Twilight Imperium: I’ll fly my geek flag for a moment and gush over this crazy-complex board game: it rules. “TI” is a really beautiful example of elegant game design and integration of many different mechanics that become much more than the sum of the parts. But shit-damn it is complex! My favorite part is the sheer number of important strategic and tactical decisions you are given on every turn and the ample opportunities for gamesmanship. Really a game built by and for the hard-core gamer.

TV on DVD: Now that Summer has sprung and the network schedules are rife with warmed-over repeats, trite reality TV, and the Cable outlets are stretching for programming, our TiVos are getting harder and harder to fill. But we won’t go hungry for saccharin entertainment thanks to TV on DVD! The proliferation of shows in DVD, and the increasingly speedy turnaround from airing to retail availability really makes the $17/month for Netflix an even better value. Currently we are watching a second run-through of the lone season of Firefly (which I would give the OctopusHat Quality Gaurentee, if I could find the graphic…) the funniest show on TV: Arrested Development (also for a second time), and the first season of Six Feet Under (entertaining enough, but it hasn’t really grabbed me yet.)