People long for OTR

At a panel discussion last Friday sponsored by the American Cinema Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and interesting exchange regarding "scheduled" programming versus "on demand" programming took place. Essentially Rob Long and Cathy Seipp discussed different takes on the issue.

Rob Long argued for the advantages of the "on demand" technology offered by cable services and Apple's new video iPod, he also discussed the advantages of DVR technology. In essence, he discussed how great it is to be able to watch what you want when you want to watch it. This line of thinking has lead to DVD collections of old television shows, new television shows, and provides an alternate tracking system to Nielson for ratings. We can know what people want because they buy it, or they ask for it.

Cathy Seipp looked at the issue from a different angle. She argued for the virtues of scheduled programming. These are, according to Cathy, essentially two-fold. First, there is the comfort level of knowing you are going to watch something at 9pm on Tuesday night. This leads to the second virtue, chiefly the communal element. When a show is on at 9pm you can talk about it the next day with all your co-workers or friends as a shared experience. I would add to Cathy's two virtues a third, you can host "communal" events like an OC party or from when I was in college a 90120 party. The show itself can become an event.

What was particularly interesting about the conversation was that while the examples I used were about television shows, and the panel was about public television, the conversation was about both television and radio. Cathy was lamenting the loss of Old Time Radio shows on Los Angeles radio stations and how she liked to listen to them at pre-known times when driving across town. It was also interesting that I agreed with both whole-heartedly. It was great this summer to be able to watch the first two seasons of the OC in rapid succession because we could get the full narrative rather rapidly. But it is also fun to watch the show as planned, I actually feel the tension of episode endings. I have to wait 'til next week, or as it is now until after baseball (this is as it should be).

After discovering that Cathy was an OTR fan, I decided to ask her what kind of OTR she enjoyed and I was surprised and delighted by her answer. I had expected her to be a fellow geek traveller and quickly say she liked Superman, Green Hornet, the Shadow, and The Lone Ranger. She didn't, but the shows she named sounded great and expanded my desire for OTR products. She mentioned Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor. If memory serves, she has in the past mentioned Fred Allen as well. In addition to the links above, where you can purchase OTR files, you can find streaming broadcasts here though the list hasn't been updated recently and contains some out of date schedule info (for example KCSN no longer plays OTR near as I can tell).

Just who are the Cinerati?

Thanks to Cinerati member, David N. Scott for this one.

Naturally this game is obviously based on that machine of machines...MODOK, the Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing.

The Cinerati are obviously the: Constructs Intended for Nocturnal Exploration, Rational Assassination and Thorough Infiltration.

Number One is:

Fritz is:

Rob is:

Underfüt is:

Logan 5 is:

If you want to see who David N. Scott and Burgandy Skies are click here.

Mutants to Return to Minority Status at Marvel

I remember reading, it may be apocryphal, that Stan Lee created the idea of a "mutant origin" in comic books because he was tired of coming up with individual origins for each and every superhero he created. Regardless of the truth of this statement, in the past forty years the Marvel universe has seen a significant population increase in its mutant minority. Whole nations in the marvelverse are populated with them, or at least they were.

According to ICV2, and you already have a sense of this if you have been reading House of M, there will be a 95% reduction in the mutant population in the Marvel universe. To "non-fans" that might seem drastic, it might even seem like something that would upset this "curmudgeony" comic collector. Well it is drastic, but it isn't particularly upsetting.

One of the most compelling elements of early mutant stories was that they paralleled the civil rights struggle. Mutants were a persecuted minority. X-men like Cyclops and Jean Grey were hated for their "freak powers," while Iron Man and Thor were adored for theirs. At first, that might seem absurd. Both sets of individuals have powers (okay Iron Man has technology technically, but you get the point) so why aren't they feared equally? When I was younger it didn't make any sense at all. It wasn't until I really thought about the X-men/Civil Rights parallel that it became clearer. Sure I had always "known" what the undertones of the X-stories were, but I hadn't asked the same "why" about our own society. Why would people be hated just because of the color of their skin, their gender, religion, you name it? That didn't make sense either. So why do people hate the X-men and not Power Pack? Because they do, and they do so without reasons. Are there evil mutants? Sure, but Rhino isn't a mutant and he is powerful and evil so why not hate all superheroes?

This compelling element had been diluted in recent years by the explosion of characters. No longer were mutants a persecuted minority, they had become a persecuted "seeming" majority. The pathos was lost in the commonality, but all that is about to change.

Joe Quesada, the Editor in Chief at Marvel has been adamant that "As long as [he] am EIC [he is] not bringing any of these (characters) back." He also "pointed out that the effects of the 95% reduction in the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe would be reflected through the line -- Wolverine will be the only mutant in The New Avengers."

Addressing the curmudgeon in me Quesada stated, "The idea behind House of M and Decimation is to scale back the number and role of mutants in the current Marvel Universe to something similar to the Silver Age Marvel Universe."

D&D vs. MMORPG

I was flipping though the latest issue of Dragon (#336) when I came across this print ad for Dungeons & Dragons. Although it does not name any particular MMORPG it was an obvious attack on the fantasy based ones in particular. As a table-top player who avoids online gaming (mainly for reasons of cost and time required), I had to laugh at Wizards of the Coast gutsy move to challenge the coolness of online gaming. And I must admit, I can kind of see thier point. Online gaming does not encourage the kind of friendly get togethers that table top gaming does, and actually seems to encourage that loner image that most geeks get stuck with anyways. On the other hand, one would probably point out to WotC that online gaming means you don't have to clean up your place, find a GM, find a place to stash all your geek gear or worry about your friends drinking all your Dr. Pepper (or other tasty caffinated beverage).

So...who will win? Only time will tell. But I must admit I give WotC points for trying to turn the tide.

Ahslee Simpson...

Sings!

NEW YORK -- Ashlee Simpson sang — really, she did — without incident on "Saturday Night Live" in her return to the scene of last year's lip-synch fiasco.

Well, that's cool. Maybe she can be forgiven a bit. I actually like Ashlee Simpson's singing and general appearance and attittude, and the more I see her sister, well, the more I like Ashlee...

The Internet is a funny, funny thing...

For example, you might be an up and coming author who is still trying to find a way to break into writing fiction. And you may strike up an email conversation with a published author who has a website. And he may offer to take a look at a sampling of your work. And he may like something that he sees. And he might publish that piece on his far more popular website.

At least if your our own David N. Scott.

Go check out David's "Day in the Park" over at 8763 Wonderland and enjoy.

For those of you who are regular Pererro readers this story will sound familiar, but it's been edited post-feedback from Mr. Jacobs. So it's cooler now. Read it again.

Brilliant!

Why, oh why, are these not at my local game store?

As it so happens, we were at our local Barnes & Noble with the Boo and I was poking around the Klutz Kiosk when I came across these awesome castle building cards. The best part is that they can be broken down and re-used. And it's only $12.95 for a pack!! Joy!

I think this may be the most exciting DM tool I've come across since I discovered the giant pack of plastic knights at the local Toys R' Us. No glue, no expensive pieces to buy, and it looks like tremendous fun. Go buy a pack. I'll bet you have fun.