Shoulders in Sync

Added on by C. Maoxian.

When I first heard this song I thought it was Rachael Price and Lake Street Dive, but no, it’s someone named Rachel Mazer and her copycat Lake Street Dive band with “Is It So Wrong?” … nevertheless, I dig it:

Play Times of Top Board Games

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Using the top board games listed on Looria for this day:

  1. GLOOMHAVEN 90–115 minutes

  2. CATAN 60-120minutes

  3. SPIRIT ISLAND 90-120 minutes

  4. SCYTHE 90–115 minutes

  5. TERRAFORMING MARS ~120 minutes

  6. AZUL 30 to 45 minutes

  7. ARKHAM HORROR LCG 60-120 minutes

  8. CARCASSONNE 30-90 minutes

  9. WINGSPAN 40-70 minutes

  10. AGRICOLA 30-60 minutes

  11. DOMINION ~30 minutes

  12. EVERDELL 40 to 80- minutes

  13. BRASS BIRMINGHAM ~120 minutes

  14. MAGE KNIGHT 60 to 240 minutes

  15. TWILIGHT IMPERIUM 4 to 8 HOURS

  16. PAX PAMIR 2E ??

  17. ARNAK 30 min per player

  18. CONCORDIA 90 minutes

  19. MARVEL CHAMPIONS 45-90 minutes

  20. ROOT 60-90 minutes

  21. HANSA TEUTONICA ~40 minutes

  22. TICKET TO RIDE 30-45 minutes

  23. TERRA MYSTICA 90-120 minutes

  24. MONOPOLY 60-90 minutes

  25. OATH 45-120 minutes

  26. SPLENDOR 30 minutes

  27. ECLIPSE 120-180 minutes

  28. GAIA PROJECT 60-150 minutes

  29. AEON'S END 60-90 minutes

  30. PANDEMIC 45 minutes

Movies Watched -- Drive My Car (2021)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

In Japanese. 180 minute running time, that’s right, THREE HOURS LONG … this was boring and tedious, I hated it and call bullshit. No idea why it’s gotten so much critical acclaim and a Criterion release … must be the Haruki Murakami short story connection. John Farr LOVED it, which is such a disappointment. Full red, avoid!

Before she inexplicably dropped dead

Movies Watched -- Close-Up (1990)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

In Persian. 100 minute running time so the perfect length. I really enjoyed this one … it’s a documentary of sorts but with several re-enacted sections, though it makes you wonder what’s documentary footage and what’s re-enacted … grabs you from the get-go and holds your interest the entire time … you get some real insight into Iranian society and culture … this is a green-go, recommended movie. John Farr also liked it.

Pain and suffering

Movies Watched -- Now, Voyager (1942)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

117 minute running time so 20 minutes too long … Bette Davis was sort of homely, I don’t know why she was such a big Hollywood star … Warner Brothers studio pic … Gladys Cooper plays a good mother from hell but I wasn’t super interested in this … a love story from a repressed era, didn’t click with me 80 years later.

Heavy smoker

Charlie Munger On Playing Poker

Added on by C. Maoxian.

“Playing poker in the Army and as a young lawyer honed my business skills. What you have to learn is to fold early when the odds are against you, or if you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don’t get a big edge often. Opportunity comes, but it doesn’t come often, so seize it when it does come.”

Movies Watched -- The Hawk Is Dying (2006)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

112 minute running time so 10 to 20 minutes too long … my buddy Dave recommended this one, telling me “you’ll hate it,” but I wouldn’t say I hated it, I just didn’t like it and wouldn’t recommend it. It’s too weird and too depressing and I didn’t get its deep message, assuming there was one … sad-sack Paul Giamatti, who specializes in playing losers, the bald, the glasses, the straggly beard … but he’s a good actor … the girl is Michelle Williams, whom I didn’t immediately recognize because she’s chubbier here, she’s talented too, I really liked her in Shame … but as I said, I didn’t really get it and don’t want even to think about it. As James Greenberg said, “Loaded with obtuse symbolism, the film is not only hard to understand, it isn't much fun trying to figure it out.”

Menage a trois?