Four-poster fartsack

Duel Deck Sorin on its way to an eight games to two victory over Duel Deck Tibalt. RS was correct in declaring them a stupidly uneven match. The games DDT did win were due to an absolute "God draw" and, in the second case, early beats followed by an unanswered Sulfuric Vortex (Mortify failed to show for DDS). For the record, the final life totals in each duel were: 26 to -1; 24 to -2; -8 to 20; 1 to 0; 0 to 5; 26 to -5; 19 to -3; 4 to -2; 14 to 0; 14 to -2. As you can see, Soren dispensed regular thrashings. Versus any kind of burn, Lifelink is a nightmare.

Molly Ringwald's jazz album

1st - R/W - 3 matches, 8 games
2nd - G/R - 3 matches, 6 games
3rd - B/U - 2 matches, 6 games
4th - B/W - 1 match, 6 games
5th - U/G - 1 match, 4 games

I've always liked R/W - from weenies with a bit of direct damage to wacky combos such as Moat/Gravity Sphere to landkill using Strip Mine, Stone Rain and Armageddon. I won a minor prize at a Card Trek, Mayfield tournament once playing a R/W deck I dubbed "Blood And Milk" (having recently seen a program on the Maasai tribesmen). It was heavily metagamed, e.g. 4x Swords To Ploughshares AND 4 x Disintegrate to deal with a reanimator build that was running rampant. All of the creatures had protections or tricky abilities. Did you know that Molly Ringwald had released a jazz album? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkonMTuXJNM

Ready for battle: Gatecrash intro packs

Dimir Dementia (B/U), Orzhov Oppression (B/W), Simic Synthesis (U/G), Gruul Goliaths (G/R) and Boros Battalion (R/W). Utilising the "cipher", "extort", "evolve", "bloodrush" and "battalion" mechanics, respectively. So many damn rules these days.

Noise of art

Andrew Graham-Dixon's three-part doco "Art Of Russia" was so well researched and well told, I watched the whole thang twice. Turns out he's made similar shows about Spanish, Italian, German, American and BeNeLux art. In Oz, "Art Of Germany" starts screening on BBC World News this Sunday, at various times (I'm recording it at 8.10am). Here's the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30-RGUByysA

REC-reation

Been getting through some movies. Finished Spain's "REC" trilogy this morning. Now there's an example of how to (a) keep a horror series fresh, and (b) use handicam footage to enhance the plot, rather than merely cloud the audience's vision and/or allow you to get away with low-budget effects. A worthwhile horror sequel does not equal just throwing in a new group of obnoxious teenagers and having them expire in slightly different ways. Am keen to see how Balaguero mixes things up in "REC 4: Apocalipsis".

A jab in the dark

Main-card predictions for UFC 159 on Sunday: Jon Jones, Alan Belcher, Roy Nelson, Phil Davis and Jim Miller. Of those, I'm least confident about Miller as Pat Healy has defeated some top competition (albeit early in his/their careers). The only dude I have money on is Belcher, and that's nothing personal against his opponent, Michael Bisping - it's 'cos he's paying $2.35 while the rest of my selections are favourites.

Hiya, education

Will be resuming my degree in Semester 2. Have picked out a creative writing subject and a history of science one. Sem. 2 doesn't commence until late July, so I might do an adult ed. course between now and then. Am thinking maybe introductory hieroglyphics. Gotta stay busy.

Fionna & Cake

Have a squiz at SC's comedy website, why don'tcha? http://whatsoncomedy.com/


TV: "Veep" Season 2, "Girls" Season 2