The day before Stewie’s birthday we’re all going down to UBC to watch Ghostbusters on their big screen.
http://www.protoncharging.com/mt/archives/000145.html
Despite what it says on Stewie’s blog, we’re going on a Thursday, not a Friday.
Though Friday is Stewie’s actual birthday. It’s the kind of birthday where you come over and take something of Stewie’s rather than give him something. We have way too much crap and it’s making spring cleaning impossible.
This week I’ll be trying to meet an art deadline, so don’t expect much on the blog front.
Friday night was Justice League night but I was disappointed by the second half of “The Once and Future Thing.” Even though I like time travel stories they did it pretty half-baked, and in lieu of explaining anything they just showed fight scenes where the JL used consistently bad fighting tactics (silly super heroes, you can fly!).
Chris Woods came into town on Saturday night and we played Magic: The Gathering and watched MST3K. Fun! I made an elf deck for Marlo and now she wants to play more. Mwoooohahahaha
D&D was fun yesterday – remorhaz, mountain goats, and draconids. Afterwards we (Taylor, Marlo, Stewie, me) had access to a car, thanks to Stewie’s business meeting in Seattle today, so went to the Superstore where shopping is a mind-boggling experience and I bought some wasabi peas. We also ate at Red Onion where I had a chicken burger (the wait was long but the food was good) and on the way back to the car we stumbled onto a bubble tea place that I had to sample. While we waited for our food we watched George Lucas on 60 minutes comparing his movie-making choices to his choices of painting a house.
Today everyone at work was in a bad mood. My supervisor apparently got in a fight with his girlfriend (who also works there) so he was swearing and pissed off all day. Taylor hurt his thumb in the morning but despite my prompting, didn’t leave until 4pm.
So the internet has been around for quite a little while now, but I am still constantly plagued by people who can’t follow netiquette. I belong to more than a couple of newsgroups, and people seem to consistently forget or ignore these particular rules:
Follow the damn instructions! I’m on a few art job lists, and just the other day a job offer came in to everyone on the list. The post described the job and then finished with “please contact me, if you are interested and can provide a sample in this style.” So a guy posts this in the next message – to the entire list of 26 people:
HI J
Im interested in this job
can i participate?
have i another chance????
Lesson number one in how to embarrass yourself in e-public. It’s a thing of beauty that J replied back to the list exactly this, and nothing more:
“please contact me, if you are interested and can provide a sample in this style.”
ALL CAPS IS ANNOYING! I’m on a list for gigs in BC, and one promoter posts there regularly. Her posts, many of which are quite long, are entirely in allcaps. And then she adds at the bottom “I USE CAPITALS..IM NOT YELLING..I LIKE IT”
Well you may like it, but you’re probably the only one and you’re on a public forum where I assume you are not actively trying to dissuade people from reading your promos. To me, that’s what the effect is.
When replying to a post/email – don’t quote unnecessary text. I get some of my group messages in digest format, and it’s incredibly annoying to have to scroll through literally pages of old quoted junk to get to the new stuff. Check out this one message below. Note that the actual meat of the post is 6 lines out of about 55, and that this one post is out of about a dozen I got in the digest.
[edited out]
I’ve been drawing and painting (in watercolour) for the past 2 weeks for the new edition of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG. I only played WHFRP once or twice when I was a young man in Chilliwack, but I am certainly amazed how different the world of Warhammer is from the world(s) of D&D. Warhammer is a lot more gritty and detailed, and is based on Europe in the dark ages. One of the artist’s guidelines I got read “roll it in shit, dip it in muck.” That’s pretty cool and having pulled out my old edition of the game that Jamie gave me a couple years back and I never really opened, it makes me want to try it out. Maybe someone will run it at a game day or convention in the near future.
Speaking of conventions, The Thickets just got asked to play V-Con, but the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is (as usual) the same weekend (Oct 7-9). So I’m trying to sort that out.
This week I also got my contributor copies for some really awesome D&D books – the Black Company Campaign Setting based on the series of novels by Glen Cook, the Advanced Bestiary which is a book full of templates that you can apply to other monsters to make new, weird, scary monsters that your players will never have experienced before, and Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra which is a pretty cool setting boxed set that is getting some good reviews. Actually all of those books got good reviews and I will probably use bits from each of them in current or upcoming campaigns.
Speaking of upcoming campaigns, I had the second session of character generation for my “Venger” animated D&D campaign. Let me tell you about the characters, may I?
Marlo’s character doesn’t have a name yet (come on, Mar-Mar!) but she is a Chinese-Canadian hippie with a younger brother. She’s got a pet ferret she takes with her everywhere and in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons she becomes a druid with a magic staff.
Graeme’s character, Jesse, is an all-around popular jock whose deadly desire is to be the most popular – a hero to be loved and worshipped by all. He’s also phobic of bees and is allergic to their venom. In the realm he’s a rogue with magic bolas.
Geoff’s character, Joshua, is a bit of a hick who takes a long bus ride from the farm to get to school. One time he got kicked by Helga the cow and his broken leg didn’t heal properly, leaving him with a limp. Josh’s deadly desire is to be a great dancer, which he knows is impossible because of his limp. In the realm, he becomes a ranger with a magic whip-dagger.
Chris’ character, Sam is a Max Fischer-like extracurricular drama nerd who founded the archery club. Despite being weaker and younger than his sister (Marlo’s character), he’s very protective of her. In the realm he becomes a bard with a magic lute.
Norm’s character, Billy, is the youngest of the group. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he likes to be called “Radimus.” In the realm he becomes a barbarian with a magic greatsword.
David’s character – no name or background yet. He becomes a sorcerer with a magic amulet.
Last night was a long-awaited new episode of Justice League. I used to tape lots of shows regularly and with discipline – Enterprise, Rocket Robin Hood, Justice League, Superfriends, Clone High, X-Men Evolution, Powerpuff Girls. Now I tape Battlestar Galactica & Enterprise. Enterprise has just a few more episodes left and then it’s done. BSG I will continue to tape, and when Justice League gets more episodes, I’ll be on those too. Once in a while, when I happen to be home and happen to remember, I tape Star Trek “Classic” and Home Movies. But they are not shows I arrange my schedule around. The good thing about BSG & Enterprise is they’re on 2 or 3 times a week so I can catch them without sacrificing other plans.
Anyway, Justice League was cool because they’re visiting the future – the future of Batman Beyond. Some will remember that series from a couple years back. It was generally quite good. It also ties in with Static Shock, another DC series that tied in with Batman/Superman/Justice League a couple of times in the past few years. Except Static Shock is all grown up now and part of the JL of the future. The bad news is that Marlo has just 7 days to become educated about Batman Beyond before she sees the 2nd part of this Justice League.
The important episodes are:
The 2 part origin story (with George Takei)
The episode where Mr Freeze gets a new body (he’s practically immortal you know)
The episode that’s a send-up of the Fantastic Four (a Marvel, not a DC property)
The “Return of the Joker” movie that introduces the bad guys seen at the very end of this week’s JL episode and explains what happened to Robin.
The return of Ra’s Al Ghul
The 2-parter where Terry (the new Batman) joins the contemporary Justice League
And maybe the Sentries of the Last Cosmos episode where they do a send up of Star Wars & nerds in general.
Henry Rollins, Jason Marsden, Seth Green, Paul Winfield, William H Macy, John Ritter, Alexis Denisof
ps – there are 5 hours of Superfriends tonight starting at 1am. Cool.
The weekend before last was, for me, the first garage sale of the year. Hooray! It’s like the swallows returning to Capistrano. I bought a handy little lamp. Some girl at some house on some street was having some garage sale and there were 6 Lovecraft books, and a bunch of other stuff that I wanted, but none of which I actually needed, and since I still have to watch my wallet pending some overdue payments from publishers, I didn’t end up buying anything. I think the girl must have been a friend of Kier-La’s because there was a bunch of Cinemuerte stuff.
On Friday I had another miniature painting potluck which was much more successful than the previous one. Only Marlo & Nathan came to that one (and we ended up playing Talisman). This time we had Gibbons, Bev, Kelly & Paul, Marlo and Stewie, and I painted a bunch of little guys. Marlo brought a lot of expensive cheeses which I slightly melted when I put them on top of the stove to get them out of the way (I was baking candied yams inside the stove at the time). Kelly brought some delicious chocolate mousse.
On Saturday I helped Taylor move into his new place. It took less than 3 hours from start to finish and I got a free breakfast at Bon’s out of the deal, and I got to ride in the back of a rented van with Marlo. We hit some garage sales with the van and Marlo got a chair and Stewie got a filing cabinet.
Saturday night we (Stewie, Marlo, Stephane, Sheri & I) went to see The Animation Show at the Ridge and it was fantastic. My favourite was Ward 13. I loved the way that there was a lot of action, but the hero didn’t actually spend much time in fisticuffs, it was all hilarious accidental acrobatics and jedi-like cane fights. And a cthulhoid like monster to boot! It had everything going for it. Check out the front page image of http://www.ward13.com.au/ for an idea, and you can download the trailer from there too.
On Sunday we played D&D and we got the details down for all the new monstrous bodies that the characters have had their minds swapped with (1000 years in the past). They’re in a vast library right now that holds the spirit of a semi-dead god of knowledge, and they’re boning up on their skills. The barbarian is even trying to learn how to read. They met a new jovial little cyclops named Gorlock who will be travelling with them to make sure all the cool magic items they’re borrowing from the library are safely returned after their quest.
Last night we started making up characters for a new D&D campaign – the one that will adapt several episodes of the 80’s cartoon DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. I already know which episode I’m adapting first. It should be pretty fun. Marlo made up a hippie with a ferret who will become a druid with a magic staff. Graeme made up a jock who will become a rogue with a magic bola. Norm made up a young kid who will become a barbarian with a magic greatsword. Geisel is gonna make up a guy who becomes a bard with some kind of magical instrument.
Tomorrow night is the miniature painting potluck party – where people come over to paint their miniatures and have some food. I’ve had about…3 or 4 of these I guess. My brother might come! He just called to say he’ll be coming by with my Christmas presents in the next couple of days.
I was interviewed by…Shaw I think, at the gaming convention this weekend. So watch out for me on everyone’s favourite channel: 4. Kathryn did a good job of promoting the con so not only did the TV people com, but we got a mention in the (Westender?) which made fun of nerds and mentioned that the event was free (it was not). I tried not to say anything too stupid in front of the camera – time will tell if I succeeded, or if the bit even makes it onto the tube. I mentioned how D&D is not quite the stigma it used to be, thanks to video games, and that gamers range all genders, age groups, and walks of life. Of all the gaming stores that support the VGG, I only mentioned Drexoll Games and Checkpoint Charlie’s, and I also forgot to mention our website. Oh well, at least I had fantastic hair.
So they’re cancelling Enterprise…just when they’re getting to the stuff that I always hoped they’d do – the formation of the Federation. True, Archer sucked, and so did T’Pol with her pouty collagen lips and refusal to be Vulcan. In fact the only characters that I really like are Phlox and Hoshi, in that order. And let’s not forget Jeffrey Combs. It seems such a shame that my wish to see a Star Trek series that used space suits was finally granted, and I only got 4 seasons. Yet Voyager got 7.
So this coming weekend is the big fat gaming convention that we like to call Weathertop. A great deal of my free time has been spent in preparation for this weekend of fun and frivolity. Unlike the last couple of conventions, I will actually be PLAYING some games, rather than just running games, and watching the door. So I’m pretty excited about that. I’m going to run a new scenario of Spaceship Zero on Saturday, which I am testing out with Taylor and Nathan and others on Thursday. Wednesday night will probably be the last night I can just chill out and relax before the weekend.
The rest of February looks to be full of exciting things. I’m having a Miniature Painting Potluck Party on…the 10th I think. And it’s Janet’s birthday on the 12th. Maybe the 18th or 19th would be a good night for a movie night with the usual suspects, and maybe the 16th or 23rd for another game night at Sherane’s. And the 8th is Nirvana Day so I’ll be sure to listen to “Love Buzz.”
Then in March – the Saturday Morning Cartoon Party. Awwwww yeahhhhh.
