lemurbouy

So a good long while ago, a terrible thing happened to my D&D game; the party split. This occurred largely because I have, at the last count, eight players which is quite a lot. Organizing that many players was something of a chore and one week, half the party could meet on one day and the other half could meet on the other so I thought I'd split them out, give them individual adventures and then bring them back together. One group finished their adventure. The other...did not. They ended right before a dinner party was being held. That dinner party took place last night. The end results were fantastic.

Now, as most people who know me are aware, I am a man who appreciates his whimsy. I knew I had this dinner party game set up and was prepared for it when a thought struck me a few nights back. The players are to dine with four strangers with pointed ears and eccentric personalities in a land On the Other Side of the Hill. What if I got some of my other gamer friends to play these hosts? After some last minute wheedling and needling, I conned two folks to come in; kept the whole thing a secret from my players, bought some fruit and had a delightful evening. Secrets were revealed. Plans were made. Zinfandel was drunk sinfully. It was absolutely wonderful, random and completely unique. All in all, a good night of gaming.

The moon had gone strange. NASA wowed the world with its Moonbase but after California descended into chaos few paid attention. With the world distracted, It took very little to get the Supercomputer of the Apocalypse established. With that stroke, it was curtains for the Swiss and German interests and the world surrendered to Slack.

Once they discovered how addictive radioactive isotopes could be, there was nothing stopping Philip Morris.  The newly constructed reactors/curing stations, hidden away near Alice Springs were practically printing money but time was running out.  Word from the Silent Partners was that the Gnomes were about to corner the market if the Visitors didn't succeed in placing Diana on the throne first.  Action was needed.  A desperate gamble was made to throw the Visitors off by having the oil sheiks brought to a different desert.  The plan worked better than had been expected; Dan Quayle was also on board that Emirates flight.  This was all a distraction, though.  The real fight, the one for all the marbles was taking place across the world in Moscow.  It always comes down to Moscow.  There were fights in the streets but eventually an understanding was reached and crime reached a new level of organization.

Deep beneath the waves, champagne flutes held tightly in pseudopods clinked in celebration.

The world sighed in relief when the silver hair/tongued President stepped off the plane on to the moist ground of the newly minted 51st state.  Although a cesspool of crime and decadence, Brazil gave Clinton and his allies in the AMA a chance to usher the world into an era of peace and prosperity.  Elsewhere the Pope and Hillary consoled each other as only lovers can and the mindless agents of chaos clogged the halls of the UN with their blasphemous proposals and mandates.

Or

Ron Paul wept over the shattered plains of Texas that had finally joined the cause of liberty only to be blasted immediately after the election by a freak storm of meteoroids and swarms of loose dinosaurs.  The Bavarians toasted each other as they read the news of another election where a frog-plagued Russia had turned to the dark horse candidate and made him President.  Though Dracula now seemed unstoppable, A NATO-funded Russian Mafia was able to turn him to their cause.  Unseen, the visitors left this planet to seek out friendlier stars and the Gnomes buried themselves deeper underground.  Hitler's Brain just sat on the shelf.  Unused.

Oh Mr. Chick, you've done it again.  You've stolen my heart.  At first, I was worried.  I mean, seven year olds committing suicide is a great start but I worried that things were going down hill.  Oh but you, Mr. Chick, you never disappoint.  Evil UN commanders, sinister Africans threatening our white women, and prayers that kill!  Thank you, sir.  Thank you for all your hard work,

So as my wife will attest, I get obsessed with things in quick bursts and then move on to other things.  Whether it's Disney cartoons, Roman history, Afghanistan, or, in my current crosshairs: Carl Sagan.  This song is the source of my interest but since, I have been watching clips of Cosmos, interviews with the man and have even set up SETI@home on my computer.  Like a sucker.  Anyway, nothing makes an obsessive happier than spreading his obsession so here we are.

Also, I finally figured out Carl Sagan's accent.  It can be found here.

So the Disney/Marvel hijinx seem to have fallen out of general perception which is a good thing for me because now I can mention two things that, in my opinion, have redeemed practically all the Mouse Betrayals.  These are both cartoon shows that Disney has put out and both are viewable through the Tube of You.

First up is Fillmore!, which is, for all intents and purposes, a children's animated Police Procedural Drama.  It follows the exploits of X Middle School's Safety Patrol who track down graffiti artists, bake sale smugglers, hall pass counterfeiters and any other range of amazing criminals.  The first episode, To Mar a Stall is a piece of genius and if you watch nothing else, watch it.  Pay careful attention to the Act titles.

Next is Phineas and Ferb, a very different show.  The premise of this serial is that two step brothers find themselves with many a summer day that they need to fill with excitement and so they build theme parks, hunt monsters, travel through time and do any other number of things that Bowling For Soup sings about in their theme song.  While carrying out their vast Dubai-esque building projects, their teenage sister Candace does all she can to expose them to their mother to no avail.  The real draw for the show is the sideplot, which invariably deals with their pet platypus, Perry the Platypus, AKA Agent P, legendary secret agent who thwarts the machinations of Dr Doofenschmertz.  This is where the show hits gold.  The two plots are fairly basically intertwined but the genius of the show is how quickly they begin to lampshade their own jokes and make fun of their own premise.  Again, to at least get a taste, let me recommend Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror.

These two shows are whimsically animated and amazing for very different reasons.  While P&F does nothing but make fun of itself and sticks its tongue in its cheek, Fillmore! is deadly serious.  Everything is high stakes and on the line and due to the ridiculousness of the setting, is hilarious and fascinating.  Do yourself a favour and check these guys out.  I will be very surprised if you don't enjoy at least one of them.  Rock rock on!

Looks like Someone's Moonlighting....
Ayatollah by Day, Archbishop by Night

The best part of the Marvel-Disney Merger?

My Ursula/Doc Oc erotic fan-fiction now has the chance to see the light of day!
Let's hear it for "Eight Arms of Passion"

It's nice to be liked

http://www.plankmagazine.com/fringe/toronto-fringe-out-character

Still time to see the show.  No show Tuesday but then 5 more shows culminating in a final performance sure to be sung of in legend on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

82-Toto-Africa
83-Sesame Street Theme
84-Mr Roger's Neighbourhood Theme
85-Today's Special Theme
86-The Smurf Theme
87-Reading Rainbow Theme
88-The Grinch That Stole Christmas LP-You're a Mean One Mr Grinch
89-The Hobbit LP-The Greatest Adventure
90-The Cars-Going Round and Down
91-Alvin and the Chipmunks-I Wanna Hold Your Hand
92-Go West-King of Wishful Thinking
93-Snap!-Rhythm is a Dancer
94-Ace of Base-The Sign
95-Roxette-Church of Your Heart
96-The Proclaimers-500 Miles
97-Donna Lewis-I Love You Always Forever
98-Weird Al-Syndicated Incorporated
99-Falco-Rock Me Amadeus
00-B52s-The Love Shack
01-Taco-Puttin' on the Ritz
02-Andrew Lloyd Weber-This Jesus Must Die
03-Stephen Sondheim-Ballad of Sweeney Todd
04-Darling Violetta-Angel Theme
05-O-Zone-Dragostea Din Tei
06-Electric Six-Danger! High Voltage
07-K.T. Tunstall-Suddenly I See
08-Regina Spektor-Fidelity
09-The Axis of Awesome-4 Chords

Here's the concept: each song (with a little cheating in the first few years) is tied in some special way to that particular year of my life which mostly means I listened to the crap out of it. I think it says something about me. Maybe too much.

So my show goes up in only 11 days which is a touch terrifying but I think I'm fairly memorized and I'm excited about costumes and playing in the space and all those crazy things.  the 11 days is also odd because it means that I have more performances than rehearsals as of right now.  This will be the most performances I think I've had for one play and I'm excited about it.  I think we'll have some good crowds although I don't know much about the Fringe festival.  Apparently we are very east in relation to the rest of the Fringe, at Charles and Avenue in the Cat's Eye Lounge. 

For those who don't know, I'm in a play set in a LARP about love and other geeky pursuits.  I play Nick who plays Dr. Gottlieb.  The atrocious German accent alone makes me love this play but luckily we also have an amazing group of folks working on this thing which really makes or breaks a show for me.  I hope that any and all who are in Toronto July 1st through the 12th will come out and see the awesomeness which is me and my castmates.  rock rock on!

So I would like to turn my house into a Gygaxian Dungeon for a Mouseguard campaign.  10 dead adventurers in less than a week seems like a good start.  The real question is where can I find the rodent equivalent of otyughs.

So last night, I was informed by one of my fellow performers that May 23rd was to be Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day.  I thought that was pretty awesome and right up my alley and since my venue was near local game store, 401 Games, I figured I would get some info on it.  I quickly learned that it would be running from noon until about 4 or 5 and that it would be free to join.  Making my way homeward, I asked my wife (after terrifying her with a party favour) if she had any need of me which she didn't and so the groundwork was laid out for my adventure.

Flash to this morning as I jauntily made my way back to 401 Games with my hat and my purple backpack full of books and dice.  The same employee who answered my questions saw me and directed me to their upstairs where I found a group of strangers with D&D paraphernalia.  Sidling up, I asked if there was space and for the next 5 hours, I had an awesome gaming experience.

I played Chance, a pre-generated Tiefling Warlord who, as my fellow players decided that all Tieflings spoke like Eastern Europeans, spoke like Koenig-era Chekhov for the entire game.  He fought hard and bravely and died a hero facing a terrible foe.  In the course of the game I made a friend, got to keep a mini, geeked out to the extreme, and even helped to teach a random last minute participant how to play D&D as it was his first time roleplaying.  All in all, I consider it a success

Good times.

http://monkeymanproductions.com/

Who wants to see Leeman lose his cool as a troubled director on the set of the latest Phoenix space adventure movie?
Promises to be awesome.

The aliens came and the world burned.  ( Kerseus )

The actor walked through the rubble, shaking his head.  A real cowboy rode up beside him and slowed his horse to match the old man's pace.
"I didn't expect this.  I never expected this."  The old actor said.
"Had to be done, Gipper, no choice.  The Krauts weren't going to give in without a proper fight and needed a good lighting up to convince 'em."
"But not like this."  He stopped and picked up a piece of red fabric that used to belong to a banner and ran it through his calloused fingers.
The cowboy said nothing for a moment and then, "We just got a call from HQ.  The ad campaign worked and Hollywood's on board.  We need to head back north.  Looks like you're going to be in movies again, Mr President."
Looking out at the crater that used to be Buenos Aires, the actor simply nodded, pausing only to say one thing softly.

"This time, no chimps, dammit."

A pier, somewhere in the Caribbean.

A man leans over the rail, looking out at the vast sea as another man approaches.  The first turns to face him, still leaning on the railing.  "I didn't think you'd pull that off in the end."
The arrival smirks, hands in his pockets.  "I was surprised myself.  I thought you had me when I saw that issue of Spiderman."
"Ah yes, well, that was a short lived victory.  It was the Satanists who really did me in."  The first man issues a chuckle, mostly to himself.
"Yes, thank you for bringing them to my attention.  We'd been sitting on the Necronomicon for a while with no practical use for it.  The Reformed Satanists found it most educational."
"Well, that's life.  You live and you learn.  I hate to see Nazis win but fair's fair."
"Don't worry too much about my agéd Argentinians.  They went through a real ringer during this whole exchange and barely recognize themselves.  Their newfound eccentricities will keep them busy for a long time.  You should see the frog farms they're designing with the Lagrangians."  Both Laugh.
"No thank you, friend."

There is a pause as the two men avoid each other's eyes by taking in the sunset.  The first man checks his watch and breaks the silence.  "I have to return soon.  Reagan's in an uproar and someone has to placate him."
"No rest for the wicked."
"Never."
A handshake, another pause and the two men part ways as the sun sinks beneath the cold waters of the Caribbean.