GenCon: First Posting!OK

OK, so.....I've not been posting from GenCon. Bad me. However, I've been pretty busy and having so fun. So, if you aren't here and were hoping to live vicariously through me I guess that you will just have to deal.

Some highlights thus far:

* Paizo sold out of the Beta version of Pathfinder RPG yesterday. I think that this is a pretty big thing, also considering that Paizo led a sweep of the ENnies last night (most tellingly in the free product category for the Pathfinder RPG dowload).

* Yesterday I picked up what is the new purchase highlight of the con for me: Ewen Cluney's translation of the Maid RPG. Defintiely not for everybody but is a cool game. I will most likely be blogging about it more later.

* The Green Ronin booth rocked. They've got so many cool new things that I just can't decide what I want. Despite the cover art snobs on RPGnet, I think that the Wild Cards looks great. Of course, I am a big fan of the books so I am the target audiences. Saw Steve Kenson, and he is as nice as ever. I also met Chris Pramas in passing for the first time.

All in all, it has been a fun con and I've enjoyed my first GenCon.

Friend's London Trip

An online friend of my went to London recently and posted a diary of her trip. I thought it looked really cool.

Oh, and check out her blog here.

ECC @ Ingenuity Cleveland wrap-up

The Evolution Control Committee show was the highpoint for me of this year's Cleveland Ingenuity festival. I'm happy to see that they linked to my photos on Flickr and mentioned me by name.

A video that I shot (my first with my camera so it is a little shaky) is up on their video page as well.

Ingenuity Fest Cleveland 2008 was a grand success, and The ECC had a couple very successful and well-attended shows there, debuting new lights on the Thimbletron, new music, and more.

Very cool, and thanks for a great set!

The ENnie Awards - Voting Page

The voting is open now for next year's ENnie judges. These folks do a pretty good job of things, and they are a good bunch of people. Dorkland, like last year, supports the judgeship of Zachary Houghton. He's a dedicated gamer, a good guy and takes his judging very seriously.

Welcome to the 2008 ENnies voting booth. On this screen you will see the nominees for the 2009 ENnies Judges. Voting for the 2009 Judge Panel runs August 10th to August 15th.

Before voting, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the applicants. A complete listing of the nominees is available at http://www.ennieawards.com/voting.html

For this ballot, you can vote for a single candidate or all the candidates. If you wish to vote for more than one person order them appropriately by placing your first choice on the first ballot, your second choice on the second and so on. The computer discards duplicate ballots.

Blue Dragon TCG Uses Roleplaying Mechanic

Konami's new Blue Dragon TCG (see 'Konami Gets Blue Dragon TCG Rights'), which it was demoing at San Diego Comic-Con, will use a roleplaying mechanic and carry the official title of the Blue Dragon Role Playing Card Game (RPCG). Players battle against each other using Command and Skill Cards, attempting to gain Experience in the game to learn new abilities, level up, and execute attacks.

Lifehacker: Five Best Desktop Media Players

You've collected hundreds of thousands of megabytes (and maybe even gigabytes) of digital music and video in the past 10 years, and as your media library has grown, so has the necessity for finding the perfect desktop media player. Not only must the perfect player be capable of playing back your media, but it also needs to be able to help you search through and find any song or movie you're looking for at a moment's notice. On Tuesday we asked to hear about your favorite desktop media player, and over 600 comments later we're back with the most popular answers. Hit the jump for a glimpse at the five best desktop media players, then help us choose the best of the best.

Twitter

In a recursive move, I am attempting to push the feed for this (my blog) into my Twitter account. Will it work? Only time will tell.

SovLit.com - Soviet Literature Summarized

Here's a cool little site for those of you looking for interesting period literature but you don't want something from the viewpoints of the West.

I'm sure that there's a lot of useful information for gamers to be found at this site.

The ENnie Awards- Voting Information Page

Voting is open for the ENnie Awards from July 28th until August 6th. Be sure to vote.

The ENnie Awards- Voting Information Page

BBC NEWS | Why is John Barrowman gay?

Torchwood star John Barrowman has known he was gay since he was nine. But was he born that way or did his upbringing have something to do with it? Here, he explains why he set out to try to solve this mystery, for the BBC One show The Making of Me.

I was in the closet for three hours once in 1972. It was dark, uncomfortable, and really cramped. Plus, I was convinced I wasn't alone (a crumpled jacket lurking in the corner looked pretty dangerous). I was five and my brother, Andrew, then 10, and my sister, Carole, 13, had shoved me into the coat closet because, well, really for absolutely no good reason. I mean what baby brother has ever annoyed his siblings to the point of needing to be locked up or tied down?

This story still gets a laugh from my nieces and nephews. Depending on who's doing the telling, Uncle John was either locked up for 30 fleeting minutes or for three long, tortuous, oxygen-starved hours. As simple as the story is I think it's an apt metaphor for the way I've chosen to live my life - openly, honestly, with no regrets. And, whenever I can, I try to confront the monsters in the dark. As my favourite Jerry Herman song proclaims: 'There's no return and no deposit. One life. So open up your closet.'