Category: Livejournal

said, “I need a John Wick reading list!”
Okay, here ya go. This list in no way infers quality. It’s mearly a list of books I enjoy to read… over and over again. For very different reasons. The books are in no particular order — just the order that I thought of them.

From Hell
The movie is not the book. Anywhere near the book. The book is terrifying (inspires terror), awful (inspires awe), and viscious. Alan Moore understands madness on a level that frightens me. His madmen are unlike any other. Rorchach, V, and now Jack Flash hisself. Read this book, but do not do it alone, and don’t do it in the dark.

Foucault’s Pedulum
Umberto Eco’s book of paranoid conspiracy theorists willing their paranoias into existance is fascinating. What begins as a simple game turns into a trip down the rabbit hole that even Alice’s innocence could not survive. Another tale of terror that makes you really wonder about the sanity of people who believe in invisible things.

The Illearth War
I have such mixed feelings about the Thomas Covenant series. The protagonist is reprehensible in his self-imposed impotence, and yet, the characters of The Land are powerful, majestic, and unforgetable. I completely understand and sympathize with my female friends who tell me they cannot read this series. I was just as appalled as you were… trust me. But, I keep coming back to it for three reasons: Morham, Foamfollower, and Hile Troy. And the mortally wounded Elena… I don’t know what to make of her. The depth of characters is immense, even if they sometimes are flawed beyond sympathy.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Okay, you get a light-hearted one.
And if you believe that statement, you’ve only seen the movie.

The King of Elfland’s Daughter
Tolkein is NOT NOT NOT the king of modern fantasy. He learned every trick he had from Lord Dunsany (and C.S. Lewis, who I’m convinced came up with all the good ideas — you know — like plot?). History had all but lost Dunsany in Tolkein’s shadow. If Robert Plant had invoked Dunsany rather than Tolkein, we may all be waiting for the last installment of Peter Jackson’s interpretation of this book instead.

The Mourner
Richard Stark is the pseudonym of Donald Westlake, a brilliant mystery/comedy writer who decided to write a men’s adventure novel one day… and found that he couldn’t stop. “The Parker Novels” are witty, fun, clever romps of criminal indulgence that have the consistancy of kabuki theater. We all know how they’re gonna end, we’re just waiting for Parker to do his sweet thang. They’re popcorn, and I love ’em. This one is my favorite.

Deathbird Stories
The word “extreme” has been so overused, it’s lost all its meaning. But it is also the only word that can describe Harlan Ellison’s fiction. This collection of short stories is so unnerving, so disturbing, they really shouldn’t be taken in one sitting (as the author suggests). I read these in college, and I’ve forever been trying to match even one tenth of their depth, insight, and skill. I’m still working.

Practical Magic
Alice Hoffman has an understanding of love and magic that is so profound, it defies description. The movie is a profane mockery of this book. Avoid it at all costs. The book is sublime and beautiful, drawing me to tears on more than one occasion. Once you are done reading this book, you will never look at magic the same way again.

The Illuminatus Trilogy
More fun. Dark fun, of course. Dark, wacky, insane, off-the-wall fun. The key to understanding this book is simple. The authors convince you of a truth… then show you just how silly that truth is. They do this once every ten pages or so. The most Discordian thing ever written… until I write my own, that is.

Fight Club
I debated putting this book on the list, only because everyone on my Friends List has probably already read it. Palahniuk himself said, “After seeing the film, I’m ashamed of it.” But, it was a book that profoundly changed how I write and how I look at books. The opening line caught me, hit me between the eyes, grabbed my lower lip and dragged me on a roller coaster ride until the very end. Now, I can’t buy a book without picking it up, and reading the first line. If it doesn’t catch me, I put it right back. Chucky did that to me. All you Wheel of Time fans who can’t believe I’m not willing to read through the “first three books before it gets going” can blame him.

So, that’s my list. There are other books I could probably put on there, or even replace, but I’m not too concerned about accuracy. If there’s something you haven’t read, go and read it. You might like it. I hope you do. Then, we can talk about it. See ya then!

Kakita Yaoru was a brilliant courtier and expert duelist. Truly, he was a Crane’s Crane. His ability to maneuver political disaster into political advantage was legendary in the courts. Despite his skills, Yaoru was cursed by a single tragic flaw: women wearing the Scorpion mon.

Yaoru’s skills of diplomacy and etiquette were useless against Scorpion women, despite his best efforts. No matter how hard he tried, he was always at their mercy. His silver tongue failed him once too often, and his bride-to-be’s merciless manipulations (as well as — it is rumored — the manipulations of the Scorpion Clan Daimyo’s bride) led to his untimely demise. It is uncertain what happened to Yaoru; some reports suggest he was murdered, while others lean toward an uglier conclusion.

Cranes who take Yaoru as an ancestor receive a +2 Etiquette (which may raise the skill above 5, up to 7)… except when dealing with Scorpion women. When making any Sincerity, Etiquette or Diplomacy rolls against a Scorpion woman, the Crane must spend a Void Point or his roll automatically fails.

* * *

Alternately, game masters may employ Yaoru as a haunting spirit. Any Scorpion woman haunted by Yaoru must make 2 raises whenever making a Diplomacy, Sincerity, or Etiquette roll against a Crane. These raises cannot be used for additional effect. In this case, Yaoru counts as a 2 point Disadvantage.

My Saturday night game group has decided to play d20 Dragonlance; two tastes that I could live without. So, I decide to head on down to the SWRE, to play with my buddy Jess. I hop on-line, go to the website…

And it’s down.

So, I google a bit, find a link…

That link is down.

I go to the Camarilla page…

Broken link.

I go to the Domain page…

Broken link.

I go to other chapter’s pages for info…

None.

Yes, Lady Fate, I get the hint.

I’ve been feeling off-center for about a week now. I know why, but… more on that later.

D&A are throwing a party, but I really shouldn’t touch liquor right now.

Well, actually, I should just say it. If I say it out loud, it’ll be real.

My father is dying. He’s suffering from three different heart conditions. We have no idea how long he’ll last.

So… that changes my whole life. My folks are moving out to Vegas. The chances of me going with them are high. I don’t know. We’ll see. So, if I felt a little off this week, now you know why.

Go hug the people you care about. Right the fuck now.

25 – 29
Hardcore Skeptic — but interested or you wouldn’t be here!
30 – 39
Spiritual Dabbler — Open to spiritual matters but far from impressed
40 – 49
Active Spiritual Seeker – Spiritual but turned off by organized religion
50 – 59
Spiritual Straddler – One foot in traditional religion, one foot in free-form spirituality
60 – 69
Old-fashioned Seeker — Happy with my religion but searching for the right expression of it
70 – 79
Questioning Believer – You have doubts about the particulars but not the Big Stuff
80 – 89
Confident Believer – You have little doubt you’ve found the right path
90 – 100
Candidate for Clergy

Funny — I wanted to be a priest when I was a boy.
In many ways, I still do, and, I am.

Now, where’s my hotdog?

Your butt is Rhode Island: tiny, but everyone who’s
been says it’s a great place to go

What state does your butt resmble?
brought to you by Quizilla

It’s a roleplaying game written and designed by my buddy Jared, otherwise known as .

I live in LA. So, when I need to visit Jared and Rebecca out on the East Coast, I take a copy of octaNe, shove it into the gas tank of my 2002 Saturn and transform it into a cherry red ’57 Plymouth Fury that growls deep in its black-heart engine, leaving flaming black tracks in the pavement as it launches from zero to mach 10 in 0.0 seconds with Dick Dale on the radio, shattering windows and breaking hearts at every milestone.

And I arrive two hours after I left, my car a shuddering, sweating, weeping, grateful mass of steel that looks like it just went through a bondage session with The Goddess of Pain and Pleasure. I’ll have to stay seven weeks while my poor car recovers, but it’ll spend every second waiting… no, yearning for the moment when it can make the transformation again from normal average every day car into Sex Machine From Hell!

Yeah, it’s that good.

Just below is the “MY LIFE: The Movie” post. I looked at the entry for “Your Love Scene” and thought… I only get one? That ain’t right.

Well, if I only get one, it makes me wonder which one I’d pick. I mean, there’s been so many.

There was the one on the stairs. That was pretty cool.
And the one in the thunderstorm. That one was chilly, but great.
There was the one in the closet. Wow. That one smashed all previous record holders.
There was the one on the football field. My first time, in fact. I think. (See below.)
And then there was this one where we had to be at Thanksgiving dinner in ten minutes, and we just looked at each other and knew we had to go at it. Right there. I didn’t walk right for a week.
Then there was the one I don’t remember. She really fucked with my brain, that one. My first crazy witch chick. I can never go back.
Then there was the un-sex scene. It was really great, but I probably shouldn’t explain.
There was the finally requited five-year long crush scene that was just awful. The morning after sex was better.
There was the really angry fuck you break-up sex. That was fun. I had a black eye afterward, but it was worth it.
The “I haven’t seen you in three months” sex was great. Just great.
There was this time when we talked about the sex we’d have, but didn’t have it. Just roleplayed through it. Wow. That was great.

There’s more. I just can’t pick a favorite. They’ve all got their own charm, and they all own a sepcial place in my heart. All of them.

Sorry, ladies. There’s no “best sex scene.”
You’re all my favorites. 🙂

I’m listening to Joseph Campbell speak about mythology, schitzophrenia, and shamanism. Campbell is speaking in the late 1960’s.

The schitzophrenic (multiple personality disorder) suffers a psychological trauma so great, he must retreat into his own psyche and rely upon a language of symbols to help deal with it. He adopts archetypal identities who are stronger and “more real” than his own to fight the damage done to his own core personality. And the suggestion here is the psychologist should not try to eliminate the psychosis, but assist the patient through the process — allowing the iconic personalities to do what they must; acting as heroic figures working against the psychosis. As if schitzophrenia wasn’t so much a disorder but the way the brain deals with a disorder, or a psychic wound: by adopting these personalities to help the core personality recover.

The shaman, on the other hand, also deals with iconic identities: the gods. He summons and communes with them, speaking with them for guidance, counselling, and omens of the future. Putting his mind into a “higher state” where the language of symbols communicates truths that cannot be communicated with our own limited conscious vocabulary.

I’m utterly fascinated and distracted all at once.

Your Life: The Movie by mintyduck
Who will play you:	George Clooney
Who will play your love interest:	Jennifer Garner
Weeks you will stay in the box office:	6
Song that will play during your love scene:	The Beegees – How Deep Is Your Love
Song that will play during your death:	Poe – If You Were Here
Your name:
Created with quill18‘s MemeGen!