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ThursdayNightMovieArchivedReportBacksYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. Report Back on Previous Movie NightsReport Back for 11th March<small> blah </small> Strange Synergy winner: Garrick Report Back for 4th MarchOk... the trap was set, the bait was an unnamed comedy/drama and the victims were unsuspecting Claw Types... and it managed to snag a few ;-) The movie I chose was Bull Durham, a classic baseball comedy (one of the major influences on the Major League spoof series) starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Yes, it was a Kevin Costner movie... but in its defense, it was made when Kevin Costner was still cool (he had just made movies like No Way Out, The Untouchables and Silverado). And from the general laughter I think everyone had a good time. And for those who did not like the movie... well... see what happens when you don't bother to vote for movies... I get to choose... muhaha! Then most of the people left, and we were left with Shelagh, Garrick, Alex and a sleeping Michelle (and yes Michelle, you do snore, but not that loudly ;-) ). We managed to get in two Munchkin Fu games in just over 2 hours. They were low key games with not many really Munchkin moments. In the first game, I somehow managed to accumulate the most amazing amount of stuff (being a Yakuza is the Shiz-nit). I had 4 armours (the Hong Kong Thong, the Silk Armour and the Neon Kimono could all be worn with other armour), a spirit animated Big Black .45 and a load of other items. I sold off 2100 gold pieces worth of items from my backpack, went up to level 9 and kicked open the door. It was not a monster, so I went looking for trouble against a level 1 monster from my hand. So Alex wandered in 1) The Girl Wrestler (Level 6) 2) The Dragon Lady (Level 20!!!) and 3) The Dragon Lady's Stunt Double!!! Arrrrgghhhh... it was attack of the ex-girlfriends!!! So my simple combat against a level 1 monster was now a battle against 4 monsters with a combined level of 47!!! But even so, I was only 3 levels short of beating them. So I took my Monkey Spirit Guide and found the Amazingly Cool Sunglasses (+4 Head gear) and cheated to put them on (as they are not usable by Yakuza and I already had head gear). I also had the Bull Kung Fu which triples the bonus from your head gear, so I had added an effective 12 levels. Wheeee.... and I won. And since I promised that I would give everyone a Munchkin bookmark if I won, I handed out three bookmarks. Since that game had taken just short of an hour, we decided to play another game (after the required smoke break, of course). Again, a very subdued game... except for one round when I tried to black mail Garrick into giving me a treasure when he went up against the Hong Kong Cong (lvl 8). He called my bluff and was so confident about it, that Alex wandered in Hong Kong Kong (lvl 18!!) just to take him down a peg. He did more than that, as Garrick failed his run away roll and was killed. Then Shelagh went up against a slightly innocuous monster and Alex once again sent in Jogira... who proceeded to stomp all over Shelagh and kill her. But to prove that death is not always a bad thing in Munchkin, Shelagh ended up winning the game, and got a second Bookmark. Munchkin Winner (Game 1): Reuel <small>All then/than errors on this page have also been fixed. I now have a way of effectively catching them... I copy the text to notepad, look for all occurences of the word "then", and then figure out if it should have been a "than"... seems to be working so far...</small> Report Back for 26th FebruaryAnother quiet, but very enjoyable night. Not many people pitched because, well, A Clockwork Orange is not the easiest movie in the world to watch, and if you have seen it before, I can understand not wanting to sit through it again. Unless you are Dave and Melanie, and then sitting through it again is the exact reason they came ;-) I guess if you consider yourself a movie aficionado, one of the movies you have to see is A Clockwork Orange. So now I've seen it. And I am glad I have seen it... but I don't think I will ever watch it again. And, when Marc, Erica and Jo had left, Mels and Dave and I sat around chatting for another few hours. Which was very cool, as I enjoy talking to them. I love talking to people who are open and honest with their feelings, emotions and and pasts (even some of the bad stuff from their past). It helps me feel open enough to talk about my shit as well. And talking is good. Oh... and I wasn't actually planning to come to Maynardville on Saturday night (I am going on Friday with other friends), but Ian has enticed me with certain promises (don't worry, Michelle need never know about our love that dare not speak it's name ;-) ), and so I will be giving lifts after my Games Day on Saturday. See'ya all there. Report back for 19th FebruaryLost in Translation was a very interesting movie, filled with quiet desperation, loud confusion and mind-numbing boredom (not on the part of the viewer, but experienced by the characters). It's not a story about Japanese culture. It's not even a story about a fish out of water (though that is part of the reason why they are so bored). It's the story of two people stuck in a hotel, with nothing to do. The gentle hum of the airconditioners in the background make you feel like you are actually breathing the canned, artificial air of the hotel enviroment. It is as sterile as an operating room, but not quite as interesting as one. It is strange to watch a movie like this, as it does not pander to our need to be entertained, but rather tells a story that is all too true. All in all, I was impressed (which is especially impressive, as I was expecting to enjoy the movie, so it had to be doubly good for me to enjoy it). I am glad I waited to see it, because it was fun sharing the experience with a lot of people around. And once again, there were some new faces. It was nice to see Candice again (I will definitely be getting in touch with you to organise watching my Dark Angel episodes together) and I finally got to meet Marc's sister, Kirstin. And when all the movie watchers left, all that remained of the 15 people were: Melanie and David, Shelagh, Yanke, Wenzel, Garrick and me. Garrick and Yanke eventually persuaded me to play Ninja Burger (I wanted to wait to play the first game with ZenStar). So we got it out, shuffled the cards, gave everyone their honour tokens and started reading the rules. 20 minutes later, we were still reading the rules. Half way through the reading of the rules, I asked if everyone would just rather just play Munchkin, as this looked like it would take ages to get started (and it was for 3 - 6 players, and we had 7). Everyone agreed, and so we got out the Munchkin Fu (so you can still be there for the first game, ZenStar). The games was a pretty quiet affair, with not many Munchkin moves. No combat before a level 9 combat was interfered with, and there was only one combat of note against a Gaki (and none against a Hong Kong monster). Everyone had a chance to go for victory. I had an interesting combination... At the beginning of the game I got dealt the Enormous Mallet and Spirit Animated. And in my first combat, I picked up Honourable Brother in Arms (which creates an exact replica, with all bonuses, of one item) so I now had TWO Spirit Animated Enormous Mallets. Now, if you kill a level 1 monster with an Enormous Mallet, you get an extra level. So, if I went up against a level 1 monster, I was getting THREE levels for the kill. And I was dealt 2 level one monsters at the beginning, and was a Yakuza, so I was able to hand in cards to get another one. So my strategy was to get to level 4, and then beat two level 1 monster for the win. Which almost worked, except between level 7 and the combat to go to level 10, I was cursed with a level loss... which messed up that end run (I just realised now... I was also dealt out the Stunt Double card... if I had just played the stunt double on that first level 1 monster, I would have gotten SIX levels, and the win... damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn... see, even an experienced Munchkin player can fail to see a Munchkin move of note). So I kept my level 1 Big Eyes, Small Mouse and waited for everyone to get rid of their cards. And during the last round, the following combinations were played:
So congrats to Dave (who even though he is a slow player, is very effective... and though the game seemed to run long, it was not really longer than any other game we had played on a Thursday night) for winning tonight (damn, I owe you a munchkin bookmark) Munchkin Winner: Dave Report back for 12th FebruaryI don't know how many of you read my blog but this has been a pretty intense and emotional week for me. Saying goodbye to people and parts of my life that had for so long been an integral part of my psyche has not been easy, and not been painless. And my outlook on my love life has never looked so bad or so good... and so with all of that going on, watching High Fidelity was probably one of the best movies to watch (in my current state). It's not a romantic movie. It's a grow-up-and-get-on-with-your-life movie. And that's what I was in the mood for... And it was good to see some new faces at the movie evening. It was good to see Hendri and his wife, I hope they come back again (and stay for Munchkin next time), and I finally got to meet the infamous Mark Ferry (who looks nothing like his Mug Shots ;-) ). And so when all the faders had left, we were left with the core Munchkin-aholics. SynKronos, ArchAngel, Yancke and myself. So we used the small cow-coloured table in front of the TV and got down to playing. And yes, with only 4 people (and experienced 4 people) the game is faster. This game only took 2 hours. And, by the end of the game, 3 of the 4 players were thieves. The Magnificent Hat had done the rounds (it was picked up by SynKronos, the only non-thief, stolen by ArchAngel, stolen by me, then stolen back by ArchAngel, who then used it to power a steal attempt... and finally Yancke resurrected it from the discards pile with a One Size Fits All card.... and it only ever bounced one curse). The game was a load of fun, with quite few Munchkin moments, such as:
And for the first time, I remembered to hand out some Munchkin Bookmarks. From now on, the winner will get a bookmark unless I win, and then everyone gets a bookmark. Munchkin Winner: Reuel Report back for 5th FebruarySince MoonFlake and ZenStar had nominated "Lost in Translation" we did not feel it would be fair to watch it with them not here, so I will make it a Thursaday Night Movie Theater 3000 night on the 19th and we will watch "Lost in Translation" at that time. This does not mean that you are allowed to MST3K? the movie, I am just making it so that you do not need to vote for it. But you can still book seats. So since we were not watching Lost in Translation, we had to find another movie... and I have had Mothman Prophecies on my HD since before July last year... so I was really keen to watch it and then delete it. OK... now who said "Mothman Prophecies" was good? It did not suck as bad as many other movies out there, but really guys, this movie can not be described as good. Before the end, it was MST3K?'ed to shreds as it deserved and so at least it was an enjoyable experience. And a new person pitched up (only slightly late at 8:30), Steve Norman, a friend of Garrick's. And so we roped him into a game of Munchkin. Once again, this game went on for longer than was comfortable (4 hrs, and we started late at 10:45) and so we only ended at 2:45. We started late because marc had to take Erica home quickly, and then come back to play. Well, the start was slow again, as we had to coach the new player through the opening rounds. There were not many combats that were epic, since many of the combats were left alone. One, however, was messed with early on as Steve tried to mess with one of my early combats, which made everyone else get involved and suddenly I was facing a much bigger monster, with loads of extra treasure. Now, I could not beat it at all, so I pumped it's levels (and treasures) up a bit more and hit it with a Pollymorph Potion, and began to reach for my LOADS of treasure... when Marc played the Trojan Hourse!! NOOOOO!!! Denied !!!! bugger... The fortunes of the players went up and down. Shelagh had it pretty sweet though. When she started, she picked up the Helm of Peripheral Vision, which helped a lot as she soon became one of 3 Thieves during the evening. And Marc had tried to get rid of her Thief class with a Change your Class Curse... but the first Class down was just another Thief. Doh! She also stole Jason's Cheated Familiar of Doom... so she could Cheat her Magnificent Hat... Damn! People actually got lucky early on. The Restraining Order, the Wand of Dowsing, Deux Ex Machinegun and a Pollymorph Potion were played to the table really early on. Marc had used his Wand Of Dowsing (before it got stolen) to get my ill-fated Pollymorph Potion, and stole the Restraining Order from Wenzel. Shelagh played the Sex Change curse on me, which made my Cute Shoulder Dragon go from a 2 to a 4... and then promptly stole it from me. I had the last laugh though, as she tried, unsuccessfully to steal my Gnomex Suit... 8 TIMES! And I got stuck midway through the game. I got to level 9 with loads of bonuses, which was good... but with no real combat win cards. And so I was praying for a monster that would not kill, just take me down a few levels, so I could get into some more combats to get some decent cards. And it worked. I got into combat with a monster whose Bad Stuff was to lose 2 levels... unfortunately, he had a mate, and so I lost 4 levels. But I was planning to sell off most of my stuff to get the levels back at the end, and then go for the win. There was a funny moment in the middle of the game. I won a combat, and picked up as part of my treasure Hoard, which I played and got three more treasures. One of which was "Duck of Many Things", which I played straight away to get Hoard again, which I played straight away to get some more treasure. Unfortunately, none of the treasures were really any good (of all the treasure I picked up, the best were the Scary False Teeth and Spikey Knees). And the Duck of Many Things was left as the top most Treasure card. Then Steve went, and picked up the Duck of Many Things dungeon card (from Clerical Erratta)... and he played it straight away... and picked up the Treasure "Duck of Many Things"... and played that "Duck of Many Things" straight after (if he had not thrown away a treasure card as one of the two cards he had to get rid of, it could have gone on until he had run out of cards. Now, all this time he had taken 2 cards from Marc. Eventually, Marc was up against a lvl 2 Pit Bull, and I still had a few cards up my sleeve, but I was hit with the Restraining Order (which was still in his hand from the start of the game when he had stolen it from Wenzel... and had survived TWO Duck of Many Things pinches), and so he won. And I forgot to give out the Munchkin Bookmark again... next time! Munchkin Winner: Marc Report back for 29th JanuaryWell... V was great. Of course, I remember watching it when it came out the first time... No Munchkin was played as the movie ran long, and then we got stuck watching the young beautiful people on VH1?. It was great to see so many people grooving to that 80's beat. Um... I thought I had more to say, evidently I don't... oh well... see you next week. Report back for 22nd JanuaryWow... lots o' people arrived... and I had just sprayed for fleas, so no-one complained about being bitten (though apparently every denies ever complaining) I did, and i'm still scratching - SchpatOhEight. And hopefully next week Ian will bring some stuff that will easily go onto the actual cats (the spray stuff the pet shop gave me was great for the carpets, because they could not run away and attack MyrdemInggala). So, after much debate over which is more classic (High Fidelity or Resevoir Dogs), which movie had the most number of people who had not seen it and which was just plain cooler, it was eventually decided to can the two movies voted for, and watch the movie Yancke had brought, which was Max. Max tells the story of the art dealer that befriended a young Adolf Hitler and who tried to turn him into an artist. Now, the movie could have flown over the politically correct line and asked the question "What if Hitler was a better artist?" but it thankfully did not. Instead, it posed the question... "what if Hitler's speeches were just performance art that got taken too seriously?", which is a more interesting question. Unfortunately the movie was marred by some bad casting (while John Cusack is normally brilliant, in this movie we was just TOO John Cusack, and not enough Max Rothman). And Hitler comes off as being completely unhinged as a young man (well played by Noah Taylor who played David Halfgott as a young man in "Shine"), and I am sure he only became truely unhinged as the syphilis was taking control in his later life. Anyway... it was rather interesting watching the movie as a Jew, and with an actual German sitting next to me. At least the movie never tried to make it seem like it was not Hitler's fault for the way he turned out. And once again, a quick game of Chez Geek turned into a bit of a marathon. And surprisingly, it was not the newbie taking his time, but two experienced players. Anyway, eventually it was won by Yancke (who won his 3rd SJ Games game in a row), after Wenzel had gotten 27 Slack points and just lost his Job. Next week... V, the mini series. Movie will start at 7:30 sharp. Chez Geek Winner: Yancke Report back for 15th JanuaryOK... so after much debate, gnashing of teeth and downing of pharmacutical support, it was decided that we will watch Star Trek Nemesis. Now to be honest, I really liked the movie because it was a movie, not just a double episode. It was fun, exciting and the tech was as Star Trek as it could be (read: Munchkin Tech at it's best... "It attacks organic material at the sub-atomic level"). Pat and Ian wanted to talk about Pat's schools initiative, but I don't recall anything actually being said... probably because Pat kept going out to smoke ;-) But we do have a suggestion that in two weeks time we watch the three hour miniseries of "V", which Pat will bring. And I must thank Ian for forcing people to start playing Munchkin early. If we had procrastinated any more (there was a documentary on women with big butts which seemed to have people rivetted) we probably would have finished after the sun came up. Yes, once again a supposedly quick game of Munchkin took forever to finish. I am used to a game of Munchkin Fu working like this: Everyone races to level 9, and gets mondo powerful on the way. The second person to get to level 9 normally wins as everyone has used their cards to stop the first person to get to level 9 to win. Not this game... this game was very different. Several combats were played with lots of people getting involved and lots of cards being used when the combatants were no where near level 9. In the first, several people tried to bluff Michelle into giving them treasure just so to stop them from interfereing with her combat (she was on level 4). She called the bluff, and a major battle ensued (she was up against a Style Gaki, so people were throwing in all their useless cards for the +2 to the Gaki). Then Marc got into a fight with the Hong Kong Cong, and I helped him out. Suddenly we were up against the Hong Kong Kong as well. And they were armed with the Hong Kong Bong, and then the Hong Kong Gong... Argh!!! We tried to run away, but suddenly there was a bloody big Great Wall in front of us! We died. And lost a level... <small>sob</small> And so eventually (after going through the treasures once) Yanke and Garrick got to level 9. Then it came to Wenzel's turn, and he was on level 8. I suggested that he sell off some items to get to level 9, and go for the win because either Yanke or Garrick would win with their next turn (I have played Munchkin Fu before, I know how it works). He refused, and went to level 9 in the next combat. And before it got to them, Marc got into a combat that got him 2 levels, and 5 treasures, three of which were GUALs?... so even though he had recently died, he was also up near level 9. I also managed to get some levels in the mean time and was on level 7. Then it got around to Yanke and Garrick... and to my surprise, neither won. In fact, the game went on for another hour before it was won. In fact, by the end, everyone (except perhaps Michelle, though I may be mistaken) had gotten to level 9 at least once in the game. We went through the treasure pile three times, and the Alley cards once, practice match, Spirit Monkey Guide and Spirit mirror were played twice, Gift of the ancestors was played three times... it was a looooooooong Fu game. Eventually, there was a round where Garrick, Wenzel, Pat and Marc (that is the order they were sitting in) were all on level 9, and all had a chance to win. Garrick's combat against a level 1 moster was a practice match (after wuite a few cards were played). Wenzel lost his "looking for trouble" combat against a Gaki (even though Pat had tried to get him to win by getting Wenzel to use his curses on him to make him lose a lot of cards before the Gaki came out; Pat desperately needed to get home) as everyone tossed in cards they had in front of them. Pat also lost his combat as a load of monster modifiers were played, and Marc's combat was ended when I waited for everyone to through in their last cards in a futile attempt to stop him, and then used the Spirit Mirror I had had for the last two rounds. Then I sold of a load of items to go to Level 9, and opene the door to Jogira (Level 18). After losing two headgears to Ian's curse I was still able to defeat him... YAY!!! It was my most satisfying win, as earlier in the game I had had a horrible run of not getting into any combats and thus not getting anything good, and then just as I was starting to get back into the game I was killed. Without a doubt, the longest Fu game any of us had ever played (almost 3 hours) and a huge amount of fun. Next week, I want to play some of the other new games I got, namely Chez Geek and Chez Grunt. Munchkin Winner: Reuel Report back for 8th JanuaryTo be honest, I was not really up for a ThursdayNightMovies night. I had not gotten any sleep on Monday night, and I was really starting to feel the effects by Thursday. I came close to cancelling it, but I really wanted to clear up some space on my HD, and "The Ring" had been on it way too long, and i wanted to see it before I deleted it. And I am glad I saw it... Not too sure what all the fuss is about. Horror movies just do not make me suspend my belief enough to make me believe they are anything other then a movie. I am not about to go make out a will, or make a copy of the movie so that it will not kill me or anything else to that effect. I had no trouble sleeping after watching the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I am more then willing to spend a night in a haunted house (especially for money) and I am planning to build my dream house over an ancient Indian burial ground. It had some fun moments in it though. And I think that there is a consortium of Australian actresses all working under the name "Naomi Watts", because the woman whose picture is on IMDB, and actress who starred in "The Ring" and the girl who played !JetGirl? in !TankGirl? are three completely different looking people... yet they all use the name "Naomi Watts". Anyway... I was tired, so I kicked out the people who remained at 11, and did not play Munchkin. Next week, we must watch a shortish movie to get some extra munchkin time in... so I can start handing out prizes ;-) Report back for 1st JanuaryI got to sleep at 10am on the 1st after a really cool party at Conrad's (we had a Duck of Doom and a Duck of Many Things at the party, what more could you ask for? ... Strippers ...yeah, ok ), so I was hoping for a fairly early night (as I had to get up early the next day to go pick up a package of SJ Games stuff from the post office. Let's just say that the plan had a few flaws in it... We started out not really knowing what to watch... Since no-one had voted, no-one knew what they felt like. Eventually, it was decided that we will watch League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Which was ok... but they telegraphed the "surpise" spy so early and obviously, that it was not really a surprise at all. Then, in keeping with the "movie from a comic book" theme, we watched Tank Girl. Now this is a movie that really stays true to the spirit of the original format. And Lori Petty is just so sexy as Tank Girl! Then, as I was strying to kick everyone out so I could go to sleep, someone suggested that I show Dave and Melanie how to play Munchkin. I thought, "Hmmm, with all the bard/halfling cards in, the game should go pretty quickly... OK". That was my first mistake. My second mistake was trying to win my first combat at level 9, by equipping the kneepads of Allure while the itching powder was still out. Needless to say, I did not win that combat... The game then took 5 hours to finish... the mix of cards was just perfectly balanced. I think one of the main reasons why the game took so long, and went through so many cards, was because by the end of the game we had 4 out of the 5 players as Thieves, and the Kneepads of Allure had gone around more times then a Thai whore in the docks over New Years with the English War Ship in town. This is how they came into play:
Eventually, Melanie sold them (plus other stuff) for a level, just to get them out of the game... Interesting side note: They were NEVER used by anyone to force another person to help the wearer in combat. Not once... Never... I was the only one who came even close to using them, and they were itching powdered off me before I could even chose who to help me... Marc had a pretty bad game... he was on Level 8 with no other bonuses within the first hour... every time he got treasure, he got at least one, sometimes two Go Up A Level cards... which, as an experienced player will tell you, are useless, if you do not have the item bonuses to back up a high character level. During about hour 3, I mentioned how Mels was actually playing Munchkin brilliantly (even though she claimed to be completely lost and had no idea what was happening when we first started playing... Looking back on it now, I believe she was just using that as a tactic) as she was only on Character level 3, but had millions of cards and bonuses in front of her, while Marc had a very high character level, but no item bonuses. And in 5 hours, many wierd and wonderful things had happened. I was a !SuperMunchkined? Thief/Cleric, Halfbreed Gnome/Orc that in two combats had to first drop my thief class (first to power my cleric ability and also to remove a penalty imposed by the monster I was fighting which was +5 vs thieves) and then had to drop my Orc race in my next combat to avoid another penalty. And Dave went up against a few 1st level monsters hoping to get the win... but the first time the monster was removed with a potion of Disblief that Marc had JUST picked up after beating the potted plant... and the second time Dave went up against a level 1 monster, a Frost Giant (level 15) wandered in, and then an illusion of a Gummi Bear... AND it's MOMMY arrived... that got Enraged!!! Yeah, the smack down was harsh. And for the win I went up against a Level 18 monster... which Melanie used the transferral potion on so she could fight it... not a move I think she will repeat, as one does not want to fight a really high level monster for the win as they are so easy to build... so... she learned as she was <enter Duncan mode> Sk00l3D? </duncan mode> by an Ancient, Enraged Bullrog!! Garrick even tried a very Munchkinly move (he is getting a reputation for big Munchkin moves). He went looking for trouble against a really high level monster, made no attempt to kill it, instead just ran away, and failed his run away roll (which was his intention), and went down to level 1 (the bad stuff was go to level 1 or lose all your stuff). He did this while there were three people on level 9. By the end of the game, the three people on level 9 were on level 9, level 8 and level 6 respectively... while the other player who was not on level 9 when he pulled that move actually won... and he was on level 9 when that happened, so he had gotten right back into the game by then. In fact, the eventual winner had gotten into a fight with the Wright Brothers after Garrick had done his Munchkin move, and had lost, and so she had gone down to level 1 AS WELL. All congratualations go to Melanie for winning the longest single game of Munchkin I have ever played, and on her first try too. By this time (it was 5am) it was easier for me to stay awake (I watched "Dreamcatcher", which was pretty cool... thanks MoonFlake and ZenStar for recommending it), and go to the post office first thing in the morning then to try sleep and wake up and do it later. So now I have meeeeelllllions of Munchkin bookmarks, which I will be handing out to all future Munchkin winners. I was also sent a load of spare Munchkin cards, so i will be adding a few of the cards into the deck... so we now have 3 "Hoard" cards, 3 "Steal a Level" cards, 2 sets of Wright Brothers, 2 King Tuts, 2 Mates, 4 more Intelligent/Enraged and some more magic lamps. I will also be using some of the cards to make some of my own cards... so I will probably be looking online for some ideas, and using some of the ideas off the ClawMunchkin page. Yay... more cards to shuffle... Munchkin Winner: Melanie |