Not only can we blame Canada today, see the song from South Park, we can wish my friend Rad a Happy Birthday as he basks in the warmth, or should it be called blistering heat, over in Phoenix.
I think he will be having a solid Summer because he’s a huge superhero fan and 2008 has churned out two great movies with a third on the horizon to give Hollywood a rare hat trick.
If you know him, drop him a line.
Paizo announced Friday that Sean Reynolds was joining them in developing Pathfinder. First the addition of Monte Cook and now him. I doubt Wizards/Hasbro could care less but I’m excited since these gentlemen made major contributions to Third Edition. So far I’ve playtested Fourth Edition and I didn’t like it. Our group already had a vote to stay with 3.5E too; I think the results were 7-1 yet I can’t recall who chose to upgrade.
Anyway, it’s too early to make a judgment call even though I dread which direction I’m already leaning toward. I am more excited over Paizo working pretty hard on Pathfinder when it could be easier to just recycle old material with minor, unimpressive changes…say like Traveller’s latest umpteenth incarnation from Mongoose.
I think Paizo will do very well since publishing Dungeon magazine honed their adventure-writing/editing skills. The Gamemaster line of modules prove it: decent premises, great maps by my elusive friend Lazz and solid execution. Only the NPCs are a tad flawed which I would blame on the OGL’s limitations.
Wizards’ attempts through its new online offerings and few printed products have been terrible. It’s as if Wizards’ staff completely forgot how to write adventures about two to three years ago since the current stuff is more reminiscent of TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes; just large maps, fights and padded with NPC stats instead of substance.
I have enough junk to play for decades so if all the RPG companies went under tomorrow, it wouldn’t make a ripple in my group’s schedule. I’m going to stick with my Gaming Sensei’s mantra too, “If we’re having a good time, then we’re playing the game correctly.”
My co-worker and friend Mark M alerted me to the inconsistencies my site was having via RSS feeds. I figured it was the usual nonsense of Java intermittently spiking. When I noticed its unresponsiveness around 845 AM today, I just about had a fit. Initially I figured it was the power going out in the house which is a frequent problem in Texas (so much for the “free” market of Guvner Perry). After 30 minutes, no luck on the juice returning. Fortunately, my other friend Jeremy was nice enough to check my house on his way in to work. The house was intact (no burglary and the electric meter was running). My thoughts turned to the Mini dying again. How much would this cost was running through my head.
As soon as work was over, we rushed home, saw no signs of power on the Mini. When it was unresponsive to the power button, profanity filled my mouth. I decided to feed the cats while I was home (I had other plans this evening) and think about a Plan B. Why not check out the latest polls on the Wii too? The console’s refusal to power up gave me hope, the surge protector everything shared was off. Once I flipped its switch, all was well again. How did it get turned off, I have my theory yet I can’t prove it was Kuroneko completely.
Why am I blaming a cat? The surge protector is behind the TV and there’s a large enough gap for her to climb through, which I have caught her doing. Her weight may have been insufficient so this leaves Nemo or Miette as the other possible culprits.
My more immediate plan is to either obstruct the way or elevate the strip out their reach.
It’s in the middle of the week so they’ll probably do something over the weekend.
For them, the traditional gift is ivory. Rather cruel since elephants are an endangered species and it’s probably even harder to get it from one that died of natural causes. I think the acceptable alternatives are items in a shade of white or the Ivory soap.
If you know them, drop them a line to say congratulations!
Sunday (June 22) was the 20th anniversary of this amazing movie’s opening. In an age of digital characters being rather ubiquitous, it’s hard to believe this film was the showcase on state-of-the-art special effects for integrating live action with an imaginary character. In many ways, the techniques used to make Roger “real” were a vast improvement over Mary Poppins and probably led to the refinements on making Gollum possible while sharing the blame for Jar Jar Binks. Looking back, one would think everybody involved was nuts. Before computers became practical on the tedious matters, people had to draw, ink and paint all the characters. Then they took it a step further by painstakingly getting all the light and shadow elements as close as possible. This is what blew audiences away.
After two decades, Roger Rabbit continues to impress me because it is based upon a solid screenplay. The original book is completely different and would’ve flopped according to Somara, the only person I know who actually read Who Censored Roger Rabbit. Why Disney chose to buy the novel rights is beyond me. When Somara gave me a synopsis of Gary Wolf’s 1981 novel, Roger Rabbit sounded more like another controversial Ralph Bakshi cartoon.
The great acting of Bob Hoskins is what really made the film a success. Christopher Lloyd, Kathleen Turner, Joanna Cassidy and Charles Fleischer helped immensely but Bob did most of the physical stuff to make it appear realistic. Somara’s deluxe DVD of Roger Rabbit shows all the behind-the-scenes work he had to endure, mainly hanging from strings to assist the blue-screen work or maintaining his eye lines for interacting with characters the animators had to paint in later. The only downside is it ruins future viewing because you now notice the robots under the drawings more.
As a huge fan of animation, this movie was also the coolest gathering of characters which rarely happens since the copyright holders are as petty as they are greedy. I cannot remember how the producers ironed out an arrangement Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal and Ted Turner’s corporation could agree on. Somehow the producers succeeded, giving Roger Rabbit a huge showcase of Who’s Who from animation’s Pre-WWII period which will probably never happen again.
With this Summer being the movie’s Twentieth anniversary, I want to make a recommendation to revisit it. If you now have kids, I think they’ll be amused even after the opening cartoon.
An interesting day in hockey. The long overdue news about Barry “Captain Mullet” Melrose being made the new head coach of the Lightning became official. I guess he finally read the writing on the wall about ESPN’s disinterest in the NHL. His first step to get some attention was hiring Rick Tocchet as an assistant coach.
The other story was about the Austin Ice Bats in the New York Times, of all publications. It’s a sad story but any publicity is better than none. Hopefully I will run into some of the players who stayed behind at the Alamo’s rolling road show August 16.
It was sad to have the day kick off with that announcement on NPR. George was scheduled to perform at the Paramount in the last year but he cancelled due to poor health. His death through heart failure wasn’t a surprise since he had three previous heart attacks. I could be wrong but I do remember a bit he did about him versus Richard Pryor on their shared tragedies (this is a bit of paraphrasing).
“Richard had the first heart attack. Then I had mine. Next time, I had a heart attack and then he had a heart attack. Then he catches on fire, I have another heart attack.”
Back when HBO was relatively new, novel and risque; before stand-up comedy became as ubiquitous as McDonald’s and Starbucks; George Carlin was always a major event. Even when he did the clean stuff I found him amusing as a kid. I think my first time seeing him was as a guest host for Carson. He put in a joke for his opening monologue I always use to quiz the cashier at the express lane; can’t I come through with 66 packages of hot dogs? That is ONE item. I usually get the technical answer of “no,” because the barcode reader has to scan each product for inventory purposes which then would alert the register manager.
I discovered his better material through my mom’s cooler friend Caroline. She’d let me play with her stereo and check out her record collection while I was over. Caroline had a copy of Occupation: Foole which contained more stuff about his upbringing in parochial school in an Irish neighbor. Finally some jokes I could relate to! Many of the elements were dated by a generation yet some things never change in the Catholic Church.
Finally, I want to reveal one clarification about the FCC-Supreme Court matter involving his Seven Words bit. Most of the news stories ignorantly (or willfully) forget to mention how he wasn’t party to the lawsuit; it was the Pacifica station in NYC which played the material in the early Seventies one afternoon. Allegedly, a parent with a child caught this “inappropriate” routine. Instead of just changing the station, the offended douchebag complained to the FCC, setting the gears in motion to tie this up in court for a few years until the Supreme Court made a mediocre compromise known as the safe harbor times. My Broadcasting Law-History teacher Dr. Grams said it best about the Pacifica Decision (as it is known by); the parent and child were members of a Jesus freak group who sprung a trap on Pacifica hoping to take them off the air. The stations’ enemies were constantly monitoring (and still do), trying to find something to revoke the license. Even to this day, you can tell it’s them and their astroturf operation because their complaint letters are often photocopies.
George will be missed across the generations for his stand-up, his acting, his Simpson appearance as a character (his career also inspired the storyline to Krusty’s comeback in “The Last Temptation of Krust,”) and being a conductor on Thomas the Tank Engine. I only regret not seeing him live. Now I need to find that friend of mine who has the boxed set of his seven key records and see if he’ll let me borrow them for nostalgic reasons.
About a week or two before I went to the Adam Ant concert with Father Orlando, Dad dropped the bomb on me during our daily commute…I wouldn’t be returning to Strake next Fall. The official reason given was my mediocre 2.86 GPA. Despite their reputation as educators, the Jesuits couldn’t motivate me into becoming a better student. So according to Dad, it was unfair that everyone else had to make sacrifices for my academic career if I wasn’t going to apply myself. How I cried over the news. The dust from the Springfield-to-Houston move hadn’t even settled and I would have to start all over again on friends.
Nevertheless my BS detector went off. I knew the actual reason was Dad’s dislike of commuting from the West side of Houston to its Southeast section; something around 50 miles one way. To me, any anguish he experienced was payback for uprooting me from Springfield, my future at Griffin High School and the friends left behind. As for the other sacrifices, these were half-truths. Mom had to take up a retail-management job because our financial situation needed a boost, especially with Reagan’s voodoo economics. She made sure we shared her pain with boring evenings spent waiting at the store until closing or assisting her on inventory nights. Brian’s attendance at Sugar Land Middle School wasn’t my doing. He could’ve gone to St. Francis which was a few blocks from Strake. I don’t know why he didn’t. I do know he hated public school after all the years we spent in parochial schools because he was a popular kid unlike me. Not getting to participate in sports is what really ate at him the most. Our relationship definitely started to deteriorate then as Brian resented my opportunity while he languished in a “ghetto” school (a way of saying the kids aren’t as similar like they used to be at St. Agnes). Lastly, Grandma covered the tuition which meant there was no crippling financial burden on my family outside of commuting. My so-so report cards just gave Dad a plausible rationale or he’d find another if I had straight A’s—a self-fulfilling prophecy in 1984, a story for later.
Today I sympathize with Dad thanks to my time at DG. But this was the 14-year-old version of me then and I despised him for “wrecking” my life again. If you know my parents, what followed was obvious, their litany of how friends are unimportant, friends can’t be relied on, friendships fade, blah blah blah. Not exactly something a teenager swallows unless he’s an android. I was already numb to their bullshit thanks to the past moves of 1982, 1979 and 1975. Too bad it didn’t harden me more effectively for the next ones due in 1984 and 1985.
By the time Summer Vacation 1983 began, the tears were spent and we had to find a new place to rent off the Gulf Freeway region (that’s Southeast Houston which runs along I-45 to Galveston if you’re not familiar with Texas). Luck was on our side this time. My parents found another wonderful four-bedroom house in a relatively new area owned by a Mr. Chen. This gentleman was moving his family to a larger place several blocks away and he wanted to try being a landlord I guess. It was a perfect match. We would be living in a more developed, mature section of Houston unlike the West side’s perpetual state of construction. Mr. Chen got a family that would take good care of the place.
Then came the weekend with a U-Haul to lug our heavy junk across Houston. I recall it was a small truck because we had to make at least two trips. Loading it up with boxes was easy, we never completely unpacked from the Springfield move. The following weekdays were spent cleaning up the minor details while Dad was at work. This new home had a neighborhood pool which assuaged Brian and me once Mom announced we weren’t getting cable TV anymore. They hated MTV being frequently watched and blamed my “poor” grades on it too. Their strategy worked. I think our overall television viewing declined despite having solid reception. It didn’t matter as I was evolving into an avid FM radio listener and voracious reader thanks to a donation of three Sci-Fi novels from Dad’s unknown co-worker:
When I wasn’t holed up in my new bedroom listening to KLOL, reading those novels, writing mopey-assed letters to my pen-pal Kim Stewart or researching my D&D books, I made beaucoup use of the local pool. Some days, Brian and I went swimming twice a day. We failed to make any new friends during our stints there because we weren’t around very long. Shortly before the move we received the bad news about our house in Springfield. This meant a brief settling-in period followed by the month of July spent around Central Illinois seeing old friends, our family and painting. Overall, the Gulf Freeway area was shaping up for us; there were two big, decent malls (Almeda and Bayshore), Mom didn’t have to work any more (it improved her outlook) and if we had to live in Houston, this part felt nicer.
Epilogue: There are several little side notes to accompany this jog down memory lane. My future wife Somara actually lived a couple miles away and attended the nearby rival Dobie. Jose’s future wife Nancy was also around but attended Clear Lake. Finally, after the Giraudet wedding (Sonia’s) in early 2004, we drove out to this house to see it again. Despite all the doom-n-gloom I felt as a teenager, it held decent, happier memories for a brief window. We bumped into a gentleman who lived across the street while he was collecting his trash can. I introduced myself and explained why I was there. He told me sadly that Mr. Chen died a few years earlier so his wife had moved back in; the children were grown and she didn’t want a large home anymore. My past fared better too, we later found Somara’s alma mater fenced off and going through the process of being demolished.
Probably the hardest working guy in Action, Horror, B and Voiceovers these days. His Old Spice commercials will be legendary, pay special attention to the background when he’s speaking.
The list of his appearances is enormous if you check Bruce out on imdb.com. His voice is always distinctive too so he’s easy to pick out on cartoons. My personal favorite was Himacles on My Life as a Teenage Robot; a villain who was similar to Hercules but he grew stronger through others’ pain or suffering.
Bruce has a huge fan base in Austin. Every few years he comes to Alamo Drafthouse to do either live commentary on Evil Dead 2 or promote his latest project, The Man with the Screaming Brain. Somara and I had the opportunity to meet him at Book People at our first signing together. He ribbed and cajoled the audience pretty well, namely a kid who asked him to appear in a movie the kid and his friends were making.
If you really want to see how talented and clever he can be, check out Bubba-Ho-tep. Bruce plays Elvis and the late Ossie Davis is JFK. Both of these famous people are hidden away in an East Texas retirement home where no one believes much of what they say, especially their claims of a mummy hiding in a ditch that’s murdering the home’s elderly residents.
As for me, I’m going to keep an eye out on My Name is Bruce which is a humorous movie about Bruce the actor versus Bruce’s past characters.
The antennae are sparklers one can light for a cool effect.
It has been a while since I’ve posted one of Somara’s cakes, namely because I tended to have the camera in my backpack and when she’s baking, I stay out of the house; I’ll stray from my diet too much.
Somara wants to do a demo movie on how she creates the spherical shape with cake and frosting. I’m baffled since we don’t have any pans to create such curves.
Meanwhile, I know she has a few more lined up this Summer so keep watching this part of my site to see her next delicious creation.
This Swiss kid Sbisa better be worth losing RJ Umberger in exchange. I know the Flyers are hurting on D but GM Holmgren is doing Bizarro Clarke moves by trading good, younger vets for unproven rookies as opposed to getting borderline, washed-up “never weres” like Nedved or Baumgartner. Of course the excuse is the Salary Cap which my team is pressed pretty close against. Kapanen retiring and Prospal going to Tampa didn’t create enough room when re-signing Carter and Jones.
Head Coach Ken Hitchcock will be glad to have a familiar player on his pathetic Blue Jackets; I blame the market not the coaches or players since most of Ohio is just northern Kentucky due to its hateful, redneck mindset. But Hitch gains an experienced, solid forward who only was one of the top goal makers of the playoffs. Sure, I’m one of the first people to argue how the past isn’t destiny, especially in sports. It still stinks to reward a great player with a trade to a losing franchise. I feel he was the one always singled out to be ditched because he’s an American, not a Canadian and this whole team is being rebuilt around Carter and Richards. It’s a theory easily discredited by remembering Holmgren’s nationality…American. Maybe he has an old head injury from his days with the Johnston Jets (the actual team the Chiefs from Slapshot are based upon) has come back to impair his judgment.
As I thought when Briere was signed for $52 million over eight years, let’s wait and see how it goes on opening night next October before adding another 500 days on the Cheesesteak of Suffering.
Humorist/Essayist David Sedaris graced Austin with his presence yesterday to promote his latest collection When You are Engulfed in Flames. I stumbled upon his signing a couple weeks ago during my music shopping rounds. My brother Brian is a huge fan of David’s work so I called him to see if he owned the new book. Obviously the answer was no, but he also knew what he would be soon receiving in the mail. Me? I’m a casual fan yet I do enjoy book signings, listening to the author read the work in his or her voice which gives you some insight on how it “should” flow, for example, James Ellroy reads in the same manner as a beatnik poet, and getting my face time with the writer.
You’re probably now asking, “Where’s the picture then you name-dropping windbag?” Mr. Sedaris doesn’t like having his picture taken and the Book People staff made this very, very clear before he appeared. I already saw it on the voucher when I bought it two weeks ago. I could show you the autograph yet I want to keep it a surprise for Brian, this is his belated birthday present. We did speak briefly. I told him how my brother is his biggest fan in Chicago. David smiled, offered me some candy and asked if I worked at an Apple store since I still had my badge on. No I replied, I work in the call center supporting servers. David seemed baffled over what a server was then told me about the problems he’s having with his MacBook Air. I recommended the people I know at the Domain but he was going to wait for the store in San Francisco when he had more time. Contrary to how David’s stories flow, our exchange was enjoyable.
It’s a good thing I took a half-day from work too. Originally, I was going to split at noon until a long-ass call kept me chained to the phone for 90 minutes. Luck was my on side to salvage a victory. I managed to be twelfth in queue and maybe I’ve made a new friend with the lady I waited in line with; a fellow Midwesterner from the Chicago area who attended Illinois and Wisconsin!
This signing was unusual. Normally, everyone waits around the second floor for several hours. The author descends the stairs because he is hiding out in a special part of the third floor. (I think there’s a secret entrance with an elevator for this.) There’s a reading followed by some Q&A and then it concludes with the signings. David’s kicked off early so he did several dozen signings to unwind, took a short break and then proceeded to read. Being number 12 was awesome, just hard to find a spot to sit.
David chose to kick off with “Of Mice and Men,” a very funny tale about a conversation starter not working out well during a trip to NYC. This was followed by an excerpt from his current work in progress involving animals; a modernization of Aesop’s Fables but lacking the morality as he said. It was a hilarious, mean-spirited story involving a male ladybug and how the insect kingdom shares humanity’s gender misperceptions. Think of Francis from A Bug’s Life, just more R-rated in language and demeanor. David read random entries from his diary too. The man makes me jealous while he impresses. He has a wit and gift for observation that amazes.
Finally, the Q&A.
There was more, those are the only parts I remember well. Maybe the new friend will post and correct me on what I got wrong. I wish I remembered clearly what were his book recommendations, maybe they’ll be listed in next week’s Austin Chronicle; they were interviewing him upstairs. David is a very generous person with his time; he will sign everything and have a sincere chat with everyone who asks. This explained why Book People and his publicist limited the event to 500. In closing he thanked everyone for coming to see him, he was humbled by the turn out, especially in the Central Texas heat (I was in the shade most of the time, phew!). David loves what he does too. He meets so many interesting people and learns interesting terms, namely the one nugget an airline stewardess shared; crop dusting.
If David Sedaris is coming to your town on this tour, see him. He’s funnier and more mentally agile than most stand-up comics. Too late and you missed him? Then put him on your “to watch out” list so you won’t miss him next time.
Meanwhile, I have to pack this unique copy of Engulfed to give my brother. I do hope he genuinely likes it. I have always treasured the personalized copy of Douglas Coupland’s Shampoo Planet he got me.
You’d think such a thing was just a plot device in Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove but on this day, JFK and Krushchev had a direct line installed thanks to the near-miss over Cuba. I wonder if it was ever used when the president needed to speak to the Soviet leader in a hurry over less urgent matters?
The History Channel’s site doesn’t state if this is still in place. It should be. Our country (most of my readers are Americans) still has tension with Russia and their nuclear stockpile hasn’t evaporated; yet they do have difficulty keeping track of it along with their scientists. Hopefully there are plans to build one with China and eventually India, Israel and Pakistan.
And again, the History Channel got their facts wrong. Krushchev didn’t accept JFK’s pledge not to mess with Cuba. The Soviet Union had US missiles in Turkey and Italy removed in exchange for withdrawing from Cuba. America’s Defense Department agreed to this because the nuclear arsenal in those nations was old and could be easily rendered useless by mere snipers.
There was barely any mention of this great guy’s passing in the mainstream media. I may have had the last couple days off from work, but I wasn’t in a vacuum that badly.
Stan gave us so many creatures which are iconic now: the Terminator’s exoskeleton, the Predator, the Alien Queen, Edward Scissorhands and the Penguin for the 1992 Batman movie. His involvement in Jurassic Park is legendary. However, it’s easy to forget he was a makeup guy too so he helped out in dramas such as Roots, the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Musicals like the film version of The Wiz or direct to TV Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan (ugh!).
The list goes on and on at imdb.com. He had such a varied career as a producer, advisor, consultant and even director (lead and second unit). This helped him earn his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, first special effects guy to have one too.
Stan is going to be missed by me for sure because he was involved in more of my favorite movies than any other person. I think in his honor, I will try to find one of his more obscure titles, namely Heartbeeps or The Hand from the Early Eighties.
These guys used to be my favorite team growing up in Illinois when I became a big fan of the NBA. They remained “my team” until I started working for the Milwaukee Sentinel and became more familiar with the Bucks. I still liked the Celtics, I just shifted over to some guys who were closer yet I never did make it to a game.
I lost interest in the NBA by the time I came to Austin since there were more interesting things to check out and I suppose my loyalties are with the Spurs by default now.
As much as I dislike the Boston accent and the city’s residents can be rude, foul-mouthed and ill-tempered; thanks to taking classes with a few of them at Marquette; it was great to see them triumph over the LA Lakers. I’ve never liked the Lakers and I think Kobe Bryant is a crybaby GED millionaire.
Again, the title went to a roster of nobodies. Seriously, can the average American name one player on the Celtics? Most people know who Tim Duncan is for the Spurs and they’re in a smaller media market.
Jun 19, 2008 Update: OK, I was hasty about the Celtics having nobodies. My friend Jeremy was able to immediately say Kevin Garnett is a relatively famous player. Another high school graduate who skipped college and spent a decade languishing with the pathetic Minnesota Timberwolves until he came to Boston this season. The more interesting element was the coach, Marquette alumni Doc Rivers! I lost track of him after the Orlando Magic dumped him yet I knew he’d still be coaching somewhere. Lastly, Danny Ainge is their GM, a former member of the team’s glory days in the Eighties.
