Good food

Ross's Diner - Cartersville GA.

Enjoying the comedy...

Here we are being entertained by the classic comedy riffs of The Invisible Man. But seriously, Greg Proops should be out soon. He is so funny, although with his arrival Bob the Builder took a turn for the Hippy/Green that im still reeling from.

The Prime Directive?

OK - So, in just a few days the U. S. is going to have a historic new president. Sure we get a new president every four to eight years, but in the history of our country this will be the first time we've ever been led by a president put into power by Star Trek.



Huh? How's that? Are you out of your Vulcan mind?

It's true. If it weren't for Star Trek, Barak Obama would not be our president elect. And I'm not just saying that because he looks like more like Tuvok than Tupac.

No, in this case the weakest (IMHO) of the Star Trek series, Voyager, is the culprit. It all goes back to Seven-of-Nine. In real life, she was played by actress Jeri Ryan. She used to be Jeri Zimmerman but then she married politician Jack Ryan. Jack, a very popular candidate, was poised to take the open senate seat of Illinois. Then it was revealed that Jack and Jeri's divorce had involved, according to Jeri, his wish for her to engage in public sex acts. Technically, there were many adolecent boys across America at the time with the same wish, but Jack was in a position to actually ASK her to do the stuff.

Seven-of-Nine's allegations went public and destroyed Jack Ryan's political chances, despite his obvious Tom Clancy cache', and instead of Ryan, the democrats faced Alan Keyes. Nothing against Mr. Keyes, but he was no Jack Ryan. And the democrat who beat Keyes to become the new senator from Illinois? It was none other than Barak Obama.

So, though I hear that Obama is something of a techy-nerd, he's got better reasons for liking Star Trek than most folks do. After all, Star Trek just beamed him into the white house!

Jack Black is Charles Darwin

Well, I guess I can see it. I think I hoped that for the 200th birthday of Darwin there would be some kind of serious biopic - perhaps along the lines of PBS's "Evolution" series. Instead we get Jack Black and Adam Sandler in "Bulldog - the Huxley Chronicles." Based on Ivan P. Tatterson's comic series of novels Sandler will play Bulldog Huxley, the gruff but well meaning vocal advocate of Evolution who keeps getting the somber Darwin (Black) into a variety of uncomfortable social situations.

The publicity stills leaked so far include Darwin and Huxley dressed as ladies running from a mob of what look to be Puritans or Pilgrims. I think this is supposed to be a version of the scene in the book where the Anglicans get after the pair, but this looks very over the top.

And casting Harvey Keitel as Archbishop Wilberforce seems a bit odd to me. Couldn't SOME of the cast actually be British? Is this some strange reversal of the "House Syndrome" where British comic actors play serious roles in American TV? It should be interesting.

I know the shots of the balloon-fight-over-London look exactly like I'd imagined them, and the set design of Darwin's lab (including all of the little finch heads mounted like trophies of a game-hunter) are probably the most fetching steam-punk images since the regrettable "Wild, Wild West" film.

Cleopatra

A game of building, politics and corruption. Gameplay is pretty neat, with lots of elements that can change values. Most corrupt individual gets thrown to the crocodles.

Sadly, I was the most corrupt.

Maddie's Boo-boo

Doc thinks it'll be around 7 stitches.

Update (following day): Turned out to be 8 stitches. This photo is after the "zap" was applied to stop the bleeding. That stuff is pretty neat - 2 pain relievers + a vaso-congester to stop bleeding. I think Madd was more upset that we held her arms while they stitched her than she was scared or in pain. She didn't even cry until it was almost over and she wanted to get up.

She's braver than she looks.

When Darkness Comes

After a year (or five) sitting in my basement, I'm getting ready to try "When Darkness Comes."
At first reading the dice system made no sense, but then after visiting the Twilight Creations website and reading their "updated" rules, it makes perfect sense.

I think the big difference is that in the new PDF rules, the dice system is actually explained. Whereas in my original rules, there is just a table that doesn't actually tell you how to score the target number rolls. (Answer: You use multiple dice and the rolls match out like card hands. 3 of a kind, a full house, 2 pair, etc...)

http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/wdc is the website.
The game supports up to 6 players + a GM (optional).

I may try the no-GM version where it plays out like a board game, just to see how it goes. Seems like it might be a pretty fast game, and like most of TC's work, the minis and the board are beautiful.

New Years Gaming

We did Uno, Dino Hunt, Arkham Horror (classic version), Give me the brain (deluxe), Jenga, Family Business, and Carcassonne. Neat.

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