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Jury's in on July

Game the Oneth: Pirates of the Caribbean Life.

Shiver me timbers, scupper me bilge and set sail for the seven seas mateys! We're off to a traysure laden start with this salty pick of Dr Kirby's! Based on the hit game and Hollywood movie franchise this one was a barnacled beauty. Our grog besotted winner, Cap'n K can be seen at right lifting a bottle o' rum off a dead man's chest in a victory toast.When it comes to piracy he be the "Teach"-er! Yarrr!!!

Game the Two-th: Mystery Mansion.

Somehow playing this with my daughter 20 years ago gave me the edge I needed to pull off a stunning win. Really, I think everyone was relieved when it was over. Wandering through an unbuilt house of boxes and searching for treasure chests has a ring of buccaneering fun to it but truth be told it grows tedious. I also have an updated "talking" version of this game at home. Ya' gotta wonder what the improvement would be to have this thing sqauwking away and eating batteries while you tried to find the winning goodies? Well ..fun enough but mostly because of a lucky quick win.
Game the Third-th: Q-bert.

Based on the hit computer game of two decades ago the whole crew mutinied and decided to make this one walk the plank. Too many rules and ... it was getting late ...and well ...bleariness does set in after awhile so ...Away with it!. At lower left we see Zeus and his buddy sighing with relief at the sight of Q-bert going over the edge.


Game the Fourth: Hotel

Now this is the game we should have tried out instead of Mystery Mansion. We didn't have time to play this but just setting it up and gazing at it's magnificence sent Dr Kirby into a panicked greed frenzy for PROPERTY! (see final picture) We had trouble wresting it from his paws and only the assurance that we may yet someday try this royal real estate treat kept him from foaming insanity.

Patience Doc! Mad greed for land is what got the lubbers of this country in half the fix it's currently in! See you next month!

enuJ

What is it about June that makes me go all backwards like?

AT midnight, in the month of June,

I stand beneath the mystic moon.

An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,

Exhales from out her golden rim,

Edgar Allen Poe, The Sleeper

Yeah, Ed, that must be it, the opiate vapor. Might explain why I can't catch a break on Game Night lately. Anyway, let us proceed through the events of June GN in the order reversed of which they in actual time transpired were. Huh?

We'll open with an innovation, video. ("It's funny how the colours of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen." ) Not here on the blog of course, O my brothers, but over there where the flickers fly I have stashed such vids as I will now here describe. Now don't get all woozy on me my kinderlings as we will now be flying low over "Hotels". (Click for Video Numero Uno). Such wonders of hospitality. Will we ever get to play said game? Likely not. Likely just a flashed up, Vegasy sort of Monopoly©. Did you spot the foreclosed subdivisions out there on the periphery? Oh, they're there all right.

Before that, which we set up and didn't play, we had Q*bert

which we set up, selected two to play (yeah, lost that one too), read the rules ("When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you." thanks, Fred), and abandoned. Even the ever patient Colonel loses it as he attempts to instruct the hapless victims to be. (Click for Video Dos) Well, ought for two. And we've only just concluded. How did we reach this impasse?

Behold "Mystery Mansion".

Keys, locks, stairs, clues and, oh yes, secret passages. Alright, where was the skeleton? A skeleton would have really made my evening. Too many cobwebs and no skeleton. And we were all reaching for our readers to try and discern whether those were crates or barrels down the basement.

But you have to applaud the modularity of it all. And, you know, treasure chests.

And, speaking of treasure chests, we now come to the final exhibit for the evening, where it all began, always a favorite, Pirates!

A mostly lame adaptation of the always lame game LIFE cashing in on the popular Pirates of the Caribbean. But … Pirates! With raids! And skullduggery! Skeletons? Don't remember. Every move involved money changing hands which all pretty much balanced out. But it was paper money. Very non-piratical. Jewels! Doubloons! Captives! (especially wenches!)

Now that's the pirate game. (But lots of Chinese pirates, very cool).

And that spinner … Somebody should walk the plank for that spinner, aargh!

OK, here's where we came in, pass the wasabi peas.

P.S. Our best to comrade Dennis whose die tossing, piece shuffling wing kept him out of the game due to recent sawbones action. Be seeing you in July.

You know the pictures are always better over at the Flickr

See it and weep!

Bad Movie Night!

Ah! It's showtime once again and the crew needs a break from the brain strain of learning rules and regulations. This is the life, sitting back and letting the ooze pour in through glazed eyes. At left we see half of the audience preparing for torpor.

First Short: "Carnival Story" (as edited by our usher "Art- Cut to the Chase" )-below
This miracle was taken from Blame Games personal video vault. "Cut to the Chase" would take an old movie and boil it to 30 minutes cutting it to the bare minimum story and adding their own whip wit. Tragedy, comedy, romance and added absurdity made this worth a peek. "Cut" may be long gone from the small screen but it's still the best ever at burning bad films to their essence. 8 thumbs up!

Second Short: "SCTV - Wendy O

and the Plasmatics" right

Now this was scary! Watching Wendy wail was ...wild! Thanks to an ever vigilant Dr. Kirby we were treated to several short subjects from the days of yore. Mohawks! Leather! Spikes! Un-intelligible lyrics! Smoke! Chaos! Wrecked equipment! Yikes! And John Candy! Comedy will never be the same. Recommended!

Main Feature: "Psych Out"

A Dick Clark production made in 1968 starring Susan Strasberg, Jack Nicholson, Dean Stockwell and Bruce Dern. Huh? Does that say it all or what? But wait! There's more! Music by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Seeds! Now we're rockin' baby! This inchoate waste is best encapsulated by pictures from the film itself, each being worth far more than a thousand words and yet still lacking without an added explanation of each. At lower left we see Jack's back and an arm straddling Strasberg. What's wrong with this picture? It's like a reverse negative flip of what it should be. Think about it ...these are supposed to be free love beatnik hippie bohemians! If this were a shot of the Pope's Mom and Dad he would only be shocked by the surrounding decor. Below the bed scene we see ...uh ...I think this was either a fogged "love" shot or a scene at the disco or sample of the fire/bum voyage/drug trip. That gives you an idea of how screwy this flick is. More groans than laughs and the crew was left with a poor opinion of the psychadelic revolution. Peace!

Final Shorts: "Pussy Cat Dolls and Walker Texas Ranger"

Sorry. No pics of these last numbers. The Dolls were too entrancing and Walker was too bizarre (it was a cut from an episode where Walker tells a grade school kid that the kid has Aids. *gulp!*)

The Walker cut was from Latenight with Conan OBrien. A great evening ender. All in all a fine break from the usual die rollin' mayhem. See you next month for more table top trips and keep watching the screens!