We spent some quality time last night playing with our youngest. I’m amazed at how perceptive he is, though strategically he’s still a little green. It appeared that he knew what he was doing but overall I think he was more intrigued with moving from room to room. It was a great way to pass the time on a cold and rainy night. Hopefully nobody’s left in the dark about what we did.
I had the opportunity to watch the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies last night and I have to say it was pretty spectacular. Vancouver invested millions of dollars to host this year’s Olympic Games and it showed. It’s amazing to see the creative vision of so many talented individuals be realized. Equally impressive is the tradition of signifying each Winter Olympic Games with its own logo (hopefully, the NFL’s Super Bowl logo rationale doesn’t influence the Olympic Committee to change). It underscores the power of an effective logo, all while being simple and original. In addition to the Olympic rings, these individual symbols become a way to distinguish each locale and year from another. Sure the games would go on without them, but you can’t deny that they add a level of sophistication and brand class to the event.
I come from a game-playing family, so playing board games with our boys is kind of a rite of passage. Over a year ago, my brother-in-law introduced us to a number of ‘European’ board games. They don’t involve dice, so luck is eliminated for the sake of strategy. Clearly these games are outside the canon of Parker Brothers (in fact, any game with a pair of dice is mockingly referred to as an ‘Ameri-trash Game’). We personally own one such game, but the rest are ‘Ameri-trash’ classics. Our youngest son loves to play games and will occasionally coax us into playing ‘Sorry’, ‘Life’ or (Heaven forbid) ‘Monopoly’. I realize they’re all good at teaching young minds good sportsmanship and strategy, but it’s like choosing to play checkers when you’d rather be playing chess.