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Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies, and Practices
Book
Written by the 'father of corporate governance', this text is an authoritative guide to the...
Tiger Check: Automating the US Air Force Fighter Pilot in Air-to-Air Combat, 1950-1980
Book
Spurred by their commanders during the Korean War to be "tigers," aggressive and tenacious American...
SC
Stop Caretaking the Borderline or Narcissist: How to End the Drama and Get On with Life
Book
People with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorders have a serious mental illness that...
Johnny Marr recommended 154 by Wire in Music (curated)
Trade Size - Position Sizing Calculator for Stocks
Finance and Business
App
Are You Under or Over Trading? Proper position sizing and risk management is the key to making...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Love Wedding Repeat (2020) in Movies
Aug 16, 2020
Movie marketing departments, please repeat after me: "I will not mislead the audience with my blurb for the film."
Jack has to juggle with dramas at his sister's wedding to make sure a troublemaker doesn't ruin the whole day.
Love Wedding Repeat looks very much like every other romcom out there but its saving grace appeared to be an interesting cast and the fun alternate timelines we'd see as promised in the blurb... but don't get your hopes up on that last part. I rewatched the trailers to try and find out where I got the wrong end of the stick about this and I found it was only mildly implied, in fact, it's the synopsis that outright tells you "alternate versions of the same day".
What's given to us feels more like an accident, like they filmed heavy and then realised they were running out of time and needed to cram it in. The "alternate versions" are more of a footnote on the film and a wasted opportunity. You could have run the Groundhog Day-esque scenarios or had the comedy rewind sound and gone back to the beginning of the scene... but the comedy alternatives are really nowhere to be seen.
The lack of comedy doesn't stop there, for the most part the script isn't a great success, I don't think I even laughed once. It tries to rely on quite an aggressive humour (that might not make sense to you, but it does in my head!) and everything feels very forced.
A good cast can sometimes redeem those moments that don't land on the page but the majority of the characters are just forgettable. No one is particularly likeable and that was a real drawback when you add it onto all the other drawbacks.
Love Wedding Repeat feels terribly balanced, had any of the elements been even slightly better it could have made this more watchable, but alas, they weren't, so it wasn't. Simple as.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/love-wedding-repeat-movie-review.html
Jack has to juggle with dramas at his sister's wedding to make sure a troublemaker doesn't ruin the whole day.
Love Wedding Repeat looks very much like every other romcom out there but its saving grace appeared to be an interesting cast and the fun alternate timelines we'd see as promised in the blurb... but don't get your hopes up on that last part. I rewatched the trailers to try and find out where I got the wrong end of the stick about this and I found it was only mildly implied, in fact, it's the synopsis that outright tells you "alternate versions of the same day".
What's given to us feels more like an accident, like they filmed heavy and then realised they were running out of time and needed to cram it in. The "alternate versions" are more of a footnote on the film and a wasted opportunity. You could have run the Groundhog Day-esque scenarios or had the comedy rewind sound and gone back to the beginning of the scene... but the comedy alternatives are really nowhere to be seen.
The lack of comedy doesn't stop there, for the most part the script isn't a great success, I don't think I even laughed once. It tries to rely on quite an aggressive humour (that might not make sense to you, but it does in my head!) and everything feels very forced.
A good cast can sometimes redeem those moments that don't land on the page but the majority of the characters are just forgettable. No one is particularly likeable and that was a real drawback when you add it onto all the other drawbacks.
Love Wedding Repeat feels terribly balanced, had any of the elements been even slightly better it could have made this more watchable, but alas, they weren't, so it wasn't. Simple as.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/love-wedding-repeat-movie-review.html
144 Blues Guitar Licks
Music and Education
App
***** 144 Blues Guitar Licks ***** 144 smoking blues guitar licks and lessons in the style of...
Too Good To Be Real: A Novel
6.0
Rate It
Book
The perfect combination of sweet, sexy, and make-you-grin moments. - Lyssa Kay Adams, author of The...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Among the Stars in Tabletop Games
Dec 3, 2021
If there is a mechanic that we at Purple Phoenix Games seem to really love, it is card drafting. One such game that has been a big hit for us (well, at least for 3 of us….) is 7 Wonders. Draft a card, pass the rest to your neighbor, draft another card from those received from your other neighbor, and repeat. Set in the Ancient World, you are working to build the most wondrous city. But Laura, why all the 7 Wonders talk in this review? Well, because Among the Stars gives me major 7 Wonders vibes, but IN SPACE. Keep reading to see what I mean.
Disclaimer: Among the Stars can be played in two different modes – Aggressive and Non-Aggressive. This review covers the core game Non-Aggressive mode of play. -L
Among the Stars is a game of card drafting and tile placement in which players take on the roles of different alien races attempting to build the most efficient space station over the span of 4 years (rounds). After the 4th and final round, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score is the winner! To setup for a game, assemble the Location deck as described in the rules. Each player takes a Main Reactor card and score marker in their chosen color. Score markers are placed at zero on the score board, and players put their Main Reactor card face-up in front of them, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Players choose, or are randomly given, a Race Tile with a special Racial Ability to be used throughout the game. Randomly draw the requisite number of Objective cards and put them face-up near the score board. The game is now ready to begin!
Over the course of 4 rounds, players will be drafting cards and playing them into their Space Station. At the start of each round, every player collects 10 Credits (game currency), and draws a hand of 6 Location cards. Every turn, players will select one card from their hand, place it face-down in front of them, and will pass the remaining cards in their hand to the next player (in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the round). Players will then simultaneously reveal their chosen card and perform one of three actions: Build a Location, Build Power Reactor, or Discard and gain 3 Credits. To Build a Location, you pay its listed cost in Credits and/or Energy and add it to your Space Station. Locations must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Location. When you build a Location, you immediately gain the listed number of VP (tracked on the score board), and may use its ability. Some abilities are immediate and earn you extra VP now, while some are delayed and will be counted at the end of the game. To Build a Power Reactor, you will first discard your selected card for the turn. Pay the 1 Credit cost of a Power Reactor and place it into your Space Station, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Every round, you get 10 Credits, but Energy Cubes do not replenish unless you build more Power Reactors, so keep an eye on your resources! The last possible action is to Discard and gain 3 Credits, and is pretty self-explanatory.
Players continue taking turns (drafting cards, passing cards, and playing cards) until they are left with no cards in hand. The round is now over. Move the round marker to the next space, and begin a new round by drawing another hand of 6 cards. After the 4th round of play, the game ends and final VP are scored. Victory Points have been earned throughout the game, but now any delayed abilities are triggered and scored, Objective points are added, and players gain points for Power Reactors and remaining Credits. The player with the highest score is the winner!
See what I mean about being 7 Wonders in space? The overall gameplay is pretty much the same thing – draft a card, pass cards, play the card – even though thematically they’re on opposite ends of time. That familiarity and simplicity of the gameplay definitely added to my enjoyment of the game. And when I say ‘simplicity’ of gameplay, I do not mean that it is an easy game necessarily. It still requires a decent amount of strategy! Not only do you have to decide what card to draft for maximum benefit, but you also need to figure out exactly where to put it in your Space Station too. Some Locations may give you extra VP for being adjacent to certain other Locations, or they may even earn more VP for distance between two Locations. You’ve got to be thinking in advance, but also able to adapt on the fly. Do you draft a card that you don’t necessarily want because you can see your opponent needs it? Or do you keep your head down and try to fly under the radar? The strategy and mechanics work very well together in creating an engaging and entertaining game.
Components. This game basically just consists of cards, a score board, and some tokens. So even though it’s nothing too fancy or anything, they’re still pretty decent quality! The artwork is thematic and fun to look at, and the layout of the cards is easy to understand. The cards are square, so that makes for some interesting shuffling, but the square shape really lends itself well to the tile-laying aspect of the gameplay. So all in all, good production quality. Just be warned – as the game progresses, it turns into quite a table hog, since you are constantly adding cards to your Space Station. Not a knock on the game, just a heads up so you give yourself plenty of room!
Will Among the Stars replace 7 Wonders for me? Ultimately, no. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but 7 Wonders just offers a little more strategy that bumps it to a higher level than Among the Stars. To introduce players to these mechanics and gameplay style, I would use Among the Stars because it is a little ‘lighter’ than 7 Wonders, if you ask me. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders and are interested in a more futuristic theme, I would definitely recommend checking out Among the Stars. It’s a neat game that has been hiding on my game shelf without the playtime it deserves. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stellar 15 / 18.
Disclaimer: Among the Stars can be played in two different modes – Aggressive and Non-Aggressive. This review covers the core game Non-Aggressive mode of play. -L
Among the Stars is a game of card drafting and tile placement in which players take on the roles of different alien races attempting to build the most efficient space station over the span of 4 years (rounds). After the 4th and final round, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score is the winner! To setup for a game, assemble the Location deck as described in the rules. Each player takes a Main Reactor card and score marker in their chosen color. Score markers are placed at zero on the score board, and players put their Main Reactor card face-up in front of them, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Players choose, or are randomly given, a Race Tile with a special Racial Ability to be used throughout the game. Randomly draw the requisite number of Objective cards and put them face-up near the score board. The game is now ready to begin!
Over the course of 4 rounds, players will be drafting cards and playing them into their Space Station. At the start of each round, every player collects 10 Credits (game currency), and draws a hand of 6 Location cards. Every turn, players will select one card from their hand, place it face-down in front of them, and will pass the remaining cards in their hand to the next player (in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the round). Players will then simultaneously reveal their chosen card and perform one of three actions: Build a Location, Build Power Reactor, or Discard and gain 3 Credits. To Build a Location, you pay its listed cost in Credits and/or Energy and add it to your Space Station. Locations must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Location. When you build a Location, you immediately gain the listed number of VP (tracked on the score board), and may use its ability. Some abilities are immediate and earn you extra VP now, while some are delayed and will be counted at the end of the game. To Build a Power Reactor, you will first discard your selected card for the turn. Pay the 1 Credit cost of a Power Reactor and place it into your Space Station, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Every round, you get 10 Credits, but Energy Cubes do not replenish unless you build more Power Reactors, so keep an eye on your resources! The last possible action is to Discard and gain 3 Credits, and is pretty self-explanatory.
Players continue taking turns (drafting cards, passing cards, and playing cards) until they are left with no cards in hand. The round is now over. Move the round marker to the next space, and begin a new round by drawing another hand of 6 cards. After the 4th round of play, the game ends and final VP are scored. Victory Points have been earned throughout the game, but now any delayed abilities are triggered and scored, Objective points are added, and players gain points for Power Reactors and remaining Credits. The player with the highest score is the winner!
See what I mean about being 7 Wonders in space? The overall gameplay is pretty much the same thing – draft a card, pass cards, play the card – even though thematically they’re on opposite ends of time. That familiarity and simplicity of the gameplay definitely added to my enjoyment of the game. And when I say ‘simplicity’ of gameplay, I do not mean that it is an easy game necessarily. It still requires a decent amount of strategy! Not only do you have to decide what card to draft for maximum benefit, but you also need to figure out exactly where to put it in your Space Station too. Some Locations may give you extra VP for being adjacent to certain other Locations, or they may even earn more VP for distance between two Locations. You’ve got to be thinking in advance, but also able to adapt on the fly. Do you draft a card that you don’t necessarily want because you can see your opponent needs it? Or do you keep your head down and try to fly under the radar? The strategy and mechanics work very well together in creating an engaging and entertaining game.
Components. This game basically just consists of cards, a score board, and some tokens. So even though it’s nothing too fancy or anything, they’re still pretty decent quality! The artwork is thematic and fun to look at, and the layout of the cards is easy to understand. The cards are square, so that makes for some interesting shuffling, but the square shape really lends itself well to the tile-laying aspect of the gameplay. So all in all, good production quality. Just be warned – as the game progresses, it turns into quite a table hog, since you are constantly adding cards to your Space Station. Not a knock on the game, just a heads up so you give yourself plenty of room!
Will Among the Stars replace 7 Wonders for me? Ultimately, no. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but 7 Wonders just offers a little more strategy that bumps it to a higher level than Among the Stars. To introduce players to these mechanics and gameplay style, I would use Among the Stars because it is a little ‘lighter’ than 7 Wonders, if you ask me. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders and are interested in a more futuristic theme, I would definitely recommend checking out Among the Stars. It’s a neat game that has been hiding on my game shelf without the playtime it deserves. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stellar 15 / 18.
The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture
Book
Americans have always loved guns. This special bond was forged during the American Revolution and...