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Choke Trailer

Chuck Palahniuk’s fourth book, Choke, is one of my favorite books evar.

And here’s the very promising trailer.

(Iron Man was fun, The Dark Knight will be, too, but too much sugar makes me hyper. Gotta get me some hot and sour sometimes.)

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Houses of the Blooded: The Index!

 

The index. Seems like a manditory thing in games these days. (Especially games clocking in at over 400 pages!)

Okay, I need an index for Houses of the Blooded. I don’t want to do it. Do you?

HotB needs an index and I’m not gonna do it. If you want to be the person responsible, e-mail me at john@wicked-dead.com. I’ll provide you with a free copy of the game as payment.

Contact me with your credentials and I’ll notify one person–the most qualified–who will be responsible for the game’s index.

I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. Let’s see who picks it up.

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Global Warming: The Big Con

I always tell people, “I put half my points in magician and the other in con man.” Inspired by Houdini, Penn & Teller and James Randi, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the skill and the presentation, but I hoped to use any of the skills I learned for good and not for evil.

Here’s an opportunity. A con. A big fat con. A con that involves Al Gore and his film An Inconvenient Truth. Yeah, I’m gonna talk about GLOBAL WARMING.

You see, I’ve seen Mr. Gore’s film. And I decided to check some sources. Especially those who give the film a failing grade. And I have some news for all of you.

My friends, this is a lesson in checking your sources.

You may have heard about the 31,000+ scientists who have signed a petition saying the Global Warming Crisis is a lie.

You can see the petition and it’s details here. 

Go check it out. Then, come back.

The Oregon Institute of Science got the ball rolling and over the last few years, has organized those 31,000 scientists to reveal the Big Lie of Global Climate Change.

The petition was sent out with a peer reviewed paper dismantling Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth film. Except there’s one problem. 

The paper wasn’t peer reviewed. 

In fact, it’s never seen any scientific journal. It was self-published by the founder of the OIS–an “institute” that happens to be this guy’s house.

And the “scientists?” One of them includes the Public Relations Officer for an extermination company. And there’s no way to verify any of these people’s credentials. The OIS says, on their website, that they can back up all the signitures, but when pressed, refused to do so.

You can find more details here.

Anyone who tells you Gore’s movie is poorly researched or makes unscientific claims needs to see the movie. It’s really that simple. If you haven’t seen the movie–and checked the facts yourself–you really don’t have any business talking about it. There’s more misinformation about the film than information in the film itself. Lots of lies, deceits, cheats and misdirections.

The skills used for evil.

When they have to lie to beat you, you know you’re doing something right.

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Rush Star on the Walk of Fame

has little post about being a Rush fan.

(We’re all Rush fans, just not all of us know it yet.)

For those of us in know, we know about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s very public announcement that Rush will never be inducted. Never. Not “possibly,” not “maybe,” not “probably not,” but NEVER.

Meanwhile, they invite Justin Timberlake to induct Madonna. Yeah.

But he writes of a different effort. Perhaps something a bit more noble…

Who am I kidding? TEN BILLION TIMES MORE NOBLE. CARL SAGAN COULDN’T COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES MORE NOBLE.

Anyway…

I bring this up because my brother has been in touch with Donna Halper, the woman apparently credited with “discovering” Rush. She was telling him that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won’t even consider honoring Rush, which pretty much follows the way the rock establishment has treated them for 30+ years. Some friends of hers are trying to get Rush a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a way of drawing more attention to them so they might eventually get into the Hall of Fame. They are looking to get testimonials from fans about why Rush deserves a star. While there are few things less punk rock than the Walk of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I do find the idea of making the rock establishment recognize a band that has made a career of doing their own thing appealing. I know there are some Rush fans amongst my readeers (I’m looking at you, Wick). If you want to help out, send a testimonial to Kevin Purdy at kevin.d.purdy@boeing.com.

Thanks for the headsup, dude. I’m all over it.

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Two LARP Thoughts

Congrats. You Win.

Here’s an idea. Something I’d implement if I were running a Vampire LARP. Once you become Prince, we throw you a party. Everyone congratulates you on your well-earned victory–becoming Prince is rough–and then… your character becomes an NPC.

An NPC. Controlled by the Narrators. You move off the front page and move behind the scenes. You become the invisible man. Nobody gets to talk to the Prince directly. He isolates himself. He doesn’t come to games. He’s far too busy to socialize with the masses. And he remains there, in the shadows, until someone deposes him. Then that character becomes the Prince.

This process changes the dynamic of the game. The struggle to become Prince is the focus of the game, pitting all the weight on the court officers: the Seneschal, the Harpy, the Sheriff. Also, once you’ve become Prince, you join a kind of elite club. “Yeah, I’ve made Prince three times.” I’d even buy rings for the folks who made it.

I’ve been in games where the Prince was removed from the game, made distant and difficult to reach. The focus went to little story lines. Yes, the politics were still there–especially among the Primogen–but removing the Prince really changed the dynamic. And for the better.

Narrator/Servant

Here’s an idea. In the Houses of the Blooded LARP, all the Narrator staff will be playing the serving staff. The butler, the maids, the footmen, etc. So, if you need a test, you don’t say “I need a Narrator,” you say, “I need a servant.” You call the servant over, he humbly begs you not to kill him, and you demand service.

This way, you never need to break character. “I need a Narrator.” Hells no. “I need a servant.” You can call over the Narrator in character, talk to the Narrator in character, and resolve the issue in character.

This also means the Narrator staff goes around the game being part of every conversation. Asking the players if they need anything, serving drinks and food, making sure everybody is okay.

(It also means they can be bribed by characters for all the conversations they overhear.)