Play: One Tough Mother

Mother Courage and her Children by Bertolt Brecht, Translated by David Hare, Directed by Jeff Steitzer. Seattle Shakespeare Company, through 22 November.

Another one to put in the "Too Late for a Review to Matter" file,which is a pity, since this is worth showing up for.

Spoilers abound, but seriously, this is Mother Courage. If you don't know about it, you really should get thee to a wiki. Written (according to legend) by Brecht in the white-hot heat of Hitler's invasion of Poland and the resulting "Sitzkrieg" when nothing much happened despite war being declared, Brecht was taking on attitudes towards patriotism and war at the very time that his country's leadership was rallying the people for another four years of pain, loss, and agony. Very much speaking truth, or at least irony, to power.

The aforementioned mother (Jeanne Paulsen) is an independent operator in war-torn Europe (the Thirty-Years war, to be exact, in the 1600s). She is a canteen operator following the big armies, selling brandy and lootables to the troops. It is a religious war, but Mother Courage is all about the guilders. The only thing she cares about more than her wagon and her supplies are her children Eilif (Trick Dannecker), Swiss Cheese (Spencer Hamp), and the mute Kattrin (A brilliant Chesa Greene). She tries to benefit from the money sloshing around in the wake of the armies, but wants to protect her children from it. But one by one, she loses them to the very master she serves, leaving her to pull her wagon alone.

The humor is supposed to be black to the point of ultraviolet, and Mother is not supposed to be a sympathetic character. Brecht apparently went back after the debut to make her less vulnerable and likable - he was after what he called epic theater - unlikable protagonists, multiple roles to actors, characters breaking out into song, episodic as opposed to continual flow of action, minimal sets, emotional distance. A lot of which has been picked up over the course of the years by the rest of theater so "epic theater" starts feeling like, well, "theater".

But it is hard not to find sympathy with Mother Courage - all she wants to do is protect her family. The fact that she is endangering them by dragging them into a war zone in the first place is lost on her. And that's the tragedy of the pragmatic Ms. Courage - she thinks she has it all figured out, when in reality she is one more pawn on an ever-growing chessboard.

Jeanne Paulsen is a great strong-willed family mandarin, but even her performance encourages us to root for Courage even as her family is peeled away, opportunities are missed, and blind patriotism presents its butcher's bill. Her voice is strong, but overpowered by the music sometimes (though the entire company is much, much better than the alien landscape of the Mr. Burns play). The audio guys really should be sitting in all the seats to set their levels, and support the actors as opposed to fighting with them. Chesa Greene just disappears into here role as Kattrin. Alyssa Keene as the camp follower Yvette was good and could have gone broader. Similarly Larry Paulsen and R. Hamilton Wright as the two men in Courage's life were great but as well could have gone more comic as well.

And perhaps part of this is what I should be expecting from Brecht. When I hear about political theater, I sorta expect issues to overwhelm subtlety of character, and indeed, the characters have a lot to say about war, even if as characters they either benefit from it or don't show enough sense to get out of the way of it. But I see a lot of humanizing as well, and I think that fights with the original intent.

So, Mother Courage, yes, go see it, in whatever form and upon whichever stage it turns up next. It is not a happy play, but it is epic in every sense of the word.

More later,

Art Cars at the SAM

Inopportune: A Car Cascade

The Seattle Art Museum lobby has for years been dominated by a car explosion. Inopportune: Stage One by Cai Guo Qiang is a series of nine white Ford Tauruses (Tauri?). They are lined up, the first one with all four wheels on the ground, followed by the next seven spiraling through the air, with streams of white bulbs exploding in all directions as the cars tumble end over end, and the last Ford at rest. I've always liked it, and never understood the hate for it, a dislike that bubbles up now that they are finally going to remove that installation after nine years.

As I said, I like it. I liked it when it was part of the museum before its expansion, and I liked it after the museum expansion, when they moved the initial car to the second floor balcony. I've always seen the series of vehicles not as an explosion or a horrible accident, but rather as a threat of danger with a happy ending. I see the cars as a narrative flow, that starts with it going off the balcony, then spiraling through the air (the explosions can just as easily be emotion) but at last coming to rest, unharmed, in the same position as it initially was. It is a car crash. But it also an graphic display of an argument, emotions in all directions, before returning to its base state.

I'm not much a fan of "found object art", which seeks to elevate traditional ready-made object to important art worth considering either seriously or ironically. So just parking a white Ford Taurus in a lobby does nothing for me. However, the creation of a narrative with the cascading Fords, filled with light, then returned to their mundane look really does work for me. It takes the object and gives it additional artistic value and narrative flow.

I'm also a bit suspicious of "installation art" where an entire room or domain within a museum is dedicated to a single work, as if the only way to engage with the work is to clear everything else out of the way. This is the logical antipode of the old, old (old) days, when artwork was jammed cheek by jowl against the wall, creating the pigmented equivalent of having a wall of TVs all on at once. Room-dominating single-item installations smacks of pretense to me, and is more at home with office lobbies than museum space. And perhaps the fact that piece itself is suspended over the entrance lobby makes me more accommodating than if it claimed a full vault of valuable real estate elsewhere.

In any event, yeah, the cars of Inopportune are coming down, and I for one will miss them.

More later,

Play: Meh

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play By Anne Washburn, Score by Michael Friedman, Lyrics by Anne Washburn, Directed by John Langs. ACT,Through 15 November

I've wanted to see this one for some time. It was workshopped locally and I didn't get around to it, then it went to NY and did well and then came back here to the ACT (A Contemporary Theatre, located on the first floor of the convention center downtown), and I meant to get to it, but you know, I was busy shipping a game and all and finally got around to getting tickets for a not-sold-out show for the Saturday matinee on the final weekend. And I'm OK with that, since ultimately what I say here will not have a single effect on ticket sales.

Because I didn't really enjoy it. Eavesdropping on other conversations leaving the theater showed I was not alone. It is a more frustrating play than I would like to admit, though I'm not sure that that wasn't the entire point.

The hook is excellent - in a post- apocalyptic America where civilization has died with the electric grid and a truly dark age has descended on the land, a group of people are gathered around a campfire. And they tell stories. In this case, recreating Simpsons episodes, in particular Cape Feare, which was a take on the DeNiro Cape Fear with Sideshow Bob trying to kill Bart, and the family fleeing to create a new life on a houseboat. And the original show was overpacked with everything, including references to I Love Lucy, Gilbert & Sullivan, Reader's Digest, foreign revolutions, witness protection, hockey masks, and elephants celebrating Hannibal crossing the alps. Not all these pieces make it into the first retelling, and that's part of what's going on here - in a post-literate universe, all we have are memories, and those that survive do so for a reason.

So, Act One is a bunch of people around the campfire recreating a Simpson episode. We get bits and pieces about what happened in the world - keying in on where the nuke plants are/were, and how far away you have to be to be safe. And new practices have come into being - everyone has lists of people they are trying to find, written down in notebooks, all of them keeping the past alive. It all works, and it is keeping the darkness at bay.

Act Two is seven years later, where the characters from Act One have formed into a cohesive theatre troupe. They are producing the Cape Feare episode in a world that is struggling for survival. There are other troupes, and ownership of the lines and bits is hotly contested. In addition, they do "commercials", which are filled with references to the pleasures of the past. This is not about encouraging consumption but rather nostalgic reminders of the richness of past pleasures. The actors argue about artistic merit and wonder about whatever happened to the Diet Cokes in the world. And it is only seven years, and the same characters, so it works.

And then we jump 75 years and the wheels don't exactly come off, but it does wobble an awful lot. We don't get to see the people of this next generation world, but do get to see the artifact that they have created out of the bits of Simpsonia. Now the cast of Springfield tells the tale of the fall of civilization, and the Simpsons have escaped it on their houseboat. Sideshow Bob has been replaced with Mr. Burns in the plot and is now a devil-figure who mercilessly cuts through the family and truly torments Bart. The topical humor has been replaced with a dour moralism, and the stagecraft is more Shakespearean blood and guts in its entertainment.

AND, the third act is a musical, a weird blend of religious ceremony, kabuki, and Broadway musical (with all the tragedy that Broadway musicals seem to traffic in). But this creates an addition problem of following along the chorus. I've always had trouble following the words when everyone is singing - that's why they provide librettos. The result is an alien construct, to a great degree, and you are now looking at the pieces of the past poking through, melded with bits of Peter Pan and Huckleberry Finn. Those looking for the original have to realize that the changed world no longer supports the very suppositions that made the Simpsons relevant in the first place, and as such they are transformed.

The cast is great, and it wonderful seeing actors I have seen at the Rep show up here - Anne Allgood, Bhama Roget, and Robertson Witmer. Erik Gratton makes a great Homer, Adam Standley is a perfect Sideshow Bob, though his character in the play is more valuable for his memory. Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako shudders in the first act as a refugee, but blossoms in the second as the troupe's director, only to disappear (with the other characters we care about) in the final act.

And I think that's one of the problems with the play - we DO identify with the characters in the first two acts, and to see them gone in the third frustrates. We see shadows of them in the performance, bits and pieces of their contribution, but they are gone, along with our world. And that leads to a feeling of melancholy when it is all said and done.

I'm not sure if the play is a failure, though it doesn't send the customers out with a feeling of redemption. Not all plays should, but of course playing the Simpsons in this fashion disquiets and frustrates, which again, may just be the point.

In short, while history is written by the victors, art is created by the survivors.

More later,

Meanwhile, 40 years ago:

Now you have the song caught in your head. You're welcome.

More later,

Game: Captain, My Captain

The Captain is Dead by Joe Price and J T Smith, published by The Game Crafter.

So how about, after all this political crud, we do a real GAME review in this space?

Here's the story: I have a Monday night gaming group. About 4-8 of us gather at a friend's place. For a long time we were playtesting D&D Next/5th Edition in the Barrowmaze setting, run by Steve Winter (and he wants to talk about that, it's his purview). On completing that, we shifted over to a Monday Night Boardgame night, and play stuff from the old to the new. Here's one of the new ones.

The Captain is Dead is set aboard a rather ... familiar-seeming starship, and bad things have happened. The jump engines are down. Various random systems have failed. Aliens are boarding. Oh, and worst of all, the Captain, the man who always can figure a way out of these messes, is dead, and the players have to figure out how to survive without him.

The players control characters who are also ... rather familiar. The Science Officer. The Chief Engineer. The Medical Officer. The Transporter Chief. Not to mention The Hologram, The Ensign, the Counselor, and the red-shirted Crew Man (who never gets wounded, but is always killed immediately, and replaced with another identical Red Shirt, making him immortal). All of them have special strengths, and the purpose of the game is to pool those resources, in the face of rapidly decaying infrastructure and enemy ships to get the Jump Core back online and warp out.

I'm not a fan of co-operative board games, often because they are not always that co-operative. In Betrayal at the House on the Hill, for example, you're all exploring the haunted house until someone becomes the Big Bad, so everything you've done up to that point is pretty much setting up the board for someone's sudden but inevitable betrayal. The Captain is Dead keeps everyone co-operative from beginning to end, and crafts several mechanisms that ratchets up the tension while encouraging player co-operation. Each turn becomes a group discussion of actions, reactions, and planning as they group strives to get the Jump Core back online. Our gang has played it twice now, and each time was a near thing for survival.

The game mechanics have a lot going for it. The character roles are color co-ordinated, so you can either have a Weapons Officer (who is good at using the torpedoes) or a Soldier (who is good at taking on invading aliens) but not both. Each role has a base number of abilities that it adds to its actions, plus a additional ability that both helps out the team and adds to that character. Bad things happen as a result of the deck, which is litterally stacked against you. The easy disasters (Weapons Array is out, Aliens board) are in the early going, but if you get deep into the deck, you encounter starship extinction-level events that would wipe you out on a good day.

I remember our starship - You wore red, the aliens wore black
(Photo by Anne Trent)

The board itself is very simple, consisting of starship positions and hallways. You can transport between the positions easily, unless the transporter is on the fritz (of course), in which case it has to be repaired. Oh, and sometimes the doors all lock. Oh, and if aliens show up in your area, you become wounded and can only move one space until you get the medical bay. Oh, and there can be random space anomalies that mean that you can't do anything if you're alone, or can't do anything is anyone is with you (and in some cases, both effects can be at work).

The art on the board and the cards is colorful and iconic, and the style is Starfleet via the Communist side of the Spanish Civil War. The increasing deadliness of the event cards mean that the clock is ticking, and every small victory (negating a card, solving an anomaly, getting a tool) is one more step towards you eventual goal, and feels right and rewarding. It is a co-operative game that rewards co-operation and planning, so that every turn is a group discussion on how to navigate the most recent disaster that has been thrown into your path.

A lot of fun. Highly recommended. The game was originally kickstarted, but can be purchased at The Game Crafter.

More later

Play: On a Clear Day

Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins, Directed by David Bennett, through 22 November, Seattle Rep.

True confession? I'm not a big Streisand fan. I have friends who are big fans of hers, but I just merely like her stuff, which sounds kind of small-minded, since her "stuff" includes award-winning movies, Broadway, music, and public works and excelling in all those things. So I feel a little petty when the best I can sum up is "Wasn't she was good in 'What's Up, Doc?'"

Not Shown - Basement Mall

Similarly, I don't get the haters, either. Yeah, I hear the whole nine yards of being demanding and private and litigious, but had to go look up the Streisand Effect on the wikipedia, which apparently stems from the fact that she tried to squash a picture of her mansion in Malibu, and as a result called attention to said picture and spread it far and wide (the Wiki page shows the picture she was trying to squelch, and actually does have some bearing on this review).

So I'm lukewarm on Barbra. But Buyer & Cellar? That's laugh-out loud funny.

Here's the reality at the core of it all: In the basement of Streisand's Mansion's Barn (you can see it in the photo), there is a mall. Or rather, all of Streisand's stuff is stored in this basement as a recreation of a series of old-timey shops. Sort of a personal museum crossed with a glorified U-Stuff-It.

Jonathan Tolins wondered aloud in his blog about what it would be like to work in that underground mall, with its various specialty shops along with a popcorn machine and smoothie-maker - a mall with effectively one customer. And that turned into a long, wonderful, one-act called Buyer and Cellar.

Alex Moore (A delightful Scott Drummond) is that friend who you get together with every so often for lunch and dish like a couple old women. He's a would-be actor banned from working in Disneyland after an "incident" at Toon-Town. This sort of one-actor play demands from the outset that you like the one actor, and Drummond is likable in spades. We are pulling for him from the get-go as he confidentially leans towards you and tells you that everything you're about to hear is imaginary. And you don't care.

After the Toon-Town debacle, Alex gets a gig in the mansion's cellar, tending to the exhibits, dusting, and awaiting the arrival of "The Customer". And it is every bit as weird as it sounds. Drummond dances between the characters of Alex, his support network (his boyfriend), the house staff (a Frau-Blucher-like intermediate), James Brolin (complete with Capricorn One reference) and Barbra herself. Drummond doesn't "do" Streisand like an impressionist, but rather gives enough conversational takes to capture the character (though I will admit that some of his Barbraesque reactions verge on the Nora Desmond, and an air of Sunset Boulevard hangs over the proceedings).

And it is funny. Laugh-out loud funny. You like Alex, and you both appreciate Barbra and recognize the humor in the huge gulf between Employer/Superstar/Customer and Property Manager/Property Alex. But more importantly, every joke lands. OK, there are couple references to famous interior designers that went right over my head, but Tolins' handling of modern popular culture and modern life is spot on. In five years most of the references will feel as creaky as watching on old episode of the Red Skelton Show, but for this moment and this point in time, it is hilarious.

I am trying to remember the last show I saw this funny at the REP. There have been funny shows, shows with humor, shows with jokes, but they tend to be harnessed to a greater purpose. Buyer and Cellar addresses that whole American class-system-by-success, but that's not its real purpose. Instead, it takes a ridiculous situation, twists it to make if more ridiculous, and lets fly. After the inevitable Greek tragedy of A View from the Bridge, this is a delightful little lift of a play.

More later,

Political Desk: Wrap-up

So. How did thing go? (Stuff that went the other way than what I recommended is in Red.

I-1366 (Extorting the state to make raising taxes harder): NO in King County, but YES in the state as a whole. Cue the inevitable lawsuit is three...two... one.

I-1401 (Save the Pangolins!): YES

Referendums 10,11,12,13: YES (Barely), YES, NO, NO. But sadly, that doesn't change anything.

King County Charter Amendment No.1 Law Enforcement Oversight: YES

King County Proposition No. 1 Regular Property Tax Levy for Children, Youth, Families, and Communities: APPROVED

King County Assessor: John Wilson

King County Director of Elections: Julie Wise

Port Commissioner Position 2: Courtney Gregroire. 

Port Commissioner Position 5: Fred Felleman.

City of Kent Council Position No. 1: Tina Budell

City of Kent Council Position No. 3: Les Thomas 

City of Kent Council Position No. 6: Brenda Fincher (but this one is very tight, so it could change as final ballots come in).

Advisory Proposition No. 1: Sale, Possession, and Discharge of Consumer Fireworks in the City of Kent: YES

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No 1: Russell Hanscom 

Public Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner District No. 2: M. Chris Monson

Public Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner District No. 4: Lawton Montgomery

The numbers were really low this year, particularly in King County. There will be pearl-clutching at this, but I tend to feel that one of the joys of democracy is that we get the government we deserve. On to the next election!

More later, 

Political Desk: The Jeff Recommends

For those of you who bulled your way through the past couple weeks of this blog, huzzah for you! For everyone else in the "Too Long: Didn't Read" mob, below is a summary of my old-man opinions that I'm recommending for the upcoming election here in Washington State. But first, let me direct you to OTHER people who are telling you how to vote, including on matters that we don't cover here:

The Seattle Times is pretty much our pro-establishment, pro-business, mostly conservative paper. Oddly enough they put telling you how to vote behind a pay wall if you look too often. Yeah, that's just good business sense, and the way to get your message out.

The Stranger is becoming a shadow of its former self, its top-flight talent leaving for paying gigs, but it still musters the strength (and whatever reefer it can scrounge) to put together a list that looks surprisingly like the Times. Plus, they are totally enamored of pangolins (Note that "The Pangolin" is the name of a super-villain from my early MSH campaign, so hands off, Marvel!)

Seatllish combines its political commentary with gif pictures (hard "g", please), and uses language that makes the Stranger seem somewhat quaint and demure.

Crosscut summarizes and provides links for to their articles discussing the issues. Ballotopedia has turned into an interesting resource as well.

The Muni League, a non-partisan non-profit, rates people here and propositions here.

If you're an unabashed Progressive who is still steamed that Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party got the shaft, here's the Progressive Voter's Guide. Sierra Club is here. Washington Conservation Voters here. Seattle Bike blog talks about city council elections here, and Seattle Chamber of Commerce here. And Publicola (which came in after I made initial posting) here.

And with all that linkage out of the way, here's what we said at Grubb Street.

I-1366 (Tim Eyman's change the constitution to make make his revenue-bashing schemes legal scheme): NO

I-1401 (Paul Allen's let's stop using elephant tusks as currency proposal): YES

Referendums 10,11,12,13: YES, (But it doesn't matter. Really. Just watch. Hey everybody! Non-binding state referendums over here! See? Nobody cares.)

King County Charter Amendment No.1 Law Enforcement Oversight: YES

King County Proposition No. 1 Regular Property Tax Levy for Children, Youth, Families, and Communities: APPROVED

King County Assessor: John Wilson

King County Director of Elections: Julie Wise

Port Commissioner Position 2: Courtney Gregroire. 

Port Commissioner Position 5: Marion Yoshino.

City of Kent Council Position No. 1: Tina Budell

City of Kent Council Position No. 3: Gwen Allen (as a write-in vote - I actually saw yard signs for her the other day!)

City of Kent Council Position No. 6: Brenda Fincher

Advisory Proposition No. 1: Sale, Possession, and Discharge of Consumer Fireworks in the City of Kent: Yes

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No 1: Russell Hanscom (Note - his opponent, Trisha Sanders, chose not to actively run back in July, as noted here.)

Public Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner District No. 2: M. Chris Monson

Public Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner District No. 4: Savannah Clifford-Visker

Got all that? Good. Now go vote.

More later,

Political Desk: Picking up the Spares

Now we are down at the bottom of the ballot School Districts, Water and Sewer, Public Hospital. The bulk of these are unopposed, and one of them might as well be.

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No 1 pits Russell L. Hanscom versus Trisha Sanders. I think. To be honest, I've got nothing on this one. Ms. Sanders did not respond for the Voter's Guide, and the sole article in the Kent Reporter contains a lot of information on and quotes by the incument Mr. Hanscom and note that Ms. Sanders did not respond. I don't think a JD Salinger approach works in local political office, so let's just say Russell L. Hanscom.

The only other racers in this category with identifiable opponents are for the Public Hospital District No. 1 (which we call Valley Medical), Commissioner Districts Nos. 2 and 4. Valley has a very good medical staff and serves the community well. The board of trustees, however, ranks up there with the Port as fall as questionable shenanigans, up to and including a sudden merger with UW Med that reduces the effectiveness of the elected commissioners in the fact of appointed trustees (such appointees include guys that lost in the face of an indignant voter populace),

So it is ins versus outs. In District 2, the In is incumbent Carolyn V. Parnell and the Out is M. Chris Monson. And their Voter's Profiles are interesting in that they are BOTH saying the same thing. Mr. Monson says that the UW Med has taken over Valley and this is an outrage, while Ms. Parnell says that UW Med has taken over Valley and that this is good thing. I raise an eyebrow at a lot of the things that Mr. Monson lays at Ms. Parnell's door and what Ms. Parnell's defines as success, so I'm going with M. Chris Monson.

It is not so easy in District 4, where the UWMed Candidate got nailed in the primary, and the two condidates are Savannah Clifford-Wisker and Lawton Montgomery, Both are running on a platform that the execs are getting paid too much, the nurses need to be paid more (and have more say in staffing decisions), and the current CEO who has been running things needs to go. Both are newcomers, but I'll go with Savannah Clifford-Wisker on this one.

And that's my ballot. Yeah, I will summarize one more time before the final voting, but I recommend all reading this to do your own homework as well - there may be something I skimmed over that is vital to your decision making progress. Good Night, and Good Voting,

More later

Political Desk: Kent Advisory Proposal

So this is an advisory vote that I can get behind, if nothing else because it is asking the voters' advise BEFORE making the decision (as opposed to all those state advisory referendums this year). In this cast, the mouth-filling Advisory Proposition No. 1: Sale, Possession, and Discharge of Consumer Fireworks in the City of Kent is asking what the people think before taking action.

And I favor this proposition, which will remove the bulk of skyrockets and boomers, confining them to local shows and licensed affairs. I find it interesting that the bulk of the candidates not only support the concept of a ban, but have horror stories about pets, family, and neighborhoods freaked out by the noise and trash from such private operations.

When we first moved into Panther Lake, it was part of unorganized King County, one of the many bits and pieces of territory that didn't belong to nearby municipalities. As a result, the Fourth (and New Years. And Flag Day. And anything else) was an excuse for an excess of fireworks. Not just setting a few off in the school parking lot - I'm talking navigating the street like you were on patrol in the Mideast to avoid running over any caltrop-like bases while cordite-scented fumes drifted through the vehicle. This dropped off severely when the neighborhood became part of a community that was not as overtaxed with responding vehicles, though it is still loud, proud, and potentially dangerous. With a solid ban, I expect it to drop off even more.

So yeah, I'm going to vote YES on this one, and recommend others do as well.

More later,

Political Desk: Kent

And now back to the show:

Let's get local. Very, very local. I write this up knowing that fives if not tens of people will be reading it. We're talking about the Kent City Council.

The Kent City Council is a body of seven people who govern Kent with the mayor. And I will be honest, they've done well in the past - measures like establishing the Kent Commons downtown, dealing with having to sandbag the Green River when the Hanson Dam was in trouble, and absorbing our Panther Lake neighborhood into the larger community. Downsides? I worry that they are more concerned with the valley than the surrounding neighborhoods on the hills, and tend to be a bit pro-business, but that just comes with the territory.

So, we have two positions currently up, plus an incumbent challenged by a write-in. The match-ups are: Toni Troutner versus appointed incumbent Brenda Fincher, Tina Budell versus Hira Singh Bhullar for an open seat, and incumbent Les Thomas, who is challenged by a write-in candidate Gwen Allen.

And for most of us, what we know about the candidates is a bunch of red, white, and blue lawn signs and (if we read them), the write-ups in the voter's guides, which tend to be a bit innocuous. Missing major scandal, there are no "throw the dastards out" movements, and finding some light between them is kinda challenging, though not through lack of trying. The Kent Reporter put out a questionnaire on major local issues, and has covered questions about the fireworks ordinance (more on that later), so here goes.

Tina Budell vs. Hira Singh Bhullar was pretty much dead even in my mind the last time I looked, and the additional information hasn't moved either one of them down in my estimation. I will go for Tina Budell due to previous experience, but shan't be offended if Hira Singh Bhullar gets the votes.

My opinion on Toni Troutner vs. Brenda Fincher was very influenced by the questionaire, in which Ms. Fincher went into detail on his positions, even if her position and that of Ms. Troutner were similar. Also, Ms. Fincher is both pro-marijuana store in Kent (Indeed, the fact that localities can block such legal outlets results in things like illegal growhouse operations still being effective in South King County), and anti-fireworks, while Ms. Troutner wishes to bargain on the first issue, and equivocated on the latter. Let's go for Brenda Fincher.

Les Thomas has been in the council for as long as anyone, and if one is going to run a write-in campaign, it will be an uphill fight, if for no other reason because Mr. Thomas is the only name is on the ballot. Still, I like what Gwen Allen has to say on the issues, again coming down on positive for marijuana use and negatives for private fireworks. Take the extra five seconds and write in  Gwen Allen.

More later,

Commercial Break

We break now from our thrilling (yawn) political coverage for this commercial message:

The first expansion for Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns, goes live this week. It you play Guild Wars 2 (also known around here as the Day Job), you know that it is an exciting, rewarding, fun (and well-written and inspired) MMO, and should be looking forward to the next expansion*. If you don't play Guild Wars already, I will note that we've gone Play For Free for the core game, and this is an excellent time to see what all the huggamugga is about.

Buckle up, folks, it is going to be a heckuva ride.

More later,

* Did I mention that MMORPG.Com declared GW2 to be the second-greatest MMO of all time? Well, I just did.

Political Desk: The Port

The Port of Seattle has been in the news recently mostly for the wrong reasons. Stuff like moving through the permission to have a Shell arctic drill rig park here without telling the public, or fighting against the $15 dollar wage at the airport or talking about oil and coal trains running through downtown. So yeah, this is one of those moments when a good stiff shock to the system will bring them back into line.

Two positions are currently in play. Position 2 pits Courtney Gregroire (incumbent and daughter of the former governor, so that's where you heard the name before) against perennial candidate Goodspaceguy. Now everyone expects this to be a blowout against Goodspaceguy, but let's put the jokes aside and let's hear from perennial candidate himself in the Voter's Guide:

There are several people (some brilliant) who have been writing and producing under Goodspaceguy’s name (perhaps to cause him vote loss?) This is entirely unnecessary because Goodspaceguy can lose votes all by himself just by saying that the anti-free-market, minimum wage should be abolished so that less-productive, disadvantaged people can easily get work at their low market value.

Sigh. OK, bring back the jokes. His argument is that we can have full employment if only we don't have to deal with actually paying people for their work.  Let me be honest, Goodspaceguy has for years run on the idea that our answers lie in space. Now it is apparent that, having surveyed all of space, the model we should emulate is the Spice Mines of Kessel. So. Courtney Gregoire it is!

Over at Position 5, we have a real race between Marion Yoshino and Fred Felleman. Both are good, and Fellemen is stronger on the environment from his background. But Ms. Yoshino comes from the airport side of the equation, and makes a valid point that our airport is part of the port system, but doesn't get a lot of attention or representation on the board. Let's change that - Marion Yoshino.

More later,

Political Desk: A County Amendment and a Proposition

Two items are on my ballot as far as county measures are concerned One is an amendment, changing the county charter, and the other is a proposition to raise the property tax levy.

King County Charter Amendment No.1 Law Enforcement Oversight takes an existing process, the civilian-run Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO), and formalizes it, giving it some real teeth to deal with misconduct in county law-enforcement (this is for the county - local municipalities have their own process, as does the City of Seattle). OLEO was founded back in 2006 after some significant probs in dealing with bad cops, but was soon reduced in effectiveness through collective bargaining with the police guild.

This measure has the support of just about everyone EXCEPT the guild, including the State Attorney General, the Stranger, the Muni League, The Seattle Times, and kinda sorta the county sheriff himself (Chief Urquhart, who has made no bones about cleaning up the department and actually bouncing seven officers for various offences, supports the idea, but notes that any changes will have to be worked out with the guild, which pulled the fangs of the original OLEO). I'm going with YES on this one.

King County Proposition No. 1 Regular Property Tax Levy for Children, Youth, Families, and Communities (Yep, that's a mouthful - it is known as "Best Start" in shorthand) provides funding for a slew of youth-oriented services including healthy pregnancy, crisis prevention, homelessness, as well as renovating juvie hall. This is a nine-year plan that again, mostly everyone supports (if you want a tone-deaf, teeth-grating argument against, the idea, look no further than the voter's guide, where the opposition forces make the case that the money is more needed for more cops to deal with the results of not funding such youth initiatives.).

I'm going with APPROVED on this one, but again with a caveat. This one-at-a-time form of levy building, whether for education, fire halls, EMT protection, parks and the like drills down deep to targets specific needs, but by the same token we (the people, through their representatives) must make sure that we get our money's worth. This is point on which conservative thought should thrive - Not about whether we spend the money (I think we should), but to serve as a sentinel to make sure the money spent has value for the community. A good very recent example are fire stations which were to be renovated as a result of a 2003 levy, and now, twelve years on, are still unfinished and over-budget. That's pretty serious stuff, and will make votes think twice before their wallets again. The standard argument against such increases is always that a cold-hearted declaration that this is a blank check, while the better argument consists of how we're going to hold the costs down and live within the commitment that we are willing to make.

As I said, APPROVED, but I am moving towards a "Trust, but Verify" position. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go chase some darned kids off the lawn.

More later,

Political Desk: County Offices

Hey, kids, Let's get back to actual things that appear on the ballot. While the state level is as barren as new ideas from Congress, we do have a couple really hard choices at the county level.

County Assessor pits Lloyd Hara, who currently holds the position against John Wilson, who was his assistant. Both men have experience. Both men have a mixed bag of strong endorsements from across the political spectrum. Both on paper and from experience, these guys can do the job, and indeed, until the parted company over using an iPad app versus a PC solution to the job, they were working together well.

Fully aware of the dangers of giving a big shrug at the position, I was split on this one. But the Seattle Times, of all people, actually makes a good case for John Wilson. Take a look. And go with John Wilson.

Similarly, the power of incumbency looms large over the County Director of Elections position as well, and it too troubles me. We went to the trouble of making this an elected position (a decision which, if I remember correctly, I declared a "bone-headed"), and then have voted in the incumbent each time, anointing the decision of the bureaucracy. Which is what we had in the first place. The current incumbent, Julie Wise, was not elected to the position, but graduated when her predecessor stepped down. Sort of subverts the whole election thing. Yet, Ms. Wise has done a good, balanced job, which is something that I like in Elections, regardless of who is running them. So, despite my reservations on the system, I am going with Julie Wise.

Finally, we have half of the King County Council running for re-election. Grubb Street is in the other half, so you the rest of you guys are on your own.

More later,

Political Desk: Executive Branch

Like the state legislature and the courts, nothing is going on over in the executive branch for the election. Washington State elects all its major positions for the executive, and does so on a four-year cycle, which coincides with the presidential elections. Which is why we haven't seen a Republican Governor since 1980, and our executive has been overwhelmingly Democrat (interesting exception -Secretary of State. which tends GOP)

And that's cool. The legislature, as a body, has more collective power than the governor, and the various executive positions are expected to obey the basic laws of politics - Do a good job, and for god's sake, don't embarrass us. But, for the first time in many years, we have an honest-to-goodness scandal on the executive side. Which you have may missed, because we are just so darn polite about it.

Meet Troy Kelley. He's our state auditor, though he is on a leave of absence at the moment. This is an elected position which oversees government spending, handles financial information, and you know, audits. He was elected back in 2012, and at the time, this blog gave him a shrug and a whatever, as both candidates presented themselves as strong, sober, pro-business types.

Which I suppose should always be a warning sign. If someone pitches himself as a good businessman, and therefore should be good in government, you should start counting the spoons in the executive cafeteria.

Anyway, Troy Kelley is currently under ten counts of indictment on a variety of charges involving financial shenanigans in his previous job, up to and including hiding over 2 mill from the IRS. This stems of an investigation of a co-worker who Mr. Kelley had later hired when he was in state government. Now, the case has not been resolved, but having multiple indictments against you for your financial dealings makes it difficult to maintain a position where you are responsible for overseeing the state's financial dealings. Practically everyone in Olympia, regardless of party, has demanded his resignation. Mr. Kelley, as I have mentioned, has taken an unpaid leave.

Unpaid leave? Can't you just get rid of him? Well, no. He's an elected official, and his service is not contingent on pleasing the governor, the legislature, or anyone else. There is also the chance that he is innocent of the charges, but maybe I'm just whistling past the graveyard now. If he is convicted of a felony, he can be impeached. He can also impeached for malfeasance, but only for actions taken in his state job. And he may resign and be replaced by the governor. But he hasn't resigned, so we don't really have a state auditor (his second in command, an appointed position, is running things).

Yet this is all so polite, in part because it feels so bloodless and white-collar. There are no suspicious deaths, no tawdry assignations, no hostile twitter feeds. He's been pretty much described as not hard-core political, but just a guy who showed up interested in the job. With the exception of the Seattle Times wanting to remind folk that this is a DEMOCRAT in hot water, things are fairly leisurely, and I don't even know if it will be an issue by this time next year. We shall see.

More later,

Political Desk: State Legislature, State Judiciary

There's nothing much for the Washington State Legislature and our State Judiciary this year. There's a seat in District 30, which does not include Grubb Street, and a Court of Appeals judge running unopposed, so that's about it for the State Reps and the Judges.

Except it HAS been a very interesting year for them. Our state Senate has been in the hands of the Republicans, which as, unlike those in other states, has shown an interest in actually governing. I know, my lefty heart demands I treat the GOP as opponents and the Dems as inconstant allies, but the legislature has actually worked on making progress. As noted under the referendum section, they have raised taxes (gasp!) to fund transportation, and helped close a loophole on Microsoft in order to help education. PLUS have reduced tuition at state-run colleges. This is not small change. The press likes to evoke the name of former governor Dan Evans as a descriptor for reasonable Republicans which is a pity, since it reminds everyone that the last time anyone in the state really trusted the GOP was during the Carter Administration. This is new, and this is good.

But, by the same token, Olympia has come up short on a biggie, which demonstrates a lot of the forces in play in our state. The people, through the initiative process.passed a law demanding that the legislature fund K-12 education in full. Education is a big thing out here - it is in our constitution. The legislature did not act immediately (like, over a couple years), and was found in contempt by the State Supreme Court (who takes the constitution pretty seriously). They made a stab at it this year, but still have come up short, such that the Supreme Court is now fining the legislature $100,000 a day for non-compliance. So far this has not been enough to drive the legislators back to Olympia (being a legislator IS a part-time job out here), but it has prompted a show-down between two of our branches.

Add to that the fact the the Supremes have also pulled state funding of Charter Schools because they are not overseen by local communities. Which makes sense, as charters have had a mixed success out here, ranging from OK to sudden and mysterious disappearances in the dead of night without anybody watching them. So our court system has waded in on our educational system, which, as far as I can tell, is part of their job.

Now, as noted at the top of this entry, neither the legislature nor the judiciary is up for major elections. This will not be true, so look forward to a year of fireworks building up to NEXT year's elections.

This should be interesting. More later,

Political Desk: Referendums

Remember when I said that the perennial Eyeman Initiatives are mostly unconstitutional? Here's where we deal with the wreckage of one of them. Referendums are bill passed by the Legislature which are then presented to the people for a double-check. This is usually used for more controversial bills to make sure that the reps are doing their job, or more pedestrian ones where they are mucking with the language of the state constitution.

BUT, there was an Eyeman Initiative a few years ago that was found only partially unconstitutional. The bit about requiring super-majorities to get things done? That was unconstitutional. But the bit about demanding to present these to the people, that was allowed to stand. Except it in a non-binding vote, so these referendums cannot really change things, but can express one's displeasure at the entire process. It is sort of a big opinion poll, and doesn't mean anything.

And as an opinion poll, its pretty crappy as well. The language is of the type "The legislature imposed ..." which is to say "The legislature did its JOB," but imposed is a scarier word. The amount of revenue that measures will raise are presented as a "Cost". This isn't a cost to the state, using your money. This is a cost to the people who are going to be affected by this particular tax or loophole closing. Sometimes, this group is relatively small, sometimes it is large enough to include the vast bulk of voters. But there is no way of knowing without digging deeper into the bills. And this amount is what the bill is expected to raise over TEN YEARS, so that huge price tag is amortized over a decade, but is something else left out of the summary.

In addition, while Initiatives have arguments presented for and against, referendums are not so required, so no one knows a whole lot about them. Thanks, guys.

So what we need is a referendum about referendums. Good luck with that. Let's see what's on the plate this year:

Advisory Vote 10 raises taxes on oil products transported by rail in the state. This is because we're transporting a lot more oil through the state from until-recently-bountiful oil shales of the Dakotas, and the oil companies and rail operations are woefully if not criminally inept in keeping their trains from not blowing up. Puts 17 million in the state's pocket from those transporters over ten years.

Advisory Vote 11 raises taxes on medical marijuana sales, as part of a larger measure to get med mary jane in line with other marijuana sales. They don't know how much this is going to bring in, because the legislators kept getting distracted at the free samples station. Actually, Washington State, so good in so many things, is a textbook case of how to bobble the ball on marijuana legislation, such that Oregon is already ahead of us. Oregon. Yeah, we should be embarrassed by that.

Advisory Vote 12 - This is a biggie - 3.7 billion (over ten years, but still, that's a lot of cash) raised from the bulk of consumers in the form of a increase to the gasoline tax. This one IS coming out of your pocket, and it is aimed at getting more funds for roads and mass transit. And before you start yelling about how the Dems are all tax and spend, this one was put together by our Republican-controlled upper house of the legislature, who, unlike some is other states (I'm looking at YOU, Kansas), is pretty good at facing realities.

Advisory Vote 13 - Raises 1.4 Billion over ten years by closing loopholes on the Business & Operating (B&O) and Sales Tax, with the intent of funding education. No, that's not quite it. It basically closes a loophole for taxes from software that is delivered online as opposed to through physical stores, and is aimed at manufacturers of a particular size. Which is currently defined as Microsoft. Microsoft is picking up the tab on this, and is apparently cool with the deal. Given that I usually haul out corporations for the largess laid upon them by the local government, I find this development .... interesting.

So, MAINTAINED on all on them (though I am wobbly on #11), but its not as if anyone is going to pay attention to it. Draw a cat on the ballot. See if I care.

More later,

Political Desk: Initiatives

Initiatives in Washington State are citizen-proposed laws. An individual comes up with a law, makes sure it is in a legal format (for example, initiatives are supposed to do only one thing, so "Outlaw tax increases AND give me a pony" is right out, but "Outlaw tax increases SO they give me a pony" is OK. Then get enough signatures (Eight per cent of the vote total for Governor in the most recent election) to put it on the ballot, and the people vote on it. Naturally, as with anything that has rules, the rules may be gamed, and we see a huge influx over the past few years of corporate moneys, big donors, and paid initiative gatherers.

And we have people in the Initiative Business, such as political character Tim Eyman, who pops up with awful regularity alongside backers with deep pockets and populist "give me a pony" initiatives. One of his favorite attacks is to make it harder for the government to raise money, and these initiatives are usually unconstitutional but still effective enough to pour about six feet of sand into the mechanisms of government.

And for this service Mr. Eyman is rewarded, such that his financial dealings have already been brought up on irregularities, as previous donors want to know what he's done with the money they gave him. And now there is a massive case brewing against him. The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has popped up irregularities to the tune of $380,000 being kicked back from donor funds into Mr. Eyman's account in the 2012 election. This skimming is so odious that the PDC has asked the State Attorney General's office to step in, since the PDC cannot assign penalties big enough to be more than a rounding error on the theft. (appropos of nothing, the State AG makes $151,718 salary, so I'm sure there's not going to be any problem clearing a citizen initiative-maker who makes big bucks by profiteering our elected process).

Which gets us to the latest Eyman Initiative, I-1366, which will once again force the government to get 2/3rds approval before raising taxes (and by raising taxes, this means closing loopholes or doing anything else that will actually, you know, raises revenue). Previous attempts have been found these plots to be mostly unconstitutional, so this time, the wrinkle is that the state is mandated to CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION to allow this, OR there will be a mandatory revenue reduction. Now, whether this form of extortion is constitutional in itself is up for debate. Early signs is that its not, but they still allowed it on the ballot because we have a high bar to deny initiatives, though a lower bar to cut them down once they become law. Of course, legality is completely beside the point as far as the Initiative usiness is concerned - they want to get a win, then cash the paycheck. Actually, they just want to cash the paycheck, and getting a win sets them up for the NEXT election.

Judged on its merits, I-1366 is one more sledgehammer initiative to show that government is bad and cannot function by making it impossible for it to function. I am going to go with a big fat NO on this one.

Now, there is ANOTHER Initiative the year which is much saner, and as a result has not gotten any attention at all. I-1401. It makes trafficking in certain endangered animal species (and their component parts) a class C felony. To which I have to say, you mean it ISN'T ALREADY?. It is an attempt, bankrolled by Paul Allen (his motto "Big Money in the cause of Good") to reduce poaching and smuggling by empowering the local levels and reducing the market for that material. So I'm good with it. Vote YES.

More later.

Political Desk: The Deep Election

This is a quiet year in elections around here, at least it is if you're not living in Seattle proper, which is electing its entire City Council. For the rest of us, we're looking at two initiatives, four referendums which don't meet squat, a couple Port positions, and nothing in the way of state legislature, judges, state executive offices, Congress, or the Presidency.

There is is a lot going on, politically, but most of it is going on behind the ballot. There has been a lot of activity in the state legislature, the judiciary, and the state executive branch, as well as news within the nature of initiatives themselves. Plus the run-up to the national elections.

So I'm going to be talking politics beyond the borders of the ballot box for a while. But when I am talking about the elections themselves, I tend to do the following:
 - I don't talk much about positions that have only one candidate. I always prefer a healthy choice, but I am denied that sometimes, and I can live with it.
 - I don't talk much about elections I am not voting in. I don't live in Seattle, so the entire City Council thing, which will have a deep effect on my life, is outside my portfolio, and will be pretty much ignored. Which is a pity, since a helluva scandal just broke loose where a developer tried to shake down a candidate.
- I am by no means a final word on these things. I will provide you folks to links to make up your own mind. Hey, I tend to be lefty in my outlook, but that doesn't make me right. I will point you (when they get their recommendations up) to the generally reliably conservative Seattle Times, which has slowly been making its way through the list, as well as The Stranger, which still weighs in, though it seems to think the world ends at the southern border of Georgetown, the Municipal League, and other blogs.

So let us take a leisurely stroll through matters this year, because next year we cry havoc and let slip the dogs of woah!

More later,

Play: Bridgework

A View From The Bridge: By Arthur Miller, Directed by Braden Abraham, Seattle Rep, though October 18th.

The Rep leads off its season with a straightforward tale well-told, a bit of classic theatre that dusts itself off and knocks one out of the park. There are no surprises, no twists, no musicians, no special effects, no supernatural undercurrents, no puppets. Just good actors and good words.

It even starts out with the statement that you've seen this before - Leonard Kelly-Young is Alfieri the lawyer, who is our narrator and declares at the outset the relentlessness and eternity of the tragedy along with his own feeling of helplessness is preventing. That feeling of helplessness spreads to the audience as well as the tale unfolds.

Eddie Carbone -. (Mark Zeisler) is a longshoreman in Red Hook who controls his household - his wife, Bea (Kirsten Potter) whose life is confined to the role of wife and his niece Catherine (Amy Danneker), who has been overprotected with an uncle's affection that borders fully on the creepy and runs through the play. That personal fiefdom is threatened by the introduction of two cousin from the old country who are  illegal immigrants - "submarine men"; stolid, strong Marko (Brandon O'Neill)  and good-natured, flamboyant Rodolpho (Frank Boyd). Rodolpho and Catherine hit is off, and everything just runs to a natural and bloody conclusion.

And that's the thing about the writing - not a word is wasted, not a bit of fat I could have done without. The characters are straightforward but not one-note, and the actors bring nuance to the roles. I'd give highest marks to the women, Danneker and Potter, who capture the flavor fully, while Boyd verges towards that Balki from Perfect Strangers stranger-in-a-stranger land humorous immigrant. The fact that the world, and Eddie in particular, pushes back hard on Rodolpho, recognizing him as being "not right" for their universe, and therefore an invader, grounds the character fully.

One thought did occur to me after leaving the play: The entire family dynamic echoes the later All in the Family sitcom, particularly with Zeisler as blue collar Eddie. And while the TV show is based on the earlier britcom Till Death Us Part, Miller's shadow looms large over other productions that came along later, in this tragedy of a man trying to enforce his will against the changing universe. The line that Alfieri the Lawyer comes back to is "Take half and like it", and the tragedy is that this is an option that is never taken.

Solid theatre, well-performed. Go see it.

More later,

DOW breaks 17000!

Well, that was fast.

Martin Luther King, Jr, paraphrasing Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, said "The arc of the Moral Universe is long, but it bends towards Justice."* The arc of Modern Wall Street is much, much shorter, but it too bends upwards towards a higher rate of return.

I mean, why the recovery, and so quickly? Greece is still as much a mess as it was back when we dipped into the 15000s a few weeks back. China's stock market is just a wobbly. Saudi Arabian investments are being reduced as they keep their oil prices low enough to close down the Dakota Oil Shale operations (successfully, as there are fleets of mobile homes now available on the cheap out there). Austerity hawks still circle despite the proven failure of that approach. Congress is just as dysfunctional, and all these lefty operations on the West Coast are raising wages and reaping low unemployment rates. Yet now we're back.

I believe, inherently, that we have trained certain markets to move inevitability, but not smoothly, upwards. The market is overheated because we are willing it to be, and the rise of various tech or housing or stock bubbles are a feature, not a bug, in the system. We talk about corrections, but until that point where we pitch ourselves into a full-bore, we-cannot-ignore-it, mile-wide-steamroller of a recession, the trend line is inevitably upwards.

My own gut check for economic health, by the way, is my commute. The worse it is, the better things are in general. And for the past week, traffic has really, really sucked, for reasons I cannot fully fathom. I think it may be tied with the shortening days, such that people who are used to rising with the first light suddenly are confronted with the fact that this first light is much later in the day. I may be tied to the return of school, which regiments when children have to get out the door, and as such puts an addition timer on the adults. But I do think that it is because we have crossed a threshold where the infrastructure itself is taxed by the increased load of the employed, who all, apparently want to get on the road at the same time I do.

But that's a just a theory. In the meantime, the DOW has restored itself, until the next correction.

More later,

* What Theodore Parker did say, nesting his semicolons neatly, was: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sigh; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure its bends towards justice." which is a darn sight better than the current attitude of "Past behavior does not guarantee future performance"

The Gaming News

I have been a tad busy this month, but would hate to let September slip away without some Gaming News.

Let me start with the good news: Jim Ward has gone home from the hospital and is on the mend. He really appreciated all the kind words and cards. Two months in the hospital is enough to make a man despair, and the support was greatly appreciated.

Also good news: former TSR editor Jim Lowder has been taken on as the consulting editor for Chaosium's  Fiction line. The original series of books edited by Robert Price and others were important in spreading the mythos further, and I look to see what the future holds for this.

Speaking of Cthulhu, Oscar Rios, who has put together the excellent Islands of Ignorance and Tales of the Crescent City, has launched a new kickstarter for Tales of the Caribbean, taking the mythos into the lands of rum-runners and voodoo. Oscar has delivered some excellent books so far, and I have no doubt that this will be a strong addition to his line.

Finally, Jon Peterson, has tracked down the script for the nigh-legendary D&D movie, the one that Gary Gygax was working on. Even at the time I was working at TSR, this project, announced in the pages of DRAGON magazine, was the stuff of legend. Jon walks us through the script beats.

That is it for the moment. October may be a bit bleak here as well, at least up to release day. After that, more later.

Meanwhile, 14 Years Ago

More later,

DOW breaks 16000!

Wait, isn't that going the wrong direction?

Totally true, though. After sailing past 17k, the DOW topped out around 17.5, weakened, and then proceeded to dive off a cliff. After a trading halt and a dead cat bounce, the venerable market marker is in the high 15000s.

So, what happened?

The thing is, no one is really sure. I mean, the Chinese Stock Market has had all sorts of problems, and the government has devalued to the yuan (you knew that the currency there, right?) in order to keep things going. But that has happened weeks ago, and has to be attached by the proviso that the West doesn't think the East knows what it's doing (Mr. Pot? Meet Mr. Kettle).

Or it could be the challenges poised to a dis-United Europe, with German austerity colliding with Greek poverty. But again, that's been going on for some time, and while accounting for the halting of a bull market, doesn't do much to explain the here-and-now of the slide.

Some point to oil prices, which have been low and dropping lower all the time. This appeals to the economic view of "Whatever happens, it's bad for YOU". You'd think lower prices at the pump would a good thing, but it is the result of various oil factions fighting it out with knives in a back alley. So you'll take your three-dollar gas and like it!

Another points to this sudden, massive "correction" as a response to the markets afraid that the Fed, which has kept borrowing rates phenomenally low during the Great Recession, will now get around to raising it a fraction of a point or so. And I'll be honest, that does appeal to the part of me that treats the corporate market as a small petulant child who panics when it seems like he will not get a cookie.

Or it could be none of them. It could be nothing more than a market suspended on happy thoughts and dreams of growth, but backed up with computer programs (William Gibson called them automated agents in his latest book, and nicknamed them "Aunties") sniffing around for the first signs of softening to bail out at the maximum peak.It could be a feature, not a bug.

But the thing I notice most of all, and want to pass on in these early days, is how calm and positive all this has been. After jumping at every noise and financial what-if for years, the market sage heads, confronted with a major jolt, are nodding and saying that a correction (from what error? to what truth) as been overdue, and this too will pass.

Color me suspicious. But then, I leave most of the investing to the Lovely Bride, and don't ask too many questions.

More later,

The Gaming News

GenCon, and its lingering con crud have passed (and for most people I noticed, it was a delayed con crud, moving in two days or even a week after the event), so let me catch up on stuff in gaming.

Let me start with the toughest news first. Gaming legend Jim Ward (Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, my boss for many, many years at TSR) has been in the hospital for the past way too long for a diabetic ulcer on his foot. He's not doing particularly well, but is most worried about losing time on various projects he's involved in. A GoFundMe Account has been set up to help offset his medical costs. Cards and letters also appreciated, and he can be found at:
       St. Lukes

       Select

       James Ward

       Floor 4 28B

      2900 Oklahoma Ave

      Milwaukee, WI 53125

We're all pulling for you, Jim.

The big news that hit right at the end of the convention was an agreement clearing the way for a D&D Movie. The short version: Warner Brothers wants to make a D&D with Hasbro's permission, but has been blocked by Sweetpea Productions, who claims the rights (Though, like all things, it is complicated). The settlement puts Sweetpea as an exec producer (and probably more - we aren't partial to those dealings) and clears Warner to do the movie.

Now, this news, and the mention that it will be set in the Realms, has kicked off a flurry of speculation about a Drizzt movie, or an Elminster movie, or even (yes, in some parts) an Azure Bonds movie, but the best thing to look forward to is a good movie with a good story. The Marvel franchise has not slavishly wed itself to its original books, but instead did films that captured the flavor and magic of the IP without having to lockstep into previous continuity. Have fun, guys.

Speaking of Elminster, his creator, Ed Greenwood, has teamed up with Gabrielle Harbowy to edit the Women in Practical Armor short story collection. Their Kickstarter already made their numbers, but check em out anyway.

Also news out of GenCon was the change of ownership of the venerable Chaosium, home to Glorantha and the Call of Cthulhu games. This is all tied together, because the guys at Rising Moon, who delivered the glorious Guide to Glorantha coffee table tomes are now running things, and Elder Gods Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen are retreating to the background once more. More information here.

In the wake of Gencon, this popped up on Vice of all places. It's a paen to the wonderful weirdness that is D&D. Author Zak S created the award-winning A Red and Pleasant Land, and his thoughts on the game evoke the writing style of Harlan Ellison when the man was doing essays as a regular column.

Over on the computer game side, there is this about writing for games. I have tales of my own, but you're going to have to buy me a beer. The article includes a link to this twine game (sort of a newfangled Choose-Your-Own-Adventure) called The Writer Will Do Something.

Also on the net is your chance to check out Chaldea: War Room. Chaldea was the home campaign of Peter Adkison (you know, WotC and, um, GenCon) and Peter has been polishing up his chops as a film-maker. War Room in the first of his videos.

And finally, a video that turned up a few weeks back from the Guild Wars: Nightfall game in 2006. Originally put together for the deluxe edition, I don't know if it ever shipped with the game, but instead made its way to the net years later. There are a lot of interviews with the old gang (myself included), and all I can say is ... we all look so YOUNG in it.

More later.

GenCon Notes

So. GenCon.

It has been about 10 years (give or take) since I last attended a GenCon. I went to the first couple in Indy, but then got caught up in other things, like MMOs and found myself otherwise occupied in August. This year, through a convergence of events, I found myself back. Here are some notes:

1) Yes, Indiana is still in all sorts of hot water regarding its bonehead legislation against American citizens, many of whom attend GenCon. However, Indianapolis itself is a tad bit more progressive. On the way into town, I saw a billboard welcoming gamers to GenCon, with a pride flag in front of it. A nice start.

2) And to a great degree, I found the natives to be friendly and helpful and incredibly tolerant of the huge herd of nerds (nerds with money, but still nerds) that descended on them. "Good People", as they like to say.

3) The convention was big when I last saw it, and is huge now. 61k people (counting as unique hits).

4) It is so large that it is now not only is it important to get a hotel near the convention center, but to get one near the rooms where you have events.

5) I stayed at the Fairfield, in a block of Marriott-owned properties. It was nice. Good breakfast. Though I had to go through an underground parking garage to get to a skybridge. Sounds like something an old school DM would think up.

6) Strangest hotel rooms were at the Crown Plaza, a renovated railway station, where some of the rooms are converted railroad cars. And the place is littered with white statues of passengers, newboys, and nuns. Sort of like what would happen if Pompeii had gone off during a Call of Cthulhu adventure.

7) I was there for the Writer's Symposium and would be taking some brief shifts in the Kobold Press/TPK/Legendary booth. Kobold just launched its Southlands product and the Southlands Bestiary. Both were selling very well.

8) The Writer's Symposium, put together by Marc Tassin, was pretty damned impressive. I got to sit on panels with Terri Brooks, Elizabeth Bear, and fellow TSR Veteran Jim Lowder. The conversations were interesting and diverse. Kudos to Marc, Matt, Molly, and the others who worked so hard to put everything together. This is an ongoing thing, so if you're at GenCon, go there. Seriously, well worth it.

9) In fact, GenCon is made up, now as then, in dozens of small conventions. People are there for the RPGs, or just one RPG. For the card games, or just one card game. For miniatures. For board games. For the writing. For the crafting. For the costumes. In addition, everyone spills over into everyone else's fandoms. It's pretty cool.

10) But here's an idea of the hugeness. The area for the Puffing Billy games (Train games) is larger than the Horticulture building in Lake Geneva, where the FIRST GenCon was held.

11) The dealer's area is large enough to be physically exhausting. Huge hall, filled with companies large and small.

12) One thing that was different that made me happy - the dealers were prominent about their awards. Many had their nominations and previous awards from the ENnies posted, and a lot had their statues from the Origins Awards on display. I like that a lot, and am reminded that it was the efforts of Nichole Lindroos and Charles Ryan who brought physical awards to the Origins. Good job, and yes, it has paid off.

13) My personal haul was limited by what I would pack into my carry-on. Alas, that put most board games out of reach. But I did pick up a lot of Cthulhiana that I have been unable to find locally. Several recent issues of the Unspeakable Oath, a handful of out-of-print monographs, an autographed copy of Robin Laws' Book of Ants for Trail of Cthulhu. I bought some battle mats for Sails of Glory, a great ship-to-ship combat game. And I snagged an autographed copy of A Red and Pleasant Land, purchased before it won any ENnies, so that makes me still young and hip, right?

13a) I also bought a fez. Fezzes are cool.

14) I did not pick up a copy of Cubicle 7's Curse of Nineveh, even though the London Boxed Set where it is set looks beautiful (I have a copy from the Kickstarter). Curse of Nineveh was hardback and heavy and I hope to find it from my FLGS. I also whiffed on getting a copy of Mummy, the Curse from Onyx Path, which was also hardback and heavy but would complete my WoD Mummy trifecta. And I didn't see any Tekumel/EPT material, which may just be because it was overwhelmed by everything else.

15) Palomino's is a good place for a steak. Steak 'n Shake is everything people say it is.

16) I made it to the Diana Jones and was delighted to see that Guide to Glorantha won. Skipped the ENnies although I had a minor credit in one of the winners. Made it to the Monte Cook Games party where Monte and Bruce were bedecked in their medallions and looked like a pair of French diplomats. More importantly, the MCG party shifted over to a surprise 50th birthday party for Charles Ryan. I am incredibly pleased that all those gamers managed to keep a secret.

17) Saw a lot of friends from the industry, played some demos, signed a lot of books, sat on some panels, huckstered for Kobold Press. A lot of people thanked me for Marvel, Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, FR and other stuff I've done over the years, which is encouraging me to actually get back to some RPG design. But the best event for me was getting together with some members of my old dungeon crew from Purdue University, many of whom still live in Indiana. We are all older and greyer, but it was great to see the gang from "The Swamp".

18) So it was a good trip, but it is good to be back.

More later,

Political Desk: Primary Wrap-Up

So the dust is settling, the brackets are mostly set, and we can forget about local politics for another few months and go back to complaining about the lack of rain and playing Frisbee golf. While other sites are going to engage in a lot of chin-wagging and beard-stroking in determining what it all means, here's what we have for our secret aerie on Grubb Street:

King County Director of Elections will be Julie Wise versus Zack Hudgins.  Ms. Wise got the majority of the votes, which is amusing since we were so happy to turn this into an elected office, then everyone recommends we vote for the unelected incumbent anyway.

Port Position 2 will have Courtney Gregroire crushing Goodspaceguy, who is running against her because someone has to. Seriously, with over 80% of the vote for Gregoire, nothing short of a major scandal or zombie apocalypse will change this result.

Port Position 5 is a surprise: Fred Fellemen, endorsed by the Stranger,is up against Marion Yoshino, who this blog endorsed (well, with another guy, but hey, our of 9 candidates that was pretty darn good). Both Mr. Fellemen and Ms. Yoshino are pro-environmental types, which may indicate in part the pushback from the Port's recent secret shenanigans regarding that Shell drilling rig.

Kent City Council Position 1 will have Hira Singh Bhullar against Tina Budrell. Third-place candidate's Bailey Stober's campaign was likely hurt in no small part by the announcement of a $2,000 fine from the PDC involving his LAST couple runs for office.

Public Hospital District 1 Commissioner Position 4 surprised me, in that it will be Savannah Clifford-Visker vs. Lawton Montgomery. Both candidates are of the "outsider" group, and the incumbent did not even place (though he could still be appointed to larger board that the elected board is part of). That's an interesting development.

Congratulations to the winners, solace to the losers, and the Political Desk is going to close up before the Republican Presidential candidates start talking.

More later,

Meanwhile, 70 Years Ago ...

More later,

Political Desk: The Last Minute Nudging

I've been out of town for the last week, so have not banged the drum as relentlessly as usual on the upcoming primary. Recommendations and discussions for the stuff I can vote on can be found deeper within this blog, along with a list of endorsements and recommendations from others.

Now, it is a hot summer and the presence of the primaries is far from anyone's mind, but as always, democracy is important. Indeed, in these low-level, low-voting total primaries, your vote can count just a smidge more than it will in the fall.

You have until 8 PM today (Tuesday) to dig you your ballot and vote. And if you don't want to spring for a stamp, here's a listing of drop boxes around the region.

Go vote. You know you want to.

More later,