No Quarter (Part VII)

So after, what, six years of people beating on them about the lame-ass coinage they have produced, you'd think the Mint would print enough money to buy a clue. And finally, finally, finally we are starting to see some Intelligent Design in these things - but not before producing another dodo or two.

California

Here we see noted naturalist John Muir moments before he was slain by a California condor, which had taken flight from a nearby stump. OK, it's not a stump, it's a boulder. OK, it's really El Capitan, best known for its appearance in an otherwise forgettable Star Trek movie. Actually, the formation shown is called Half Dome, and while nicer looking is less better known than El Capitan. Half Dome also serves as a litmus test for all Californians - is the dome half-empty or half full?

Seriously, this is to the problem of showing things in deep perspective when you have fractions of a centimeter to show that depth.

Rating C = Lame, but at least they didn't show the state shape.

Minnesota

California had its murderous condor - Minnesota has its giant killer loon. Here we see it sneaking up on its prey, a pair of boat-bound Lutherans who are stunned by the sudden appearance of a giant grey monolith in their favorite fishing spot. Soon one of them will touch it, and suddenly be given inspiration for the state invention - the Bass-Master.

Then the loon attacks and eats them.

And by the way, this takes the cake for most disturbing use of a state outline.

Rating D= Lemme look at Ohio again. Nope. It's not that bad. But it is close.

Oregon

Now things start getting interesting. Oregon doesn't have a lot that it wants to brag about (and the Mint didn't want to use their original idea - big letters saying "PLEASE GO AWAY!"), but it chose a nifty spot that I like. Looking at this quarter reminds me of the time Kate and I drove to California to rescue her car. On the way back, we stopped at Crater Lake for dinner, and put our names into the queue if a room at the rimside lodge opened up. Then we sat on the balcony in easy chairs, drinking tea until they told us we could stay the night. Then we switched to wine.

But pleasant memories are not the only reason to love this coin. It feels good with that clear space in the middle, and it looks good. Perspective done right. And no deadly avians.

Rating A = Way Cool

Kansas

So it took New York to bring Liberty in, and it takes Kansas to show another coin stalwart, the buffalo. This is another brilliant coin that is dominated by an image of the bison, and only upon examination do you see the state flowers (sunflowers) he's about to eat. And they are both natives.

A very smart incorporation of multiple elements. Well, two elements, which is shows restraint, another Kansan virtue.

Rating A = Way Cool

West Virginia

And lastly, a quarter that makes me want to break into song:

Well, I heard Monkey King blog about her
Well, I heard ole Monk put her down.
Well, I hope Monkey King will remember
The West Virginia New River Gorge Commemorative Quarter don't need him around anyhow.

Actually, the New River Gorge Bridge is pretty impressive from a geek level - second-highest bridge, longest steel span, that sort of thing. But I remember seeing it from the top as opposed to bottom, as most people, you know, drive on the bridge and never see it from river level. And even though it is a pretty esoteric site, they did get the perspective nice, much like the Oregon coin.

Rating B = Yeah, its nice picture. But it's still just a bridge.

More later, as we wrap this up.

Commercial Messages

We'll be right back with the exciting conclusion of our review of state quarters, but first, this just in:

Former WotC D&D Band Manager Charles Ryan is moving to England with his wife Tammy and two kids. We will definitely miss them (Charles was always the one in Call of Cthulhu adventures to bring along explosives, regardless of the situation, which always proved handy). As a result of the move, Charles is unloading a massive amount of D&D and other gaming memorabilia on Ebay. Big chunks of gaming history are going up on sale. The details are here, and the first phase of the auction starts on Tuesday. Go check it out!

ALSO: Stan of the Stannex is getting some traction in his quest for One Robot Dog. Here's a newspaper article on his adventures so far.

More later,

No Quarter (Part VI)

It is never a good sign when I get home for the day and find ten messages in this journal's mailbox. I may get, one, maybe two a day, and the occasional spam from America's Test Kitchen. But use the wrong illo in the write-up (Maine instead of Minnesota) and WHAM! Everyone checks in. I mean, these are more comments than when I had a light fixture explode in my bathroom (which most people agree that by putting two 60-watt bulb in there, we overloaded it).

Anyway, I've put the correct picture in the entry for Maine. Thanks to everyone who noticed (It is nice not being in a void). And Minnesota? You're not off the hook, yet. I'm getting to you.

Michigan

So, Louisiana, you want to claim most of the breadbasket? Fine! Michigan gets to claim the Great Lakes. ALL OF THE THEM. Even Lake Ontario, which is on the other side of, well, Ontario! Actually, this one does the “outline of the state” right in that it doesn’t clutter it up with anything else, shows that the Upper Peninsula IS still part of the state, and reminds you that, no matter where you are in Michigan, you are never more than 85 miles away from a messy, fatal boating accident.

Rating B = Not Bad

Florida

Another historical moment commemorated, in this case the tragic crash of the space shuttle Columbia with Ponce De Leon’s ship. The shuttle fell through a space-time continuum, and after escaping a planet ruled by monkeys, smashed into the Spaniard's ship, only to discover that the Fountain of Youth had turned Ponce De Leon into an orangutan!

OK, I have to stop doing these first thing in the morning.

Rating C = Kinda Lame, but you know they can’t use Disneyworld.

Texas

Yahknow, if there is one state in the union that DOESN’T need to remind us of their shape, it's Texas. And look at the Star. That Lone Star. That BIG Lone Star. It’s not like we’re overcompensating, or anything, eh?

This is a seriously bad coin - it is almost as if the intention was to make quarter with the look a feel of a game arcade token. Of course, the fact that the Texan state motto is "Two Plays For A Quarter" doesn't help. The lack of ornamentation is a visible reminder that most of the Lone Star State, like the asteroid belt and Sunday morning news shows, is empty space.

Rating D= Real Lame

Iowa

Man, you thought Alabama was desperate. Foundation in Education? Grant Wood? Arbor Day?

Why didn’t you just say “We Got Nothing”?

Rating D = Real Lame

Wisconsin

Another mixmaster, made more exciting by a mistake in the molds that gave the ear of corn an extra leaf! Wooo! Collectability! Otherwise, it is the corn and cheese and cow and the state motto, all thrown into the blender. Not horribly exciting.

By the way, the full state motto for Wisconsin is: “ Forward. Now Back a step. Now right. Your other right. Just a hair more. OK, that’s good. Now forward again.”

Rating D = Real Lame

OK, I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it may just be a reflection off the empty space that is the Texan Quarter.

More later,

No Quarter (Part the V)

You know that doing a series on the quarters is like adopting a puppy, right? That when you start and its all “Look! This state decided to show the state outline! Isn’t that Cute?” and it was all fresh and new, and then over time you have dog hair everywhere and the couch is half-chewed and smells funny.

OK, onward.

Illinois

Some states (like Ohio) are pretty desperate for images. Illinois, on the other hand has a lot to recommend itself. Sometimes too much. And it all shows up here.

It is the first coin to REALLY admit it has big cities, with its distinct skyline, and, yeah, Lincoln standing tall always looks good, with his hunky big-shoulders and law book tucked under his arm. AND we get the idea that this is the 21st century for the 21st state, but you know, you didn’t need ALL of it AND the state outline to boot. This is visual equivalent of the Chicago Building Codes – you can always add stuff, but you can’t take anything away.

Rating C = Linda Lame (sorry, Abe)

Alabama

Speaking of desperate . . .

Let me give Alabama its props. It COULD have gone with one of this mixmaster Bird+Outline+Flower+Tree designs, or even something celebrating the old (cotton) and the new (missiles) industries of the state.

But I never really connected Helen Keller to Alabama. I think it is a good coin, and I appreciate Alabama giving its turn for this, but I never really made the connection. I will in the future.

And the Braille on the coin for her name? Class touch.

Rating B = Not Bad

Maine

I can see the state legislature getting all excited when North Carolina decided NOT to use the Hatteras lighthouse on its coin, clearing the way for the famous (hang on, let me look it up), Permaquid Point Light. And its not a bad coin at all in that it shows a scene that I would connect with the state – a sailing ship about to run aground its rocky, inhospitable shores.

Rating B = Not Bad

Missouri

OK, Louis and Clark are hot, so I can’t really fault them for showing up here. And the Gateway Arch is s singular image, though it should be called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch because otherwise we would think it was connected with a computer company. But what is the deal with the stuff on either side of the riverbank. Am I looking a trees or river hydraulics or strange mushrooms from the caverns of the Drow?

Rating C = Kinda Lame

Arkansas

Wow, this one really hurts the eyes. The scene is a natural part of Arkansas – Duck and rice (The state dinner) on the shores of a lake (the state geological features), while a crystaline spacecraft from Sirius VI (The state UFO) hovers above, looking for native Arkansans to kidnap and probe.

This is what happens when you let Diebold computers count the vote.

Rating D = Real Lame

Man, they just keep grinding these out. More later.

No Quarter! (Part IV)

So I’m rolling through the quarters, trying to figure out what drugs the various committees involved with were doing when they made their choices. For the class of 2002, they were definitely doing the brown acid. And you should NEVER do the brown acid.

Tennessee

Tennessee seeks to unify its diverse cultures through their musical interests – trumpet (blues), fiddle (folk), guitar (country), and a musical score (graduates of High School Orchestra). An innocuous plea of “Can’t we all just play along?”

Rating C = Kinda Lame

Ohio

You put “Ohio” and “Coin” in to the search engine and you get the most recent scandals to rock this state, but the real scandal is this quarter. Ohio, whose motto is “Keeping Indiana and Pennsylvania apart since 1803” doesn’t even have enough self-esteem to find images of its own, instead relying on Kitty Hawk (NC) and the space program (FL), claiming that “Well, they were born here before they left to do important stuff elsewhere).

I suppose "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers" is a suitable inscription, since whenever I am in Ohio, all I think about is flight. As in fleeing to another state.

Oh, yeah, in case you forgot, this is what the state looks like, here's yet another state outline. I’m willing to bet that the even the state GOP didn’t speculate in this monstrosity.

Rating E = Lame beyond Lameness. A whole new category of lame. The Final Frontier of Lame, against which all future Lameness will be measured.

Louisiana

And when you think that the state outline concept is lame, here comes Louisiana to remind us that they once laid claim of everything up to and including Eastern Montana. They include the Eastern Montana state bird, the pelican, and a trumpet playing taps for this sad example of a coin.

Rating D = Real Lame but looks good compared to Ohio

Indiana

There’s not a lot you can say about Indiana, other than it hosts a massive race and acts as one big speed trap for the rest of the US. It has the ugly, ugly state outline, and a ring of 19 stars, one of which has escaped and has wisely moved to downstate Illinois.

Rating C = Kinda Lame

Mississippi

You know it’s a rotten year when Mississippi delivers the best coin. And actually, that’s no slam against Old Miss, because while the subject is a little ordinary (the state flower, and one of the better native state flowers), the rendering is really, really nice. And they show guts by going with a script font instead of the serif font. This is a classy coin.

Rating A = Real Cool

So I get a note from Scarlettina asking how I could typo her name in the last entry. All I can say is that I'm doing these in the morning, before heading for work. OK, so why did I typo her OTHER name in the blog roll, which I did NOT write in the morning?

I dunno. Probably it was the brown acid.

More later,

No Quarter (Part III)

So I’ve been doing an “American’s Top Forty” Countdown on the commemorative quarters the mint has been churning out. And most of the make me miss the old eagle that graced the back for many years. But the Class of 2001 didn’t really suck that bad.

New York

Finally, a quarter that gets around to putting Liberty on it. It almost makes up for the cardinal sin of putting the state outline to remind people what New York looks like. Actually, this is the most urban quarter so far, such that instead of “Gateway to Freedom” they really could have just said “Gateway to the Rest of the New York”.

Rating B= Not Bad – Liberty redeems the state shape.

North Carolina

Nice coin, single image, recognizable event. Just as New York is more than just the Statue of Liberty, North Carolina is more than just an experiment on the dunes of Hatteras, but that is the best, longest-lasting image of the state.

Rating A = Kinda Cool.

Rhode Island

They went with the title, “The Ocean State” even though native game company Hasbro offered to let them use “The Shrinky-Dink state” And the write-up says the coin represents the state’s most popular sport as sailing, when really it is pull-tabs and driving the ten minutes to Foxboro to root for the Pats.

But actually, the big sailboat is a nice design, and, like the Connecticut quarter subtly calls attention to it in your hand with broad expanse of cloth. A quiet, surprising little coin, just like the state itself.

Rating A = Kinda Cool.

Vermont

Well, I guess they couldn’t put Bob Newhart as an innkeeper on the coin. But the initial impression of the sap-gathering quarter is kinda boring, and when you dig deeper, it gets worse. The motto “Freedom and Unity” is both contradictory and co-dependent, and does not connect with the rest of the coin (freedom from store-bought maple syrup? unity with the trees?). And apparently the lumpy shadow in the background is “The Camel’s Hump” which is to Vermonts what the “Old Man of the Mountain” is the New Hampshirites. This mountain (which has NOT fallen down) was in EVERY suggestion submitted for this coin.

I mean, that’s just DESPERATE.

Rating C = Kinda Lame

Kentucky

Interesting coverup going on here – The writeup says that the building (Federal Hill) was where Stephen Foster (Native of Pittsburgh) wrote “My Old Kentucky Home”, but other sources indicate he was merely inspired for the song there. And it wasn’t his home anyway, it was his cousins, the Rowans. But “Rowans' Old Kentucky Home” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Sadly, even with this mild air of controversy, it’s a pretty forgettable coin.

Rating C = Kinda Lame.

And that is the five for 2001. A shout out to Scarletina who has picked up on these rantings.

More later,

No Quarter (Part II)

So with all the change laying around (it has been a while since I last was able to make a Friday Night Poker Game), I’ve been looking at the collectible quarters, rating them from Way Cool to Pretty Lame. Needless to say, there are a lot of pretty lame ones.

Here’s the class of 2000:

Massachusetts

OK, here we unite the concept of showing your state outline with a product placement for Sentry Insurance. I’m going easy on this one, because unlike the other disasters on the backs of our state quarters that look like they were put together by sixth and seventh graders, this one WAS put together by sixth and seventh graders.

Rating: C= Still Lame, though.

Maryland

Another good coin with nice feel to it – the open space above the dome calls attention to itself much like syncopations in a jazz riff. Of course, the image is forgettable (it is the Maryland state house – it only looks like a Turkish Pagoda). The words (which are supposed to read “The Old Line State”, not “The Line Old State”) is in reference to the Maryland troops ability to pick up chicks (“Well, yes, I am married, but my wife’s a Tory”).

Rating: B= Not Bad

South Carolina

Another blender of a coin with the outline, the state bird, the state tree, the state flower, and the answer to the state high school examination final (“Spell Palmetto. Palmetto”). You can just imagine the discussion over this one – Look, we voted in all the lame icons, we might as well USE them.

Rating: D = Real Lame

New Hampshire

Probably one of the more wordy coins to show up in a while - state name, E Puribus, State Motto (which is an ACTUAL SENTENCE as opposed to three random words), and a label for the odd shape on the coin – the scenic Old Man on the Mountain.

Shortly after this coin came out, the Old Man succumbed to the forces of erosion and collapsed. This caused a sudden outbreak of “The Curse of the Quarters” which is covered here by CNN. Yeah, they are really, really, REALLY reaching on this. I mean, these quarters are a curse by themselves.

Rating: B= Not Bad, but only out of respect for dead geological features.

Virginia

So here we have a moment of history collapsed, when Columbus’s ships arrived in the New World. No, that’s not right, these are the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery that brought the first settlers to Jamestown. These ships are forgotten by the rest of the nation, except for the one that is currently in orbit of Jupiter after HAL went crazy and killed everyone except Bowman.

Actually, not ones to miss an opportunity, the Virginia coin celebrates the 400th year anniversary of Jamestown . . . which is still a year away from now. But after this coin, they may not give them another chance.

Rating: C = Kinda Lame.

And that is for another year. And a happy birthday to the Monkey King, who got me started on this by ragging on the West Virginia quarter.

More later,

No Quarter (Part I)

So this has been on the “to-do” list for some time, and it just keeps getting more difficult with every passing year. When I was a child, comic books always had high numbers (often in triple digits) and coins rarely changed their appearance. The wheat cents and buffalo nickels were rarities to be picked out of your change, with the must of an age-gone-by, one of Indian Heads and Walking Liberties.

But now, just as comic books are flooded with #1 Collector Issues, the Mint has gotten into the “Gotta Catchem All” mentality of collectability and run out its own collection of State Quarters. Most of these are not just uninspired, but downright bad. Enough of them have been produced that we can get a vibe for the thinking (or lack thereof) behind them. And that's what we're going to do here - review the quarters.

Already certain rules have shown up to indicate that you make have a lame quarter:
If you have to remind people what your state looks like, you may have a lame quarter.
If you use a variety of different-sized objects, you may have a lame quarter.
If one of those object is produce, you may have a lame quarter,
If you have to label the illustration, you may have a lame quarter.
If, after you label the illustration, people still think it is something else, you DEFINITELY have a lame quarter.

The rating system will be, from top to bottom
Cool = A
Not Bad = B
Kinda Lame = C
Very Lame = D

With those as the ground rules, let’s go into the quarters. They were released at a rate of five a years (five quarters to a year just sums up the nature of Federal Bureaucracy), so we get to start with 1999. Pictures are ganked from the US Mint site.

Delaware

A man on a horse. The horse is nicely animated, but the rider might as well be straddling a fencepost for all of his implied motion. But, still, you could do worse than leading off with Paul Revere’s famous ride – What’s that? It says here that the rider is Caesar Romney, who despite illness rode to Philly to cast the deciding vote for Independence. Oh. I guess that's why he's riding so stiffly - among his illnesses we can add hemorroids.

Add to that the fact that Delaware is apparently expecting the return of Jesus Christ, so he can put a spin on his teachings by declaring “Render unto Caesar Romney what belongs to Caesar Romney, and render unto God what belongs to God”.

Rating: C = Kinda Lame

Pennsylvania

I am a proud export of PA, but their coin is a confluence of lame ideas - a gathering of objects, an outline of the state. There is a keystone (that’s the lop-tipped arrowhead on the left), because PA is “The Keystone State” (because PA was the middle child of the 13 colonies - the revolutionary Malcolm). The statue is of Columbia. No, it’s not Columbia, its Commonwealth, Columbia’s kid sister. Columbia couldn’t make it. And there is a state motto, which is of the “open the dictionary and grab some words” school (but that’s a rant for another day)

Now, part of this may be the fact that Pennsylvania is a fractured state. Most states have a division between urban and rural factions (Chicago and downstate, NYC and upstate, Puget Sound and the rest of the state), And the state capitol is usually (though not always) in the rural sections.

PA, on the other hand, has three big chunks – Philly in the SE, Pittsburgh in the SW, and a large rural and small town “T” of the rest of the state. People in the urban sections call this region “Pennsytucky”, which manages to offend both natives of the T and Kentuckians. But you notice that there are no images covering Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, but rather they cover the “flyover country” of the “T”.

Rating: D= Very Lame

New Jersey

OK, this one doesn’t suck too bad. It is one image, and that image has something to do with history of the state. Of course, it is Washington INVADING New Jersey from Pennsylvania, and the piece it is based on (Washington Crossing the Delaware) is hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, but at least it hangs together.

Rating: B = Not Bad

Georgia

Obvious the Georgians saw the PA quarter and said – “just as lame as that one”. Outline of the state, symbol of the peach (a native plant of China, brought over from Europe), sprigs of the state tree (the live oak), and a state motto that sounds like Ben Franklin in the depths of absinthe jones. “Oh," They added when they saw the craptacular result, “put the logo on a BANNER, will yah? That'll make it look better.”

Rating D=Very Lame

Connecticut

The best of the bunch, for a reason not mentioned by coin collectors. It has a really cool feel. Feel is underated for coins, but when I pick up a quarter, I am not thinking about what it looks like (I am usually thinking about putting it in a parking meter or something). But this finely-crafted coin, with the Charter Oak on it, just feels great, the branches link a reverse thumb-print.

Yes, it has a label on it, but there a fewer cases of mistaking it for some other oak in American History (well, maybe the Treaty Oak in Austin, but that’s another tale).

Rating A= Way Cool.

Yep, we're just getting started. More later.

The Week That Was

Well, it has been a full week, as they say.

A great deal of it has been preparation for the new job. Part of that is paperwork, but part of it is also embracing the learning curve of the game. Not just playing the game, but taking it apart and seeing how information is presented. I am not nearly far enough along, but I am getting the hang of it.

The biggest part of the week was wrapping up as much freelance as possible in the short time left. I have been very busy on the three halves nature of freelance (getting the job, doing the job, and getting paid for the job), and the week has been a combination of extricating myself from future work, finishing existing work, and getting all the invoices in place for final turnover. The end result hasn't given me nearly enough time to enjoy my flex-timed freelancing.

And I have to reflect on all the things I did NOT get accomplished during this time of working at home, including things like daily walks (too rainy or cold for the past two months), cleaning out the downstairs archive room, putting stuff on Ebay, tidying up my home office, baking bread, and reading James Joyce's Ulysses. On the other hand, I did get to 52nd level with my priest in World of Warcraft, and the cats have come to enjoy having someone in the house to drag the string around on their command.

Tomorrow morning, into the breach.

More later,

Sick

Actually, I'm feeling pretty good, myself, but it seems that everyone else is sick.

Check out the friends lists on the various live journals - people are sick. I've been on the phone for work-related stuff with employers and they are calling from home because they are sick. Meetings and decisions are put off because people are sick.

And nobody seems to think this is a problem. I mean, on an individual level everyone seems to be thinking "hey, it's just me".

I wonder at what point the media finally gets a clue? When someone sends out a press release?

More later,

I Become Employed, Yet Again

[Rocket J. Squirrel voice on]
That Trick Never Works!
[Rocket J. Squirrel voice off]

I've accepted a full-time position as a game designer for ArenaNet, makers of the Guild Wars game. The opportunity presented itself a couple weeks back, and after a solid (and long) interview, I was offered a position, I'm delighted to say I am returning to a more structured environment as a corporate creative. While I have enjoyed being my own man, regular paychecks are a definite "good thing".

This has all been a bit weird for me, in that I wasn't looking hard for a full-time gig, and have managed to survive nicely doing this freelance/consulting thing this time out. But as a result, I've been spending a lot of time over the past few days (and over the next few days as well) wrapping up outside commitments so I can concentrate on Guild Wars. I mentioned to one friend that I am facing this new challenge with a combination of excitement and mild dread, and he reminded me that this is how I confront MOST of the things in my life, so things should work out.

As with previous jobs, you probably won't be hearing a lot about what is going on, day-to-day, though I will mention when something is honest-to-gosh ready to see the light of day. I am continuing to work with Blue Byte on their project, along with my fiction, and will have a few things showing up over the next few months that I will mention.

And of course, I continue to relentlessly plug Dyvil, now submitted for the presitigious Origins Award!

More later,

The Day Off

So the Lovely Bride and I declared today to be the day off. With my freelance life, every day is effectively a work day, while she is the manager of a local H&R Block up on Benson and has been trapped by Initial Rush. Initial Rush in the tax season is when people get their tax information and file quickly because they are expecting (or at least hoping for) a refund. That has finally past (it was longer than normal), and now comes a breathing period before the Final Rush, which is made up of people who believe they will owe money. So while Tuesday has always been her day off, because of Initial Rush, she has been working them, or at least on call from her office.

But the Initial Rush is past, and I have been wrapping up a lot of freelance, so we made today the day off. We talking about heading north for the Tullip Festival, but it is too early and this year has been too cold. So instead we hit the zoo. And it was pretty good timing - a cool day right after President's Day Weekend with a grey sky, and the zoo was not too crowded. There were more than a handful of gangs of school children, acting like, well, school children. Animals defecating was a big subject of discussion. As we approached the elephant house, we heard cheers of "gross!" up ahead. Sure enough, we were soon passed by a gaggle of kids talking about elephants pooping. It was the highpoint of their trip, I think.

Kids shrieking "That gorilla is eating its boogers!" aside, we had enough quiet to listen to the animals as well as see them. The nervous clucks of a peregrine falcon. The booming chuff of a lion. The piteous yowl of a snow leopard expecting dinner. The highpitched bark of a peacock perched on the barn. The wood-block clicking of swans. I found this to be a singularly nice experience, in part because there were no kids around when we heard them.

Stopped in the city on the way back south for lunch at Ivar's at the pier. We were starved after a long walk and, as fate always has it, the waiter was not on the ball. We were left to our own devices for the first ten minutes in a near-empty restaurant, we had to point at the menu so he knew what we were ordering, he forgot the appetizer, and when he tried to make up by providing a desert, it was one that Kate couldn't eat for allergies (though he knew this from earlier discussions). Still we were patient, primarily because the food was good and we were more than a little exhausted.

And as we ate, there was a homeless guy stalking the pier, looking for food among the trash that the stuff the gulls had already picked over. It made me feel less whiny about not getting an appetizer.

When we left the restaurant, the homeless guy was with a friend, perched on the wall next to the Ivar's statue. As we approached, another pedestrian right ahead of us on the sidewalk reached out and gave the guy two boxes of desserts he was carrying - one of sugar cookies, the other of cupcakes. I suppose they were the remains of some luncheon. The homeless guys shouted their thanks as the Good Samaritan moved up the street.

I felt a little better about that.

More later,

Movie Night

It's the New Hot Meme - What movies would you watch over and over?

Create your own Movie List @ HotFreeLayouts!

So, what do all of these have in common? Anyone? anyone? Bueller?

Pink

So last night Kate was working real, real late, and I ended up sitting up and watchingThe Pink Panther on public TV (no commercials). I'm not talking about the Steve Martin version that is currently being kicked to the curb, but the original 1963 Pink Panther with David Niven and Peter Sellers. And it is an interesting movie in that on one hand it kicked off a line of sequels and even cartoons, while on the other hand, it is so very different than the rest of the cannon.

The original Pink Panther was supposed to be David Niven's movie, and for all intents and purposes it is - he's the charming, womanizing, stylish burglar, and the action stays mostly with him. He is the Phantom, the thief who is after the Pink Panther gem, who is sleeping with Inspector Clouseau's wife (yes, Clouseau was married, then). It is Niven who is trying to seduce the young princess that has the Panther. And it is Niven whose nephew (Robert Wagner) suddenly shows up to mess up his plans. It is for all intents and purposes a pretty amusing crime comedy set in the relaxed morals of the early 60s jet-set. There is a "European" attiude to cheating spouses and seductions in that it is not nearly as much of a crime (nor, apparently, is burglary).

The movie has some good sight gags (Gorillas robbing a safe) and a few good lines, but in general it feels like a slender thing. Most of the first half of the movie builds up to a sequence where Clouseau's wife hiding both Niven and Wagner from her husband in the hotel suite. After that, there is another build to a multi-vehicle chase scene with gorillas in convertables, and finally it resolves quickly in a courtroom sequence. There are more than a few gaps in logic (why did Niven throw his accomplice a key? What was the key for? How did a door that wasn't functioning suddenly fix itself? Why is a French chief inspector working in Italy?) and some definite weirdnesses (why the sudden foreign-language musical interlude in the middle? So the Pink Panther theme had a flip side recording?) and the final result is amusing, but not amazing.

What is amazing is that from this slender reed the entire Clouseau character eventually emerged. He has only the glimmerings of the massively slapstick character of later years (Indeed, the character probably peaked with Return of the Pink Panther and never got better, instead repeating itself ever after, like a Bond film). There is no chief inspector Dreyfuss or Cato figures, and Clouseau himself seems almost pitiful as the cuckolded spouse. Indeed, in the ending (where Niven/Wagner/Clouseau's wife/ (and for some unknown reason the Princess) frame Clouseau as the Phantom) do we get a bit of puckish British humor (He is more highly regarded as a thief than he was as a policeman), and there you get a bit of that sense of grand self-delusion that powers most of the rest of the series.

Indeed, Clouseau was so appealing that he was immediately wedged into another film, A Shot in the Dark, which better establishes his characteristics, even though it is pretty much a stage play with a field trip to a nudist camp welded on (I almost feel the intention was to do a nudist camp sequence and the rest of the movie was the build to that sequence). Then both Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers disappeared for Inspector Clouseu with Alan Arkin in the title role. Then, after THREE movies, the concept of Clouseau as most people have for a mental picture shows up in Return of the Pink Panther.

And much like William Powell's Nick Charles is not "the Thin Man", but is forever identified as such, Peter Sellers is "The Pink Panther" even though it feels like the original intent was to sent that in David Nivens direction.

On the other hand, I may just be staying up too late.

More later,

I Am A Leaf

From Lady Gumdrop

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Serenity (Firefly) 94% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 81% Moya (Farscape) 81% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 75% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 69% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 56% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 50% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 50% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 50% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 50% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 44% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

Still busy.

More Later

All is Quiet on Grubb Street . . .

Too quiet.

In the past week we've seen overseas riots over cartoons and the vice president shooting a 78 year old man in the face, and nary a snarky comment from these parts.

Yes, I'm busy with something.

No, I'm not saying what it is.

Yes, I will tell you when everything is in place.

More later,

Joyful Sound

So yesterday I spent most of the day slamming my head against deadlines (and most of today as well - one of the drawbacks to my independent/contracting/freelance life is that I am never off the job), then drove up to Cap Hill for a performance of the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Chorus. Editor, penny-smasher, and friend scarlettina is an alto in the chorus, and had sent out an invite to friends. Many friends, as we ended up with "fan-block" at the All Pilgrims Christian Church for their performance of "Family Happens".

The music was great, a mix of folk and Broadway tunes. I realize I haven't owned a cast album since, well, Godspell, but the Sondhiem and the piece from Wicked (with Janna as one of the soloists) were wonderful. Shout-outs for Jason Wodicka's moving solo on "Losing My Mind" (highpoint of the first half) and Mitch Hunter's humor in the second half.

They got a standing "O" from the audience. And for an encore, they did Bohemian Rhapsody.

Afterwards we adjourned to Julia's, a joint down the street, where the service was horrible but the company was great. Much discussions of a variety of matters. including the physics of curling (gee, I wonder who brought that up). I, living out in the great land of cows, llamas, and housing developments was amazed to be reminded that some places stayed open after 10 PM.

It was a great break. Now I have to get back to the slamming of the head against the deadlines (sigh).

More later,

Just A Meme Before I Retire for the Evening

How can I argue with this?

Grubb Street -- [noun]: A master of storytelling 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

It is on the Internet, so it must be true.

More later,

Dyvil (and Stan!'s Little Dog, Too)

In honor of submitting Dyvil: First Edition to the Origins Awards, Steve Miller has announced a Dyvil Giveaway. Details are here, or you can just drop him a line at nuelow@earthlink.net and include "Dyvil" in the header and list your email address, and he will send you a pdf of the game. So if you missed it the first time, here's your chance.

And in other news, Stan! is trying to trade up to get a robot dog. Yep, you read that right. He's looking for help to get a robot dog. The details on this are here.

More later,

The Dyvil and the Origins Awards

So with all the sound and fury about the Big Game, I didn't mention that Steve Miller and I have submitted Dyvil: First Edition (remember that?) for consideration for the Origins Awards for best RPG. Said submission consisted of burning off seven copies on CDs and a bit of other hoop-jumping and sending them out. Deadline was the end of January, but the folks there have been good enough to extend it for those interested in submitting.

Of course, sending out Dyvil for an award is another case of my putting some motion where my mouth is. I have been a long-time supporter of industry awards, and, now that we had something worth considering, felt that we should submit it. In my experience in the past, there is a feeling among a lot companies of "Why bother? We'll never get nominated! They hate us!" So they don't submit product, and then, when they don't get a nomination, get to say "See? We told you! They hate us!" when all they've really done is shot themselves in the foot.

And during the last year's nominations, there was a vocal group who felt that the judges should not just review that which was given them, but actively go out to find additional worthy games (sparing the grousing companies of having to send out promotional copies or anything). On one hand, I don't think that looking for good games is out of order - indeed, I was recommending Dogs in the Vineyard, which got high marks from the people who reviewed it. The trouble was, there were not enough judges who could get ahold of a copy (and I only got a copy from another designer), and so it missed the cut. On the other hand, the judges were buried by the submissions they did get, and it was little encouragement (from a side of time OR money) to seek out new work. So if you send them copies, you're ahead of the game from the get-go.

And once you remove from consideration nomination-worthy games whose companies didn't think to recommend them, we're dealing with a smaller pool of competition. Add to the fact that there was some whining last yeat about how all the nominations were "repeats" of previous works - second editions, revisions, expansions, etc . So this year anything that is even REMOTELY derivative should banished from consideration. Dyvil is completely original, and has its own wonky mechanic (the D666 system), AND had a limited press run. Very limited. Very, very VERY limited. It just drips with oozey Indy Cred.

And, speaking as a judge from last year, Dyvil is better than some of the nominees we actually had to hack through. You know, (other) one-joke RPGs. Stuff that beamed down directly from 70s. AD&D 2nd edition clones. Kafkaesque pdfs. Bloated hardback lovenotes to Photoshop and Quark. There was one in particular (no, you don't get to know who) - to whom I wanted to send a note - "I'm sorry, but all the rules fell out my copy in transit - could you tell me how to play your game?" Cull these out and we practically have a lock on the nomination.

So, between companies shooting themselves in the foot, judges being under time constraints, and the inherent goodness that is Dyvil: First Edition, I think we are looking forward to real race this year. And if we (by some strange circumstance) actually GET a nomination, we'll make a new special offer on the game (perhaps Advanced Dyvil), and cover it here.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that as well. So is Steve.

More later.

XL Redux: The Final Chapter

Other news around the Big Game (then I'll move on to other things - promise).

The party: I had about five friends over to witness my football epiphany, some of the football newbies (they are called refs, not umpires). Monkey King and Peter and Mets-fan Bill and John and Janice. Served up chili and chips and beer and some wine. The Lovely Bride was at work, Vicky was hiding, and Harley was taunted the entire game by John (I don't think Harley even met such a gung-ho cat person - most humans lay off after the first fifteen minutes).

The pregame: OK, whoever thought that the dancers in a Stevie Wonder medley should have white canes should be beaten with said white canes. What, you think no one was going to tell him?

The national anthem: Let Aretha sing the whole thing. Her reedy, thin-voiced duet-mate sounded like a microphone failure, but the Queen of Soul smoked.

The commercials: Best Commercial by acclamation: The Magic Fridge (All the Bud Light commericals were good). Second place: the prehistoric Fed Ex. Best fan-geek moment Leonard Nimoy for Aleve (gods, we're getting old). Biggest misfire - Pepsi (which kicked off a discussion about other things that were brown and bubbly - no, it wasn't pretty). And I have yet to see a Hummer commercial that didn't have the subtext - "be a jerk, drive a Hummer". MIA - Mickey D, Microsoft, Coke, and Coors (the "official" NFL beer). Where did they go?

Oh, and the ad for Poseidon sparked a discussion about who was still alive for the original, followed by a discussion about the late Shelly Winters. Bad news - you don't want your movie ads to do that.

The half-time: We picked the songs correctly in advance - Start Me Up - something you never heard before - Satisfaction. You lead with your second-biggest song and close with your biggest. The fact that "Satisfaction" Was in rotation before Super Bowl I shows that the old folks are still in control. And yeah, Mick is a geezer, has moved into "we hope to look that good at his age" category.

One more thing on the game itself: A gadget play. The Steelers ran a gadget play. Chuck Noll must have been screaming when they ran this successfully.

After the Game - Peter David's site mentioned that the Animal Planet channel was running "The Puppy Bowl" - footage of puppies playing on a football field set. The Lovely Bride stayed up late watching it (and the Kitty HalfTime Show). Ahhhhh, puppies!

The celebration in Pittburgh - dumpster fires and an overturned Nissan at Pitt. Given that people are still talking about when celebrating fans turned over a trolley years ago, it was a pretty quiet celebration. Cold and windy weather had something to do about it.

The mourning after - The Seattle press and bloggers have decided that Seattle lost to the following (In order of importance):
1) The Refs
2) Bad Time Management
3) Their own Miscues
4) Some guys wearing Black and Gold

As a long-time Steeler fan, let me merely roll my eyes.

OK, I'm done.

More later,

XL: Redux

So my team lost 21-10. Why am I smiling?

I'm smiling because they played a real good game. In a history of Superbowl blowouts over the years, they kept it going into the last quarter. They stuffed the Pittsburgh defense so effectively in the first half that it was almost as if the Pittsburgh fans mysteriously vanished. There were enough woulda-shoulda-couldas in the game to keep the hot stove league going through the coming months without football. Yeah, there were some groaners and some questionable calls (enough to keep the hot stove league in flammibles for some time as well), and it wasn't as tight as my prediction, but Seattle played well. They showed they deserved to be there.

What made the difference? After the first half, the Steelers settled down. The Seahawks didn't. That made the entire difference. While I fought the narrative, the Bus going to Detroit was a great happy ending. The Steel City waited 25 years for one for the thumb, and I'm glad they have it.

And I'm also smiling because I came to grips with being a Seahawk fan. For all of my even-handedness, I found myself cheering the Seattle catches and whinging about the calls. When put to the test, I rooted with my heart, and even with their defeat, am proud of their accomplishments.

Not to mention that, after it is all said and done, I'm still happy to be in Seattle.

Thanks for the championship year, Seahawks.

More later,

Mr. Wilson's Fin de Cycle

Radio Golf By August Wilson, Directed by Kenny Leon, Seattle Repetory Theatre, Januray 19-February 18

So the Lovely Bride and I spent Saturday celebrating our illuminati anniversary (the 23rd - hey, the waiter got the joke). We took in a play, visited the nearby SF Museum, and had a wonderful meal at Canlis. And the play was the last (in order, not in creation) of August Wilson's cycle based on Pittsburgh's Hill District.

I have seen a lot of the late August Wilson's plays - five of the ten in this cycle and read a sixth, and can safely say I've seen more of his work live than any other modern playwright (Shakespeare still beats him out overall). He plays in heavy rotation in my native Pittsburgh. When I lived Milwaukee, his stuff was at the public theater there. And I have seen a lot of his work here in Seattle. So for the longest time I thought that Wilson was the "go-to" guy for the African-American theater experience. You know "Hey, we need something this year about the African-American experience - see what Augie's working on."

The truth of the matter has been that I have been inadvertently stalking the man for years. He and I were both born in Pittsburgh. He moved to Minneapolis before I showed up in Wisconsin, and lit out to Seattle before WotC was up and running. I saw him in the flesh, once, when I was taking a playwriting course and we were getting a tour of the rep. I have seen so many of his plays in part because he was a local writer for wherever I have been, and because wherever he was, he wrote well.

In general, Wilson's work is about ideas, ideals, and passion, and how great dreams get undercut by horrible reality. If everything it looking good for a character in act one, you know that by the middle of act two everything has collapsed in on him. His is a world of strugglers and achievers who are always trying to deal with a racial world.

Now, Mr. Wilson tends to be a bit longwinded, and his plays tend to be overstuffed with ideas and personal monologues. These are not neat clockwork creations, but brawling, sprawling works. Sometimes it is just too much, like his lumbering King Hedly II. He also has a tendency for "sudden rage" - a character suddenly goes off and someone ends up dead and you in the audience ask yourself "Where did THAT come from? What clue did I miss?" The weird thing is that while this last bit freaks you out, in the overall cycle, you are left with that feeling of forboding that it can break out at any time. The rage is always there.

So, Radio Golf. The place is the Bedford Hills Redevelopment Office on the Hill in 1997, literally presented in the staging as bright spot in the surrounding urban decay. Real estate developer Harmond Wilks (Rocky Carroll) and his sidekick Roosevelt Hicks (James A. Williams) have a plan to redevelop a block on the Hill. Harmond Wilks is planning for a run as mayor, and his star is rising. He grew up on the Hill, but hasn't been back for years. The redevelopment plans hit a bump when there is a question about who owns one of the houses they are about to demolish.

For a good chunk of first act, Wilks has almost a Bob-Newhart sort of role, as he gets moved aside for more colorful characters, like Hicks, handyman Sterling Johnson (John Earl Jelks) and Elder Joseph Barlow (Anthony Chisholm), the old codger who claims ownership of the soon-to-be-demolished house. However, Hicks soon finds himself caught between doing right and doing business, and how, when he makes that choice (remember what I said about the middle of the second act?) he is punished.

The thing is, the "Sudden Rage" here is not that sudden and much more grounded. By pitching Hicks as a long-suffering sounding board, we can see his transition from outsider to native, from planner to doer. The very long-winded nature of Wilson's characters (they have a story to tell, so you might as well just hunker down and let them tell it), gives the audience the chance of following along with Wilks' transformation. When he does erupt, it makes perfect sense, and you feel for his frustration and anger. The world should be better than it is. But it is not. He makes a choice, and in doing the right thing suddenly finds himself cast aside, moved from the center to the edge, as the rest of the deals continue to spin without him.

Race is the centerpost of August Wilson's plays, and the dealings of oppression as a damningly reliable mechanism always waiting for you to slip up. But there is more here in Radio Golf - it is a transformations and transitions and heritage and family expectations. Hicks was the good son who followed his stern father's plan, and when he gets his moment, you see his evolution not just in racial terms, but also in terms of family and self-identity.

It's a good play, a good end to the cycle, and a good addition to a rocky REP season. And it is doing the job of attracting more newcomers to the theater, if the number of folk who forgot to turn off their cell phones is any indication.

More later,

XL: Eve of Destruction

So here we are, the day before the most important sporting event of this new century, one which will be talked about for decades afterwards.

I'm talking about the Men's Curling Finals for the Canadian Cup.

No! No! I'm talking about the Super Bowl. I've started the chili and have already picked up some chips andAlaskan Amber. I've having a few friends over to watch the game tomorrow. The windstorm last night caused a power flicker here but no downed trees or other impediments to sports enjoyment. (You can laugh, but when the Bears were in the Big Game, we had a cable failure in Lake Geneva, and we all ended up listening to the game on the radio, just like the olden days).

So, do I have any predictions? Yeah, the game will run one of two ways:

Option 1: Blowout - One team comes out flat. It gets behind by a couple touchdowns. They try to rally. There is an fumble, interception, or blocked kick that seals their doom. It is all over by halftime. My gang breaks out a boardgame. Adverstisers who have paid more per minute of time than we're spending Iraq slam their heads against the walls.

Option 2: The Close Game Early trade of field goals as both defenses come out hard. A breakout run by a veteran running back. A brilliant pick of a well-thrown ball run back for a TD. A deeply questionable call at a critical moment. It will be decided by a field goal in the last two minutes, if not overtime. Cardiac care units will be overwhelmed after the game.

Naturally, I prefer #2 - both the teams deserve to be here, they had great championship games, and I want to see them go head to head, with everything falling into place for both teams.

Who do I think is going to win? While I think Pittsburgh is a great team and a great city (that's so my relatives will still talk to me after this), yunz should dance with the girl that brung yah. I'm going to say Seattle, but only by that field goal.

More later,

Other People's Blogs

The ever-sedate Nik Chick goes after blatant sexist marketing in the RPG industry with a stick. I'm with her on this, and not just because she gives a product from one of my lines a positive nod for showing attractive women within the context of the product. The offending examples from banner ads deliver the message that not only are some companies comfortable with the fact that no woman will ever encounter their product, but that they are more than just a little scared of gurls.

Her husband, Chris (who I also understand is somehow involved in the gaming industry) also scores points with 10 Fundamental Contradictions in RPG Publishing.

Also, from the Monkey King's friends list (best in the bidness), from "J", pulled from a message board, a story about how the Karl Rove and the President are apparently big Babylon 5 fans.

Yeah, you can imagine Rove with the big Londo sideways-mohawk hairstyle, shouting "Vir! Ve must swiftboat G'Kar! At vunce!"

More later,

XL: Trash Talk

Now this is more of the narrative I expected - X-Box versus Lunch Box (courtesy of my brother).


Now, mind you, I know a lot more Pittsburghers that look like the guy on the right than the guy on the left, but again, we're talking mental state here.

And speaking of mental state, apparently the Seahawks "Seattle Nice" strategy (Be pleasant, hit hard in the game) is taking its toll on the Steelers, who are looking for something, anything, to fire themselves up with. Bettis already went after the media for "disrepecting" the Steelers by making them the favorites (by belittling their opponents that means that the Steelers are not that hot . . . or something). Now Joey Porter has apparently blinked in the face of Seahawk niceness and unloaded a volley against Jerramy Stevens, who had the gall to say about Jerome Bettis "It's a heartwarming story and all that, but it will be a sad day when he leaves without the trophy."

I'm sure Stevens sounded like Ned Flanders, with a couple of "diddleys" and called it the "trophy-a-dophy" but that was enough to prime the Steelers' loose cannon, who declared "We're going to try to tap out as many people as we can". He then explained what he meant by "tap out", but of course, as everyone from Seattle already knows that means to exhaust your mana pool until you untap by change of posession or by gaining a new set of downs.

And the local paper ran a "Pittsburgh versus Seattle" comparison. Seattle has better beer, Pittsburgh more rivers, that sort of thing. And they set up kiddie host JP Patches against Mr. Rogers. Actually, it should be Mr. Rogers against Bill Nye, the Science Guy (Mr. Rogers still wins). JP Patches could be better compared to Paul Shannon, whose "Adventure Time", loaded with Three Stooges episodes, Kimba the White Lion cartoons, and the silent comedic stylings of Nosmo King, shaped a generation of young TV Viewers.

More later,

Updates

What a difference a day makes.

- The Super Bowl committee wants it to be known that it has R-E-S-P-E-C-T for Motown's musical heritage, and that soul legend Aretha Franklin will be singing the National Anthem. Which means she will have more people paying attention than willing be hanging around for Keith Richards.

- The Capitol Police have apologized to both Cindy Sheehan and Congressman's Young's wife for their ejections. Still no clue why the latter was merely removed while the former was dragged off in handcuffs. And how's that Anthrax investigation going, guys?

- And all that stuff in the SOTU about energy independence? Never mind.

More later,

XL: Musical Interlude

So let me get this straight - the Big Game is being held in Detroit, also known as Motown (as in "Showdown in Motown"). And that name is best known from Motown Records.

And the half-time show is . . . The Rolling Stones?

I mean, does Detroit make music the way it makes cars (mostly in its memory)?

OK, I'm no longer being snarky! Really! Starting . . . Now!

(And what's the deal with Spider-Man's new outfit - Sorry, sorry, stopped being snarky!)

More later,

Stuff, Sotu, and Snarkiness

Well, someone woke up on the snarky side of the bed this morning . . .

Caught part of the State of the Union (SOTU in these acronym-friendly times), and the line about getting the Line item Veto perked up my ears. This was a 90's thing, and it was a bad idea then as it is now. And why would an administration need a line-item veto when it hasn't vetoed a bill in its entire time in office? Was this the Mars/Hybrid/Steroids sort of thing to show they were 'thinking outside the box'?

Then it hit me - the Administration expects to lose big this fall, and is already preparing for dealing with a hostile Congress.

As for the rest, it is kind of obvious that the presidential speechwriters are also moonlighting on the Daily Show - they do the setup lines in the speech, and the punchlines the next day.

Washington Fashion Police arrested Gold-Star Mom Cindy Sheehan for wearing white after Labor Day. Hah! I kid! Actually, it was for "protesting" by wearing a message T-shirt about US deaths in Iraq. What struck me was the murkiness of the media reports- that she was detained (actually, she was arrested, handcuffed, and tossed in the jug for a few hours), and that she had a banner (it was a T-shirt). And this was right in the middle of a heavily-covered media event.

And in the sense of balance, the Media located the wife of a Florida Congressman who was also ejected for wearing a message T-Shirt, this one supporting the troops. She was told she was being treated the same as Sheehan. Well, except for the dragging and the handcuffing and the arresting part (and she got to call the official involved an idiot).

And Dick Cheney was made to change His shirt. It read "I'm with Stupid." (Hah! Take THAT, Daily Show!)

I may have missed this in the speech, but who has more homes without electric power, Baghdad or New Orleans?

And moving on to more important matters, I have to state I think the recent Oscar nominations show the lowness and moral turpitude of the Academy. How can you NOT nominate Jack Black for his star turn in King Kong?

Over on the XL beat - the big argument on EPSN was "chin wars" - who has a more impressive chin? Cohwers jutting prominence or Holgrem's multiple redundencies? God, and its only Wednesday.

And finally, there were 14 inches of rain in January up here in the Real-Time offices of Grubb Street. So maybe that's why the snarkiness.

OK, I'm done.

More later,

XL: Ouroboros

So, after a week of intensively and relentlessly pushing the fact that Bettis is coming "home" to Detroit for the Big Game, I saw this crawl on ESPN - Is the media attention about Bettis coming "home" to Detroit becoming a distraction?

It is only Tuesday, and the Press has already swallowed its own tail.

More later,

XL: The Narrative Emerges

So the Big Game is upon us, and like most big games, it has to be more than just two teams meeting on the field. It has to have greater importance, deeper meaning, and act as a metaphor for our lives. It has to have an underlying narrative.

In the weeks of the playoffs, the expected narrative was overturned, and the story-tellers have been scrambling to regain their footing ever since. The Narrative was supposed to be "The Unbeatable Colts" - a championship run that would rival the old Dolphins. It was going to be a coronation following a championship year. Well, the Steelers put an end to that dream, knocked the Conventional Wisdom off its pins, and left it groping for concepts.

The Steelers, Conventional Wisdom said at the start, were lucky to get into the playoffs at all. They were the sixth seed, the "Miss Congeniality" of the playoffs, soon to get bumped off by more powerful teams. Except they didn't. They were supposed to lose to Cincinnati, then to Indianapolis, then to the Broncos, and they failed to fall on their swords. Instead they played very good football.

Ditto the Seahawks. CW stated that they would at least get into the playoffs, maybe a wild card, because their division was weak and they had a cake schedule, but once the playoffs started, they would be pasted by more capable teams. That failed to happen, and they rolled forward as well, much to the chagrin of people who were supposed to know better. And a week and a half ago, we were seeing these two teams earn their way to the Big Game.

And at the time I wondered what the spin would be. Given that the media did not prepare its fans for this result (indeed, even in the last quarter of the Steeler's rout of Indianapolis, you could hear the announcers straining for say how Indy could still turn it around), how would they recover. Was this game going to be New Tech versus Old Tech? Xboxes against rolled steel? West against East? White Collar against Blue Collar? The Nation's Richest Guy against the Wage-Earners (don't look at the Steeler salaries - we're talking about image here).

Actually, it looks like it's going to be Good against Evil. And Seattle is being fitted for the devil suit.

In the press, the Seattle team is being ignored at best. We have the Runningest Running Back in the bidness in the form of Shaun Alexander, but the Narrative is fixed on Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, who is returning to his home town to play what may be his last game. Over on the QB side, Matt Hasselbeck has matured into an excellent quarterback, but the attention is on Hot (!) Young (!) Talent (!) Ben "Big Ben" Roethlisberger. (Maybe Paul Allen should put a few bucks in the budget next year to buy his guys nicknames).

But in the warm and fuzzies that surround the Big Game, Seattle the location is being villified. We are strangers in our own land, kids from the boonies, unknown and suspect. Vaguely unamerican. Lattes, sushi, liberal politics, with a city government that is not going broke. You know, suspicious. There is a lot of mention of the Lenin statue in Fremont, not so much for the Troll three blocks away (because that doesn't fit the narative). Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is being hoisted up as the working man's city, broad-shouldered, burly and patriotic. It is Steelworker Chic, even though the only steel it produces these days is its defensive line. Pittsburgh haven't rolled steel since the team went "One for the Thumb in '81", the old mills are cold and converted to light industry, reseach labs, and movie-plexes. Still, the memories give Pittsburgh as supposed superiority as a city, which then informs the rest of the reporting. Everything is supposedly BETTER in Pittsburgh, validated by its teams successes. I actually read an editorial in the Seattle papers from a Seattilite living in Shadyside extolling, among other things, how better Pittsburgh's traffic is (OK guys, you can quit giggling).

Now of course, it is relatively . . . dumb . . . to tie the self-worth of any town solely to the success of its sports team. One does not connect to the other. Seattle housing prices or sandwiches from the Primanti Brothers have very little to do with the exploits of the men of the field. In a larger sense it is a shame because football teams are more regional now, and focusing on Seattle the city and Pittsburgh the city sort of misses the point of the regional boosterism. People who are frustrated by Pittsburgh the City bleed black and gold when it comes time to play the game, and strong support for the Seahawks come from the surrounding suburbs. But I suppose a game between the Puget Sound Seahawks and the Western PA Steelers wouldn't have the same resonance. And it is all about the Narrative.

I think part of the rising good/evil narrative is in part the result of the Steeler fans. Sorry, the Steeler Nation. While Seattle is proud to have its 12th man (note to Texas A&M - Bite us), its fandom is relatively young and unblooded, aided by excellent team play and home field architecture that funnels the sound into the center of the field. Pittsburgh has fandom down to a generational science, from the terrible towels to the really, really goofy sports songs (something that is missing out here, which makes us even more . . . suspect . . . . in the minds of others). I have watched the chattering classes go from admitting that the Steeler Fans "travel well" to conceding home field advantage in Pittsburgh. Its easy to identify with the wielders of the Terrible Towels. Seattle remains mysterious, and therefore mildly threatening.

So the new Narrative? Coronation of Pittsburgh, Return of the Conquering Hero in Bettis, Start of a New Steel Dynasty. Seattle is merely a bump in the red carpet. The Steelers want it more, demand it more, and therefore should get it. How dare the Seahawks rain on this parade?

The only warning I can post is that the Conventional Wisdom has previously picked each of Pittsburgh's opponents as going "all the way" and failed to take into account the fact that Pittsburgh kept winning simply because it is a very good team. Now that the CW has swung to their side, I'd be worried. The CW's track record isn't that good. And Seattle is a very good team.

More later,

May the Kinetic Force Be With You!

So "Joe" sent me this quiz.



(For those who aren't familiar with the game, Plo is an alien Jedi who has a bell-shaped figure (much like yours truly) and as a result is relatively hard to knock over in the game - he's sort of Jedi Wheeble.

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D&D's Children

From The Onion's interview with Stephen Colbert:

AVC: You were into Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, were you not?

SC: Yeah, I really was. I started playing in seventh grade, 1977. And I played incessantly, 'til probably 1981—four years.

AVC: What's the appeal?

SC: It's a fantasy role-playing game. If you're familiar with the works of Tolkien or Stephen R. Donaldson or Poul Anderson or any of the guys who wrote really good fantasy stuff, those worlds stood up. It's an opportunity to assume a persona. Who really wants to be themselves when they're teenagers? And you get to be heroic and have adventures. And it's an incredibly fun game. They have arcane rules and complex societies and they're open-ended and limitless, kind of like life. For somebody who eventually became an actor, it was interesting to have done that for so many years, because acting is role-playing. You assume a character, and you have to stay in them over years, and you create histories, and you apply your powers. It's good improvisation with agreed rules before you go in.


I always wondered what would happen when the kids who played D&D became the movers and shakers of society.

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Mighty Moon Massacre

So, this is a World of Warcraft post that shows unintended consequences - or rather, something that sounded like a good idea at the time.

As one of their events, they are celebrating "Lunar Festival". This is a time when both factions (Alliance and Horde) can get together in Moonglade, neutral turf, and set off fireworks and dance. As two of the activities, high levels fight an ancient evil from beneath the lake while low levels can gather coins from various elders across the continents, which they then turn in for special prizes.

Oddly enough, the second activity is killing more players than the first one.

These elders are in easy locations (racial starting areas, main cities) and tougher ones (in higher-level locales, and "instances" - dungeons). But what is an easy local for one faction is a difficult one for another. So now Horde players have a reason to break into the Alliance citadel of Stormhaven and while Alliance figures can visit the Horde starter town of Brill. And while the starting areas may have low level PCs, they are protected by high level PCs. And low level coin-gatherers can quickly find themselves outmatched.

And now fields of broken skeletons crunch underfoot around the major cities as people try to get as many of the coins as possible. And the end result of this celebration of the united races of Azeroth results is more massive carnage than usual. You have to wonder whose side these elders are on.

More later,

Fixing a Hole where the Meme comes in

My fingers ache from the typing for the past few days, so you people get a meme (sorry about that).

You scored as Discordian. You are a Discordian! That makes you a real oddball, and this is a fact in which you take great pride! Everything is funny, and really, who cares anyway? Synchronicity is the Great Cosmic Comedy, and meaning is where you find it! Have you hugged your paradigm today? Discordian 85% True Alternative 85% Mystic 75% White Lighter 75% Spiritualist 60% Magician 55% Aimless Eclectic 50% Otherkin 15% What Subversive Alternative Paradigm Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

How to Handle the Scandal

[A Political Monologue]

THAT?
We would never to THAT.
Never, ever.
Trust us on that.
THAT would be wrong.
THAT would be illegal.
THAT would be un-American.
We’re offended that you would even think we would do THAT.
What’s that?
There are reports?
About THAT?
Well, sure there are reports.
Rumors, Innuendo, Gossip.
People who just hate America.
But there is nothing to it.
Because we would never do THAT.
No one would believe it if we did, anyway.
What’s that?
There are photos?
Of THAT?
Who would be so low as to take photos of THAT?
Only someone who hates America.
That’s who!
We Demand to know who took those photos!
Of THAT
Which we didn’t do.
Who would dare accuse us of THAT?
What?
A four-star general?
Well, sure.
We heard some of his medals were fake.
We didn’t say they were fake.
We said we heard they were fake.
No, we don’t want to talk about our own military record.
But we still maintain we never did THAT.
Which, we’ve decided, is legal after all.
Just now.
In special circumstances.
No, you can’t know what the circumstances are.
They’re secret special circumstance.
Look! A Terrorist!
Osama’s Right Hand Man!
OK, so it was his dentist.
OK, so it was a complete stranger in a fez.
Where were we?
Are you still going on about THAT?
Yes it happened.
But Clinton did THAT too.
Did we say Clinton? We meant Carter.
Well, he would of done it if he wasn’t such a big wuss.
Fine. Let’s talk about THAT.
We did THAT.
Everyone knows we did THAT.
Why are you acting like we kept it some big secret?
So that’s THAT.
But THIS OTHER THING?
We would never do THIS OTHER THING
Never, ever.
Trust us on THAT.

More later,

Football Theology - XL Edition

So here's the question for both football diehards and sunbreak fans - Your current NFL home team has made it to the NFC playoffs. They need to win this one to make the Superbowl. You have another commitment. What do you do?

Here's another one - Your childhood NFL team has made it to the AFC playoffs. They need to win this one to make the Superbowl. You have another commitment. What do you do?

And of course, the topper - Both your childhood and current NFL teams have made it to the NFC and AFC playoffs. You have another commitment. What do you do?

I chose the other commitment, on a matter of faith.

The other commitment was a private party and partial screening/update for The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, which I first wrote about back here. They had set the date and rented the hall (the Historic University Theatre, just north of the U-District) before it became clear that both the Steelers and the Seahawks would have championship years. I strongly considered passing on the shindig at the last moment, but I went and I am glad I went.

First off, it's because my bits are still in the movie. I excel in my role as Office Extra, and I have a few lines (which are still there). And they look pretty good - there are number of industry types doing cameos in the film, including Monte Cook, Ed Stark, and Rob Stewart (who also have lines and also look good). But more important than my mere ego, the movie itself is hilarious - it captures just the right balance of gaming humor and broad comedy timing. It was a friendly house (everyone in the theater had worked on the film), but we were roaring, despite the fact its an early draft without SFX or music. The humor is broad and very typical for your standard gaming night. I'd say more, but they NDA'd everyone, so I'm just waiting for it to come out. Find out more about it here.

And they also ran some of their podcasts, which you can find on the Dead Gentlemen site. And they were broad and hilarious as well, and yeah, some of you may think less of me because I laugh at these things. I'm willing to take that risk. They used to have a comedy show in Seattle called "Almost Live", which was had both Pat Cashman and Bill Nye the Science Guy. This was funnier.

Anyway, how do I justify ditching my childhood/current teams? Turn my back on the 12th man and the Terrible Towel? Easy - I felt that if I stayed home to watch, it would be saying that I felt that these would be their last games, and that I was sure they were going to lose. By going, I was declaring my faith that they would win. And they both handily handled their opponents (I caught the back half of the Seattle game, after all), showing that my faith was not misplaced.

Now here's the final theological question. Your current NFL team and your childhood NFL team are in the Superbowl. Who do you root for?

More later,

Workstorm

There is a problem with the freelance life: Half the job is getting the job. Half the job is doing the job. And Half the job is getting paid for the job. Yeah, there's a math error in there. I said there was a problem."
- Me

So the Workstorm: A very heavy week of writing, a triple witching hour of deadlines, a couple opportuntities and a disaster or two.

I don't normally talk about the job, since what I'm doing is so far ahead of the schedule that there are things that aren't yet announced or may change serveral times between then and now. But this week I was involved in creating a new character for a lecensed card game, finishing up a bit of short fiction of another card game, delivering dialogue for a computer game, revising that dialogue when last-minute changes were made to the design (and the recording session was scheduled for Thursday), revised the new character for the card game, revised the dialogus again (the recording is still to be made by Thursday), wrote an introduction for a friend's book, shared some thoughts about game experience, had two interview/lunches, and got feedback for the short fiction for revision. All of which went very well ( meaning the people that I gave stuff too liked it) but it resulted in a lot of late nights.

And a project blew up that I was planning on working on, knocking me back a few squares. And I'm a little bummed out abou that, but this is one reason I don't announce what I'm working on, so I only bore close friends with the details.

Still, I pretty much weathered the storm intact. Working out of the home office has been pretty nice, and I haven't had to slog out into the rain (10 inches since the begining of the year, thank you very much). I' ve been able to sleep in until 8, and my biggest distraction is Harlequin the Cat, who wants me to walk around the house dragging an old bootlace for her to chase.

What I haven't been able to do yet has been clean out my office, organize my receipts for the Lovely Bride, get that book outline I promised out the door, or start in on the Archive Room, which is sort of like the Bat Cave, except is has a bajillion old games and comic books in it instead of supercomputers and a big penny.

I guess that's this week.

More later,

Coinage

Yes, the Workstorm has abated a little (I am starting to think of Friday as my Saturday, since I spend Sunday in preparation of Monday), but instead of talking about that, I want to go into the Washington State Quarters Three designs have been chosen as finalists, which are, from left to right, Pretty Lame, Kinda Lame, and Kinda Cool.

Pretty Lame is the one on the left, your standard grab-bag of state images thrown into a mixmaster and thrown against a map of the state (Just in case you forgot what it looks like). A salmon, an apple, and Mt. Rainier. Definitely put together by a commitee to not offend anyone, and typical of the bulk of bad designs we've seen on the quarters (so there is precidence for it). I'm really curious if Wyoming (the Box State) and Colorado (The Other Box State) are going to go for the state boundaries look as well.

Kinda Lame is the middle one, which reduced the number of images (Rainier and salmon) and at least has some idea of a illusion of depth of the viewing plane. Still, its an animal and a natural feature, which other states can do as well.

Kinda Cool is the third one, a pacific NW tribal presentation of an orca. I like this because it is a single image, but also because I think it will also give the coin a particular feel to the touch (The Connecticut quarter with its Charter Oak does the same thing - I think this is a great coin). Yes, I have examined quarters I've pulled out of my pocket when they feel different - most of the unique state quarters just get pushed into the coke machine without a second thought. This one is stylistically different from the rest of the breed, and will stand out like the flag of New Mexico always stands out among the cluttered calvalcade of other flags.

But that's my vote. Scarlett is running her own poll, in case you're interested.

More later,

Memory Lane

So the new issue of the Comics Buyers Guide is out (#1615), with a lot of articles about fantasy comic books (complete with Red Sonja cheesecake on the cover). Among the other excellent articles, there is a nice article about the history of D&D in comic books, written by James Mishler and featuring numerous quotes and stories from yours truly and TSR Vet and fellow Alliterate Steve Sullivan.

It was good to think about the work on the D&D Comics,Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms, which have slipped into the collective memory of "oldies but goodies". And it reminded me how much fun it was to write comics - it was a collaborative effort (much of it with now fan-favorite Rags Morales). And it is something that I would love to do again, if the opportunity presented itself (hint hint).

In the mean time, the workstorm is continuing to blow, though it should taper off sometime today.

More later,

Quote of the Day

Still in Workstorm, but had to share:

" From age eighteen to twenty, I read nothing but E. E. Cummings as a rule. - Well, E. E. Cummings and Dragonlance. - Which I guess explains everything."
- Tycho, from Penny Arcade

More later

Well, crud

You Should Be A Virgo

What's good about you: you have a quiet determination and aren't swayed by emotions What's bad about you: you are an insane perfectionist and easily find faults in others In love: you are obsessed with making your partner happy In friendship, you're: helpful and giving - eager to be a true friend Your ideal job: poet, flight attendant, or natural healer Your sense of fashion: casual, upscale, revealing, conservative - you look good in all of it You like to pig out on: a well prepared five course meal

What Sign Should You Be?

Because, you know, I am a Virgo. Though I never wanted to be a flight attendant.

More later, the workstorm is still going.

Under the Deadline Gun

While I am delighted to see that we are heading to a Pittsburgh/Seattle Superbowl, I am facing a two-project deadline that has become a three-project deadline. Ah, the joys of freelance. I will check back in in the next day or so.

More later,

Football

I tend to accumulate football teams. If I've lived in an area for a while, I tend to become a fan for the local team, and when I move, I still root for that team. This doesn't happen in baseball, but over the years I have and am a fan of Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, and now Seattle.

[Note that while I went to school in Indiana, Indianapolis is not on the list, because they a) didn't have a team when I lived there and b) got their team by declaring that Baltimore had weapons of mass destruction and moved out in the dead of night.]

Anyway, this weekend, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Seattle are all playing. And they aren't playing each other (yet). AND, as a added bonus, Pittsburgh is playing Indianapolis.

So I'm parking the laptop in front of the tube and letting myself get swept up in the moment.

More later,

Saturation

In the first 12 days of January, we have had 7 1/2 inches of rain up here on the hill, according to the rain gauge on my back porch (which my parents sent me soon after I moved to Seattle). Add another 6 inches from December (most of that in the last two weeks of that month), and we have a truly wet winter on our hands.

The situation out here is serious but not critical. There have been mudslides and foundations threatened and overflowing banks and sandbags and submerged docks in the Puget Sound area. Closer to home, the Panther lake has spread out as far as the road, but thanks to some irrigation work, has yet to spill over the asphalt. The house itself is doing well (touch wood) save for more branches coming down. We're on pretty stable, level ground, high up, and not near the edge of any large drop-offs.

There is a lot of talk about records right now, particularly one in the 30s for 30-some days of rain. Those of us who remember a 91-day period of daily rain would quibble, but there is a difference between the two records. The long previous period of rain was pretty much Seattle Rain - overcast and a little drizzly, getting harder in the evenings. A very pleasant rain. This current spate has been hard and continual, and midwestern-style rain of heavy drops. And with the ground totally saturated, it is running off as flooding.

Seattlites are notorious for favoring the wet, and through the long, clear high summers, the continual blue skies actually makes them a little twitchy. But I think even our most hard-core precipiphiles are nearing the end of their tether, and ready for a few mountain days.

More later,