So while I enjoy talking about Malifaux (and I will again before the end of this post), I also like to chat about what I am listening to both music and book wise, along with any other gaming. Now there is nothing that I like better then sitting down with a good book and spending hours just reading and enjoy the feeling of the paper in my hand, the smell of the pages, but with two kids and a wife, I get to do that about as often as I get a weekend alone to relax. So instead of sitting and doing nothing but reading, I am very much into listening to Audio books.I get my audio books through Audible and by borrowing them from the library. The number of audio books the library has to borrow surprises a lot of people. Many of the most popular modern novels are available almost from the day they are out in print as audio books. If you don't have a library card, you are really missing out on a big resource for free entertainment.
Right now I am listening to The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel. This is the Earth's Children series which started with The Clan of the Cave Bear. There was also a movie of the same name with Daryl Hannah, which was just OK. Interesting movie in that there was almost no dialog except for some grunts and hand signs, and it was subtitled. As normal the book is much better then the movie since they can show how a character is feeling and thinking. This is the story of a young Cro-Magnon that is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal. It is written from her perspective, and how she both adapts to and changes her relationship with the Neanderthal, called Clan. It is also written with an anthropological understanding of both societies and the interaction by the end of the first book, and through the series is excellent. If you have an interest in ancient history or the beginnings of man I would definitely recommend it. The Mammoth Hunters is the third book in the series and Ayla has left the Clan and gone with her people the "Others" and in this book comes to live with a clan of Mammoth Hunters, hence the title. I am sure by my description the books sound pretty dry, but I would say since they are told through Alya's point of view it is a lot more interesting then a more technical book would be, but the level of information in the book stays very true to the science. The books are holding my attention and are well read. That is the one extra piece to an audio book that you really have to think about. The reader can really make or break a book. A reader like Jim Dale, who read the Harry Potter books, is amazing and makes a great book jump off the page even more. As time goes by I hope to get more of my favorite books into the blog. I listen to a lot of audio books, so I expect this list to get a bit long. Just giving you fair waring.
I know I forgot to put it into the title, but I just got to see the Lego Movie with the aforementioned wife and kids, and it was great. One of the better movies I have seen in quite a while. The technical aspects of the movie aside (even the explosions were made of Legos) it was a good story and the ONE song used through the entire movie was a lot catchier then it had any right to be. We were even joking how could there be a soundtrack when there was only 1 song in the movie (turns out they combined that one song, with two remixes and the score....but bought it on iTunes right after we got home and it was worth the 8 bucks). I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, so I will just say that the ending felt just right and I wouldn't change a thing. I hope that once the blue ray comes out I will be able to chat more about how much I liked specific things. I will also tell you, kid or adult, get out there and see it. Worth every penny.Music is going to be pretty thin. Like I said I am listening to the Lego soundtrack with a bunch of other little favorites slipped in. Lily Allen, Jonathan Coulton, Garfunkle and Oats, The soundtrack to Rent, and Phantom of the Opera among other selections. My music taste is odd, but I always enjoy a funny story telling song over just about anything. If you want to know my taste, just select Jonathan Coulton as your Pandora seed and let her rip.
For Valentines my loving wife bought me the Firefly game. This is a game that I have wanted for a while and was hoping that I would get as a holiday gift, if i didn't just find a way to pick it up some night. One of the things many people who don't game might not know, is that there is a single player option in this particular game. This means I don't have to wait for game night to try this out. As soon as I get a couple of games in, I will try and throw together my first game review and let anyone who has not played, or does not play games, know what I think about it from a player's perspective. Maybe I will even force my wife to play and make her write a little blurb about what she thought.
Finally a bit of Malifaux. Unfortunately I missed gaming night, as happens to everyone on occasion, so I got no gaming in this week. Overall though it was a great week for Malifaux in general. The final wave 2 beta cards came out this week. As I said before, they are switching over to a new version of Malifaux, and I am a big fan of the new edition. Up till this week the models in the original first book were the only "official" models out. Monday they released the official wave 2 models, which covered the models and masters in books 2, 3, and 4. now the only piece that is missing are the avatars, and the first beta release of those came out on Tuesday this week. Nothing more exciting then seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that now ALL the models cards are out. This means that my Dreamer and Collodi crews can come out to play. Now saying that, my next game will be a little odd. I have a game scheduled with Mark from the Through the Breach and I am going to put a Von Shill crew together for him, and he is going to put together a crew for me. I am not sure exactly what I will be playing, but it will be one of the Neverborn masters, unless he surprises me and puts together a outcast or gremlin crew. I am looking forward to the game since Mark always plays a good game. I can only hope that I can top deck with my foil deck against Mark like I did against Matt.My next blog post will be about the different avatars. While I am not a huge fan of having to get the models to "replace" your current master, I am a huge fan of the upgrade system to manifest an avatar. I am also looking forward to going through the file and seeing what kind of avatar Collodi will get, although when I start playing I would think we could get rid of the "replacement" models to start.
Thank you all for reading again and I hope you enjoyed a little more insight into who I am. I hope you have a good one and talk to you again soon......
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