Board or Screen?

It has come to my attention that a lot of my recent posts have had a financial theme, so I will postpone one thought in my head until a future day and talk about something else instead.

For many years, I have enjoyed playing games. It started in my childhood (obviously) with games like Perfection, Twister (my Dad's friend showing me the rude noise the box made as you closed it is a fond memory) and Ker-Plunk. I graduated as I got older to be a very competitive Monopoly player (competitive as in I wanted to win, not that I often did). As a family, weplayed certain games a lot. Yahtzee was one such game, which we played until several scorepads had been expired. Yahtzee was quick to set up and quick to play, and also highly addictive.

Card games were popular, especially Rummy and Canasta (Rummy on speed). A few years ago, a German friend of ours taught us 'Golf', which we have gone on to teach every foreign student since, and it must be all over Switzerland by now).

In recent years, the universal joy of UNO has dominated the horizon, amongst many of my friends it is wonderfully enjoyed and I have spent several nights until the small hours cursing the silent 7 rule and arguing whether +4s can go on +2s.

It strikes me as interesting that the games most often played now are those which are quick to set up and play in a few minutes - a sign of the times perhaps? Ker-plunk, with its fiddly stick insertion antics is gathering dust somewhere in the loft...

Anyway, recently, I have discovered a new joy. My Ipod Touch has numerous 'apps' to download, and most of the time I download...games. So when I have no friends to play with, I can play.... UNO, Yahtzee, Backgammon, Pass the Pigs, Mastermind, Othello, Air Hockey, Worms etc by myself.

In my recent Summer Holiday, I have had much more time on my hands than usual, and many tedious bus journeys have been greatly improved by destroying a CPU opponent at one of the afformentioned games.

One of the great attractions I have come to realise is that with a screen based version, there is so little effort involved. I don't have to set up, deal out cards, open a box, and when the game is finished, another is instantly set up for me. This awakes a naural laziness in me that frankly doesn't need any encouragement.

It slightly disturbs me though that what used to be a shared social interaction can now be a solitary occupation. Yes, the techies will argue that 'peer to peer' games allow people to play against each other, but having played Backgammon in this way, I would argue that it doesn't completely.

Again, a sign of the times perhaps, but I hope we (and I) don't abandon completely the social interaction that can be enjoyed playing board games with fellow human beings.

Toy Story 3

Just a quick mini-post before the main feature. Ironically, a bit like the film which is the topic of this post, which has a mini short film before the main film, but anway, I went to see Toy Story 3 last night.

I went because I have enjoyed the first two films (though curiously, they have never been DVD purchases of mine, with that "oooh I'd watch that again and again" factor). I also wanted to see it because so many people said it was a) funny b) moving.

Now forgive the cynic in me, but sequels are a hard thing to pull off. Shrek has never matched its first film, and even when the second film is better than the first (hello Spiderman), the third somehow messes things up.

Having some idea of the plot gleaned from thr Trailer (Andy is off to College, Toys get donated to a seemingly idyllic daycare centre, but it all goes wrong, and they find out Andy wants them back and set off on a journey to do so.

This is essentially the plot, but it is SO much more complicated than that, with loyalties divided and twists and turns everywhere. The ending which I feared would be too mawkish was in fact incredibly moving, (and in a well-deserved dent to my pride, not exactly what I predicted it would be).

The animation is almost taken for granted, but is obviously top notch, the attention to detail is incredible and the range of new characters introduced is incredible. The script is hilarious, the visual gags keep coming, and there are one or two things that I think would genuinely scare a small child.

But more than anything else, this is an absolutely fantastic story. That is why we go to the cinema essentially, isn't it? To be told an exciting story. Yes it's 3D, isn't it wonderful, it's beautiful, but a film can be beautiful and have some good jokes, but if there isn't a story to tell, ultimately it will be unfulfulling (Hello Shrek the Third).

TS3 kept me on the edge of my seat. kept me laughing, crying and smiling, and I was told a wonderful story as well. I recommend you go and see it immediately if you haven't already done so.

This 'mini-post' has somewhat grown. I guess I have a lot to learn from the geniuses at Pixar about keeping things the right length! I'll blog again a bit later. Toodle pip.

Funding our culture

I have been enjoying the annual 6 week holiday that my profession allows (well 5 and a half including considerable preparation time), but I digress into defending my holidays which is not my intention. During my holiday I have taken time to visit a number of places of interest, in my home town, in the countryside surrounding it and in London. Today I visited London for the third time in my holiday and was left pondering the topic of funding our cultural heritage.

I was mainly considering two alternative means of fundraising, both of which have led to the establishment or restoration of some wonderful attractions, but one of them sits with some unease in my conscience.

1. National Trust - a wonderful organisation which I ashamedly say I have been a member of for one year of my adult life, about 4 years ago. I will buy membership soon. Today I visited Sutton House in Hackney, and although I paid the very small fee of £2.90, I realise I should be helping to fund the wonderful work this organisation does.

It is not only what they do, it is sometimes what they prevent. A few years ago, when building the Brighton bypass, they reached Southwick Hill and proposed to cut through the middle of this fine example of nature, but the NT stood up and said "NO" and they had to tunnel. I could go on...

2. Heritage Lottery Fund. I am a long time hater of the National Lottery. It exists outside my consciousness for the most part, except for that brief reminder of the number from all 23 draws that evening just before the start of Match of the Day. A friend of mine once (rather unkindly but not entirely without accuracy) said the lottery was "a tax on the stupid." I prefer to say it is largely a tax on the poor. I do not wish to associate poverty with stupidity, far from it, which is why I tend to distance myself from the former comment.

Perhaps Jarvis Cocker sums it up best (perhaps leaning slightly to my friend's point of view):

Check your lucky numbers.
That much money could drag you under.
Oh, what's the point of being rich?
If you can't think what to do with it?
'Cos your so bleedin' thick?

(Pulp, Mis-shapes, from the album 'Different Class')

Anyway, my hatred of the lottery aside, I must confess before I go on that I did once buy a lottery ticket using the numbers I found on a slip of paper inside a 'bath bomb'. Random, and shameful. I matched no numbers.

I most detest the lottery because it takes from the poor, sells them an impossible dream and lines the pockets of fatcats. And quite often, large amounts of money in the hands of people not counselled in handling it, ruins lives, divides families and arouses envy, jealousy and resentment.

Having said that, the Heritage Lottery Fund has funded many projects I hold personally dear, including the building of a caving complex in our local Scout camp site, and many local and national museums and buildings. In this way, people are paying to help many positive projects off the ground, and society is benefitting.

But does this benefit outweigh the negatives? The fatcats take a large chunk, and those they fool are always left disappointed, either by not winning, or by the lack of satisfaction that winning ultimately provides. It is a tricky question that I haven't completely resolved in my own mind yet. There must be a better way.