Sing Out, Louise! - Favorite Musical Tournament on the Facebook Page

Hello, Everyone! I just wanted to invite everyone to participate in the Sing Out, Louise! tournament over on the Facebook page. This tournament is all about our favorite stage and screen musicals, and we will eventually crown our favorite musical of all time. 

If you are interested in voting, or just watching the action, click this link. Hope to see you there!

Wordsmithonia Has A Facebook Page

When I made the painful, final decision to shutter the blog a few years ago, I started a Facebook page mainly because I wanted to keep some semblance of it still alive. While my brain was telling me it was time to let go, my heart wouldn't let me. At least not fully. 

Now, while we all post our thoughts about books, music, TV shows, and movies, we also  play a lot of tournaments. We've done tournaments covering the greatest screen villains of all time, favorite children's characters, the most annoying characters, favorite reads, favorite soundtracks, and quite a few more. 

Right now we are getting ready to start one on our favorite musicals. I would invite you all to join us, which you can do by clicking the link above our banner photo beneath here. You could play by entering your own favorites, or vote once the tournament starts, or even just to lurk around the page. We're a friendly group. 

Join Us!

Who Would You Do? by Susan Segrest

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Who Would You Do? is both a humor book and a provocative parlor game.  The premise is simple: Author Susan Segrest puts forward a celebrity sexual scenario, and the reader (or group of readers) has to choose who to ravish.  The result is a wildly addictive fantasy, perfect for bachelorette parties, evenings out with friends, or a day at the beach.

The range of choices is mind - and gender - bending, spanning all walks of life.  Who would you do? The Pope or the Dalai Lama? Would you rather have a day at a nude beach with Ben Affleck or a night in the dark with Matt Damon?  Who would you rather see perform at your local strip club - Rue McClanahan, Betty White, or Bea Arthur?

Who Would You Do? is omnisexual, perfect for men or women, straight or gay.  There are male/male choices (Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones) and female/female choices (Heather Locklear or Heather Graham), as well as a few mix-and-match options (Madonna or Bon Jovi) thrown in just for fun.

Saucy and irresistible, Who Would You Do? combines three of American's favorite leisure activities: celebrity watching, reading, and sex.

I can't remember when  I got my hands on this book, but it's been a few years at least.  It was published in 2003, and some of the celebrities in the book are dated to that era, but I'm pretty sure it was at least 2006 or 2007 before I got it.  I don't even remember if I bought it at a discount store, or if a friend got it for me.  What I do remember was how frickin hilarious it was when I first started to go through it.  Some of the scenarios had me laughing so hard, I almost peed my pants a few times.

It had been a few years since it's seen the light of day, or had the dust blown off of it, but the sheer boredom of recovering from surgery prompted me to dust it off, and give it a go.  I actually messaged a few friends with some of the scenarios, without explaining why, and at first I think they thought I was losing it.  They answered them anyway, and when I explained where I was getting them from, they kept asking for more.  I'm not sure how often I'll pull the book back out, but it was nice to play along with the author for a few hours.

And since I know you are dying to play, I'm going to give you a few of the scenarios out of the book, and we will see what your choices are.

1.  You've been invited to attend a neighborhood garden party that in addition to offering a nice game of croquet also includes some tasteful wife swapping.  Which couple would you like to "visit" with first: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, or Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards?

2.  You've just graduated form the Anna Nicole Smith Institute with a major in the Ancient Art of Seducing Rich Older Men and a minor in complexities of Inheritance Tax. (You've also invested in collagen-injected lips, store-bough double-D's, and triple-processed blond hair.)  Now that you are ready for the big time, which of these gazillionaires would you like to wrangle: Ross Perot, Donald Trump, or Bill Gates?

3.  You are in the middle of a hot-'n'-heavy sex session with, er, yourself when in walk Angela Lansbury, Debbie Reynolds, and Billy Graham.  "I can explain," you stammer, trying to come up with a perfectly reasonable justification as to why your pants are around your ankles.  But it's no use.  Who would you rather have been caught by?

4.  You are invited to a menage a trois with Felix and Oscar or Laverne and Shirley.  Who's it gonna be?

5.  Who would you like to have futuristic, slow-motion, technology-enhanced sex with: Keanu Reeves or Laurence Fishburne?

Tic Tac Tome by Willy Yonkers

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Tic Tac Tome is the world's first tic-tac-toe playing book:  deceptively simple, endlessly addictive, and (nearly) impossible to defeat.  Turn the pages, match it move-for-move, and watch the book defeat you forward, backward, and diagonally.  There's just one way to win, so choose wisely! It's the smartest book you'll ever cross.

You know those miniature books that clog the tables near the check out counter in almost every bookstore, I tend to ignore them.  Most of the time those tables are crowded with an endless supply of books designed to waste your time, or to go into a Christmas stocking, never to be seen again.  Sadly, Tic Tac Tome would find it's home on one of those tables, and without Eric at Quirk Books, I never would have become so addicted to such a small book.

I don't know about you, but I spent hours of my childhood playing one of the simplest games in the world.  It took me a few years to figure out how to play it really well, at least to the point I wasn't beaten every time I played someone older than me.  And for some reason, it's been a game I've seemed to get away from the older I've gotten.  So when Eric offered me the chance to review this book, it felt as if I was being given a piece of my childhood back.

I had to read the instructions twice, only because I skimmed them the first time, before I was able to follow along with what I had to do.  You simply choose a move, then go to that corresponding page to see the book's counter move, you repeat the process until the game is over.  Once I got the hang of it, I quickly spent over an hour trying to beat the damn book, I never did. I guess I should consider myself lucky that the book never beat me, we ended in a draw every time.  So now I'm just biding my time, waiting for the book to start feeling superior, because maybe then it will get sloppy.  I'm going to beat it at some point in time, I just hope that my gloating doesn't hurt it's feelings.

The Games Bible by Leigh Anderson

Part Of The Synopsis From The Back Cover:

For parties, for dinners, for holidays, for a weekend away, for dorm rooms and vacation homes, The Games Bible is a comprehensive compendium celebrating the old-fashioned pleasure of pure play.

When I first got this book in the mail, I was thinking there is no way I'm ever going to be able to play every game in time for a review.  Ok, just joking....I'm really not that out of it..well maybe just a little.  Either way I'm digressing from the matter at hand.  Simply put, I think I just found the mother load of fun!

This covers of this book contain around 300 games and activities that will leave you howling in laughter and having one of the best times of your life.  The book is broken down into 17 chapters, mainly divided by categories, 15 of them exactly.  They range from card games to trivia games along with outdoor games and lawn games.  For those of you who like something a little smarter, there are trivia games, literary and word games, right brain games, and something called brainy games for 2.  I think you get the point, whatever situation you are in, whatever you feel like doing, there is a game for you. 

One of my son's favorite card games is in the book, Go Fish.  We hadn't played it in a while so when I found it in the book, we broke out the cards and played a few games.  The sad thing is, I got beat every time.  My card skills are sorely lacking.  Now one thing I did learn about card games from this book is that for my entire life, I've though I was playing Gin Rummy.  Come to find out, I've been playing 500 Rummy instead, who knew.

Now what I really want to talk about is a game that I've never even heard of until now and I wish I could get 20-30 people organized to play it.  It's listed in chapter 17 which covers outdoor games.  The game is called Assassin and I really, really want to play.  I'm going to quote form the book as I think it does a wonderful job explaining it to you.  As a warning though, I'm pretty sure you will want to play this too.

Assassin is what is know as "lifestyle-invading"  which means you play it over a course of days or weeks while you go about your regular daily activities - with no break.  You can hunt or be hunted as any hour of the day or night - every player is both a stalker and a stalkee.  You play on your own - there are no teams, and players aren't in the same location with other players at any time - except for the moment of assassination.  It's often played on school campuses - Curtis Sittenfeld details a bout of Assassin in her novel Prep.  At the start of the game (which is usually a predetermined time announced by e-mail), you will receive, via e-mail, a photograph and some vital details (home address, work address) of your prey.  Someone else will receive your information.  Players must "assassinate" their prey -either by tagging them, shooting them with a water gun, or simply cornering them - while trying to avoid the same.  You'll become wildly paranoid.  It is not a game for the faint of heart.

Now how can you not want to play that.  The books goes into details about how you may want to set up safe zones where it is not allowed to get someone, bathrooms, inside work spaces, and in church are probably good boundaries to set.  I don't think it would be a good idea to be fired or thrown out of church cause someone comes in and squirts you with a water gun, though It may be a little fun to see how others react.  One someone is out of the game they have to hand their target over to the person who took them out.  The winner is either the last one standing or if there is a time limit it's everyone who's left.

So now I just need to get, the book says between 5-50, people together and start "assassinating".  In the meantime, I'm going to be just fine playing the rest of the games in this fantastic addition to my collection.

I would like to thank Alexandra at Planned Television Arts for the opportunity to review this book.