Random thoughts from a disordered mind
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Chuck, The Pizza Snob" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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09:51 pm
[Link] | Those of you who listen to Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! or WBUR's Only a Game</i> will recognize Charles P. Pierce as Charlie Pierce. In Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, his recently released book looks at how the American war on intellectualism manifests.
Why should you read this book? Well, for one, the guy is frikkin' hilarious. ( Kind of long, so... )
Tags: books, reviews
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10:18 pm
[Link] | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) history_grrl, I hope you had a great birthday. And if your weather was anything like it was up here, it must have been a spectacular one.
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08:12 pm
[Link] | Back from ToV.
Good game. Things got done. People got rolled. Plots went out.
And I be tired.
Need some sleep soon, but first I need some clean clothes...
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12:30 pm
[Link] |
Home from GenCon
I went to GenCon this year, my second. A good time, minus a few technical hitches not related to the con itself (such a car rental trying to spring an extra $200+ onto the deal we got from Expedia or U.S. Airways managing to loose a carry on bag).
-Indianapolis may not be the most exciting city, but blackbear88 lives there, and it is always good to see her. It's also always good to see our other friend Alex (of whom I have no idea if he is on LJ or not).
-Games played: Warmahordes (technically 2 games: Warmachine & Hordes), and demos of "The Last Night on Earth," Slugfest's "Red Dragon Inn," "Kingsburg," and "Cosmic Encounter." (Huh... I didn't play as many games as I thought...)
-Went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum to see their "Clone Wars" exhibit. I got some pics of Zippy (the Gleason Library's Summer Reading mascot) with some of the stuff (such as the Jedi fighter). I think it was worth it for me, but for a $15 entry fee, I'm glad I didn't try to drag along the rest of the group I went in, because it was really small. Perhaps if the Lego Castle exhibit was still up, it would be different, but not just for this small thing.
-Bought some stuff, such as filling out my "D'oh!" dice set, getting some t-shirts (including: "Fools! I will destroy you all!! Ask me how!"), and the latest OotS book ("War and XPs").
I should set up a Flickr account so that people not on FB can see the pics...
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08:17 pm
[Link] | Got back from Apocolypse: Metamorphosis. Very tired. Briefly: aliens had come to Earth, the US tried to nuke their base, then the aliens destroyed civilizations. A few months later, a bunch of people (us, the players) blacked out and woke up in a detention center, somewhere.
Very fun. I played myself. Others played various people. Perhaps the best group had to be the one where every one was crazy (the most obvious was the SCAdian who had fallen into his persona) EXCEPT for the one who claimed to have made giant squirrels (we know he wasn't crazy about that because one of them came for him). I, unfortunately, died, and so spent the second half of last night as an NPC.
Kudos to behnkenj for so thoroughly playing his group. Kudos especially to all the people, especially setanos and tenwii, who set it up and did a great job running it. Very fun.
Now, sleep...
Current Mood:  VERY tired...
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09:54 pm
[Link] |
Midnight Tales, by Steven Erikson
So this is the 5th book in Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Usually, this late in a series, it becomes very difficult to talk about plot without giving away what has happened in the previous books, since they would build on each other. This time, Erikson takes us to a completely different continent and introduces us to a completely new set of characters. Actually, that is not true, since a few of the characters had been introduced before, but this book takes place some time before many of the other books, so you see them in a slightly earlier time.
Set in a far off and isolated continent, it focuses on two political entities: the Letherii Kingdom of humans, and the newly united tribes of the Tiste Edur (kin to the Tiste Andii of the previous books). The Letherii are a people completely devoted to gaining wealth in any way possible, and they expand mostly as an economic matter. The unbridled desire to gain a coin has led to a vast underclass, largely ignored by the rulers, and the utter destruction of many native cultures. (Hmmm, this couldn't be based on any country in the real world, could it?) The Tiste Edur had recently been living as separate tribes but had recently been united by the Warlock King, and just in time, for the Letheri, prodded by a prophesy of the rise of a great empire on a certain day, have turned their eyes on the Edur. Like all his books, the action is divided among a wide cast of characters: two sets of brothers, one Edur (Fear, the elder and war leaders of the Edur; Trull, the second and the one who questions most; Binadas, the third and delver in the arcane; and Rhulad, the youngest and most insecure) and one Letherii (Hull, the eldest and bitter opponent of Letherii expansionism; Tehol, the financial genius who "lost" his wealth some time ago and brought many people down with him; and Brys, the youngest and King's Champion). There are also the Warlock King himself, some Letherii slaves of the Edur, Tehol's servant Bugg, and the court of Letherii king, and others.
This is another very good book, although it takes some time to get used to the change of terminology. In the other parts of Erikson's world, he mostly uses traditional English words for titles. In the continent, however, the military titles of Letheras are Preda, Atri-Preda, and Finadd. It takes some getting used to, but once it gets going, it works.
Yet again, this is a good series.
Tags: books, reviews
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04:52 pm
[Link] |
Picnicon XI
So, I went to Picnicon XI, the annual Independent's Day get together of the the Boston Gamers listserve. It started on Friday, but I was at home playing bridge with my family that day, so I went in on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I was going to go, since it was the first Saturday in quite a while I wasn't needed anywhere.
Ended up playing:
Zombie Fluxx
Race for the Galaxy
It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show
and a bit of D&D (not 3rd of 4th ed, or even AD&D, but D&D. Although I'm not sure it was PURE old school, but I could be wrong.)
and listened to a session of Baron Munchaussen.
It was fun, and met some new people.
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11:41 pm
[Link] | And, because I haven't been on all day,...
Happy Birthday (almost but completely too late) to both warriorbard63 and me brother edschweppe.
I hope they were good to great.
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04:45 pm
[Link] | Today, in my home town, was Old Home Day. The bosses at the small country store, who normally work the weekends, were out schmoozing the town, so I came in to work the morning-early afternoon shift. Not only was it Old Home Day, but it was the first nice day for a while, so we were SLAMMED. I mean, we had mad lots of customers.
And a strange thing happened. We always get a bunch of cyclists stopping by, because we make a very good turn around point for people coming out from the city. Anyway, two cyclists were talking about something, and I heard the name of one of them and said to myself, "Hmm, Ornath is not a common name." So I asked if I heard right and then if his last name was Liscomb. Which is was. Why is that interesting to anyone? Ornath Liscomb is the founder and editor of DargonZine. DargonZine is the e-mag of the Dargon Project, which is a collaborative writers project (all the stories set in a shared world) of which I was part of briefly, and in which my two published short stories appear. Although I eventually left it because I didn't feel I was able to spend as much time on it as it deserved, it was perhaps one of the best experiences I've had as a writer. They were *very* good at constructive criticism, at taking apart a story and saying how they felt it could be improved.
Also, Ornath worked with my brothers for a while. I can't remember if I got involved in the Dargon Project because they clued me into it, or if I got into it then learned about the connection. In any case, bros: he asked for you and says hi.
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11:36 am
[Link] | And may tenderpaw have a very happy birfday!
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12:53 pm
[Link] |
A meme
If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.
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11:27 pm
[Link] | This weekend is my mother's 50th reunion from Wellesley. She invited me and my brothers to the dinner tonight, and we went. Partly it was to support her, but one of her classmates, who had spent some time in government serevice, spoke and answered some questions after dinner. The classmate was named Madeline Korbut when she was in college, but then married a guy named Albright. So she came and talked to the people about being in the state department.
She is, not surprisingly for someone who graduated from Wellesley, quite bright. She also, shockingly enough, has a poor opinion of the previous administration. Such as saying about trying to get peace in the Middle East, "President Bush created a road map, but never took it out of the glove compartment." Or, more directly, when a classmate asked her to compare the present foreign policy team vs. Bushes, even before the question was fully out, she said, "They [Obama's team] don't lie."
I heard her talk five years ago, when she came and talked to the last reunion. She was good then, too.
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11:40 pm
[Link] | I've mentioned the new show on ABC, The Unusuals, before, but I want to mention it again. For one thing, it is pretty funny, and really weird. Tonight's episode began with Schraeder and Walsh are waiting for some guy to come out of his place when they a naked guy runs past them. In the middle of the street. In the morning. Shraeder wonders if they should do something, but Walsh says, "I don't want to deal with it." And then the guy gets shot, and a murder investigation ensues. It has all those really odd twists. And yet at the same time, there is some depth to the characters, such as Schraeder trying to come to terms with her upbringing vs. what she does for a living. Go see it if you get the chance.
edit
Aaaaand... I just read that ABC's already canceled it. Shit.
Tags: reviews
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11:58 am
[Link] |
I like book memes
From stormsdotter
List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you: list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it.
1) Lord of the Rings
2) Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
3) Memory and Dream, by Charles de Lint
4) Inventing the Middle Ages, by Norman F. Cantor
5) Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas
6) the Belgariad, by David Eddings
7) The Dying Earth, by Jack Vance
8) The Vlad Taltos series, by Stephen Brust
9) Greenmantle, by Charles de Lint
10) Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein
11) The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
12) The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
13) The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
14) A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters
15) The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, by Carl Erdmann
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06:25 pm
[Link] |
ToV
Back from a weekend at Tales of Valor. A might frustrating for me, partly because a couple of plots I was involved in got pooched, partly because I've been tired all weekend and didn't feel like I do as much stuff as I should have.
I DID get to play the Devourer of All! Or at least, wear its costume in a module. Not quite as terrifying as it was in Prophesy, but fun to do. Thanks, all de folks at Prophesy and especially thanks to saxikath for making them.
Also got to beat up players as crunchy a few times.
Now, tired...
Current Mood: tired
Tags: tov
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02:53 pm
[Link] | Hippo birdy, lilithschilde! And many more!
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06:32 pm
[Link] | Ok, I have found one thing that was wrong about this past weekend.
I have poison ivy. :(
You'd think that since I know I'm allergic to it, I'd know what it looks like, wouldn't you?
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06:18 pm
[Link] | Back from another weekend at Prophecy. And this time, *I* was the guest director. And, from what I've heard so far, it seems to have been a success. This despite having only 11 cast. But that wasn't TOO bad, since we also had only 21 players. (I hope the game at least broke even.) So the players had plenty to do, as seen by the utter lack of anyone in the tavern mid afternoon on Saturday. (Usually, there are a few people hanging around, chatting about what's going on or just chillin'.) Due to the cast restraints, things didn't go exactly as planned, but the veteran cast were very good at improvising and combining and what-not. So, woot, to all involved!!
The queen is cured, the High Domani are on the way recovering their positions of power, and other good things happened. And the final chapter on these characters has been acted out. Next year, we start the third campaign, which will involved new characters and 100 years of time difference.
And now, to sleep and wait for the PELS.
Current Mood: tired
Tags: pii, piii
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09:01 pm
[Link] |
We gots some real wits here
My library puts out one of those sign boards where you can move the letters around periodically to advertise stuff. Because we don't want it out all the time, it's small enough so that we can take it in when we want. And that means that other people can get at it, too.
Sometime over the night, someone came around and changed the letters. They've done this at least once before. The new message? On one side "Free titty massage". On the other, "Ask us about vaseline."
Oh, yeah, we got some wits around here.
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08:19 pm
[Link] | Just returned from another successful weekend at Tales of Valor. Learned a couple of things about casting:
* I need to get a good balance of RPing and being a crunchy. Both are tiring, for different reasons. On Friday night, I found I only picked up a weapon once, and was zonked from just RPing all the time. It's good to let off a bit of steam once in a while by whacking people with plumbing supplies.
* I don't mind doing weekend long plots that end in rituals... so long as I get more than a 1/2 warning! (Not blaming anyone but the universe. Darn that capricious tang!!) And if it does happen, ask to see the ENTIRE plotline so that I know exactly what's going on. But, especially for rituals, need several days to try to get it memorized.
I think there were more, but seriously tired now. Time to check other things online, then go to bed.
Tags: tov
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