Alex Riviello

Roped the family into a playing my brand-new copy of Risk Legacy yesterday during Christmas and was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it is.

If you’ve never heard of this new iteration, it’s one of the most innovative board games you’ll ever play. Each game will fundamentally change the world for games to come. For instance, you can customize the different armies, giving them various abilities by choosing one of two stickers on a card… and ripping up the other one, so you’re stuck with your choice forever. As armies battle it out you can place various “scars” on the board, stickers that change territories for the better or worse. Win a game, and you’ll be able to name a continent by writing directly on the game board, giving you bonuses for taking it over for every game you play in the future, or found a city and give yourself exclusive starting rights to that spot.

Inside the box there are envelopes full of cards and surprises that can only be opened after various conditions are met, changing up the rules for the game forever. It’s a persistent board game world, and while at it’s core it’s still just Risk, it’s great to feel like your actions have a lasting impact.

Can’t wait to keep writing on my board, ripping up cards, and having my friends desecrate my world. Full review coming to Badass Digest ASAP!

Kim Jong Il’s death reminded me of the stunning doc Yodok Stories that i saw at Tribeca a couple years ago (and reviewed at CHUD here.) It’s still unbelievable to think that there are concentration camps still at use in the world at there, and I doubt that Il’s death will change anything, especially with his apparently dim son (Kim Jong-Un) barely prepped for the role.

Because no one really cares if there are hundreds of thousands of North Koreans rotting way in jail, entire generations of people. Reminds me of that Eddie Izzard bit from Dressed to Kill about how no one cares if a country kills their own people. “Oh, help yourself. We’ve been trying to kill you for ages!”

Anyway, I found out that the film was actually released on dvd, with little or no fanfare, which is criminal. It’s also available for free online, so you should definitely check it out when you get a chance. If the below embed doesn’t work here’s a link.

So I had this horrible nightmare last night where I was on a road trip with my wife and three other female friends. We were driving around going to places (as you do) and finally ended up at a video store on the way back. Yes an actual video store. I stayed in the car while the women picked something up to watch for when we got home. As we took off I opened the dvd case and saw that they had chosen the first three seasons of Whitney. 

I woke up screaming.

Has there ever been a good fan film? I can’t think of one. It seems like they crop up every month, and I watch as fans of the property drool over the short or trailer or whatever, regardless of quality, just because it’s cool to see their favorite characters brought to life. But I’m having trouble thinking of a single good one.

Case in point, the utterly awful Bioshock trailer that’s been making the rounds. Just because it features a familiar character and music people seem to ignore that it doesn’t say anything.

Then there was that Portal film, the Mortal Kombat one, Batman Vs Predator, the Resident Evil Machinima series… there’s just so many terrible films out there that draw incredible numbers of viewers. I just don’t understand it. I’d rather watch an original piece or even a satire of a famous franchise rather than any of these.