I’ve been working on a game set in Regency Britain of magicians and fairies, drawing much inspiration from Susanna Clarke’s fantastic book, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The themes of madness and manners are so perfectly embodied in the period, with the very king himself being mad. But I’ve had a realization as I work …
I saw it tonight. Great movie. I liked the amount of period detail, for sure, but what I really liked was the fantastic structure: every act and scene and beat was just in place. A problem, a new relationship, a breaking of that relationship, an increased crisis that leads to reconciliation. A gradual escalation of …
I finally got around to reading the last two volumes of the comic last night. Great ending to a great comic. I just wanted to say that the “wilderness sabbatical” bit is very Yoda-esque: Scott travels far away, goes into the wild, confronts his shadow, and returns, wiser for it. But at least Luke doesn’t …
Certainly more than “absolutely nothing, y’all”. I went, last night, to see Rusalka at the Denver opera house. Allie’s been working on it, and she got me a ticket. It was really good, but it intersected interestingly with my continuing reading of Peter Brook. Opera is almost intrinsically in the category of Deadly Theatre, if …
I was catching up on This American Life today, and heard about the Brooklyn Free School. It sounds great. Having homeschooled (or possibly unschooled?) myself through high school, I like the idea of it. And then I’m confronted with taking attendance for my students, and it feels a little ridiculous.
My birthday party was last night. Absolutely lovely. A good bunch of people from various different circles all intersecting and seeming to like each other and stick around for hours. Good food, good drink. Today, nothing to do but dishes. This is as it should be.
Well, we have a playtest version of Loom, the heroic fantasy RPG we’ve been working on, ready. If you’re interested, drop me a line. It’s rather in the vein of Star Wars or Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, to my mind. Temptation, heroism, all that. Beyond that, back in Boulder, getting over a sore throat, and …
I’ve been home a few days now, and in NYC, and now there’s snow. Lovely. I’ve been working on one of the games; updates soon and possibly some further details. I’ve also been thinking about security and society. More on that soon.
This is the last week of classes. Mostly done my papers (just need to edit a bit), and then there are some presentations and grading to do. Also, I’ve made an unordered list of what I want to do with my life: to make RPGs to teach to administer a bunch of linux boxes that …
I recently, for no good reason and at no expense, won some money. This allowed me to spend tonight doing what I think is the highest calling in my life: treating friends to a good dinner. Good friends, good food, good conversation. We went to Himalayas, the best restaurant in Boulder in my estimation. We …