My New Favorite Quote

"I’ve worked under tyrants and I can say that I’d prefer to work under a talented, knowledgeable tyrant with a successful plan than a directionless gladhander with a ouija board any day of the week."

-- Comic writer Chuck Dixon,
talking about his recent break with DC.
Source

Book Report: Haunted

OK, I'm still reading the Women of the Otherworld series when I'm in the mood. And I'm still waiting for a book that's half as good as Bitten was.

Remember way back when when I talked about Industrial Magic and I mention just how freaking annoying Paige is? Yep, still annoying.

Luckily, we don't get to see much of her this book. Instead, we get ghostie Eve, who's got to cut into her schedule of stalking her teenage daughter and rejecting the love of her life (for no good reason) to pay back the debt she owes to the Fates.

They set her on the trail of the Nix, a part-demon serial killer who's been body hopping and raising hell for a couple hundred years now.

While I enjoyed Eve and Kristoff bopping about the afterlife looking for a murderer, and the sequences in the pirate village, a very unusual hell for the worst of the worst and the Scottish castle were inspired, the story started to drag every time the author created another reason for us to visit Jamie Vegas, or Paige, or ... yeah, we get it. Big world. For the most part though, unless I'm getting to see the werewolves or more Kristoff, enough with the cameo parade.

But this isn't just a job for Eve, it's a trial -- one that could change her afterlife forever if she succeeds. Is a half-demon ghost witch ready to become a full-fledged angel? And since the angels she's meeting are all boring, snippy or incompetent, why would she want to?

Overall, this wasn't a bad turn-your-brain-off book, but it wasn't a great one, either. It's certainly not one that I'd recommend for a friend, and I've recommended Bitten several times.

Oh well, in the next book in the series Elena and Clay are back. Here's hoping it's a good return.

Book Report: Sprawl Survival Guide

Another Shadowrun book.

One of the coolest of the many cool things about Shadowrun is the incredibly detailed universe. You can really get into it with books like this one, which details the minutia of daily life in the 2060s. From culture, shopping and media to life on the streets, you get a really good feel for the high-tech, high-magic, pseudo-post apocalyptic world.

Not many rules, though, and those that do exist should be easily translatable to whichever edition of the game you choose to play. So rules lawyers will be bored, and roleplayers will be overjoyed.

Slot your credstick, chummer -- you need this one if you're going to be in the world rather than just skate on top of it.

Book Report: Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunklezahn's Secrets

We've got a Shadowrun game going, and it's working out well. So I've been inspired to crack open a few of the older books and bone up on my runner info.

This has always been one of my favorites. The last will and testament of the great dragon Dunklezahn, this book is chock full of story ideas and drops a few little tidbits of info about the Shadowrun/Earthdawn metaplot (A nifty storyline that has sadly gone the way of the dodo. That's one of the reasons I still play third edition.)

Damn I've played in some cool games based on this book. Remind me to tell you about Glamis Castle sometime ...

When this book came out, we were actively playing through the storyline, albeit a few months behind. So when there was a MAJOR SPOILER on the back of the cover in giant letters, John about choked. Rule for the future, game companies -- don't give away the big major secrets that players should not know on the back cover.

Is this worth tracking down a used copy if you don't already have one? If you're interested in the back history of Shadowrun/Earthdawn or are running a game in the past, sure. If not, unfortunately the Shadowrun universe has moved in a different direction that the one pointed to in this book.

Movie Report: Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

The first Harold and Kumar flick was funny as hell.

I didn't think they could catch lightning twice, so I wasn't too psyched for the sequel. Then I saw that teaser poster with Neil Patrick Harris on a unicorn (NPH!!!!) and I knew I'd have to see this.

So it's not the same as the first movie. But it's basically 90 minutes of stoner humor. If that's what you're in the mood for, groovy.

So nudity, vulgarity, lots of vulgarity, oral sex jokes and skewering of stupid people. The government types in this movie just get savaged. And cameos abound.

But if anything, my beloved NPH didn't get used enough. Yes, his sequence was hysterical and trippy, but was it trippy enough? C'mon NPH -- I know you can push it farther, baby! You're the king!

Now that the guys have gotten to Amsterdam, and this movie has actually made some bank (something that the original never did in the theaters) I'll be back in the theater for H&K III.

Movie Report: Gigi (1958)

I'll admit to being slightly creeped out at the start of this movie by Maurice Chevalier's ... enthusiasm when he's looking at the girls in the park. Thank heaven for little girls indeed!

Anyway, once we get over that, Gigi is a stylish, light, big budget, big style, old school Hollywood musical. Leslie Caron plays a tomboyish courtesan-in-training who just doesn't fit in. Louis Jourdan is the bored, spoiled playboy who suddenly decides he loves her.

The whole "girls raised to be rich men's mistresses" plot could be seen as horribly anti-feminist, but its not. These women know exactly what they're getting into, and what they're getting out of it. They can reject their lovers and move on. And when Gigi decides she doesn't want that kind of life, she doesn't have to have it. In fact, it's the man who has to change to please her.

And kudos to Chevalier and Hermoine Gingold, who steal the entire picture with a charming and touching performance of "I Remember It Well." Forget Gaston and Gigi -- I wanted to know more about these two and their obviously fascinating history.

TV Report: Babylon 5: Season 1

As I've established before, Babylon 5 is full of both awesome and win.

So after I got the chance to hear JMS speak about writing a few months ago, I started watching the first season again.

The first thing the first season does right is introduce my beloved Ivanova as a replacement for the first officer in the pilot. OK, so there's a new doctor and telepath too, but Ivanova is God. She even tells you that -- I've seen the T-shirts.

We also get to see the first signs of JMS's obsession with Arthurian mythology, and then, at the end of the season, the dreaded and nasty Mr. Morden, and the onset of what the show is *really* about. The fact that this shows makes the question "What do you want?" to be this chilling and disturbing shows how well its done.

This is a show that really blooms on DVD. There are so many intertwining threads that it sometimes made me crazy to wait for the syndication schedule. On DVD, I can watch hours one right after the other, and the master work of the storytelling is allowed to unfold as it should.

And this is one of the weaker seasons, if only because it spends so much time setting up what would happen in seasons 2-4. Its still one of the best things that's appeared on TV.