Blackmoor Vituperative

I have been watching Sling & Arrows, a Canadian show about the theatre. It’s like Glee, but with better writing and no musical numbers (which also makes it better than Glee). It reminds me a great deal of Smash, although it has no musical numbers (which, again, makes it better than Smash). Here’s the thing: that camaraderie the cast feels on the completion of a successful show… I have felt that. Not often. Not after the conclusion of a successful convention (I was on the staff of a local SF&F convention for most of its history). The last time I felt that esprit de corps was probably back in the late1980s, after a successful performance of Rocky Horror (in which I was a cast member for a few years). I imagine (rather, I assume) that it’s the same feeling that members of a sports team feel at the end of a good game. It’s a good feeling. Even then memory of it is a good feeling.

I was a Gaming guest at MystiCon 2013 in Roanoke, VA. With the permission of my fellow panelists, I recorded most of the panels I was on. I hope you find them interesting.

Friday

• Gaming For Beginners
  (Bob Flack (M), Steve Long, Brandon Blackmoor, Rachael Hixon, Greg Porter)
• Game Development
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Mike McPhail, John Meagher, Charles Matheny, Greg Porter)

Saturday

• Conversation With Steve Long
  (Steve Long, Brandon Blackmoor (M))
• Blog Much?
  (James Fulbright (M), Brandon Blackmoor, David Halperin, John Hartness, Sharon Stogner, Steven H. Wilson)
• Ouch! You Bit Me! Zombie Survival Guide
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Anita Allen, Jaysen Buterin, Scott Nicholson, Nelson Oliver, “The Bruce” Scholl)

Sunday

• Artistry Of Gaming
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Larry Elmore, Steve Long, Jason Oliveira)
• If They Came In Saucers, Why Are We Smarter?
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Chris Berman, Tony Finkelstein, Billy Flynn, Steve Long, Dieter Warringhouse)

Here is my MystiCon 2013 schedule, in case you are interested in that sort of thing.

Fri 8:00 PM
Ballroom D
Gaming for Beginners

Fri 9:00 PM
Ballroom E
Game Development

Sat 10:00 AM
Ballroom C
A Conversation with Steve Long (I’m interviewing him)

Sat 1:00 PM
Ballroom D
Blog Much?

Sat 10:00 PM
Boardroom 1
Ouch! You Bit Me! A Zombie Survival Guide

Sun 10:00 AM
Ballroom C
The Artistry of Gaming

Sun 12:00 PM
Ballroom E
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Entry ‐ Business Etiquette

Sun 1:00 PM
Boardroom 1
If They Came in Saucers, Why Are We Smarter?

Favorite comic of the past ten years: Thunderbolts. It was sometimes uneven, but they kept the title fresh and interesting for fifteen years, and that’s no mean feat. The cast changed from time to time, and a lot of characters came and went over the years, but for the most part the core team was consistent right up to the end. The development of those four characters was interesting and while not perfect, it was rarely disappointing. The comic also introduced me to some characters that I had never seen center stage before but which I really wound up liking, like Satanna and Moonstone. They wrapped up the series in December with a satisfying ending. Well done, Marvel.

I’m watching the first episode of The Time Tunnel, a show I have heard of but never actually seen. Two observations: 1) you don’t see this combination of sets, forced perspective, and miniatures on TV anymore — the early scenes of the facility are breathtaking on a 46″ screen, 2) I think fully half of the passengers on the Titanic must have been time travelers. Seriously, the Titanic is to time travelers what Kinkaku-ji is to Japanese tourists.

By the way, when I say 46″ screen, I do *not* mean that I have the image stretched to the whole screen (why would anyone do that? STOP DOING THAT). This is the equivalent of a 37″ screen on an old-fashioned 4:3 television.

Just finished watching Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris. This is probably one of the best kaiju movies I have ever seen (and I have seen most of them). A major plot element of Revenge Of Iris concerns a girl who blames Gamera for the death of her parents. It’s true: Gamera smashed her parents’ apartment building into rubble while fighting the Gyaos. Of course, had Gamera not fought the Gyaos (or had Gamera not existed at all), the death toll from the unstoppable Gyaos would have been much higher, but as you might imagine, that’s small consolation to the girl.

I think some of the best villains are those with understandable motivations. In the case of Ayana (the aforementioned orphan girl), you feel sorry for her and sympathize with her, even though she is tragically misguided in blaming Gamera for her parents’ death: she ought to blame the Gyaos. But it’s an all-too-human failing to place blame using emotion rather than reason. That’s an element that’s hard to pull off without being either heavy-handed or simply ridiculous (particularly in a movie about giant monsters), but I think this movie does it successfully.

I am imposing a unilateral un-grimmening! No more grim tidings for at least one week. Time for Christmas cheer and good will.

As a start, here are my favorite Christmas specials and movies, in no particular order. Some are great. Some are just terrible. Some make me laugh. Some make me cry. I love them all.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the real one, not the Jim Carrey abomination)
Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians
(Mexican) Santa Claus
Gremlins
Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Elf
Bad Santa
Scrooged
Star Wars Holiday Special
Hogfather
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny

Merry Christmas!

When Rango came out in theatres, I had no interest in seeing it. It just didn’t look interesting. Why would I want to see a movie about a chameleon in a western town? Dull.

I was wrong. Susan and I just finished watching this on Amazon Prime, and not only is it a good animated movie (better than the last three Shrek movies, easily), it’s a damned good western — and there aren’t that many of those made these days.

If you have Amazon Prime, see Rango. It’s free. If you don’t have Amazon Prime… hell, see it anyway.

This is a damned good movie.

Just came back from seeing Skyfall with Susan. I confess that I am puzzled by all of the glowing reviews. I can forgive technical absurdities like the biometric pistol (an idea which first got floated around over 20 years ago, and which was discarded because no sane field agent would ever depend on it) and the head of Q branch plugging a known enemy asset into their network (although after the last two movies got so many computer details right, that was kind of disappointing).

The glowing reviews puzzle me because the movie was so slow and dull. Even the theme song is dull. The movie didn’t even have a villain for the first, what, two hours? And when we do meet him, he’s just… creepy. Not scary. Not menacing. Just icky, in the way the grocery store bagger who looks a little too long at your personal hygiene items is icky.

It’s not the worst Bond movie I have ever seen (A View To A Kill and Octopussy are both much worse), but even A View To A Kill had a better villain. Christopher Walken, now, he knows how to play a deranged blonde genius.