GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Notes

  • Anatomy Fluxx, Andrew Looney, 2018

    Well, this game is just Fluxx, with body parts.

    So it’s educational. Did you know what the prostate does? Now I know why us boys got this feature in our system. It’s not just there to cause cancer.

    Speaking of which, this game is quite easy to censor if you are worried about getting sidetracked into a premature conversation about human reproduction. There are 4 keepers (testes, prostate, ovaries, uterus) and 4 goal cards (female reproductive system, menses, semen, puberty) that are related to the process of making more of us. None of these cards are remotely graphic, but they are easily removed with no noticeable detriment to the gameplay (for better or for worse).

    Having only played EcoFluxx and the Original, this was my first introduction to “Creepers” and “Ungoal” card mechanisms, but I don’t find them particularly compelling (again, for good or ill). So if you know anything about the extended Fluxx family, feel free to <insert your opinion here>.

    Ultimately, this game is just Fluxx, with body parts.

    However, there is one item I’d like to highlight – the illustrated hands on the cards. Looney Labs chose an olive brown tone, not an orangish spray tanned tone, but a natural dark skinned tone of someone who is not from of northern European.

    The ubiquity of pinkish white hands in board gaming is a reasonable phenomena for a hobby whose epicenter is in Germany. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see my hands represented in a game. In fact, I was surprised at how much I appreciated this gesture. I didn’t realize how deeply I had internalized whiteness as the only available normal in boardgaming.

    Kudos to the Looney’s and their graphic designers.

    This game is just Fluxx, but dang, it was nice to see my body parts.

  • The Dip, Seth Godin, 2007

    While digging around my books, I came across this little volume which had long ago cemented my love for Seth Godin.

    It resurfaced at an opportune time since I’ve been contemplating what to do with this blog. I was concerned that keeping up this blog might be busywork that was getting in the way of doing something better, however I wasn’t totally ready to give up on the idea of publishing on a regular schedule.

    I keep a platform for self expression outside of addictive Corporate Social Media to have some control my own writings. However, maintaining an archive does not mean I need to spend concentrated effort on this website. I had started and ended daily blogging over a full year in 2018-19. However, daily blogging required daily production, and with two young kids, that meant all my spare time was spent at the keyboard.  Even though I enjoy writing as a hobby, I also want to have time to read and enjoy the finer things in life, which a daily schedule did not allow.  

    A few months ago, I gave this blog a slightly more focused tagline of “notes on my consumption”. The key change is that it has pushed myself towards a better balance of reading and writing. 

    Knowing that I would be banging out a “book report” at the end of each instance of media consumption has created a solid excuse to regularly indulge in writing. The looming assignment seems to have been effective in sharpening my mind as I read the book. It’s an algorithm that keeps some pressure to create output at a less relentless rhythm than the rising of the sun. It has given me time to consume without devolving into a mere consumer.

    Reading The Dip was down then up experience during these contemplations. The first section made me consider dropping this project and letting this blog just become an internet repository again, but by the end, it resulted in some fresh encouragement to keep going. 

    The critical moment came at the end of that book, when Seth Godin encouraged the reader to decide upon the criteria for quitting before starting a project.

    After some thought, I realized that this blog is not about having an audience even though I think the public nature of a blog helps sharpen my writing. Instead, writing this blog helps me enjoy the world around me better. So I will quit if it stops helping me better enjoy the world around me.

    I’m pretty sure that this personal blog will not be particularly exceptional in the wider universe of personal blogs, but it still is the best internet site of my little world. So I’ll keep up this effort under this tag line, for now.

    Who knows what I might find if I push through to the other side of this dip? Maybe it will just be a few months of weekly essays about the things around me until I come across another more compelling project. Maybe it will become a long running platform like Dave Winer’s blog. Maybe it will morph from idiosyncratic ramblings about my own stuff into something more public facing.

    Grizzlypear has always been here for these various digital experiments.

    Here’s to the current / next one.

  • Mottanai (again), Carl Chudyk, 2015

    I had originally written in early August as update to my original review, but I didn’t get around to posting till now in early October. Aside from one predictably disastrous game with my wife, Mottainai’s ease of setup and quickness of play continues to be perfectly suited for life with young children when even self-gaming is a rare and often short lived event.

    Damn this is one fine game.

    The analogy that floats in my head is that Innovation is a fencing duel, Glory to Rome is a raucous pillow fight, and Mottainai is a knife fight in a dark room.

    My opinion of the game had previously hit a high-plateau when I last reviewed it. In the intervening months I’ve made a concerted effort to get better at Crafting and Selling. Neither of these tasks are easily intuitive like to Monking and Smithing, but once I got a handle on those them, the game blossomed yet again. I’ve also developed a fondness for Tailoring since getting two covered tailor helpers is a devastating position, cycling through a sixth of the deck every other turn.

    I’d say that most of my games are still won via a quick race to 5 works, however, many more of these plays now assisted by crafting. I also need to work my personal inclination towards building and get better at making early sales. Even though it’s tempting to leave materials in the craft bench for future works, selling a couple items forces the rush-builder opponent reassess their strategy (even though it would usually still be best for them to end the game as quickly as possible since they have already committed to that path).

    As an aside, I have not yet tried the extended game with the endgame condition at 6 works on a side. With my big-builder tendency, I understand why people might prefer it, but I think the game is made great because of this fundamental tension of shooting for an quick ending versus selling goods. I should try it at some point, but I suspect it will bloat the play experience.

    I am also now much better at playing the individual cards, especially knowing if something is worth holding a couple turns so I can complete the work (very rarely). Most games where I spend such effort to complete a work will result in a loss. The opportunity costs are too high and cycling your hand is so critical that if you can’t shoot the silver bullet immediately, it is invariably better to use its task and move on.

    At this point, I’ve developed that ESP feel that comes with card games that I’ve played an ungodly amount of times (such as Tien Len or Ticket to Ride). My brain has wrapped itself around the deck so that I feel the shape of the game just by a few cues here and there.

    I might be overly cocky (especially since I’ve only once played another human), but I think it would be virtually impossible to lose a game with a first time player. Extending this completely untested hypothesis, I would conjecture that I would win 9 games out of 10 with a new player, which should be a ridiculous claim for such a high randomness game. The fact I would dare to make such a conjecture shows the level of skill that is embedded in this design. After these initial plays with a hypothetical opponent, I think the the disparity would quickly level out to two thirds of the games until it flattens out to even.

    The hard part would be to get a new player to get past the initial introduction to the game. Mottainai is an intricate, counterintuitive duck. Glory to Rome is equally convoluted, but this experience feels counterbalanced by its silliness and patently broken combos. Innovation is a bit more methodical and forgiving than either game. Mottainai uses the insane flow chart of Glory to Rome to recreate Innovation as a sprint. Accelerating the byzantine mechanics of Glory to Rome creates a bewildering experience, hiding the vast opportunities for skilled play.

    After 180 plays, I still feel there is room for improvement, though I most likely need to start find opponents who aren’t myself to get there.

    Not surprisingly, I now rate this game a 10.

  • Push Tricycle, Radio Flyer

    This is not the tricycle we grew up with. It can function as a self propelled vehicle, but it comes with a handle in the back for an adult to push and steer this monstrosity. The seat has side bars to keep the child contained in the cockpit, a drink holder in the front, an operable shade canopy, and a small storage container in the trunk. The foot petals are geared so that stubborn little feet can’t stop forward movement. This model has hard rubber wheels, but I’ve seen a version with inflated tires.

    The thing looks as kludgy as it sounds, especially if you get one with the plastic that has been aged in the desert sun. We bought ours from a family who was moving back to England.

    However, this contraption has been brilliant for getting the boy to fall sleep, pushing him in loops around and around the house. Sometimes it will happen in a few magical minutes. Often I’ll get more than thirty minutes to practice walking mindfulness meditation.

    Recently, he’s decided that he prefers riding an old office chair, where he can sit proudly on his throne as he heads towards slumberland. But fear not, his older sister will occasionally squeeze herself into the tricycle and zip a few rounds around the kitchen.

    I’m impressed with Radio Flyer. They have crafted a nostalgia brand, but they aren’t afraid to throw random things out into the world. These new era artifacts can be quite ugly, especially given wholehearted embrace of plastic.

    But if the kids dig it, how much of an argument do I have?

  • Nerf versus O-Ball

    The kids were fighting over the Nerf ball. The girl and I had been batting around the little orange ball, which made it became an object of desire for both of them, even after we had moved on to riding the red wagon around the backyard.

    As any parent would do in this time of high stress, I found a colorful O-ball and convinced them trade balls every time we passed the outdoor sink. They acquiesced and we had peace (more or less) for the remainder of their wagon ride, even though they both thought that the orange Nerf ball was obviously more desirable.

    I often wonder what the gods must think of us humans and our squabbles. In the moment, the dumbest shit is always the most important issue ever, often becoming deadly serious when adults are involved. Maybe the evolutionary role of religion in societies was to make us think “as-if” we were the higher deity and get us to rise beyond our momentary passions.

    However, it seems to have been only partially successful. Religion may have made individuals a little better, but we’re now stuck with conflicts between large groups of humans, each with the conviction they have a supernatural power on their side.

    It’s too bad that these tribes aren’t willing to settle for trading colorful balls every few minutes.

  • Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami, 1991

    After finding his voice in A Wild Sheep Chase, it seems that Murakami decided to explore all the genres at once. The book is fantasy and sci fi, with the mood of a hard boiled mystery and a little horror as well.

    The hard boiled protagonist works well for Murakami’s typically semi-apathetic first person characters, as does the side plots of a few ladies whose attention he’s captured. However, Murakami is a bit subversive, taking an outsider’s view of the tropes of these styles, jumping in and out of the contrived silliness with bemused detachment.

    In reading these works in sequential order, I’m wondering if I’m falling into an end of the world fallacy, rationalizing the author’s product as predestined in light of their past works. I had that feeling when I was doing my graduate thesis. It felt that all my previous projects was culminating in this specific thesis. But even under the stress of the deadline, I was still was keenly aware it might be my mind post-rationalizing my decisions as they were being made.

    However, given Murakami’s exploration of multiple genres – and the title of the novel – I feel it is fair to indulge in this fallacy while considering this book.

    Ultimately, it’s a fine novel, one where the cloth holds together, but the threads are never woven too tightly, as would be expected from a Murakami novel. The romances linger deliciously in their usual fashion and he indulges occasionally in his typically delightful wordplay of metaphors upon metaphors.

    As his fourth novel, this was a fine senior thesis for his budding career as an author.

  • Radio Flyer Pathfinder Wagon and Furby Boom!

    These two toys were purchased in quite different fashions. The wagon was bought brand new, online. The Furby was discovered while waiting in line at the Goodwill, on a half-off Saturday.

    Both have been sporadic hits.

    In Vegas the heat can be unbearable, so the wagon is left unused for months until the kids suddenly decide it is fun to be pulled along, bringing the it back into rotation. In this time of pandemic, it has also been the closest they will be getting to an amusement park ride.

    The Furby plows through four batteries at a time and wears out its welcome for adults equally as quick. Even though the kids have always enjoyed it, it too is only played sporadically due to a lack of willingness by the big people. However, I must admit it is beyond cute to watch our toddlery mimic the quirky Furby language.

    The joy of thrifting is the hunt; a joy that is unhindered by options. This Furby is covered in a grid of black, pink, and cyan triangles. Not completely horrific, but it was the only choice, so this purchase was free of angst. (In retrospect, my wife and I would have debated this $1.50 spend if we had realized how many batteries this little thing would consume.)

    On the other hand, the wagon purchase has always been tinged with a bit of regret. Soon after purchasing this wagon, we saw a collapsible canvas wagon which could be easily stored, unlike this hunk of plastic. After half of decade of pulling children around in molded seats, I think the ergonomics of this Radio Flyer has proven its worth, but for a time we were certain the $70 was not optimally spent.

    Even so, we have used both of these quite a bit, more than most of our other purchases. Unfortunately, it seems impossible to guess what toy will catch their fancy until you open up the wallet and bring the thing home.

  • Cheese Cracker, 08 August 2020

    I’ve been playing around with making crackers as a healthier alternative to all the other awesome snacks that are out in the market trying to addict me to their engineered flavors.

    After initial some attempts over the past couple weeks, I sat down and converted Mark Bittman’s recipe to grams. Using his numbers and experimented with a batch and I think I’ve finally come with a good ratio – 1:2:7:0.2

    10g cheese
    20g water
    70g all purpose flour (generic target organic brand)
    2g salt

    The result was a nice dry dough that I could run through the pasta roller (I ran it to thinness 6 out of 8). The pasta roller saved me a ton of time over rolling by hand and resulted in consistent, even bakes in the toaster oven.

    By using the pasta roller, I unintentionally recreated the “water crackers” that I used to enjoy at art openings. So as a bonus I understand the origin of their name, since I had never realized that water and cream crackers were an oppositional pair.

    For further experiments, I’d like to come up with an alternate version using sourdough starter, since these crackers did come out a little flat. I’d also like to try my hand at cream crackers, using milk instead of water.

    However, the biggest thing is finding simple ratio for a dough that works in the pasta roller, because I now have a good home base for future experiments.

  • Drummer Hoff, Barbara and Ed Emberley, 1967

    Drummer Hoff fired it off.

    And so we’re introduced to the motley crew that will construct and fire the “Sultan”.

    The art is stiffly whimsical in a stained glass style that is makes one nostalgic of the 60’s.

    The text is rhythmical, based on a march.

    The names are alliterative, each man and their rank.

    The cannon is creates a big explosion, and nature returns to reclaim what’s hers.

    This ending is both definitive and ambiguous.

    Was it fired but once? What happened to all the characters we met?

    Looking at the publication date, it foretold our hubris as we were stumbling into Vietnam.

    Is it subtly subversive against the military industrial complex? Highlighting the wasted efforts of men and capital?

    Or is it doubly subversive, inducing children to march to the war beat while assuaging its mildly pacifistic parents?

    All we know is that the birds win in the end. But at what price?

  • A Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami, 1982

    Murakami makes the slightly absurd seem perfectly normal. This was already apparent from his first two novels. The great step forward in this third book is he modulates the flow of the narrative.

    The first couple books created a uniform effect by being very flat. The Wild Sheep Chase stays within the general contours mood of its predecessors, but he adds dynamics to the mix. He doesn’t resort to anything extreme, but feeling undulates throughout the story. He’s now included a (restrained) climax.

    Speaking of climaxes, these three novels are full of failed romances. Some that just leave you with a lingering longing, others just tragic. The girl with four fingers, the twins, and the girl with ears. The french major, the cafe girl, the ex-wife.

    It’s odd to think that Mr. Murakami married young and has been happily married this entire time. His writing is so personal, it makes you think he himself is the protagonist. However this factoid of his biography reminds you of the fundamental disconnect between the author and the reader.

    You might feel a closeness to the writer, but it’s just an artifice. It’s a novel…it’s all artifice! Murakami’s gift is making all that wacky ass shit seem perfectly normal.

    And yet (like a sheep that infects your soul) it’s so true, it can’t be unreal.