I've given a great deal of thought to the current popular term "fucktard," and I've decided that for me, it means a skintight dance garment that has been modified for sexual congress.

(Sexual congress itself has always struck me as being a particularly interesting governmental institution; the election process is quite vigorous and the debates thereafter are quite lively. One does eventually lose track of the Acts of Sexual Congress, though...)

Tags: colloquialisms, dance clothing, sexual congress, sexual congressional medal of honor

"I'm keepin' the faith, baby, with the people of Los Angeles."

-- Jack Webb, DRAGNET

Tags: dragnet, jack webb, keepin' the faith, los angeles, quotations

But you know, sometimes you see something that inspires you to adopt the slang the kids are using these days. Case in point:

The headline on the issue of the Globe tabloid in the supermarket screams of a PLOT TO KILL DORIS DAY.

Now, it's bad enough that some pathetic feeb had to put together a plan -- something like a complex heist or assassination, like the original DAY OF THE JACKAL, or RIFIFI, or something... to kill *Doris Day.*

But when you create a plot to kill Doris Day -- *any* plot to kill Doris Day, at all -- and you *can't manage to pull off the job* -- what else can I say?

EPIC FAIL


("She ducked!")

Tags: draw, fail, win

I'm still proud of the idea of HOOLIGAN! the live-action roleplaying game.

(My favorite criminal charge in the old Soviet Union was "hooliganism" -- it was just such a colorful term. Frankly, if I were ever convicted of a crime, I'd want to be a convicted hooligan.)

The idea of the LARP was simplicity itself. Three quarters of the players play inmates in a Soviet gulag in Siberia -- all of whom are convicted hooligans. (What's a hooligan? You tell me! I just know they need to be rowdy.) One quarter of the players play a bored, irritable skeleton crew of Soviet prison guards who haven't been in direct contact with civilization in two years. The inciting incident of the game: A cargo plane crash lands in the prison camp, tearing open buildings, fences, gates, guardhouses... and giving forth its entire cargo of vodka.

People playing offbeat criminals and guards in a combination of the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Paranoia roleplaying game -- all with horrible Russian accents, fake beards and mustaches (even on the women! ESPECIALLY on the women!) -- and actual all-you-can-drink vodka. (With cheapo food, of course.) I thought it would be a hit.

Nobody ever voted for it (back when I held votes for LARP selection), but I still had faith in it...

Tags: fake beards, gulag, hooligan, hooliganism, larp, paranoia, prison camp, stanford prison experiment

It's hard to keep in a festive mood when one friend with a chemical dependency problem vanishes into thin air, another friend keeps obsessing about their own mortality because of recent deaths in their family and circle of friends, and still another friend never stops worrying about their age and all the things they should've done... while you're at a club.

But onward and upward...

Tags: excelsior, packing material, peanuts, popcorn

Today I tried, to the best of my ability, to do what I thought was right. What more can you do?

Now to sleep...

Tags: bland, dull, is that it?, ordinary, unexciting, where's the blog?

I may not have an academic paper to present this year, but I'll be at the San Diego (Where the hell are the comics?) Comic-Con -- definitely from Friday, July 25, through Sunday afternoon, July 27. Thanks to Coupdehaha, I have a room at the Harbor Holiday Inn, and I figure on taking the Amtrak train excursion to and from. And what of you, O readership? To my knowledge, at this time, there'll be GPW Batman, Mr. Retsej, Coupdehaha, Ian_Tiberius, Tink, GPW Joker and Harley, Bodyrolling Lupa, GPW Penguin and Mister J at the 2008 Con -- I don't believe that new parents Alan and Dr. Suse will be there, nor new-parents-again Kris and Gingster. I'd bet good money that Mr. Gray will in attendance, though it'll take a miracle for me to actually run into him. Ditto for SpookyDan and Tammy. And I'm sure I'm forgetting people.

But still... who reads this blog who will be there?

PS: Unless somebody I know is in the Masquerade, I always dodge it. Also, I tend to spend a lot of my time in the jacuzzi at one of the hotels right near by the Con. And I refuse to sit in a room with 6,000 people watching movie previews all day long on Saturday. But otherwise... Con!

Tags: attendees, comics, conventions, san diego, san diego comic-con

Set for Saturday, August 23, 2008, in Hollywood, CA...



My current bunch of participants includes


Noah K. as Doctor "Rusty" Venture
TBD as Brock Samson (looks like we're losing our original choice)
Mr. Retsej as The Monarch
Casket_Girl as Doctor Girlfriend (Doctor Wife?)
Essentialsaltes as Doctor Byron Orpheus
GPW Tara as Triana Orpheus
Dark_of_Night as Kim, Triana's Raver friend
Andy A. as Monarch Henchman #21
Darklysewn as Molotov Cocktease
Andre H. as Doctor Henry Killinger
TheFreak as Pirate Captain Steve
Doctor_Ray as, well, likely Brock, actually (he was my Baron Unterbheit)
Morgan J. as H.E.L.P.e.R.
Some more folks I'm horribly neglecting by omitting here, for which I will burn in hell


Vade Nalim in a role or roles TBA
Graydon S in a role or roles TBA
LRS in a role or roles TBA
Shad_0 in a role or roles TBA

And I tirelessly seek to recruit more folks, whether they've watched VB or not.

There it is...

Tags: absurd, characters, comedy, fun, gaming, goofball, larp, roleplaying, silly, venture brothers

After all my talk of the steampunk game planned for the relatively near future, I feel I should mention that I'm definitely running a LARP in August of 2008:


THE TREASURE OF MASSACRE MOUNTAIN, PART TWO: THE VENTURE BROTHERS LARP

It's a damn silly notion, really, a VB LARP, but it must be done. I'm apparently losing my Brock Samson, but I've almost secured the boys -- and I've got Noah K. as Doctor Venture, Mister Retsej as The Monarch, Casket_Girl as Doctor Girlfriend, and a glittering cornucopia of other roles filled.

Is there room for more? Why, sure! If nothing else, I'm missing Phantom Limb, Monarch Henchman #24, Myra Brandish, and a bunch of other castmembers...

So I'll babble more here about the VB LARP soon.

Tags: costumes, gaming, larp, silliness, venture brothers, weirdos

Thanks to the very generous Strider (creator and promoter of the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball), I'm set up for tickets for the Friday night part of the event.

Now I just need to put together an outfit, and find somebody else to go with...

Tags: costumes, freebies, loj, masquerade, tickets