Ending a crappy month with fizzle.

Today was supposed to be a calm relaxing day.  We shut down the can company for a family day together.  PIT#1′s High School show choir was preforming in Sumner at 10:50am.  She took off at 7:00am to ride the bus.  At 8:45 I went out to start the Beast.  Couldn’t get it going.  Dad came over to jump start it.  We finally got it running and took off only 20 minutes late.

Headed off to Sumner.  We arrived five minutes after GC Jazz had finished their set.  Missed PIT#1′s preformance because of the Beast. *sigh*  Oh well not a problem, we still have 1hr 45mins to get from Sumner to Waterloo for Tae Kwon Do testing since it’s about a 45 minute drive we figure we have time to get lunch.

Left the High School building and went out to start the car.  Nothing. Nada. Zip.  The Beast refused to start, yet again.  Managed to flag down a fellow GC Jazz parent.  Spent 20 minutes trying to jumpstart the Beast with no luck.  By this time our HS bus had already left so we couldn’t ride back with the rest of the show choir.  Erica’s Mom volunteered to take as many folks to Tae Kwon Do in her car as she could, she had room for two.  Sent PIT #1 and PIT #2 off to Waterloo while Mrs. VS, PIT #3 and I tried to make alternate arrangements.

My folks had car trouble of their own and couldn’t come get us.  Spotted the bus for Waterloo High School that was near the Tae Kwon Do Academy.  I figured if I could get a ride there, then I could at least get testing in today and hitch a ride back to town with fellow students.  The Columbus High Sailors were gracious enough to not only give us a ride to Waterloo but we were taken directly to the Academy.

Go Sailors

Got to the Academy only 10 minutes late.  This wasn’t much of a problem as the ATA official was running late.  Testing began, we tested pretty well in my opinion despite my strained left arm.  I’ll know more next Friday, results will be posted here.

During testing PIT #1 (a current red belt) needed to break some boards.  I was chosen as one of the board holders.  PIT#1 kicked wrong and caught my strained arm.  Hurts.  She lost all concentration and was unable to break the board.  The ATA official saw what happened and didn’t count that attempt.

Mrs. VS has been pretty tired, the stress of the Beast not co-operating, frustrations on the day hasn’t done her much good.  Monday we find out how well she’s healing and when we start chemo.

Tomorrow I’ll try to write something about Goober and Sunday morning’s puppet skit.

Stev the Vulcan is more than an online ID, he’s my alter ego.

I have been writing off and on for a creative writing club called Starships of the Third Fleet for the better part of a decade.  Stev the Vulcan has been my character from the beginning.  I thought I’d post this article with links to all of the recent stories I’ve written for the club.

Candescium – prolog  – story
Blindsided – prolog - story
Shore Leave – prolog - story
Who Killed Melissa Wells – prolog - story
The Listening Post – prolog - story
Nostalgia – prolog - story

Enjoy

Vulcan Stev’s LCARS database DVD review… Babylon AD

Review originally posted at the Dire Cafe January 15, 2009.  Article re-written with game stats as a guest blog at Uncle Bear.com January 30, 2009

Game stats at the end of the review

Starring:
Vin Diesel … Toorop
Michelle Yeoh … Sister Rebeka
Mélanie Thierry … Aurora
Gérard Depardieu … Gorsky
Charlotte Rampling … High Priestess
Mark Strong … Finn

A few decades in the future, a mercenary named Toorop (Vin Diesel) accepts a contract from a Russian mobster, Gorsky, who instructs him to bring a young woman only known as Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) to New York. In order to reach his goal, Gorsky gave Toorop a variety of weapons as well as a UN passport that has to be injected under the skin of the neck. Toorop, along with the girl and her guardian nun Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh), travel from the Noelite Convent where they lived across Russia to reach America.

Reviewers VS, PITs #1, 2, & 3

VS 1 pointed ear.

I actually “watched” this twice. The first time through I fell asleep just after Toorop picked up Aurora. I chalked it up to stress relating to all that is going on in my life (see recent blog posts for more info). After watching it a second time and getting all the way through, I noticed a very marked cynicism towards organized religion. This I expect from Hollywood so that isn’t enough turn me off of a movie. There is an overall cynical worldview throughout the film.

What turned me off was that this film had too many questions that needed answering; Why can’t Toorop go to America? Why does an organized religion need to manufacture miracles? What caused Sister Rebeka to swear off violence since she seems to be so good at it? The ending seemed to be awfully convenient.

The director’s cut, according to IMDb, is 161 mins. The version on DVD is 90 mins. Maybe the missing 71 minutes answers some of these questions maybe it doesn’t. I wasn’t sufficiently impressed with this flick to buy an eventual Director’s Cut edition DVD.

Note to Vin Diesel fans, he sports stubble throughout most of the flick and proves that he NEEDS the bald head. Vin Diesel with hair is just another gravelly voiced actor.

PIT #1 .75 pointed ears
There was a plot? Great cinematography does not justify watching this movie.

PIT #2 no pointed ears.
I lost interest in this flick early on and went to play Motorcycle Madness on Facebook

PIT #3 .5 pointed ears.
At least there was no kissing.

Overall rating 2.25 pointed ears (out of 8). Rent-able, don’t bother purchasing this until it hits the discount bin

The film may have been an abysmal failure but the setting is quite usable.  The near future of Babylon AD assumes that the corporations have taken over, advertising is everywhere.  A little extrapolation of current events, the collapse of the global economy and a bit more high tech is all that’s needed. 

The concept of the Toorop’s Character can be plopped into nearly any setting.  He’s a pirate and can dropped into any Pirate adventure with just a change of weapons.  Play Toorop as a disillusioned Browncoat, looking for profit wherever he can find it and desperately avoiding The Alliance and again the character can be played as is in a Firefly game.  The Stargate SG1 season 3 episode “Dead Man’s Switch” dealt with an intergalactic bounty hunter after SG1.  Toorop would fit nicely into a campaign based on this episode.  Toorop as a bounty hunter and he slides right into any Star Wars campaign.

Toorop:  Heroic
Agility: d8, Smarts: d6, Spirit: d6, Strength: d8, Vigor: d8
Pace 6, Parry 8, Toughness 6
Edges: Combat Reflexes, First Strike, Nerves of Steel
Hindrances: Code of Honor, Enemy of the Major Power in your campaign, Outsider
Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d10, Shooting d12, Streetwise d8, Driving d8, Guts d6, Survival d6, Riding d4
Gear determined by setting, but be sure to include lots of weapons

The character of Sister Rebeka, a woman with obvious training in the martial arts, who has dedicated her life to her religious beliefs, is also transportable into most settings.

Sister Rebeka: Veteran (due to her time being cloistered)
Agility: d10, Smarts: d8, Spirit: d8, Strength: d4, Vigor: d4
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 4
Edges: Danger Sense, Strong Willed
Hindrances: Heroic, Pacifist, Loyal
Skills: Persuasion d12, Fighting d10, Notice d12, Streetwise d6, Survival d10, Riding d6

Aurora is more and less problematic as she is basically a Macguffin with lines.  She’s the Governor’s daughter in a Pirates game.  She could easily be from the same Alliance program that turned out River Tam in Firefly.  She’s a young girl with the knowledge of the Ancients in Stargate SG1. *note* in the movie she is pregnant, this does not necessarily need to figure into your campaign

Aurora: Novice
Agility: d6, Smarts: d8, Spirit: d8, Strength: d4, Vigor: d4
Pace 6, Parry 2, Toughness 4
Edges: Arcane Background (ability to read minds), Attractive
Hindrances: Clueless, Curious, Quirk (asks inappropriate questions at inappropriate times)
Skills: Healing d8, Persuasion d10, Notice d8, Investigation d8

Confessions of a Noob GM 1-23-2009

Written as a guest Column for Uncle Bear.com published there 1-30-09

I was nervous.  I’ll admit it.  I’ve gamed with people my own age.   As a high school student I gamed with the local college group.  I’ve gamed with my kids.  I’ve GMed for family sessions, but I had never before GMed for anyone else.

The local youth center has wanted to have an open game night for some time.  I volunteered to be THE adult in charge and supervise the activities.  I figured most of the kids would play pool, ping pong, or foosball.  PIT #1 suggested that Daddy run an RPG game for the teens that night.  Sure, why not? My kids seemed to enjoy it when I ran Pirates of the Spanish Main at home.  I agreed to be the GM for this new game group.  Now I just needed to decide what game and system to run.

I personally have the core rules for PotSM, Stargate, Serenity, GURPS and Car Wars (I know CW isn’t technically an RPG but it’s close).  I decided on Stargate as I had already done a lot of work “Savaging” that universe.  I prefer the Savage system as it is easy to use and very versatile.  The PITs were ecstatic; I knew I had three players for sure.

I had my sparse notes, my 5×7 dry erase board, my bag of bennies and I thought I was ready to go.  The inaugural night was canceled due to weather.  The next Sunday at church I had 2 other teens express disappointment that game night had been canceled.  I was informed that at least five other teens were anticipating the game.  Five additional teens, my three kids, eight people? I began to panic.

The next week I developed out my sparse notes as I wanted this to be something special as some of these kids were experienced gamers and some were complete newbies.  I took advice from many of my online buddies about what I needed to do and really got as prepared as I could.

I developed my own GM screen so I wouldn’t have to thumb through the Savage Explorer’s Edition for combat rules.  I bought a larger dry erase board.  I photocopied off character development rules so we wouldn’t have to pass around the rulebook.  Friday night came and I set up the table for eight people and my GM seat.

6:30 came and went and no one other than my kids had shown up yet.  My nervousness increased.  7:00 arrived and teens started streaming in through the door.  They kept coming.  I had to set up another table.  Eventually I had eleven young people ages 10-17 all looking to me for answers.  We started character generation at 7:15.

I learned three things from my first non-family GM event:
Character generation takes more time when there’s more people, even with a simple system like Savage
Even with all the work, I still wasn’t as prepared as should have been
Teenagers have crazy imaginations (I thought I was strange)

Yet even after an hour and half of character generation, we got started and played the introductions.  The kids had a blast.  I had fun as well.  I’m looking forward to getting to the actual game.

Vulcan Stev’s month-late movie review… “Quantum of Solace”

Originally posted at the Dire Cafe December 7, 2008

Quantum of Solace starring:

Daniel Craig … James Bond
Olga Kurylenko … Camille
Mathieu Amalric … Dominic Greene
Judi Dench … M
Giancarlo Giannini … Mathis
Gemma Arterton … Strawberry Fields
Jeffrey Wright … Felix Leiter

The first “true” sequel in the Bond franchise, ‘Quantum of Solace’ continues the high octane adventures of James Bond from ‘Casino Royale’. Picking up literally hours after the previous film left off, after being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Having captured Mr. White, and in pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and ‘M’ interrogate Mr. White who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper to steal Bond’s casino winnings is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille, a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious criminal organization known only as ‘Quantum’.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in Bolivia, giving General Medrano control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land which is, however, a main source of the South American water supply. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists, and even ‘M’ herself, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop Quantum from getting its way.

Reviewers: VS, PIT #1, PIT #2, Guest Reviewer (best friend of my sister who happened to tag along with us)

VS – 2 pointed ears
Though I have heard the cry “NOT BOND” from many regarding Casino Royale and echoed now for QoS. My own personal viewpoint is that Eon Productions has firmly moved the Bond Franchise into the 21st century.

My ONLY beef with the movie is that the conflict between Bond and MI6 felt entirely contrived. The evidence against Bond was circumstantial at best. M would’ve been able to understand what was happening if Bond had taken 30 seconds to explain himself. I realize that Eon Productions wants to show HOW Bond gains the trust of M and becomes the best agent MI6 has, but this conflict still felt contrived. If there was a scene filmed that gave Bond a reason not to tell M what was going on or a scene that gave M more of a reason to distrust Bond (actually both scenes would’ve been nice) they should have been left in.

If Bond to you is futuristic gadgets, Q, and scantily clad women; then no this is not Bond. If Bond to you is a rip-roaring good spy movie, then you definitely want to see this one. In the wake of Austin Powers assaulting the stereotyped elements of the genre and Jason Bourne radically reinventing the genre. Daniel Craig has managed to put Bond back on top.

PIT #1 – 2 pointed ears
Very upset that the “bullet shot” came at the end instead of the beginning. Picked up on the fact that Bond is still drinking the ‘Vesper’ that he invented in CR

PIT #2 – 2 pointed ears
In a world where ALL Bond movies are teh kewl awesome, this one stands above the rest.

Guest Reviewer – “What’s with the pointed ears?” Oh I guess 2
Your family sure is strange but this was a very good movie.

Overall Rating 8 out of 8

I am boycotting Super 8

This piece originally ran at the Dire Cafe, Jan 15.  I’m updating it here. 

I am officially boycotting the Super 8 Motels chain in Sheldon, Iowa.

Some background, earlier this month the PITs, Mrs. VS and I were going to a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Sheldon IA (4 hours away). The original plan was to leave at 4:00am on Sat 10th. By Thursday (8th) evening we were debating about the feasability of getting a hotel room and began calling area hotels.

The Super 8 in Sheldon had a cancelation. Knowing that the possibility of bad weather was in the forecast I asked up front if there would be any problem with canceling due to weather. I was told that as long as I called and cancelled before 5:00, I would be fine. Great, I gave them my credit card number and reserved the room.

Friday (9th) at 3:30 pm freezing rain begins to fall. It is so bad that it is freezing to my windshield and I had to stop three times in two miles to scrape the windshield. I got home and called the hotel at 4:20 and cancelled the room.

This morning I was balancing my credit card account, lo and behold there was a charge from the Super 8 for the hotel room. I called the hotel to find out what was going on.

“Sir there is a 48 hour in advance or you pay cancellation policy”

I was never told that there was 48 hours. If I had been told that I wouldn’t have reserved the room. The nice lady on the phone told me the manager would call me back when he got in.

Heard from the manager at 11:15. After listening to my question and explanation, he sounded like a broken record. “The charge will stand” “The charge will stand.”

He gave me an 800 number to call to resolve the problem. It’s the reservation line for Super 8 Motels. They wanted to give me a free three night vacation to take care of it.

Hello? you want to give me three free nights because I’m refusing to pay for a night that I didn’t stay at your motel. I finally got ahold of customer service. I was informed that I had to call by 4:00 pm to cancel not 5:00 (so sorry that I was 20 mins late because it took me 30 mins to drive home). They are faxing the dispute back to the hotel in question. They now have until Jan 27th to answer the dispute.

Basically I’m calling on everyone to force Super 8 to acknowledge they are at best not giving customers proper information and at worst are willing to charge you for services they didn’t provide.

Addendum to the original post:
As of today, 1-28-2009 Super 8 has rescinded the charge.  I checked with my credit card company and they informed me that Super 8 had refunded the money.  My faith in the chain has been restored.  However my displeasure with the Sheldon affiliate still stands.

Good News!!!

The day started off rather auspicious; The Beast (as it as been unaffectionately named) refused to start.  Dad and I couldn’t get the it jumped.  He handed me his keys and told me to take Mrs. VS to see the oncologist in his Bravada, he forgot to tell me it needed gas.  As we neared Waterloo I noticed the car was on E, pulled into gas station to fill it up.  It took me five minutes to pump $.09 worth.  The pumps were froze.  If I believed in omens I would’ve felt that we were not going to get good news from the Doc

Got Mrs. VS to the doctor only 20 minutes late.  Doc S. (the oncologist, names have been changed to protect the innocent), saw us immediately.  Last week’s PET and MRI showed no additional cancer in the system.  He misunderstood Mrs. VS’s misgivings about chemo as reluctance to take it.  Rather she is concerned with how it will affect her ability to do her job.

We spent a good hour with Doc S’s nurse.  She explained the side affects, benefits, and answered our questions.  Chemo will start  just as soon as Doc D. (the breast cancer specialist) removes the drains, installs the shunt, and clears Mrs. VS to continue.

Chemo is tentatively slated to begin Feb 6.  Stay tuned for more info.

Vulcan Stev’s month-late movie review… “Get Smart”

Orginally posted at the Dire Cafe Septeber 16, 2008

Starring:
Steve Carell … Maxwell Smart
Anne Hathaway … Agent 99
Dwayne Johnson … Agent 23
Alan Arkin … The Chief
Terence Stamp … Siegfried
Terry Crews … Agent 91
David Koechner … Larabee
James Caan … The President

Reviewers: V.S., PIT #2, PIT #3

Would you believe a cinematic tour-de-force to rival Gone with the Wind?
Would you believe a theatrical experience worthy of multiple Oscar nods?
Would you believe 110 minutes of laugh-out-loud comedy?

The cliche would be “Missed it by that much.” Fortunately for us the cliche is wrong in this case. If the audience at the Center Theater is any indication of the likability and humourous aspects of this movie, Peter Segal and Steve Carrel captured the feel of the 60′s TV series perfectly.

Steve Carrel channeled Don Adams. Agent 86 is the same bumbling man updated for 21st century. Agent 99 is not the girl sidekick that Barbara Feldon was, she is cut from the cloth of Angelina Jolie’s ‘Lara Croft’.

The ubiquitous shoe phone makes its appearance but is also replaced by a swiss army knife worthy of James Bond.

Maybe I think too much like a writer, but the “surprise” plot twist telegraphed itself to me with the attack on CONTROL’s HQ

Overall rating 6 pointed ears.

VS – 2 ears: I have fond memories of watching the original series in reruns after school. I didn’t have high expectations for the movie as I’ve seen what Hollywood had done to TV shows (especially comedies) to make the jump to the BIG screen. For every “Fugitive” there are 5 “Car 54 Where Are You”s. Get Smart was fast paced. Laugh out loud funny at nearly every turn. The director and producers captured the essence and feel of the series and did it very well.

PIT #2 – 2 ears: Caught the Bill Murray cameo before I did. He has never seen the original but still loved this film meaning it plays to fans of the series and newcomers as well.

PIT #3 – 2 ears: The explosions and train chase made up for the “kissing” and “boring” ballroom dance scene. He was a little confused by the “surprise” plot twist, “Is he a good guy or a bad guy Daddy?”

I’m worried….

Mrs. VS is VERY concerned about the upcoming chemo treatment.  She is afraid that the treatment will kill her.  She has been reading books, listening to other survivors and googling about the horrors, pain, and systemic problems that chemo will cause.

One person at she met at the cancer survivor club who happens to work for the same place she does told her that chemo could knock her off her feet for four days, not just the two days that the doctor is telling her.  Mrs. VS has never believed she has as strong a constitution that she actually does.  I could see the fear in her eyes as she confessed this morning that she’s afraid that chemo will kill her.

My telling her that I love her and will be there for didn’t seem to help.  My encouragement that if I were in her position, I’d take the chemo didn’t seem to help.  I don’t know what to do, my wife is listening to her own fears and non-professional advice.

Vulcan Stev’s month-late movie review… “The Dark Knight”

 Originally posted at the Dire Cafe November 15, 2008

Christian Bale … Bruce Wayne / Batman
Heath Ledger … The Joker
Aaron Eckhart … Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Michael Caine … Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal … Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman … James Gordon
Morgan Freeman … Lucius Fox

Reviewers VS, PIT #s 1, 2, & 3; Mrs.VS

9 pointed ears

Finally after months of waiting, The Dark Knight made it to our dollar theater. It was worth the wait. The theater was packed and the VS family had a wonderful time.

VS – 2 pointed ears:
I’m never one to believe hype. This movie however lived up to it. Loved Two-Face’s make-up, hated what the producers did to him (*Spoiler Alert* It’ll take some clever writing for Two-Face to show up in the next Batman movie). I’m glad that the door was left open for the Joker to return but wonder who they’ll be able to cast to play him to the perfection that Heath Ledger did.

Mrs VS – 1 pointed ear (sympathy vote):
This movie was simply a good excuse to go sit in a dark room with my husband’s arm around me (VS’s side note the seats at the dollar theater aren’t very conducive to cuddling). It was definitely a movie for my husband and kids

PIT #1 – 2 pointed ears:
Wanted to know if the Hispanic Female cop was Detective Montoya (VS side note, I’m raising such a good girl, she’ll make some geek a good wife someday). Loved the Two-Face makeup and was very distressed at the fact that the producers killed him off. Is now trying to guess at the villian for the third.

PIT #2 – 2 pointed ears:
Pointed out that physics alone would not allow a truck and trailer to crash in that manner. Was very distressed over the demise of the “coolest Batmobile ever”.

PIT #3 – 2 pointed ears:
“This was a very good movie Daddy, there was hardly any kissing in it”. Also very distressed at the Batmobile’s demise.

Overall, this movie was a good 2 & 1/2 hour diversion. Made me want to play Hank’s Gotham CSI