JohnnyBGamer

From Across the Net – “Preaching the Funeral Sermon I Once Most Dreaded”

I have always hated attending a funeral service of a non-believer. The loss, the lack of hope, ultimately knowing that Christ’s redemption did not happen for the individual. Hershael York writes:

We prayed for him, witnessed to him, sent others to talk to him, and five years ago even took him to Manaus, Brazil, to go fishing for tucunaré (peacock bass), but with the real intention of sharing Christ on the entire trip. We colluded, cooperated, and conspired for his soul.

From Across the Net – “Want to Be an Elder? Start Eldering Now.”

A man is an elder only if his character and spiritual labor say so.
That means every elder is an elder before he is an elder. Every legitimate elder shows himself qualified in character and competence before being appointed to the office. This brief essay will focus on competence.

1, 2, 3, 4, Review Scores Are Out The Door

Today, on my commute to work, I was listening to The Reformed Gamers Podcast – Episode 197. The host of the podcast, Logan, had on Colin Moriarty. Now you may now Colin from his work at IGN or from his podcast Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast. Anywho, Colin was talking about how for years he had passionately argued against review scores. How ultimately a review score of 8.5 or even a 9.0 doesn’t tell you a lot about the game in question. This got me thinking about review scores in general.

Here at JohnnyBGamer, I used to score games on a 1-5 system (1 being awful; 5 being the absolute best thing ever). For example, Josh and I rated Firewatch a 4/5:

4/5 – Plot holes mare what could have been a revelatory narrative experience.

We talk, in the review, about the game. What we liked, disliked, and what resonated with us. It is a fine review (wow, wrote that in 2016!). I even stand by the review score. But, sometime within the last year, I have decided to let the review scores go. I want to present what we like, dislike, and what resonates or doesn’t resonate. I ultimately want to be able to review a game without attaching a review score to it (see Biomutant review).

I realize, by listening the Colin today, that I do not have any sort of weight on Metacritic (nor do I want to). I want to:

Experience the games I play
Write about them
Post pictures
Share how they feel / play

I won’t be attaching a review score any longer. I realized that this is a decision I had already made but felt it was important to share.

Happy gaming.

Percy Jackson Vs. “Percy Jackson”

I had a dream about blogging the other night. A dream in which I compared and contrasted Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Book 1) (Percy Jackson And The Olympians) versus Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

I noted that there are some book series where the series author and the movie’s director work hand-in-hand. Listing examples such as:

Harry Potter
The Hunger Games

And then went on to describe how bad the Percy Jackson movie is versus the book.

The movie is basically the story of a wannabe Zac Efron, who turns out to be the son of a god, who goes on a quest to save the world. Beyond the Zac Efron part (in the Lightning Thief, Percy is 12 years old), this lines up with the book so far. But then the movie strips out everything that made the first book special. Down the toilet. Flush. It takes names (literally), skimps on essential story and characters, and rushes to the films conclusion. The film borrows key elements from the book without ever owning them. Don’t even get me started on Pierce Brosnan’s character. Ugh.

If you want to watch a movie that misconstrues characters, plot, and has a bunch of CG, then this is the movie for you.

As for me, sign me up for author Rick Riordan’s Disney+ series. Should be good.

The Day After I Turned 40

I never know 100% what to write here. I go back and forth between writing about video games/board games and then about personal stuff. How many readers who read my stuff about video games want to know about our adoption journey? How many readers want to read about my thoughts on worship music?

Yesterday, I turned 40. I spent my day working. Came home after, ate dinner, went out for ice cream, and then I was on the phone for an hour and forty-five minutes with a family member. By the time I was done, I put Wyatt to bed (we went over his devotional, prayed, and he read for an hour) and soon went to bed myself.

Television makes a pretty big deal about your birthday. I mean, not your individual birthday but birthdays as a whole.

“Your birthday should be all about you.”

“Your birthday is your day, relax.”

I mean just the other night my wife and I were watching Season 3 of Virgin River. The first episode is all about main character Melinda “Mel” Monroe’s birthday. Through out the episode, her boyfriend, Jack Sheridan, is unsure what to do. So he schedules her a message, flies lunch (sushi) in via bush pilot, etc. Towards the end of the episode, Jack surprises Mel with tickets for a dinner cruise. She doesn’t want to go. What she has told Jack all along is that all she wants is a cupcake and a bath. So what does Jack give her? A cupcake, a bath, and Jack’s house catching fire? One could say that Mel got what she wanted and some smoke inhalation as a bonus. How sweet.

I am learning that being an adult, a now 40 year old adult, is about unexpected things that come up in life. Be it a phone call or your boyfriends house catching fire (and burning to the ground). Happy Birthday to me.