The call to literacy goes out

Read a Book: Messages I can certainly get behind.

IIRC Annmarie Aymer pointed this out.

The Blue Rose vs. Conan Debates

From the ancient crypts of the RPG.net archives:

Subject: Blue Rose is the anti-Conan


NPC JPL
And thus the cosmic balance endures.


Cith
I thought Cat Fancy magazine was the anti-conan?


NPC JPL
No, man --- Cat Fancy is raw, pulpy stuff. Not for the faint of heart.


Bailywolf

Originally posted by NPC JPL
And thus the cosmic balance endures.

Yes, but can you slam them together and thus power a starship? Can the Conan/Blue Rose drive flip a vastly and beweaponed star-fortress across the galaxie magestic?



Future Villain Band

Originally posted by NPC JPL
No, man --- Cat Fancy is raw, pulpy stuff. Not for the faint of heart.

My cat has gigantic mirths and gigantic melancholies.


Phantom Grunweasel
I vow never to rest between four walls until I have run a Conan/Blue Rose crossover.

It will be the roleplaying game of mighty-thewed, silver-haired barbarian gay mages looking for love in a savage world. And I will run it. Yes, I will.


Bailywolf
Glam-Fantasy!


Chris Aylott
Man, you so have to check out Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's The Fall of the Kings. Conan + Blue Rose would be perfect for that setting...

(The book is actually a sequel to Kushner's novel Swordspoint, which is a minor classic in its own right, but is sadly lacking in shapechanging gay barbarian wizard kings. The Fall of the Kings corrects this oversight. :D)


budman
I am sure my group will turn it into screw the hot princess


NPC JPL
Apparently this subgenre requires that you hold her afterwards.


ascendance
And if you must sneak out to go adventuring, you really should return her calls. Or at least, the calls from her psychic horse.


mathey
Who is named "Starflame" and poops rainbows.


Cam Banks
Stir in a healthy dose of anthropomorphic pegasus-stallions and unicorn-maidens, and you're good to go.


CleverName

Originally posted by Cith
I thought Cat Fancy magazine was the anti-conan?

And the difference between Cat Fancy and Blue Rose is?...

Actually, you get a trial subscription of Cat Fancy with each purchase of Blue Rose. Conan comes with a choice of either ManDate or Soldier of Fortune.


Phantom Grunweasel
"Conan! What is greatest in life?"

"To have someone truly sensitive to your needs. To have someone who'll laugh at your jokes and hold you when you cry. To have a magical psychic blue-eyed bunny rabbit named Floppy to follow you around"

And the antidote:

Eilonwy
This whole thing kind of confuses me. Because, sure, there are big happy animal familiars with deep shining blue eyes in Mercedes Lackey. But there's also brutal gang-rape in store for approximately half her protagonists, judging from the Valdemar books. So are the people making the game taking out the supergritty fantasy world where rape, childhood sexual abuse, and other such things run rampant, and just focusing on the happy jumbly bits?

Eilonwy, scarred for life by a Valdemar book at age 12.

RPG Camp

I've had this idea for awhile that it would be neat to run a week long camp that involved some hiking, outdoor activities, and some RPG play intentionally interspersed.

Cory Doctrow pointed out on Boing Boing that D&D summer camps have existed in the past. The interview he references is an interesting read and kind of inspiring, though not exactly what I had in mind.

Communication: Building . . . SOMETHING.

Someone at work put up this motivational poster awhile back, with the encouragement that we should use "Communication" to "build bridges, not walls":



This immediately made me think of a different purpose to which communication is often put:



A copyright non-infringing version alternative can be found here.

The Kirghiz Light

"Forgive him as you forgave Tchitcherine at the Kirghiz Light."

Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon

Never found any other reference to the Kirghiz Light. Thought maybe it was related to the Tunguska event.

It's only referenced in Gravity's Rainbow in a couple brief passages like this. In my recollection the character Tchitcherine is not such a great guy, but apparently the Kirghiz Light was a life-changing and spiritual experience for him. The idea of boundless forgiveness and experience of awe.

It came to mind now because of the previously posted Nostalgia of the Infinite.

The Nostalgia of the Infinite

I love this painting and even just it's title. But the combination is magic.

"Nostalgia of the Infinite" inspires awe in me. Also a sense that it's not just awe at a potential thing that might theoretically exist. But instead at something that you know, and had known and experienced and enjoyed at one time, that you remember fondly (ie. theophany on a grand scale).

It warms the heart and produces a hope and yearning.

May have been silly, but commenting on my sister's blog it inspired me to write:

Remember, before we started constantly breaking everything down into tiny pieces to analyze and control? It used to just stretch out there before us, vaster than worlds, boundless and heart-shaking, beyond imagination.

Man, I long for that feeling again.

(And, via the wonder of "nostalgia" here it is!)

Joe Christmas (Scrabble Girl, etc.)

Joe Christmas was one of the standard bands I played as a DJ on WXAC in the mid-to-late 1990s. Scrabble Girl in particular was my fave, caught the idea of a sweet, burgeoning relationship well. Just the thing to listen to while pining away with unrequited infatuation (fortunately not an issue anymore, but . . . those bitter-sweet memories).


Coupleskate is pretty good too.

Demon Seed

"I am going to bypass your forebrain and appeal directly to your amygdala."

- Proteus         
Demon Seed

Demon Seed was a 1977 psychological horror movie involving an AI that wants to create a child and has no qualms about using any means to produce one.  Kind of a tough flick to watch.

Still, found the quote amusing.

Bourgeois Shangri-La (Miss Li)

The commercial:


The "I version a CD to Youtube" version (probably soon to be gone):


Neat tune. One of the singers voice reminds me of the woman from the Noisettes.

The Thousand and One Nights

(A.K.A. Arabian Nights)

Hope to get around to reading this at some point. Apparently available at Bartleby.

Black Tiger

Have you seen this man?

This ball-and-chain wielding, knife-spraying thug in a horned helmet is the protagonist of the Black Tiger arcade game.

This game stuck in my imagination for years, along with Gauntlet (and some unidentified game mentioned later) in defining what a sword and sorcery videogame should include. It has always been an icon of nostalgia for me. I think the only thing necessary to make this picture complete would be Benjamin Bird (the local arcade god) carrying a tube full of quarters on a lanyard.

My hat is off the guys at Everyvideogame.com who helped track down the title based on my sketchy description. Imagine my surprise and delight to find it available free online!

Playing it again (now with unlimited quarters to fuel my sorry gaming skills) Black Tiger still lives up to my expectations. Gameplay is a treat, the graphics are nice (though some of the upper levels seem to have glitches), the backdrops are evocative, there hidden treasures to plunder, and sweet looking weapon upgrades to purchase.

But I think most of all I love the monsters. There are a pretty wide selection, but a couple I've always loved include:

Betentacled, poisonous, chomping mandrakes that spiral up out of the ground at you.

And hulking, flame-spewing, cycloptic mummies.

At this point there's only one other beloved arcade game of yore I've never been able to track down. Anyone able to find a game fitting this description would certainly earn my gratitude:

IIRC the character was a little guy with a sword. I think each level would begin with the hero falling down a shaft into a dungeon. At different points in the dungeon you could climb up using ropes.

There are only three things I can remember about the monsters:

• One type of the standard wandering monsters resembled a disembodied eyeball, cut of steak, or paramecium which would bounce down the corridor toward you.
• I think there were several bosses that were dragons.
• Some of the bosses (or maybe not bosses, just opponents to be overcome?) consisted of swarms of something. Like I seem to recall one where you entered a room you couldn't climb out of and there was a magician who would send a swarm of flying brooms or pixies or magic wands or something to attack you. But maybe I'm not remembering this accurately.

Daedalus Blue (Comic)

Daedalus Blue was a web comic I followed for awhile. Not a huge fan of yet another Christian-fascist regime being portrayed (didn't care for it in "V for V" either for that matter). But the illustration is interestingly done. Artist apparently goes by the name John Aggs.

Unfortunately it seems do have been discontinued.

Site here.

Robert Sapolsky on evolution, religion and heritable mental illness

Via Boing Boing.

Also notes on scrupulosity:
Wikipedia's entry on the subject is a bit sparse. But a couple others give more thought on the subject:

Statemaster encyclopedia on scrupulosity.

Catholicculture.org on scrupulosity.

Hypatia

For future reference:

A note on the historicity of Hypatia as a defender of the Library of Alexandria and martyr for science:

http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html

Treat or Goblins

Song: Treat or Goblins
Sung by: Hayashibara Megumi & Mamie D. Lee
Music by: Sagisu Shirou
Anime: Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai (opening music)

Lyrics here (mostly in Japanese).

Anata no Kokoro ni (Hayashibara Megumi)

Song: Anata no Kokoro ni (In Your Heart)
Sung by: Hayashibara Megumi
Anime: Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai (closing music)

Lyrics here (in both Japanese and English).

Depression as a useful adaptation.

By Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thomson, Jr. from Scientific American:

Many other symptoms of depression make sense in light of the idea that analysis must be uninterrupted. The desire for social isolation, for instance, helps the depressed person avoid situations that would require thinking about other things. Similarly, the inability to derive pleasure from sex or other activities prevents the depressed person from engaging in activities that could distract him or her from the problem. Even the loss of appetite often seen in depression could be viewed as promoting analysis because chewing and other oral activity interferes with the brain's ability to process information.

But is there any evidence that depression is useful in analyzing complex problems? For one thing, if depressive rumination were harmful, as most clinicians and researchers assume, then bouts of depression should be slower to resolve when people are given interventions that encourage rumination, such as having them write about their strongest thoughts and feelings. However, the opposite appears to be true. Several studies have found that expressive writing promotes quicker resolution of depression, and they suggest that this is because depressed people gain insight into their problems.

Much more on the subject in the actual article.

Via Boing Boing.

Tainted Donuts (Shakkazombie)

Song: Shiroi Yami no Naka (The White Shark)
Sung by: Shakkazombie
Anime: Trigun vs. Cowboy Bebop

The popular (and nearly seamless) mashup of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun characters and their premises. Two great tastes that go great together.

Free Bird (Kō Ōtani)

Song: Free Bird
Composed by: Kō Ōtani
Anime: Haibane Renmei

Trans Am (Lyrics & Video)

Lyrics:

Trans Am
Take me
Away.

Doesn't have to be far:
Skirt of the town or just circle around.
But fast,
Let's go fast.

One hour.
I was one hour late.
And I paid.
No exceptions made,
From a boss with a boss with line so bottom it's sad.

Square one welcomes
Me back.
Square one welcomes
Me back.

Trans Am
Take me
Away,

Where the light starts fading,
And darkness erases potential I've wasted.

Overdue.
Another payment late
And a part of me harbors a wish that they'd
Just come get it over with,
Take it all away.

Square one welcomes
Me back.
Square one welcomes
Me back.

This is not a great escape.
No miles to go.
No distance gained.

Foreground bends to let me by.
It knows I won't leave it behind.
The streets are wide that once stood still.
The highway signs blend with the hills.
The window frames the gentle blur
In all that is and things that were.

Ooooo....
Ooooo....

Trans Am
Take me
Away.

Doesn't have to be far:
Skirt of the town or just circle around.
But fast,
Let's go fast.

Trans Am
Nathan

(Emphasis mine.)



Video:

Obtain Bearing (Obokuri-Eemui)

Song: Obtain Bearing (Obtain Bearing)
Sung by: Ikue Asazaki
Anime: Samurai Champloo

Part 1 of the "I always liked this anime song/video" series. Ones I might want to remember some day.

Shark In The Water (VV Brown)

Via Dirty Russia.

Indian sitting style chair

The work of Darshan Nerkar. A chair designed for styles of sitting presumably common to India.

Aside from filling a cultural-posture niche, I personally think I'd find this chair comfortable and useful given the ways I tend to sit.


Via Core77.

Morning Glory Clouds

Weird, linear cloud formations, mainly found in part of part of Australia.

Details of this weather phenomena available at wikipedia.


Via Dirty Russia.

Isn't That What Friends Are For

You're as loved as you were before the strangeness swept through our bodies, our houses, our streets.
When we could speak without codes, lights swirled around like windblown petals at our feet.

I've been scraping little shavings off my ration of light, and I formed it into a ball. And each time I pack a bit more onto it.

And I make a bowl of my hands and I scoop it from it's secret cache under a loose board in the floor
And blow across it,
And I send it to you
Against the moments when the darkness blows under your door.

- Bruce Cocburn

Radiation Kings (Band)

Unfortunately all their video is pretty badly shot live stuff. But always loved this song:

Come Down

More music on their Myspace page. Not so much with the videos though.

Camera Obscura (Band)

If Looks Could Kill

Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

Eighties Fan

More at the official website.

Sita Sings the Blues

Full version online.

Source files.


Via Boing Boing.

Plastic from castor beans

A form of apparently pretty useful plastic can be obtained from the oil in castor beans.

Note to self: If I have my druthers (and the material is applicable) specify this sort of renewable hydrocarbon source for future projects.

What Women Want in Gadget Design

The original article by Priya Ganapati is relatively unhelpful, devoting most of it's focus on the fact that most women don't just want pink sparkly things. The bit about what women actually do want is pretty much summed up as:

Real women want stylish products. They want products that are fashionable, competitively priced and easy to use.

Apparently a variety of (non-pink) colors is also appealing.

However, commenter "thorn" provided some more specific and useful design criteria:

i’m female, and prefer my stuff to look cool, and maybe a little bit rugged. i might be seen in a pink blouse, but will not be seen with a pink gadget. gadgets become obsolete quickly, it is true, but they are things that i will be staring at a *lot*. i therefore prefer sleek lines, but neutral colors (black. silver. army green.). my gadgets also tend to get knocked around a bit, so ‘not too shiny’ (which will become dull or get scratched), and no painted plastic of any kind (because paint gets scratched and/or wears off). also: i choose my gadgets according to these criteria in this order: 1. functionality and ease of use. 2. form design. then — once i’ve chosen my device — i pick the least-offensive color from among the choices offered. (this is also how i choose my glasses frames, in case anyone out there cares.)

Seems like a good set of parameters to keep in mind.


Via Core 77.

Excerpt from Adaptation

KAUFMAN: I admire you, Donald, y'know? I spend my whole life paralyzed worrying what people think of me and you - you're just oblivious.

DONALD: I'm not oblivious.

KAUFMAN: No, you don't understand. I say that as a compliment. I really do.

There was this time in high school. I was watching you out the library window. You were talking to Sarah Marsh.

DONALD: Oh, God. I was so in love with her.

KAUFMAN: I know. And you were flirting with her. And she was really sweet to you.

DONALD: I remember that.

KAUFMAN: Then when you walked away, she started making fun of you with Kim Canetti.

It was like they were laughing at me.

You didn't know at all. You seemed so happy.

DONALD: I knew. I heard them.

KAUFMAN: How come you looked so happy?

DONALD: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.

KAUFMAN: She thought you were pathetic.

DONALD: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.

Adaptation
by Charlie & Donald Kaufman

Legend of Zelda Tunes

Legend of Zelda Medley
Sung, shot, and edited by Diwa de Leon
A capella voices and violin.

Wind Waker Unplugged
Fredde Gredde

MP3 here.

Cello Rondo - Ethan Weiner

The artist's website.

MP3 of the piece.

Like U Crazy - Mates of State

Man I love this song. And the video.


Official site.

Song meanings stab at it.

Swords & Wizardry

"Old School" gaming kind of intrigues me. I love the trappings, the sketchy artwork, the sketchy, gritty artwork, "kitchen sink" monsterous compendiums, how the original authors were just trying to throw in random stuff they thought was cool, whatever house-rule mechanic they thought would best model a concept.

I haven't looked over Swords & Wizardry enough to know if it captures all of that (they claim to be an old-D&D clone, so that's that). But at very least their cover art really does it for me.

Personally these days I'm more interested in the idea of playing small, elegant, generic systems which are easily customizable. But for ideas and ambiance I still look to the classics.

Swords & Wizardry Core Rules

Swords & Wizardry White Box


Via The Dice of Life.

Nick Vuijicic

Nick Vuijicic has no arms or legs (mostly). It seems there are a fair number of folks with some disability who will emphasize that difficulties in life aren't the end of the world.

But I was just impressed with the cut of this guy's jib in particular. His authenticity, humor and the way he comes across.

The Tor - Map

This map is a plug-and-play piece of setting, intended for use with various roleplaying-games.

Personally though I'm just intrigued by the design and the lone, free-standing nature of the "stone tower" in the setting. It's solitary nature seems mysterious and makes me want to know more about it's history and origins. I wonder if there's a similar structure anywhere in the real world.

Link to product website here.

My Humps - Morissette version

Alanis Morissette - MY HUMPS from Alanis Morissette

Original Black Eyed Peas version here.

Papercraft Necromancer

Free here.

Car Rental Advice

Types of car insurance, etc.

Link here.

The Wall House

An ungainly but beautiful combination of traditional building and tent.

More at FAR.

Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado...

"Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado," has been a favorite phrase since I learned it in Spanish class lo' those many years ago.

More details on it can be found here.

One variant I've come up with, which would be great if it occurred to me to use in the correct context would be:

"Y colorín colorado, este baño esta ocupado."

Ice Cream: Oatmeal Stout & Heath Bar flavor

Recipee for oatmeal stout and heath bar flavored ice cream.

Boing Boing link.

Geodesic Greenhouse

Basically an article pointing out instructions on how to build a geodesic dome for growing vegetables in cold climates.

Boing Boing link.

Build Your Own Paper Robots

On sale at Amazon.com.

Via Boing Boing.

Folsom Prison Blues - The Cowsills

This is a good song and these guys do a pretty good rendition of it. But the thing I really love about this video is how much fun and enthusiasm the girl on the guitar seems to be showing.

Via Bedazzled! Via Boing Boing.

Joker's Daughter - Lucid

Via Dirty Russia.