Game Review - Hive Mind

Hive Mind Calliope Games Titan Series

by Colleen Guzman

           Recently I went to Texicon in Hurst Texas and I was fortunate enough to meet a couple of talented individuals from Calliope games (not in the lead picture) who led me through some fun gaming sessions. The first game we played together was Hive Mind. As you can see from my title photo my friends and I are super excited to play the game and we are super silly so that always helps when embarking on a group game.

          Hive Mind is a group game where all of the players are bees within the hive and they are trying to be part of the Hive Mind, to keep the queen bee happy and stay in the hive. You are probably wondering what a little bee can do to be part of the hive mind and stay within the hive. The concept is simple, all you have to do is answer the questions the way you think the rest of the hive will answer the questions. For example, the question could be asking you to name 5 foods that make noise when you eat them. Each person must answer the question but you are trying to think of things that the other people will think of too because the more people who have the same answer the more points you get. So if seven people were playing and five of them said carrots were a noisy food to eat then each of those players would get five points from that one answer.

          Some of the really fun moments come during the answer reveal portion of the game where people tell you what their answer was to the question. Sometimes people have really good answers that no one else even thought of so everyone at the table is nodding and feeling proud of that person for the answer they gave but still not giving them any extra points. Another point of laughter emerges when someone gives an answer that is so out there that people have no clue where it even came from and that leads to huge discussions about what could've really been said or should have been said. That is one great thing about this game is that your answer does not have to be correct it just needs to match what other people are putting down as their answers. It is fun to watch how people get though when they become competitive and they want to see if the answer given really goes with the question asked but in the end it doesn't matter as long as other people answered the same thing.

         Over all I really enjoyed the game. I think it is a great game to play with your friends and would be perfect for a dinner party or for people who are new to tabletop gaming.

Swiss Army Man Review

Swiss Army Man - I feel so conflicted

by Colleen Guzman

          It is date night again and what better way to spend time with one another than side by side in a dark theater with some super buttery popcorn between you.  Vince was at a mall convention near a kitchy little theater called the Bijou and sure enough they were playing Swiss Army Man, so our curiosity got the best of us and we decided to go check out the film. I had seen a quick interview awhile ago where the actors and director were talking about the movie and the experience and they exuded so much love for the project that I thought, "I should really check this film out." Vince of course wanted to see anything with Swiss Army in the title and anything with so much farting, erection and masturbation humor just couldn't let you down.

         

            I must admit that the first fifteen to twenty minutes had me concerned that I had chosen the wrong movie to attend. There was so much flatulence it was a tad difficult to take and in fact some people walked out, which apparently happened at Sundance as well. There is a moment where the flatulence comes in handy as I'm sure you've seen in the trailers where Daniel Radcliffe is ridden like a jet ski, but once we get past that it really serves no purpose except to make the audience feel uncomfortable. I wondered at times if they took some of the taboo topics to the breaking point simply to see how much people would be able to stand in one movie or if in fact they wanted you to feel that uncomfortable so when you have to face the real turmoil within the story line you are already feeling so uncomfortable that you can almost physically feel the pain that Paul Dano's character feels.

        I don't want to give away too much about this movie because the confusion and the journey through it make this movie what it is. I would like to say that Daniel Radcliffe is immensely talented and his range of acting is more phenomenal than one might believe. It has to be difficult for him to rise above Harry Potter and become something else in our minds, but let me tell you that for me there was no point in the movie where I felt like I was watching Harry Potter run through an adventure in his life. I never wanted him to break out his wand and I never asked myself where Ron and Hermoine were. Daniel takes Weekend at Bernies to a whole other level because he is dead but yet not dead and you believe both so simultaneously that you begin to wonder if you are hallucinating. I don't want to downplay the role that Paul Dano plays in this film because he takes you on the ride into his character that I can't even begin to describe without giving away too much about this movie. When you pair them together they give you this perfection of a relationship that is so imperfect that you have a magical movie that strings you along, makes you horribly uncomfortable, and makes you take a look at how people are treated and how that treatment affects how they behave. This movie is difficult to watch at times but it is worth watching. Hang in there through the first 20 minutes of farting and you will get the opportunity to see a beautiful, sad, relationship movie.