Planet Dinosaur

Planet Dinosaur is another stunning BBC documentation about the impressive giants of the past - the dinosaurs. This time with even better 3D graphics and models than ever seen before, especially in Bluray quality this experience is definitely not to be missed. Based on the latest fossil evidence the deadliest heavy-weights are portrayed, exciting fights are shown and also new feathered dinosaurs are featured, which have been discovered just recently. If you are only somehow interested in this amazing creatures, you should check this documentation out!

From the producer: Palaeontologists now know that dinosaurs spread to every part of the globe, and evolved in ways so monstrous, horrific and bizarre they make T Rex look very tame indeed. Planet Dinosaur is a completely immersive visual experience studded with curious facts and jaw-dropping action as well as charismatic monsters. Presenting a brand-new global perspective on the prehistoric era, the series re-creates the creatures, their habitats and how they lived, from analysing their bones to watching them fight to the death.


Studio: Polyband / BBC
Producer: Nigel Paterson,  Andrew Cohen
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Merchants & Marauders

Introduction/Theme

Merchants & Marauders is a gem in the area of pirate board games. A fact which I really appreciate - as a lot of games exist in this field, but not many cover all aspects of piracy. Merchants & Marauders features most actions you can dream of in this setting and allows you to focus on either trading or pirating or both... ;-)

Components

The content of the quite huge box leaves nothing to be desired. The artwork is colorful and coherent, the map (shows the Carribean split into sea zones) is made of thick cardboard and there is a lot of stuff included. Especially I want to mention the beautiful plastic miniatures representing the ships as well as your Captain cards, defining your figures abilities (which can be improved during the game by the way).

Gameplay

The main goal of the game is to score 10 glory points - the first player reaching this level wins. Glory can be gained in lots of different ways, e.g. in combat, trading, by completing missions and so on. At the beginning each player is dealt a captain card and then can decide each turn to either use the action "Move", "Search" or "Port". Whereas "Port" offers again lots of different possibilities to choose from (recruiting, missions, buy/sell goods, upgrade ship,...) After each players turn an event card is dealt which brings some random effects into the game which have to be worked with.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of rules (which are structured very well ), it's easy to get into the mechanics - especially after your first full game. The downtime is usually quite low and the atmosphere matches the theme pretty well and is convincing. Merchants & Marauders offers a lot of different possibilities and you can follow different strategies to win. It's up to you if rely completely on capturing ships or if you focus only on trading or if you choose something in between. It's possible to win with each strategy and this variety makes the game really outstanding.

 

From the publisher: Merchants & Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Seek your fortune through trade, rumor hunting, missions, and of course, plundering.

The game features a unique trade system and a thematic combat system, allowing for critical decisions and intense excitement. Modify your ship, buy impressive vessels, load deadly special ammunitions and hire specialist crew members.

Will your captain gain eternal glory and immense wealth or find his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea?

 

 

2-4 players, 150 min
author: christian marcussen & kasper aagaard
published by: pegasus spiele (german), z-man games (english)
category: adventure, pirates, area movement

merchants & marauders @ boardgamegeek.com
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Spider-Man: Blue

"It's about remembering someone so important to me I was going to spend the rest of my life with her."

Spider-Man Blue is a great comic book done by the Eisner Award winning team Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. It concentrates on the the love story of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, his true love. And sadly also covers her death, caused by the Green Goblin. The story is good, the artwork is outstanding! Great tragic romance story about one of our favorite superheroes!

 

From the publisher: What Peter Parker didn't know was that meant Gwen Stacy would only get to spend the rest of her life with him. This is the story of how they fell in love. Or more appropriately, how they almost didn't fall in love. Welcome to Spider-Man's life. Bad before good. It's kind of amazing. So to get the girl of his dreams, he'll have to run the gauntlet of the Green Goblin, the Rhino, two Vultures and a mysterious man in the shadows controlling it all.

Join the Eisner Award-winning team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Superman for All Seasons, Batman: The Long Halloween, DAREDEVIL: YELLOW, HULK: GRAY) in the story about Peter Parker's first love, Gwen Stacy. Highlighted by the introduction of Mary Jane Watson, it is a critical moment in Spider-Man's life when everything was just coming together - only to fall apart.

publisher: marvel (english), panini comics (german)
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7Gr. For espresso lovers only.

7Gr offers high quality coffee and - in contrast to a lot of other companies - really appreciates good design. I want to especially point out their delicious variants of ESE pods, which are from my point of view an easy and convenient way to enjoy a perfect coffee experience.

The pods are available in three different flavors and each of them can be recommended wholeheartedly. Also beans and ground formats are available.

PEOPLE
Our favorit! A Grand Cru of high-quality Arabica and Robusta beans from Brazil, India and Ethiopia. Complete and full taste, not too strong and not too weak, hints of cocoa... simpy a perfect mixture.

TIME
A selection of fine Arabica from Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia. Round taste, maybe a bit stronger than PEOPLE, smooth texture... very enjoyable.

ALWAYS
This is the decaffeinated pod, which despite the lack of coffein tastes very compact, smooth and convinving.

If you are looking for great coffee presented with style you should check out 7Gr. Beside coffee they also produce other fine stuff as cups, cookies or liquor - maybe I will write about these sometime in the future as well.

From the producer:  A SIGN OF IDENTITY.

Our name is our pledge.
A pledge that we fulfill by following a path made of passion, of course, and of substance, too.

You need 7 grams of finely ground coffee to make a perfect espresso. Not a gram more, nor less.

Our brand fully reflects our philosophy, starting from the value we place on every moment that preceeds the extraction of those 25 ml of pure flavour and aroma which end up in our coffee cup. A rigorous process in which everything has its “weight” and any decision regarding it will make a difference.

You can buy 7Gr products @ Kaffeezentrale.de

7Gr.it
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Lone - Unique Design Hotel

"Lone is definitely one of the greatest Hotels I have seen in a long time. It's a perfect mixture of modern architecture, great design, pure pleasure & relaxation - and all of this at a great spot."

Facts

- medium-sized five star Design Hotel in Rovinj (Croatia)

- located next to the sea and near the picturesque old town of Rovinj

- spa, lounge and different restaurants

- kids welcome, miniclub available

- conference center

Design

A minimalistic and modern architectural concept from 3LHD has been realised very stringent, beginning with the building itself (stunning! reminding a bit of big ocean liner...) to the great artwork of the menus and brochures, bringing nature inside with hanging gardens, involving artwork by Ivana Franke and Silvio Vuijcic and ending with the selection of the beautiful, fitting designer furniture from e.g. Moroso and the architects working together with the designer team Numen/ForUse. We loved the Tio Lounge Chairs (Massproduction) in the Lobby Bar, great design and sooooo comfortable. There are different styles of restaurants available (including a Sushi Bar - awesome Tuna Carpaccio) and a overwhelming Spa (fully in black and very straight). At the moment the pool of the neighbour Hotel can be used, but in 2013 Lone gets its own huge pool area (I've already seen first pictures - convincing!), which fits to the style of the Hotel and makes the "Lone Experience" completely perfect.

Around

The hotel is surrounded by a beautiful forest which borders the sea (with lots of great little inlets). It's perfect for taking a walk, running, cycling, swimming, snorkeling and catching little crabs and shrimps. On the other side you can walk next to the sea on a nice promenade to the old town of Rovinj - which not only looks stunning but where you can find lots of nice restaurants and bars and also the harbour. Taste the ice cream at one of the gelaterias!

Conclusion

Lone is definitely one of the greatest Hotels I have seen in a long time. It's a perfect mixture of modern architecture, great design, pure pleasure & relaxation - and all of this at a great spot. All the people have been very friendly and supportive. Lone can wholeheartedly be recommended also to families with kids - Stokke chairs are available... ;-) Enjoying great food or pure relaxtion in the Hotel, going to one of  the beautiful and romantic beaches in the inlets nearby or walking on the promenade to the wonderful old town of Rovinj - anyway you will experience awesome holidays!

Lone Design Hotel: Lone represents a design-focused synergy of functionality, harmony and elegance. Featuring an impeccable blend of beauty, style and cultural heritage, the hotel is a year-round leisure and business destination.

Hotel Lone is Maistra’s new, five-star design hotel, situated in the Zlatni Rt [Golden Cape] forest park, just ten minutes from the centre of Rovinj, one of the most picturesque towns on the Adriatic.

As an embodiment of urban style, Lone features 236 well-appointed rooms and 12 comfortable suites. All of the accommodation units of the six-story seaside hotel nested in the forest park of Zlatni rt afford a spectacular view of the surroundings. The interior decoration embodiesthe basic aesthetic values this hotel, with simple lines and functionality merging with the appeal of the surroundings. The playful arrangement of mirrors, glass walls and indoor areas visually extending towards spacious terraces is present in all of the rooms and suites.

Slow food or delicious canapés, regional or Central-European cuisine, a fusion between traditional and modern Mediterranean specialities - restaurants in the Lone hotel are an endless source of imagination and diverse aromas.

lone - unique design hotel

book online
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7 Wonders

Introduction/Theme

7 Wonders is basically a card game with lots of civilization building aspects. Despite the fact that it is played quite fast (about 30 minutes), it offers some fine strategic depths. It has won lots of prices yet and is actually ranked #12 on boardgamegeek.com.

Components

The game comes with little boards, lots of nice cards as well as coins and markers. The components are of premium quality and will last many, many plays without being harmed. Also the layout is well done and adds to the atmosphere of this civilization building game.

Gameplay

7 Wonders lasts for three ages, each one consisting of six turns. In each age seven cards are dealt to the player whereas each player chooses one card per turn and then passes his hand on to his neighbour for the next turn. Depending on the respective card one out of three actions can be chosen. You can either sell your card to get money, you can build a construct (or produce resources) or you can work on building your wonder. The constructs can be military, scientific, civilian, commercial or guilds and different conditions lead to different amounts of victory points - with the one finally having the most victory points winning the game.

Conclusion

Even if it takes some time to go through the rules, the game is very accessible and during your first play you easily understand what's going on - even if you are not that experienced when it comes to board games. So it's a must-have for fans of building games, as despite the quite short playing time lots of aspects of civilization building games are covered. Also it balances complexity and strategy pretty well, so that the game appeals for a broad audience. One of my most played games in the last months... give it a try!

From the publisher: 7 Wonders lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player, as in Fairy Tale or a Magic: the Gathering booster draft. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided as in Bauza's Ghost Stories.) Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process 

repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends.

In essence 7 Wonders is a card development game along the lines of Race for the Galaxy or Dominion. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. Some cards provide discounts on future purchases. Some provide military strength to overpower your neighbors and others give nothing but victory points. Unlike Magic or Fairy Tale, however, each card is played immediately after being drafted, so you'll know which cards your neighbor is receiving and how his choices might affect what you've already built up. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so you need to keep an eye on the neighbors in both directions.

Though the box of earlier editions is listed as being for 3-7 players, there is an official 2-player variant included in the instructions.

2-7 players, 30 min
author: antoine bauza
published by: asmodee
category: card game, civilization building

7 wonders @ boardgamegeek.com
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Illy Espresso Machine X1 Trio

"For coffee purists, espresso is the quintessential coffee preparation – rich, aromatic and velvety all at once; a natural layer of crema on top belying a full-bodied, yet deftly balanced liquid below. When ideally realized, a small miracle of chemistry and physics: science and art gliding together on air."

The Illy Espresso Machine has been designed by Luca Trazzi and reminds on traditional 50ties design and is a great piece of retro glamour for any household - an eye catcher for people who like plain elegance.

Beside a dispenser for hot water (for tea) and a steaming wand (for capuccino or hot chocolate) the core functionality is of course the preparation of espresso - and this is carried out by the X1 Trio in a very convincing way. By simply turning the filter you can choose between ristretto, regular and lungo and thereby can have your coffee exactly the way you like it most. A feature I really appreciate and use heavily!

This machine supports the E.S.E pod standard, which means you can basically use the pods of each and every company which produces E.S.E pods. I can especially recommend the regular roasted Illy pods (Espresso Servings with the red Illy logo), which fit excellent to this fine Espresso Machine and provide you with a perfect result of a cup of black gold. They are well-balanced, tasting strong but smooth and come in a vacuum packed can.

You should daily allow yourself this overwhelming experience.

From the manufacturer: Don’t be surprised if guests start snapping pictures of your X1 Trio E.S.E. machine. Architectural and home furnishing magazines regularly do. A striking yet clean design by renowned Italian architect Luca Trazzi may have something to do with it.

In the cup, there’s yet more beauty. The X1 makes preparing an espresso sized as you prefer a simple pleasure: ristretto (short), regular or lungo (long). One slight turn of the filter system, and the choice is yours.

Add the sheer simplicity of illy’s pioneering E.S.E. (“Easy Serving Espresso”) pod system, and you have it all: café-quality espresso with remarkable convenience. Each E.S.E. filter pod contains just the right measure of expertly ground and tamped illy coffee — a singular blend of nine, optimal quality Arabica beans, sourced from four continents.

With a steaming wand for cappuccino and automatic descaling for minimal maintenance, there’s yet more to envy. Choose the hue that fits you best: red, white, black, stainless steel, almond, yellow, orange or blue.

TRIO system easily produces short, normal or long espressos
- compatible with any E.S.E. pod
- steaming wand for cappuccino
- dispenses hot water for tea
- intuitive beep and light indicators
- brass boiler
- 1-liter water tank

Manufacturer: Illy
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