Labyrinth (the board game)

You know I love board games, although I seldom play them anymore. Well, I Wolfie and I received at Christmas Labyrinth. I have been curious about it since childhood. It's a medieval fantasy themed game set in a maze, where the walls change. If you ever played it, tell me about your experience in the feedback. I think it will be great fun, and it might also give us some inspiration for future games in our D&Dr campaign.

Aquila on Greek Mythology

 Every month, Wolfie receives Aquila Magazine. That's one of the reasons why why I say he recceives the best mail.And this was no exception this month: the theme for the May issue is Greek myths. With a very cool (if a bit cartoony) picture of the Minotaur on its front cover. I love Greek mythology, I always have, I gathered or was gifted many books about it over the years. Now I hope to enjoy it with my son and make him discover it.

Labyrinth (the beer)

I try as much as I can to drink products from Rebellion Beer, as it is one of the closest mocrobreweries I have from home and because they brew some really nice ales. And I didn't want to end January without trying their beer of the month. It's called Labyrinth and it is inspired by Greek mythology, like every beer of the month in 2025. I guess I will have to buy one every month. Anyway, Labyrinth is the kind of dark, flaboursome ale I enjoy and has a cool Minotaur on its label.

A walk through the maze

I took this photo in the Isle of Wight, in Robin Hill. It had many attractions and fun games for children and grownups, including a maze. This is its plan. It seems so simple when you see it like this. I love mazes, big and small. This one wasn't the most difficult to get through, or the fanciest, but it was great fun.

Bloodfeud of Altheus

 My brother PJ made a great purchase recently. We've always been fascinated by Greek Mythology, so we were happily surprised to find when we were children a gamebook freely based on the myth of Theseus, titled Bloodfeud of Altheus. The first of a trilogy called Cretan Chronicles. In this version,Theseus got killed by the Minotaur and you play his brother Altheus, who goes on a revenge quest. From memory, if the rules were often iffy and difficult to apply (but we never really played the rules in a gamebook), the story was great fun, allowing the reader to live many Ancient Greek stories. The writing was also pretty good and trying for a pseudo epic feel. Anyway, that is how I remember it. Sadly, ina foolish moment I gave the book away in exchange of another one. But thankfully, PJ corrected this. We never played the other two entries of the Chronicles, apparently they are much weaker. We should still try to get our hands on them, of course.

Theseus against the Minotaur

As you may know, I am a big fan of Greek mythology. I love everything about it. One of the books we received when we were young (I cannot remember if it was a gift to one of my bros or to everyone) was Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths. It was beautifully illustrated by Giovanni Caselli. My father recently scanned a few images and sent them to me. I decided to share this one with you today, showing the fight between Theseus and the Minotaur. This is one of the scariest, most menacing rendition of the Minotaur I have ever seen. This time of year I often revisit Greek mythology and this picture and others make me want to get my hands on some books on the subject.

"YOU are the caretaker"

For tonight's second countdown to Halloween's post, one of my favourite scenes from one of my favourite horror movies. Again it belongs to psychological horror: there is no gore, not even a jump scene (although the film has a good deal of both). From this post's title, you will of course recognised The Shining, and more particularly that scene in the gentlemen's room, when Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) talks to a butler who turns out to be the ghost of Grady, his predecessor, who committed suicide after murdering his wife and daughters. Grady is played by Philip Stone, a great underrated British actor. He is the one who really makes the scene work I think, making Nicholson's character more and more uneasy as the scene progresses, until he looks genuinely worried and maybe a bit scared himself. And I love how gradually and so seamlessly Stone turns Grady from a helpful butler into this pure malevolent figure, fanatically devoted to the Overlook. The reveal happening, of course, with the fateful line: "I'm sorry to differ with you sir, but YOU are the caretaker, you've always been the caretaker. I should know sir: I've always been here." It gets me every time.

Marcher dans un labyrinthe

J'ai pris cette photo dans le Derbyshire. Vous y voyez un labyrinthe, sur lequel j'ai blogué ici. C'était vraiment un dédale digne de ce nom, où il fallait un bon bout de temps avat de se rendre au centre, puis avant d'en sortir. Je n'ai pas visité de labyrinthe depuis, ce qui est dommage. Comme je le mentionnais dans mon billet de l'année dernière, le labyrinthe est un lieu fascinant. Or, je me suis rappelé récemment qu'il y a au moins un endroit pas trop loin d'ici où il y a un labyrinthe. Plus petit que celui du Derbyshire, moins impressionnant, enfin d'après mon souvenir, mais tout de même, c'est un labyrinthe. Si la température le permet dans les prochaines semaines, on pourrait le visiter à un moment donné, pour le plaisir. C'est toujours une expérience.

Maze and horror

I took this picture in Derbyshire and it illustrates tonight's countdown to Halloween post. What you see here is the middle of a maze, or rather the view from the middle of a maze. On face value, a maze is simply a large play area, where finding your way to the center and back is the game. But it has far deeper significance. The maze, any maze, is a potential place of danger. One can get lost in it, who knows what danger, human or not, lurks in it. It is also, symbolically, the human mind, where dark thoughts hide like a minotaur. Who can forget the maze in The Shining? The movie was in my mind the whole time I was walking there. Not the climax, but a scene near the beginning, when Danny and Wendy Torrance explore the maze for the first time. A brilliant piece of foreshadowing and a perfect example of (very subtle) daylight horror. I put it here for your enjoyment: