Media Monday: TV Month Rolls On!

The Crown s1 - I really learned a lot about the Queen! If, of course, these events are true. I hope they are.

Rebels s3 - The plot has been swinging a little far into stuff I don't care about, but the good episodes really draw me in. I think I binged enough of this season at once that I started to understand Chopper.

Designated Survivor s1 - This one season felt like three shows, and it's probably not a coincidence that it went through a few show runners in as much time. I guess it's coming back for s2, but since everything got wrapped up with a nice bow at the end of s1, I'm not. I would have preferred a drama about rebuilding the cabinet than a low energy conspiracy plot. 

Magicians s3 - This show went off the rails a long time ago. I like watching the visual effects for the magic - I think I could do most of them.

Review s3 - Review s1 might be my favorite TV comedy ever. s3 is just a little send-off. Heavy on clips, but not without the charm of previous seasons.

Orphan Black s5 - I was dreading this a little bit, even though I wanted to see how it all turned out. About half way through it started to win me back and I was excited to see the conclusion.

Fargo s3 - This is my favorite TV show. It might (maybe?) be my least favorite season, but even if it is, it’s still an excellent show. (And thinking back on it, I might only be liking it less because of how successful the show is at making this season's villain villainous.)

Escape Room Reviews: Escape Room in a Box

Company: Escape Room in a Box
Room: The Werewolf Experiment
Date Played: 8/19/17
Player Count: 2
Success:  Success!

Premise: You’ve purchased an escape room kit on kickstarter–wait, I mean, there’s some reason you might turn into a werewolf unless you solve a series of puzzles!

Immersion: This game does not effectively make you think you are in a mad scientist’s laboratory. To be fair, we didn’t follow the included party planning hints, which may have done the trick.  HOWEVER, this game does an okay job of making you feel like you’re playing a room escape game, which is a pretty good victory!

Highlights: While this game does have some basic paper-and-pencil kind of puzzles, it doesn’t feel like a workbook. There’s some genuine solving to do, some actual surprises, and some clever reveals, all while being self-contained in a surprisingly small box!  Comes with an object I wish I could take with me into every escape room. 

Lowlights: One element of the game broke in shipping. We didn’t actually realize exactly how it was broken until the game was over and we read the instructions on how to repack the game for a future player. 

And Finally:   Although I didn’t write up a little review for it, the only other tabletop escape room that I’ve played was the Escape the Room: Stargazer’s Manor box. (Summary: it’s fine. Worth buying on sale. More like an activity book than this game). This game differs from that one by including an impressive array of actual, physical objects to interact with, including real locks to be opened. This game is more expensive, but still much cheaper than most actual escape rooms, and does a great job of scratching that puzzle solving itch. 

Bonus highlight - when I wrote to the creators to inform them about the broken part of our game (mostly as a field report, not a complaint), they sent us a replacement part for use in repacking the game, hand delivered by one of their friends who lives somewhere nearby! That’s service!

I'm not going to place this on my list of ranked escape rooms, because that seems weird and unfair.  But if I did, it would probably beat at least half a dozen 'real' rooms. 

How to book this room yourself: UPDATE: The mass-market edition of the game is now available. You can buy it from Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2DaXwbb

Media Monday: TV Time!

I'm not watching movies fast enough for you lately, and we're getting into a rough month for the theaters. Let's spend the next couple of weeks on quick recaps of some of this year’s TV!

Sneaky Pete s1 - Mostly a fun con man story. Like many shows today, this one tries to bring you that Breaking Bad-esque feeling of the worst thing happening to its characters at the worst time. Unlike most of them, this one actually has Bryan Cranston.

Broadchurch s3 - Mostly worth watching in order to catch up with the town and characters you came to know in the previous, better seasons.

Legion s1 - Fancy visuals, hints of X-Men flavor. A snack to hold over the audience member awaiting a new season of Fargo.

The Good Fight s1 - As The Good Wife drew to a close, the area where it fell the flattest was in lawyering. This show brings back a bunch of the same characters and most importantly, has tons of lawyering! Also, some kind of slightly boring plot revolving around the new POV character.

The Tick s1 - Another Tick, another supporting cast developed to dodge around licensing issues. I thought playing with whether and how crazy Arthur is was a fun device.

Iron Fist s1 - This show might be badly written. Or maybe all of the horrible things that have happened to Danny have emotionally and socially stunted him, leaving him with a– no, it's kind of bad, and Danny gets beat up surprisingly often for being Kun Lun's greatest warrior.

NotArt Home Subscription Service

Hello friend,

I wanted to tell you about a thing that I'm making, because that's the only way that people find out. 

Among the many hobbies I've picked up from Benjamin Franklin over the years, some of my favorites include designing for print, accepting unusual gifts from the French, and writing fantastical stories. That's how I got into tiny publishing. Each book is 8 pages long and suitable for framing. But much MORE suitable for reading! 

And so I've set up a subscription system that allows me to easily collect mailing addresses and pass the expenses directly on to YOU, the potential reader!

www.patreon.com/NotArt is the internet's new hot spot, where everybody is signing up. Well, not everyone, but that's only because so far each issue is limited to 50 copies. Hand numbered, of course, to create a fun challenge if fame or infamy should strike.

If you're like me, you're in Los Angeles, so you could take your chances with running into me somewhere and seeing if I'll just give you each issue. But if you're not the gambling type, this mail-order service is for you. Plus, I've got 15 copies left of issue 1, and you can get one for free with issue 2, which is what you get if you subscribe in August. 

So sign up today, if you want to! It's a chance to get something good in the mail for a change! 

Your frequent correspondant,
-Rob

(You have received this email because: a) you've hit me up at some point in the past about YOUR crazy scheme, b) you have, at some point, cold-called me to sell me a Toyota, or c) I could imagine you being genuinely interested in this project. Anyhow, you can't unsubscribe. It's not a mailing list.)

#2,383: The Dark Tower

Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition - ★★★½☆
On my first viewing, I said that a) I wanted to re-arrange a few scenes and b) I already liked this movie more than anyone I know. Which maybe says more about the movie than about me.

This time around was the 'Ultimate Edition' and it's had quite a bit of work done - this isn't the exact same cut plus a few deleted scenes re-inserted. Stuff is moved around, subplots are added, motivations are changed. It's long, and a little bit of it is still confusing, but it's definitely a better version.

Also, here's a fan theory: I'm sure someone else has already said this, but it's mine anyway: Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Thomas Wayne for all of thirty seconds. Maybe he's just really into Batman, or friends with Zach Snyder from Watchmen. Or maybe the Flash movie is doing the Flashpoint storyline and we've already got a solid actor locked and loaded to play Batman. I didn't recognize the actress playing Martha, so I can't rightly guess whether we'll see her again, but look forward now to JDM-Bats and Affleck-Bats having that heart-to-heart...

Miss Sloane - ★★★☆☆
What if Nightcrawler was about a woman? Well, for one thing, she'd be way more successful...

This movie wasn't bad but nobody had the stomach for a film about electioneering in late 2016. Jessica Chastain is becoming typecast as the skillful and competent woman - as these things go, that sounds like a pretty good career.

The Dark Tower - ★★★☆☆
Some of the acting was bad, but I thought this was great! One of my minor talents is recognizing the secret identities of the media. (Examples: PS1's Vagrant Story is the best video game of the board game Hero Quest. Tomorrowland is the best movie of Bioshock we're likely to get. Interstellar is a fine Lovecraftian horror.) This movie is a terrific adaptation of the Arkham Horror board game. Characters travel through gates to fantastic other worlds where they fight monsters and encounter sanity-blasting realizations about the world around them, before ultimately doing battle with an ancient evil to prevent the end of the world.

I couldn't tell you whether it has anything to do with the Stephen King novels.