Month: December 2015

Gamer Girls ca. 330 BCE

Erik
Image: via Esther MacCallum Stewart
Two girls playing knuckleones via Esther MacCallum Stewart

Not that this should come as any surprise to anyone, but girls have been gamers for over 2,000 years.

Here’s a statuette of two girls playing knucklebones from ca. 330 BCE. In the ancient Mediterranean, the heel bones of sheep (commonly, though inaccurately, called “knucklebones” in English) were used for playing a variety of games, as they still are in many parts of the world today. They could be rolled like dice or gathered up in games similar to jacks, which is what these two appear to be doing.

Knucklebones crossed the whole spectrum of ancient society. Men and women, girls and boys all played. The Greek comic playwright Aristophanes mentions them as the toys of poor children (The Wasps 295) while Suetonius quotes a letter by the Roman emperor Augustus enthusiastically recounting his gaming exploits (The Deified Augustus 71). It is hard to think of a pastime that is so widely shared today.

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

A Neufchatel Hope

Erik

We start on the original trilogy with this Tatooine-orange pumpkin cheesecake which uses neufchatel cheese in place of cream cheese.

A Neuchatel Hope

 

 

 

Crust

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. butter
  • 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

Melt the butter.

Mix the crumbs, almond meal, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter and mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture in a buttered pie pan an pat out evenly.

Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 10 minutes or until the crust is set

Filling

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 pound neufchatel cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup roasted pumpkin puree

You can use canned pumpkin or roast your own. To roast, split a pumpkin into two halves from top to bottom and scoop out the seeds. Lay both halves inner side down in a broad shallow pan with just enough water to cover the bottom and roast at 400 F / 200 C for 1-2 hours or until the flesh of the pumpkin comes away from the skin easily. Roasted pumpkin freezes well and what you don’t use for this cheesecake you can save for the future.

Mix brown sugar and spices in a small bowl.

Beat the neufchatel cheese in a large bowl until smooth.  Add the sugar mixture and beat until well mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl well after each addition.

Add the pumpkin and beat well.

Put a pan of water in the oven to moisten the air while the cheesecake cooks.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 350 F / 175 C for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 F / 160 C for another 10 minutes.

Let the cheesecake sit until well cooled.

 

Image by Eppu Jensen

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

 

Our Star Wars Rewatch Project: Episode IV

Erik

Our Star Wars rewatch dives into the original trilogy with Episode IV – A New Hope.

1. Best Fight

Eppu: Escaping the Death Star, Han and Luke at Millennium Falcon’s guns face off four T.I.E. fighters.

Erik: Han’s running battle with stormtroopers in the corridors of the Death Star. It gives you a real sense of Han’s fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants character.

2. Best Line

Erik: “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” Obi-Wan shutting up Han.

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"Eppu: It’s a tie between “That’s no moon. It’s a space station,” so memorably delivered by Alec Guinness, and “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” by Leia, said from her Death Star cell to Luke who was about to rescue her.

3. Best Minor Character

Eppu: Lt. Pol Treidum, the Imperial gantry officer who almost discovers Luke and Han in their stormtrooper disguises (he’s the one who says “TK-421, why aren’t you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?”). He’s such an efficient problem-solver that any operation should be glad to have him. What does he get for his troubles? Whacked on his head by Chewbacca; poor thing.

Erik: Aunt Beru. She’s the one who really understands Luke and who gets why he doesn’t want to stay on Tatooine and be a moisture farmer.

4. Best Reveal

Erik: Luke can still hear Obi-Wan even when Obi-Wan is gone. Episode IV is tantalizingly vague about just what the Force is and what it can do, but when Luke hears Obi-Wan’s voice, it’s clear that there is something real and powerful to this “ancient religion.”

Eppu: Ben Kenobi = Obi-Wan Kenobi. Such nostalgia.

5. Best Save

Eppu: At the end, during the rebels’ last attack run on the death Star, Han blasts Vader’s T.I.E. fighter so that Luke can take his shot.

Erik: When Leia grabs a gun and blasts open an escape route from the detention block. Just because she’s a princess who needs rescuing doesn’t mean she won’t step up and get blasting once she gets a chance.

6. Best Visual

151203DSMFErik: The Millennium Falcon being tractored into the Death Star docking bay. You really feel just how massive the Death Star is.

Eppu: The first four rebel X-wings in a line pivoting and diving down towards the surface of the Death Star trench to start their attack run. A clumsy and slow special effect by today’s standards, but nostalgia!

Extra: Best Nostalgia moment

Eppu: The beginning scroll with John Williams’s theme! Also, Vader’s looooong ship pursuing Leia’s in the very beginning.

Erik: Han on the radio trying to cover for their jailbreak. It’s just as funny today as the first time I saw the movie.

151203Han

Images: “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” via Little Pink Stormtrooper on reddit. Millennium Falcon and Death Star via st-v-sw.net. “We’re all fine here now” via mama loves tech

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Captain America: Civil War Trailer Published

Eppu

The first trailer for Captain America: Civil War is here:

Captain America: Civil War – Trailer World Premiere via Jimmy Kimmel Live

Looks cool and MCU-Captain-y! I’m looking forward to seeing more of my favorites – Cap, Falcon, Black Widow, Sharon Carter / Agent 13. I liked Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, too, and T’Challa / Black Panther looks cool.

Six months to May 2016 sounds very long! Fortunately there’s lots to tide us over.

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.