http://vestibule.innocence.com Movies, roleplaying, culture. Thu, 15 May 2008 04:29:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Redbelt wound up being ultimately unsatisfying for me, which was all the more regrettable given that 95% of the movie rocked. Jeffwik noted last night that he'd never seen a Mamet movie which progressed towards an emotional climax in the way Redbelt attempts, and on reflection I think that's exactly ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/05/13/redbelt/ "It was Dungeons & Dragons, but I wouldn't have owned up so quickly a few years ago. But it gave me a really strong background in imagination, storytelling, understanding how to create tone and a sense of balance. You're creating this modular, mythic environment where people can play in it." -- ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/05/09/who-games/ It's 2020: Orlando. Walt Disney World is bigger. Universal Studios has become a true rival to the Mouse. The rulers of Miami are emerging from a brutal civil war; Tallahassee has been disturbingly quiet for over a decade. An old Prince is sleeping; a disbarred lawyer who started his political ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/05/09/sequel/ We played some Esoterrorists over at Jere's last night, and it was awesome. I may have some more analysis-like thoughts later, but I wanted to get down some actual play stuff before it faded from memory. One of my questions going into the game was how smoothly the flow of ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/05/08/esoterrorists-actual-play/ I have been driving Susan nuts by humming the Black Sabbath song incessantly. "I... am... Iron Man!" Which are not the actual lyrics. "Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah!" Does everyone know I put spoilers in my reviews? OK, good. I think it's the best acting we've ever ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/05/05/iron-man/ I'm in love with Massachusetts And the neon when it's cold outside And the highway when it's late at night Got the radio on I'm like the roadrunner http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/04/24/one-two-three-four-five-six/ Quickie review of Forbidden Kingdom: Two of the fight scenes are excellent, and the rest are pretty good. I mean, you're not seeing it for the plot, which is light. You're seeing it because it's the first time Jet Li and Jackie Chan have been in a movie together, and despite the ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/04/22/forbidden-kingdom/ "OK, here's the plan for the rest of the night. We're gonna play the next song, then we're gonna play the fake last song. Then I'm gonna introduce the other guys on the stage, with their Christian name, their nickname, possibly their Zodiac sign, their place of birth, and their ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/04/10/mike-doughty-on-encores/ As per this news. The novel is titled Anathem, and the blurb follows: Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians -- sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable "saecular" world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/03/31/new-stephenson/ Peter Berg is directing a Dune adaptation. Well, that's a thing. I haven't seen any of his movies... no, wait, I saw The Rundown, which was mildly amusing. Possibly thanks to the Walken. Maybe they'll cast Walken as De Vries, and Dwayne Johnson as Duncan Idaho, and Seann William Scott ... http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/03/18/dune-iii/