One Month In

So it's been about a month since I took over as the Anarch Coordinator. Not officially that long, but all the same.

So far, it's been interesting. Had a few headaches, like the issue of IC/OOC racism on the Rant List yahoo group. Lost several people to that thing and it was just a damn headache. Why can't people be more mature? And it's been a continuing headache essentially starting from scratch, having to claim territory, having to register NPCs (not done yet), build a team, write a Packet from scratch and so on and so forth.

But it's been good too, for some of those same reasons. I know the Anarch genre will eventually be in a much better place when I leave the Coord seat. And I know I've got a great team. I feel like I'm making a difference, even a month in, even if it is a silly little thing like the OWBN game.

So far, I'm liking it.

In Memoriam: Mr. Frodo

Mondy afternoon, we had to say goodbye to Mr.Frodo.

Friday evening, we noticed he was sick. He'd probably been sick before that, but we hadn't noticed. And when a cat yakks, well, it's not that unusual. But we noticed he was genuinely sick on Saturday and tried to give him fluids via an eyedropper. Did it again Sunday. And again Monday morning. But by the time I got home about 2 or so that afternoon, he was already going into shock and was severely dehydrated. I got him to the Vet pretty quickly after that.

He was so dehydrated that he was going to have to do IV fluids and antibiotics just to give him a chance. And that was $500 right there. Just to be able to take him home that night. Just to return him in the morning. I wonder if maybe we shouldn't have done it. But I did ask them to do the blood tests, and they didn't indicate anything conclusive. Signs of early organ failure, possible infection, or it could all just be because of the dehydration and nothing was shown.

So we had to decide what to do, and we decided that it wasn't right to continue his suffering. He was just too far gone for us to be able to help him, and it wouldn't be right to prolong things. My mom came down to keep me company until Amanda was able to get there.

It was just so sudden. With PJ, we knew it was coming for at least a couple of weeks. I had a chance to prepare myself just a little bit. This time, it was just sudden. We stayed there in the room, and I held him close one last time (like he ever let me do it while he was alive) while they gave him that final shot.

He was only about 3 1/2 years old. He was a rescued stray and even though Amanda picked him out, he was my cat as much as he could be called anyone's cat. He loved to play, he loved food, he hated being picked up, he was skittish around pretty much everyone, he loved to snuggle in the bed during the winter, he was stronger than any other cat I've met, he was just too young to go. He got his name (and was chosen) because Amanda had a dream about our other cat, Mysi, carrying around a black and white kitten and it was named Mr. Frodo.

Here's to hoping that my Mr. Frodo was able to sail on the white ships across the ocean too...

Behind the times...

So Halloween was great. Managed to finish things enough to put them in front of the father-in-law's house and they got some good compliments. Lorelei was incredibly cute as a pirate, she seemed to enjoy the whole thing. She was called the cutest one all night long. Her wagon was decked out in foamboard pirate ships and we had a Disney pirate CD playing, so she had theme music too. Amanda and I both dressed up too, so it looked like she had her own pirate crew.

Thanksgiving went well too. Went to the in-laws, but because of stupid family stuff and people having to work, it was actually quite small. Smoked up two turkeys and they came out awesome. Turkey, by itself, is pretty good. Not something I seek out, but not bad. Smoked turkey? Awesome. I have to move away from the bird so I don't continue to pick at the carcass.

And the other news? We're having another little girl. We found out Wednesday afternoon. I really wanted a little boy, and I can't help but feel kind of disappointed. And I feel bad about that. Because our little baby girl will be loved and wanted and taken care of just as much as Lorelei is.

Oh yeah, I also was elected to be Anarch Coordinator for OWBN in 2010. I've already started working on it and have a team together and the whole thing. So I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do this year to help build the genre.

Peace Prize? Really?

There's not probably anything I can say that hasn't been said about this. But Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize for what he promised to do is asinine. What is even more asinine is that the other reason he got it is because he's not GW Bush!!!

No, really. Go check the quotes from the committee. He was nominated after only 10 days in office. What the FUCK had he had a chance to do by then except rearrange the furniture and figure out the White House phone system? NOTHING!!! It's based purely on the election promises of a man who is admittedly a far better speaker than GW ever could hope to be.

But what is worse is that it appears to be a purely politically motivated rebuke of GW Bush. In other words, "Hey Americans, elect presidents we Europeans like and agree with!" Okay, so the Euros didn't like GW. Whatever. He wasn't your fucking president you liberal elitist snobs. To give Obama an "attaboy!" for simply being more agreeable to your own beliefs is bullshit. Again, so what if you like Obama? He's not your president, Euro!

There were 204 other candidates. I'm willing to wager that probably about 204 of those have at least DONE something to encourage peace and understanding other than speak some pretty words.

Running for office

Yes, that's me. I'm running for office.

Just the first step in my long-overdue plan for Global Domination. Where am I starting?

As a candidate for the office of Anarch Coordinator for One World By Night.

Anarch Coordinator, then Governator of Kaliforna, then President, here I come!

(in all seriousness, I'll have my application statement posted soon enough)

Better

So it's Sunday afternoon and I'm not feeling too bad. Yeah, I feel a bit like Frankenstein's Monster with the 14 staples and it still does hurt sometimes and I am limited in my movement.

But I'm feeling better. And that's a good thing.

14 staples

I now have 14 staples, holding closed an over 3-inch long incision just below my belly button. Which no longer protrudes like it once did.

I feel like I had a mini C-section. It hurts like hell, the pain medication given to me doesn't work very well and it's absolute murder getting out of bed. You have no idea how much your abdominal core is utilized in everyday activities, even something like walking. Crap.

I was hoping to attend Back To School night, but I just don't think I can do it. It's tomorrow evening, so I might feel better, but I'm doubting I'll be up for it.

The worst part, aside from the sheer pain and difficulty of moving, is that I can't do, or can only barely do, some of the basics. I was afraid I couldn't put pants on today and was quite proud of myself when I did manage it. I know it's a process and no one just bounces back to total normalcy after any kind of surgical procedure, but damn.

I know men are all kinds of tough, but I now concur that if men had to give birth, humanity would be in trouble.

Sometimes, SoCal is awesome

So we went to the LA County Fair again today (Sunday). This time, Lorelei was left with the in-laws, since they wanted to take her to a play my brother-in-law is in and they're watching her tomorrow as we got to Disneyland for Amanda's birthday.

It was full of win. Last time, watching Lorelei fascinated with the piggies and the chickens and all that was full of win too, just a different kind of win.

I won $126.40 by picking a trifecta on the first horse race (of three) that we watched. We love the ponies, but they cost money and it's harder to do a racing day with a baby/toddler. But I've never won more than I think $10 at a time. I nearly hit another trifecta on our last race, but the horse I needed to finish third, in a photo finish, ended up in fourth. Man...

Flush with cash, we splurged on a giant cherry ICEE and a deep-fried Snickers (drool...) and a fancy $4 cupcake. I've wanted to try one of those for a while, but I just can't justify $4 on a damn cupcake. I mean, it's a freakin' cupcake! But being up $116.40 on the day made it a whole lot easier to do so. I'll probably grab the Triple Chocolate cupcake after I finish writing this...it's sitting in the fridge, waiting for me...

But perhaps the best part of the day was the lucha libre! (I'll have to Bluetooth over the pictures from the phone later in the week) As part of Hispanic Heritage Day, in addition to the usual stuff like mariachi bands, they had the local lucha libre promotion doing three matchs at a time over I think six time slots. It was freakin' awesome. You can get up close, the heels interact directly with you, the main guys will stay afterwards for photos and autographs. In some ways, it was utterly cheesetastic. But that also made it full of win. I mean, seeing the heel (I can't remember his name) interacting back and forth with a round middle-aged Mexican women, and she's giving as good as she's getting, was totally cool. It was wrestling at it's finest in a lot of ways, without all the glitz and glamour of the WWE. I don't know how many times I got the crowd going by myself, booing or clapping. Both Amanda and I agree, we definitely have to attend more lucha libres shows in the future.

All told, a really wonderful day with my wife. It was really great. I miss the little chunkerbutt, but it was a great Mommy-Daddy day.

Happy TLAPD!

I find it terribly appropriate, and awesome, that on International Talk Like A Pirate Day, today's Backyardigans episode is one of their two pirate episodes.

I also am quite the proud daddy, being that when asked what noise a pirate makes, she'll make a quiet "arr!"

So avast me hearties! Being taught the next generation is the glory of pirattitude!

Another Jackass in the news

A few meltdowns this past weekend or so...what the hell is in the air?

Michael Jordan makes an ass of himself at his Hall of Fame induction speech...and it turns out not to be that unusual for him.

Serena Williams loses it and then loses the match.

Kanye West flips out at the VMAs.

All of which, hey, whatever. They're just entertainers, supposedly.

But now President Carter is basically saying that the primary opposition to President Obama and his legislation is racism. Essentially saying that if you oppose Obama, or rather, what Obama is attempting to accomplish, then you are a racist.

Pardon me while I channel a bit of Rep. Joe Wilson...

President Carter, shut the fuck up, because while aren't a liar, you are an idiot.

The Big News

So the big news that I've been sitting on for a few weeks now...

Amanda is pregnant! We've got another bun in the oven and our little "Peanut" is due sometime in April. It's gonna be an adventure with two!

Catching Up

Okay. So despite having extra time this summer, I managed to not post a single time after the ever-so-brief Star Trek review. Don't know how that happened, but let me try to catch up.

Summer was really pretty great. For one thing, as an educator, I get summers off too. Even with teaching summer school, I still had three day weekends and was done by 1pm. Not too shabby I'd say.

This was a great summer to be Lorelei's daddy. She's made so much progress, it's amazing. She's a little mimic; show her something once, then she learns it and does it. For example, last week, we went raspberry picking up in Oak Glen, also known to us as "the apple ranch." I showed her how to pick a bright red raspberry once; after that, she followed her mommy down the rows and when a bright red on caught her eye, she picked it and popped it into her mouth. Or right now, she's attempting to put sunscreen on herself after I showed it to her last week when were getting ready to go to the beach. She's still not really talking yet, but she understands a lot, nods yes or no and can say some single words. We also took her to swim lessons where she was the, of course, star of the class. Both instructors we had were impressed with how adept and natural she was in the water.

We somehow managed to see lots of movies this summer also. Star Trek, Harry Potter 6, Funny People, District 9, (500) Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, Public Enemies, Up and I think that's it. That's pretty darn good for us, especially with a toddler. But both sets of grandparents were pretty eager to spend time with Daddy's Little Coppertop, they missed the daily babysitting while we were working. None of those movies were clunkers, but only a few were really great. I'd say Star Trek, District 9 and (500) Days of Summer were the best of the bunch and were all pretty radically different from each other.

We managed two vacations this summer also. Three days a piece. The first one was with Lorelei down to San Diego to take her to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Wow did she love Sea World. She loved bouncing on the hotel bed too, but she really enjoyed the shows and the displays of all the fishies and whatnot. Utterly fascinated her. Not so much the Zoo; she was still tired from Sea World the day before, but she still enjoyed seeing the different critters.

The second vacation was for Amanda and I's anniversary. We went up to Monterey Bay for another three days. Hit the Wine Makers' Celebration and had *way* too much to drink. Did the Ghost Trolley tour that night and it was okay. It was interesting to get a taste for just how much history is there. The next day was mellow; we did the 17 Mile Drive and had lunch in Carmel. Out anniverary dinner was that night at the Sardine Factory and wow. Incredible dinner. The next day we took our time getting home.

We had some great food on those trips. The Sardine Factory in Monterrey was fine dining at it's best. Hodad's in San Diego had the best hamburgers I've ever had in my life. And the seafood at the Blue Water Cafe in San Diego was incredible too. In some ways, that's kinda the joy of vacations for us anymore; we love hitting these little joints that make great food. Read about Hodad's on CNN and saw the Blue Water Cafe on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network.

That's kind of the Cliff's Notes version of the summer for me. There's more details to be shared in person, of course, but suffice it to say, it was a great summer. I think it was kind of special for the three of us.

Star Trek Review

Short and sweet. Loved it.

I really enjoyed this film. The beginning had an unusual emotional tug to it. The rest of it was great to see the familiar turned to something new. Like, for example, what happens to the red shirt.

I didn't find anything substantive of fault in the film. A great way to kick off the summer blockbusters.

Which Star Trek character are you?

You are James T. Kirk (Captain)

James T. Kirk (Captain) 70% Will Riker 55% Deanna Troi 50% Jean-Luc Picard 45% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 45% Chekov 40% Worf 40% Spock 39% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 35% Mr. Scott 35% Uhura 35% Geordi LaForge 35% Data 34% Mr. Sulu 25% Beverly Crusher 25%

You are often exaggerated and over-the-top in your speech and expressions. You are a romantic at heart and a natural leader.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

KublaCon OOC

I'm writing this as I'm trying to get one our cats to relax, so I can grab him and give him a flea bath...discovered the little blighters on two of the cats last night. Not good at all.

Anyway, KublaCon was freakin' awesome. I'm going to try to keep it all OOC for this posting.

I met a lot of cool new people, like Geoffrey, Kaht, Jessica and Lindsey. Plus formal introductions to people like Alan and Heather. I partied WAY too much, to the point that I think I got about 11 hours of sleep over three nights. Nowhere near enough.

The weather was too damn cold. I was a dummy and didn't pack anything warm and I kinda paid for it, especially on Sunday when a group of us when to Fisherman's Wharf. BTW, don't bother with Tarnatino's. Not the best food on the Wharf.

The room was good, Paul was a good roomie aside from his snoring, but hey, that's what ear plugs are for, right? Not like I don't snore myself anyway.

I did miss my wife and baby though. Had to talk on the phone and text a bunch over the weekend. Both were really happy to see me Monday evening.

But I had an awesome, incredible weekend. I'm really glad I went and even though I spent too much time awake and not enough asleep, I think it was worth it just for the great new people I got to meet OOC and play with IC.

Player's Privy to Private Plot

Okay. So there's a massive plot that Alan Pursell put before Council that would begin at KublaCon. It sounds awesome (no details until after Kubla!) But there are two issues, one Org wide and one personal.

On the Org side of things, apparently players who have NO business knowing about the plot, were jabbering away about it. WTF? Who is the dipshit on Council that leaked this information? It's supposed to be kept private on Council alone. Not supposed to go beyond our virtual borders. Whoever that particular dipshit is, they need to be slapped and kicked off Council. Then of course, the players. What the hell are you doing metagaming this? Can't you remember that this is a role-playing game, and it can't be "won?" The point of part of this plot is to surprise the shit out of the players. It's awesome, it's the reprecussions of the In-Character decisions of the player base. And there has to be a reaction. Why ruin it? Damn fools.

The other side is of course, the personal element. I can't be surprised by it now. That's kind of a drag. And of course, I have to make sure I'm not metagaming even by accident. I mean, I have some bad monkey plotting in mind, and it would benefit from this plot, but I have to be careful not to take too much advantage of it. Ah well. Should be fun!

Oh, and sorry for the overuse of italics.

Children's TV

So it's about 6:30 on a Saturday morning. I've been up since 6. That's when I normally get up on a workday. And the wife and I are going to the RenFaire today, so that's a long day normally. So what the hell happened?

Lorelei happened. She decided she wanted to be up and awake. So I sit here, having checked my email and whatnot, still a bit bleary eyed, listening to the Wonder Pets. Not a very good show, really. Okay, the diversity of animals and the message of teamwork isn't too bad. But Ming Ming, the duck, has a terrible lisp. WTF? Small children don't need a wrong example of how to speak properly, they have enough issues learning to speak as it is!

I think I may have to do capsule reviews of all the shows Lorelei likes to watch. Dora, Diego, Jack's Big Music Show, the Backyardigans, Max & Ruby. I admit perhaps she watches too much, but there are times, like right now, that I'm not awake enough to play with the little one. That and it's rare for her to actually watch more than five or ten minutes of show at a time.

I think I need coffee.

My mood right now

And May goes crazy

The month of May is always kinda crazy for me. A big part of that is simply trying to get school all wrapped up. Our kids graduate June 4th, so everything has to be done and taken care of before that. Which means a lot of work has to be done to get everything all finished and taken care of.

This weekend we had a softball game to attend and had to go furniture shopping (no other time to do it) and then, since it's Ikea, assembly of said furniture. As a side note, the quality and style of Ikea furniture has much improved since I first purchased stuff for my college apartments many years ago. I really think the only difference in most of the Ikea stuff versus most of the stuff in a regular furniture store is the assembly issue.

Anyway. Next weekend is Mother's Day Weekend. The following weekend I have family from Tucson coming out for my Grandmother's 80th birthday. That's a whole weekend. And after that is Kubla Con.

In between all this, I run an afterschool program for students to make up missing credits. Normally cool. It's a few extra hundred dollars a month, which is always welcome. But my partner is out on bedrest and is due to give birth in a few weeks. And the counselors, the Grade Level Coordinators, are getting bossy with me, telling me how to run my program. The worst part is that they literally have no authority of any of the faculty, but they think they do. One of them in particular thinks she's Napoleon in Panties. She in particular needs to just leave and go be a principal somewhere else, because that's what she thinks she is anyway.

But I'm looking forward to Kubla Con. It should be a lot of fun this year. I've "met" so many more people "virtually" this past year between the Brujah and the Council lists that I think I really could spend this year with a mild to severe buzz the entire weekend. There's a week of school left, but the worst and hardest part will be done, so it will be a great weekend to just relax and have fun.

OWBN Council

So some thoughts on OWBN Council.

Some of those people are idiots. Sorry, but it's true. Those idiots in particular sometimes just like to argue for the sake of being contrarian, they don't see the problem in their own games so it must not be a problem anywhere else, they present poor arguments when they actually do (such as not actually answering the charges levied, but argue something else tangential), they hold grudges and take things personally.

I also hate the provincial nature of some of the games. There really are three main zones of OWBN and they all have their own personality. The West Coast is a bit more RP-focused, less sheet. The East Coast seems to be very competitive, but being sort of spread out, there's less competition. The Midwest though...that seems to be the core of the asshats. That's where the Dead Man's Hand coterie was born and based. That should explain a lot right there. They seem to be a whole lot more about accumulating disciplines and lores like they were stamp collectors on meth. Not all of them, clearly. But the rampant breaches of genre seem to be most common in the MidWest. The worst part of it is they get really angry about being called on it.

You know what? If that's the game they want to play, ultimately, fine. Even in a organized, linked game system like OWBN. But what drives me nuts the most about them is their extremely defensive, and at times, offensive attitudes about it. They seem to have banded together, them against the rest of the Org.

Again, it's just my perception and it isn't all the MidWest players. It really manifested, though, in the application of the No Need For Nightlife (Garou) application. This game may not have played as nice as it could have with it's geographic neighbors. But the entire rest of the Garou games wanted them in OWBN. Many vampires games were okay with them. But that zone, that MidWest region, got all provincial on the rest of the Org and shut them out. Luckily, a proposition went up to give them a special extra 6 months of probation to fix these problems. I voted yes and I think that it might pass.

Speaking of passing, the problem I had regarding Combo Disciplines was voted upon, and changed. Yay for Anarchs! And the proposal to limit Anarch Combos just to Anarchs passed too; though by a slimmer margin than I had thought. Damn pez/discipline collecting dillweeds.

I do have to say I like some of the people on Council. The Garou folks seem mostly cool (they like me for defending No Need For Nightlife). I like the various Coords from what I've seen, like Dale and Alan.

Most of the time, I like being on Council. I like having this sort of leadership position in the Organization. There times when the lack of maturity and general idiocy of a few drive me utterly bonkers, but for the most part, I like it.

Hello!

Haven't posted in a while...partly because blogspot has been blocked at work for a while. Partly because I just haven't thought of it. So what's new?

Lorelei is growing like a weed. People thinks she's 6 months to a year older than she really is. We went to the park last weekend and a two year old was shorter than her. Surprised the heck out of her dad.

Spring Break was eh. Got kind of sick the second half of it. And since Amanda and I had different breaks, we couldn't really do anything together.

OWBN...oh boy. Council is a plethora of posts I'm going to have to put up. Oh boy...

A OWBN post - Anarchs get screwed

Wow, another post so soon? Yes, really.

I was thinking about a recently passed proposal in the OWBN organization. I'm the Council Member for my game, Muerte Libre, an Anarch-genre game. We aren't that many, but there are a few Anarch games out there in the Org. Now, as CM for the game, I'm the representative for our game to the national organization and I vote on the various proposals that come before the Org.

Well, the Anarchs just recently got fucked.

Jenn Bahrs, the Head Coordinator, has done a lot of great work so far. Done a lot to clean up the Bylaws of the Org. But on this one she fucked the entire Anarch genre. So what was the proposal?

It basically codified house rules for the entire Org. In order to teach Combination Disciplines, there are now two additional rules. One, you have to have one of the originating Disciplines In-Clan. Sure, why not. Would help cut down on the wonky stuff. The second one rapes the Anarchs though.

On page 55 of the Anarch Guide, it states that for the purposes of power comparison, a Combo Discipline counts as the highest level that makes up the Combo. So if something has an Intermediate discplines and a basic disciplines, it counts as an Intermediate Combo. Nowhere does it say anything but it being for power comparisons, which can be very important (see Auspex vs. Obfuscate).

But now it also counts in terms of teaching. So if a Combo is considered Advanced because it has an Advanced component, it can not ONLY be taught by an Elder. And there are no Elder PCs allowed in the game. Which in theory makes it a fuck lot harder for anyone to learn these kinds of combos.

Why does it hurt Anarchs so bad? Because Anarchs are supposed to lack certain things like Generation (mainly), Influences, Resources, etc., the Combination Disciplines are meant to be their secret weapons. When shit hits the fan, the Anarch Combos serve as the ace up the sleeve for the Anarchs. Problem is, of the 14 Combos listed in the Anarch Guide, NINE of them are now considered Advanced Combos and will require NPCs Elders to teach to PCs. 9 of the 14 Anarch Combos can no longer be taught by PCs. So basically, unless the STs of the Anarch games have an Elder in their pocket, the Anarchs will NEVER obtain any of those Combos.

Hell, Smiling Jack, by these new rules, can't even teach his own "Trick" to anyone.

I understand the desire to try to limit the wonk and bullshit I hear arises in certain games. But this proposal fucked an entire genre and several weeks after it's passage I'm just starting to get angry about it.

Kid = Cash

Been kinda quiet. No new movies. Nothing too major going on. We did manage to go down to Temecula last weekend, heading down Friday afternoon and coming back home Saturday afternoon. Had a great dinner at Bailey's in Old Town (perfectly cooked rib eye atop Israeli cous cous), tasted some mundane wines at Ponte and another place I'm blanking on, tasted some great ones at Filsinger, Mt. Palomar and several others I'm blanking on too, bought some great cheese at Old Town cheese shop after wandering the weekly farmer's market. Good time.

To the point though...Amanda did our taxes Friday evening. Woohoo! Turns out that we should be getting a nice couple of cheques back from the government. Well, as soon as California figures things out anyway. Seems that Amanda making less money was a good thing, since we dropped from the bottom of one tax bracket down to the top of the bracket below. Plus the addition of Lorelei made for a fairly hefty return. Makes our worries about summer a lot easier, as we should be able to handle the basics without strain. Plus if we can save some money, we can go away for vacation and maybe even Comic Con. And Kubla Con this Spring. And a new mattress which we need desperately.

Slumdog Millionaire

We actually saw this over a week ago. I decided to take a day off, a Friday, simply because I felt like I hadn't really had a winter vacation due to the three of us being sick. We took one of the gift cards we received from my parents and had lunch at Chili's (after dropping off Lorelei at my Mom & Dad's) and another gift card for the tickets at AMC.

Lunch was good. Had a pretty good burger with the thickest bacon slices I think I've ever seen.

Slumdog Millionaire? It's pretty good. But for fuck's sake, it's not worth all the insufferable hype it's getting. It's basically just a Frank Capra feel-good flick set in India. That's about all you need to know. I found the constant flashbacks (part of the framing device for the film's plot) annoying and quite frankly over-directed. In fact, through the middle, oh, 60-70% of the film I was just bored.

Now the Academy nominations are out and I find that not only has it recieved 10 nominations, but The Dark Knight is shut out Best Picture and worst of all, 2 Slumdog songs and NO Bruce Springsteen? Fuck you Academy. It's rare that I fall in love from a song from any movie, but I had to have Springsteen's The Wrestler as soon as it showed up on iTunes. Which was before the film was released anywhere! I loved it just from the trailer. And the Academy in it's infinite wisdom shuns Bruce in favor of two songs from Slumdog Millionaire?

Let me say it again.

Fuck you Academy.

Oh, and Slumdog Millionaire is overrated.

Requiescat In Pace, Taylor

Just over a week ago, our friend Taylor passed away at the age of 36.

I knew Taylor from OWBN. First as a Brujah of checkered past named Angel, then the Toreador "Messiah of Metal" named Warren Peace. He was a great roleplayer, but more than anything, he was just a great guy.

He always seemed to be in a good mood, though I know that can't be true. He always had a kind word or an amusing (or even downright hilarious) story to be told. He also had a unique talent for telling jokes, stories or just comments that could be the most crude and awful, but somehow no one was ever offended and in fact they always made us all laugh.

I remember the time he got Shawna, prissy elementary school teacher, to turn red with embarrassment when he "entranced" her character with his ass. I remember the time we talked about vampires in movies, in particular Twilight. I remember geeking out about wrestling with him. His Toreador was the John Morrison to my PC's (Johnny Chang) Miz. We were the first holders of the OWBN Anarch Tag Team Championship belts, though I'm not sure that we'll go forward with that anymore.

It's a shame in so many ways that he's no longer here.

May his memory live longer in our hearts and minds than he did here on earth.

The Wrestler

We managed to sneak out of the house Friday afternoon to go see The Wrestler. Went up to the Laemmle in Pasadena after having lunch at Barney's Beanery. Good food by the way.

The Wrestler is a beautiful, moving film. It is also easily the most heartbreaking film I have ever seen.

Once the opening credits finish (well done by the way), the heartbreak begins. It's just tragic to see this washed-up, broken down wreck of a man unable to give up on wrestling. He just can't move on, because it's the one place where everything makes sense to him, it's the one place where his soul can't be hurt though his body is battered. For that, you can't blame him. But you also see how it's stunted every other part of his life.

Mickey Rourke just disappears into the role of Randy "the Ram" Robinson. At no point was I thinking about the actor, I just saw The Ram. Part of that was the very smart choice to film at real Combat Zone Wrestling and Ring of Honor events and have real wrestlers interacting with The Ram and not just in the ring. When you see the Necro Butcher or Ron Killings or Frankie Kazarian hanging out with The Ram and treating him like one of the guys, it's not Mickey Rourke they are hanging out with backstage, it's Randy "The Ram" Robinson, wrestling legend.

Gotta give a shout out to Marissa Tomei too. Great work as the aging stripper, totally afraid of human contact but desperately wanting it. And hotter than a lot of girls half her age.

I loved the ending. Perfectly done. The last few minutes are utterly heartrending and when the screen goes black, it makes sense. The screen stays dark as Bruce Springsteen's song comes on and stays that way for something like 30 seconds or more, forcing you to listen to the lyrics of the song specially written for Mickey and the film. Unusual, but highly effective.

Beautiful film. Mandatory watching for any fan, present or former, of wrestling. And just incredible work by Rourke, Tomei and Darren Aronofsky.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a mess in the Jameson house.

The holiday vacation seemed to come late again this year, and the few days leading up to Christmas were just too hectic, like normal. The three days of Christmas (yes, that's what I said) went well and I think everyone got good presents and had a good time. Then both Lorelei and I got sick. She got a cold, I got some sort of stomach flu. Let's just say it was a disgusting as you might imagine. I'm better, but by now, Lorelei's cold has stuck around and morphed into an ear infection and now today, Amanda has the stomach flu. Great way to ring in the new year!

The Christmas lights came out cool. I think I entertained a lot of the neighborhood.

Probably won't get to see The Wrestler tomorrow if Amanda is still sick. Oh well. Like I said, it's been a mess in the Jameson house. Puking baby, puking daddy, puking mommy all in the last week. Oh joy. It's almost like I haven't really had a vacation at all.