I wholeheartedly second the recommendation for Oscar Brand's
Presidential Campaign Songs album. It's vastly entertaining,
educational, goes over well at parties, and, for a long time, I thought
it documented the bygone practice of original campaign songs for
candidates. After Carter's "Why Not The Best?" (which I'd describe as
seizing the twang zeitgeist rather than emo; either way, it kicked the
crap out of Ford's lame "I'm Feeling Good About America"), it looked
like candidates were happy to just borrow old songs rather than write
new ones. I'm thrilled to see that YouTube has revived the practice.
As for the Brand album, the rule of thumb is that if you remember
the candidate's campaign slogan from history class, the song is
probably utterly infectious. I was also tickled to learn that Polk's
campaign song is as catchy as They Might Be Giants' tribute to him.
However, my personal favorite may well be Millard Fillmore's tune, "The
Union Wagon". I guarantee that upon hearing it you will be eager to
take a ride on the Millard Fillmore wagon.
Finally, I haven't quite decided who I'm voting for yet - North
Carolina's primary isn't until early May, at which point it'll likely
be moot - but knowing that The Mighty Sparrow endorses Obama is a
powerful argument for the Yes, We Can faction.
Marc @31, that's a terrific idea. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
My favorite make-yer-own game is The Big Idea courtesy of the folks at Cheapass Games. The game comes with two decks of cards, one of adjectives and one of nouns and over the course of the game each player combines a card from each stack to make a new product (i.e. Flammable Beer) which they then pitch to the other players, followed by a bidding round. Theoretically, whoever has the most money at the end wins, but the point of the game is to have fun with the pitch, similar to seeing folks defend their cards in Apples to Apples.
The Big Idea is a hoot right out of the box, but every time I've played we wound up making a couple of dozen cards afterwards to add to the game. No special blank cards necessary, just cut up some note cards, label 'em, and illustrate 'em as best you can. This makes it even more of a hoot and while Cheapass will sell you an expansion it's much more satisfying tomake your own.
I recommend The Big Idea very highly to folks looking for light, cheap (cheapass, even) social games, especially any Apples to Apples fans who might be looking for something new to play.
John at #3, not only did I not realize NC had three candidates running, but until just now I was unaware that one of them is well and truly illuminated. Randy Crow apparently had his epiphany in 1994 and now fights against the forces of the New World Order, as detailed on the second page of his platform, tucked down far enough so that you might not notice it at first glance. Sorry, Edwards, looks like my home grown candidate of choice has finally arrived! Fnord.
Keith @ #71, characters with those exact names all appear in a recently unearthed epilogue chapter of Pel Torro's _Galaxy 666_. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Author's Revised Edition due out in trade paperback early next year.
For those of you who don't feel that Vatican: The Board Game goes far enough, may I humbly suggest Mystery of the Abbey, which is basically hyper-Clue meets Name of the Rose. One of your fellow monks has been brutally murdered and each of the players must search the abbey for clues as to who the killer is. However, there are a lot of twists on the basic Clue theme, including special cards, a point system, and the ability to take a vow of silence when being grilled by your fellows. The game even comes with a tiny bell to call everyone to mass. It's a terrific game.
"That's guilty! Guilty, guilty, guilty!"
I'm terribly amused that the male terminator is named "Cromartie", which immediately brings to mind the absurdist comedy anime Cromartie High School. Among the many bizzare cast members in the show (ranging from a friendly delinqent with a prehensile mohawk to Freddy Mercury) is Mechazawa-kun, a robot shaped like an oil drum with rubber hose limbs, who is a paragon of both the thug lifestyle and noble masculinity.
Meanwhile, I'm all tingly at the thought of Summer Glau terminating everything in sight and look forward to cheering for the mechanical killing machines when the pilot airs.
That post would probably have been more useful had I not completely failed to properly link everything. At any rate, you can find the Gaming-Age translations here:
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=41550
Phil, looking sheepish and shuffling back into lurkerdom
Japanese video game company Irem puts on an elaborate April Fool's gag each year, with this year's spoof being mirrored here. Of course, if you don't speak Japanese the joke will be more than a bit confusing. Fortunatly the Gaming-Age Forums are obsessive enough to translate the gags. Granted, your own appreciation of the joke depends on how much of a video game geek you happen to be, but I figure everyone can dig on the joys of Zettai Zetsumei Yokocho/Desperate Alleyways, their new "Intoxicated Survival Action" salaryman drinking game. Their previous gags are also pretty entertaining, particularly Doki Doki Suikoden, the dating simulation game with 108 girls to choose from, or the high weirdness of Irem Burger.
Phil
This is more than a bit peripheral to the main conversation, but I'm reminded of a videogame for the Sony PlayStation 2: Disaster Report, a quirky adventure game with a survival theme. You're a reporter on assignment to a city built on an artificial island. Unfortunately, your character has the misfortune to arrive on the day a massive earthquake hits, leaving you to make your way across the island to a helicopter pick-up spot for survivors.
It's an interesting twist on the "survival horror" genre, which generally involve arbitrary puzzles (i.e. "Exactly why does a police station have secret doors that can only be opened by placing the Lion Emblem into an indention in the Greek statue on the second floor?") and being attacked by zombies. In Disaster Report you aren't directly threatened by anything except the environment, and, instead of a life bar showing how much damage you've taken, there's a hydration meter; as an occasional Burning Man attendee, I'm all for any game centered on having enough water. This also sets up some nice details, such as save points represented by clean sources of water or the need to find clothing (say, wide-brimmed hats) to protect you from the elements. And, instead of picking up random items to solve convoluted puzzles with ("Hey, it's a bobsled. Better grab that, it might come in handy."), Disaster Report is fairly logical, with your character looking for things like gauze bandages, Zippo lighters, and perhaps a crowbar. The game also allows for a bit of inovation; you can take all the stuff I just mentioned and make a dandy torch out of it.
On top of that there's an inventory system (which is to say a backpack) that you have to carefully manage. The end result is a bit like Tetris, with you occasionally shuffling stuff around in your pack to try to make room for that water purifier you just found. A large part of the game also involves interacting with survivors, both by trying to find them (including a button on the controller simply for yelling "Hey!" on the off-chance anyone is listening) and by working with them to get past obstacles.
Disaster Report is a flawed game - the graphics aren't up to par and it has a few camera angle issues - but it's certainly an interesting one and can be had for a song...assuming an exchange rate of roughly $15 per song. I'd recommend it to any video game enthusiasts with a PS2.
Phil
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|---|---|
| 2008 | 5 |
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| 2004 | 1 |
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