The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writing (Edgar Allan Poe)

Edgar Allan Poe is a renowned American author, perhaps best known for The Raven poem and tales of the macabre (though he also did detective and other types of stories). The Tell-Tale Heart collects and presents a portion of his works:

- 16 short stories (including classics like The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue)

- 1 full-length novel (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym)

- 15 poems (including, of course, The Raven)

I read half (everything but the full-length novel).

Poe is an excellent writer; his prose is beautiful. I had a hard time following his meaning in some works. His subject, at least in this selection, seemed repetitive: premature burial was often on his mind, as was mourning, illness, and death. He also wrote several works related to adventures on tumultuous seas (which I didn't realize) and a few detective stories. Overall, this is a nice collection and features tales/poems that should be known to most Americans. 

Rating: B

My Little Scythe

Today's review is of the 2017 release, My Little Scythe. For 1-6 players, it takes 60 minutes.

Overview

In My Little Scythe, your goal is to earn trophies! There are eight possible categories; the first player to earn four trophies wins.

You control two animal miniatures. Each turn, you choose one available action (it cannot be your action from the previous turn): 

- move: independently move your two figures 1-2 tiles on the map.

-- if you enter a space with a gem or apple, it becomes yours (but limits your movement). 

-- if you end on a space with a scroll, you can 'explore', drawing an exploration card and choosing an option on it.

-- if you enter a space occupied by an opponent, a pie fight ensues! Deduct your friendship score by one (you started it!). Using your pie meter, secretly choose how many pies you commit to the fight, and supplement it with a pie card if able. Higher pie score wins! Both sides deduct their pie meter by how many they chose respectively, the loser teleports back to their starting square, and the winner keeps all the apples/gems on the hex.

- seek: roll dice and place gems/apples in the corresponding regions rolled. If you place an item on a hex occupied by an opponent, you gain friendship!

- make: turn in your gems/apples to draw magic cards, upgrades, or increase your pie level.

game in progress; image from here

You gain trophies in eight different ways, which include:

- reaching a friendship score of eight, 

- reaching a pie level of eight,

- completing two exploration cards, 

- having two upgrades, 

- having three magic cards, 

- other things I forget.

Review

I enjoyed this light-hearted take on the much more serious Scythe game. It is competitive, but also "compelled cooperative" in the sense that you need to help others to advance your own scores. That was a cool concept. And I quite enjoyed the 'friendship score,' a variant of which I may mandate in my own household ("want screen time, kids? You need to do 5 nice things for each other to be eligible"). It makes me want to try the grown-up Scythe game.

Rating: B+

Changed into His Likeness (J. Gary Millar)

Jesus Christ saves us from our sins—but he doesn't leave us there. In  many and varied ways, the Bible speaks* of our need, ability (through Christ), and mechanisms God uses, to transform our lives. In Changed into His Likeness, J. Gary Millar surveys the Scriptures and historical theology to develop a robust biblical theology of personal transformation. He argues that the Bible articulates the following theology in this area:

1. Humans are created in the image of God as complex, relational beings. As a result of the fall, every part of us is damaged; and, as a result, failure and frustration are our universal experience.
2. God's long-term, covenantal commitment to change and restore every part of our being is unwavering, but in the Old Testament this transformation remains a future prospect.
3. With the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, change becomes a reality for those who are united to Christ by faith, as as the Spirit does his work. Through the gospel, the Spirit brings us to life through faith (making us 'positionally holy'), awakening a new desire for him and knowledge of him, and then continues his work of remaking us in the image of Christ throughout our lives.
4. Through our personal meditation on the Bible (guided by our conscience, which is being restored), hearing the Word preached, seeing it illustrated in the sacraments and lived out in the context of the church, and being driven back to the gospel through the fullness of our lived experience (including suffering), God advances his work in us.
5. This process is often painful, always gradual and is immeasurably rich, as we live a life of continuing repentance and faith (or mortification and vivification).
6. This process of transformation continues in every Christian as we press on, until we go to be with Christ or he returns in glory. Then we will be like him.

We could perhaps summarize the summary: "we are created by God, are much-loved children of God and are being transformed to enjoy life with him for ever." And "the way to be transformed, then, is to meditate on the word, respond to it in repentance and faith, and to keep going to the end," recognizing that to do so, we need both God (Philippians 2:13, John 15:5) and each other (Ephesians 4:11-16): "the church is the context in which (and a means by which) God transforms us." 

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This is a great book. Millar does a good job surveying and summarizing both the Scriptures and thinkers throughout the ages. As there are different facets to change, sometimes it felt (necessarily) repetitive or overlapping, but such is needed to fully flesh out the nuances. As with the only other book I've read in this series so far, this is a winner.

Rating: A

*see Romans 8:28-29, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:1-10, Philippians 2:12-13, and Philippians 1:6 among others

Skeleton Crew: Season 1

Set five years after Return of the Jedi . . .

Wim and his friends live a peaceful, if boring, existence on At Attin. But all that is about to change . . . for a chance discovery will send them on an adventure of a lifetime. Now if only they can find their way home . . . it's a big galaxy out there.

I can't review this fully without revealing some spoilers, so I'll keep it high level. There is a cool story here (or elements of one) and some fun characters (like the droid SM-33). It is basically Star Wars meets Indiana Jones and/or golden age of piracy. But it is at its heart a typical coming-of-age tale—a Disney channel special set in the Star Wars universe—where kids rule the day (and magically know how to do things) and adults are either helpless bystanders or bad guys to be outsmarted.* That annoyed me. The cool elements raise the grade for me, but it could have been so much better.

Rating: C+

*One reviewer called this "Goonies in space." That's it in a nutshell.

Forever Evil (Various)

The Crime Syndicate—"malevolent doppelgangers" of the Justice League—have come to Earth and declared it theirs. The Justice League has been defeated and is missing . . . and the Syndicate appears victorious. The only ones standing in their way? Lex Luthor and other supervillains. Can the bad guys save the day?

This is the first volume in a mini-series that appears to be a cross-over with other titles in The New 52 line (a 2011 revamp of all DC Comics titles). I picked this up at the library because it is well-regarded and popular enough to headline an expansion in the DC Deckbuilding Game, so I wanted to learn more about the story. It was fine. The art was good, the story was mildly intriguing, and there were elements of redemption that were worth reflection. I didn't understand why the Crime Syndicate had to be counterfeit  copies of the Justice League heroes, but perhaps there are [likely-unintentional] echoes of the Biblical notion that sin and evil are corrupted versions of good things.

I believe familiarity with other story arcs in The New 52 line would have been helpful here and heightened my understanding and enjoyment. But as a stand-alone tale, it was decent.

Rating: B-

North! Or Be Eaten (Andrew Peterson)

Shortly after book one . . .

The Igibys are safe in a forest hideout . . . but not for long. The Fangs are on their trail, so north they most go. But how can they prevail, when they have to find a way across the Mighty River Blapp, evade the fearsome Stranders, stay hidden in Dugtown, and survive the icy prairies on the way to Kimera? The journey itself is perilous, and with secrets and traitors at every turn, hope may fade. Yet they have no choice if they are to survive.

Here, the series takes a markedly serious turn—the silliness (from book one) is toned down and the suspense continues throughout the whole book with barely a moment to breathe. The story is starting to come into focus, with a powerful message and wisdom accompanying the adventure. Peterson does a good job progressively revealing the reason for some strange things seen in the first volume. I really enjoyed this one.

Rating: A+

Han Solo & Chewbacca: The Crystal Run (Part 2)

Picking up where Part 1 left off . . .

Han has been left for dead, injured and abandoned on a random world. Chewie is locked up on a prison planet. And yet, the heist they were working continues . . . can they heal, escape, reunite, and hit it big?

This one is better than the first part, but only just. There are some interesting moments, and cool tie-ins or references to characters seen in Solo and Episode VII, but the relevance to the wider story is still unclear and conclusion is open-ended and unsatisfying . . . until/unless they tie up loose ends and have some sort of point. 

Rating: C+

Han Solo & Chewbacca: The Crystal Run (Part 1)

In the days before the Rebellion, smuggler Han Solo and his sidekick Chewbacca work for Jabba the Hutt. He sends them (with an old 'friend') on a heist that could yield the payday of a lifetime. But such things are never easy . . . with twists and surprises galore, can our heroes win . . . or even survive?

There was also a one-shot "Life Day" issue at the end of this, where Han and Chewie reflect back on this wookiee holiday through the years.

Meh. It has been nearly four years since I last read a Star Wars graphic novel*. Things like this remind me why. I was at the library yesterday and picked up some graphic novels; this one looked promising. It was . . . uninspiring. The art was fine, the story oh-so-very predictable, and I'm not quite sure what the point was. (That said, I hope to cover part 2 tomorrow to see if there is a satisfying conclusion.)

Aside: in a universe like Star Wars, any tale should either

1) develop the overall story arc in some meaningful way, or

2) explore a side character/event in a meaningful way (that may impact the overall story OR have a message of some sort)

I felt like this graphic novel did neither. 

Rating: C-

*The Force Unleashed II

The War of the Rohirrim

200 years before Bilbo Baggins and a certain ring . . .

Helm Hammerhand rules in Rohan, and trouble is brewing. A Dunlending lord is set on his son (Wulf) marrying Helm's daughter (Hera). Unwilling, Helm fights the lord and banishes Wulf, who swears vengeance. Years later, he'll get his chance . . . and Helm's people will flee to a familiar fortress, the Hornburg, and try to survive the ensuing siege. Will they survive? Or is hope lost?

This movie was a mixed bag for me. It was exciting to see another film set in Middle-Earth. The animation style (anime with realistic backgrounds) was cool if jarring/disorienting at times. The plot was . . . underwhelming and cliche. It also borrowed too heavily from the original Lord of the Rings films, packing in plenty of scenes/plots/phrases as a deliberate homage to that trilogy (in places, it felt like they simply mashed elements from the films together, put them into anime style, and put it on the big screen). The main message was "women are powerful, too," which was fine. It had its moments, but overall, I rate this just above the third Hobbit movie and below everything else (to include Rings of Power). 

Rating: C+

So Begins 2025

image from here

Happy New Year! As is my custom, this post lays out goals for the year. The goals themselves are in italics, with explanation following in regular font.

Spiritual
- Be disciplined in reading/prayer routines (and reduce putzing).

- Do devotionals with the family twice a week.  
- Serve better, but in fewer roles.

- Focus more on others. Figure out balance with competing needs.

I fritter away too much time by 'putzing' (meaning a few minutes web surfing here, a few minutes playing a game there, etc.). In 2025, I want to minimize that and replace it with better routines. A subgoal here is devotionals (books broken into daily readings): I have three I want to read personally in 2025, plus one I want to do with the family.

I am also stretched too thin right now, and there are some big changes coming for my work and my wife's. So I need to step back in a few areas so we can manage everything in a way that glorifies God and blesses others. I don't know what that looks like, but some things need to change.

Nutritional/Fitness
- Get (and keep) weight under 185 lbs.

- Eat more fruit/vegetables. Eat out less.

- Improve gut health.
- Complete 270 workouts; bike 1200 miles.

I want to lose 5-7 lbs, eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, figure out what is going on with my gut, and keep working out consistently. I would love to bike 1200 miles this year.

Reading
- Read 50 books.
- Read 15 works at my American Reading List.
- Minimize my owned-but-unread pile

I've done 50+ books the last few years, and this should be easily reached. My American Reading List is 200 books; I'm about a third done and aim to read 15 more this year. And it is always good to not let unread books accumulate in the home.

Household Management
- Minimize stuff in the home.

- Figure out ideal home organization.

- Buy less/budget better.

I get stressed with all the clutter around the house. I want to find a way to minimize it and keep it out of sight. Part of that is home organization; we have a few areas that we want to re-work to improve their appearance and utility. And buying less is always wise.
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The goals above are not earth-shaking . . . I should be able to hit all of these. To 2025!