Wednesday, March 05, 2008

News of the Day -- Wednesday, March 5

+ Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg might launch a social networking site for paranormal/UFO buffs. Sign me up!

+ Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away yesterday. I never played D&D, but I did like that TV movie years ago starring Tom Hanks as a college kid who went crazy from playing it too much. And I liked the dice, too.

+ Entertainment Weekly has a new reader's list out on the 30 most dateable TV characters. While I applaud some choices -- like Liz Lemon from "30 Rock," Ned from "Pushing Daisies" and Josh, Jed and Sam from "The West Wing," I have to question some of the others. "24"'s Jack Bauer would just shout at you while carrying his man purse. "Lost"'s Jack would spend the whole date checking his cell phone to see if Kate had called. And "CSI"'s Gil Grissom? Well, that robot man just plain creeps me out.

+ For anime fans, "Appleseed Ex Machina" comes out on DVD on March 11. It's the sequel to 2003's "Appleseed," which I thought was a movie based on that pioneer guy who went around planting trees, but apparently, it's based on the best-selling manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow and produced by John Woo. Here's a preview:



+ And finally, this may be the most messed up and funny thing I've seen in ages. Did I mention it's messed up? Yes, it's wigs for cats. I don't know why. Honest to God, I don't know why, but there it is.


My cat's going to have the best birthday EVER!

7 comments:

Kimberly @ kimberussell.com said...

I never played D&D either, but most of the guys I've been involved with have.

Last night, my boyfriend confessed to being one of those guys who actually visited Gygax's house. I think that's pretty neat, but a dark secret I think I should have known before we moved in together. ;)

Liz said...

It looks like a fun game, but I was just never able to figure it out.

That's funny about your boyfriend. I wonder how many people made pilgrimages like that?

Oh, that girl again... said...

I sent the cat wigs link to some friends - many of whom agreed, that yes, they're wrong on many levels, yet still wanted to own a set for their own cats, however, one friend thought they were akin to the Empire beating the rebel alliance for control of the galaxy.

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised you couldn't figure it out. The books have like 300 pages and the game is much beloved of rules lawyers.

Kimberly @ kimberussell.com said...

The cat wig thing has pestered me for days...where have I seen them before?

Any of you familiar with TBN's Jan Crouch of televangelist fame?

http://tinyurl.com/38obre

(link goes to Google Image search)

Liz said...

Oh my God, ladygypsy, it's her!! That's hilarious. I wonder if it was the wig maker's homage or just a happy coincidence. That's fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing that!

Trey said...

D&D came out of the wargaming world, and has always had issues with it being too rules-heavy.

The fourth edition of D&D comes out this year, and they put a lot of effort into making the rules easier to understand and flow better. The team over at Wizards of the Coast seems to have taken a lot of lessons from MMOs and incorporated it into the new game, which is great.

It's not the only RPG system out there, however, and there are several that have more streamlined rules and are story-oriented - that might be more to your taste.