Category: Geek Stuff

The Geek Month in Review: July 2010

by Administrator, posted in Books, Geek Stuff, Guest Authors, Movies

by JB Sanders

So I’ve collected a bunch of stuff together in the form of my commentary on various geeky news stories, reviews, or whatnot. One paragraph of my thoughts, plus a link or two related to it.

This will not always be everything that happened in the month of Geek Relevance. I don’t have the staff for that. Heck, I barely have enough staff to get me coffee! But I promise at least one or two things you haven’t heard about before, because they’re so damned obscure.

Here’s July 2010 in Geekery:

RPG Geek Squee
Monte Cook did a full-on adventure module! If you aren’t familiar with who Monte Cook is, he was one of three people responsible for re-engineering D&D in 1998, D&D 3.0. I would say that D&D 3.0 was probably one of the most successful RPG systems ever created. It combined modern sensibilities with a lot of the flavor of Old School D&D. So he’s one of those folks in the Geek Hall of Fame.

But it doesn’t slice bread (app pending)
Look, everyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a huge Apple fanboy. I got that going on all over the place. But those of you old enough to remember the Jetsons will recall scifi’s promise of the video phone. It was going to be wall-sized or toaster-sized (like the “real” telephones of 1974). It was going to revolutionize everything and everyone was going to have one.

Well, Apple’s iPhone 4 does that in a device that fits in your HAND. Video calls. In your HAND.

So, I find it infinitely amusing that folks have made an application for the iPhone 4 that turns it into a flashlight. A real, serious flashlight that uses the iPhone 4’s LED flash (designed for flash photography).

It’s a Swiss-army phone!

Mark Twain, still kicking ass
The man’s been dead 100 years, but he’s still topical, relevant and acerbic as hell.

Now THAT’s Building a Castle
This team has been working on building a castle in France using only traditional methods (as they can figure them out via archaeology and reading historical texts). They’ve been going since 1998.

Plato’s Hidden Messages
There’s nothing cooler than discovering deeper meaning, and when that comes from one of the founders of “Western Civilization” (such as it is), you just have to step back and say “Whoa!”. A scholar in Britain has discovered hidden messages coded in Plato’s writings. Stuff he couldn’t say openly for fear of reprisal.

The SciFi Airshow
So, it’s like an air show, only all the “planes” are scifi space vehicles. (It’s not real, though.)

Word of the Month: phonagnosia
It’s when you can’t recognize who a person is just by their voice.

Gore Factor Five!
I know, Dragon Age: Origins has been out, like, forever. The review I’m linking to is even months old. But it’s so damn funny, who cares?!

Best. Map. Ever..
Or even, all maps ever made of the earth, the stars and the universe in general, smushed together. Found out about this amazing map by seeing it on TED, and if you don’t know about the TED talks, I’m sorry. You’re about to have a lot of your free time sucked away by amazing speakers and mind-blowing technology.

See the talk about it at TEDTalks.

And then see the software that makes up the map.

Sinbad, Totally Not a Remake
I don’t really know what to make of this preview. It’s got Patrick Stewart voice over, but it looks like someone said “hey, what if Bollywood made a Sindbad movie in the 70’s?”. Hell, Bollywood probably DID make some Sinbad movies in the 70’s. To Wikipedia! No! They did make a TV series about Sindbad though.

Anyway, it’s a teaser trailer.

It’ll Totally Be a Hit With the Geeks
And while I’m on the subject of wack-ass previews, here’s Sucker Punch. This movie will either be:
1. The greatest movie ever made.
2. The worst movie ever made.

I don’t really see any middle ground for it. On the surface, it’s got what every hetero male (or lesbian female) movie-going geek wants to see: chicks with swords, kicking robot samurai ass. It’s got burlesque, and dragons breathing fire. It’s got airplane dogfights, zepplins, machine guns, gangsters, and a 1950’s insane asylum. And since it’s from the director of 300 and Watchmen, it looks like rock-and-roll.

See the preview and you’ll know what I mean.

Tron
You saw the trailer, right? New movie, same universe. Not a remake, but a … sequel? Yeah, looks good.

About John:
John’s a geek from way back. He’s been floating between various computer-related jobs for years, until he settled into doing tech support in higher ed. Now he rules the Macs on campus with an iron hand (really, it’s on his desk).

Geek Credentials:
RPG: Blue box D&D, lead minis, been to GenCon in Milwaukee.
Computer: TRS-80 Color Computer, Amiga 1000, UNIX system w/reel-to-reel backup tape
Card games: bought Magic cards at GenCon in 1993
Science: Met Phil Plait, got time on a mainframe for astronomy project in 1983
His Blog: http://glenandtyler.blogspot.com

Having Your Own Website Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff, Guest Authors, Messages from Rebecca, Wiccan/Pagan

Has this month been a pretty non-event month at The Magical Buffet or what? It looks like this month will only have 8 articles, quite the drop from the 13 articles that were published in May and June of this year. So what gives?

At the beginning of this month I intentionally ran myself into the ground trying to stay busy and not stress too much about my appointment with a specialist that took place on July 6th. It seemed like a good idea at the time. However, I came back to a household that had been neglected for over a week and a new too busy to breathe season at my office job. (A lady has got to pay the bills, ya’ know.) Add in the few mishaps with starting the beginning of a new treatment, and well, you end up with a lackluster Buffet month.

I had considered not saying anything and hope that no one would notice, but the fact is, I know I’ve been underperforming as of late and I felt I owed each and every reader a personal apology for kind of sucking out. Life happens, but still, I’m sorry folks.

Hopefully me, and The Buffet, will start getting back up to speed again, and I’m getting a little help from some friends.

When I switched The Magical Buffet over from its monthly spirituality focused format to this new whatever floats my boat blog format you guys stuck by me and that change. And let’s face it, we’ve been having some good times; The Colbert Healthcare Challenge, 10 Questions with Steve Kenson, The Quest for Fire: Flaming Mojitos in Our Time, and more. I’ve really enjoyed getting to share more of myself and my interests with you. I hope that from time to time I’ve made you consider something in a different way or perhaps introduced you to something entirely new. That said, there are two things I really wanted to do with this new format that haven’t really come to fruition.

The first thing is, that being a geek, I wanted to share lots of ideas and news from the geekier side of my life such as RPGs, comics, geek-like (or geek adjacent) movies and television, websites, and more. Despite a strong start with my interview with Steve Kenson and a few other assorted “geek” articles I find overall the site to be lacking. All the while, my friend John Sanders has been emailing his friends and I links to articles about all kinds of geeky news, products, or websites. One day I realized, he keeps tabs on many of the geeky things I would want to share with my readers, so I asked him if he would be willing to do that very thing, and he agreed. Readers might not be familiar with John, but they are familiar with a lot of his work. Many of the articles that I publish first get checked over by John utilizing his education in technical writing to my benefit. John works in tech support, which does nothing but elevate his geek cred. He’s currently working on his first novel which is fiction, but I still associate with him anyway. He will be a regular contributor with his own feature, “The Geek Month in Review”.

The other thing I wanted to make sure happened when I switched formats was that I would continue to provide articles of interest for all the wonderful Wiccan, Pagans, and Witches who supported The Magical Buffet from day one. Despite my best intentions, it’s safe to say that the site is lacking. Then one day I was reading a newsletter from Handfasting.org, run by my friend Shira Tarantino (who first appeared on The Magical Buffet in 2007 and again in 2009), and I found myself thinking, man, she’s good. Her articles are interesting, well researched, and generally have a taste of her great sense of humor. I found myself wondering how to get her on my website again. Then it hit me. Just like my friend John and his “Geek Month in Review”, maybe she would be willing to do a “Witch Month in Review” feature for The Magical Buffet. In what I feel is an extraordinary stroke of luck, she agreed. Since Shira agreed she has been sending me emails filled with wonderful ideas and boundless enthusiasm. I know that if you’re looking for news from a Pagan perspective there are great websites like The Wild Hunt (my personal favorite), and it’s associated Pagan Newswire Collective, and Witchvox but my goal here at The Magical Buffet is to offer loads of perspectives and introduce communities to other communities. The Wiccan that subscribes to The Magical Buffet reads the Steve Kenson interview, and my gaming buddies read The Wiccan Rede Project essays. This is a chance to hopefully more thoroughly introduce and integrate diverse communities, and I can think of no better emissary than Shira.

So not one, but TWO new features. See, I may not have been producing much, but I have been thinking about all of you. Now just like I fell behind, both of these guys have their own lives of family, friends, and work, so maybe we won’t see them every month (although I hope we do). I’m hoping that their contributions will make The Magical Buffet both more fun and more informative than it has been in the past. It seems like a good place to start. Both features will debut in August.

Psssst! I know, I know, I’m always about the “A Magical Buffet of Authors” event at the Barnes and Noble in Saratoga Springs, NY on September 11, 2010, but I just can’t resist mentioning it again. Remember, you learned about it here. You’ve joined the event on Facebook and MySpace, right? Good work gang! I’ll be able to thank you in person in September!

Rethinking the Remix

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff, Movies, Music

I know it’s hard for you to imagine, but sometimes things over here at The Buffet do not go according to plan. For instance, my mythical interview with my all-time RPG heart throb Robin Laws, the man behind all that is good and right with table top roleplaying games (Can you tell I’m a fan?). I had the heart stopping pleasure of doing a 30 minute phone interview with him. He was absolutely everything I hoped he would be; intelligent, quick witted, and inspiring. At this point you’re probably wondering where you can hear/read this interview. Well, you can’t. In theory it is still locked away in the little device that recorded our interview, but alas it seems to defy transcription. For those of you who feel inclined, you can start a letter writing campaign to my husband to see if you can help him get it into a useable format. For me, the Robin Laws thing is pretty heartbreaking. Even after all this time my gut turns at how utterly unprofessional this is. Laws must have come to the logical conclusion that I am just some crazy hack that just wanted to say I talked to him. Not too far off base.

At least that interview took place. (I swear, I’m not lying!) I don’t have the time to go down the list of the dozens of interviews I’ve attempted that have failed from lack of response from the interviewee. They all started out promising. They all said they would do it. And then, they fall off the face of the earth. Or at least I hope they did because if you can’t find the time to answer 10 softball questions via email, your ass had better be out orbiting the Earth. Out of all the failed interviews I’ve had, after Robin Laws there is only one other that I truly regret not happening.

Last year the folks at Disinformation mailed me a handful of DVDs to review for The Buffet. You actually read, or can now go and read, two of them. However there was one movie, “RiP! A Remix Manifesto” that I found very compelling and a complex mine field to try to explain and discuss, so I approached my contact about interviewing the director Brett Gaylor. My contact at Disinformation told me to go ahead and put together the interview and he would get it taken care of. And then nothing happened. Not only did the interview not happen, but I haven’t received any other promotional items since then. It’s okay, I’m sure if I borrowed my friend’s telescope I would find the guy drifting in space, occasionally bumping into satellites or other missing interviewees.

Without the interview I kind of just gave up on talking about the film. Although I sometimes try to present a neutral outlook on things, I tend to like to know how I feel about something I publish. I like this. This is unfair. I dislike that. The simple fact is, when it comes to the issue of remixing, I am of two minds on the issue.

For those of you who don’t know what a remix is (I’m impressed you found your way to “the internets” and were able to navigate through it’s tubes via “the Google” to find my site), Wikipedia has a pretty concise definition for you. “A remix is an alternative version of a song made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song (film, literature etc.).” And there lies my dilemma.

I worked in music retail for years. Many a time I told a youthful shopper scoffing at paying for a CD how musicians only get around $.05 per album sold. This is why they tour, because unless they want to live on ramen they have to get out there and sell some tickets, and more importantly, some t-shirts. The long and short of it is, what is still considered the industry standard for record labels is a pretty raw deal for the musician, unless they get lucky and blow up. That is changing, but that is a whole different post. I love music. I am passionate about it, and grateful to the folks that make it possible. I buy my album, and my t-shirt when possible.

However, on the flip side, copyrighting has always rubbed me the wrong way. I always like to tell the story of poor, talented, and totally hosed Biz Markie of “Just a Friend” fame. The recording industry used Biz Markie as an example of what happens when you use unlicensed music in your songs. Gilbert O’Sullivan claimed that the Biz’s song “Alone Again” featured an unauthorized sample from his hit “Alone Again (Naturally)”. Biz Markie’s album was pulled, and the fall out greatly hindered his career. By greatly hindered, I mean most of you probably don’t know who Biz Markie is. (In an odd bit of fate, shortly after writing this TMZ actually mentioned Biz Markie!) The ruling of Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc. altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used. I understand. I really do. I mean, we all remember that nonsense when Vanilla Ice tried to prove that he didn’t rip off Queen’s “Under Pressure” to make “Ice, Ice Baby”. It was painful. They totally robbed Queen. And yet, I can’t help but feel that those sorts of lawsuits create a climate of fear within artistic communities. Sure, Vanilla Ice verses Queen seems pretty straight forward. But how far does this go? At what point does one song end and another begin.

Let’s take this scene from “Rip!” as an example:

That guy at the end with a computer and a dancing crowd is Girl Talk. Actually, his name is Gregg Gillis, but he performs under the name Girl Talk. Girl Talk is central in “RiP!” and with good reason, Girl Talk’s music is created entirely from other artist’s songs. He is a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. Here’s what Girl Talk does:

The question is, where does Elvis Costello end and Girl Talk begin? Can you tell? (By the way, I love his girlfriend laying in bed trying to sleep. You know she’s all like, Gregg, take your laptop and your friends with the cameras somewhere else now, okay?)

As I said earlier, I love music. As a fun challenge I decided to see how many artists I could recognize that went into constructing Girl Talk’s 14 track, 54 minute, album “Feed the Animals”. (I just want to say that I did not cheat and read liner notes or do internet searches or anything. Anyone that knows me personally will tell you that I do not play around when it comes to music, so as much as it pained me to sort of recognize a song but not know a name to add to the list, I did not falter and cheat. That also means I may have gotten some wrong here, but I feel pretty confident.) Here we go: UGK, Twisted Sister, Sinead O’Connor, The Ting Tings, Butthole Surfers, Michael Sembello, Blackstreet, Kanye West, The Band, Steve Winwood, Ace of Base, Cassidy, Kenny Loggins, Busta Rhymes, The Police, Faith No More, Paula Cole, Jackson 5, Queen, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Grandmaster Flash, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Missy Elliot, Digital Underground, Nu Shooz, Public Enemy, 2 in a Room, what sounds like Boy George singing the Cheap Trick song “I Want You to Want Me”, Jimi Hendrix, that song “New Soul” that was in the MacBook ads, Eminem, LL Cool J, Soul II Soul, Beastie Boys, Pras/ODB/Mya doing “Ghetto Superstar” which is ironic since that song lifts from Dolly Parton and Kenny Roger’s “Islands in the Stream”, Diana Ross, Carpenters, Metallica, Styx, Janet Jackson, Snap, Prince, Ice Cube, Tag Team, The Cardigans, Rick Springfield, Big Country, Afrika Bambaataa, Michael Jackson, Roy Orbison, Salt-n-Pepa, Deee-Lite, Nirvana, The Beach Boys, Rick Astley, Kool Moe Dee, K7, Daft Punk, Lil’ Mama, Tone Loc, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, 2 Live Crew, M.I.A., Cranberries, Quad City DJs, Kelly Clarkson, the bass riff that became the intro to the MTV logo back in the day and it KILLS me not remembering where it came from (Metallica maybe?), Soulja Boy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Foreigner. GASP!

I can easily say I didn’t get even half of what went into making the album. If Girl Talk wanted to create a legal version of the album, he would need to buy the rights to use every song from the 72 artists listed above as well as the probably 100 others. Girl Talk could bankrupt himself just to make one album, let alone the other three albums he’s done. Not to mention if just one copyright holder refuses to grant permission, the entire album would be flushed.

I know, I can hear you now, “But Rebecca, you just said that he used other artist’s work. You actually listed them!” I know! I KNOW! I hate it. I hate feeling all confused and vexed like this. It’s just, yes, he used music from all 72 of the artists I listed, but you can’t even really tell he did. I mean you can, but you can’t. Here, take a look at this video a YouTuber made for the song “In Step”:

As frustrating as it is, I don’t have any apt conclusion to end this article. I am as true blue of a music supporter as you could hope to find, and yet, for my birthday I asked my husband to get me a few Girl Talk CDs. In my defense, Girl Talk is a giant nerd with a laptop that makes totally hot dance music; I am incapable of resisting something that pushes all the right buttons for me.

Do yourself, and me, a favor. Watch “RiP: A Remix Manifesto” and come back here and share your thoughts with me. I need all the help I can get on this one!

The Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

by Administrator, posted in Events, Geek Stuff, Messages from Rebecca, Organizations

Summer is here, and what an odd, mixed up, mess it is. In a few days I’m going to be visiting a shiny new specialist conveniently located 4 hours away. The constant bummer that is my health, paired with the huge amount of stress this appointment is laying on me, is making me distinctly un-fun to be around. However, for you guys I’m mustering up my best Pollyanna because yes, my health sucks, but there is still a whole lot of generally awesome stuff I want to share with you.

First, in August I’m going to see Public Enemy live! Never as a teenager listening to “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” did I imagine there would be a day when I would get to hear, in person, Chuck D say, “Bass, how low can you?” Perhaps there will be some zany antics to write about after the event.

While discussing zany antics, my friends at the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society have got a film crew following them around for a documentary! A trailer just went live on You Tube for it.





As you’re aware, if you read this site regularly, my friend and partner-in-crime for the “A Magical Buffet of Authors” event at the Saratoga Springs, NY Barnes and Noble, Crystal, passed away. It’s been a challenge to wrap my brain around the idea of this event happening without her support and guidance. That said, I am pleased to reassure everyone that Barnes and Noble has confirmed that the event will still be happening!

For those of you unfamiliar with event, go here to see me break it down for you.

If you’re on Facebook, join the event here, and be sure to invite any of your Facebook friends that you think would be interested.

If you’re on My Space, the first online home away from home for The Buffet, join the event here, and again, invite any of your My Space friends that you think would be interested.

Hopefully soon I’ll be touching base with Barnes and Noble to see what the promotional plans are like, and how the event is firming up. Count on me to share it all with you guys as we rapidly approach September 11, 2010.

As Crystal’s death pointed out to me, the friendships forged on the retail sales floor can be pretty potent stuff. Whether it’s loaning a spot on your website to a former retail cohort, or writing an overly sentimental essay on the nature of said relationships, the cat is out of the bag; us current and former retail workers have a sentimental streak and can be prone to nostalgia. Perhaps knowing all of that, you won’t find this a surprising statement, but I certainly can’t believe I’m about to make it.

This summer I am officiating not one, but TWO weddings. Yep, your read that right. Not one, but TWO different couples have decided that I am qualified to oversee the beginning of their new lives as couples. With the lead in, I doubt it will surprise you that I know both couples from different tours of retail duty. So yes, if you are so inclined, you may call me Reverend Rebecca (Let’s give it up to my home state of Illinois for hooking me up!). Of course, what’s funny about this is that I’ve attended very few weddings in my life. Also, I’m not chained to a formal religious text for wedding ceremonies, so writing a ceremony has proven to be a pretty big challenge. It doesn’t help that my husband offers such gems of wisdom as, “You should wear a name tag at the wedding that says, ‘Hi! My Name is Officiant!’” Then I get caught up in whatever silly stuff I can get away with, and then I realize this has offered nothing productive to the process. Funnier still, when my hair stylist found out I was now a Reverend her immediate response was, “You totally have to do my funeral! That would be a riot!” That is I, spiritual shepard to those in service industries. Perhaps I should start my own church? A spiritual movement could certainly help move along my plans for global domination.

Design by Than Saffel

While on the topic of religion, The Pluralism Project at Harvard University is having a photo and video contest! The Pluralism Project’s mission is to help Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity through research, outreach, and the active dissemination of resources. They invite you to participate in their first-ever Pluralism Project Photo & Video contest! They are looking for high-resolution (300 dpi) digital images and digital videos (max. 3 min.) that convey the vibrancy of religious diversity in the USA.

Photos/videos might feature: religious practices and rituals, religious centers, including festivals and center openings, participation of religious groups in American civic life, interfaith encounter or social action, and women’s leadership and participation.

One photographer and one videographer will be selected as grand prize winners, each receiving a $250 cash prize. The winning photograph and video will be spotlighted on the Pluralism Project homepage, www.pluralism.org.

Additionally, 50 photos and 10 videos will be selected from the submissions to be featured on the homepage. The photo/videographer’s name, as well as the location of the image/video will be included as a caption. The winning photos/videos will be featured over the course of one year, beginning September 1, 2010.

For contest details and how to enter, visit their site here. It would make my day if some Magical Buffet readers contributed, and I’d be extra super happy if any of you guys won! Go forth and photograph!

The 2010 Oneonta Spiritual Arts Fair

by Administrator, posted in Art, Events, Geek Stuff

This past Sunday my husband and I hit the road to attend the 6th Annual Oneonta Spiritual Arts Fair! For those of you who remember me writing about the event last year, I want to let you know right off the bat that we did not lock ourselves out of our car as we had the previous year. We brought an extra key for the car just to be on the safe side.

This year’s fair had twenty different workshops, seven psychic or intuitive readers, nine energy healers, and so many vendors selling a variety of goods that they needed more than one building to hold them all! When I attended in 2009, besides dealing with some car drama, I packed the day with attending an almost nonstop schedule of workshops. This year I wanted a more leisurely experience. I wanted to take time to really talk to some of the vendors, to not feel rushed while looking over dozens of tables loaded with everything from books to clothes to jewelry to soap, and so much more! Besides, I had a lunch date I didn’t want to miss.

The one thing aside from lunch that I knew I wanted to do at the fair was get another henna tattoo from Jessica Halter, aka “The Henna Lady”. I loved the one I got last year and was looking forward to getting a new one. I was pleased to be her first customer of the day and spent time catching up with her on everything that had been going on since we last saw each other in 2009. A few people stood by to watch the process and I enjoyed the opportunity to tell them about my wonderful experience with my previous henna tattoo. In fact, an hour later I had people coming up to me to excitedly sharing their tattoos with me. One woman is considering having a “girls night” where she and her friends will get together and drink some wine and get henna tattoos. Sounds like a great night to me! Last year I let Jessica do whatever design she wanted, and I was bummed I hadn’t ended up with a good photo of it to share. This year I again let her do what she felt like (always let the artist work) and my husband made sure to take lots of pictures!

Jessica Halter at work

You may remember last year I got an aura reading from Barbara Ellen, the lady behind AURA’bout You. She was there again this year, but I passed on a new photo. However, she’s such a nice lady that I wanted to be sure to mention her again and publish a link. Here it is!

One of the other booths that I spent some serious time at was for the artist Maryann Stow. She is a regional artist with roots in Oneonta, NY and in her bio she states, “I have had some formal training, but most of my skill as a watercolorist has come from ‘The School of 1000 Bad Paintings’, as I like to call it.” I love art. Much like wine, I don’t know a lot about it, but I know when I like it. The work she had displayed made use of vibrant colors, a thing I like. There was one piece in particular that I loved, it was titled “New Growth”. Of course with so many bookshelves lining our walls, and years of collecting works by NeNe Thomas, there is very little open wall space anymore. Luckily she had a small card featuring “New Growth” so I got a mini art piece to bring home.

New Growth by Maryann Stow

I easily filled two hours with just walking the vendor rooms, so seriously folks, it’s worth it to go just for the shopping. Two hours put me at lunch time, so it’s time to talk about my lunch date.

You may remember that last year my primary reason for going was to get to meet author Deborah Blake in person. This year not only was I going to get to see her again, but I was also going to get to meet another author, Gail Wood! Yes, I was a happy camper. Happier still when lunch time rolled around. Both Deborah and Gail had a busy morning of doing mini tarot readings and discussing their books with the people filing through the vendor room so I really appreciated that they carved out a little time in their schedules to have some lunch. Since Deborah’s birthday was just a few days before the event I brought her some chocolate rum balls for her to enjoy and share. However, if people thought I was a super fan for making the trip and bringing her chocolate, you would be sorely mistaken. Another woman who is a big fan of Deborah’s work brought essentially an entire picnic worth of lunch as a surprise for Deborah! Soon Gail and Deborah’s table was piled high with food!

Both Gail and Deborah are just wonderful ladies. They both really love what they do, and it shows. I learned a lot from those two this past weekend. The primary thing being that Gail Wood is the most photogenic of our trio.

(left to right) Me, Deborah Blake, and Gail Wood

As we were getting ready to leave Oneonta there was one more place to visit. You may remember that before the fair I mentioned that there was a comic/game store right across the street from the event. Well, it was still there. It’s a pretty nice little comic/rpg storefront called Bearded Dragon Games and Comics. Normally I wouldn’t bother mentioning our little side shopping trip. I didn’t last year. But this time I stumbled across something too fun not to share.

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with a card game called “Fluxx“. For those of you who aren’t, it’s a fun little game based on one simple rule at the start, draw one card, play one card. As the game progresses it gets crazy because each card played changes the rules! It’s really a fun game that is frighteningly easy to teach to others. Attention gamers, this is a great “gateway” game to get your non-gamer friends and family into games. As an aside, another excellent “gateway” game is “Lunch Money“, but I’ll talk about that some other day.

As Jim was waiting to get rung out I stood by the door looking at card games on a spinning display and that’s when I saw these rare gems: “Jewish Fluxx” and “Christian Fluxx”. Being a fan of “Fluxx” and religious doodads, these packs hit a total geek sweet spot with me. I’m bummed that Judaism and Christianity are the only religions to have gotten a “Fluxx” treatment. I would love to see other religions get their “Fluxx” on! Come on Looney Labs, if draw one card play one card isn’t Zen I don’t what is!

With that, we headed home. Another great time at the Oneonta Spiritual Arts Fair. I hope to see everyone again next year!

A Valentine for You

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff, Messages from Rebecca

My husband and I don’t really make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, or our wedding anniversary for that matter. We never really talked about it, but somehow we ended up on the same page. I know it’s going to sound corny, but I swear it is true, when you spend everyday being grateful that you’re with the one you love, you tend to not really care about holidays or events designed to make you feel the thing you are already feeling. However, there is one fun Valentine’s Day tradition that I would like to share with you.

I don’t know how it started, or when, but one year I was at some store right after Valentine’s Day and they had a bunch of their kids Valentine cards on sale. You know, the little ones you gave and received in elementary school. I was struck by how funny and horrible many of them were. On a whim I bought a box, I can’t remember what they were anymore, and decided I would give them to my friends for Valentine’s Day the next year. And thus was born a tradition known as “Rebecca’s Inappropriate Valentines”.

Some years are more horrible and inappropriate than others. I’ve done Lord of the Rings, perfect for geeks while being pretty awful, Pirates of the Caribbean, also good for my friends while still being rather off, Cartoon Network, which were actually just kind of good, and many more. One year I was sorely tempted by Crocodile Hunter Valentine’s cards that were on sale after his death, but I decided that those could potentially cross the line of “inappropriately funny” and land squarely under the banner of “in poor taste”.

This year’s cards were taking advantage of the Iron Man craze of the previous year. Of course, with a new film on the way timeliness isn’t where the inappropriateness comes from. However, there are many other ways this year’s batch were inappropriate. Firstly, Tony Stark wishing anyone a sincere and cheerful Valentine’s Day is just funny. Next, you have the always super G-rated text that all children’s cards have. That is always a gimme for Valentine inappropriateness. Lastly, these cards did not only have the sleek, red Iron Man from the movie, they also had the chunky, clunky, original suit as well. He hopes you “Have a Heavy Metal Valentine’s Day!”

Happy Valentine’s Day from The Magical Buffet!

The Name That Might Have Been

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff

After much thought I realize that my website, The Magical Buffet, is suffering from a tangible set back. No matter how successful this website might ever be, regardless of how much notoriety I personally gain, The Magical Buffet will never be as successful as it could have been because I did not let the guys who create “Savage Worlds” name this website.

For those of you who don’t know what “Savage Worlds” is, it is a universal generic, role-playing game (Yes everyone, like “Dungeons and Dragons” in so much as you create characters and work together to create a story under the guidance of a game master. Did you not read my intro to gaming interview with Steve Kenson?) written by Shane Lacy Hensley, and published by Great White Games doing business as Pinnacle Entertainment Group. I don’t know who is responsible for this, but the simple fact is that the “Savage Worlds” folks know how to name things in a way that compells you to at least pick up one of their books, and as is the case in the Elson household, to buy said books.

Let’s first start with the name of their generic base game system “Savage Worlds”. What a fan-freakin-tastic name for a game! Seriously, you see a book with the words “Savage Worlds” on the spine, how do you not pick that up? Take a moment, reflect on that title. Say it out loud. Feel that tingle running down your spine? That’s what I’m talking about here.

However, that’s just the name of the generic rules system. The titles for books that use that system are equally admirable.

“The Savage World of Solomon Kane” – All the bad ass of Solomon Kane, now with the word “savage”. Enough said.

“Slipstream” – A perfect name for a pulp science fiction setting ala Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon.

“Sundered Skies!” – Damn right exclamation point. That exclamation point takes an appropriate title for a dark fantasy setting featuring a thousand floating islands and turns it up to eleven. It’s the “Spinal Tap” of game titles. (Because I made the eleven joke. Dial goes up to eleven. Get it now? Why am I talking to you?)

“Pirates of the Spanish Main” – Perhaps you didn’t read that right. I said, Pirates. of the. Spanish. Main. It’s Pirates of the Spanish Main for God’s sake! When what a thing is, is out right cool, you name it what it is. For instance, my stuffed schnauzer doll is inherently cool, thusly, I named it Schnauz. Yes, my schnauzer doll is inherently cool, occassionally I call him Schnauz Prime, and no, I do not want your opinion on the subject.

“Low Life: Rise of the Lowly” – If you saw that at your local game store how could you not think, what the heck is that, and pick it up? Sure the world is filled with descendants of cockroaches, worms, snack cakes, and stranded aliens, and that may not be your cup of tea. However, that title managed to get me, or my husband, or sometimes both of us, to pick up that book and check it out every time we visited Zombie Planet until we quit fighting the inevitable and just bought it.

“50 Fathoms” – Again, how do you resist looking at a game book titled “50 Fathoms”? From a company of sweet titles, this one definitely stands out. Just think about it, “50 Fathoms”. It’s simple, it’s moody, it says, Gamer, you WILL read my back cover.

“Necessary Evil” – For the record, my favorite title for any game book ever. All the super heroes in the world are destroyed by an alien invasion leaving the protection of earth in the hands of the super villains left behind. I love the concept and the name is PERFECT.

“Rippers” – Oh “Rippers”, what a fantastic title you are. “The Cabal of evil formed under the leadership of the monstrous Jack the Ripper has the Victorian world on its knees and it’s up to you to fight back.” Again, great name for a great concept.

“Deadlands: Reloaded” – Heck, they even managed to take an already established and cool title, “Deadlands”, and make it extra cool when translating it for the “Savage Worlds” system! “Deadlands” is cool, “Deadlands: Reloaded” is legendary. (I feel I missed a Barney Stinson joke there.)

I feel my point is made, the “Savage Worlds” guys know how to name things. And so there you have it, an opportunity missed. I like to think that “The Magical Buffet” is a solid name, but I suspect if put in the hands of the “Savage Worlds” team it would have had a better name, one that would translate directly to “Wil Wheaton wrote about my website in his blog and thusly crashed our server.” Or perhaps “Rebecca will now be the new commentator on the television show ‘BattleBots’, oh crap that show was cancelled, never mind.” Perhaps one day, if I’m lucky, the “Savage Worlds” team will come up with an honorary, suitably bad ass sounding nickname for the website. Until then, I’ll pine away for the name that might have been.

12 Days of Blogging

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff, Messages from Rebecca

You may think this is going to be a Merry Christmas, God bless us everyone, holiday post, but you’re wrong. In fact, this post is in reference to the fact that today is the FIRST day of Christmas. You know, the one where you get the partridge. Anyway, the new year is approaching, making this the time that’s rife with best of, top whatever, lists. Since I’m a blogger these days, I figured I would share with you fine folks my favorite blogs (assuming that somehow having a blog gives me the authority to recommend other blogs). And, since I fancy myself as a clever girl at times (much like the velociraptor in “Jurassic Park”), I thought that I would acknowledge that today marks the first of the twelve days of Christmas, the twelfth day being the last day before Epiphany, the commemoration of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi, and go with 12 Days of Blogging. That’s right, I’m getting Catholic on y’all!

With that said, below are my 12 Days of Blogging, with the twelfth day being the arrival of the Wise Men, which makes number twelve suddenly even more amusing. If you want, you can read one paragraph a day and make it an event (and generate more hits for my website), or you can read it all now and immediately begin telling me about blogs you like in the comments section.

On the first day of blogging I would suggest to thee, a visit to Sketch Please. Artists challenge each other with weekly subjects in a public forum, how cool is that? The answer my friends is, very cool. It’s all art, so some may not consider it a “blog”, but I do, and it’s one of my favorites.

On the second day of blogging I would suggest to thee, subscribing to What Greg Eats. My friend Greg has this nasty habit of talking to me about food in a way that inevitably makes me crave that food beyond normal human levels. Now he spreads his wicked gift with his blog.

On the third day of blogging I would suggest to thee, Michael Ruhlman’s blog. I became aware of Michael Ruhlman after seeing his appearance on the Las Vegas episode of “No Reservations”. His blog discusses all things food: preparation, recipes, cookbook reviews, news, shopping, everything!

On the fourth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, bookmarking The Wild Hunt. I just became aware of this site a few weeks ago and it’s already a must! It’s you’re one stop blog for everything going on in various Pagan communities and everything outside effecting them. If I do this list again next year, I suspect this will end up in my top five.

On the fifth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, subscribing to 101 Cookbooks. Just loads of great recipes. Vegetarian, occasionally Vegan, mostly whole grains. If you’re looking to fall in love with whole grains, visit this site right now!

On the sixth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, Anthony Bourdain’s blog. Generally his blog is active when new seasons of his show “No Reservations” are airing, and they discuss the stuff that you don’t see in the episodes. Also, from time to time he’ll just write about other stuff, like learning to let go of his Rachael Ray hate, or children’s television programming. I enjoy his writing style and his show, so I check out his blog at least once a week to see if there is anything new.

On the seventh day of blogging I would suggest to thee (who aren’t easily offended), a visit to Perez Hilton’s website. I know, I know. Perez Hilton is stupid, or mean, or hateful, or bigoted, or whatever. I’m not saying I love the photos of celebrities with a penis drawn on them, but here’s the deal. Perez Hilton posts more videos and links to things I’m glad to see than any other entertainment blog. If I didn’t read his blog I wouldn’t have found out about Robyn’s latest CD and Ida Maria’s debut album, I wouldn’t have seen the best performances from the American Music Awards, and I wouldn’t have realized that Lady Gaga was the person behind every dance song I liked this past year. In other words, Perez Hilton’s website has made my life better. Sorry folks, it may be sad, but it is true.

On the eighth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, Neil Gaiman’s Twitter feed. Gaiman, author of the awesomely fantastic “Sandman” series, “American Gods”, “Stardust”, and more, technically has a blog, but since The Magical Buffet is on Twitter, I find it easier to just follow him on Twitter. His blog posts show up in his Twitter feed along with other fun observations and news.

On the ninth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, William Gibson’s Twitter feed. Gibson has a blog, but even he admits on it that you’re better off following him on Twitter. Gibson, author of one of my all-time favorite fiction novels, “Neuromancer”, is surprisingly prolific in the microblogging format. He’s much funnier than I would have expected and he frequently post links to news stories that I end up glad I’ve read. Yup, William Gibson’s Twitter feed is one of my news sources.

On the tenth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, a visit to Wil Wheaton in Exile. I totally had a crush on Wil Wheaton when I was younger, and I suspect if I hadn’t found the king of all geeks and married him, I would probably still have a crush on Wheaton. Instead, I am now what is politely referred to as a “fangirl”. I can’t help it; his blog is a delightful mix of all things geek along with personal introspection. One day I’m hearing about a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, the next I’m learning about trying to survive the Hollywood casting process, and the next I’m given a recipe for breakfast. I dare say our blogs are eerily similar except for a few minor differences, he doesn’t really talk religion and he’s a better writer than me.



On the eleventh day of blogging I would suggest to thee, daily visits to Least I Could Do. Technically Least I Could Do is a webcomic. One of the best webcomics I’ve ever read. Great writing, fantastic artwork, and there is a new strip every day. If you like comic books, action movies, sex, television, fantasy novels, and I don’t know, just about any other pop culture niche, you should be reading this comic. Since it is original content that’s updated daily, I would consider that enough to call it a “blog”, but just to satisfy any nitpickers, I’ll point out that the home page also has blog posts from the writer Ryan Sohmer and occasionally artist Lar Desouza. Sohmer’s blog is a favorite of mine. Whether he’s discussing politics or home improvements, he does it with his fantastic wit that you read daily in his comics.

On the twelfth day of blogging I would suggest to thee, to Go Fug Yourself. I’ll admit it; I’m not a “fashion” person. My ideal wardrobe is nothing but blue jeans and assorted t-shirts. Not what you would necessarily call “fashion forward”. I couldn’t follow the designers mentioned on “Sex in the City” and I genuinely only check out Vanity Fair for the articles. I guess when it comes to fashion; I’m more like a man than a woman (if we’re going to paint with the broad strokes of generalities). All of that changed when I stumbled across Go Fug Yourself. You don’t need to know about fashion, or even really care about fashion, to love this site. It’s filled with fantastic writing that’s littered with varied pop cultural touchstones to discuss celebrity fashion. One may expect vapid, superficial talk, but you quickly realize these women are smart, and have a wit that could cut a man. I hope my writing is like theirs when it grows up.

Also, for those of you who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas! God bless us, everyone.

Thomas Riley Blog Tour

by Administrator, posted in Books, Geek Stuff, Guest Authors

by Nick Valentino

Steampunk is a genre/culture that’s fast becoming a pop culture phenomenon. I wrote the book “Thomas Riley” which is a Steampunk adventure novel, just before the wave of high powered popularity hit which makes it interesting for me to watch it grow. For those that don’t know what Steampunk is, the shortest way I can explain it is Jules Verne meets Indiana Jones with near limitless technology based off of steam and old world power sources.

So why the sudden rise in popularity? Why are people meeting up dressed in top hats, goggles and homemade light up backpacks and machinery? I’m going out on a limb to say that the Steampunk’s popularity is growing as a response to modern day complexities. What I mean by that is the world as we know it is full of technology that’s hard for any of us to really understand. How exactly does a Kindle work? To me it’s a foreign technology from a different world. Steampunk is a hands-on endeavor, where patrons of the culture are able to use their hands and make everything by themselves. It’s the human mind and the spirit of ingenuity that inspires the Steampunk movement. You make your own “weaponry”, you make your own backpacks, watches, art, posters… It’s all DYI and you make it with clockwork, machine parts or whatever you can think of.

In addition to that, the style of steampunk is Victorian dress. Finally you have a reason to dress up while being adventurous at the same time. A big complaint about Steampunk is that it’s strictly a fashion statement. In fact it’s far from that. It’s only a fashion statement when you dress up for the sake of dressing up. The essence of the culture is based around a do it yourself life, one that you can express yourself through your own hand. So go forth! Make you’re your own identity, really the rules are few and far between when it comes to this culture so make it up as you see fit.

In the spirit of do it yourself, and now that you’re obviously curious about Steampunk, you can learn more at www.sirthomasriley.com

For those that are currently hooked, you can buy the book here: http://thomasriley.bigcartel.com/

And for those that want to enlist as a Sky Pirate, go here and you’ll get enlistment papers.
http://www.sirthomasriley.com/recruiting-sky-pirates/

Many thanks and much love to Rebecca for having me today!

Phoning It In

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff

When you’re a professional writer, such as myself (it’s sarcasm people!), you sometimes use a literary device known in the trade as “phoning it in”. This is when what the writer does sends out the message of not caring about the result or of applying a minimal effort. Sure, it may seems as if I “phoned” this one in, but what was I to do when two highly entertaining videos fall into my lap?

“10 Minute Zombie Survival Lesson”
In school most of us had to do a public speaking project where you instruct the class on how to do something. Me? I taught my class how to make characters for the roleplaying game “Vampire: The Masquerade”. In the case of Julia Casey, she picked an even more bad ass topic; how to survive the inevitable zombie attack. Yes, this is a lesson in zombie survival, presented as part of an Instructional Skills course in Library Science at the University of British Columbia.

My favorite part is when the class breaks up into groups and the camera pans around the room showing students seriously discussing how to survive a zombie attack. I call this video a slow burn, it’s not insanely laugh out loud funny, instead the perfectly matter of fact presentation makes it more amusing the longer the lesson is given.

“Ghost Busters (1954) Trailer”
The other one is from the time my husband spends on the “Hero Boards”. Someone posted this video on there. I fell in love with it at first sight. Whoiseyevan asks, “What if Ghostbusters, the movie, was shot in 1954 instead of 1984?”

I don’t plan on making it a habit of just sharing some videos and calling it an “article”, but these two came to my attention at the same time and I just couldn’t resist sharing!