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I'm finally getting around to watching Teen Wolf season 3, and... it's surprisingly good. O.o I say that because the first two seasons were pretty silly. The only thing worth watching about the show (and why I was watching season 3) is Dylan O'Brien as Stiles. But this season is actually good. I can't get over it, especially since they killed off one of my favorite characters at the beginning of the season. I mean, some things are still silly, but there are honest-to-goodness eps that actually rivet me, whereas before the only thing getting me through episodes was the Stiles. Possibly the best episode this season was 3x06, "Motel California," which is like a little standalone movie, almost. I also liked 3x06, "Visionary," mostly the Derek backstory stuff and the explanation of why he has blue werewolf eyes.
I find that for most teen dramas like this (I'm including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Vampire Diaries and Roswell), I tend to UC ship. That's no different with Teen Wolf. I don't really ship any of the canon ships, but they seem to be teasing us with a few UC ships and those I could actually get into. They are...
Scott/Lydia. I generally think Tyler Posey ugly (his face is LOPSIDED) and totally underwhelming as a male lead (and find the idea of him being an alpha wolf totally laughable), but there have been some interesting moments between him and Lydia this season. Why did the alpha twins go after her and Danny as people that Scott would potentially care about? Why not Allison, his estranged ex, or Stiles, his BFF
Isaac/Allison. For some reason I'm finding Isaac pretty hot this season, and the two of them have also had some eyebrow-raising moments. Why do they keep getting paired up to do things together? I also like that they have this tense history between them, where she stabbed him like 20 times or whatever, trying to kill him. I don't really remember it though, because I remember being pretty eye-rolly about the whole Allison-as-heartless-Hunter storyline.
In terms of the canon ships, I can't stand Scott/Allison. It's sooooo typical and boring. I *could* get behind Stiles/Lydia (especially since they killed off Erica, who I actually did ship with Stiles *sniff*), but I can't tell if Stiles even likes her anymore in that way, and if they're planning to go there, it's a long, long way off, because it's moving slow as molasses. It was sweet though the way she threw herself at him and Scott at the end of the motel ep to keep them from going up in flames. Stiles/Derek, which is *practically* a canon ship, is all right, but it's not my OTP or anything. Mostly I ship me/Stiles, is the thing. It's interesting that they finally gave Derek a real love interest this season, which was strangely lacking in the first two seasons (for a show like this, and for someone so "hunky," it was weird that he didn't even have a whiff of female companionship... which was probably partly how Sterek got such a foothold in the first place! Not that fandom really needs an excuse). I finally find Tyler Hoechlin attractive, at least. Part of my problem with the show was that Stiles was the *only* person I found the least bit attractive.
I hope their current win streak in terms of excellent episodes continues for the rest of this half of the season. I think it'll help that they've split the season in two in terms of saving themselves (and the audience) from burnout, and will help the story be more cohesive and exciting. I mean, 24 episodes is a lot, and network shows that have that many episodes a season often suffer in quality.
Have gotten a number of cool new boardgames that I can't wait to try out.adelagia and I have been playing the latest Pandemic expansion, Pandemic: In the Lab. It's fun, but really hard. At least, for us. >.> We haven't won a single game yet, and we've been playing with only four Epidemics! There must be some rhythm to using the lab that we're not getting yet. Plus there are new Roles that we're not used to (so far, my favorite of the new roles is the Field Director). I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it's awesome that one of the game designers is a regular participant at Boardgamegeek. Whenever we have a question about a rule or Role ability, I just ask over there and Tom Lehmann answers, usually within hours! It's awesome.
They reissued Pandemic, and the second edition of the base game and first expansion (On the Brink) is what's compatible with In the Lab. If you have the first edition you need to buy the two card compatibility packs for the cards to match up. Anyway, early copies of the second edition of the base game came with two problems, a misprinted board that's missing the connection between Lagos and Sao Paulo, and cards that have edge-to-edge printing, which is a problem because when you look at them from the side, stacked up, you can kind of see what cards are coming up next. I had both problems. :( I emailed the manufacturer about it and never heard back, but the other day I received an updated game board, so yay for that. They didn't replace the cards, however, so I guess that's not going to happen. Oh well. It's not a huge deal, but I do wish it wasn't an issue at all.
I think I'm going to go full nerd and buy card sleeves. They're inexpensive and will help the cards last longer. This is important too because if a card becomes too visibly different from the others (I'm looking at you, Moscow), it'll be identifiable and take the risk -- and fun -- out of the equation. In terms of quality, they're about the same, except for the disease cubes and petri dishes. The disease cubes are now smaller and made of plastic (instead of wood), and the petri dishes are smaller too, and the lids don't fit very well. The artwork on the cards of the new edition is better, though, and there's a more seamless way to incorporate the purple disease onto the existing gameboard.
Also, it's really awesome but Z-man Games and Matt Leacock are also going to be offering up free scenarios to play with Pandemic. These are individual challenges that you can take on. They've released only one so far, called "Isolation," but I didn't realize it was for four players, and was all excited about trying it out with T. and B. D'oh.
Speaking of Matt Leacock, ages ago I purchased one of his limited run, early games called Lunatix Loop. I've still never been able to play it because it requires four players (I so wish I had a dedicated group of boardgame-playing friends). Anyway, it was very, very cheaply made, practically on a home printer. Some of the paper is starting to fade. I was thinking about taking it to a Kinko's to get some of it laminated (as I recently did with the Pandemic scenario), in order to preserve the game (which cost me a pretty penny), then I thought to check on Amazon to see how much getting a laminator would be. It cost me like $4 to print and laminate the Pandemic scenario, and with how much I'd need to laminate for Lunatix Loop, it might be worth it just to get a home laminator. And guess what? I am so glad I checked, because IT IS SO WORTH IT. I had no idea how cheaply you could get a decent laminator! Under $28! And a 100-pouch pack of the lamination sheets is only like $15! What a rip off Kinko's is, sheesh. Now I really regret getting that done there, because that one page cost me 10% of what an entire homekit costs to do 100 pages. -.- Especially because we weren't able to play it anyway.
Other games we've tried or that I would like to try include Hanabi, a cooperative game in which everyone can see your cards but you, and you have to work together to build card lines; Love Letter, which is a fun, quick game; Jaipur, which I haven't played yet but has great reviews, and Dominion, which seemed overwhelming at first, but ended up being fun; Forbidden Desert, the latest game designed by Matt Leacock, which I've read is a cross between Pandemic and another game of his, Forbidden Island, and finally Thurn & Taxis, which I'd read somewhere was a really great game.
Whew! /nerd
I've been trying to read Legend by Marie Lu, but it's slow going. Despite all the accolades it's gotten, it's really not very well written, and so far the protagonists haven't really hooked me in any way. The only thing that's keeping me on board so far is that it's set in a dystopian universe, and as that's a favorite trope? genre? of mine, I can bear it awhile longer.
I find that for most teen dramas like this (I'm including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Vampire Diaries and Roswell), I tend to UC ship. That's no different with Teen Wolf. I don't really ship any of the canon ships, but they seem to be teasing us with a few UC ships and those I could actually get into. They are...
Scott/Lydia. I generally think Tyler Posey ugly (his face is LOPSIDED) and totally underwhelming as a male lead (and find the idea of him being an alpha wolf totally laughable), but there have been some interesting moments between him and Lydia this season. Why did the alpha twins go after her and Danny as people that Scott would potentially care about? Why not Allison, his estranged ex, or Stiles, his BFF
Isaac/Allison. For some reason I'm finding Isaac pretty hot this season, and the two of them have also had some eyebrow-raising moments. Why do they keep getting paired up to do things together? I also like that they have this tense history between them, where she stabbed him like 20 times or whatever, trying to kill him. I don't really remember it though, because I remember being pretty eye-rolly about the whole Allison-as-heartless-Hunter storyline.
In terms of the canon ships, I can't stand Scott/Allison. It's sooooo typical and boring. I *could* get behind Stiles/Lydia (especially since they killed off Erica, who I actually did ship with Stiles *sniff*), but I can't tell if Stiles even likes her anymore in that way, and if they're planning to go there, it's a long, long way off, because it's moving slow as molasses. It was sweet though the way she threw herself at him and Scott at the end of the motel ep to keep them from going up in flames. Stiles/Derek, which is *practically* a canon ship, is all right, but it's not my OTP or anything. Mostly I ship me/Stiles, is the thing. It's interesting that they finally gave Derek a real love interest this season, which was strangely lacking in the first two seasons (for a show like this, and for someone so "hunky," it was weird that he didn't even have a whiff of female companionship... which was probably partly how Sterek got such a foothold in the first place! Not that fandom really needs an excuse). I finally find Tyler Hoechlin attractive, at least. Part of my problem with the show was that Stiles was the *only* person I found the least bit attractive.
I hope their current win streak in terms of excellent episodes continues for the rest of this half of the season. I think it'll help that they've split the season in two in terms of saving themselves (and the audience) from burnout, and will help the story be more cohesive and exciting. I mean, 24 episodes is a lot, and network shows that have that many episodes a season often suffer in quality.
Have gotten a number of cool new boardgames that I can't wait to try out.
adelagia and I have been playing the latest Pandemic expansion, Pandemic: In the Lab. It's fun, but really hard. At least, for us. >.> We haven't won a single game yet, and we've been playing with only four Epidemics! There must be some rhythm to using the lab that we're not getting yet. Plus there are new Roles that we're not used to (so far, my favorite of the new roles is the Field Director). I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it's awesome that one of the game designers is a regular participant at Boardgamegeek. Whenever we have a question about a rule or Role ability, I just ask over there and Tom Lehmann answers, usually within hours! It's awesome.They reissued Pandemic, and the second edition of the base game and first expansion (On the Brink) is what's compatible with In the Lab. If you have the first edition you need to buy the two card compatibility packs for the cards to match up. Anyway, early copies of the second edition of the base game came with two problems, a misprinted board that's missing the connection between Lagos and Sao Paulo, and cards that have edge-to-edge printing, which is a problem because when you look at them from the side, stacked up, you can kind of see what cards are coming up next. I had both problems. :( I emailed the manufacturer about it and never heard back, but the other day I received an updated game board, so yay for that. They didn't replace the cards, however, so I guess that's not going to happen. Oh well. It's not a huge deal, but I do wish it wasn't an issue at all.
I think I'm going to go full nerd and buy card sleeves. They're inexpensive and will help the cards last longer. This is important too because if a card becomes too visibly different from the others (I'm looking at you, Moscow), it'll be identifiable and take the risk -- and fun -- out of the equation. In terms of quality, they're about the same, except for the disease cubes and petri dishes. The disease cubes are now smaller and made of plastic (instead of wood), and the petri dishes are smaller too, and the lids don't fit very well. The artwork on the cards of the new edition is better, though, and there's a more seamless way to incorporate the purple disease onto the existing gameboard.
Also, it's really awesome but Z-man Games and Matt Leacock are also going to be offering up free scenarios to play with Pandemic. These are individual challenges that you can take on. They've released only one so far, called "Isolation," but I didn't realize it was for four players, and was all excited about trying it out with T. and B. D'oh.
Speaking of Matt Leacock, ages ago I purchased one of his limited run, early games called Lunatix Loop. I've still never been able to play it because it requires four players (I so wish I had a dedicated group of boardgame-playing friends). Anyway, it was very, very cheaply made, practically on a home printer. Some of the paper is starting to fade. I was thinking about taking it to a Kinko's to get some of it laminated (as I recently did with the Pandemic scenario), in order to preserve the game (which cost me a pretty penny), then I thought to check on Amazon to see how much getting a laminator would be. It cost me like $4 to print and laminate the Pandemic scenario, and with how much I'd need to laminate for Lunatix Loop, it might be worth it just to get a home laminator. And guess what? I am so glad I checked, because IT IS SO WORTH IT. I had no idea how cheaply you could get a decent laminator! Under $28! And a 100-pouch pack of the lamination sheets is only like $15! What a rip off Kinko's is, sheesh. Now I really regret getting that done there, because that one page cost me 10% of what an entire homekit costs to do 100 pages. -.- Especially because we weren't able to play it anyway.
Other games we've tried or that I would like to try include Hanabi, a cooperative game in which everyone can see your cards but you, and you have to work together to build card lines; Love Letter, which is a fun, quick game; Jaipur, which I haven't played yet but has great reviews, and Dominion, which seemed overwhelming at first, but ended up being fun; Forbidden Desert, the latest game designed by Matt Leacock, which I've read is a cross between Pandemic and another game of his, Forbidden Island, and finally Thurn & Taxis, which I'd read somewhere was a really great game.
Whew! /nerd
I've been trying to read Legend by Marie Lu, but it's slow going. Despite all the accolades it's gotten, it's really not very well written, and so far the protagonists haven't really hooked me in any way. The only thing that's keeping me on board so far is that it's set in a dystopian universe, and as that's a favorite trope? genre? of mine, I can bear it awhile longer.
