Origins Photos

Here's a montage of some of the photos that I was able to take before the batteries in my camera died. Sorry there weren't more of them. I wanted more pictures.



Here's a link to the photoset.

Jack Kerouac's Famous Scroll, 'On the Road' Again

This September marks 50 years since Jack Kerouac's On the Road hit bookshelves, stirred controversy and spoke — in a new voice — to a generation of readers. Today the beat travelogue continues to sell 100,000 copies a year in the U.S. and Canada alone.

Legend has it that Kerouac wrote On the Road in three weeks, typing it almost nonstop on a 120-foot roll of paper. The truth is that the book actually had a much longer, bumpier journey from inspiration to publication, complete with multiple rewrites, repeated rejections and a dog who — well, On the Road wasn't homework, but we all know what dogs do.

But the scroll: That part's true. Jim Canary, the Indiana University conservator who's responsible for its care, says Kerouac typed about 100 words a minute, and replacing regular sheets of paper in his typewriter just interrupted his flow — thus the scroll.

But Kerouac's brother-in-law and executor, John Sampas, says the three-week story is a kind of self-created myth. 'Three weeks' is what Kerouac answered when talk-show host Steve Allen asked how long it took to write On the Road.

Origins: Day Two Wrap Up

Well, this is the final report of our trip to Origins. Sunday was pretty much: visit the Exhibitor's Hall one last time and pick up anything interesting. It was a bit disappointing that more of the publishers weren't having specials for the last day, but I guess they would rather just pack it up to GenCon.

I do have to say that I was unimpressed with the quality of the Hawkmoon books that Mongoose was selling. I thought that the print quality was such that it was obvious that the book was POD, not to mention the fact that the covers were bowed because they used too much glue on them. Not very impressive over all.

However, I was impressed yesterday. Brad Elliot of EOS Press offered a demo of Unhallowed Metropolis for Aren and I. The character generation was pretty easy, we managed to make two characters in about 20 minutes or so, and the simple combat that we ran through was pretty easy and quick. The game utilized a simple Attribute or Skill plus 2d10 versus a set target number for resolution. Like I said, quick and easy. In a lot of ways, the system reminded me of Unisystem. Which, frankly, isn't a bad comparison for me. The setting of the game came across and very evocative and interesting, and the ashcan copy that he had at the con was actually very nice looking as well.

The only bad thing was that I couldn't actually preorder a copy of the book, which after the demo I really wanted to do. EOS doesn't offer preorders until the book is at least on the ship coming back to the States. All in all, I think a good way of handling it. This is something that I am now officially looking forward to however.

Other pluses: I found a dealer selling EOS's Weapons of the Gods for $10. I couldn't really resist the price, and I've heard a lot of good things about it. Brad was also kind enough to sign it for me. Finally managed to find a copy of the Magic Box for the Buffy game, as well, so that was a good thing too.

Overall, I saw some people that I hadn't seen for a while, met some nice new people, and had a pretty good time at Origins. It was a shame that the con was so much smaller this year. I hope that if attendance was down, it was only due to the registration problems with their website. I really like have a con like this in "the backyard" so to speak. It was a good time.

Oh, one last thing. The batteries in my camera died on Saturday so I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted and I can't upload them just yet either. Probably tomorrow.

Origins: Day One Overview

Well, yesterday was our first day at Origins. I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed with my first impressions. Really, it seems like the con's industry attendance has shrunk again. Last year, WotC pulled out (which considering they have GenCon and that stuff up in Wisconson I can understand why they might not have needed Origins) of the show but it really felt smaller this year. The exhibitors room just seems to be rattling around in all of that space this year. Maybe that is a good thing for those publishers and dealers who are there. I'm not sure, it just seemed to have gotten smaller.

I played in a Call of Cthulhu game set in Tombstone. It was an interesting session, with a cool twist to the story in the end. Everyone seemed to have a good time about it. I did get to meet Matt Wiseman finally, too, so that was good.

Ran into Brad Elliot of EOS Press as well. My reputation from RPGnet proceeds me, at least in a good way with him. I saw a proof for Unhallowed Metropolis (more information here), their upcoming Victoriana/horror game, and I have to say that it looked pretty cool. The art was incredible and it just sucked you into the world of the setting. He said that it would be a GenCon release, and I have to say that it is something that I think that I'm going to be looking forward to. Brad also offered an after-hours demo, so I will have to try to take him up on that.

New Stuff Picked Up: True20 Companion and Mutants and Masterminds Pocket Players Guide from Green Ronin. They certainly had a lot of stuff in their booth.

Afterwards, met up with Gary Mengle and some others at Barleys (a brew pub across from the Convention Center) and had some very excellent micro-brewed stout. Perhaps a little too much, but it was a fun night. Also ran into Dave Bellar at the bar (which was a bit of a surprise) and we're going to try to meet up today at some point.

There's some interest in a Spirit of the Century game tonight, so that will probably take up part of the after-hours today.

All in all, looking forward to Day Two.

Doctor Who Companion Series 4: Donna says "I do!"

Catherine Tate is set to return to the TARDIS for the complete 13 week run of Series Four of Doctor Who.

Award winning comedian Tate will reprise her role as Donna, the runaway bride from last year's Christmas special, despite turning down the Doctor's invitation to travel with him at the end of that adventure.

When Catherine was asked if she would like to become The Doctor's new companion at the press screening of The Runaway Bride, she replied, 'I would love to, but no one has asked!' Well, now they have.

'Catherine was an absolute star in The Runaway Bride and we are delighted that one of Britain's greatest talents has agreed to join us for the fourth series,' announced Doctor Who's executive producer and head writer, Russell T Davies. 'Viewers can expect more ambitious storylines and a whole host of guest stars in 2008.'

Japanese Learning English

Because aerobics is the best way to teach someone what to say when they're being mugged. Thanks, Daiv!

Doctor Who to get extra companion

Doctor Who is to have a new companion when the drama returns - but there will still be room for his current co-star.

Actress Freema Agyeman is to play Martha Jones in three episodes of spin-off show Torchwood. She said it was a chance to 'expand' her character.

She will miss the first half of the fourth series of Doctor Who, but will then return to the BBC One programme.

The new companion will be revealed soon and will appear in the entire 13-week run, which begins filming this month.

Scientists find drug to banish bad memories

It failed to bring Jim Carrey happiness in the award-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but scientists have now developed a way to block and even delete unwanted memories from people's brains.

Researchers have found they can use drugs to wipe away single, specific memories while leaving other memories intact. By injecting an amnesia drug at the right time, when a subject was recalling a particular thought, neuro-scientists discovered they could disrupt the way the memory is stored and even make it disappear.

The research has, however, sparked concern among parliamentary advisers who insist that new regulations are now needed to control the use of the drugs to prevent them becoming used by healthy people as a 'quick fix'.

Doctorin' The TARDIS

Man pummels 'vampire' peacock

I don't think that I can really add anything to this story.

A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a Burger King in New York City was beaten by a man who insisted it was a vampire.

Animal control officials in Staten Island say the bird was beaten so fiercely that most of its tail feathers fell out and it had to be euthanized.

The seven-year-old male peacock wandered into the restaurant parking lot and perched on a car hood last week. Charmed employees had been feeding it bread when the man appeared.

A restaurant worker says the man grabbed the bird by the neck, hurled it to the ground and started stomping it. She says when he was asked what he was doing, he responded, ''I'm killing a vampire!''

Employees called police, but the man ran when he saw them.

Origins

Next weekend is Origins. I'll be there from Friday to Sunday, meeting people and gaming. Stop and say hello if you're around. I will be posting pictures and (hopefully) blogging from the convention.

Movie Score Meme

Use your music player to create the score to a movie. Yes, I got this from someone's journal. That's the point to it being a meme. I will admit that some of these themes contribute to a strange overall movie, unless you're going for a Joycean type of film. Pass it along.

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, MusicMatch, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every scene, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new scene, press the shuffle button again
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool

Opening Credits: Are "Friends" Electric? - The Tubeway Army
Falling in Love: Information - De-Phazz
Breaking Up: The Vampire Club - Voltaire
Prom: Planet Rock - Afrika Bambaataa
Life's OK: What Is It About Men? - Amy Winehouse
Mental Breakdown: Sign of the Times - Brian Ferry
Driving: Stranger - Clan of Xymox
Getting Back Together: Jump - Aztec Camera
Birth of Child: Playground Love (Vibraphone Mix) - Air
Wedding Scene: Stand and Deliver - Adam and the Ants
Final Battle: This Is Not America - The Pat Metheney Band with David Bowie
Death Scene: Eventide - Claire Voyant
Funeral Scene: A Whiter Shade of Pale - Annie Lennox
End Credits: Add It Up - Violent Femmes

The Myth of Baby Cakes

Contains strong language and a few funny bits that you probably won't want co-workers staring at you about. NSFW.

Don Herbert, 89; TV's 'Mr. Wizard' taught science to young baby boomers

Don Herbert, who explained the wonderful world of science to millions of young baby boomers on television in the 1950s and '60s as 'Mr. Wizard' and did the same for another generation of youngsters on the Nickelodeon cable TV channel in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Herbert died at his home in Bell Canyon after a long battle with multiple myeloma, said Tom Nikosey, Herbert's son-in-law.

A low-key, avuncular presence who wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie, Herbert launched his weekly half-hour science show for children on NBC in 1951.

Broadcast live from Chicago on Saturdays the first few years and then from New York City, 'Watch Mr. Wizard' ran for 14 years.

Herbert used basic experiments to teach scientific principles to his TV audience via an in-studio guest boy or girl who assisted in the experiments.

'I was a grade school kid in the '50s and watched 'Mr. Wizard' Saturday mornings and was just glued to the television,' said Nikosey, president of Mr. Wizard Studios, which sells Herbert's science books and TV shows on DVD.

How To Be A Goth'

'Cause nothing is as dorky as a Goth.

Fake H. P. Lovecraft Newsreel Interview

Part of a viral campaign for an upcoming Cthulhu movie. Really, I don't even think he looks much like the pictures I have seen of him.

Changing of the Guard

[Cleveland, OH] Rusttown Press, LLC announces the acquisition of intellectual properties of Seraphim Guard. This includes the Seraphim Guard name, HeartQuest name and properties, various rules systems, and the "Plain Wrap" line of accessories for RuneQuest.

Ownership of Gatecrasher Science Fantasy Adventure reverts to Richard Gazley, and is not a part of the acquisition.

"We are excited about acquiring the properties of Seraphim Guard, and particularly the HeartQuest franchise," said Rusttown Press Creative Director Christopher Helton. "This is a great line, with great potential, and will remain an important cornerstone of Seraphim Guard. We have great plans for Seraphim Guard including expanding the Fudge System properties by developing a robust new ruleset that will power the HeartQuest line and most of our upcoming releases.Currently we are working on a new game entitled 'Bloodlines: Adventure Role-Playing' and expanding our Plain Wrap line into D20 products."

"I'm happy to see the Seraphim Guard properties move to Rusttown Press," said Tim Huntley, former proprietor of Seraphim Guard. "Since purchasing Seraphim Guard myself, my only concern has been insuring the properties continue to get better. Rusttown Press will take them to the next level."

Seraphim Guard/Rusttown Press games and books will continue to be available through the following online retailers:
RPGNow: http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=678
DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/index.php?cPath=1678
Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/seraphimguard

Media contact and general questions and comments can be directed to seraphim.chris@gmail.com and the Seraphim Guard website at www.seraphim-guard.com is still in use.

The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia - Available mid 2008

This is good news to hear. I have the second edition, published by Chaosium, and I find it to be an invaluable resource (both in and out of my games). The current edition is great and I imagine that it will only get better.

Elder Signs Press is excited to announce the upcoming title The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia by Daniel Harms, available mid 2008.

This is the third edition of his popular and extensive encyclopedia of the Cthulhu Mythos. Updated with more fiction listings and recent material, this unique book spans the years of H.P. Lovecraft’s influence in culture, entertainment, and fiction. The voluminous entries make The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia invaluable for anyone knowledgeable about the Cthulhu Mythos and necessary for those longing to learn about the Cosmic Horrors from past and present decades.

The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia will be available in signed, numbered, limited edition hardcover, as well as trade paperback. Due to high demand for this book, ESP will begin accepting pre-orders for this title in the coming weeks.

Game Geeks #11 Delta Green by Pagan Publishing

It doesn't get any better than Delta Green. I can't wait for the re-release of the chapbooks this Fall so that I can finally have access to the other two books. I can't wait!

Superdickery.com

It all started with "Superman is a dick." Now we have such fun galleries as "Seduction of the Innocent," "Suffering Sappho," "Everything's Better With Monkeys,
and "Stupor Powers" (among other galleries. This is a great website for fans of comics. If you haven't already book marked it, you should now.

In the cards? Upper Deck bids to buy Topps

Personally I would rather see Upper Deck come out over Michael Eisner.

The Upper Deck Co. has made a pitch to buy The Topps Co., a bid that would join two iconic baseball card makers that have sold sports memorabilia to generations of fans young and old.

The offer price of $10.75 a share trumps a bid earlier this year from a group of investors led by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Topps, maker of baseball cards and Bazooka bubble gum, said Thursday it was not sure Upper Deck's bid is a superior offer.

Eisner's Tornante Co. LLC and the Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC had agreed to pay $9.75 a share, which represented a premium of 9.4 percent when they first made the offer in early March. That deal received regulatory approval on April 3 and has been scheduled for a shareholder vote on June 28.

The group led by Eisner agreed to let New York-based Topps negotiate with Upper Deck, which is in Carlsbad, Calif.

Topps, founded in 1938, makes trading cards that feature athletes of Major League Baseball, the NFL and NBA. In addition to Bazooka bubble gum, it owns the Ring Pop and Push Pop brands and makes sticker album collections.

Game Geeks ep #1 All Flesh Must be Eaten

I just picked up a copy of this at one of the local Half Price Books. I thought that I would post this for others to see as well.

He does need to wave his hands around a little less though.

June Opens a Busy Summer for Green Ronin

With four releases scheduled throughout the month of June, Green Ronin Publishing has their work cut out for them. First we have the sixth in the popular Bleeding Edge series, Escape from Ceranir, in which a party of 6th- to 8th-level characters must find out what happened to the inhabitants of this once-proud citadel, and quell the evil within before it claims them as new victims. Used alone or as part of an ongoing campaign, this adventure is a descent into horror and madness, redefining the concept of the classic dungeon crawl. This 32-page book by Scott Gray retails for $11.95.

The True 20 Narrator’s Kit provides a much needed tool for True 20. Retailing for $19.95, this handy product features a three-panel hardback screen illustrated by Chris Moeller that puts all the essential game info right in front you. The Narrator's Kit also includes a 32-page introductory True20 adventure by Rodney Thompson, "Last Voyage of the Stellar Galleon." In it a crippled starship crashes on a strange planet that's not on any star chart. Meanwhile, a band of brave explorers is summoned to a wizard's tower and charged with the task of recovering a powerful artifact: a golden orb able to transport people to distant worlds. Take the roles of Stellar Galleon crewmen, trying to recover the ship's power core from mutineers and primitive aliens with unearthly powers, or play the fantasy adventurers, trying to take the power core from the wreckage of the downed alien ship. You can play the adventure either way, or both, making it two adventures in one!

Freeport is Green Ronin's signature city setting and has been home to thousands of RPG campaigns since its launch in 2000. The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport is the definitive new sourcebook for the City of Adventure, set 5 years after the events of the original Freeport Trilogy. This is a pure setting book, focusing entirely on the people, places, politics, and perils of Freeport and containing no game statistics of any kind. The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport can thus be used with any fantasy RPG and Green Ronin will be providing companion products for popular systems like True20 and d20. The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport will carry a retail price of $34.95.

Finally, Iron Age takes gamers back to the grim days of the ‘80s and ‘90s, when super-vigilantes in leather and chains dispensed harsh justice. Iron Age looks at the darkest era of comic book history and how you can bring it to life in your Mutants & Masterminds game. It includes an overview of the period, how to create and run Iron Age characters and games, and details on the Iron Age of Green Ronin’s award-winning Freedom City campaign setting. Iron Age is written by Seth Johnson and Jon Leitheusser, and retails for $26.95. [Via GamingReport.com]

We Will Kill You

WE WILL KILL YOU, originally uploaded by ernest.borg9.

Sometimes you just can't go home again. [Drawing by Paul Pope]

New Heath Ledger Joker image might be a fake!

It was one of the biggest stories of the weekend, but we’ve got some bad news for Batfans – there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that the latest pic of Heath Ledger in his Joker guise is yet another fake.

If it is indeed a scam, it’s surely one of the most elaborate hoaxes in cinematic history, a gag worthy of the Clown Prince Of Crime himself.

If you haven’t already heard, here’s the story. At the weekend, what appeared to be a viral marketer littered a comic-book store in Southern California with playing cards, daubed with the phrase I Believe In Harvey Dent Too, a play on Warner Brothers’ official ibelieveinharveydent teaser site domain name.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. Fanboys who typed in ibelieveinharveydenttoo were sent to a new site, encouraging them to send off their email address, to receive a code which would allow them to gradually reveal a Bat-picture, hidden behind the official teaser.

Cleverly, whoever created the site (and we’ll prove in a moment that it wasn’t WB) didn’t announce that the image was Heath Ledger as the Joker, making fanboys even more desperate to see it.

Eventually – and trust us, it took a long time, suspicious in itself considering how many people were eventually attempting to reveal the image, once the word spread – this picture appeared.

Looks good, right? Well, before you get too overexcited, consider the following two points…