" in the title or band name...
=====
Rank ratings: 0.6000 Bob (4 games played) 0.3333 WendyWhe (2) 0.2500 BobR (3) 0.1667 RussW (3) 0.0833 JeffF (3) 0.0000 Tim (2) 0.0000 JP (3) 0.0000 Clayton (2) -0.1429 Dan (4) -0.1667 Marty (3) -0.1667 Allen (5) -0.3333 Steve (3) -0.4000 Jeffles (3) New Win ratings: 0.5000 WendyWhe (2) 0.5000 BobR (3) 0.3000 Bob (4) 0.1667 Tim (2) 0.1667 Marty (3) 0.0833 JeffF (3) 0.0833 JP (3) -0.1429 Dan (4) -0.2500 RussW (3) -0.2500 Allen (5) -0.3000 Jeffles (3) -0.3333 Clayton (2) -0.3333 Steve (3)Bob is the Devil! Wendy is Vice-Devil, but she'll be in England next week! BobR is Vice-Vice-Devil! Then RussW & JeffF. Allen wins the Dedicated Award.
=====
Links:
William was a Russian hamster. Jeffles was a beagle.
http://www.emode.com/emode/tests/animal_past.jsp
White Mask is the small game company of Anthony, one of the fun folks I met in LA.
http://www.whitemask.com/
Some gamer webcomics I've been reading lately:
http://www.penny-arcade.com
http://www.pvponline.com
http://www.reallifecomics.com
http://www.gamemarks.com
http://www.lethaldoses.com
=====
How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
Russ
http://russcon.org