Autumn Spring

I've often grumbled in the past about the surprisingly crappy movies I've managed to see thanks to Rogers Video Direct, but all is forgiven since they sent me Autumn Spring. It's a Czech movie with English subtitles, but don't let that turn you off--it's an extraordinarily funny and bittersweet story about an elderly would-be prankster/con man (he's not particularly good at either) named Fanda. Fanda refuses to "grow up" and pay attention to all the things people his age are "supposed" to think about: nursing homes, funerals, hospitals, etc. Fanda is quite the character, but after one of his pranks goes awry, Fanda's wife of 44 years threatens to divorce him unless he mends his ways. Fanda tries to give her what she wants: he stops smoking, stops drinking, stops joking around--basically, he stops living and it becomes clear he's miserable. In order to get back the man she fell in love with, Fanda's wife proposes they share a con job for the first time. My description may not do it justice, but this is a great movie that really has something to say about life and getting older.

John Wilbert Dill, Spiritualist

Since Halloween is approaching, I managed to talk one of the players in my Star Wars campaign to direct a Call of Cthulhu one-shot. I've never directed a Cthulhu campaign before, but I've had some great experiences as a player--someday I'll tell the story of Caleb McKay, intrepid journalist. But for now, I thought I would share with you John Wilbert Dill, a character I created for a late 1800s/early 1900s d20 Cthulhu game several years ago. Dill was an "Ordained Spiritualistic Medium and Minister of the Gospel of the Spiritualistic Church" and I remember reading a couple of books on the history of spiritualism before I made him up--the faith has a really interesting history and its aura of mysticism and gullibility seemed to fit a Cthulhu game quite well (I also thought seances would be a good way to get adventure hooks or meet interesting NPCs).

I honestly can't remember whether I actually ever played John Wilbert Dill though--I'm guessing not, because his character sheet is pretty clean. (doing research prior to character generation tends to be a bad omen for me--I once read some really boring books on Byzantium for a character in a historically realistic medieval game that ended up only lasting a single session).

NAME: John Wilbert Dill
ETHNICITY: Caucasian
AGE: 20
GENDER: M
HEIGHT: 6'1
WEIGHT: 190
APPEARANCE: Plain
LEVEL: 1
EXPERIENCE: 1
SAVINGS: $ 4000
SALARY: $ 1000
PROFESSION: Spiritualist
EDUCATION: High School

STRENGTH: 13 (+1)
DEXTERITY: 14 (+2)
CONSTITUTION: 7 (-2)
INTELLIGENCE: 13 (+1)
WISDOM: 14 (+2)
CHARISMA: 15 (+2)

FORTITUDE SAVE: -2
REFLEX SAVE: +4
WILL SAVE: +4

* Defence Option

CURRENT SANITY: 70 (Max Sanity: 99)

MELEE: +1 (fist: 1d3+1)
RANGED: +2

HIT POINTS: 4

FEATS: Sensitive, Spiritual Medium

RANKED SKILLS (all others base ability modifier only)

Bluff +4
Concentration: +2
Gather Information: +4
Innuendo: +3
Knowledge: Spiritualism: +5
Listen: +5
Performance: Seance +6
Read Lips: +3
Sense Motive: +6
Sleight of Hand: +4
Spot: +4
Psychic Focus: +6

NOTES

--sickly

--grew up & attended seminary at Central Massachusetts First Mission

"A medium is one whose organism is sensitive to vibration from the spirit world and through whose instrumentality intelligences in that world are able to convey messages and produce the phenomenon of spiritualism."

--charges $ 15/seance

Torchwood: Small Worlds (S1,E5)

"Jack and I have always disagreed about the faeries. I only see the good ones--he only ever sees the bad."

Small Worlds, Season One, Episode Five ("What are the supernatural forces stalking the Cardiff suburbs--and what do they want with the seemingly normal Pierce family?"

What I Liked

* Jack's gentle affection for Estelle--she think's he's the son of the man she knew in WW II, and of course he can't tell her otherwise.

* The faeries and the young girl they plan to steal away, Jasmine, are suitably creepy.

* The ending, where Jack decides he has no choice but to let Jasmine go, ties in perfectly with his character as seen in flashback in Children of Earth, where delivers an entire busload of kids to an alien race.

What I'm Not Sure About

* Why was Jack in charge of soldiers in 1909? This was before World War I even. Was he on sabbatical from Torchwood or what?

UPDATE: Wikipedia allows me to answer my own question--according to some extras on the Torchwood website, Jack was apparently leading the soldiers because they guarded a diamond mind and he was hoping to scam some gems.

What I Didn't Like

* The performance of the actress playing the Mom after Jasmine was taken--just too cliche and melodramatic.

Commentary

By: Alice Troughton (director), Ben Foster (composer), Eve Myles (Gwen)

Tone: A lot of laughing over incomprehensible in-jokes

Interesting Bits:

* Although it seems pretty feeble, apparently John Barrowman got a big kick out of making "faerie" gay jokes. He's gay, so I guess it's forgivable.

* The director "fired" the first cat chosen to play Estelle's Moses because it was too skinny.

* All three commentators wondering about what SUV stands for and putting forth incorrect guesses.

Deleted Scenes

* As far as I could tell, the deleted scenes option on disk one only went up to episode four, and I haven't yet found any for later episodes.

Torchwood Declassified: "Away With the Faeries"

* Interviews with the young actress playing Jasmine and discussion of what it was like filming the school scenes with the giant wind fans

* Interviews with P.J. Hammond, the writer of the episode, who is apparently a big deal in England because of an old show he created named Sapphire & Steel

* Discussion of filming the big party scene at the end of the episode, with the usual stuff about how difficult it is to react to CGI creatures.

Clone Wars Campaign: Recap # 28

This guest-directed story arc ended with a bang, thanks to the cinematic and very-epic feeling final battle.


SESSION # 28

Sian, Kasa, and Lee continue deeper into the cavern. Eventually they reach a wide cavern that contains an acidic pool, a catwalk and some equipment, and one of the deadly giant tunnelling snakes. Working together, the three Jedi manage to sneak past the snake and cut a hole in a nearby door. On the other side, several stone sarcophagi and statues lay guarded by what looks to be an animated, dessiccated corpse wielding a lightsaber. After a long and difficult battle, Lee decapitates the guardian and the illusion fades to reveal a dead Rodian wielding a vibroblade.

The trio continues on until they reach an ancient library, full of crumbling scrolls. In an adjoining room, the three Jedi come across a female Zabrak huddled in the corner near a corpse. The Zabrak, sent by Count Dooku to recover a mysterious egg-shaped artifact, sobs under the delusion that she has stabbed her friend to death. In fact, moments after she kills herself, another illusion fades and the "body" of her "friend" is revealed to be another one of the Archons, a mystic order of guardians tasked with keeping the egg away from outsiders. Somehow, however, the Archons are being slowly corrupted by the dark entity contained within the egg and falling under its control.

When the Jedi finally reach the egg-like artifact, they find it guarded by several possessed Archons and under attack by the Separatist delegation, which is attempting to remove the artifact by attaching cables and pulling it up with a stolen ground-boring machine. A long and furious battle breaks out between the Jedi and the Separatists and their battle droids. Sian touches the artifact and is drawn into the center of it, which appears to her eyes like a vast, featureless plain. She encounters the manifestation of a Zabrak named Luni, who was the first to enter the artifact. By combining their spiritual strength, along with that of the recently-arrived Lee, the evil entity appears to be destroyed and the three emerge. Outside, Kasa has used his martial arts ability and mastery of the telekinetic Force to defeat most of the Separatists. When the last of the Separatists are finally defeated, all three of the Jedi are badly hurt and exhausted. The remaining Archons say that the danger presented by the artifact has passed, but little do they know that the entity has hidden itself inside one of the Jedi.

After a trip back to Pentanossus in the ground-borer, the Jedi present Mirmark Karpok with a carefully-edited version of the truth. He thanks the Jedi for their help, but refuses to declare Dramos V's allegiance to either the Republic or the Separatists. With Lumzoz and Sgt. Jett, the three Jedi take a civilian ship towards Coruscant.

Return to Clone Wars Campaign Main Page

Fantasy Football Week Five

Week Five of the NFL season will be memorable to me for the Browns winning one of the worst football games I've ever seen, a 6-3 victory of the Bills. NFL Total Access called it "The Game of the Weak", and I've gotta agree. Basically, the Browns won because their punter was really good and kept pinning the Bills behind their own ten yard line.

Anyway, my fantasy football team suffered a (relatively) narrow 82-73 loss. Peyton Manning once again did awesome for me, and my RBs did a solid job as well (if Ricky Williams could have come up with a touchdown and about thirty more yards on Monday Night, I would've won). My normally good receiving corps didn't put up many points however, and that was the difference. The loss leaves me with a 2-3 record half-way through the fantasy season.

Next game is going to be tough, as Peyton Manning, Ricky Williams, Patrick Crayton, and Pierre Garcon all have bye-weeks so I've had to try to salvage some players from the bench and waivers to make up the difference.

Sun Runners: 73 TOTAL
Peyton Manning, Ind QB 22
Steve Slaton, Hou RB 8
Ricky Williams, Mia RB 13
Patrick Crayton, Dal WR 2
Chad Ochocinco, Cin WR 7
Pierre Garcon, Ind WR 0
Todd Heap, Bal TE 4
Steelers D/ST, Pit D/ST 9
David Akers, Phi K 8

Liquor Store Porkchop: 82 TOTAL
Eli Manning, NYG QB 14
DeAngelo Williams, Car RB 3
Clinton Portis, Was RB 18
Glen Coffee, SF RB 12
Mario Manningham, NYG WR 9
Sidney Rice, Min WR 6
Vernon Davis, SF TE 5
Patriots D/ST, NE D/ST 6
Ryan Longwell, Min K 9

I ain't 'fraid of no (holy) ghost!

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Daily Nebraskan columns)

I ain't 'fraid of no (holy) ghost!

Jeremy Patrick (jhaeman@hotmail.com)

The Daily Nebraskan February 26, 2001

"Querulousness of mind tends in fact rather towards irreligion; and it has played, so far as I know, no part whatever in the construction of religious systems."
--William James, "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Dear Mr. Holy Ghost,

I don't really believe in you, and I hate to bother you because I know you're busy doing whatever Holy Ghosts do, but, you see, I have a rather pressing problem, and I think you're the only one who can help me with it.
I was reminded of your existence the other day after seeing these posters hung all over campus by the Abundant Life Campus Ministry. Apparently, the Ministry is putting together a Word Seminar for February 26 and 27. I believe the posters were written by George W. and proofread by Dan Quayle.
Anyway, to quote: "The baptism of the Holy Spirit is one area many Christians have avoided because of a lack of understanding, confusion, misconception and sometimes controvercy (sic). But the Bible has a lot to say about it. The Word Seminar intends to address this subject with an indepth (sic) Biblical view."
So if you help me with my little problem, I'll loan your servants my New American Pocket Dictionary. Admittedly, it's a few years old, but I still think it's a fair trade.
Now, I suppose my problem really deals with Matthew 12:31-32: "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come."
You see, a few years ago, I came across this verse and thought I had stumbled upon a virtually foolproof way to get a little peace of mind from my Mom's and other Christians' constant attempts to re-convert me. I immediately blasphemed you, both orally and in writing, and thought I had therefore made myself immune to any future attempts at "salvation" (or should I say subjugation).
Now, the last time my dearly-beloved Mother mentioned that all atheists repent before they died, and that she would pray for me, I became flushed with excitement: I held the trump card! Or so I thought; after reciting the verse and telling her of my previous blasphemies, my Mom only paused for a moment and then said: "But Jeremy, you can't blaspheme something you don't believe in; so when you try to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, I know that you still, deep down, believe in it."
Now, you can't imagine my frustration. But what could I do? If my Mom was right, and I could only blaspheme you by admitting I believe in you, then that would kind of ruin the whole point. However, I received slightly different guidance from my friends at the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (www.carm.org). They informed me that: "There is no biblical support for a believer committing this sin. It just hasn't happened. Also, if you are worried that you may have committed the sin and can't be forgiven, then don't be concerned. If you are worrying about it, then you haven't committed it. If you are worried about it, then that is a sign that you have not committed it. If you had, you wouldn't be concerned."
I like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent person, but admittedly, I don't exactly understand this passage. But from what I can make out, I'm in a pretty bad position.
If my Mom's right, I can't blaspheme you without confessing that I believe in you; but according to the Research Ministry, if I believe in you, I can't blaspheme you. What gives? I'm saved if I do, saved if I don't!
Like I said, I know you're pretty busy and everything, but if you could help me out with this I would really appreciate it. It's not like I'm asking you to give a coherent explanation of the Trinity or something. Maybe we can stipulate that if I knew how to blaspheme you, I would do so?
I mean, you've got to give me a little bit of credit: I'm doing the very best I can.

With the Utmost Sincerity,

Jeremy Patrick

Behind Closed Doors

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Daily Nebraskan columns)

Behind closed doors

Jeremy Patrick (jhaeman@hotmail.com)
The Daily Nebraskan

February 19, 2001

"The government being the people's business, it necessarily follows that its operations should be at all times open to the public view. Publicity is therefore as essential to honest administration as freedom of speech is to representative government."
--William Jennings Bryan (1915)

Last week, a controversy erupted over a suggestion Timothy McVeigh made in a letter published by the Sunday Oklahoman. McVeigh, observing the problems prison officials were having in finding room for relatives of his victims (more than 250) to view his execution, suggested that "a reasonable solution seems obvious: hold a true public execution." (OWH, 2/11/01)
Predictably, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Dan Dunne said: "It hasn't been considered. It won't happen." (OWH, 2/11/01) Instead, the prison system will set up a closed-circuit television system for the relatives to view McVeigh's execution.
Many newspaper commentators oppose showing McVeigh's execution publicly because they believe it is playing into his vision of himself as a martyr. Of course, it's bad policy to promote general rules based on exceptional instances. The "normal" convicted murderer is certainly not happy about being executed and would probably be adverse to having his death seen by all.
In fact, public executions have gained support from people on both sides of the political spectrum, including liberals such as Jesse Jackson and Nat Hentoff and conservatives such as George Will and James Philip (President of the Illinois Senate). By turning from an unusual instance (McVeigh) to a general policy applied to all convicted murderers, it seems clear that both supporters and opponents of capital punishment should favor public executions.
Supporters of capital punishment are motivated by a variety of factors, but at least publicly they espouse three reasons for their belief that the death penalty is justified: deterrence, "closure" for victims and retribution. The idea that the death penalty deters future murders has never been supported by a shred of evidence (in fact, recent studies show that 10 of the 12 states without it have homicide rates below the national average, even when one controls for demographic differences), but even if it somehow does prevent crime, presumably, deterrence could only take place if people know about it. Public executions would increase public awareness that evil people get what's coming to them and would thereby increase the deterrence effect of capital punishment generally.
A belief in "closure" also should entail a belief in capital punishment. The victims of a crime include far more than one's close relatives; they include friends, coworkers and the public in general (often we hear about how a murder was a crime against an entire community). By this logic, the more people able to view the murderer's execution, the more "closure" will be available.
And for those who believe in some cosmic notion of retribution or justice, public executions will have the exact same effect in ensuring that the offender gets what he or she deserves. For those who believe that capital punishment is unjust, the major objections (e.g., its disproportions, its violation of religious law or its racist and classist application) are not changed by having public executions.
Some concerned citizens, except those who support a deterrence rationale, may be afraid that it will make the public bloodthirsty or that it will harm children emotionally. But death by lethal injection, for example, is tame compared to the gruesome deaths we can all see on cable television or in comic books or, for that matter, on "Faces of Death," available in most rental outlets. Like the public's choice for all other forms of media, those who wouldn't want to watch it wouldn't be forced to.
There is, however, an important benefit to having public executions: increased awareness of exactly what the government is (or is not) doing. There is often much confusion over what happens during executions: Does the convict feel pain? What exactly were his last words? Was the execution team gentle or rough? According to some reports, inmates have burst into fire during electrocution or gone into convulsions after lethal injection; if denied by prison officials, how do we know who is telling the truth? Allowing the media access to executions would solve these problems.
According to Justice Brandeis, "Publicity is justly commanded as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." Government action, especially action that is so potentially fraught with abuse such as capital punishment, needs to be in the public's view. Justice cannot exist in a world of lies or in a world of shadows. When prison officials refuse to even consider the idea of public executions, one wonders what exactly they are afraid of.
As Camus said, "One must kill publicly or confess that one does not feel authorized to kill."