Take The High Road... morally, I guess?

Happy St. Andrew’s Day! The first of three roughly monthly Scottishness-based holidays we insist on having in the dead of winter.

Do something Scottish in a game maybe?

Willow

Willow, the one-off trad fantasy movie from George Lucas and Ron Howard, returns tomorrow as a Disney+ series, with Warwick Davis back in the title role. From the trailers it looks fun.

Edit: first episode establishes some stuff right away, has some nice D&D movie style touches, and goes with a small supervillain team instead of a horde of monsters for the opening attack.

Ending edit: Every episode (including the making of) had at least one WTF decision. Why so much denim? Why do two different “everybody acts out of character” bits, one during a bit where one character is already acting out of character? Why did they go with Skip from Angel as a model for the troll leader? Why is one of the Four Horseman types called the Dag?

Last Dance 1.02

Vampire: The Masquerade

Last Dance

1.02: Needs

Preston might have to help around the Met Gala...

Last Dance 1.02 preparation

Vampire: The Masquerade

Last Dance

“When people think of vampires, they think of us. Beautiful monsters terrible in our passion. And when vampires think of our clan they think of me. Devoted to my art, they think to the exclusion of everything else. Let them think that. Let them envy us. And let them overlook those of our blood who do not so closely match their preconceptions. The ones with no art to show and no pretty faces to dismiss.”

“My sire claimed that he Embraced six childer, and that I was the fourth. The first died quickly of his recklessness, The second threw herself into the rising sun after the night he turned her. The third went west, and after a handful of telegrams was never heard of again. I was selected to immortalise my voice, and my face, but chosen because of my ambition, to come as far as I had in that era. The fifth remains a dear friend. The sixth...”

“I was fortunate to live and die in a time when a kind of immortality was not available with the press of a shutter. I was one of the most celebrated sopranos of my time, but there are only a handful of recordings of my voice and photographs of my face from my lifetime, and I was able to be pronounced dead a few years later and fade into the dark without people recognising me on the street. Now it is quite easy to become too famous to disappear. The artists who die young tend to do so in the public eye, and we cannot save them. Victims of their own success twice over. Remembered forever but unable to see it.”

Elizabeth Lamont, elder of Clan Toreador

Marion Cotillard looking more vampiric than usual

Tutankhamun

On this day in 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Egyptology became a craze in the 20s and into the 30s, and mummies and curses became a horror staple.

We had a book from the 1972 touring exhibition in the house when I was growing up - I was born a couple years later - so the image of the golden mask has always been around for me.

NY By Night season two wraps

Jason Carl visits Club Auspex with host Ash Minnick to discuss Vampire: The Masquerade - New York By Night seasons one and two, Camarilla versus Anarch games, his Storytelling style, and running games for streaming.

The Traitors - BBC One does Werewolf

The Traitors (trailer) starts on Tuesday. Of course to fill sixteen episodes with mostly the same players there are more side games like a spookier The Crystal Maze or less spooky Release The Hounds and a reality show element where we get to know the contestants, but yeah, basically Mafia / Werewolf.

Glass Onion

Glass Onion (subtitled A Knives Out Mystery in the promotional material) brings back Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, and his accent, for another Christie-ish mystery, this time on a Greek island owned by a billionaire tech bro who invited his friends to a murder mystery weekend.

It’s more a comedy mystery than a mystery that is also funny, and gets to Blanc early as more of a viewpoint character this time, after introducing the suspects through the invitation, a game box which you can play virtually on the official site.

And speaking of games, the cast spent evenings during the shoot playing Mafia / Werewolf among other things. And in-character references to Clue and an appearance by Among Us. Someone needs to introduce Blanc to less kiddie mystery board games too.

Setting it in 2020 brings some downer reminders that don’t add much, but this is a quibble. I laughed quite a bit, not least at the recurring gags about automation with a security measure repeatedly going off in the background like the swearing fine in Demolition Man. The location, as well as the cast, definitely leans more absurd this time.

In cinemas for a week, starting yesterday, before going to funders Netflix in time for Christmas. Some small details may well be missed as a result.

Happy Thanksgiving, US friends!

Star Wars: Andor 1.12: Rix Road

Star Wars: Andor

1.12: Rix Road

“Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks.”

As a northern industrial town planet, of course Ferrix has a brass band.

Credits scene. Oh, har har.

Tokyo Vice

From director Michael Mann, who knows a thing or two about Location Vice, the miniseries Tokyo Vice about a local cop and an American reporter at the front line of a Yakuza war is... well, pretty slow.

Another big sport thing

The World Cup (for football, it being the one that can get away without saying that) is happening, controversially for various reasons.

There'll be bluebirds over...

Twitter archive downloaded, and out for the duration of this regime and/or the site.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Last Dance 1.01

Vampire: The Masquerade

Last Dance

1.01: Nightclubbing

Malice, a Ministry hacker, thief, bassist and DJ

Mo, a Caitiff brought to them for shelter, a drummer

Preston, a Toreador lead guitarist, perhaps not the most unwanted of his lineage but close

Vincent, a Malkavian singer, with connections to the Daughters of Cacophony?

Mo followed the stranger to a club called the Electric Room, where he called in an old marker with Vincent and left unseen.

Shazam!

I missed Shazam! in cinemas, and I’ve only read a couple of DC event comics the character appears in. I appreciate it as the logical second step in superhero wish-fulfilment, and know it’s pretty light in tone. Anyway, here’s the film on TV...

The Shazam reference in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man is the one word. The Spider-Man: Homecoming reference in Shazam! is the end credits. Not subtle.

(And like that, this shows a world where superheroes are a known thing kids can be fans of, as they are in our world.)

I liked the Big reference too.

And I loved the meta bit about his superhero name. (His longest-running one being Captain Marvel, which Marvel used and one can see why DC stopped fighting there, after a few decades.)

Shazam himself really needed to work on his Chosen One letdown procedure.

How many DC villains can John Glover be the father of? (Why not all?)

Do a good deed

I have given some money to Children In Need and can therefore watch the show with a clear conscience.

Character Creation Challenge 2023 announcement

January 2023: Character Creation Challenge

After the success of the 2021 and 2022 challenges, the Character Creation Challenge returns for a third year!

And... hmm. Having managed a different system every day in 2021 that ate through a lot of systems I know, and the 2022 groups covered a lot of the games I know really well. What to do...

Winky The Owl

An owl named Winky is breaking into and trashing fancy houses in British Columbia.

The hero we need.

Leverage: Redemption season two

Leverage: Redemption season two is back on Amazon Freevee and here the same time as the US, with the first three episodes on day one and another episode weekly, like a TV show or something.

2.01: The Debutante Job takes a well deserved sideswipe at Britain hosting Russian oligarchs. It also has a hilariously unconvincing New Orleans as London moment, but never mind.

2:02: The One Man’s Trash Job introduces several extra problems in fun ways. It also addresses how the Crew can’t solve all the world’s rich and powerful asshole problems.

2.03: The Tournament Job is about an evil E-sports guy.

Star Wars: Andor 1.11: Daughter Of Ferrix

Star Wars: Andor

1.11: Daughter Of Ferrix

You made B2-EMO be too emo!

The Mummerset alien fishermen were a bit Star Wars for this Star Wars.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Retaliation

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Retaliation from the makers of Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters and probably needing the miniatures more than it does because while still investigative and narrative it’s naturally designed to be more violent. Now on Kickstarter and already funded twice over.

Zola Jesus - Alive In Cappadocia

Zola Jesus performs Desire and Into The Wild from Arkhon, as well as Skin and Siphon, in Cappadocia where she filmed the video for Lost, on piano. The snow, log fire and candles make it sort of festive, while the songs do not.

Mastodon

I am on Mastodon having remembered my password from last time Twitter looked like vanishing. This may change to dice.camp later. I am not sure how any of this works.

Rats Have Rhythm

Rats have a sense f rhythm, something mostly restricted to humans, and not even some humans I know.

Welcome back Erich!

Off to try this again

Wish me luck.

Zen - Grogu And Dust Bunnies

Baby Yoda gets his own hand-drawn Studio Guibli short. So short it will take me about as much time to type this post as to watch it, but never mind. As the title implies, it is the least warlike Star Wars thing in quite some time.

Kevin Conroy

Kevin Conroy on being recognised as the voice of Batman in September 2001.

A reup for The Heart of Batman.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever starts by playing T’Challa’s death offscreen, of an illness like Chadwick Boseman’s death, which hangs over this consequently largely serious film. This made me tear up early on, and had me engaging with the core emotional story much more than the other elements. (The big threat being Namor didn’t help. They did him well, but.)

The Rewatcher, a new Buffy podcast

The Rewatcher, a new Buffy podcast by two true crime people, one a big fan and one a first timer. Well times to launch after Buffering concludes. And with a theme by Nerf Herder!

Thanks to Jamie (TWH-er Andy) for the heads up!

A moment of silence.

John Wick Chapter 4 trailer

John Wick Chapter 4 Trailer Has Keanu Reeves Fighting Donnie Yen as Empire does not bury the lede in its headline.

But which Vampire clan will he also be fighting?

Trinity at 25

Ian A. A. Watson notes:

Æon, and the overall setting we now call the Trinity Continuum, was released in hardcover format 25 years ago today.

It's been an honour to do my part to shepherd its latest edition.

Here's to 25 more.

Star Wars: Andor 1.10: One Way Out

Star Wars: Andor

1.10: One Way Out

Ahh.

Twitter

I will miss bits of Twitter. Morgue explains why better than I could.

Halloween Horror Nights recap

Halloweenies at Bloody Disgusting look at Universal Halloween Horror Nights and talk to some of the creators.

I know I got a bit deep into some haunted house walkthroughs I didn’t get to go to because they were in another country, but hey, when an entertainment company hands you a dozen horror one-shot plots you take them.

The English, a Western

The English premieres 9 p.m. Thursday on BBC Two, and Friday on Amazon Prime elsewhere. A six-part Western starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer. Clip and talk at The A.V. Club.

Indiana Jones And The Streaming Series

When Disney bought Lucadfilm, they got Indiana Jones as well as Star Wars. Indy 5 is on the way, but now they’re looking for pitches for a Disney+ series. But what about? Recasting Indy live-action is a non-starter, unless of course they make him really young, and while there are other characters who could carry a show, personally if I wanted Indy himself front and centre - and for the first show I would - I would try a cartoon...

Dracula Daily done

The Dracula Daily email newsletter concludes with the epilogue, barring an FAQ next week. It’s gotten lots of people who know the story through adaptations to read the book, and its heroes have definitely had their profiles raised - I suspect more people cared about Jonathan than have for a long time.

Dawn's in trouble. Must be 21 years.

Time for the more-than-annual play of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer legend Once More With Feeling.

Boom boom boom boom

Bonfire Night is always loud. Put it on Saturday and it gets so much worse.

The Watch House premiere at 19

Today marks the 19th anniversary of my first Actual Play report for our Buffy game The Watch House. I wish I could have arranged to record and podcast it so I could hear friends again, but the polished script format was probably for the best so you don’t have to listen to 19-year-old “um”s and “er”s.

Reminder for next year to do something on October 19th, the actual game anniversary.

Ash put Evil Eye up properly on YouTube.

To celebrate, I might ask somebody who’s good at painting miniatures to tackle my Buffy Unmatched figures as I finally managed to import a copy.

The Sandman season two

Good news that should be totally unsurprising but one never knows with the streamer, or any of them nowadays.

TROLL

An unexpected early Christmas present from Netflix: a movie about a giant troll riffing on the 1998 Godzilla among others.

Channel 4 at 40

Happy 10 times itself anniversary to Channel 4, home of Film4, S P A C E D, Max Headroom, The Crystal Maze...

Star Wars: Andor 1.09: Nobody’s Listening!

Star Wars: Andor

1.09: Nobody’s Listening!

Well, that was... not fun.

7TV Dracula

This Dracula miniature has the moustache!

With a nod from Dacre Stoker, who is also involved in an RPG on the way.

Emerson

Emerson is something I just heard about via Bloody Disgusting and didn’t get to for October. A found footage style horror story... playing out in real time on Instagram and TikTok.