Gen Con 2010 Report

The semester is over, which means I have a chance to write a post-Gen Con report.

The Good

Attendance appeared to be up, from the crowds I saw. All of the publisher reports that I have read said that sales were good, and the con officially broke the 30,000 attendees mark. Very good news, indeed.

I was able to see just about everything that I wanted to and pick up the items I was most interested in. I also found a few surprises.

My main goal was to get a copy of Shadow, Sword & Spell at the show. Their booth was my first stop, and I had my copy signed by one of the authors. They took my name and email address and I got the PDF of the book by email two days later. $12 for print and PDF -- bonus! Rogue Games is building more online support for the game and really pushing customer service.

I found a copy of Villainy Amok for half-price at Chimera Hobby Shop's booth. This is Hero Games' sourcebook of seven classic superhero scenarios, packed with dozens of variations on each. I've wanted this book for quite a while. The plots and story ideas can be lifted and dropped into almost any genre of RPG. I've had a certain one of these in mind since the start of the Freeport campaign, so the book will be used!

BoardGameGeek wins the Diana Jones Award! Very well-deserved!

In all my years of gaming, I've never owned any Gamescience dice. I could hardly call myself a goober without owning some of Col. Zocchi's precision-edge dice. I found a good deal on one of their "Color Explosion" sets. It includes 12 different dice -- translucent, opaque, glow-in-the-dark, all different colors and sizes -- the usual seven, plus some odd ones, including a d20 marked 1-10 twice and a d16. I think these are overstock and/or seconds. Two of the colors are discontinued, and a couple have gouges where the usual mold flash would be. They will all need some sanding, but it's still a good deal for $6.

The booth that is alternately labeled "Adventure Gaming Retail" and "Cthulhiana Corner", Steve Jackson Games and Atlas Games' Gen Con presence, had all of the usual good stuff. DV and I think that they moved last year's regular-priced GURPS books into the 3-For-$10 section this year. It sure seemed that way to us. We went in together on the 3-For-$10 deal and I walked away with GURPS 3rd. Ed. Compendium II and Suppressed Transmission 2, two more books I've wanted for a long time.

On Sunday we finally got to the Paizo booth, and I looked around for any of the Planet Stories series. The selection was sparse (they needed the room for Pathfinder, of course), with the latest in the series and...several copies of Robert E. Howard's Almuric, one of the first books they published. I hadn't picked it up yet (I'm far behind), so now, finally, I have a reading copy of this novel. And I love that cover.

As I mentioned to D., based on the booths at the show and the attendees in costume, I'm calling it: Steampunk is the new Goth. Not that I mind...

The Bad

Another book on my list was Hamlet's Hit Points, Robin Laws' new book on story beat analysis in RPGs, using the plots of Hamlet, Dr. No and Casablanca. I saw it on the table at Adventure Gaming Retail once, Friday afternoon, but then copies were scarce. I missed out on the book and getting it signed. Next year...

When I got back home, I discovered that I didn't get the commemorative d6 in the free swag bag. DVO and Mrs. Kaiju didn't get one either. It appears to have been a widespread problem. I emailed Crystal Caste but they were completely out. Not a big thing, but I do like collecting the dice.

White Wolf's "booth". Really?

It wasn't until after I already purchased Villainy Amok that I spotted it on Chimera's Buy-One-Get-Three-Free shelf, along with various Freeport books that I could have used and the reprint Judges Guild d20 books.

I spent more on food than on gaming goodies, and that includes Mrs. Kaiju's blue anime wig.

I don't mind the cos-players, the more con attendees the better -- they are helping to subsidize the stuff that I like. However, I don't know if it's necessary to wear a costume that takes up a lot of space for the entire weekend. I usually enjoy walking through the con center, but this is the first time I found myself walking outside so that I could move from one end to the other at a standard walking pace.

Speaking of space... the convention center expansion looks nearly finished. This is going into the area where the RCA Dome sat. I'm hoping that having this extra floorspace available will help to spread out the con in a more reasonable way. Many of the events have been farmed out to the hotels. It would be nice to have more of the con held under the convention center roof, yet also giving us room for everyone and their massive cos-play props.

Soon, some photos.

Gen Con wrap-up soon

Busy, busy... Might be a couple of days before my comments on this year's show. I'm also looking at some changes using Blogger Template Designer.

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most, part 3

Part 3 of the series...

Castle Ravenloft.

Wil Wheaton will be there, speaking and selling chapbooks of gaming stories. As a fellow member of the "video game/D&D/BBS/Star Wars figures generation", I enjoy reading what he has to say. I'm sorry, J. and G.!

FFG has a Space Hulk co-op/solitaire card game on the way. Looks like fun!

Alderac has a new version of the alternate history World War II game Dust: Tactics that looks like a hybrid board/miniatures game. I'm also interested in their Cadwallon boardgame City of Thieves.

The Cubicle 7 booth will have a wide variety of titles, including the acclaimed ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. I'm curious about it because Steve Kenson, the "mastermind" behind Mutants & Masterminds, also worked on this. I'm hoping they will also have a copy of Barbarians of Lemuria for me to read through.

Green Ronin will have DC Adventures and some unspecified surprises for their 10th anniversary.

There are at least a dozen more. I'm sure there will be plenty of surprising discoveries to be found. I love finding something great that I wasn't expecting.

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most, part 2

Part 2 of my look at new games and other favorites at Gen Con:

Volume 2 of Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs should be available at the show through Studio2 Publishing.

Two books of advice on playing and gamemastering that I've been thinking about picking up for a while: Graham Walmsley's Play Unsafe, and John Wick's Play Dirty.

Tabletop Adventures will have the print edition of the "White Box" Swords & Wizardry rules, and limited print copies of the One Page Dungeon Codex.

Chimera Hobby Shop -- this is the booth that has boxes of dirt-cheap CCGs, discounted miniatures, and row after row of RPG books at 50% off cover.

More tomorrow!

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most

Gen Con begins this Thursday...technically -- the unofficial festivities have spilled over into Wednesday in recent years. For me, Gen Con begins Friday morning, when our caravan pulls into town. Really, though, the Gen Con season starts when the buzz for new products begins, when guests and events are announced, and the anticipation starts to build. Two months ago, maybe? I'm already in the Gen Con state of mind.

The title of this post might be misleading. What I look forward to most is the camaraderie, the fun, the shared stories and the shared history. Gen Con is the place where the members of Geek Nation can assemble and wave their freak flag high, for four days at least.

The shared history is particularly important for me. It's a continuous living connection to the past of our strange and wondrous hobby. Stop in and watch the Gen Con Auction for a history lesson, not only from viewing the vintage items but listening to the matching stories from the auctioneers.

More Gen Con nostalgia later. This posting is really about what games, products, and general silliness I'm most looking forward to this year. I was inspired by Zach Houghton's Gen Con vendor previews over on RPGBlog2, which helped me look at the company sites for several interesting new products, along with my notekeeping and bookmarking for the past few weeks as the announcements and previews filtered out. Another important resource is the 2010 Exhibitor Website Directory over at Livingdice.com.

First of all, Eden Studios will be at the show. Buffy, Angel, zombies... go to their booth and buy stuff!

Fireside Games will have scratch-and-dent copies of their popular co-op boardgame Castle Panic for only $20.

The main book I'm looking for this year is Shadow, Sword & Spell from Rogue Games. From what I've read about it (A Primer, interview), it appears to be a new perspective take on old-school pulp fantasy. By "pulp", I mean The Big Three of Weird Tales: Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith. This might be the rules I've been looking for to run a Conan RPG.

When you walk the the length of the dealers' room twice and then drag your backpack to the next game, you're going to be thirsty. Grab a Rootjack, the pirate energy drink. It prevents scurvy!

And after walking all day, hit the Geeky Clean booth for soap with a d20 inside.

Speakin' o' pirates, matey... Scotty's Alehouse is having a Pirate Gatherin' on Saturday night. I've never been there, but from what I've read this year it sounds like they are getting into the spirit of the con as much or more than even The Ram. While supplies last, Scotty's is handing out one of four commemorative dice with the purchase of a gaming-themed entree. Freeport Sea Biscuits and Gravy?!

So much for the silliness. Tomorrow I'll write more about the books and products I believe will be the highlights of the show for me.

Friday Links

One awesomely-cool website: http://www.scifiairshow.com/

...and three super-creepy robot videos:

BigDog New Improved 2008 Version

LittleDog at MIT

Boston Dynamics BigDog Fort Benning Report, Feb. 2009

Free RPG Day 2010 this Saturday

A quick reminder that this Saturday is Free RPG Day, an industry-wide event for local game stores to get players to stop in -- hopefully new players, or regulars playing a new game.

Some highlights this year include the 40K Deathwatch RPG quickstart adventure, a Cthulhu scenario from Goodman Games, the quickstart for Prime Directive (the Star Fleet Battles RPG), and a Dark Sun 4e module.

You can find participating retailers here. Go to your local shop and try something new!

Keyboards for Rock Band 3

After the teasing hint at the end of the Green Day Rock Band demo, there has been wild speculation about the possibility of a keyboard added to Rock Band 3. Now with the story (video) in USA Today this morning, it's official.

This is great, exciting news. The new gameplay elements are neat, but the keyboard opens up the possibility for songs by The Doors ("Break on Through" is in the demo video), Journey, Boston, Billy Preston, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby (OK, maybe I'm dreaming here) and other synthesizer/organ/piano-heavy rock. How about Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression"? Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets"? Van Halen's "Jump"? (a song that could do for RB3 what "You Really Got Me" did for Guitar Hero)

Eventually, Harmonix needs to review some past content and update it for the keyboard controller, such as Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time" from RB1.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of 80's synth-pop like this:

The end of The Cimmerian

At the end of May, an announcement was made that The Cimmerian blog would be coming to an end on June 11th. This coincides with the Robert E. Howard Days celebration in Cross Plains, Texas this weekend.

For several years now, The Cimmerian Blog has been the main informational site for Howard fans, and so much more. As the subtitle says, a website for "...the best in heroic fantasy, horror and historical adventure." From 2004 to 2008, The Cimmerian was the premier fanzine pro-zine in the Howard community. The blog was a great companion to it, and when the print edition ceased publication the blog continued the tradition.

You can read two good (short) histories of TC and its place in Howard fandom at the Two-Gun Raconteur blog and at the REH United Press Association blog.

Besides the high level of quality inherent in the articles posted there, what I'll miss most is having just one place to go for news. It appears that the articles will be archived at the website of the editor, so past articles won't completely disappear. Any new articles from the team of contributors will be spread among a half-dozen blogs and forums.

I'm also disappointed that I never picked up any print issues of TC. Yet another reason to purchase collectibles and rarities when you have the chance...

'Empire' at 30

Last Friday, May 21st, was the 30th anniversary of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. There have been several tributes posted in various places, including this look at a first draft of the script.

Last week Mrs. Kaiju and I had discussed that we should watch Empire sometime over the weekend to mark the occasion. We spun the disc on Sunday night. I'm sure everyone in our generation remembers what it was like to see Empire for the first time, with that surprise double cliffhanger ending. We were very pleased at how well the movie holds up after all these years. It makes the problems with the prequels that much more irritating.

I recommend that you check out this link to the trailer for the original 1950 version of the film. Thanks to Viking Moose and others at Urkobold for being the first place that I saw this.

Favorite Music Friday: "Every Breath You Take"

In this edition of "Favorite Music Friday", I want to spotlight one of the great songs of the '80s. This is a song that I wanted to talk about eventually, but the subject came up recently. Two weeks ago, in fact, when we were talking about The Police before the LV game.

I have many favorites, whether it's music, or books, or movies, but I haven't made the conscious decision to list any of them in order, as a "top ten" or "best of", or sort them out in that way. There are usually so many greats to choose from that it's difficult for me to narrow it down. At some point I'll post about my favorite movie, The Maltese Falcon, but that list gets scattered after #1.

One that I'm sure of: "Every Breath You Take" is my choice for the Best Pop Song of All Time.

I know, it's a song about a stalker. Sting himself has said that it's "very sinister and ugly". I understand that. However, musically, it's beautiful. The video is elegant in its simplicity.

Having said that, I actually like my runner-up choice better: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". The only reason "Every Breath You Take" edges it out is because it was a bigger commercial hit.

As a film buff, I love that it's obviously shot using film. There's speckles and pops, and a film tear at 0:15 seconds into the video:

At the first listen, it's deceptively simple. In the video the band does a silly dance in the recording studio. But when you really listen (headphones, not earbuds), there's a great deal going on in the song -- the layers, the changes. What I mentioned before, about the music telling a story, is found here. It really brings up a host of emotions for me.

I wanted to include the "official" MTV versions of these videos, but their player is very jerky and stops to re-buffer. Here are the links; you may have better luck:

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/18169/every-breath-you-take.jhtml#artist=1143

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/9671/every-little-thing-she-does-is-magic.jhtml#artist=1143

Frank Frazetta, RIP

One of those things that you expect, sooner or later, especially after his recent bouts of illnesses. But when it happens, it's still a shock and a loss.

We saw the news late Monday night that Frank Frazetta had passed away earlier that day from a stroke. He had a history of strokes and had been in poor health the past few years, particularly with the death of his wife Ellie last year.

I'm glad that his children resolved their differences last month -- deciding to work together to promote their father's work and legacy -- after the unpleasantness between them following Ellie's passing.

This isn't meant to be an obit -- there are plenty of official stories out on the 'net, written better that I could do it -- at the Washington Post, Deadline, the LA Times and the New York Times. But I would be remiss if I didn't say a few words about an artist who has had such a profound effect on my own imagination and ideas about art in general.

I can't pinpoint exactly my first encounter with Frazetta's work. I've always been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, for as long as I can remember. I do have the memory of seeing the Lancer (and later Ace) Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks with Frazetta covers in bookstores, especially the prominent display in the Waldenbooks upstairs at Scottsdale Mall. I also remember seeing samples from, and the ads for, the Ballantine Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta books in Starlog Magazine in the early '80s.

Later, after more time and reading, I learned more about his extent of his work -- not just cover paintings but pencil drawings, ink work, comic book art, movie posters and album covers... on and on.

What I think makes his work so powerful and popular is how dynamic it is, how much is going on in that snapshot of time. In some works, we see the moment before something happens. In others, it's the aftermath. But in all of them, there's the quality and artistry -- visceral, raw energy, in every brushstroke or line of ink. Pure magic.

More DVD News

More recent news:

Sony will release the Blu-ray edition of Jason and the Argonauts, the 1963 epic from stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen, on July 6th. Jason is probably his best work, where he's at the top of his game. An interview with Harryhausen by genre director John Landis is included from the DVD, and additionally the Harryhausen Legacy featurette will be on the Blu-ray.

The trailer commentary site Trailers From Hell has released a DVD of their best trailer videos. Speaking of John Landis, he provides commentary on four of the trailers.

Next week, the original Gamera will be released on DVD. This will be the first unedited, subtitled release of the film in the U.S.

The Criterion Collection has a free channel of their films on Hulu.com. They released the first six Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman films on Hulu in February, and last month twelve more were posted, including the rare 14th film, Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, as yet unreleased on DVD.

Hammer DVD and merchandise news

There was much news this past week on the pop culture front. Most of the items I read about deserve their own posts (and I'll increase my posting count that way!).

Two of the really exciting items concern Hammer Studios. Titan Books has already released two new books about the history of the studio, and their merchandise unit has signed a deal to release Hammer-related items including t-shirts, starting later this year.

Even better, thanks to Synapse Films we'll soon be getting the remainder of the Karnstein Trilogy on DVD.

Fangoria Magazine is reporting that Synapse has picked up the rights to several Hammer titles -- Vampire Circus, Twins of Evil, Hands of the Ripper, and the 13-episode TV series Hammer House of Horror. House will be available in a DVD boxed set, and new high-definition transfers of the films will be released on DVD and possibly Blu-ray.

Twins of Evil completes the Karnstein Trilogy on DVD, with the previous releases of Lust for a Vampire by Anchor Bay, and The Vampire Lovers (print restoration article, possibly NSFW) in MGM's Midnite Movies series. Vampire Circus is a title that has been sought-after for years on DVD, and is considered a "fourth" movie in the Trilogy.

I'll update the R1 Hammer DVD list when actual release dates are officially announced. While we're waiting for that, check out my other Hammer posts and take a look at the site for the terrific fanzine Little Shoppe of Horrors. The articles in LSoH are excellent but the Bruce Timm covers are a great bonus.

More Lulu discount codes

Two more discount codes for Lulu are circulating right now. Use coupon code LULUMAIL305 at checkout and receive $3.99 towards your final shipping cost. This amount is the US mail cost for a single book order. The expiration date listed in the email notice is midnight on May 1st.

The second code is SHOWERS (April showers, May flowers?), which gives you 10% off your total purchase. This one may only be good until April 30th.

See my posting here about book and game suggestions from Lulu.

"So, tell us, Baron..."

"...of the time you crossed the Thames without the assistance of a bridge, ship, boat, or balloon..."

One of the ideas/goals/plans that has been in the back of my mind for a while (in this case, since the first edition of the game was published), has been to get some people together to play The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

A group of like-minded, gregarious and lively goobers get together for a grand and hearty meal, then as after-dinner drinks are dispensed, settling in for fun storytelling and challenges in the outrageous tradition of the Baron himself.

To evoke the correct atmosphere, I like to imagine the setting as a fine wood-paneled banquet room, around a heavy wood table, lit by candelabras or oil lamps. Cheers!

Wizards of the Coast embraces their heritage

Many product announcements came out of last week's GAMA Trade Show. The ones that I'm most excited about were from, surprisingly, Wizards of the Coast. Based on some of their products announced for this year I think they're starting to understand the hook of nostalgia and the surging OSR movement.

September sees the release of another D&D 4th ed. starter set, but this one looks like a clone of the iconic '80s "Red Box" Basic Set. If this turns out the way I imagine, I'm all over it.

Castle Ravenloft, a co-op adventure board game, is out for Gen Con. They should have done this long ago.

Gamma World returns in a series of books using the 4e rules. I didn't think I would see that again.

XDM: X-treme Dungeon Mastery

At last year's Gen Con, while wandering the Exhibit Hall, I walked by the Hickmans' booth where XDM was being offered for sale. I had read a little about it, not much, although the impression I had was that it was a book about playing RPGs -- d20/OGL specifically -- in some sort of "extreme" way, with lots of action, stunts, and phat lootz.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, when I was checking the new reviews on rpg.net. One of the day's reviews was this review of XDM, focusing on the rules system. I hadn't thought much about the book or read anything else about it since Gen Con, but I was struck by the tag line for the review: "The best thing to happen to RPGs since the 20 sided die. Seriously." With such a bold statement, I just had to read what it was about.

The book itself does appear to be more about tips and tricks to use with your game. The rules system included, the subject of this particular review, is very simple. The player tells the GM what he or she wants to do, the GM determines a target number based on the difficulty of the action and the character's skill, and the player rolls the dice. It seems to be akin to indie-style rules-light games of high-trust shared narrative control, such as Wushu. The magic system works the same way -- Describe the effect, calculate a target number, and roll.

Seems like a lot of fun, and a style similar to the games our group has been playing lately. I was intrigued by the review, and now I'm curious to read the book itself.

Favorite Music Friday: "Come Dancing"

This is a special Sunday edition of "Favorite Music Friday." I had planned to spotlight this song eventually, but I was reminded of it last night.

"Come Dancing" is among my favorite songs of the 80s, and my favorite song by The Kinks.

Even though there is a touch of sad nostalgia in it, which could be read as a corresponding "loss of innocence", I don't see it as sad and melancholy. Overall there's a feeling of optimism in the song; looking back at past good times, but also a celebration of those days and the present, from the organ notes at the beginning to the brass section that cranks up near the end. I love the sound of an organ and brass instruments in rock songs.

Being a fan of all things British, too, I love this look at a slice of post-war life in England. The song takes on added meaning when you find out that there was a ballroom dancing competition show on the BBC named "Come Dancing" -- I didn't know until now.

When Mrs. Kaiju and I were at Borders yesterday, I flipped though an new book by the Onion A/V Club titled Inventory, a book of pop-culture lists. I was pleased to see that they recognized "Come Dancing" in their list of "Songs That Work As Short Stories". This will be a topic I come back to, but I love songs that tell a story, whether that's literally through the lyrics, or sonically when the actual music takes you on a journey.

Conan The Destroyer: A Re-Appraisal

(One of those draft posts I've been meaning to publish for months...)

Several months ago, I had the chance to watch Conan the Destroyer again for the first time in quite a while. For years this film had the reputation of being "The D&D Movie". The title fits -- a motley group of adventurers are brought together for an epic journey...under false pretenses and with a stinging betrayal.

I know, I know, it's not Shakespeare. It's not even proper Howard, but it's fun. And it's all we had in 1984.

Even though it's less about Howard's Conan than even the first movie, there are still many things to like about it. Roy Thomas's involvement with the original story lead to the comic-book feel of the movie, even if he was disappointed with the final product. I'm not sure what to make of Richard Fleischer's work on the movie. He directed such great films as Tora! Tora! Tora!, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Soylent Green. I think more of the blame should go to the script.

One of my biggest disappointments with the movie is the score. Surprisingly, because the composer, Basil Poledouris, created one of the all-time best motion picture scores for the first Conan film. Some of those same cues are reused here, and the new music is rather pedestrian.

Despite its flaws as a whole, there are so many things to like about the movie. During this last viewing, I made some notes on the bits that I love, and the classic fantasy tropes that are used through the film:

• A thief counting his coins
• Soldiers "sneaking" up on our hero
• A leaping backstab
• Conan punches-out a horse, Mongo-style
• A sorceress-queen who hires our hero for a quest
• A fortress-city on a mountain
• Evil-looking warlocks reading golden tablets
• "Dagoth, the Dreaming God"
• The Scrolls of Skelos
• A prophecy of a virgin sacrifice
• The threat of death/treachery
• Rows of giant statues
• The Queen's Guard following behind
• Cannibal tribesmen
• Decapitations
• Gladiator pit fights
• A crystal castle on a misty mountain lake
• A wizard transforms into a bird of smoke
• An impenetrable door with the only entrance being underwater
• An enormous spiral stone staircase (this and the underwater entrance are my favorite scenes in the movie)
• A hall of mirrors
• "Out!!"
• A sword fight on horseback
• An ancient tomb in the desert (this entire sequence is another great scene)
• Akiro nonchalantly lighting a torch with magic
• Zula afraid of...a rat
• Some really brutal swordplay against hordes of bad guys
• A magical wizard duel
• A secret entrance to the city behind a waterfall (my second favorite scene)
• An arcane magical ritual
• Sneaking in to stop the ritual
• A giant Cthulhu Mythos beast (designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who won Oscars for E.T, Alien, and King Kong)
• Conan tearing the magic artifact horn out of the monster's head and throwing it away with a priceless superstitious look
• The new queen handing out rewards to the group

Behind my GM screen

After the Freeport game last week, I cleaned up the table a bit and took some photos of my area. I was inspired by this great post on Gnome Stew from two weeks ago, and I thought I would take some time to point out how I set up my own gaming tools. I fell into the routine of setting up this way after the first few sessions. It helps me feel prepared by having everything in its place.

Going from left to right:

• The big stack of sourcebooks (more on that later).
• A small dry-erase board. Useful for quick maps, sketches, or combat stats.
• The stack of initiative cards.
• My hand-drawn map of the Southern Ocean (nice quality version coming soon...).
• A folder with my NPC name/place lists, fan-produced True20 cheat sheets and panels for the Narrator's Screen of Doom.
• A clock.
• A pile for the players: printed copies of the rulebook and various Companions, player cheat sheets, and the Pocket Player's Guide.
• My planning notebook: a graph-paper-lined legal pad where I write all of the prep for upcoming sessions. You would also find my version of the triad sheet for the session in here.
• A fistful of d20s.
• My session notebook: a yellow lined legal pad where I record the events of the current session. I also record combat information and any other during-the-session notes here.

On the table proper is my Chessex mat, minis-scale ship plans, scratch pads and pencils. Not seen in this picture is my MP3 player and portable speaker, both strapped under the table, randomly shuffling pirate-themed soundtrack music.

You'll notice that, despite the title of this post, there isn't a GM screen on the table. I've been running screenless for some time -- possibly since the zombie/Cthulhu game in 2000? -- after seeing how it has worked for Edige. I've found that, for me, a screen creates an artificial psychological barrier between me and the other players. I love the idea of a screen, and I like having all the necessary charts in one easy-to-use place. I don't want to create the illusion of secrecy, or the impression of GM tyranny that a screen implied in the days of D&D Past. If I use one now, it would be off to one side and not directly in front of me.

The big stack of Freeport sourcebooks... not including Broadsides! and Corsair.

Odd uses for the Trek Original Series font

Typography is an important component of written communication, yet sometimes underrated by the public at large. The content of the message is paramount, of course, but the right font can add so much.

Conversely, a poor choice of font can disrupt the intention of the message, either conveying an impression other than intended or worse, laughter and ridicule -- the over-use and misuse of Comic Sans, for example.

Some fonts are iconic. These fonts are so tied to their original or most well-known use that if one of these typefaces is used for another purpose, the effect is jarring. We wonder why it is being used for this purpose, why did someone choose this font and not another.

For me (and I'd assume many others), the typeface used for the titles of the original Star Trek TV show fit in that iconic category. The oblique tilt, the swoop of certain parts of letters, and the futuristic vibe are very strong. There doesn't appear to have been a name given to it at the time, and it wasn't seen elsewhere until years later when an official licensed font pack for PCs was released. Numerous share/freeware imitations have also appeared.

For whatever reason, in the past year I've seen many examples of the Original Series font popping up, particularly in the publishing world. I'm not sure why. I don't believe it has to do with the new movie; perhaps there's a feeling among graphic designers that it no longer holds that iconic status with new media consumers.

Here are a few examples. They just don't seem right to me.

Kobold Quarterly #10 PDF for free!

I just saw the posting at RPGBlog2 about this great deal -- download a free copy of Kobold Quarterly #10 in PDF format for free until January 31st.

I haven't looked at any copies of KQ yet, although I've wanted to pick one up since it started publication. I miss Dragon Magazine, believing that a major print magazine focused on RPGs is important. Between this copy and the free issue #11 as part of the Gamers Helping Haiti bundle, I'll have good samples to try.

Happy Birthday, Bob Howard!

Today marks the 104th anniversary of the birth of ol' Two-Gun, and it's customary to raise a toast to his shade and read a favorite story. Mrs. Kaiju has a performance with the band this evening, but when we get back I'll curl up with a book and drift off to slumberland (not The Dreamlands) with the roar of battle ringing in my imagination.

 

http://www.rehupa.com/?p=1320

 

http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=10541

 

 

Gamers Helping Haiti

I've had to stop watching the coverage because of the sheer scale of it. It seems very daunting for someone so far away to do something to help.

DrivethruRPG/RPGnow has set up links for $5 and $10 donations, but the $20 donation bundle offer is just incredible. Partnering with many of the small-press publishers that sell through the site, DTRPG is offering $1,400 in PDF ebooks with a $20 donation. They email a coupon code that allows a customer to then load all of the listed items into a shopping cart for free.

The titles in this free offer are not the dregs of the site, by any means: BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes, Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons 1, Castlemourn Campaign Setting, Chronica Feudalis, Dragonshire: City Interiors and City Ruins, Damnation Decade, Hollow Earth Expedition Earth Drill, Kobold Quarterly 11, Mars: Savage Worlds Edition, Roma Imperious, Squirrel Attack! Operation: Get Mr. Jones’ Nuts, Thrilling Tales (2nd ed., Savage Worlds), 3:16, Trail of Cthulhu Player’s Guide, Serenity, several items from WorldWorksGames... absolutely incredible. The donations go to Doctors Without Borders. Thanks to Blink for pointing this out today.

A great deconstruction of The Phantom Menace

If you haven't watched this already, take a look at this seven-part, 70 minute video review and breakdown of The Phantom Menace. Despite the crazy voice-over and the crude humor (some parts NSFW), there are some genuinely insightful bits of commentary and critique in this video series.

Before watching this, I had my own (mixed) feelings about Episode I. I enjoyed it in the theater, but I found disappointment on subsequent viewings, although it's not as bad as Attack of the Clones. I liked the opening scene with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon on the Trade Federation ship, the sneaking into the Palace on Naboo, and I enjoyed the pod race scene. After years of waiting for another Star Wars movie, I really wanted to see a film which showed the Jedi at the height of their power, what Obi-Wan called "a more civilized age" in the original film. I wasn't sure if that's the movie that we got.

This video critique nails most of the obvious points, but it also made me rethink some of the scenes and plot issues that I had previously glossed over. It's worth the hour of your time to view these videos. The filmmaker also has video reviews for some the the Next Generation movies and it appears that he's started a series on Attack of the Clones. Watch these and think about what could have been...

First post of the New Year

It only took twelve days, but here's the first posting of the New Year.

I had big hopes for the Christmas vacation: getting things done around the house, reading, watching DVDs, catching up on reading blog and forum posts I missed, posting here more... but other plans happened, especially with the new kitten. It seems that whenever one has free time, other commitments expand to fill up that time.

So, now it's back into a new semester and other real-life commitments, but I think it will be good. I don't make New Year's resolutions; however, I have a few hopes for this year: reading more books, watching more movies, posting to the blog more often (and I have several draft posts yet to publish), playing more games, and in general having more fun.

Lulu Coupon Codes for the Holidays

Two coupon codes for your print-on-demand needs this season:

HOHOHO 20% off (good until Dec. 31st)

HUMBUG 10% off (I'm not sure when this one expires)

If there is something you've wanted from Lulu, here are great incentives to order. I found the first code on The Cimmerian, where they list several available pulp- and weird-fiction items including Dan Clore's The Unspeakable and Others, The Selected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, and Dennis McHaney's Robert E. Howard, World's Greatest Pulpster.

Those aren't North Pole elves.

In the gaming realm, take a look at Fight On! Magazine, Swords & Wizardry and Knockspell Magazine, Spellcraft & Swordplay, and Labyrinth Lord or Mutant Future.

The Warner DVD Archive

Another bit of DVD release news that I've neglected to mention is the Warner Archive. In order to get older, lesser-known catalog titles out on DVD, Warner is releasing on-demand discs in waves. This started in March.

There have been issues with the quality of some transfers -- in some cases, using older video masters rather than a new cleaned-up transfer. Also, the price ($14-19.99) can be a bit steep for a burned disc when compared to recent prices for factory-pressed DVD releases.

Those problems aside, there have been some gems released so far, and plenty more to come. The initial wave has a few titles I had been waiting for: Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, Captain Sindbad starring Guy Williams, and ... Doc Savage! Most of the Archive discs are movie-only, but Doc Savage has the theatrical trailer and, from what I've read, the feature print is in decent shape.

A recent wave of Archive releases included two TV pilots/movies produced by Gene Roddenberry in the early '70s -- Genesis II and Planet Earth. When Genesis II wasn't purchased by CBS, GR went back and reworked it into what became Planet Earth. Video clips and quick background here, disc reviews and production history found here. I remember seeing both of these on TV a couple of times in the early eighties, probably on WFLD-32.

If you decide to purchase any of the Warner Archive titles, take a look at this forum posting for a 20%-off coupon code and news of a contest.

There's some talk about Sony/MGM and Fox starting their own disc-on-demand services for their back catalog. I'd welcome that; there are plenty of great titles owned by each and deserving of a release. Maybe that would be a viable way for MGM to continue the fantastic Midnite Movies line.

This is a fantastic album, man...turn it up!

Here is a special "Favorite Music Friday" post, Sunday Night Edition. Last night after SNL, I watched a Time-Life infomercial for their new '70s soul music collection. TL has put out some great collections in recent years. I bought Mrs. Kaiju their "Sounds of the Eighties" set a few years ago, and I have my eye on the Classic Soft Rock set (I have weakness for '70s soft rock...Shhh, don't tell anyone).

The infomercial last night had clips from groups such as The Chi-Lites and The Stylistics. It sparked a memory of another music compilation from years ago. Anyone who watched late-night TV in the mid-eighties should remember this. I remembered the tag line since we used it very often back then, but I had forgotten the album title. But with a little Google-Fu, I found it:



And as long as we're going back to the days of TV-offer-only compilation albums, I have to include this for Edige:



There's a shorter version here with the track list. This one has the production company's lead-in.

I need to look through my dozens of off-air recorded VHS tapes. I'm sure I have some gems like these that should be posted on the interwebs for posterity...and laughs.

Player-generated premises

Another posting that's been in the back of my mind for a while... two weeks ago, Robin Laws posted on his Livejournal about player-generated premises that he's using in his house 4e game. These are plot hooks for each character but the interesting part for me was the way they should be written: in the style of a TV Guide episode listing. These find their way into the game in a random order during play.

When I read the posting, it also reminded me of the pulp novel titles and cover blurbs that are written as part of character creation in Spirit of the Century, including the writing of stories for other PCs.

I'm all for ideas that make RPGs seem more like a cinematic experience. That's one of my preferred styles. I also like sharing the story creation with the rest of the group. This is a great idea that I'd like to try someday.

Happy Halloween!

I'll have pictures of our costumes tomorrow, but before the end of the day I wanted to post a link to this article about Halloween music at Wired. Good stuff on the list, but there's a great playlist posted in the comments section.

I think I like KC and the Sunshine Band's original version of "I'm Your Boogie Man" more than White Zombie's version. Isn't that strange? The video is terrific, though.

"Librarians" fired over League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Last week, according to ICV2, two library employees were fired for taking a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen off a "hold" for an 11-year old girl. I don't have all the facts, but much can be inferred by some of the comments made on the two news pages linked in the ICV2 article.

It appears that the two were staff members, not librarians. That seems likely, as I can't imagine a professional librarian doing this.

It made me very happy to see so many of the commenters come to the defense of the First Amendment and the role of libraries in protecting it for everyone.

Some of the commenters suggest that the Black Dossier was the title in question, even though it's the first book of the series that's flipped through in the news video.

That leads me to what I'm most upset about with this story: the lack of attention paid to getting things right in news stories. Are these ladies actually librarians (because the general view is that everyone who works in a library is one)? Did they ask? Did they look at what is actually inside the book in question? Note the headline: "Librarians fired over porn." Someone involved needs to learn something about either graphic novels or pornography.

I've had some experience with TV news reporters covering a story, perhaps even being told in detail about something, then seeing the results that are broadcast missing the point completely. This seems to be the case with the majority of stories dealing with subcultures not entirely in the mainstream, like gamers or Trekkies.

If they can't get simple facts correct in these stories, how much stock can be put into others?

"Recent" DVD releases

It's hard to believe that it's been more than two months since my last update. The time has flown by. Between classwork and house work, it's been busy here.

***

They're going to take away my DVD Guru status because for most of this year I haven't been keeping up with the new releases the way I used to. I check with the usual sources every so often and I've seen some surprises (this post has been in draft stage since June...).

At the end of April this year, the 1971 film Johnny Got His Gun was finally released on DVD, another of my Most Wanted discs. I never saw this on TV and didn't know anything about the movie or the novel. My first introduction to it was the surreal and disturbing scenes included in Metallica's video for "One", as Glenn Erickson mentions in the review linked above.

I had always admired Dalton Trumbo for his stand against the Hollywood blacklist and his work on Spartacus. Seeing the fever-dream images from "One" sparked my curiousity, but the lack of a legal release (or even a readily-available bootleg) had kept me from seeing Johnny Got His Gun all these years. I'm glad someone made the decision to approve this release. I'll have to be in the right mood to watch it, though -- it certainly isn't a feel-good movie.

More DVD news soon!

My 2009 ENnie Awards picks

As I mentioned last post, I voted in this year's ENnies. I don't believe the selection was worse than last year, but there weren't as many products that I'm excited about this year. There are a few gems -- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Mouse Guard, Dark Heresy, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, Starblazer Adventures, and the elephant in the room, D&D 4e.

In my choices, I generally went with the underdog small publishers and avoided the majors. That might include White Wolf, but I've read good things about Hunter: The Vigil. What follows is my semi-informed, obviously biased opinion.

Best Cover Art: Pathfinder #19, because I like Paizo's art in general.

Best Interior Art: Should probably go with Dark Heresy or CthulhuTech, but I chose Mouse Guard instead.

Best Writing: Has to be Baron Munchausen.

Best Production Values: How can I pick? They're all good.

Best Rules: Starblazer Adventures.

Best Monster or Adversary: Witch Hunter: Grand Tome of Adversaries. Love the setting.

Best Setting: Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, because it's sky-pirates!

Best Supplement: Hunter: The Vigil

Best Accessory: Kobold Quarterly, because I miss Dragon Magazine.

Best Miniatures Product: E-Z Terrain: Cliffs and Mountains. Being able to print out cardboard mountains is hard to beat.

Best Regalia: Planet Stories: Infernal Sorceress, just to give both E. Gary and the Planet Stories series some recognition.

Best Free Product: Swords and Wizardry. Wouldn't it be great for totally old-school retro gaming to win an award?

Best Game: Starblazer Adventures, because Dark Heresy is just a bit too "crunchy".

Product of the Year: Mouse Guard, because it looks great, and it could be a terrific cross-over game and accessible to beginners.

Fan Award for Best Publisher: I had to give special recognition to two publishers in particular. Scratch Factory, for their great freebies (especially the True20 items) and Dino Pirates of Ninja Island; and One Monk Miniatures, for the fantastic paper miniatures.

I doubt that I'll make it to the awards ceremony, but I'll be checking all the post-awards commentary.

2009 ENnies Awards voting ends very soon

The voting window closes this Saturday at midnight. If you're interested in the past year's crop of tabletop RPG products, vote for your favorites. As always, the awards are given out at GenCon in two weeks.

I'll vote tomorrow night after the game, and maybe give my comments on the choices in my next post.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

"Plug and Play? Back in my day we had to get a new driver disk in the mail!"

Via GeekDad over on Wired. The comments are funny, too. There are only two items on the list that I'm not familiar with.

I'm sure many of you can come up with your own lists like this...

Dragon Age Warriors

A couple of additions to something I mentioned here before.

Dragon Warriors is a compilation of rules from an English gamebook series released in the '80s. The Free RPG Day quickstart rules are available from the Mongoose site. Looks like old-fashioned gritty RPG play in the grand British tradition. I'm glad they have the Free RPG Day booklet available in PDF. I almost picked it up that day but for my "one item to a customer" choice I opted for the Hollow Earth Expedition quickstart instead.

Dragon Age is a tabletop RPG designed by Chris Pramas, released by Green Ronin and based on the upcoming videogame from the folks who created Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. I have high hopes for the tabletop version. The current plans call for a boxed set release, so it could be a neat and easy entry into the hobby.

I'm disappointed by what I see for the videogame. Since they also did Baldur's Gate, I had hoped this would be another good co-op button-masher RPG that Mrs. Kaiju and I could play together. We've been looking for another one after finishing BG: Dark Alliance and the two Everquest/Norrath games on the PS2. Dragon Age will be a single-player-only third-person RPG.

A quick opinionated note

Davinci's serves what may be the finest pizza I've ever had. Thanks to Kim and Tim for the suggestion!

Busy times

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since I last posted anything. The time has flown by. We've both been super busy around here, and I've been spending most of my free time on class work. By the time I have a moment to post, I don't even want to look at a computer screen.

I've still kept up ideas for things to post about, so I'll get some of those up soon.

Still waiting to see Star Trek for the second time...

Today is the day

Saw the movie at the first showing this evening. Very much worth the wait. Go see it, I don't believe you'll be disappointed. I'll have more to say about it after the second viewing... which may be this weekend.

RPG setting ideas -- Freeport in space

File this under "Why didn't I think of this before?": Freemoon

This would be especially effective if you set it in our own solar system with Pluto standing in as "Freemoon".

The treasures of Uncle 4e

No, this "4e" doesn't refer to D&D 4th Edition. It's one of the nicknames for the late and legendary Forrest J. Ackerman, who in addition to being a writer, agent, and founder of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, was probably the biggest science fiction fan ever.

For many years, he graciously opened his home, the "Ackermansion", to fans from all over the world so they could see one of the largest and most important collections of sci-fi, fantasy and horror memorabilia ever assembled.

Uncle Forry passed away last December, after ill health caused him to move to a smaller home and sell much of his collection to pay medical and other expenses. Today and Friday, the last and most personally significant pieces he had left are up for auction. The full story is at this LA Times blog posting. You can find the auction catalog here.

As one of the commenters said at that blog post, the real tragedy of this is that the collection is being dispersed and not kept intact for future fans to see in a proper museum setting.

And, of course, the man himself isn't here to lead the tour.

RPG blog anthology update

Good news regarding Open Game Table -- Studio 2 Publishing has picked it up for distribution into the book and hobby trade. It should be available in stores in three or four months. Indie Press Revolution should be stocking it also.

Tickets to the big show

Only 15 days until the movie...

Picked up our tickets today for the first showing on Thursday. Many venues are having early screenings, 7 and/or 9pm. It beats having to go at midnight -- much easier for Mrs. Kaiju to go earlier.

It's funny, I've been waiting for this movie for nearly three years. Now that it's almost here, it will be a little sad not to have the anticipation, the snippets of news parceled out, the constant checking for more updates every day. I've been looking forward to this more than any film I can remember. Maybe the closest would be the wait for The Phantom Menace -- and we know how that turned out (I really enjoyed parts of it, but that's a story for another post).

It's difficult to think that any movie can live up to the expectations that we, the fans, have put on it. I'm glad to say that the early reviews have been generally positive, even with some of the industry press and foreign critics, who tend to not be as forgiving. All good signs.

I suppose that I don't need to have movie-anticipation-letdown for very long. Paramount already signed up the creative team to work on the sequel several weeks ago.

Sidebar and link update

This is something I meant to do before our trip a few weeks ago; just a bit of page cleanup and updating broken links. I also added the nifty subscription feed drop-down boxes.

I'm saving the old link information here for myself, but you might find it amusing too.

Magister Ludi Roleplaying Resources - great site but now getting a forbidden URL message.

Random RPG Idea Generator - Off-line? Maybe their URL registry expired.

The Gamestas - Once hosted an amusing gaming podcast. Is it .com now? Answer unclear.

Deeper in the Game - great gaming theory blog, but now gone private? (login required)

Burning Void -- Invalid URL? Their blog hasn't been updated for a while. The articles seem to have migrated to Errant Dreams.

Kaiju Shakedown - Variety Asia Online's movie blog - invalid URL? The main page disappeared too.

Dave Arneson and others, R.I.P.

(Late posting...)

I read on icv2.com and rpgblog2.com that Dave Arneson has passed away. Like most people, I knew about Gary Gygax but it wasn't until several years into my gaming life that I found out about Dave Arneson, which is a shame because he was probably responsible for more of what I enjoyed about Dungeons & Dragons, and role-playing games in general. For a great Arneson story read Ben Robbins' Braunstein article.

The RPG hobby has matured (age, not behavior) enough so that we're starting to lose some of the Founders. The past year has been bad in this respect: Gygax, Erick Wujick, Robin Crossby, Bob Bledsaw, and Keith Herber. In 2007 we lost Chuck Crain.

The best way to remember these giants - besides donating to a favorite charity - is to play. Roll the dice, draw some cards, move some miniatures... have a few laughs with your friends.

In other gaming news, Wizards of the Coast decided to fight PDF piracy by pulling all of their PDF product from legal sale. I should have purchased the Rules Cyclopedia when I had the chance.

Rock Band/Star Trek cross-promotion

Only 35 days until the movie opens...

Paramount has been pulling out all the stops on promoting the movie and the ST franchise in a big way, but here's one of the oddest:

Paramount and MTV Games announced a promotional partnership for the new Star Trek movie and the popular rockin’ videogame Rock Band. The promotion kicks off today and will include music track giveaways, an in-game Star Trek themed battle of the bands and a futuristic avatar contest. You can even win your own personal screening of Star Trek.

I feel that the more promoting they do -- and in many different directions -- the better it is for the movie and creating a bigger fanbase. Get all the details at the official Rock Band Star Trek site, or the summary at Trekmovie.com.

RPG Bloggers Anthology

The release date for Open Game Table: The Anthology of Role-Playing Game Blogs, Volume One was announced last week. I've been eager to see it since the project started rolling on The Core Mechanic. And even more excited because the majority of posts that I nominated made it into the book!

Sample bits, including the table of contents, are available on its Lulu product page, and a preview was just posted to Wired's GeekDad blog.

It might seem odd to collect blog postings into a printed book, but I think it's great. Much of the most creative work going on in the RPG world is happening on blogs -- not just those of the professionals, but normal players, too. It would be a shame for the best of this writing to get lost in the intertubes. Granted, I'm one of those people who love the printed page and the artistry of a well-designed book, so I'm going to enjoy reading these posts in convenient off-line paper format.

Also, since one of the intentions behind the project was to get exposure for the RPG blogging community's work out to those folks who might not know about it (the people who buy their gaming books at the store with no other real contact with the hobby-at-large), I really hope we see this in the distribution chain and on store shelves.

My stack of partially-read books

Recently I've had a few people ask me what I've been reading. I haven't been able to give a straight answer. Much of the reading that I have done lately has been gaming-related, for the Freeport campaign -- rulebooks and sourcebooks -- but I've also tried to read some "real world" books.

We've been so busy and scattered around here lately that I find myself in a very unusual position. I'll pick up a book and start reading, then a real-life problem distracts me and I don't get back to it right away. When I get back to reading, another book attracts my attention and I start on the new one. It seems like a bibliophile's particular form of ADD.

At one point in the last couple of months, I've found myself somewhere in all the following books:

• World War Z by Max Brooks (which is returning back home soon, E.)
• The Nature of "a Work": Implications for the Organization of Knowledge by Richard P. Smiraglia
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
• Flying the Black Flag: A Brief History of Piracy by Alfred S. Bradford
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters by William Tsutsui
• The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange by Mark Barrowcliffe (I plan to review this soon)
• Watchmen trade paperback
• Shadows over Baker Street

That's only a sample of the to-be-read stack. I don't want to think about the DVD pile...

Speaking of Watchmen, here is a comparison between Watchmen and The Incredibles by Baltimore Sun movie critic Michael Sragow.

Goodbye, Circuit City

I'm really disappointed to see the end of Circuit City. It was always nice to know that there was another large electronics retailer out there, for competition and for an alternative. Sometimes they would have a good sale price on an item. We got our TV from CC, and I've purchased computer memory on sale there (Kingston Value RAM that constantly crashes our machines...).

I went to the local CC for the liquidation sale about four weeks ago. Deals were scarce but items were still on most of the shelves. They still had a ton of video games, a decent selection of DVDs and many of their CDs were left. I picked up two '80s CDs for Mrs. Kaiju. It's sad but the sale prices were still a bit steep. That might be a reason why they're going out.

I went again this past Saturday. Now that the discount prices are actually discounts, the shelves are bare. Surprisingly at 50% off, I found a nice collection of DVDs. The video games were wiped out except the strategic stockpile of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ included guitar for XBox 36o.

One thing I was looking for was an HDMI cable. Many of their cables were still left and 60% off list price. Even so, it's very difficult for me to see paying $56 for a store brand HDMI cable. The only worthwhile item I found on this trip was The Dirty Dozen on Blu-ray for $12.

Target had GE branded HDMI cables on sale last week but when I got there, they were sold out. It's OK, the store was substituting a sale price on a 50-foot coax cable instead. A perfect replacement! I went over to Menards and got a six-foot cable for $15.

It's easy to find a cheap price on the internets, but there are some moments when you need an item that day, and that's getting a little more difficult.

Picture meme

The home computer is getting back to normal, so now I can participate in the meme that Edige tagged me with recently.

This photo is from a real estate site that was advertised on a news story I was reading several years ago. I believe it was for a condominium development. Chicago? Miami? I don't remember where.

I took drafting and architecture classes in high school and briefly considered it as a career, so I really enjoy looking at building plans. It really helps, too, being a gamer, as floor plans and diagrams are prevalent in adventure descriptions and sourcebooks. That's why I kept this, thinking it might be useful someday.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to your pictures folder
2. Post the sixth one
3. Tag six people

I'll tag Ms. Kaiju, Viking Moose, Terling, and Miakoda (others have already been tagged...). Who else could I tag?

Computer issues

First post in a while. I had hoped to write more but we've been having problems with our main computer. I'll be spending the weekend re-formatting, re-installing and updating. Good times!

Favorite Music Friday

Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing regular feature here at Kaijuville. Partially to keep track of these things, partially because of feeling nostalgic recently, and inspired by VM's New Wave Saturday posts, I thought I'd offer up a few of my favorite songs along with some commentary about them and what they mean to me. It might be the song itself, or maybe an association with something else at the time. Our opening act is Pat Benatar from 1982:



Great song, but I also like the World War II "commando raid behind enemy lines" storyline. I can't resist any story about sneaking into Nazi castles (see also Where Eagles Dare or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Bonus movie trivia: look for Judge Reinhold at 0:58.

The other thing going on here is something that I'll elaborate on further later, but for now I'll just mention the idea of seeing what people were nostalgic about at that time. I remember a general vibe of '40s and '50s nostalgia in the early '80s, probably started by American Graffiti and Happy Days in the 1970s.

a Hammer Studios DVD update

Besides an initial preview, I neglected to mention anything about the release of several Hammer films last year.

Sony released two sets of four movies that were originally released in the US by Columbia Pictures: Icons of Adventure (The Pirates of Blood River/The Devil-Ship Pirates/The Stranglers of Bombay/The Terror of the Tongs, review) in June and Icons of Horror (The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb/The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll/Scream of Fear/The Gorgon, review) in October.

Under a licensing arrangement with Legend Films, Paramount offered The Man Who Could Cheat Death (review) in October.

Warner Brothers, as part of a Sci-Fi Double Feature series, released Moon Two Zero and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth as a Best Buy exclusive in July, then widely in October. Dinosaurs is the full uncut British version despite the US running time listed on the back.

I've updated the R1 Hammer DVD list.

Cuteness

This is a good time for something happy and cute. Something that my friends Auzumel and Devilbird would call "elemental cuteness". Therefore, I present a photo from a card our dear neighbors sent us -- a kitten wearing a sweater:

It makes me giggle every time I look at it. And that's a very good thing.

More of the usual shenanigans soon.