FMF: RISK

Risk.
The game of the century.
We roll dice in hopes to take over the world.

Families gather around the card table.
Set up the board, shuffle the countries,
Pick your color and gather your armies.

We wait in anticipation
As cards with our countries land in our laps.
We survey the world
And plop a warrior on each country we received.
Ah, the die picks the first player

And we all watch eagerly
To see who will lose battle first.

Rolling, rolling, rolling
And we conquer! The crowd cheers
And the first continent is won!!
Australia is all green.
Your move.

Armies grow.
Colors ally momentarily.
Let’s get rid of pink together
Then we can duel it out for Africa
But not before pink is pushed out.

Australia is expanding into Asia.
Crap! We have to keep Green at bay.
Out of Africa pink remarks about wanting to help
But not having enough armies left to invade Asia.

Black and yellow hang on dearly
Trying to help one another out
But green is too strong.
All those armies from Australia and Asia
Add up to unstoppable.
Even if the dice rolls against green 70%
Their army is too great.

And all other colors fade into history;
Green is triumphant!
I took a risk and conquered the world
That Friday night.

 

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp

I finished this awesome biography of the family which inspired the Sound of Music on Halloween and really enjoyed it! It is 312 pages depicting the time when Mother Abbess sent Maria off to the Trapp family all the way through their life together in USA as a singing group from Austria during the war. I will try my best not to post any spoilers. The movie only occurs within the first 70 pages of the book where Maria enters the family for a temporary time, Georg decides not to marry the Princess as everyone expects and proposes to Maria instead, the children are dying for her to stay with them forever, and the Mother Abbess tells Maria it is God’s will for her to marry Georg                                                                   and join their family.

The choir with just the girls while the boys are fighting during the war. 

However there is so much more to their story! They do sing publically for the first time at the festival where they win first prize, much to their amazement (not in the middle of running out of town!), which leads them into become a family choir which was never their intention, but perhaps what God had for them the whole time. They sing for Hitler and leave the country to begin a singing tour just before the borders to Austria close. Georg and Maria have 3 of their own children bringing the total up to 10 Trapp children as you see pictured below.

There are some great scenes of Maria learning English as the family tours the USA and people tell her specific phrases for situations which don’t always turn out with the results she hopes for! “Oh Betty, Don’t be a cranky old hag!” It would certainly be fun to have a second Sound of Music depicting their adjusting to the USA and Maria hiding her last pregnancy of what they all expected to be another girl intending to name her Barbara, but surprising everyone with their last child Johannes after their first US tour. Without any true spoilers the Trapp family did build their new life together in the US through much trial and trouble and support from everyone they met over the years. There is so much fun and joy to be read in this book I would reccomend it to everyone!

Tv Show Reviews: Charmed

*Spoiler alert* I discuss the whole show from all 8 seasons without warnings of revealing key details and plot points throughout the series. *Read at your own risk*

A few months ago a trailor for the new Charmed convinced me to start watching the original as it is available on Netflix and I cannot imagine that the reboot will be as good as the original. Now I’m not here to talk about why the new one will not be as good, we can talk about that later, but it just made me want to watch the original which I did. All 8 seasons. Done.

First of all Charmed is a mature show for adult viewing and I would not suggest it for everyone with the lack of clothing worn by the sisters, violence, dealings with the Occult, sexual content, and ideas of the world contrary to Christianity.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of fantasy magic of fairy tales and mythical kingdoms so I often engage in fantasy entertainment and started watching Charmed in its first run when I found it somewhere in the fourth or fifth season. It is the story of 3 sisters who have inherited magic from all the Halliwell witches before them who have been magical for about 3 centuries. They are the first set of three sister witches who have been foretold to be the most powerful witches of all time and are called the Charmed Ones for that very reason.

They come into their powers as their grandmother, Grams, dies and they begin their destiny as the powerful sisters who can defeat demons together which no one else is powerful enough to handle. I would say the writers do a good job of bringing new demons and different chaos into their lives throughout each season to keep things moving without getting old. Even when they have to fight the same demon more than once it is interesting to see how they work it out.

It is facinating to see how the truth of Christianity and the world God created is the core of humanity and even imagination bringing fantasy into our world is still connected to God whether the creators realized it or not. There are many aspects found throughout the series that are rooted in Christianity, not because the writers or producers are seeking the Lord, but simply because the gospel is written on the heart of every man and woman and we cannot create or be successful without it. Just think of how there is always a fight between good and evil and we know something will be successful if the dominant hero is willing to give his or her life for one or many.

Obviously the charmed ones are three powerful sisters who work together to overcome evil (demons) which sounds just like the trinity now that you mention it… Three individuals that are truly one unit, so much symbolism!- a cord of three strands is not easily broken and these witches are invincible as they fight everyone endlessly and sometimes even die- only to be resurrected, of course- but always hit their mark. Sometimes they even turn into the creatures they need to save, how interesting that they would develop the empathy and understanding of the mythical world around them to help them care more and more for others and continue pushing forward in the good fight no matter how weary they may become. Sometimes they even ask for the task to be taken from them if possible, but they go on for the greater good.

Some moments of disruption and inconsistently throughout the seasons and episodes. There is no set of rules for time travel which occurs willy-nilly throughout the series where the future depends on the past time travel to bring their reality to fruition. The end of every season is very dramatic and basically is set as a possible ending to the series as if no one knew if there would be any additional seasons.

These women die so often (especially Prue) and manage some crazy way to be revived time and time again which is way too often to be watched continually, specifically if you are waiting for Prue to die once and for all knowing that Paige will arrive to continue the destiny.  Which also plays into the ridiculousness of how Prue has died lots and always made it back for the end of the episode, but suddenly this one sticks. Maybe it just seems so melodramatic watching several episodes within the week or day which is not how they were originally viewed. I am beginning to see the disctinctions of shows made for one episode a week and how disruptive it is to view them every day of the week or right after one another because they were intentionally created for weekly viewing and lots of shows end up weird at times being watched on demand instead of their weekly time slot. Charmed is no exception!

Certainly an enjoyable show to watch and one I would recommend if you are not bothered by the details mentioned at the beginning.

TV Reviews: Merlin

Overall this show is fine for people who do not know or care about the glorious legend of King Arthur. There are so many moments which defer from the story many know and love of the King who united a land in upheaval. Now I won’t explain them all to spoil the five seasons of the show, just give a brief description.

It is an interesting premise to have the Prince Arthur growing up under the banishment of magic when we know that Arthur did not grow up in the Palace and that Merlin was known all around as the greatest sorcerer working openly in Arthur’s court. The creators of the show do bring in different aspects of the legend and those characters here and there while mostly making their own separate story which is fine without prior knowledge of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

However there are other problems with Merlin as an adventure series. Basically the same thing happens in every episode. The villain forms a new plan for the destruction of Camelot, it works for a minute, Merlin saves the day. Occasionally the villain actually takes Camelot and rules for about a week or two which is surprising, but a nice change from always failing. Also a fun moment for the role reversal of Arthur and Merlin sneaking into the castle to defeat the ruler of Camelot. However you can see the problem with Merlin as a successful show when magic is outlawed in the kingdom and Merlin is never able to do magic openly as the partnership we know of Merlin and King Arthur never comes to fruition in the show. Disappointing!

I have to say that it might be fine to watch for someone who enjoys fantasy without knowing about King Arthur, but that is an unlikely combination. I enjoy stories of King Arthur and am currently reading a book entitled A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court which is a very fun story intertwining the legend and modernity in a most fascinating way. If you enjoy King Arthur I would suggest skipping this show and proceeding with the stories found in written form. Or enjoy some fantasy shows like Once Upon a Time or Charmed which don’t retell an epic legend in their own way.