Friday, May 18, 2007

Iggy Pop chats with Dinah Shore

Bruce Campbell: Hungry Like The Wolf

Lloyd Alexander; Fantasy and Adventure Writer

Lloyd Alexander, 83, a critically acclaimed fantasy and adventure writer whose coming-of-age novels use vivid action and elements of mythology to depict contemporary struggles between good and evil, died May 17 at his home in Drexel Hill, Pa. He had cancer.

Mr. Alexander wrote more than 40 books and is regarded as one of the best-known writers of juvenile fiction of the past several decades. He won over adult reviewers with cliff-hanging plots, stylish prose and believable characters that make his fanciful, long-ago settings seem plausible and relevant.

Essayist Laura Ingram, writing in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, said the books have 'the special depth and insight provided by characters who not only act, but think, feel and struggle with the same kinds of problems that confuse and trouble people in the twentieth century.'

He completed three major series -- the Chronicles of Prydain, which focuses on the maturity of an assistant pig keeper named Taran and is loosely based on Welsh mythology; the Westmark trilogy of political intrigue, whose main character is a printer's apprentice on the run in a corrupt European kingdom; and the Vesper Holly series, about a young Philadelphian who comes to the rescue of President Ulysses S. Grant.

Worldwide Adventure Writing Month

June is Worldwide Adventure Writing Month.
Join us in expanding the number of free, downloadable adventures for tabletop roleplaying games!

The goal is to write a complete 32 page adventure module by June 30th, 2007.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Important. And pass it on...

I found this on Neil Gaiman's blog and thought that it was definitely worth passing along.
John M. Ford was pretty much the smartest writer I knew. Mostly. He did one thing that was less than smart, though: he knew he wasn't in the best of health, but he still didn't leave a proper will, and so didn't, in death, dispose of his literary estate in the way that he intended to while he was alive, which has caused grief and concern to the people who were closest to him.

He's not the first writer I know who didn't think to take care of his or her posthumous intellectual property. For example, I knew a writer -- a great writer -- separated from and estranged from his wife during the last five years of his life. He died without making a will, and his partner, who understood and respected his writing, was shut out, while his wife got the intellectual property, and has not, I think, treated it as it should have been treated. These things happen, and they happen too often.

There are writers who blithely explain to the world that they didn't make a will because they don't mind who gets their jeans and old guitar when they die but who would have conniptions if they realised how much aggravation their books or articles or poems or songs would cause their loved ones (or editors, anthologists or fans) after their death...

Monday, May 14, 2007

The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda

For fans of the literary con, it's been a great few years. Currently, we have Richard Gere starring as Clifford Irving in 'The Hoax,' a film about the '70s novelist who penned a faux autobiography of Howard Hughes. We've had the unmasking of James Frey, JT LeRoy/Laura Albert and Harvard's Kaavya Viswanathan, who plagiarized large chunks of her debut novel, forcing her publisher, Little, Brown and Co., to recall the book. Much has been written about the slippery boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, the publishing industry's responsibility for distinguishing between the two, and the potential damage to readers. There's been, however, hardly a mention of the 20th century's most successful literary trickster: Carlos Castaneda.

If this name draws a blank for readers under 30, all they have to do is ask their parents. Deemed by Time magazine the 'Godfather of the New Age,' Castaneda was the literary embodiment of the Woodstock era. His 12 books, supposedly based on meetings with a mysterious Indian shaman, don Juan, made the author, a graduate student in anthropology, a worldwide celebrity. Admirers included John Lennon, William Burroughs, Federico Fellini and Jim Morrison.


[To read the full story you will have to watch an ad, but I think that's a small price to pay to read some of the stuff at Salon.]

Game Geeks #7 Spycraft 2.0

An ongoing RPG review video "podcast" available through YouTube. Well done and produced, Game Geeks is well worth checking out. The reviews are informative and certainly comparable to anything that I have seen in print.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Family Ties


family ties, originally uploaded by Cleveland Desolation.

Next week I am starting a new game with the group, using the d6 Adventure rules. It might lead to something, but it's too early to talk about that right now.

The flyer is still tentative but it hits some of the themes that I want for the game. It isn't finalized though.

Friday, May 11, 2007

House of Hammer rises from the dead

Unholy lusts, depraved, thrilling passions and unspeakable acts of violence and terror - all in glorious, gothic Technicolor. When the legendary Hammer House of Horror group set out to scare the wits out of people in the 50s, 60s and 70s, it did it in style, leaving one British censor musing: 'The curse of this thing is the Technicolor blood: why need vampires be messier eaters than anyone else?'

For three decades, Hammer Film Productions has lain dormant, with fans having to rely on special late night showings at cinemas or the occasional reissue of one of the more popular classics from its prodigious 295-item back catalogue on DVD.

But now the brand that defined the great British film alongside Ealing comedies and James Bond is back in business and plans to make more movies to terrify a new generation of fans.

Responsible for the classic horror series of Dracula, Frankenstein and Quatermass, alongside such gems as Blood from the Mummy's Tomb and the Sweet Scent of Death, the company will repackage some of these old favourites but also plans new productions, inspired by such modern horror movies as the just released 28 Weeks Later.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Solve the Brooke Shields mystery



They haven't shown us what the alphabet is yet but graffiti around London is hinting at it's existence.

'Alphabet of Brooke Shields' – what does it mean?

This small bit of grafitti has been popping up all over London for the past few weeks, and is puzzling the living daylights out of everyone who spots it. From Tower Bridge to Wembley Park, it's everywhere. There are even reports of it appearing as far away as Hamburg and the Netherlands.

A Google search reveals nothing but bemused blogs speculating as to what's so special about the actess, model, former Mrs Andre Agassi and sparring partner of Tom Cruise. Does she have her own private alphabet? What?


What is the Alphabet of Brooke Shields, and how does it relate to the world? Hopefully we will find out.

Here's a Flickr pool documenting the graffiti. And here is a Google map showing the locations where graffiti has been found.

Share your thoughts.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Man wants electoral voice for "living dead"

Of course the living dead need their voice to be heard in the political world. Brains without representation, or something like that...

Man wants electoral voice for "living dead"
A villager is campaigning in northern India for the rights of people declared legally dead by cheating relatives seeking to steal their assets.

Lal Bihari, a lower caste villager who lost his father's inheritance due to an unscrupulous uncle, formed the 'Union of the Dead' in 1980 to fight for the rights of thousands he says have fallen victim to scams by relatives.

He is contesting as an independent in a month-long election in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, which ends on Tuesday.

In 1976, an uncle allegedly connived with corrupt local officials to fudge village records and declare Bihari dead. The uncle then won the inheritance of Bihari's father.

'It was only as late as in 1994 that I succeeded in proving myself alive,' Bihari, 52, said.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Man 'cuts off own head with chainsaw'

A self-inflicted chainsaw wound? Even I have a hard time buying that one.

Man 'cuts off own head with chainsaw'
A man in the German city of Cologne fatally stabbed his elderly father before cutting off his own head with an electric chainsaw, police said yesterday.

The headless body of the 24-year-old offender was found when police raced to an the apartment yesterday after an emergency call, apparently from the dying father, had been broken off in mid-sentence, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

Alf Willwacher, a senior prosecutor, said an electric chainsaw was next to the son's body.

'We do not believe any third party was involved,' he said.

Neighbours said the father and son had been reclusive since the death of the mother, allegedly by suicide, several years ago.

Student tries to make roadkill pretty

The important thing to remember is to always wear gloves when handling road kill. Road kill is pretty.

Student tries to make roadkill pretty
For the past several weeks, drivers near Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville have been noticing odd things about some of the roadkill on the sides of the area's highways.

Some of the dead possums and raccoons have been dressed in pet or human baby clothes and have had their claws painted with nail polish. The carcass of a deer has been adorned with gold paint.

The culprit is SIU-Edwardsville graduate art student Jessica May, 24, of West Lafayette, Ind.

In an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat, May said she is not an animal rights activist; she is just interested in seeing if people would give more thought to the animals if they were somehow given human attributes.

'I think this is my way of slowing down and paying homage to these animals,' she explained. 'I don't particularly find it offensive, but I understand why some people who don't understand what I'm doing could find it that way.'

May, a 2006 graduate of Purdue University, said she takes precautions in dealing with the carcasses.

'I wear gloves,' she said. 'I don't know that I could touch it with my bare hands, because by the time I find them, they're pretty far gone.'

Monday, May 07, 2007

Diplomats of the Abenaki Indigenous Nation

News of the weird, indeed.

Diplomats of the Abenaki Indigenous Nation
Two months ago, police in Trenton, N.J., arrested four men in separate incidents who fancy themselves 'diplomats' from the Abenaki Indigenous Nation and claim immunity from the laws of the 'so-called planet Earth' (and, by the way, of Mars and Venus, too). One allegedly possessed an unidentified 'controlled substance,' while the others drove cars with made-up 'diplomat' tags. The four showed no ostensible ties to the Abenaki Indigenous Nation, a tribe in North America since the 17 th century and still in the northeastern United States.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Ancient Vatican library to close

It sounds like someone found something in the library that they don't want outsiders to know about. With digital copies it makes it much easier for librarians at the Vatican to cleanse the books for public consumption.

What truth was accidentally discovered in the Vatican's Library?

Ancient Vatican library to close
One of the world's oldest libraries, at the Vatican, is to close for three years for rebuilding, in an unexpected blow to scholars around the world.

The decision to shut the library was made without warning.

After the library closes for its summer break in mid-July, it will not reopen until September 2010, the Vatican says.

The reason is that some buildings constructed only a quarter of a century ago are now considered unsuitable for the safe storage of ancient books.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Alumni get nasty surprise as UW opens time capsule

Also included, an unopened letter to Linda Ronstadt and a magazine with a picture of Ted Nugent on the cover.

Just keeping the world a bit stranger.

Alumni get nasty surprise as UW opens time capsule
As they cracked the capsule Thursday afternoon, University of Washington research team members expected to find a prim and proper package from the nifty 1950s.

What they got was a faceful of pornography, circa 1978, and dirty underwear.

The older, tamer items -- snapshots of men with crew cuts, reel-to-reel recordings of School of Communications alumni cracking wise -- still lay in the steel box, as they had since the capsule was sealed into the wall of the then-new Communications Building in 1957.

But they had company. Erotic, irreverent company.

Sometime in the early 1980s, the pranksters -- unknown as yet -- laid a pornographic centerfold atop the pile, and added other odd and obscene mementos to the mix. That was the image that greeted researchers, when they opened the capsule in preparation for a dinner Thursday evening with alumni who packed the original.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Tom Moldvay RIP

From Jeff's Gameblog:

Tom Moldvay RIP
Tom Moldvay, 58 passed peacefully into his next adventure on March 8th 2007 . Tom was a game designer and author most notable for his work on early materials for the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). As an employee of TSR, Inc., he authored or co-authored many landmark D&D adventure modules. During the early 80’s when home computers were not prevalent, Tom was creating thought provoking games that stirred the imagination and were played by thousands of enthusiasts across the country. The Classic Rulebooks and Player’s Handbooks written by Tom had been in print for several years and played so intensely that many gamers had them practically memorized. Odds were that if you’d played a published adventure, most likely you were a fan of Tom Moldvay. Most of those early modules achieved classic status, some of them being collected and reprinted again and again in the years that followed.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Tom graduated from Mayfield High School and went on to receive his Masters degree in Anthropology from Kent State University.

.. Preceded in death by parents Thomas and Selma Moldvay and sister Jody Brown

Tom is survived by his sister, Rebecca (David) Welner of Akron, nieces and nephews, Lauren Welner, Dave Welner, and Kurt Brown Jr.

Toms wishes were to be cremated without a formal service.

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. Hunts the Supernatural

I find this to be a very surprising choice. Maybe it's just because I don't watch the show but this choice of a license just surprises me. It isn't that I doubt the gameability of the setting, it just seems an odd choice as a license to pursue.

It isn't like this "genre" isn't popular among gamers. I think that the apparent popularity of White Wolf games like Hunter or mortal campaigns using the new World of Darkness rules demonstrates that there is an interest in this sort of gaming. Time will tell.

I notice that DC Comics is named as an involved party. I wonder what their part in these things is?

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. Hunts the Supernatural
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. has reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics to produce role playing game products based on the hit television series, Supernatural.

'We like role playing games that feature a great mix of character, action, and story,' says Margaret Weis, New York Times best-selling author and game publisher. 'Supernatural delivers on all three, and the show's premise is perfect for games. The show is like a new horror movie each week, and now we'll be bringing that experience to the game table.'

Supernatural is a hit television series that airs Thursdays on the CW Network, and is produced by Warner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, with executive producers McG ('Charlie's Angels,' 'The O.C.'), writer/executive producer Eric Kripke ('Boogeyman'), Robert Singer ('Midnight Caller'), Kim Manners ('The X-Files'), and John Shiban ('The X-Files'). The show follows two brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), as they hunt ghosts, demons, and other things that go bump in the night. The Winchesters drive a black 1967 Chevy Impala across America, discovering dark secrets wherever they go.

Jamie Chambers, author and designer of the best-selling Serenity Role Playing Game, is very excited about the project. 'My grandmother raised me on ghost stories, monster tales, and local legends,' he says. 'Supernatural struck an immediate chord with me from the first episode and I'm a big fan. I want to really bring the feel of the show to our game, including the attention to folklore, a dash of humor, and a classic-rock soul.' Chambers is leading a team of writers and designers to create a game where players can become hunters of monsters— either taking the role of the show's characters or creating an entirely new monster-slaying group.

The role playing game will offer an exciting game experience, as well as serving as a thrilling companion product for fans of the show. The game will make use of the Cortex System rules created for the Serenity Role Playing Game and the Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game (also produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.). The first product will be a Quickstart Guide, which will provide a preview of the game, including introductory rules and a short adventure. The next release will be the Supernatural Role Playing Game Core Book, a self-contained collection of rules and source material that will contain everything a group needs to start playing. Additional products will follow the release of the core product. The entire line will be supported by an interactive website.

More information will be released in the near future with further details about the upcoming line of Supernatural role playing game products.

About Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.
New York Times best-selling author Margaret Weis continues to lead her company into carefully selected ventures in book and game publishing. The company has enjoyed great success and won multiple awards including an Origins Award (Gamer's Choice for Best Role Playing Game in 2006) and the Gen Con EN World Awards (Best Production Values). Recent successes include the Serenity Role Playing Game and the Paths of Doom series of adventure fiction. The company will be announcing several new exciting initiatives in the book, card game, board game, and role playing game categories over the next few months. Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. is based in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the birthplace of hobby roleplaying games.

About Supernatural

Supernatural is now in its second season, and is one of the CW Network's top five series, and its second highest-rated scripted series in all key male demos, trailing only veteran drama Smallville. It stars Jared Padalecki ('Gilmore Girls,' 'House of Wax') as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles ('Smallville,' 'Dark Angel') as Dean Winchester, and was created by Eric Kripke. Twenty-two years ago, Sam and Dean lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father John raised them to be soldiers. He taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America... and he taught them how to kill it. Supernatural is a Wonderland Sound and Vision production in association with Warner Bros. Television and airs Thursdays on The CW.

SUPERNATURAL ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

What's That Glow?

When someone posted a link to a Google Map of this on one of the mailing lists that I am a member of, I knew that there had to be a post to be gotten out of it.



Thankfully Google Earth allows you to export images, so we have this picture of "The Glow" from Purmerend, Holland.

I think that it is a secret launch site, a homemade rocket base waiting for the go signal so that some home owner can launch themselves into the depths of outer space. Or, perhaps in an even more sinister manner, it is a landing site. Perhaps they didn't think that the satellite sweeping overhead could be accessed by something as mundane as a random Google user who would spread this all over the internet.

Regardless, this is the start of an adventure for any number modern day RPG scenarios, from super-heroes to horror to conspiracy. Now that you have the first piece....what comes next?

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as 'Slaughterhouse-Five' and 'Cat's Cradle,' died Wednesday. He was 84.

Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.

The author of at least 19 novels, many of them best-sellers, as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays, Vonnegut relished the role of a social critic. He lectured regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves and delighting in barbed commentary against the institutions he felt were dehumanizing people.

'I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations,' Vonnegut, whose watery, heavy-lidded eyes and unruly hair made him seem to be in existential pain, once told a gathering of psychiatrists.

A self-described religious skeptic and freethinking humanist, Vonnegut used protagonists such as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater as transparent vehicles for his points of view. He also filled his novels with satirical commentary and even drawings that were only loosely connected to the plot. In 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' he drew a headstone with the epitaph: 'Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.'

"Ghost Rider" creator sues over copyright

The creator of Ghost Rider has sued Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures Entertainment and several entities over what he claims is an unauthorized 'joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize' his copyrights to the comic book character.

Gary Friedrich and his company filed the 61-page complaint April 4 in federal court in Illinois claiming 21 violations based on the production and marketing of Sony's recent 'Ghost Rider,' starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Friedrich claims the copyrights used in the film and in related products reverted from Marvel to him in 2001.

The defendants include Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, producers Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures and Michael De Luca Prods. as well as Hasbro Inc. and Take-Two Interactive.

Friedrich alleges copyright infringement, and accuses Marvel of waste for failing "to properly utilize and capitalize" on the Ghost Rider character. Marvel's attempts to do so, Friedrich claims, have only damaged the value of his work by failing to properly promote and protect the characters and by accepting inadequate royalties from co-defendants. Friedrich also claims that toymaker Hasbro and videogame firm Take-Two have improperly created merchandise based on the characters.

Friedrich created the character of Johnny Blaze and his alter ego Ghost Rider in 1968. Three years later, he agreed to publish the character in comic books through Stan Lee's Magazine Management, which eventually became Marvel Entertainment.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Doctor Is So In!

This adaptation of Dr. Strange into a TV movie in the seventies even embarrassed Stan Lee.

Monday, April 02, 2007