Game Design games, Unfortunate Events, and random stuff

So here is the final design for the board for Game Design's Basketball the Board Game. I'm quite proud of it, which is why I'm putting it in my blog.

This year we put all three games up for salt anyone who wanted a copy, not just those in my game design class. I did it not because I thought I'd have any takers, but just in case anyone was interested then they've have the opportunity. Well, I did get one taker, who wanted the People Zoo game (which is also the only one I'm getting a copy of). The money was due on Friday, but about half of the students that wanted copies of their own games didn't even pay for it, so I emailed all of them and extended the deadline to this Tuesday. I guess if anyone reading this blog wants a copy they can let me know too, but that's just an afterthought. Anyway, so with the deadline extended for getting the money in it means that the games won't be in before break. The school needs the money before it can place an order. The order will take maybe a week to get here. And the last full week of February (the 20th through the 24th) we have off from school. So I can't put in the order until a day when if I did the package would arrive during the break, not before. So no one is getting their game until after the week vacation, which is a real pity in my opinion.

Last Tuesday I went to Clubs Night and played Somerset with the Quill and the Sword Club. It went alright; we were only able to make it past four rounds because everyone playing was socializing, but I did get some good feedback for some things I could try. Plus on my way there I ran into a guy with Agricola and another board game and it turned out he was going to Quark to play games, and the week I went was just a bad week or something. So this Tuesday if I'm not busy finishing up the art files for the Game Design games I'm planning on going there to see if they'd like to play Somerset.

In other news, not today but last Sunday was Stake Conference. It was really good. We had a General Authority (member of the 70) come.  Today was regular church. And I got all my home teaching done this month. Woot-woot!

Jacob is planning a cousin-get-together game night, but due to people's schedules (including my own) it keeps getting pushed back weekends. Right now it's planned for March 11th, which is a Saturday. We/I wanted it to be on a Saturday so that we can start earlier in the day so that we didn't have to play until 1 at night and be super tired by the time we were done. Plus, now everybody has kids. Yay kids.

Our normal Monday babysitter can't watch Henry tomorrow, so earlier this last week I requested a sub for Monday. This is the first time I've ever gotten a sub. But because it's a charter school we have maybe two or three subs for that school, the main one being Jori, whom everybody loves. And it turns out that Jori is going to be my sub for Monday, so I know that all of my students will love her and that she'll do a great job.

We're teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird" in my literature class right now. I love that book. Like last year, after we read a certain number of chapters we watch part of the movie going over that part of the book. The movie is on Netflix. I don't have Netflix. I've heard everybody say that it was expensive and that the price had gone up. So finally I Friday I asked how much it was. $11 a month, they said. I raised an eyebrow (metaphorically; I can only raise both at the same time, and anyway I don't even think I did that literally in the course of this story). And here I was thinking it was $50 a month or something. Anyway, so I'm using Mr. Bumstead's Netflix. He logged onto Netflix on my computer. Mr. Bumstead's first name is Andrew and he teaches English right next to me and it is also his second year teaching.

"A Series of Unfortunate Events" is on Netflix. I just finished watching episode 5 "The Wide Window Part 1" Friday night. I like the show. Comparison to the movie version starring Jim Carry and to the books? That's hard to say, namely because it's been such a long time since I've seen the movie or read the books. Some events in the show I know happened in the book and the movie, but forgot about until I was watching. For example, Aunt Josephine being afraid of everything. I had forgotten about that, but once I was watching the episode and it came up, I remembered. Another thing I liked was how they portrayed Montgomery Montgomery. He's very kind and smart. I'm actually not sure if he was like that in the book or the movie, but either way he was portrayed there I like the way he's shown in the show. I do remember things from the books that I was happy to see in the movie, such as the phrase "meanwhile, back at the ranch" and the whole signing-the-wedding-document-with-the-wrong-hand thing.

One really awesome thing about the show that you don't get in the movie or the books is the undercurrents of VFD that happen behind the scenes that the Baudelaires are completely unaware of. I'm not sure why it didn't happen in the movie, maybe because they had to cram three books into one film and didn't have time for excess fluff, but I think I know why you didn't see it in the books until later. My theory is that the author didn't have any idea for VFD or any of that background undercurrent until later on writing the series, and then he just added it in and then tried to make it tie back to the earlier books. 

My theory springs from the illustrations, namely the fact that in the first books the tattoo of Count Olaf's eye is completely different from the way it said it was supposed to look like in later books, and the way it's portrayed in the show. So I'm thinking that the author was running out of ideas or how to make it interesting or something, and so added the entire secret society thing in later, maybe stating with the fifth book. Later he would try and add that idea into his earlier books, for example in the book, oh I forget what it's called but it's like the reading companion to A Series of Unfortunate Events, I think it's called The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket, or something like that, anyway in it it talks about how the movie the Baudelaires and Uncle Monty go and see in The Reptile Room, Zombie in the Snow, actually had a secret message in it for Uncle Monty, but he forgot exactly how it worked and so wasn't able to retrieve it. 

But I really like how the creators of the show had that: there is a long scene in episode 3, "The Retile Room part 1" that takes place at the movie, in which a secret message is portrayed in the movie and Uncle Monty is able to receive and decode it using his VFD spyglass. Really awesome scene. Speaking of which, the movie version also had the VFD spyglass thing, didn't it? But it was shown for like 30 seconds and nothing else happened with it at all. Anyway, so one of the best parts about the show is you see these VFD agents behind the scenes working to help the children out, or help Count Olaf, and there are all these subtle little lines that are awesome. (For example, in episode 2 the large bad henchman offers Count Olaf three different flavors for the wedding cake: plain vanilla, vanilla with a mix of a different flavor, and a Lemony flavor, to which Count Olaf responds: "I told you never to mention that name around me.") Oh, and one of the best parts so far is when Neil Patrick Harris breaks the third wall and talks about how watching a show "in the comfort of your own home" is far superior to "going out to the theatre to watch a movie." I'm not sure if the movie or the show is better mainly because I haven't seen the movie in forever, but the movie is not going to get a sequel, but according to imdb, "Lemony Snicket himself has confirmed a second season is in the works." Which I am super stoked about. 

Out whole family went out and saw Moana the other week. It's a greta movie and the second time we've seen it (the first was in Fallon, thanks Hannah!), but I do have a question still, which I think Eric (or the Super Carlin Brothers) might be able to answer: Why did the sea choose Moana in the first place? What sort of ability or talent or something did she have? It's never fully explained in the movie, but I have a theory (which has spoilers in it, so if you haven't seen it just skip this next part). So the ocean chose Moana right after she helped that little sea turtle, but I don't think it was "kindness" that caused her to be chosen. I think it was her ability to look past the skin-deep stuff and see the potential in everyone. She mentions this at the beginning of the movie when she's talking about Heihei (the chicken side kick, for those who didn't know its name). This ability to see potential is what causes her at the end to see that Te Ka was actually Te Fiti the whole time, and thus is able to restore the heart, saving everyone. That's just my theory.

I'm sure there was something else I was going to say in this blog post. Oh yeah! It's Henry's 22 month birthday today. Happy 22-month birthday Henry!