The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

The Lord of the Rings is a classic tale. I have previously reviewed and summarized its constituent parts (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King); today, I finished reading this one-volume edition illustrated by the author. I even read Appendices A and B ("Annals of the Kings and Rulers" of the Third Age and "The Tale of Years," respectively) and skimmed C through E (Family Trees, Calendars, and Writing and Spelling).

Of the tale itself, little need be said. It is full of wisdom and wonder. It has impression of depth. I enjoyed it perhaps more now than I have in the past, despite this being my third or fourth re-reading. 

Of the version: I liked it. This version of the book is as the author intended, meaning presented in one volume. (I have read it could not be so produced in his era, due to paper shortages from World War II.) Having his illustrations in it is a bonus (this is a 'companion' volume to The Hobbit version I read earlier this year). Having this in one volume improved the flow (or seemed to), though it can still jar the reader by not interleaving various threads of the story (when the fellowship parts, Tolkien will follow one thread, then rewind and do the other).

Observation: for as much as I love the story, Tolkien most certainly does not invest in suspense. I believe his son claimed that he wrote with "no sense of narrative urgency," and that shines forth in places here. Things I believed to be the most suspenseful, even climactic, were handled abruptly with little fanfare. It almost seemed as though Tolkien wanted more focus on the wonder of the world, the history, and the languages than the suspense of the story itself. The story was excellent, but it was not delivered in modern fashion.

Finally, I read two appendices this time because of subsequent big-screen adaptations: The Rings of Power (seasons one and two) and The War of the Rohirrim. Both feature events mentioned in Appendices A and B. 

Rating: A

Wonka

As a child, Willy Wonka dreamed of making the world's best chocolate with his mom. And she promised she would share the secret. But when she passed away, Willy is forced to find his own way in the world. 

Years later, Willy makes his way to the city, where his creations dazzle the population . . . and draw the attention of three evil chocolate makers. They are determined to take him down . . . can Wonka and his friends follow his dreams, or will the greedy always beat the needy?

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Delightfully absurd, this musical/comedy (a prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) is a treat. It celebrates dreams, imagination, and the importance of sharing life selflessly with others. Recommended.

Rating: A-

The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game

Today's review is of the 2013 release, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game (hereafter, Fellowship DBG). For 2-5 players, it takes 30 minutes.

Overview

In the Fellowship DBG, your goal is to have the most victory points. To do so, you must plan wisely, buying powerful cards and ridding your deck of weak and worthless ones. This will enable you to gain enough strength to take down archenemies (the standard game has eight in succession). 

This deck-building game works like most in this genre. You start with a deck of 10 cards, drawing 5 to form your hand. The cards grant power (and sometimes other abilities), enabling you to buy cards from the central row ("the path"): allies, artifacts, locations, maneuvers, even enemies. You will buy one or more cards, then replenish the path from the main deck each turn. Cards you buy, plus any in your hand or played to the table that turn, go into your discard pile. Then draw 5 cards to prepare for your next turn, shuffling your discard pile to form a new deck as needed. Play passes clockwise.

You can also use power to fight archenemies. (The game comes with 12 but recommends you play with 8, placed in a stack next to the lineup.) If your power on a given turn equals or exceeds the super-villain on the top of the stack, you defeat them, putting them in your discard pile (yes, this means you can use them on a later turn). Once all super-villains have been defeated, each player tallies their victory points (printed on each card) to determine the victor.

Review

This game is almost exactly like the DC Deck-building Game (not surprising, as it is by the same company). My comments for this are the same as that offering: it is a fun game, easy to learn, with some aspects that were counter-intuitive (like buying enemies to incorporate into your deck). There are mild differences:

- the hero you choose does not have a special ability, but instead a unique card you start with in your deck

- there are 'fortune' cards that are free and can be played immediately

- there is the 'ambush' keyword that is similar to attacks, but affects only the player whose turn it is

Overall, this one seems a touch simpler than its DC counterpart, and that is okay.

Rating: A-

The Gang

Today's review is of the 2024 release, The Gang. For 3-6 players, it takes 20 minutes.

Overview

The Gang is cooperative Texas Hold-em Poker, where your goal is not to get the best hand but to correctly and cooperatively order your hands (from strongest to weakest) without revealing your cards. The game is played over rounds, each with four steps [my terms]. A round:

- First step: each player is dealt two cards (known only to them) and chooses a white chip (ranked one to six) corresponding to their hand's perceived strength. If two players want the same rank, they debate without revealing their cards.

- Second step: the dealer reveals the flop (the first three community cards). Players take a yellow chip (ranked one to six) corresponding to their hand's perceived strength based on this new information. Players debate as before if there are conflicts.

- Third step: the dealer reveals the turn (the fourth community card). Players take an orange chip for ranking and debate as before.

- Fourth step: the dealer reveals the river (the fifth community card). Players take a red chip for ranking and debate as before.

game in progress; image from here

And the end of these steps, players must agree on their ranking. Once agreed, cards are revealed from weakest to strongest hands. If the players get the order correct, they win that round. If they do not, they get one strike. Then cards are returned, shuffled, and a new round begins. The players collectively win if they win three rounds before losing three.

Review

Cooperative Poker?! Definitely a new concept for me. This is a fun party game. The different ranking chips taken at each step help players speculate on others' hands ["hey, he thinks his hand strengthened considerably with the 10 just played. Maybe he has a 10."]. Of course, those familiar with Texas Hold'em and strength of hands will do much better at judging their own hand's value (the game comes with reference cards to help novices). And games like this are best enjoyed with close friends in my opinion. Still, it is a winner.

Rating: A

The Wishes of the Fish King (Douglas McKelvey)

The Wishes of the Fish King is a children's picture book celebrating the wonder of the world. The goal is conveyed through a quote on the inside cover: 

"Fairy tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water." --G.K. Chesteron, Orthodoxy

The verse is okay; the art is outstanding. It reminded me of the 'magic in the mundane'; how the world around us is beautiful, amazing, and astounding, but we often lose sight of it. I've heard that reading it out loud to children makes it better.

Rating: B+

TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze

Shortly after last time . . . New York is safe and enjoying it pizza, for the turtles defeated Shredder and his Foot Clan. Or did they? Both are back, and worse, they have a vial of the same ooze that created the turtles. What dastardly creatures will they create with it . . . and have the turtles met their match? And what will they learn of their own origins?

I was disappointed in this 1991 sequel. The tone is sillier and clearly geared towards kids (not inherently bad, but a departure from the original, which the entire family could enjoy). The messages were sparse and undeveloped, relegated to a line here or there that hinted at something greater but never delivered. The best quote brimmed with potential but was left hanging:

Do not confuse the specter of your origin with your present worth.

The movie was rife with nineties pop culture (including Vanilla Ice), which I got but would be lost on today's audience. It was funny in places (though often juvenile humor). Ultimately, this was an action spectacle for kids that did more to revisit the past movie than develop the story or characters.

Rating: C-

A friend in need

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Most of us know this saying; I never really thought about it until now. A curious expression, when you think about it, because often the opposite happens: we hide our needs from friends (and everyone), or we run from those who are needy. This has me thinking: what does it mean to be a friend? What does friendship look like?

The Bible talks a lot about friendship, looking at both the blessing it can be and also the reality of how our fallen state can affect such relationships. I'll start with the latter.

How Sin Affects Friendship

Job talks a lot about how his friends deserted him during this trials, and Proverbs talks about how people can be drawn to the rich as friends and ignore the poor. These are both pictures of what can happen because of our sinfulness, but are not upheld as being right. 

Job (and Psalms) talk about how people can react when we fall on hard times:

My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. (Job 19:14)
All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. (Job 19:19)

My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. (Psalm 38:11)

Proverbs talks about wealth and friendship:

Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. (Proverbs 19:4)

The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. (Proverbs 14:20)

All a poor man's brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them. (Proverbs 19:7)

In both cases, the selfishness of man is revealed. We tend to be drawn to the successful and prosperous, and want to hang out with people from whom we can get something: some social or material benefit through our association. And yet, this is not how it should be, and such things do not profit or satisfy. Look at celebrities, who can be flush with cash and surrounded by 'friends' yet miserable—such people must wonder "are these people here because they love me, or because they love my wealth and status?" 

Things are not the way they are supposed to be, and the Bible recognizes this. It also shows the right way; true friendship is a great blessing.

True Friendship and its Blessings

Looking across the Scriptures, I would characterize friends as those who do three things: bear burdens, rejoice together, and challenge each other.

Bear burdens (help each other): 

Friends help each other, in good times and bad. "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2) There is a self-sacrificial component to this: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) And it is regardless of circumstances: "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17)

Helping each other entails meeting both physical and spiritual needs. In Acts, we read that Paul was reliant upon friends for his physical needs: "The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for." (Acts 27:3)

Friends can help us when we fall (either physically or spiritually). "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) This includes confessing sin to each other (see James 5:16).

Rejoice together:

Friends share joys, too. See Luke 15:3-10; friends celebrate good things that happen to each other:

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Challenge each other:

This is where modern friendships (in America, anyway) can be glaringly deficient. Too often, we want to support our friends by agreeing with them, even when they may be on a dangerous path. We all need to be rebuked sometimes, and a true friend is one who does that. Consider these verses:

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6)

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. (Proverbs 27:9)

We should not (necessarily) go to friends for affirmation of all we are feeling, but for honest counsel and rebuke where needed. 

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How do your friendships rank on these matters? It is interesting to me that most of our friendships are those who are in the same life stage and have similar hobbies or interests: we are going through the same things and like the same things. These are not bad things, but the Bible doesn't speak to those. It discusses the above three categories, all of which imply 1) physical proximity and 2) spending time together. So you can be friends with someone who is much older or younger, and you may or may not have the same interests. 

Take stock of your life. Do you have people in it that bear your burdens, share your joys, and counsel you? Do you do these things for others? What can you do to be a true friend?

UNO Elite NFL Edition

Today's review is of the 2024 release, UNO Elite: NFL 2024 Edition. For 2-7 players, it takes 20 minutes.

Overview

UNO Elite takes the classic game UNO and mixes it with draftable cards featuring your favorite NFL players. Like regular UNO, you have a common draw pile, turn over the top card, and take turns playing cards from your hand that match the topmost card in any way (number, color, etc.). The first player to empty their regular hand wins! But here, you also have a separate UNO Elite pile unique to you, and the top four cards of that are turned over in front of you. These cards feature NFL players and have an UNO game ability. On your turn, whenever you play a card with a star from your regular hand, you can then also play an UNO Elite card of matching color from these four cards. That card is put in your specific discard pile, replaced, and not used again unless you can use an ability to get it back in that UNO Elite pile.

Example of game cards; image from here

Game modes exist where you can draft these UNO Elite cards, and you can even buy randomized 'booster packs' to expand your collection and possibilities.

Review

"Good grief, they've gentrified UNO." That was my first reaction to this game. The collectible aspect to this means you can 'pay to win' by purchasing more packs. That really irritated me, probably because UNO is a game I don't view as fitting well into the collectible model. It's just UNO . . . but I digress. The "Elite" pile aspect to this is fine; I don't feel it adds anything to the experience, but it's not terrible. The NFL players are completely unrelated to the game mechanics; this theme is just pasted on to encourage children (and/or football fans) to spend their money. I would avoid this if I were you, but my son enjoys it.

Rating: C

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film)

New York City is in the throes of a crime wave; a mysterious organization known as the Foot Clan is rumored to be behind it all. But hope is not lost . . . for a radioactive ooze twenty years earlier gifted a rat and four turtles with considerable growth and intellect. Combined with ninja skills gained from the rat's teachings, these heroes in a half shell will fight for justice as . . . the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Will they be enough to find and take down the Foot?

This 1990 film, based on the 1987 TV cartoon series (which was itself based on the 1984 comic series) was a huge hit in its day. And watching it again today with my kids . . . I still loved it. Yes, it is cheesy and dated. But it is light-hearted, the action holds up surprisingly well, the comedy is good, and the messages are mostly solid, looking at the importance of true family/community, right thinking, and repentance.

"TMNT" was a cultural force in the eighties and nineties—the original cartoon ran until 1996 (there have since been several others), the 1989 video game is a classic, the movie franchise got two more sequels and then a reboot in 2014. It is still in enough demand to warrant an upcoming Magic: the Gathering release. I'm not as familiar with the later offerings, but the original stuff is still just great by me.

Rating: A-

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

Blinded as a boy and orphaned shortly thereafter, Matt Murdock has had more than his share of tragedy. But all is not lost . . .for the accident that wounded him granted him nigh-supernatural powers. His father's life taught him much about tenacity and sacrifice despite repeated failures. And the bullying he received daily awakened a sense for law and order. 

Matt is also not alone; the mysterious Stick will take Matt under his wing to sharpen and hone his abilities. His college friend, Foggy Nelson, will prove a good friend. And the charming Elektra will intrigue him in many ways . . .

Time goes on. Matt is a lawyer now, in Boston. Called back to New York, he makes a new friend and finds a decayed city run by criminals. When his friend is kidnapped, he can bear it no longer—he will become Daredevil, the man without fear, and seek to right what he can. 

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This classic origin story is a solid introduction (and good starting point) to the Daredevil character. The only thing that surprised me was the relative absence of the faith component; it is foreshadowed but not explored here, and is (to me) an important part of this hero that later titles will flesh out. Still, this is a good read.

Rating: A