Friends, as you know, two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon’s finish line yesterday. Three people, including an 8-year-old child, were killed, and hundreds injured, many severely. My thoughts are with all of the victims of this senseless tragedy and with their loved ones.
View around the Prudential Center
Many businesses were closed because of Patriot’s Day, a local holiday, but Janice and I were at work when the attacks occurred. Although we’re glad that none of our co-workers or acquaintances were among the casualties, we’re still upset by this awful incident. I appreciate the calls and e-mails from those who checked on us last night.
As usual for a Monday night, I had gone at Brian W.’s home in Newton, Mass., not far from the race route. While we were all off our game, it was still good to get together with friends. I hope that the investigators are able to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice.
Incidents such as this remind us that there will always be suffering and that life is precious and fragile. Hold your loved ones close to you, be compassionate with strangers and enemies, and work for a better world.
We typically celebrate new life in spring, but it’s late this year. One downside of reaching middle age is that we recognize obituaries more than new people entering public life. The recent deaths of Muppetco-founderJane Henson, filmcriticRogerEbert, comicbookartistCarmine Infantino are reminders of our mortality and that life is precious. There is always war and suffering in the world, but we tend to focus on individuals.
We shall all return to the earth
After traveling to Chicago a few months ago for the wedding of my cousin’s daughter, Janice and I have dealt with less pleasant family news. Her Uncle Greg, who was always friendly and upbeat, died after a painful illness (at least partly caused by exposure to chemicals during the Vietnam War). We attended his wake and funeral in Pennsylvania, and it was evident from the turnout that he was much beloved by his community.
My cousin Socorro, who had taken me under her wing when I first visited my mother’s side of the family in the Philippines back in the 1970s, died unexpectedly in a fall. She had worked as a nurse in the U.S. and helped move me into college. Socorro returned home after illness, and her kind spirit will also be missed.
Three of my friends are still fighting cancer, and my thoughts are with them and their families. In the meantime, I have college chum David I.S.’s visit and a wedding in Upstate New York to look forward to later this month. No time to waste!
If you like director Quentin Tarantino‘s other movies, you know what to expect: snappy dialogue, some satire, homages to multiple film genres, and over-the-top violence. There has been some controversy over the film’s depiction of slavery and shootouts, but I think it’s good that American audiences are queasy in the face of the “peculiar institution” and gunfights. The “N word” is used to both shock and remind modern audiences of the original sin of the U.S. and its pernicious justifications.
Django‘s story is simple — Dr. King Schultz, an itinerant German dentist and bounty hunter, frees slave Django, who helps him track down and kill wanted criminals in return for help finding his wife Brunhilde, so named by previous owners. It turns out that Brunhilde is being kept at the plantation of Calvin Candie, whose right-hand man Stephen is wary of Schultz and Django’s cover story as slave dealers.
As usual, Tarantino has an excellent cast to work with, including Golden Globe winner Christoph Waltz as Dr. Schultz, Jamie Foxx as Django, and Kerry Washington as Broomhilda. Waltz was also in Tarantino’s similar World War II vengeance fantasy Inglorious Basterds. Calvin Candie is played to slimy perfection by Inception‘s Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson shows how some people internalize oppression as the nasty Stephen.
Django Unchained‘s supporting actors are no less familiar, including almost unrecognizable appearances by Don Johnson, Franco Nero (the original Django), Tom Wopat, Russ and Amber Tamblyn, Bruce Dern, Johah Hill, and Zoe Bell. The director himself makes a cameo.
The cinematography and eclectic soundtrack show Taratino’s many influences, from classic and spaghetti westerns, to 1970s Blaxploitation, to postmodern westerns such as Unforgiven. The bloody battles and slayings have their roots in The Wild Bunch, and the scary hillbillies could have been in Deliverance or Pulp Fiction. Scenes mocking a lynch mob reminded me of Blazing Saddles and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (incidentally, two of my favorite movies).
Overall, I’d give Django Unchained, which is rated R for graphic violence, a B+, eight out of 10 stars, or three and a half out of five stars. It’s not for everyone, but those who like Tarantino’s oeuvre will find the movie satisfying. It did make me want to dust off RPGs Boot Hill or Sidewinder.
I hope that you and your family had a very happy holiday season, and I wish everyone a healthy, peaceful, prosperous, and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
2012 was a difficult year for many people, with a lingering economic recession, armed conflicts abroad, and political polarization and uncertainty in the U.S., as well as devastating weather and mass murders. Janice and I each have an uncle who is very ill, and no fewer than three of our friends in their 40s are fighting cancer. Let us hope that 2013 is better!
My job as an editor at a journalism company near Boston is OK. I’m still splitting my time between managing a Web site and editing technology-related content for custom online publishing. Janice has gotten settled in after Oracle bought her start-up employer last spring.
As you may recall, I got a new Honda Fit hatchback late in 2011, and this past spring, Janice and I moved from Needham, Mass., where we had lived for about eight years, on relatively short notice. We ended up moving to Waltham, Mass., about 15 miles northwest of Boston. It took us a while to find our bearings and get unpacked — our new apartment is a bit smaller — but our commutes are still mercifully short. There are lots of good restaurants in a variety of cuisines nearby.
While Janice and I didn’t get to go on any big trips this past year, we did get down to metropolitan New York for informal reunions of some of my friends from high schooland college. It was great to reconnect with former roommate Frank D.!
In addition, we spent a weekend at a nice bed and breakfast in Bennington, Vermont. I hope to catch up with friends in the Washington D.C. area in the coming year. Byron V.O., Ben P.S., and other friends also plan to visit New England.
We spent Thanksgiving with Janice’s family in Upstate New York and Christmas with mine in Virginia. It was nice to see my nieces and nephews, even if the drives were long. Janice plans to visit her extended family down in Pennsylvania in the coming month.
While I’ll no doubt be busy with work and the usual games in the coming weeks, I hope to post roundups of the past year in genre entertainment and things to look forward to. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to discuss!
On Friday, 9 November 2012, Janice and I took Amtrak from the Route 128 station near Boston to New York’s Penn Station to visit ailing Steve A.L. in Brooklyn. While I wish that our trip was under better circumstances, we still had a good time catching up with friends from college, as well as some from high school and grad school. On the train, I enjoyed the manga adaptation of Gail Carriger’s supernatural steampunkSoulless.
We checked into the Hotel Indigo, where our room was small but the staff was responsive. Janice and I then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and back to Steve’s place, where we met him, his wife Michele, and their athletic son Nate. We ordered dinner from Gandhi Palace and picked up dessert at Lassen & Hennings.
On Saturday, Janice and I grabbed bagels for breakfast before meeting Steve at the Brooklyn Museum. Damon F.P. and Carlo R. came down from Westchester to join us, and Dexter V.H. stopped by from Queens on the way to visit his father. Janice had never been to that museum before, and Steve took us through its impressive collections of ancient Egyptian and early American art.
In addition to grabbing a late lunch at the museum’s renovated cafeteria, we chatted about history, current genre television, relationships, and religion. It’s always nice to be able to have such wide-ranging conversations.
Janice and I later rejoined Steve at his place, where we met Corbin A.Y., Dave F.R-B., and John Z.G. & Kim A.G. and their teenage son Mark. Steve & Michele were gracious hosts, supplying us with lots of munchies and beverages and ordering proper New York pizzas from Monty Q’s.
John then ran an AD&D2 “Gwynedd in Greyhawk” game. We slipped back into character easily, even though that high fantasy campaign originally ran from 1984 to 1995, and we hadn’t role-played that particular group of characters in more than 20 years.
The college gang, back in spring of 1987
Janice, Michele, and Nate didn’t participate, but Andy M., another SUNY-Binghamton alumnus now living in Chicago, joined us via Skype (which I use for my regular Sunday night scenarios). Corbin had tracked him down online, and it was great to reconnect after many years. It was also nice to play alongside Mark, who has inherited his parents’ love of games.
“Bellevue-Camelot” reunion, 1986 to 2012
I may eventually write up my notes of what happened within the session, but our jokes and camaraderie were more important than any old rules set or storylines. That said, our adventuring party reunited to raid the tower of a necromancer who had cursed the son of Steve’s Halfling Thief “Branador.”
Of all the Dungeon Masters I’ve been lucky enough to know, my former roommate John is the best at depicting memorable Non-Player Characters, gory battles, and an environment for creative teamwork.
Despite rolling lots of criticalfumbles — 1 on 1d20, made worse because I had brought extra dice — we managed to fight our way through various Undead. My Grey Elf Ranger “Aldarion” had some good scouting scenes and was among those to get clobbered in combat. Our group (now about Level 15) had to bargain with extraplanar entities to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Good times!
On Sunday, Janice and I met the gang again. While waiting, I got to see Nate’s blazing pitching ability. While he needs to hone his skills, his strength is undeniable. We went to the Park Plaza Diner for brunch. Although Dave left his wife and son back in Buffalo, N.Y., Corb brought his wife Andria and cheerful daughter Maia.
Steve then took us to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where we saw a small bit of the damage left by Hurricane Sandy. The others left, and Steve, Janice, and I stopped by St. Mark’s Comics and later met Carlo, Brian D.H., and Erik B.L. and his precocious daughter Emma at the Park Plaza Diner for dinner. (All of the children of our friends resemble their parents in the best ways.) As always, our discussions were illuminating, if too brief.
Friends and family in Brooklyn, November 2012
We returned to Steve & Michele’s place to watch Disney/Marvel’s The Avengers, which Janice and others hadn’t yet seen. The next morning, Janice and I again grabbed breakfast at Montague Street Bagels before heading to Penn Station and back to Massachusetts.
It was great to catch up with old friends, and I hope that we won’t have to wait another 20 years for another fun reunion!
Gene's Worlds 