#1 Most Hated Holiday

4 hours. 2 sick girls. 2 screaming babies in the car. $10 of gas for $5 of candy. (half of which we'll never eat) 

 Congratulations Halloween. You officially passed up Valentine's Day to become my NEW #1 most hated holiday of the season!

Happy Halloween

 Now that I have kids, I'm participating in the holiday no matter if I want to or not. 

Tremors 8

 Another movie that would never get made I have a sequel idea for. 

And I would call it: Tremors 8 Everyone

Pun intended. 

Michael Gross would be reduced to cameos through recorded messages he left for everyone but in Perfection after his death in 7. (SPOILERS) 

It would bring back almost every side characters from the previous movies minus the brothers Kevin Bacon and (RIP) Fred Ward. 

The worms have returned to perfection and are devouring them all. Without Burt to hunt the worms Jamie Kennedy is the town's only hope but even he isn't good enough. So you bring back Reba Mcintire (by backing up that money truck to her front door in an attempt to get her to do it) Who saves the day (again after several sequel and TV characters are killed off) to save and settle back into Perfection, where she lays Burt's old guns to rest. 

The stinger after the credits would be Burt doing one last video proclaiming love for his ex-wife....and then providing the coordinates to his whereabouts on Shrieker Island. 

BOOM!

UHF 2

 I know it's never going to happen but if it were, here's what I think it would be about. 

Weird Al's character is older now and broke. He owns the land where the old UHF station used to be and someone makes him a good offer on it. He doesn't want to but he sells the land, only to invest it in what he thinks is the new hottest thing, a Streaming Service. 

But since he has no money to create shows (due to start up cost for the app and program) he once again has to get creative with home grown ideas and how to make it work. 

Weird Al can go back to making fun of current shows and movie franchises as his spoofs generally go and if you throw in some cameos I think you've got a pretty good movie....that can be played on a streaming service.  

Sands of Dune (Review)

 This came out in June under the radar until Kevin J Andersom mentioned it in his newsletter in August and I bought it. 

A collection of 4 short stories, 3 revolving around the first book and the last one after a prequel series. 

Overall, it's great. And even if you've only read the first novel, I think fans would enjoy this. Only 162 pages long so it's an easy read as well. 

Man, do I love the world of Dune!

Pixar Popcorn (review)

 A bunch of shorts that are each less than 2 minutes. I don't know where this collection came from but since I watch EVERYTHING Toy Story, I decided to give it a try. 

Nothing to write home about but they were all ok I guess. Kids love them more than anything. A lot of the voices weren't used to save money I'm sure. And there's some from Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Coco and Cars which should please a few people. 

If you're looking for something short and sweet to watch on Disney+, go right ahead. 

Arlington Road (Re-watch)

 Watched this forgotten gem last month. Still holds up!

If you've never seen it before, give it a shot. I think you'll enjoy it. It was a little before its time when it came to story telling. A real pioneer in what we'd see in more movies as the decades went on. 

Without giving away anything, I think some folks won't see the twist ending until its too late. 

Like I said, still a good one!

Fruit Brute Returns!

 Last year they brought out "Monster Mash" all 5 cereals in one box....it was garbage. 

And just when I thought I was done with tradition and wouldn't buy them this year....they bring out Fruit Brute. 

Ok, nothing special with him but he's so rare I had to get the monster cereals again this year. I am disappointed it wasn't Yummy Mummy because that's the one I grew up eating as a kid. But maybe he'll come out next year and they'll convince me to buy it again. 

At this point it's more about the novelty than the taste, which is only so-so. Not bad, but there's several other cereals I'd enjoy more. 

Anyway, have a good weekend folks!

Norm McDonald: Nothing Special

 Something he filmed shortly before his death and in one take. Netflix finally released it and it's pretty good. 

There's commentary from Molly Shannon, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Dave Chapelle, David Letterman and Conon O'Brian as they all sit around a room discussing the stand up and Norm in general. 

It's good. Real good. And worth every minute of your time if you ever found Norm to be funny, which I certainly did!

Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist

 What a wild story. Netflix did a short documentary on it if you want to see Netflix it's a wild story. 

My take on it is this. The guy's stupid. He got embarrassed when he found out it was fake and tried to keep it a secret until Deadspin broke the story. 

Of course he blames his lackluster NFL career on it which could be true but the story tries to make it into him seeking "redemption" from his past. 

But when you fall in love with a girl you never met? Well....there's just no coming back from that kind of stupid. 

He'll forever be known as a moron, for better or worse. Regardless of what type of athlete he was. 

Coke Dreamworld

 Got to try it a few months ago and forgot to make a post about it. 

It's just peach flavored coke. 

That's all. 

I have no idea what the marketing team thought when they were putting this together but they could've just called it "Peach Coke" and I think it would've sold more. 

Dreamworld? I don't even know what that means and for most people it was probably a "one and done" thing to try it out. 

Peach Coke sells by the cases. Because the market understands the product. "Dreamworld" tells me Coke needs a new marketing team. 

Bang goes Bust

 Almost in debt for 1 Billion, Bang filed for bankruptcy and lost their distributor all in one month. 

The drinks are scarce to find in store now. Only remaining stock from their last order is left on shelves. 

You can still buy online but...I'd be lying to say I'm not worried about things for my favorite energy drink!

Prime Day bust

 Last week I was excited for the next round of Prime Days....and it sucked. There wasn't a single good thing for sale. Very disappointing. 

Hopefully Black Friday will be better. 

MLB Blackouts

 An antiquated way of thinking that MLB refuses to let go and what is adding to the decline of the sport. 

Blocking syndication of the home town team doesn't grow new fans. If they can't see they favorite team on TV why would they want to go visit them in the stadium? Why care about your home team if you can only watch the highlights on ESPN the next day?

Dumb practice and another reason MLB is losing fans each year. 

Project Elite: Extra Stuff

 So what other accessories from with the game and ae they good or not? 

I'm going to give my thoughts on it today.

The ammo pack is EXCELLENT. Allowing you to fire your weapons a lot faster with the only drawback of having to move the pack along with you as you play the game. I'll take that trade off. In fact, this ammo pack is SO GOOD I'm thinking of restricting it to when we're only playing the level on Hard because it's so powerful. 

Deathmaw Valley expansion comes with a lot of awesome looking weapons. But they all suck. Some of the only shoot in a straight line. Others when an aliens stops directly on top of it. Each one is so situational that it's never worth picking up any of them in my opinion. 

The towers are a waste of plastic. It cost 2 permanent wrenches to climb on to and doesn't protect you from the swarm. It only gives you a +1 in range and hits which is never worth it. I've house ruled it so that you don't need to spend the wrenches and moved them in off side areas on the boards to avoid being damaged by the swarm....yet still today I'm the only one that ever bothers using them. 

A complete swing and a miss for the game. These should have got people excited. But all it ever did was make people scratch their heads wondering what the designers were thinking in the first place. 

Have a good weekend folks! 
 

Project Elite ROOK Team ranked

 Time once again to rank the characters in this expansion. ROOK are the heavy hitters in the game and are to be played on the hardest setting. But they're all awesome with great powers, which is why "Hard" level is where they should be played on. 

1) Keiji

Simply put, Speed. He can also ignore line of site on his special action roll. 

2) Lily

Ignore an alien move per roll. Hardly any aliens will move across the board with her in play and that's so cool. Love her ability. No one else has anything like it in the game. Her special action roll allows her to change either 3 hit or action dice all to the same space....another monster move when executed. 

3) Castillo

The kickstarter exclusive character when rolling a wrench delivers 4 damage. His special roll allows him a -1 on required hits, making his gun more effective in battle.

4) Caitlin

She can ignore a "lock up" roll per round and her special roll also gives her a -1 on targets. Since these suits can lock up during the game it's nice to have someone who that may not happen to as much during the round. 

5) Jake

Aliens around you move one less at the end of the round. This could be to your advantage in slowing the enemy down. His special action roll is 2 movements which is why I ranked him higher than the last 2. Again, speed is key!

6) Zawadi

2 Wrench's allows you or someone next to you to heal 2. Again, healers are good to have on the team but it sucks for the individual who has to play as them,

7)  Nils

Slowest character in the game because you have to roll 2 moves to move once. Yuck! They tried to balance it out by giving his special roll make 1 hit = 3. But what good is that if you're dragging behind the team on the board? Terrible player. 

Project Elite (2020) Characters Ranked (3)

 7) Vicky

With her you get to roll your dice once more after the round ends. Sometimes this is crucial in games and for that reason a great player to go on missions with. Now that I think about it, this may be Megan's newest favorite thinking back on recent plays. She loves her. 

6) Kinje

Same power as Caress in the original game where whenever she kills an alien she moves one space. I love people who move fast in this game which is why she ranks so high for me. Oddly enough, I never see her getting picked up that much by others. I guess they don't value speed as much as I do. 

5) Gunter

A "touch" roll gives you a 1+ on hits and a "wrench" roll allows you to reroll a miss. AMAZING. Sure it ties up one or two extra action dice but this power (especially those touch rolls) can be awesome during the game! 

Honestly one of the best all around characters in the game, which is why he's in my Top 5. 

4) Gustav

With him you can switch a die to any facing each round. Man I love playing with him! He comes in handy when you really need one more die to complete an objective, fire a gun or get one extra movement when its crucial in the game. 

Not too powerful an action but good enough to where he's one of my favorites to play in the game!

3) Akosha

At the end of each round you get to fire your weapon or move 3 spaces. Both choices are awesome. She's another player that's commonly used in our games for that reason. Everyone loves the choice of an extra automatic bonus action. 

2) Ronan

A "touch" or "wrench" symbol is considered wild, which means it can be used for anything. This is a MASSIVE advantage only balanced out by the other in that whenever you roll an alien you have to move them twice. 

Easy payoff for a character who has such an incredible ability. I love playing with him for that reason. Yes, you can lose at the start of the game with bad luck rolls but because of his "wild card" factor, you can easily make up for those mistakes. 

Love him. 

1) Voker

Move twice on every movement roll. Yep, just like Momentum from the 2016 version and still my #1 here in the new version too. But not just me, everyone loves playing as him and he gets picked every time we play. 

Movement is the most important thing you need in a game about timed rounds. It's imperative to have. Too bad there aren't more speed characters like Voker in the game. But then again, if there were....it wouldn't be a challenge I suppose.   

Project Elite (2020) Characters Ranked (2)

 

14) Kara

Like an earlier version of the game, this character can avoid 6 alien moves per round. Not my cup of tea but she does get picked from time to time because of it. And of course this is Megan's favorite character to play. I can't deny she comes in handy however. More than once we've been saved from disaster by Kara and her ability. 

13) Angela

A weird ability in that if she rolls 2 moves she can jump over a character and kill them. Neat trick but how often does it happen? I haven't seen it happen that much but it depends on the situation too. This could come in handy on mission, allowing her to move across the board at a rapid rate. Never played her before but it's a cool concept. 

12) Kili

When he rolls two alien move signs he gets to fire his own built in cannon and on a 5+ hits. Kinda nice to have since rolling multiple alien dice is pretty common in the game. It's nice to take a pot shot at the enemy along with any weapons you already have. 

The more damage the better!

11) Dante

With him you get 3 re-roll tokens to use per round. Not bad when talking about hits and if you've got the good gun this leads to a massive advantage. 

As you see these one's I've ranked in the middle has potential to be great in the game under certain situations. 

10) Anya

She gets unlimited weapons. Which makes her an absolute favorite for my nephews when we play. Though I see the advantages to having this, I still think there's 10 other characters who are a lot better. To me, it'd be a lot to keep up with on what gun shoots at what distance for how much. I think it'd slow down your actions in a round but my nephews love her anyway. 

9) Aloria

The other Alien Ally in the game who's power is pretty cool. After killing an alien she can push another alien one space anywhere on the board. Really beneficial under several situations. For some reason a lot of people don't like playing with her but I find that power very handy at times! Really like this ability to move someone back, pull them forward or out of the way of other players on the board. 

8) Gherid

He has the same ability as Bus did in the original game. Aliens pushed against him do no damage. Just like Bus, he's a great character to play as well. I've used his power several times to move back to the base using an alien to get me there and killing him off at the end. 

Very helpful method that makes him one of the best to use. 

Back with the final 7 tomorrow!

Project Elite (2020) Characters Ranked (1)

 Now I want to rank the newest version of the game's characters from worst to best. Here we go!

21) Jake

The WORST one to be. If he rolls to "alien move" dice he loses a health. He heals a health for himself or anyone next to him is he rolls two "touch" symbols. So I guess thematically he keeps shooting himself in the foot and healing during the game. Making the player take the time out to move his health meter back and forth during the round in a frustrating series of events during the mission. 

Horrible and not well thought out character. Really confused why the created him. For the record there is no version of Robcart from the first game and I wish there was someone who was better at searches instead. 

20) Sandra

Replace a swarm card that is revealed with the next one from the deck....which may be worse. This is not very helpful and never used in the game when (and if) we pick random and someone gets her. (which is the only reason she gets played at all) 

What a dumb "ability" in that it can make matters worse for the team if she picks something else. Maybe they could've said "once per mission" she can avoid the alien spawning phase. That would send her near the top of the list in characters. But instead they went with something lame like this. 

19) Robert

Basically the same power of Sandra but with Boss cards. Again, the same can be said that he can make the situation worse by luck of the draw. Another pointless character and a lack of creativity from the designers who put him together. 

Just like Sandra, if his ability was once per mission to SKIP selecting a Boss Card he's be way more valuable. (maybe so house rules should go in effect here)

18) Mizi

She has the power to unlock anyone's dice for the round. Kind of good but really depends on the situation. If someone is badly damaged enough she could come in handy OR if someone plays with Gilgamesh. But only in those two unique situations would she be needed, which is why I ranked her near the bottom. 

17) Sarah

The healer comes in once again near the bottom but at least this time she's not last! With 2 "touch" rolls she can heal herself 3 of another player 2. An improvement from her earlier version but still the same issue as before. Good for the team, bad for the individual player. 

There's a need for this character in the game it just sucks that one player will not be able to help with the mission that much, therefore missing out on all the fun of blowing aliens away.

16 ) Apollo

One of the characters in the "Alien Allies Pack" He has the same power as Sandman did in the original game but this time when an alien is "pushed" it doesn't wake back up until the next round. Nice to have but again like Sandman, it doesn't come in handy most of the time. 

I wonder why they kept this power over into the new version of the game. Obviously someone thought it was good enough to have and even though there are several powers that are worse on this list, this isn't anywhere near the best to have. 

15) Gilgamesh

The good: He gets to reroll misses on hit die. The bad: He rolls with only 3 action die in the game. Making him pretty well balance. I've played with him before and he's not bad. Again, if someone were to play as Mizi, he'd be unstoppable but then again, someone would have to waste their choice on Mizi. 

Ok, I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Project Elite: Worst Mega Bosses

 The 2016 version of the game came with Mega Bosses which were extremely difficult to kill. Here's my rankings of each one, with #1 being the worst!!!

#3

Let me first be clear that even though this one ranks last, it's STILL one I never want to see hit the board. This Boss has a health equal to the number of aliens on the board with a minimum or 12 and defaults back to that number at the end of every round if not killed. 

Brutal. 

#2

I don't remember each of their names so I'm not listing them here. Not that it's important. Only what they DO in the game is. This one makes everyone roll with one less die until killed. Ensuring all players stop what they're doing for the round and attack him until he's dead, wasting an entire round usually to do so. 

#1 

But the worst one I hate seeing out there is this one. It cuts movement down in half and forces you to roll two move symbols to move one space. 

Awful.

I hate this guy. Hard to even get to, to even kill. Most times when he enters the game, you're all screwed. It's almost impossible to win at this point because it's so hard to move anywhere on the board. 

Hate him. 

Project Elite Characters ranked

 I love this game. Got to play it a lot on our beach vacation this year. 

So much so, that I decided to rank the characters from the first version of the game from best to last. 

Here we go!

1) Momentum

Nothing beat speed. That's why this guys my #1. he moves twice as fast as anyone else and I love getting around the board faster with him. Sadly, he's EVERYONE'S favorite around the house so I neve get to play him anymore unless it's solo. 

2) Robcart

Getting your own private search box at the end of each round it super powerful. You're always finding more weapons and items to use and improving your game. Great character but he too goes 2nd after Momentum in our games so I never get to play with him either. 

3) Lilla

Now we're getting to the ones I usually can grab. She has a "locked die" token that can lead to some super powerful actions during the game. If given the right weapon she can be deadly. This is one that a lot of people underestimate. But she's great!

4) Caress 

Another one nobody likes but me. But he "sort of" has speed in that whenever he makes a kill he moves one space. So again "speed" is his appeal though it's only off of a certain action taken in the game which is why he's inferior to Momentum. 

5) Bus

By far the most popular character at GenCon when I first played the game. Mainly because being "pushed" by an alien on the board doesn't hurt him, making Runners useless against him. I like Bus but play him every once in a while. (as the same with the next few)

6) Vickie and KS

The only good thing about her is they come as a team and the robot KS, doesn't have to return on the mission. So what you do is leave him to die after he completes whatever mission you're on. Also, if there are search boxes inside the base on the map, then Vickie has a chance to grab upgrades too which is good. Vickie and KS get played frequently in our games based off this reasoning. 

7) Sandra

Megan's FAVORITE character and will play with her every time. Her ability? She can "stop" 6 alien moves per sound. It is a nice ability but in my opinion, one of the least important. Though I'd be lying if I said she didn't come in handy in those missions with her in it!

8) Sandman

The promo character who's not that good. His ability is to put aliens "to sleep" at the end of the round that are around him, thereby not allowing them to move. The only problem is, they can be awakened but a push from another alien and (most likely) hurt you in the process. 

I've only played with this character twice in my whole life, though I will admit, the first time he gave us the win with his special ability. 

9) Sarah

The only character who can heal herself and others in the game. I very good ability and would be helpful in a game but no one wants to be her because they'd rather be someone who can do more damage during the game. I've only played her once I think. Again, she's necessary on a mission but the trick is getting someone to take one for the team and pick her for the mission.