![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- … I will probably eat some chili today. Have a nice day! #
- … I will probably eat a sandwich. Have a nice day! #
- … My creativity well has completely dried up. No focus, no drive, lots of hazy fog in the head. I will therefore paint my bathroom. #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- It's almost Father's Day. #
- @fredhicks oh, that sounds awesome. Yum. in reply to fredhicks #
- I put a silver lion statue in my back yard this morning. For my dad. One thing we shared was Detroit Lions football. I'll blog later w/more. #
- @sambearpoet … thanks for remembering, dude. And right back at ya. in reply to sambearpoet #
- @MDrandom … Man, that IS harsh. Have a Guinness later and we'll cyber-toast them. in reply to MDrandom #
- @SeanPatFan @sambearpoet @mdrandom @Highmoon … a glass of the good stuff shall be raised in honor of all your fathers today. #
- @Highmoon … I'm inclined to play this first S7S run fairly straight so that we can taste its natural flavor. But some day … who knows? in reply to Highmoon #
- Eww, I forgot about the bit where Doc Savage captures badguys and erases their memories to make them "upright citizens" http://bit.ly/CQFn5 #
- … I've recently returned from an invigorating 5-day secret trip to Argentina. #
- @Highmoon … we will play next week. Hopefully with you. in reply to Highmoon #
- … I just got butt-dialed by Jerry Grayson, who I'm pretty sure was contemplating pizza with @MDrandom and @vandermore at #Origins2009. #
- @planetx … wow. Mind blown. in reply to planetx #
- I'm ashamed to live in a culture where the death of one wacko so easily diverts attention from all the important stuff going on worldwide. #
- That last thing I tweeted was harsh. If I were in Columbus at #origins2009 right now, I wouldn't have had time to think harsh thoughts. #
- @blindgeek I have no issue with mourning him and praising his work – my harshness was about how the coverage is all Jacko and nothing else in reply to blindgeek #
- I would love to find that mythical space between misanthropic asshat and wimpy-passive doormat, and find some way to linger there. #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
I found something pretty nifty earlier at Half Price Books that seems like something many of you might dig – the pulp adventure lovers among you, anyway. My local HPB has a bunch of brand-new copies of several pulp novel reprints from an outfit called Nostalgia Ventures, and among the titles they have several volumes of Doc Savage stories as well as several volumes of The Shadow. I used to read Doc Savage stories as a kid (no, not in their original editions) and I love the Spirit of the Century RPG of course, (and I’m currently playing it with my face-to-face gang) so I picked one up. Here’s the volume I bought:
Doc Savage Volume 6: Pirate of the Pacific and The Polar Treasure
The volumes available at my HPB were all new and available in multiple copies, so I’m guessing that they are an overstock item sent from a warehouse and not something that was sold to the store by a walk-in. Thus, if you’ve got an HPB near you and you’d like to pick one or more of these up for $6, go take a look, because they might just have some.
There are two full stories in each volume, reprinted in their original texts with only typographical errors corrected – so the writing comes with all its warts including cultural and ethnic stereotyping, which the editors acknowledge up front – I think that was a classy move. It also contains a couple of feature essays for pulp enthusiasts. The cover price is $12.95 and I don’t know if I’d pay that, but for the $6 I spent, it is a very good find.
I knew I was going to get immersed in some interesting pulpy story action when the very first paragraph of the first story read, “Something terrible impended.”
Oh, yes indeed.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
So. Father’s Day.
It’s cool being a father. My boys are amazingly smart and funny and surprising and wonderful. They keep me sane even when they’re driving me crazy. Being a father on Father’s Day is pretty nifty.
But I’ve spent a lot more years being a son on Father’s Day than I have being a father. And that part of this particular holiday has – more often than not – been less than cool.
You may recall that my father died last December. Here’s the post I wrote the day I found out. Now, I haven’t seen or talked to my father on Father’s Day for several years, although we sent cards up until a couple years ago when they started coming back ‘address unknown’. So I’m used to not connecting with him on the holiday, but this is the first year where, as I put it in my post back in December, “the way it seemed like has become the way it is.”
Robert Bradley, Age 41 (1987)
It has been seven months since the death of Robert Bradley, and although his ashes are now resting in an urn somewhere in my Grandmother’s house in Michigan, we have still not been able to agree on a “convenient” date for our family diaspora to get together and have a memorial service for him. Seven months, and no memorial. My dad was a jackass, but really, his memory deserves better than that. And also, we deserve to have whatever measure of catharsis comes from the ritual of a memorial service. I’ve been wrangling with my aunt and grandmother for awhile over trying to schedule one, and earlier this week it got especially stressful – and we STILL have no date scheduled.
Anyhow, not really what I came here to write about. You don’t need to hear the messy stuff about scheduling a memorial.
The thing I want to share about all this is that a couple days ago my lovely wife Leah came up with the perfect idea for how I can get at least a little catharsis and some closure. Like with so many other things I’ve done in my misfit life, when the standard/typical/mainstream rituals of life don’t suit my needs, I make up my own rituals – and this is what Leah suggested we do today.
We went to get a small two-foot high resin statue. I chose a lion, because the one thing my father and I always enjoyed together in good times and bad was rooting for the Detroit Lions. The lion has been set on a pedestal in our backyard under a tree, and later I will go out there, put some notes, pictures, and a few symbolic bits of memory-fodder into the bottom of this statue, and I’ll think about my dad for awhile. And I’ll tell him that in the past few months, I’ve actually come to understand how incredibly easy it is to let depression and bitterness and stress overwhelm a person, and how someone in that situation might easily lose sight of the blessings of life and become a drunken violent bastard who cuts himself off from everyone who tries to care about him.
I will tell him that I choose not to become that person. I refuse to become that person. But yes, I will admit that I am beginning to understand how easy it would be to do so. I have danced with that temptation a couple of times recently. But I’m not going to hang out in that particular dance hall, thank you very much. I’ve got too many people who love me and too many blessings to count. I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.
And because I may not get the chance to stand up in front of my family at a memorial service and say anything like what I just wrote, I choose to share it with you – anyone who is reading this and those of you who have contributed to giving me the resolve not to become what my father became. And many of you have contributed mightily, make no mistake.
Now, for the next few hours, I’m going to focus on being a great father to my boys and great husband to my wife, and we’re going to go have a fun afternoon. Later, at twilight or so, I’ll become Robert Bradley’s son again for a short while, and I’ll raise a glass to him, and to the fathers of several of my friends whose fathers have died. Then, hopefully, I’ll move on.
Thanks for being my witnesses and my friends.
See you tomorrow.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- Because of this http://bit.ly/TAvNX from @Judd_of_Kryos, @rdonoghue and a bunch of others, for the first time I want a Monster Manual. #
- I'm watching the Gene Kelly-Van Heflin version of The Three Musketeers. Gene better not start singing and dancing, that's all I'm sayin'. #
- Hey! Canon Puncture ep 71 is up… http://bit.ly/14xs93 #
- @pdrussel – The park fight was cool due to Gene's choreography – now I understand good choreo is good, whether it's soft-shoe or fencing. in reply to pdrussel #
- @Highmoon … No. in reply to Highmoon #
- I am done now. #
- It gets better, they say. If it ain't better, it ain't over. Okay then. Meanwhile, I will build a Lincoln Log fort with WildLion. #
- Lincoln Logs with WildLion = better. Yep. #
- John's Background Switcher http://bit.ly/13WtI + @jrblackwell 's Flickr feed also = better. Yep. #
- What if you had a 17th-Century world of pirates, swashbucklers, and musketeers, and then it is invaded by a spacefaring empire? Just Sayin'. #
- Okay, I suspect i'm missing something – are a bunch of you turning your profile pics green in honor of Iran, and I overlooked the memo? #
- @Highmoon don't worry it's not for S7S. It's true the idea came up via my prep work for S7S, but no space invaders will appear in our saga. in reply to Highmoon #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
Paul Tevis has created a story-game, and it is finally published and in several peoples’ hands, and I want to give him a big WOOT for getting it done.
A Penny For My Thoughts »paultevis.com.
This game’s official launch is an odd kind of moment for me. I’m planning to buy it as soon as I can get the scratch to do so, and I want to play it. Actually, it’s more that I NEED to play it. You see, I’ve long thought of this game as a dragon that I need to slay. Although I am pretty sure I don’t feel quite that way anymore, Paul’s game has nevertheless had an unmistakable effect on my roleplay over the past two years.
I shall elaborate…
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- Because of this http://bit.ly/TAvNX from @Judd_of_Kryos, @rdonoghue and a bunch of others, for the first time I want a Monster Manual. #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- @fredhicks Big WooHoo to all of you!! Congrats. in reply to fredhicks #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
I’ve never played a Githyanki*, and I don’t recall ever encountering one in-game who was memorable. I imagine I’ve been in fights with one or two, but they were likely treated by everyone involved as just another nameless baddie with cool abilities straight out of the Monster Manual. Whatevs.
Judd Karlman began to change that for me a couple of years ago. He seems to like Githyanki a lot. He feels a kinship with them that is palpable and potent, even if he doesn’t know just why that’s true. After you read what I’m linking, go back through his LJ archives and you’ll find them there – his love letters to a typically-evil fantasy monster race. And always, he gives them depth. He makes them mad and beautiful.
Read this post first. It is about Githyanki, yeah, but it also says so very much more: The Book of Judd – Githyanki Therapy defined.
*If you’re not an rpg-player, and you’re wondering what the hell a “Githyanki” is, well … if it piques your interest, Google it. Or better yet, read Judd’s journals about them, and become informed.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- New Canon Puncture blog post: Shout-Out from Shaintar – http://bit.ly/3oD5y #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
Take a second and let yourself gape and smile at this cool Flickr set from photographer Chris McVeigh. Visit the site itself (or max out the slideshow) to view bigger versions.
My favorite is Luke, Chewie, and Han dancing. What’s yours?
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- Being your own boss/creative director is a dicey proposition when your boss/creative director is in a perpetually craptastic state of mind. #
- @shouit … thanks, we’ve got @Judd_of_Kryos again tonight to record ep 71, so I’m sure that’ll rock as well. He brings it, that’s a fact. in reply to shouit #
- @jrblackwell Well, I’m not quite as tall as Pearlman, but I’ve got the shoulders and the age locked down. in reply to jrblackwell #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
If you’re into following my rpg-related exploits, Rich Rogers and I have our characters posted on the S7S: Firedrake Saga Web site, along with fairly detailed backstory stuff (possibly more than is needed, but in my mind it is all potential play-fodder, so I am happy with it). I imagine the other characters’ stuff will follow soon.
Daniel Perez is still in Puerto Rico experiencing lots of roller-coaster frustrations with his mother’s health, so please keep his family in your thoughts if you’re into having good thoughts about people you may not know. Can’t hurt, right?
Also, on Monday I forgot to shout that there’s a new episode of Canon Puncture out, so go check it out if you didn’t know about it already: Canon Puncture 70: Your Game Says Something
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- Cleaning out the laptop, rooting out the bit-rot. So much fun I can’t stop, no more words have I got. #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- … The only person who owes me anything is me. But damn, I am in some serious debt to myself. #
- @lebradley … Deep SOMETHING, Lady Love. But I dunno if it qualifies as ‘thought’. in reply to lebradley #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
I would normally never treat books this way, but this is going to be an exception. I was led to this link by Sean Patrick Fannon, who in turn found out about it from John Wick.
After reading the article I did some due diligence to be sure that there are reasonable facts supporting what the linked article says, and I’m satisfied.
I own a bunch of Orson Scott Card books. A bunch. But as of right now, they are all going to be tossed into a sack and evicted from my house, and I will never buy, read, or promote any work of his again.
So if you’re okay with his viewpoint (which I admit he has a right to have and to voice) then you’re welcome to come get the sack of Orson Scott Card books out of my garbage can and take them for your own before the elements turn them into the pulpy dust from which they sprung.
Edit: Actually, instead of tossing them in the garbage, I’m thinking I’ll take them to HPB, get a little cash for them, and then donate that money (meager as it may be) to a civil rights group.
What do you think, readers? Toss ‘em or turn them into something symbolically appropriate?
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
- Okay, tonight it was just character-weaving and dial-setting, but yes, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies *is* every bit as cool as you’ve heard. #
- Conan O’Brien last night: “YouTube, Twitter and Facebook announced a new all-in-one social Website coming soon. It’s called ‘YouTwitFace’!” #
- New post on our #S7S campaign site - a quick overview of last night’s character/setting/thematics pitch session: http://bit.ly/3EwkB #
- @greatwolf - Insightful thought-fodder on your blog the past couple days, dude. Good Form! in reply to greatwolf #
- Wanna REALLY know how to play PTA like @ptevis? http://bit.ly/a3tIP #
- @robertbohl … do you suppose that the movie was so bad that maybe it was NOT an accident, and your body was just getting back at you? in reply to robertbohl #
- @rdonoghue … which is often at least one hour BEFORE I even figure out what was going around that birthed the annoyance. in reply to rdonoghue #
- @KJToo … hey, it just might at that. Give it a try and let me know. in reply to KJToo #
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
Mags White tagged me into this book-lover meme over on Facebook, and I’m going to post my response over there but I figured if i take the time to share stuff like this about myself, I should post it on the Monkey too. Plus, I know how much my pal Rich Rogers likes memes. I’m definitely tagging him on my Facebook post!
1) Which author has written the largest number of books you own?
If graphic novels count, then it’s either Neil Gaiman or Brian Michael Bendis. Otherwise, it is Terry Pratchett with Jim Butcher not far behind.
2) Of which book you do you own the most copies?
If I understand the question correctly, then it’s the Bible. If I had multiple copies of any other books, I’d give them away.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
They DON’T end in prepositions, at least not as they were written when I pulled these questions out of Mags’ Facebook post and pasted them in here.
4) With which fictional character are you secretly in love?
If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret. Heh Heh. Actually, if I think about it, the fictional women I have had the longest relationships with and love best are Angua from Pratchett’s Discworld novels and Murphy from the Dresden Files stories. Hey, that’s odd. Both of them are cops. Oh, and I think I’ll be in love with Arya Stark once she is old enough to be in love with, assuming that ever occurs on the page.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding books read to children)?
I’m going to self-impose a limitation on this that requires my answer to include only books that I’ve read multiple times in their entirety. Because I’ve read portions of the Bible hundreds of times, and revisited portions of various textbooks and reference books many times. So to actually answer the question - Bard by Keith Taylor.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Plutarch’s Lives. I kid you not.
7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
I hate to say this, because I love the author and most of his stories. But it has to be Expiration Date by Tim Powers.
8 ) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, with Fool by Christopher Moore a close second.
9) If you could force everyone seeing this to read one book, what would it be?
Force? I hope I would not ever have to force someone to read a good book. But I’ll play along and say that I’d strongly recommend either The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch or Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
What are the criteria? Does it have to be some sort of highbrow art-house literature thingie? I have no idea. How about Chad Underkoffler? Yeah, he’s my pick.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Unlike most of my peers, I don’t consider a book being made into a movie to be the official stamp of wonderfulness. To me, the best adaptation-style movies seem to be based on Disney theme park rides. There are many good movies based on books I love, but there are more bad movies based on books I love, and in any case, my imagination paints better pictures. But you know what? I just thought of one. I’d love to see the novelizations of the Star Wars prequels made into movies - as long as George Lucas had no creative hand in the movies whatsoever and they were written and directed by someone who appreciates character, nuance, irony, and depth, but can still bring the action. Like Christopher Nolan or Joss Whedon.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
I think my answer to #11 probably used up my mindspace on this issue.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
The word “lowbrow” seems very loaded, snobby, and overly subjective. But hey, I’ll go with Mindspring by Jay Lake.
15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Fiction: China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station. Non-fiction: The God Who May Be by Richard Kearney.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
The ones I’ve seen on stage have always been the non-obscure ones. The ones I’ve seen on screen are pretty much always the non-obscure ones, too. But if I’m allowed to include productions that I’ve been in (which is sort of like seeing them, just from a different perspective, right?) Then the most obscure one is The Tempest. I was in that twice. Is The Tempest considered obscure? I dunno.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I almost never read current or “classic” mainstream fiction, and that has been true my whole life. As a result, I lack experience with most of the big name authors and their buzzy works of literary wonder. I’m not particularly embarrassed by it though.
23) What is your favorite novel?
I’ve read too many wonderful stories to pick one. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards saga. Powers’ Last Call, Declare, and The Anubis Gates. Lawhead’s Arthurian cycle (the first three, anyhow). Night Watch, my favorite Discworld book thus far. Gaiman’s American Gods.
24) Play?
The Lion in Winter. My favorite to watch, my favorite to perform, my favorite movie based upon a play. (Geoffrey: “Why, you chivalraic bastard! As if the way one falls actually matters.” Richard: “When the fall is all that’s left, it matters.”)
25) Poem?
It is way too obvious to pick Yeats’ The Second Coming or Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle. But yeah, those are my favorites.
27) Short story?
The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
28) Work of nonfiction?
Credo by William Sloane Coffin.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Hmm. Terry Pratchett wins for a long glorious streak of consistency. Christopher Moore is poised to move into that realm in my heart, but I’ve only read two of his books thus far.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
As a writer of screenplays - George Lucas. In terms of novelists … I haven’t actually read any of the ones that I often hear being called overrated, so it’d be unfair for me to jump on those wagons without direct experience.
31) What is your desert island book?
Wow. Okay … The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld. That way I get little snippets from a broad spectrum of Pratchett’s best stuff.
32) And… what are you currently reading?
Bard II: The Return of Felemid macFal by Keith Taylor
Cross-posted from The Harping Monkey.
Go to the Orphic Institute for Advanced Studies and secure a copy of the upcoming instructional manual for their revolutionary new memory-recovery process.
