Every Tuesday, UNT Media Library highlights a title from their growing collection of tabletop games.
This week, read about:
| Number of Players: |
2 |
| For Ages: |
9+ |
| Duration of Play: |
20 minutes |
Hive is an addictive strategy game in which two players compete to block in the other player’s queen bee. The players have an arsenal of bugs, each with its own rules for movement – much like in chess. Think ahead, and watch out for spiders. (The spiders aren’t special to the game though. I just think they’re creepy.)
From the publisher:
A fantastic game for two, be the first player to surround your opponent’s Queen Bee using a team of assorted creatures. Because each creature has its own way of moving about the Hive, the game is sometimes called ‘nature chess’, yet simpler rules, no need for a board and an added dimension make it a far more flexible and accessible game that can be played anywhere. Simply great fun!
— Smart Zone
If you like Hive, you may also enjoy these titles, also available at UNT Media Library:
Every Tuesday, UNT Media Library highlights a title from their growing collection of tabletop games.
This week, read about:
| Number of Players: |
2-8 |
| For Ages: |
8+ |
| Duration of Play: |
20 minutes |
Tsuro is a short game in which players collaboratively create a board and competitively strive to keep their pieces on the table the longest.
From the publisher:
Create your own journey with Tsuro: The Game of the Path! Place a tile and slide your stone along the path created, but take care. Other players’ paths can lead you in the wrong direction—or off the board entirely! Paths will cross and connect, and the choices you make affect all the journeys across the board. Find your way wisely and be the last player left on the board to win!
Stay the path–your journey begins here.
— Calliope games
If you like Tsuro, you may also enjoy these titles, also available at UNT Media Library:
You may recognize aspects of a Film Noir classic with or without knowing the formal definition of this genre. One source defines Film Noir as “a style of film-making developed in the 1940s, with a plot involving suspense, mystery, crime, and corruption, and a bleak, often shadowy, setting, or a film in this style. Film noir begins as the French appreciation of an American genre: the thriller or mystery film with a disillusioned or neurotic hero afraid of the world, the city, the night, and femmes fatales. ” (Allen). Both films discussed in this post, as well as other Film Noir classics, are available at the UNT Media Library collection.
Click image for Laura TCM trailer page
Femme fatales and cynics are common characters in Film Noir. Enter Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker, the eloquent cynic with a dark side, in Laura (1944). Webb may steal scenes but never truly gets the girl. The dark humor and self –absorption of Webb’s characters understandably frustrates others. Cool Detective Mark McPherson, played by Dana Andrews, immerses himself in Laura’s case both professionally and personally. Gene Tierney is believably cast as multi-talented Laura, who captivates almost every one.
Click image for Dark Corner TCM trailer page.
The Dark Corner (1946), is more obscure than Laura (1944). The pleasant surprise for me was the female lead played by Lucille Ball. She is not a femme fatale, but a partner. The lead, Bradford Galt, played by Mark Stevens, is another cynic but when you learn more about his past, you get it. Clifton Webb appears yet again, this time as Hardy Cathcart. It is not a risky choice because it is pretty much typecasting. As in Laura, he wants to add the women he admires to his collection of valuables, but he seems more vulnerable because his betrayal is less perceived and more real. In Film Noir, you may find characters who are seemingly devoid of morals faced off with prominent characters who may share the cynicism but not to the point of unapologetic violence. ‘“There goes my last lead. I feel all dead inside. I’m backed up in a dark corner and I don’t know who’s hitting me.” (qtd. in Nowlan).
There are other parallels and topics to explore with this series, but I will stop there. I am not a film expert, just a fan. I do find many of these films to be a fascinating glimpse into America’s cultural past. I often happen upon one of these “classics” by accident or references in film history books.You can film many film books in the library as well. If you are interested in browsing for similar films at the Media Library, you can do a Subject Search in the UNT Media Library Catalog for Film Noir The trailers and the film profile pages give you a generous overview of the plot. If you check out these films, I do hope you find them worth your time.
Resources:
- Film Noir. (2007). In R. Allen (Ed.), The penguin English Dictionary. London, United Kingdom: Penguin. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/penguineng/film_noir/0
- Despair and desperation. (2013). In R. Nowlan & G. Nowlan, Film quotations: 11,000 lines spoken on screen, arranged by subject, and indexed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/mcffilm/despair_and_desperation/0
- Preminger, O., Dratler, J., Hoffenstein, S., Reinhardt, B., Tierney, G., Andrews, D., Price, V., … Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc. (2005). Laura. Beverly Hills, CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
UNT Media Library DVD 9636 Series: Fox film noir; 1
- Hathaway, H., Dratler, J., Schoenfeld, B. C., Kohlmar, F., Ball, L., Webb, C., Bendix, W., … Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc.,. (2005). The dark corner. UNT Media Library DVD 14533 Series: Fox film noir; 10
- Laura (1944), The Dark Corner (1946) and Clifton Webb profiles. Turner Classic Movie Database (TCMdb) at: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/
Happy #Noirvember!
~ Lilly Ramin (@lillylibrarian)
Every Tuesday, UNT Media Library highlights a title from their growing collection of tabletop games.
This week, read about:
| Number of Players: |
2-5 |
| For Ages: |
8+ |
| Duration of Play: |
15 minutes |
This quick and delicious card game is played in just three rounds. Each player starts with a hand of cards. Everyone picks a card and reveals them together. Then each player passes their hand. The round is over when the last cards are passed. The goal is to score the most points by putting down delectable sets of sushi, shrimp, and dumplings with pudding for dessert! The pudding stays on the table until the end of the game because you eat it – er, score it – last. The most points wins the game. Enjoy!
From the publisher:
Pass the sushi! In this fast-playing card game, the goal is to grab the best combination of sushi dishes as they whiz by. Score points for making the most maki rolls or for collecting a full set of sashimi. Dip your favorite nigiri in wasabi to triple its value. But be sure to leave room for dessert or else you’ll eat into your score! Gather the most points and consider yourself the sushi master!
— Gamewright
If you like Sushi Go!, you may also enjoy these titles, also available at UNT Media Library:
Every Tuesday, UNT Media Library highlights a title from their growing collection of tabletop games.
This week, read about:
| Number of Players: |
2-4 |
| For Ages: |
10+ |
| Duration of Play: |
60 minutes |
In Galaxy Trucker, it’s up to you to move cargo and a crew through space in a ship of your own making. Space is a rough place if you don’t prepare though. Be sure you have enough room for your cargo and crew… and gun power enough to stave off space pirates! If you survive, the trucker with the most cosmic credits comes out on top.
From the publisher:
In a galaxy far, far away… they need sewer systems, too. Corporation Incorporated builds them. Everyone knows their drivers – the brave men and women who fear no danger and would, if the pay was good enough, even fly through hell.
Now you can join them. You will gain access to prefabricated spaceship components cleverly made from sewer pipes. Can you build a space ship durable enough to weather storms of meteors? Armed enough to defend against pirates? Big enough to carry a large crew and valuable cargo? Fast enough to get there first?
Of course you can. Become a Galaxy Trucker.
It’s loads of fun.
— Rio Grande Games
If you like Galaxy Trucker, you may also enjoy these titles, also available at UNT Media Library:
Everyone has neighbors. Even all the creeps. Every creepy thing, every creepy creep… all live next door to someone. Do you know who your neighbors are? Do you ever see them out? In the daylight?
In the Fright Night films, Charley Brewster gets a new neighbor with strange sleeping habits and a weird diet of fruit… and people. Well, people’s blood anyway!
Lend these guys some sugar?
With all the fad diets out there, you never can be too careful. Maybe you should adjust your diet too… just add some garlic to everything.
David Tennant as Peter Vincent in the 2011 film thinks that’s an excellent suggestion.
You may want to watch Fright Night (1985) and Fright Night (2011) to see how Charley handled the situation along with help from famed vampire killer Peter Vincent. Both films are available at the Media Library.
In an October Scare-A-Day post last week, we mentioned Tom Savini for his work on Dawn of the Dead (1978).
Tom Savini is a master of movie makeup, gore, special effects, and visual effects. You have also seen him acting in several spooky/gorey flicks such as From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror, and even in a special cameo of the Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004.
Did you catch the reference?
Take a look behind the scenes and gore, fake blood, and latex as Savini himself talks about his gruesome craft in this Video on Demand available through the UNT Media Library, “Horror Effects Hosted By Tom Savini“.
If you want a little more, “I Heart Monster Movies” is also available for online viewing and features an interview with Tom Savini along with other big horror buffs, including Sid Haig, Doug Bradley, Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace, and many others.
Don’t be scared to check out the online videos available through the UNT Media Library. There’s something for everyone!
Groovy
This is too much
Should have waited for the next elevator
Phew it was just a dream…oh wait
Left 4 Dead and its sequel Left 4 Dead 2 gets you and 3 of your friends to venture out in various zombie infested areas with an assortment of firearms and melee weapons. Sounds simple enough, but when you consider the variety of zombies (I fear the witch and you should too) and the staggering amount of zombies that fill the screen while you’re running out of ammo, it doesn’t feel so simple.
When you find a chainsaw.
