January 13, 2004

Killer Kop Kills Kops! Also; My Sinuses Explode; The Boys From Staten Island; MW Wins Caldecott/Librarians Agree Pigeons Shouldn’t Drive; Sealab Threatens Bloggers

Killer Kop Kills Kops!

Lot of stuff happened lately, sort of. N. and Kerry were listless without gaming, so we played Cyberpunk 2020 with Takako. N., Takako, and I all played cops, and Kerry was the Ref. Kerry’s way of GM-ing seems suspiciously on-the-fly. He keeps almost no notes at all, and seems to be working off the top of his head most of the time.

N. sent a helicopter full of cops after the bad guys, and the helicopter was subsequently destroyed by a rocket launcher. Who knew they had a 1 kilometer range? N. became a killer cop, and a cop killer.

During the game some firemen came over, because the neighbor’s wall had become red-hot. The firemen turned off the heat in the building, but it was OK. They all had great, thick Jersey accents. One of them checked out the CD collection and said that he, too, was “really into” his music.

The Boys From Staten Island

On the way home from Hoboken we waited in the cold only briefly for the bus, thankfully, since it was ungodly cold. Some young men were in a running, parked car in front of the bus stop, but one of them couldn’t fit in the car, and started talking to us, rather merrily, but I don’t think he was drunk. He revealed to us the following information:

All of them had thick accents, I assume Staten Island accents. But I only know one other native Staten Islander. It seemed to hold up.

The subway platform at Times Square was ungodly cold at 1:30am. An icy stalagmite was forming before my eyes, and I was worried N. might die, since he refuses to wear a hat or scarf, but it was OK, because the subway came not five minutes later.

My Sinuses Explode

Around Friday I got sick. This is unusual since I haven’t had a cold since last January. Usually I get sick a dozen times per year, but last year found me in good health. I think it was because my diet was much more healthy. Anyway, this cold sucks and isn’t like the kind I usually get. For one thing there’s a crazy amount of sinus pain and pressure. My nose kind of drips… all the time… which is really annoying. I’ve rubbed it raw with Kleenexes. I can deal with the dripping, but occasionally it feels like my face might explode. Its gotten a little better, but today it feels like the cold moved from the right side of my face to the left. Annoying.

MW Wins Caldecott/Librarians Agree Pigeons Shouldn’t Drive

On Monday at work we found out that Mo won a Caldecott Honor Award for his book Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. This annoys N. to no end; I bought the book for my little cousin for Christmas, and N. and I read it in the store. N. was terrifically irritated to find that the pigeon in the book does not get to drive the bus. He kept arguing with me about it for a month. My theory is that the pigeon’s legs cannot reach the pedals.

Stranger still, many of my coworkers knew nothing about the Caldecott awards, they didn’t even know how to pronounce it. I don’t exactly work in the children’s book industry, but I know about the Caldecotts and Newberry Awards. There was even a time when I decided to read every Newberry Award winner, but I gave up on that after a couple of crappy books. Kinda like the time I decided to watch all the Best Picture Oscar winners, but after Terms of Endearment I gave up.

Sealab Threatens Bloggers

On Sunday night the Adult Swim block featured the premiere of a new season of Home Movies, which is a great show, and the new episode was really funny. There was also a new episode of Sealab 2021, with a new captain, since the guy who did the voice of old Captain Murphy died last year. The new captain was a ridiculous football coach, apparently voiced by the real-life son of the old voice actor. Most significantly, the new captain made a direct threat to Adult Swim’s internet fanbase, saying something about how he’s here to stay, and if you don’t like it, you can just go complain in your chat rooms and your whiny forums and your sissy blogs, summing it up with, “I just have one thing to say. If you don't like me, then just go watch anime.”

Goddamn. I like both. That’s allowed, right?

Posted by erin at January 13, 2004 02:23 PM

Comments Individual Archive Index

January 13, 2004 03:09 PM, anthony said:

1) You played CP2020 and didn't tell me? Bastards! ;)

2) "N. was terrifically irritated to find that the pigeon in the book does not get to drive the bus."

Well, it is specism of the worst sort. Most states only require that a driver have a total of 1 arm and 1 eye to drive. A pigeon usually has 2 eyes, 2 wings, and 2 legs. Surely accommodations could be made?

3) Sealab: Well, the Adult Swim folks have been making fun of the more "vocal" fans for awhile now. The Sealab ads modeled after the DirecTV commercials being a prime example.

January 14, 2004 09:57 AM, Erin said:

I'm not remembering these DirecTV spoof ads... but I watch Adult Swim all the time.

I did laugh at their mockery of Inu-Yasha fan girls:

Q. How many Inu-Yasha fangirls does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. One to hold the ladder, one to hold the bulb, and 471 to complain when it doesn't come on.

January 14, 2004 11:04 AM, N. said:

That's not how I remember it goes...

Q. How many Inu-Yasha fangirls does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A. Only two, but they have to be very small.

Hah! That always cracks me up.

January 14, 2004 11:43 PM, ali said:

I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT I HAVE HEARD OF THE NEWBERRY AWARDS AND AM NOT COMPLETELY DUMB.

The Caldecotts.....not so much....

But the Newberry Awards I am SO ON TOP OF.

January 15, 2004 02:18 AM, Halifax said:

Man, that wasn't you who tried to read all the Newberry award winners and stopped after a few dull ones--that was me! Can't you tell us apart?

Pigeons shouldn't drive buses b/c they have eyes in the sides of their heads, end of story.

It's true, Terms of Endearment sucks. You know what else sucks? Joy Luck Club: The Movie. And yet everyone else seems to like it. What is wrong with them? I really want to know. What is wrong with the world?

GMing "on the fly" is often the only way to conduct many kinds of adventures. Especially when the adventurers have a whole city to roam around in, you can't take notes on a whole city.

January 15, 2004 12:29 PM, N. said:

Well, maybe you can't.

...sigh...I guess I can't either.

The Night City Sourcebook is pretty damn solid, though. Still, I suppose it doesn't take every room in every building into account but it does make an attempt.

Besides - I know those notes you consult during game play are just pornographic sea shanties from the 8th Century. Really, you aren't fooling anyone.

January 15, 2004 01:04 PM, anthony said:

Having more than a page of notes for a CP2020 game is a great way to ensure the players will immediately go counter to any way you had prepared for. :)

N. (and/or others): I'm very much thinking of starting a semi-regular Spycraft (sort of like Top Secret) game soonish. Email me if you're interested.

January 15, 2004 01:09 PM, Halifax said:

And just the other day I was telling Kerry how I considered espionage games to be unrefereeable.

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