It's Only A Game

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Last week we talked about our latest reads and swapped recommendations, but let's be honest - there's something else we all do in our spare time. Maybe in bed, maybe in the bathroom, sometimes with others but usually alone...

I'm speaking, of course, about video games. Or computer games, or mobile games - we all love 'em. Or at least some of them. I'm not talking about the MMORPG games that you need special consoles and  headsets for. I'm talking Farmville. Solitare. Angry Birds.

Me, I'm addicted to ULTIMATE JEWEL. It's soothing to watch all those shiny jewels line up and disappear, plus it has the added benefit of being impossible to lose. In fact, I've started playing to get the lowest score possible. I have the freebie version, which means in between games I get ads urging me to refi my mortgage, or to buy clothing perfectly suited to a 13-year-old girl. I guess I'm not their target demographic.

I used to play BEJEWELED 3 constantly - it's another pretty, glittery thing with exploding baubles. It's designed to suck you in by having each level get more and more difficult, with less and less time to make moves, until the program overwhelms you. Eventually, it stressed me out - I have enough going on in my life, did I really need a game calling me a loser? 

My other (current) game is MAHJONG SOLITAIRE.  Like solitaire with cards, it's the perfect thing to keep tucked away on your laptop for mental breaks between writing pages, answering emails and paying bills. 

Youngest's obsession is CANDY CRUSH, which is notorious for its ability to make ravening addicts out of its players. There have been times - I swear this is true - when my daughter is in the bathroom so long I'm afraid something biologically wrong has happened. Nope! She was just engrossed in getting to a new level.

I have a good friend whose love affair with TETRIS was so passionate, it figured into her decision to not install internet in her home. She was worried she'd never get anything done. On the plus side, she's a genius at packing boxes and loading trucks.

And finally, my very first, and well beloved computer game: OREGON TRAIL. Does anyone else remember making the trek with 100 pounds of flour and 15 boxes of bullets (that got swept away when your wagon foundered in the Green River.) How many of us had loved ones die of dysentery along the way? BTW, there's a site where you can play the game the way God intended, with a black screen and little square pixels in the shape of oxen. Good times.

How about you, dear readers? What are your game addictions?

COPING WITH STRESS

RHYS BOWEN: Is anyone else feeling stressed at this time of year? How many presents do I still have to buy? Have I left anyone out? The cleaning lady? The mail carrier? And what can I possibly get for my husband who says he wants nothing and needs nothing? And the house... is it ready for the Christmas luncheon I have to host, and my son's birthday....

So I'm wondering what other people do to de-stress? I have a grandson who loves to play video games as an escape (not the violent kind, his parents won't let him). I tried that once, years ago when I bought our kids the first primitive video game system. I can't remember what it was called but it had Smurfs and Super Mario and other harmless and non-violent games. Oh, and Pacman. I tried one in which you had to shoot ducks as they came across a fairground booth. Talk about stressful! The more ducks you shot the faster they came. My palms were sweaty. My heart was racing. So not the greatest stress-remover for me!

And there was the time when I thought that fish might be a good idea. Looking at a tank of tropical fish is supposed to be soothing, isn't it? We bought the tank. We stocked it with tetras and mollys and all kinds of bright and beautiful fish. And then John gave me a book on fish diseases. Disaster! Fin rot and Ick and others I can no longer remember. So I started to stare and worry. Was this one swimming funnily? Oh God. He didn't have Ick, did he? And why was that one lying quietly and not swimming? Rush to disease book and see what might be wrong with it.

So no fish for me. But my son is a fan of meditation. You can do it anywhere. No equipment needed.
Just ten minutes of your time to escape and calm the mind. I've tried it. Believe me, I have tried. But it goes like this:
Sit quietly with your hands resting in your lap. Empty your mind...
Me: How do you empty your mind? I cannot catch all those rogue thoughts rushing around.
Now concentrate on your breath. Breathe in........... visualize the breath as it fills your lungs
ME: I'm visualizing. It's warm and red and--wait. Did I turn off the stove?
Now breathe out, slowly, through your mouth. Focus on the sound of your breath.... Like a gentle breeze
ME:Gentle breeze..... wind... There should be a storm in the next chapter. That's what it needs. She goes out into the storm and someone is standing amid the trees.And the trees are dancing like wild creatures. Yes. That would be great. I should get it down before the image goes...
Now breathe in again. Slowly, through your nose. Hold it for seven counts...
ME: Was that the mail coming? Mail? OMG. Did I mail that review copy I promised?

You get the picture. My mind will not stay calm and still for five seconds, let alone for ten minutes.
But what does work for me is sitting in the sauna at my health club. It's like Pavlov's dog--the moment I sit on the bench my breathing slows. Tension flows away.

And getting out into nature works too. Sometimes I drive about five miles from my house to China Camp State park on the Bay, park and watch the sunlight on the water. There is something about being at the edge of a body of water that is wonderfully centering. Walking on a beach. Feeling sand between the toes, letting waves run over my feet. I think I need to do that right now! (The picture is the beach in Cabo San Lucas where I was this time last year. Heavy sigh.)

So how do you cope with stress? What works for you?

The Bechdel Test — Do Your Favorites Pass?

Yesterday's post by Hilary Davidson on HBO's crime drama True Detective reminded me of the Bechdel Test.

What's the Bechdel Test? 

Simple — does a story have two women, who are named, who talk to each other, about something other than a man? 

Think about it. 

Alison Bechdel came up with the test in her comic Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. In it, one woman explains her "rule" about watching movies to another:

The Bechdel Test may have given a name to a phenomenon, but it's hardly the first time women's marginal status in fiction has been noted. In A Room Of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf’s essay about the challenges women writers face, she notes that women characters  are “almost without exception [...] shown in their relation to men. [...] And how small a part of a woman’s life is that.” 

Most of the discussion of the Bechdel Test focuses on films and television shows. But we're readers here. How about novels?Off the top of my head, I can think of many big-name thriller/mystery authors whose books fail the Bechdel Test: Dan Brown, Stephen King, Scott Turow. (And yes, many of them have been made into movies.) But there are so many more. Any Ian Fleming novel. Any novel where a "beautiful woman" (nameless) apprears on the back cover description.

Why do so many works of art/entertainment fail the Bechdel Test?

Well, often, it's because there is only one woman. ONE. (My take on Star Wars: "Seriously? Is there only one woman in the entire UNIVERSE?")

 

And then, when there are more than one female character, the work fails because the female characters never talk to each other.       (I'm taking my son to see the Broadway musical Les Misérables this summer. Think about it — the men sing about human dignity and basic rights and war and revenge and forgiveness and fallen comerades. Oh, and the plot. And the women sing about — the men.)

Once you start looking at the world through the lens of the Bechdel Test, it's hard to stop. The kiddo loves a certain snowboarding video game. There is one woman. One. Even in the snow, she's scantily dressed. And her only line is about liking attention from boys. You'd better believe he and I had a long talk about that!)

The Bechdel Test helps us measure how marginal women characters still are. Applying this test to works of art isn't an end in itself  — but it is a way to see the entertainment we consume in a new way and start asking questions. Important ones. 

Because, although some disagree, I do think it's important. Stories are important. Fiction reflects our world and how we see it and how we're seen. Reading stories affects how we tell our own stories, about ourselves. I don't know about you, but I'm not happy with a walk-on part as "the girlfriend," "the wife," and "the mother."  If women don’t have a place of importance in our imaginations, then how can we have have a place of importance in the world?

And so, Reds and lovely readers, I ask you — when choosing books (or movies or television shows or plays), do you care if they pass the Bechdel test?

Get a Clue — Board Games in the Video Age

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: We’ve recently decided that Friday is pizza and board game night (no electronics of any sort allowed). The Kiddo is just the right age for one of my favorites, Clue. (Does anyone remember it? It was created in 1949 and has just kept on going…) Anyway, I went to our local game store to buy it— and was delighted to hear the owner say sales of board games are up. 

Huzzah! Are we turning back to actual games, played by actual people, with actual snacks? 

(The last part is of utmost importance here…)

As a mystery writer, I love Clue — a grand British manor house, lots of questionable characters (I’m always suspicious of Professor Plum), and
a murder to be solved. 

Last night, it started to rain as we played and the Kiddo declared, “This is perfect! ‘It was a dark and stormy
night…’" 

And so I ask my fellow
Reds — do you remember Clue? 

What were your favorite
board games as a child? 

And do you ever play board
games now?





RHYS BOWEN: My family has always loved board games. TABOO has been a favorite for a long while (you have to 

describe something without using a list of words. The grandkids are really good at it). 

But we used to love Clue when the kids were growing up. Scrabble, Boggle... anything with words these days.

I also belong to a board games group at my local AAUW chapter. Very therapeutic with lots of laughter. Our favorite is Cranium (see, we're brainy ladies) and also a card game called Quiddler.

HANK (MISS SCARLETT) PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, CLUE! 

Kidding me? We loved Clue and we played it ALL the time, with much delight, and I attribute my entire career to it.

Well, not really, but I am still enchanted, seriously, thinking about how it made us all think, and how it was different every time, and every time I hear the word "conservatory" I wonder if there's a secret passage.

I used to look back at the used score sheets, and remember how the stories turned out.

I scarfed up Miss Scarlett, wouldn't  play, I fear, if I wasn't her.  Funnily, now, I would pick to be Colonel Mustard, because he's the iconic one, right? Mrs. White, boring. Who was blue and black? Trying to remember...

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Dear Hank, er, Miss Scarlett — Blue is Mrs. Peacock and then there's Mr. Green. No black. (Or anyone Black, as Noel and Miss Edna would say.) So funny you loved Miss Scarlett (who doesn't?) and are now a Jungle Red! Did you all do funny voices? We do. Our Miss Scarlett sounds like Marilyn Monroe.



JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I love, love, love CLUE, although it's a bit of  hard sell sometimes with my family - I tend to win a lot (okay, almost always) and they say I have an unfair advantage. I always play Mrs. White, my son is Mr. Green (apparently Rev. Green in the recent updated game) the Smithie is Prof. Plum and Youngest is Miss Scarlett. The movie is an absolute hoot as well, if you haven't seen it.

We also love Monopoly. I don't think we've ever actually finished a game, but we always dissolve into shrieks of laughter and in-jokes during play.

Ross and the kids challenge each other to chess (which I am hopeless at.) Ross's favorite game is RISK, which is a bit too much like history class homework for me. The one game we two can agree on is Scrabble. He trounces me.

My favorite board game as a kid? THE GAME OF LIFE. Who didn't love getting assigned a career, collecting a spouse and children, and driving the tiny plastic car up hill and down on your way to retire in either Millionaire Acres or a refrigerator box?



DEBORAH CROMBIE:  Oh, I love board games! So does my daughter, but hubby HATES them, so daughter and I only play occasionally. Not sure about son-in-law--will have to find out. I loved Clue, and Monopoly, and Risk, and Scrabble. But my all-time favorite was Trivial Pursuit. Does that count as a real board game? I'm always tempted by the new updated versions, but don't know anyone except my daughter who will play with me.

Hank, of COURSE you were Miss Scarlet! 



SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Debs, we have the Disney Trivial Pursuit game! Love it!

Lovely readers, do you remember Clue? 

What were your favorite board games as a child? 

And do you ever play board games now?