Morricone Songs

My weekly ttrpg group is starting a new story in the Daggerheart Drylands, which has a Western theme.

So I am picking up my old chromatic harmonica, that was my souvenir from a trip with my grandfather.  This means I am listening to many of my favorite Ennio Morricone songs again, and learning to play them.

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First the Western music...

A famous trilogy included perhaps the generally most recognizable of Morricone's songs, nicknamed by some people "the wa wa song".  This was the theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

That trilogy ended with an incredible song about frantically searching for what you want and not quite being able to find it until the very end: The Ecstasy of Gold.

Two years later Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone shared a new (stand alone) film, whose theme was all about the opposite: the wonderful contentment of really loving your family and home: Jill's Theme.

That new film had a theme for it's main characters (read more here), but the hero and villain shared a theme: The Man with the Harmonica.

The hero is the harmonica, the villain the electric guitar.  You can hear them eyeing each other during the music.  The song ends by briefly including Jill's Theme and then sad harmonica, because the villain wrecks her contentment and the hero can only partly save the day. 

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Ennio Morricone also composed the music for the film The Mission.  There are interwoven themes.

(Here I will link to the official soundtrack music, because various orchestral performances do not maintain the balance needed to appreciate the final song.)

The pure ideal of religion, so rare on Earth, is represented by Ava Maria.

The native Guaraní people are represented by The River.

The violent Guaraní had killed earlier missionaries, but accept a new, peaceful missionary because of his oboe music: Gabriel's Oboe.

The blending of all that, after a peaceful mission is established and helping everyone's lives improve, is represented by The Mission.

Then a newly signed Treaty of Madrid transferred authority of the land to the Portuguese, who are not nice people and want to enslave the Guaraní.  There is a huge multi-faceted struggle that starts with politics but ends in incredible violence.

So all four of the above songs come together in the ironically titled On Earth as it is in Heaven.

The irony in the title is because it is not heavenly on earth.  The closer you listen to that song, the more discord you notice.

Hearthstone Fishing Priest for Summer 2025

The CompetitiveHS subreddit had a nice discussion about a deck archetype called "Fishing Priest" or "Menagerie Priest".

Here is my summary about the deck in this week after the Lost City of Un'goro expansion, archived here when I can find it more easily.

There is a basic core package of 19 cards:

• Brain Masseuse, Catch of the Day, Lunarwing Messenger, Orbital Halo, Papercraft Angel, Shadow Ascendant, Spirit of the Kaldorei, Chillin' Vol'jin, Trusty Fishing Rod, Menagerie Jug

This week there is a strange but very popular deck named Murloc Paladin for which we do not want to kill its initial minions. So we add these 7 cards:

• Acupuncture, Dreamsplanner Zephrys, Kaldorei Priestess, Observer of Mysteries

The final four cards for overcoming Murloc Paladin are not settled. They are most often Overzealous Healer and Bitterbloom Knight.  But perhaps more direct damage such as Light of the New Moon x1, Tyrande, and Void Shard x2 would work better?  Or perhaps I only think that because I have yet to draw Menagerie Jug when it was useful?

When not focused on Murloc Paladin we instead add these 9 cards:

• Ship's Chirurgeon, Hot Coals x1, Workhorse, Blob of Tar, Resuscitate

Then if we are focusing on overcoming aggro more generally as the final 2 cards we use Kaldorei Priestess.  Otherwise we focus on dealing with value/control and as the final 2 cards use Bitterbloom Knight.

 

My kids and I have started enjoying BTD6 together.

I am experimenting with the upgrade Come On Everybody! so here are my notes about Primary towers.

Dart Monkey
0-2-5 costs 31K good for straightaways (target last) and ceramics

Boomerang Monkey
2-5-0 costs 45K good for midgame [cannot hit camo or lead]
one 2-0-4 set to strong for MOAB Press (from Boomerang 0-0-4)

Bomb Shooter
1-3-0 costs 3K good for blimps [need L4 for black, cannot hit camo]

Tack Shooter
?-4-0 costs 4K good for midgame [cannot hit camo or lead]
?-5-0 costs 20K good for late game especially with Pat Fusty [cannot hit camo]

Ice Monkey
one 4-1-0 costs 5K removes camo and regrow
0-1-? costs 3K, 5K, or 37K, get icicles by round 63 [cannot hit camo or lead]

Glue Gunner
0-?-3 costs 4K+ and made affordable by top path Village, combo with MOAB Press (from Boomerang 0-0-4) or with Bloon Sabotage (from Ninja 0-2-0)

Mix Tape

My generation made mix tapes for friends.  It is something my kids won't do.

How should you arrange 60 or 90 minutes of your favorite music?  What shared memories did you and the friend have with the songs, or with their topics?  What story would the songs tell?

I made my best mix tape during my college years.  The titles of the songs told a story.  Perhaps I was proposing to a girl I loved.  I also made a copy for myself, of course.

Born at the right time, summertime, it's not easy being green: land of confusion, time, and tide.  Mad about you, gypsy.  Right by your side life is a carnival, closer to fine.  Silent night, we close our eyes.  When you awake we'll be together.  Stand by me time after time; then you can tell me goodbye.

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I thought about that mix tape yesterday because my younger son wants to play his favorite song repeatedly as background music while he plays Deeprock Galactic with his brother.  He even found it on a one-hour loop, to maximize his happiness (and his brother's frustration).

So I made my kids a Dad's Playlist today.  I left out quite a few sentimentally significant songs in an effort to limit the playlist to one song by each artist.  I put my son's song first, so he would not have to wait for it, even though it is new to me.  Hopefully having a wider variety of fun and catchy songs will bring them peace.