Cheers from Jonni

[Oshri Paliako]

14 minutes ago, Ashin said:

How did you guys feel about the film adaptation of I, Robot ?

 

Much like the adaption of I Am Legend, it was entertaining but not really true to the original.  Not as far off as World War Z but I try to look at them on their own merits while pretending they are unrelated to avoid disliking one for not being true to the other.

[Scynner]

7 hours ago, Jonni Favorite said:

2. Board games - wow it's been a while. As a kid I used to make my own, growing up in a Eastern European country didn't afford one such luxuries as toys, so we had to make our own =) Thankfully I didn't have the same problem when I moved to the US and some of my favorites are:

 

a. Axis and Allies - superbly balanced and easy to play but also non-linear, despite it being based on historical events. My friends in HS played this a lot, often stretching over several days for one campaign.

 

b. Monopoly - hard to get tired of this one, turned out to be even more fun when drinks are involved =)

 

c. Risk - perhaps a scaled down version of Axis and Allies, but the simpler game concept allows for several campaigns in one night. Or one hour, depending on your opponent?

 

What about you?

My top three are Diplomacy, Axis and Allies and Puerto Rico.  Diplomacy and Axis are games that take all day.  The interesting thing about Diplomacy is everyone's moves take place at the same time and you negotiate support from friends to support you to attack someone else who will backstab you but you planned for that...Love strategy games.  Puerto Rico is a simple game to learn with many different ways to win, and it can be played in 1-2 hours.

[Jonni Favorite]

6 hours ago, Oshri Paliako said:

I have read several of Asimov's short stories including Bicentennial Man, but I haven't read the Foundation series yet, which makes no sense.  I really need to get off my butt and read them.

 

You should give it a go. While set in pretty much the same universe as I, Robot, the galactic scale of the series takes a very different direction and spans a considerably larger timeline. Most notable is Asimov's use of pseudo-science (for the lack of a better word on my first cup of coffee =), for which he's famous for.

 

I should probably read it again, it's been almost 30 years, but to be fair these days I don't read much fiction any more, I focus instead on history, philosophy and para-psychology. Right now I'm reading Debt, The First 5000 years, an interesting look at how our financial systems evolved over time. And when I say 'right now', I mean I have about a dozen books that I read here and there, sometimes backwards =) with 'Debt' being the primary.

[Jonni Favorite]

4 hours ago, Ashin said:

How did you guys feel about the film adaptation of I, Robot ?

 

Well, for starters, other than the Three Laws, the movie plot had really little to do with the original story. While I like Will Smith, and the adaptation of I Am Legend, the I, Robot movie just had too much cliche comedic moments and jam packed with unnecessary action scenes, at least given the contrast with the books. I'm not one to put down a movie simply for deviating from the original book, if the movie turns out to be good, like Blade Runner, but I thought I, Robot failed. 

[Jonni Favorite]

3 hours ago, Oshri Paliako said:

Much like the adaption of I Am Legend, it was entertaining but not really true to the original.  Not as far off as World War Z but I try to look at them on their own merits while pretending they are unrelated to avoid disliking one for not being true to the other.

 

I rather liked I Am Legend, although I've never read the original story but I'm familiar with the deviation. I thought in this case the alternative presentation was interesting, even if they completely switched perspective and perhaps missed the point of the story, or at least that's how it was presented. In any case, I like the movie more than I, Robot.

 

Edited November 24, 2016 by Jonni Favorite

[Jonni Favorite]

2 hours ago, Scynner said:

My top three are Diplomacy, Axis and Allies and Puerto Rico.  Diplomacy and Axis are games that take all day.  The interesting thing about Diplomacy is everyone's moves take place at the same time and you negotiate support from friends to support you to attack someone else who will backstab you but you planned for that...Love strategy games.  Puerto Rico is a simple game to learn with many different ways to win, and it can be played in 1-2 hours.

 

Diplomacy sounds fun. Is it anything like Supremacy? I've played that a bit and I remember having that same cloak and dagger feel through the alliance process, and nuclear escalation. Although I'm sure they are quite different games.

[Oshri Paliako]

50 minutes ago, Jonni Favorite said:

 

I rather liked I Am Legend, although I've never read the original story but I'm familiar with the deviation. I thought in this case the alternative presentation was interesting, even if they completely switched perspective and perhaps missed the point of the story, or at least that's how it was presented. In any case, I like the movie more than I, Robot.

 

 

I can respect that, I just liked the point of the original story, where we, the human, once the norm have become the monster, while not necessarily perceiving the change in ourselves or society which caused the role reversal. 

[Scynner]

42 minutes ago, Jonni Favorite said:

 

Diplomacy sounds fun. Is it anything like Supremacy? I've played that a bit and I remember having that same cloak and dagger feel through the alliance process, and nuclear escalation. Although I'm sure they are quite different games.

Nothing at all like it.  Here is a good summation:  http://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-board-game-of-the-alpha-nerds/