Irons Win - I Lose

As I arrived at the home of the Goldstone Gamers I discovered that the Hammers had made it back up to the Premiership which was a good start for me. Good food, good company, interesting conversation continued the pleasure. ...but then games began and things went downhill. Actually they were very enjoyable games but I think I must have played them rather badly because I lost the first and actually came last in the second.

This week we played Paul's de-luxe copy of Discworld: Ankh Morpork followed by Finca, both games I like.

Discworld brings together the world of Terry Pratchett and the game-designing skills of Martin Wallace. There are those that think this is not one of Wallace's best designs but my attitude is more along the lines of "It's Pratchett AND Wallace - What's not to like?". Not being po-faced "serious" gamers (surely an oxymoronic concept anyway?) we had a lot of fun with this despite a fair amount of "backstabbing" and revenge moves.

I made the mistake of giving away my intentions at a point where I seemed poised for a win quite early on. Of course, after this I was steadily knocked back by my opponents and then contributed further to my own downfall by playing a card with a random event, which destroyed houses and cost money, and then another which overfilled my hand with unhelpful cards, holding me back for several moves.

Meanwhile I unwittingly contributed to a very near win by Paultro but Sandsweeper luckily saved that situation by removing a trouble marker on her turn. However, Sitro had been quietly heading towards his own goal of controlling four areas and achieved it that same turn. Lots of fun and great to play with the nice metal and resin pieces. Not my finest hour as far as strategy was concerned though.

Things could only get better... Finca is a game I like and had played three times before, pretty successfully as far as I could recall. When I first played it I thought it might suit the Goldstone Gamers but I didn't anticipate ALL the newbies playing it better than me. Certainly my worst game of Finca so far. Despite being well aware of the game concepts I kept failing to get useful quantities of fruit, blew two of my special action tiles and failed to gain a single bonus. Dismal.

Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it but I did indulge in a fair bit of characteristic whinging as Sitro nudged me into last place on 30 to his 31 when unused actions were taken into account. Meanwhile Paultro and Sandsweeper had played a sensible game, picking up board bonuses and those for having all the different numbers. I have conveniently forgotten Paultro's score, probably because I was fixated on the lowliness of my own, however  I can say with confidence it was A LOT MORE.

A nice game though. Simple in concept and with nice wooden fruit, differentiated both in colour and shape.

Photo by Paultro received later

It was a really good evening and I would happily go for a re-match of both these games as soon as possible.

Like toodally Orson Film Night

Screenshot of Orson Welles in The Lady from Shanghai trailer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Games day doesn't usually precede film night but this week it had to be brought forward. Despite it being rather impromptu and not feeling like a "proper film night", Arthur turned up with pie and beer and some DVDs for possible future events.




He also produced a VHS tape of "The Third Man", however for once I cheekily made a counter-suggestion to our regular programmer (must be because it wasn't a "proper" FN) and proposed that although it would be good to watch Carol Reed's masterpiece that we use my own DVD copy and couple it with "Me and Orson Welles" as the first feature.

To my surprise Arthur agreed and once I had finished my casserole and made some tea we got underway with "Me and Orson" as the first film. Arthur was aware of the film but had never seen it, while I had seen it at the cinema but only recently acquired the DVD and was looking forward to watching it. We both enjoyed it. Arthur apparently enjoyed it a lot. I once again marveled at how the era and characters had been captured especially Orson (Christian McKay) and Jo Cotten (James Tupper), who even looked like the originals.

Me and Orson Welles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It certainly repays a second viewing, and probably more, as there is a lot of period and biographical detail, presumably reflecting a lot of research. While there is something slightly unpolished about it for me that is hard to pin down. The writing, performances by Zac Efron, Claire Daines, Eddie Marsan, Ben Chaplin and others, and the period look of the film are all thoroughly enjoyable and set against a wonderful soundtrack which had me continuing to listen all through the end credit crawl.

It also set us up nicely for seeing Orson and Jo in two of their best known roles, after the break.

The break of course contained pie, Spitfire beer and another episode of the wonderful Phil Silvers show. This time it was apparently (according to the introduction) the first ever filmed. In that case it was surprising on two counts 1) assured and knowing performances by "Ernie" and his henchmen who seemed to have been absolutely clear about their role from the outset and 2) The almost immediate disappearance of some of the regulars (including "Doberman") for the entire show, having been replaced by a bunch of new recruits.

The key plot point of the show was Bilko having lost a card game, cleverly showing how this came about and how very unusual it is for money to flow out of, not into his hands. Against this it also underlined Ernie's essential good-heartedness. We also meet the long suffering Colonel Hall, (Paul Ford) blustering and fluffing his lines endearingly. It really hasn't suffered at all in the more than fifty years since it was made. The picture quality and the pleasure was top notch.

After "the intermission" it was on to the second main feature, the iconic masterpiece that is "The Third Man". Arguably there are several elements that make it not just one of the great films but one of the great art works of the twentieth century: It has a novel and screenplay by Graham Greene behind it, it has great performances by fine actors of the calibre of Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, "Valli", Bernard Lee and of course more briefly, but to great effect, Harry Lime himself, Orson Welles. It also has some of the most striking sounds and visuals of any film. Carol Reed's direction and the cinematography (by Robert Krasker) are heavily influenced by German expressionism with beautiful contrasty black and white, much use of shadows and "dutch tilt", keeping us off balance and Vienna sinister and mysterious.

Joseph Cotten as writer Holly Martins (left) and Welles (right) as Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is one film that it is impossible to imagine in colour and Orson's famous plea to keep Ted Turner and his crayons away from his film, although actually meaning Citizen Kane, should also be extended to this one. The vandalistic blight of colorization would kill its magic stone dead.

It is often said that Vienna is one of the leading characters of the Third Man and with reason, as the ruins and rubble of 1949 Austria are Lime's territory, full of hidey holes amid contrasting remnants of grandeur. The final scenes of the film were famously shot on location in Vienna's 3,000 kilometres of sewer, as the cornered rat Lime scurries through a surreal, expressionist lanscape of ladders, tunnels and arches. With the striking off-kilter visuals, famous moments like the light revealing the "dead" Harry hiding in a shadowy doorway and the haunting strains of Anton Karas' Harry Lime theme (He'll have you in a dither with his zither according to the trailer) this is a cultural icon, one of the pinnacles of cinematic art and...it's going to be a hard act to follow.

Trajan Tuesday

Traianus. 98-117 AD. :: AV Aureus (7.27 gm). Struck mid-Summer 116 AD. ::: IMP CAES NER TRAIAN OPTIM AVG GER DAC PARTHICO, laureate bust right, aegis on left shoulder globe at base of bust ::: P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R, PARTHIA CAPTA in exergue, Parthia seated left, head facing, in attitude of mourning, and Parthian seated right in attitude of mourning below trophy. :: RIC II 325; cf. Strack 247 (no globe at base of bust); BMCRE 606; Calicó 1036; Cohen 186. :: Good VF, underlying luster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two excellent Tuesday games this week, neither of which I thought to take photos of, unfortunately. Battlelore was temporarily abandoned for technical reasons (a huge number of cards accidentally mixed and needing sorting) so we played Fresco in preparation for a group play on Thursday and after lunch we finally got round to tackling Stefan Feld's Trajan.

I already liked Fresco and this play did nothing to change my opinion, although it isn't quite the same two-player and requires the use of a "Derk" third player (actually called Leonardo in this case). The two players take it in turns to decide the moves of Leonardo who doesn't get "paints" (coloured blocks) or income but does receive points for restoring bits of the fresco (normally done by paying the appropriate coloured "paints") and also, importantly, has a blocking role in the market. We had a very enjoyable and close game with me emerging on top after points for remaining cash were tallied but only by about two points.

Th

Fresco (Photo credit: Lutrus)

The situation was reversed in Trajan where Crabro made up massive ground on carefully amassed bonuses at the end of the game to win by 3 points out of 150-ish. Both very satisfying games, Trajan perhaps the more so with seemingly a lot of possible strategies. I managed to acquire a set of similar commodity cards towards the end, which had I been able to activate shipping again, and therefore also use them in conjunction with a bonus tile which I could have taken as I was ahead on senate votes, would have been worth a great many points. No doubt Crabro could also point to similar missed opportunities though and it actually felt very satisfying that both games were such close contests.

Stefan Feld remains my current hero amongst game designers.

Festival Film Night Monkey Shines

Inherit the Wind (1960 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Rialto tying its film night in with Brighton Festival is entirely unofficial, I should point out, but as the

biggest arts festival in the country is in full swing locally I couldn't resist becoming part of it...

This week the Rialto's official programmer "Arthur Pringle" arrived with the usual beer and an interesting mixed bag of film goodness. The pies were already in the fridge this time as we had some left from last week.

The programme this time consisted of Inherit the Wind (not a reference to genetic flatulence problems but a quote from the Bible) and Seven Days in May. An exciting new innovation was announced as Arthur had got his hands on a glut of Bilko DVDs and I eagerly accepted his proposal to watch an episode in "the interval".


Tea having been dispensed as usual, the first film was inserted into the Rialto's tape-player (back to VHS again this week) and proceeded to stun us all over again. Inherit has not lost its power, or indeed its relevance given the recent shenanigans in the colonies and the bizarre collection of loonies proposed as presidential candidates there.

Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The film, directed by Stanley Kramer (Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) in 1960 concerns the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" which occurred in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. The real trial was rather a trumped up publicity stunt to some extent and succeeded in putting Dayton well an
d truly on the map. Scopes (who becomes Cates, played by Dick York in the film) was a school teacher who agreed to stand trial for teaching the theory of evolution which technically contravened the "Butler Act" which had become state law that same year. The Act, which was still on the books at the time the film was made, forbade educators in state schools or universities

to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals. The film strays from the reality quite a bit, and indeed the original play apparently denies being based on fact, however much of the trial detail follows the historical facts and whole sections of the dialogue are taken straight from the trial transcript. Key differences are the "love interest" and role of Cates' fiancée who, in the film, is the daughter of the local hell-fire preacher, but in reality didn't exist at all, and the witnessing of Cates teaching Darwin's theories. In reality Scopes couldn't recall if he actually had ever done such a thing and was therefore kept off the witness stand by the defence, however he pointed out that the theory was actually in an official school text book and therefore Tennessee state teachers were obliged to teach it in contravention of the law. In the film this defence is undertaken by Spencer Tracy in a stand out performance as famous Photo taken of Clarence Darrow (left) and William Jennings Bryan (right) during the Scopes Trial in 1925. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) lawyer Henry Drummond in imitation of celebrity lawyer Clarence Darrow who was part of the defence team in the real case. In reality Darrow was neither the sole lawyer on the Scopes' side nor the one who made the most effective speech, however, much of the trial and its outcome are accurately portrayed in a gripping and impressive manner by Frederic March and Tracy in what must be one of the best trial movies ever made. Harry Morgan from the trailer for Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In perhaps a rather odd role for him, Gene Kelly plays a cynical journalist (based on H.L. Mencken) who gives the local fundamentalist "yokels" a hard time in the press. Again real-life somewhat differs in that Mencken left after the judge ruled out all the defence's expert witnesses and refused to allow the jury access to their testimony. He, therefore, wasn't actually there in real life for one of the key points portrayed in the film when Darrow/Drummond puts his opposite number William Jennings Bryan/Matthew Harrison Brady on the stand as a bible expert in an attempt to point out the illogicality of taking Genesis and the Old Testament as literal truth. The actual result of the trial was realistically portrayed in that the judge, played here by Harry Morgan,  M.A.S.H.'s beloved Colonel Potter, fined Scopes one hundred dollars, the minimum allow Stanley Kramer receives an Award at the 1960 Berlin Film Festival for Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia) ed under the Act. This verdict was overturned later in reality as it was beyond the power of the judge to impose such a large fine (in today's money more than fifteen hundred dollars) which should have been decided by the jury. After the film I described it as a "stonker" and it truly is. The performances are marvellous, and relishable including those of the scenery-chewing March and the powerful Tracy but not forgetting Kelly's acid wise-cracking "E.K. Hornbeck", Donna Anderson as the aformentioned love interest, a moving moment involving Noah Beery Jnr, Claude Atkins as the mouth-frothing hell-fire and damnation priest and Florence Eldridge in the important role of Brady's wife who bridges the gap between the lawyers who are bitter opponents but also old friends. I was very glad of the opportunity to be knocked out of my hosiery by this blockbuster again. It's hard to imagine such a topic, still controversial in the bible-belt states, being given such a big treatment in these risk-avoiding times in Hollywood, with actors of the status of Tracy. Publicity photo of Phil Silvers as Ernie Bilko in the television show You'll Never Get Rich. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Getting our breath back we began our pies and beer in the company of the much loved (by Arthur and me anyway) Phil Silvers. The chosen episode featured Dick Van Dyke as "Lumpkin" a naive hill-billy with a gift for throwing that Bilko spots as a potential goldmine in the world of top flight baseball. The episode features several high-profile New York Yankees of the era playing themselves including a priceless turn by the legendary Yogi Berra pretending to be a fellow southern hill-billy  to convince the Dixie-loving Lumpkin that it is ok to join a team called the Yankees. The Phil Silvers show was the first thing I ever recall seeing on television, on my grandmother's Ferguson, probably in the late fifties (this episode dates from 1957). Bilko remains fresh and funny, a testament to the personality, skill and presence of Silvers and the rest of the regular cast and the writing talent of Nat Hiken. We had some technical difficulties with the final film of the evening, Seven Days in May, but the tape damage didn't become obvious until the the denouement so we soldiered on, only to have the flickering, blanking screen stabilise into a clear picture of the "The End" caption. Most of the film had been in good quality, however and presented us with a striking cold-war thriller made in 1964 and starring a chilling Burt Lancaster with Kirk Douglas as a principled soldier forced into opposing a former hero. Arthur likes to put together programmes with connections it seems and this one was connected to the first feature not only by its background in real-life American politics but by the presence of Frederic March, this time in a much less histrionic performance as a decent but disliked president. In the first film March played a character who had stood three times but not been elected. Image via Wikipedia A very enjoyable film, directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay (adapted from a novel) by Rod Serling, it envisages an attempted coup by the joint chiefs of staff in revolt at the possibility of a nuclear treaty with the USSR drawing the teeth of the US leaving it vulnerable to first strike. The fact that overthrowing the government would itself send destabilising signals to "the enemy" was pointed out by President Fred but ignored by the increasingly fanatical Lancaster whose character could have been based on Curtis Le May or any of a number of hawkish military leaders of the period.  The changing face of world politics has dated this somewhat but perhaps more in perception than actuality. I grew up in fear of the button being pressed which would result in nuclear armaggedon. The threat of this may have appeared to have receded but the arsenals of horror weapons still exist and indeed are proliferating around the world. There is still much that is relevent here but if that isn't obvious it is still very enjoyable for the tense performances from some top films stars of the day. And, as one might observe in connection with the first film too, plus ça change...

Breese blocking

Typical Bicycle playing cards with Air-Cushion finish (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MrW was unfortunately absent this week but this did mean that the group didn't split and we all played the same game. I was a bit worried as it was the game played by the other half of the group last week: Richard Breese's Keythedral. This meant that three of my opponents had played it very recently while I hadn't played it for several years.

Petra Pan arrived without ever having played it before so comprehensive teaching took place and I was able to play it reasonably effectively. In fact I ended up second on 44 points although it must be said that it was a distant second to ProfMudlark's 59. There had been some serious blocking during the game and so the final round when, thanks to a card played by Petra Pan, I managed to place seven men out to gather resources, was something of a relief after failing time and again to use some of my buildings.

The penalty cards in standard Hearts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remembered the game as being one of the earliest I played with Crabro's game group after I fortuitously met them at the first "Pasteboard and Plastic". I also remembered that I liked it but that was about all that I recalled. It is, I suppose, typical of Richard's "Key" games: Very cleverly thought out, with interesting mechanisms and balance. It is also a very nice game to look at, in my opinion. I love the artwork (by Juliet, Richard's sister) where every tile is different e.g.,while all the forest tiles clearly match, the illustration on each one is unique.

Ace of hearts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Petra Pan headed home after this but the rest of us felt there was time for a short game and decided on a conventional card-game for once, continuing our aborted game of Black Maria (or Hearts if you must) from the previous week. It's a game, dating from 1850 according to Boardgamegeek and one which I've played many, many times in my own distant past. It felt very natural to have a handful of playing cards again.

Knowing the game so well, I wasn't too surprised to find myself going two rounds without picking up any penalty at all but both Crabro and MaOldie were showing signs of wanting to get the benefit of taking ALL the penalty cards. The second time this was attempted I panicked and sacrificed myself to stop Ma giving us all 26 penalty points. Unfortunately I did this rather too effectively and picked up four. In the final round with no opportunity to pass unwanted cards on I found myself with the high spades including her majesty. Despite my best efforts, I ended up keeping the queen for 13 points. I believe the Prof. won again. A very successful evening for him despite the fact that earlier on it was remarked that he was usurping my whinging crown.

More 'Lore...

This week's Tuesday games have been dubbed "Best Evah" by Crabro and who am I to disagree?

We were immersed in Battlelore again with a meaty and seemingly well-balanced scenario including a useful number of units drawn up in opposing battlelines and the prospect of magic again. I've mentioned before, I'm sure, how this game speaks to my inner thirteen year old and evokes those wonderful feelings, experienced in massed civil war Airfix minis games long ago. The "them against them" dice rolls. The anticipation of a cunning attack. The triumphs and disasters at the whim of the D6. Happily we both really enjoy this game and are having a whale of a time playing a scenario from both sides each week.

This week, despite the feeling that the scenario was fairly well-balanced I was lucky enough to start with a victory of six banners to nil (five being the requirement for the win). Changing sides and playing again it was a different story, however, and the scoreline much better reflected the perceived nature of the set up. I was once again in a position for a possible win, with most of the work done and a powerful spell ready. Once or twice a die roll could have finished the job but didn't, finally Crabro was able to announce that if my turn (and the dreaded creeping doom spell) didn't produce the win then he would definitely win on the next turn. A disappointing dice roll (on my part) later and he was as good as his word winning the return match 6-5. It had been something of an epic battle, much appreciated by the winner and the loser alike.

After a very tasty lunch (provided by Crabro again) we returned to Comuni as it seems to make sense to play a game more than once having learned all the rules. I was a little less enthusiastic than my opponent having lost so badly the last time I played but found myself enjoying it nevertheless. It is undoubtedly a good design and satisfying to play but...I lost again. This time I played more conventionally and in the two player game there was never much to fear from the battles, however, Crabro was much more focused on getting all the bonuses and as our building scores were identical it was his success in getting 3 of the 4 bonus "people" and the better of the two bonus tiles in each battle that won the game for him, by some margin.

Lovely Rita

Screenshot of Rita Hayworth as Gilda performing "Put The Blame On Mame" in the trailer for the film Gilda. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Screenshot of Rita Hayworth as Gilda in the trailer for the film Gilda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Screenshot of Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth as Gilda in the trailer for the film Gilda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Film night on May 4th (and May the fourth be with you film fans). Arthur turned up at the Rialto's entrance with some bad news: He had been unable to buy the usual huge Melton Mowbray pie but he had substituted some smaller ones to go with our beer and films so all was not lost.

Spoilers below

The programme he suggested continued the recent theme of an opening black and white "classic" followed by another in the "Woody Allen retrospective" series. In this case the programme opened with Gilda and the second feature was Husbands and Wives.

I liked Gilda more than Arthur did despite it being his suggestion. It stars Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford and was directed in 1946 by Charles Vidor. Personally I found it fascinating and enjoyable although the leading characters were both very flawed. Sadly Rita's singing is dubbed (by Anita Ellis) although you wouldn't know it from her clever lip-synching. She gives a great performance in every other respect though from the dancing to the slapping around of "Johnny Farrell" Glenn Ford's crooked gambler character which allegedly was so real that it loosened two of Ford's teeth. The plot has Argentine casino owner George Macready hiring Johnny after seeing his skills with crooked dice elsewhere. Johnny thrives as casino manager but Macready (as bag guy Bailin Mundson) soon realises that his new wife and Johnny have a history. The relationship between Gilda and Johnny is the key element and it is fiery indeed as she does everything to provoke him and he exacts his revenge by marrying her and effectively imprisoning her. The film stands or falls on the watchability of these two rather unpleasant characters and their portrayal. In my opinion it succeeds with two mesmerising performances.






The Woody was again not one I would put in my top ten, however I was grateful to get another chance

Woody Allen at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his film Whatever Works. The photographer dedicates this portrait to Wikipedia editor Alansohn, for amazing article contributions, vandal-fighting, development of the project and for outstanding community skills. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

to see it. Made in 1992 it stars Woody himself (not always a good thing) as well as Mia Farrow, Judy Davis, Juliet Lewis, Liam Neeson and Sidney Pollack. I enjoyed seeing Ms Farrow again and being reminded that she was a fine actress. Hopefully we will see more of her if the Woody retrospective continues. This is not typical Woody in many ways although allegedly he considers it one of his best. In particular it is atypical in that it goes against the then norms of film making by cutting in odd places and much use of hand-held camera. We are very familiar with hand-held and loose-head camera work these days to underline action and violence and we are also familiar (if not sick to death of) "mockumentaries". In 1992 the pseudo-documentary format and the use of "shaky" camera work were innovative and perhaps interesting, which is not to say it wasn't still a rather irritating thing to watch, particularly in the opening scenes. At times the camera is focused, not on the speaking character, but on some intervening inanimate object. If the idea is to unsettle us in the way that the married couples are unsettled then the thematic match may be justified, it just isn't very pleasant. For once we may thank a studio (Columbia TriStar) for interfering in an artistic decision: Woody wanted to shoot on 16mm which would have made it grainy as well as shaky.

Soon-Yi Previn and Woody Allen at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Whatever Works. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of course the match between theme and real-life made for an unusually good domestic box-office for Allen. The studio cashed in on the public's prurient curiosity about the Allen/Farrow homelife, giving the film a bigger release than normal for Allen's low-budget  annual films and it seems the decision was justified financially, if not artistically. The misconception that the film is autobiographical is understandable until one realises that Farrow was originally cast in the Judy Davis role, nevertheless it is hard not to speculate on how much events in the writer/director's own life informed the artistic choices in this films production. An intriguing part of the Allen canon and one which I was very interested to view again but not, in my opinion among his best despite his own feelings on the subject.