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2011

Alan Moore & the Guy Fawkes Mask

Alan Moore talk to The Guardian about V for Vendetta and the use of the Guy Fawkes mask he created for V for Vendetta and its use by Occupy.

It is an irony noted with relish by critics of the protests – one also glumly acknowledged by many of the protesters – that the purchase of so many _Vendetta _masks has become a lucrative little side-earner for Time Warner, the media company that owns the rights to Moore’s creation. Efforts have been made to avoid feeding the conglomerate more cash, the Anonymous group reportedly starting to import masks direct from factories in China to circumvent corporate pockets; last year, demonstrators at a “Free Julian Assange” event in Madrid wore cardboard replicas, apparently self-made. But more than 100,000 of the £4-£7 masks sell every year, according to the manufacturers, with a cut always going to Time Warner. Does that irk Moore?

“I find it comical, watching Time Warner try to walk this precarious tightrope.” Through contacts in the comics industry, he explains, he has heard that boosted sales of the masks have become a troubling issue for the company. “It’s a bit embarrassing to be a corporation that seems to be profiting from an anti-corporate protest. It’s not really anything that they want to be associated with. And yet they really don’t like turning down money – it goes against all of their instincts.” Moore chuckles. “I find it more funny than irksome.”

Oh, poor Time Warner and your moral dilemmas.  If only that was the least of your troubles.

rpgKids

A co-worker introduced me to rpgKids last week.  After taking a look around the website, I plunked down the $5 and bought the game and the adventure pack and it was well worth the money.

rpgKids is a basic roleplaying game meant to introduce kids ages 4-7 to the wonderful world of using their imagination to roleplay.  The 24 page PDF includes the ruleset, an overview of the characters, hand drawn tokens for both heroes and monsters, a character sheet and a printable 1″ grid for mapping your adventures.  It also comes with with one adventure for you to run through with the kids, and the Adventure Pack (if you buy the $5 version) includes 4 more adventures.  The age recommendation was perfect, as Zoe is 7 and Jack is 5.

I packed up the kids Saturday morning and we headed out to our local game store.  While you don’t need to, we picked up a bunch of used miniatures for $2 bucks each for the game.  The tokens included in the PDF would have worked fine, but I wanted to give the kids that little extra experience.  We also picked up some dice – you’ll need a couple D12 and D6 dice for the game – I made sure to get each of the kids their own.

 

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The included adventure gives you the overview of the story, a script to follow (if you choose) and 4 encounters, including maps, where you’ll run into the “monsters” as you try to save the town of Springwell.

The kids choose their class (fighter, healer, wizard or archer) and you as the parent play the role of Dungeon Master, keeping the kids on path in the story and role playing the monsters in each encounter.  The kids had a blast as I roleplayed the monsters, especially the funny voices, and added to the script to make sure they were having a good time.

Zoe got it right away – she quickly named her character as they filled out their character sheets and chose a class, while Jack didn’t really get it until we were in the middle of the story and having our first encounter with the monsters.  Alex, who is 15, came and watched – as my wife later pointed out, you could tell that he thought he was too cool to play with the little kids, but deep down, he really wanted to.

Combat is simple – roll a die for initiative, then the monsters roll against the heroes to see if there is a “hit” – 2 hits and the character or monster is knocked out.  Depending on the class, you can attack from so many tiles away, adding a level of tactics and strategy to start the kids learning.  My Dungeon Master skills are a bit rusty, but thankfully the script kept the story going and I embellished and added to the story where appropriate.

They definitely enjoyed it and were asking to play again – this will definitely be a great way to get through the long Minnesota winter.  If you have a kids, I highly recommend rpgKids and it definitely lays the groundwork to introduce D&D when they get older.  Who needs video games anyway?!

Thanks Steve

The internet is buzzing with thank you’s, tributes and more about the passing of Steve Jobs yesterday.

I was 11 or 12 when we got our second computer – the brand new Apple //c.  A portable version of the Apple IIe, for the first time in the Apple II line it included a built in 5.25 disk drive and ports for a mouse / joystick, external disc drive, modem and more.

It was on this computer that my formative years were spent – learning BASIC, LOGO, messing with Apple Paint, and playing Choplifter, Bards Tale and Lode Runner (among others) for hours (and days) at time.  Lode Runner was the first game I played where I could create my own levels and I would spend days devising clever ways to trap that little guy.

Most importantly, this was the computer that got me online.  We had a 300 baud modem, and later purchased a 1200 and then 2400 baud modem which seemed liked the fastest thing ever.  I remember begging my dad to let me spend more time on CompuServe, back when it cost $6 / hour to be on the service, just so I could play text adventure games.

Later I would discover the wonderful world of BBSes, and play games online, download software and interact with online communities, all while tying up the one phone line we had in the house.

Almost 10 years ago I bought an Apple //c on Ebay, which has sat in my closet since.  Ironically, two weeks ago I decided to pull it out and hook it up, only to realize I didn’t buy any software.

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It wouldn’t be until years later that I would buy an Apple product again.  This past January, frustrated with my PC for not playing MP3s out of the blue, I grabbed my wife in the middle of a snowstorm and we drove to the Apple store.  User her education discount, I bought an iMac and was blown away by the experience – both the shopping experience at an Apple store and OS X.  It just worked.  I can’t say I’m a fan of iTunes, but thankfully Banshee is available on OS X.  Using iMovie, I was able to quickly jump in and edit my home movie footage from Christmas.  I imported my photos into iPhoto and quickly and intuitively created a photo book for my wife for our 15th wedding anniversary.  Apple’s focus on making products easy to use is phenomenal.

In April, I bought an iPad, and over the summer bought the new MacBook Air.  Apple’s combination of software and amazing hardware is a combination that no one can match.  Having worked with Apple when the original iMac was first launched, their business practices can leave something to be desired – but they do everything for one reason – their focus on the customer experience trumps everything, and it shows in the products they bring to market.

And the focus started with Steve Jobs, and for that I’m thankful.

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  • in Books
  • 1 min read

Ready Player One is the best book you’re not reading

If you grew up in the 80s like me, especially as a teenager, Ready Player One is a book for you.

For fans of retro arcade games, 80s music and movies, MMOs, cyberpunk, roleplaying and early computers like the TRS-80, it weaves them all into a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I can’t do it justice, so read the summary here.  And then buy it and read it, you won’t be disappointed.

  • in General
  • 2 min read

Going to see Wits

This Friday, my son and I are going to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul to see the season finale of Minnesota Public Radio’s Wits series. Each performance features an interview with a cultural icon, a musical guest and other guests. I purchased tickets for this one specifically because of the featured guest: Neil Gaiman. Mr. Gaiman is touring in support of the tenth anniversary of his first novel, the class American Gods.

I vividly remember the first time I read American Gods. I knew of Neil Gaiman through his groundbreaking comic, Sandman, but American Gods blew me away. I remember thinking, “How does this Englishman know of all these Midwest landmarks?!” And when they stopped at a Culvers just outside of Madison… It wasn’t until a few years later than I learned he had relocated to Wisconsin, not too far from the Minnesota border. The book’s take on mythology and its plot quickly made it a classic.

I had the opportunity to see Neil Gaiman speak and do a book signing a few years ago when his last collection of short stories, Fragile Things, was published. He’s an engaging speaker and listening to him read from his stories is a thrill in itself. (I also won the raffle in support of the CBLDF):

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This week’s musical guess is Josh Ritter and the hosts are John Moe of MPR and John Munson. Mr. Munson was formerly in the bands Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic. Back in (probably) 1994, for the only time in my life, I won concert tickets on the radio from Mary Lucia at Rev105 to see a showcase of Minnesota acts at First Avenue. One band in particular, Pleasure, just blew me away – it was one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen, and I didn’t know a single song. I moved out east and never heard about the band again. A year or two later, a friend from the Twin Cities moved out east to work with me, and I asked him about Pleasure. He excitedly informed me they had changed their name to Semisonic and I bought their debut album the same day. (You probably know them from their big hit, Closing Time).

In addition, guests at Wits this week appearing via the phone include Wil Wheaton, Adam Savage, and more.

Can’t wait – both for the show and to introduce my son to seeing Neil Gaiman live.

Roundup 6/17/11

A few links to wrap up your week:

  • in music
  • 1 min read

Round-Up

Some links to get you through your day:

  • in music
  • 1 min read

Round-Up

Here’s some music news from the last few months you may have missed while I was being a slacker and not blogging.

  • in music
  • 2 min read

Join the Album Club


One of the things I’ve been enjoying as I took a blogging break (that’s over, I swear!) is enjoying Album Club. What is Album Club, you ask? Every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. CDT, listeners gather on Twitter and listen to the same album and tweet their thoughts, remembrances and more about the album. The tweets range from information about the recording of the album to humor to scathing criticism.

The album is picked out a few days before and announced on the Album Club blog. Follow Album Club on Twitter as well as the #albumclub hashtag and at 9pm Tuesdays the tweets roll in!

Album Club is hosted by Steve Nelson, former morning co-host at Rev105 in the 90’s, former music director at 89.3 The Current, and now news director at Minnesota Public Radio. Mr. Nelson picks the albums and hosts the session each Tuesday. Since Album Club started in April, the albums listened to and tweeted about include:

  • Pixies – Doolittle
  • Radiohead – OK Computer
  • Bjork – Post
  • Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain (hosted live Aster Cafe)
  • Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
  • Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

Last night’s Rumours session was guest curated by John Moe – and a good time was had by all as Mr. Moe shared background on the album, the challenges Fleetwood Mac was going through when they recorded this classic, and his disdain for Christine McVie.

See you Tuesdays at 9pm!