Avast, mateys! As some co-workers and fellow Yahoo blogger Steve M.R. have observed, today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day," hence the photo above (from my Halloween party in 2002).

Speaking of silliness, on Friday, 14 September 2007, I enjoyed the latest season finale of USA's Psych, which featured Kevin Sorbo as guest star. In addition to the sleuth comedy, it was fun to see Sorbo the next day in a SciFi Channel rebroadcast of Kull the Conqueror, closer to his roots in Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. Yes, the fantasy shows of the 1990s were campy, but they also had heart and started out with decent writing, acting, and special effects.

In preparation for this coming weekend's premiere of the final episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbender, I watched the extras on the animated series' Season 2 DVDs. The use of Chinese mythology, real-world martial arts styles, and strong voice acting and plotting have made this the one of the best shows on television, period: http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=18897

David I.S., Janice, and I disagree with some of the British magazines and fans who've found Series 3 of Doctor Who to be inferior to its predecessors. The recent "weeping angels" episode was excellent and continued demonstrating Doctor Who's themes of the paradoxes of time travel, creepy foes, and common folk rising to extraordinary challenges. We'll see if conspiratorial spin-off Torchwood can leave the shadow of its long-running parent show.

On Saturday, I watched the Highlander: the Source TV movie. I've been a fan of that modern fantasy franchise since the original movie ("There can be only one!") and the strong television series. Unfortunately, The Source more closely resembles the end of the series and the later movies in quality.

While it was nice to see Adrian Paul return to the role of the immortal "Duncan MacLeod" and other characters such as "Methos" and "Joe Dawson," there was no explanatory introduction to this chapter, Queen's classic rock music was used very little, and the overall story was a downer, even if the ending was hopeful. I wonder if the production in Eastern Europe ran out of money, hence the lack of character-development scenes and an aborted cinematic release. I'd give this only a 5 out of 10.

We'll have an embarrassment of riches with new genre TV in the next few weeks with the return of Legion of Superheroes and The Batman this coming weekend, as well as Heroes and Smallville. More water-cooler conversation fodder! I'll cautiously give the "re-imagined" Bionic Woman a try, and I look forward to the cast shakeup on Stargate: Atlantis.

The Boston-area role-playing group is also settling down after some seasonal turnover. We miss Paul J./"Rache," Bri/"Rhiannen," Alex J./"Karril," Serena, Byron V.O./"Kemosh," and James B./"Ib," but new members Ben R./"Slink" and John C.M./"Nebi" have gotten along fairly well with the rest of the "Broken Chains:" Beruk A./"Kunal," Greg D.C./"Killian," and Brian W./"Mumtaz."

In that D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" Arabian fantasy campaign, the current Tuesday night party has fought devils in the Halmed Desert and arrived at the city of Falit, where allies and enemies await… http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DnD3VanishedLands/

The now-Thursday night "Holy Steel" teleconferencing team of Byron/"Ibrahim" and Dexter V.H./"Faelonia" is still working to overcome technical difficulties. Byron's Paladin and Dex's Drow Ranger have set out from the seaport of Sileran and are headed south, toward Falit. But first, the higher-level adventurers must cross the contested Bay of Ethalgo…

In other gaming news, I've continued participating in City of Heroes, although I fear that I'll fall further behind David I.S., Shari S., Kim A.G., Steve M.R., and Thomas K.Y.'s online characters, since they play more often than just Sunday mornings.

On Sunday, Sept.16, Janice and I took advantage of the cool, clear weather and went to the King Richard's Faire in Carver, Mass. The Renaissance festival was as entertaining as ever, even if prices for admission and food have increased. Performers and attendees walking around in (sort of) period garb, merchants of impressive blades (Starfire Swords and Angel Sword), and of course, fair food made for a pleasant afternoon.

The Emmys that evening were a relief after the mess that was the MTV Video Music Awards the previous weekend. While my favorites (Heroes) didn't win, the number of good actors in most categories and the more polished production numbers were easier to watch. However, fewer viewers tuned in than in past years.

On Monday night, we attended a Needham Adult Education class: "Cooking With Dave at Sweet Basil." It has been some time since Janice and I took such a class, which we used to enjoy when we were members of the Smithsonian Associates back in Virginia.

Chef Dave was friendly and informal in his small restaurant, preparing a hearty mushroom hot and sour soup, a fresh salad of field greens with roasted chicken and maple curry vinaigrette, and braised beef with stewed tomatoes, Gorgonzola cheese, and roasted potatoes. The demonstration and presentation were wonderful, and I particularly liked the stew-like soup. Most of the ingredients were locally produced. The dinner was a bit rich (lots of extra virgin olive oil), but I would definitely recommend Sweet Basil for an occasional treat.

In fact, as I've noted in previous blog entries about The Phantom Gourmet and various shows on the Food Network, the Boston area and Needham have become more "foodie"-friendly in the years we've lived here, with a variety of cuisines well represented. My only complaint is a lack of diners and delicatessens as old working-class neighborhoods gentrify with "McMansions."

This coming weekend, Dexter and Byron plan to visit from New York and St. Louis, respectively. Janice will be in Maine, so I'll have a weekend with "da boys." I'm using some vacation leave on Friday and Monday. Dex hopes to run a D20 Star Wars: Saga Edition one-shot on Saturday night. I'm not sure that turnout for the weekend game will be strong or that we'll get to proper sightseeing, but we should have time to hang out and catch up. Next weekend, former co-worker and fellow genre fan Jacqui M.D. will be in town from Des Moines, Iowa.

As always, too much to do and never enough time and money! Arrgh, shiver me timbers…

On Friday, 9 September 2007, Janice and I watched the satisfying series finale of Disney's Kim Possible. The light-hearted cartoon about the titular teenaged heroine and her sidekick/boyfriend Ron Stoppable (and his naked mole rat Rufus) was part of a recent wave of science fiction-tinged animation that included Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron.

After enjoying the latest episode of Series 3 of Doctor Who, we checked out spin-off Torchwood on BBC America. Involving less time travel than its parent show, Torchwood's protagonist is "Capt. Jack Harkness," a bisexual adventurer working to stop alien incursions and reverse-engineer their technology.

More adult and slightly darker in tone than Doctor Who, the premiere of Torchwood reminded us of The X-Files or a more serious Special Unit 2. We'll see if Torchwood can develop suspenseful stories and sympathetic characters while trying to get out of the shadow of Doctor Who's reputation as a children's program(me). David Tennant's appearance on Graham Norton's ribald talk show may not have been child-friendly, but it was funny.

While Janice was volunteering at an Animal Rescue League event in Natick, Massachusetts, I continued to catch up on reading, finally filing a few months' worth of comic books. Thomas had again hoped to meet, but I ended up having an early dinner with Janice at "Firefly's Barbeque."

I particularly liked recent issues of the all-female team in DC Comics' Birds of Prey, IDW's Star Trek: Year Four, Marvel's revived Thor, and Dark Horse's Buffy: the Vampire Slayer–Season 8. We liked Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 a bit more than Mice Templar, but both are good anthropomorphic fantasies in the style of Redwall.

It's interesting to note that two of the titles mentioned above are faithful continuations of existing franchises: "Star Trek" and "Buffy." While the "big two" publishers drag on with retconning crossovers — DC's weekly Countdown and Marvel's post-"Civil War" Skrull storyline, among others — some of the best art and writing can be found among smaller studios, even for fans of costumed superheroes.

On Sunday, after playing City of Heroes, I continued filing comic books (photographs and miniatures are next on my to-do list), we also watched the Season 2 finale of Alton Brown's foodie travelogue Feasting on Asphalt. Along with improvisational comedy Thank God You're Here, we've seen a few good shows in the odd period between cable's summer and broadcast television's autumn seasons.

The MTV Video Music Awards, which Janice attended back in the late 1980s, were lackluster this year, starting with Britney Spears' ill-advised comeback performance and Sarah Silverman's weak opening monologue. The decentralized performances, insipid category names, seizure-inducing lineup screens, and lip-synching only reminded me that I'm no longer the teenaged target audience for that television channel.

Hip-hop and pop music dominated, with the only representatives of rock and roll partying with the Foo Fighters, and Tommy Lee and Kid Rock brawling during part of the talented Alicia Keys' act. I do agree with Justin Timberlake's comment that MTV should play more videos rather than reality shows.

Of the nominees, I liked Amy Winehouse's soulful and unfortunately too-personal "Rehab," U2 and Green Day's protest of New Orleans' post-Katrina treatment in "The Saints Are Coming," Carrie Underwood as a woman scorned in "Before He Cheats," and Peter, Bjorn, and John's hypnotically catchy "Young Folks."

Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Beyonce/Shakira's "Beautiful Liar" did deserve their awards, as did Black-Eyed Peas alumna Fergie. Chris Brown danced up a storm in the most genuinely entertaining performance of the night, paying tribute to Michael Jackson (who, outside of his scandalous personal life, was an influential musician 25 years ago). What music are you listening to?

My role-playing group (see image above) is now in the midst of its usual seasonal turnover. In the past few weeks, Paul J./"Rache," his girlfriend Bri/"Rhiannen," Alex J./"Karril," and Alex's girlfriend Serena have returned to college at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a bit too far to commute to the regular Tuesday night game in Needham Heights, Mass. Some heated disagreements marred the end of summer for them, but in hindsight, impetuous characters and impatient players may have been a temporary problem.

In addition, Byron V.O./"Kemosh" is scaling back his involvement with the D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: the Broken Chains" party to concentrate on the "Holy Steel" team, which now meets virtually on Thursday nights. We had been troubleshooting with Skype and the Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop software on Wednesdays, but that proved to be too many consecutive nights of gaming for everyone.

Byron was teleconferencing in from St. Louis, but he has decided that his Egyptian Paladin "Ibrahim" have an easier time interacting with me and Brooklyn, New York-based Dexter V.H.'s Drow Ranger "Faelonia" rather than have a smaller supporting role in "1,001 Arabian Nights"-style adventures of "the Broken Chains."

The unforeseen departure of James B./"Ib" from "the Broken Chains" and the fact that I had to cancel my involvement with the Thursday night "City of Heroes" online gaming group to accommodate "Holy Steel" has also affected the various games. I've continued to play "CoH" on Sunday mornings, but I miss David I.S.'s sense of exploration. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dimensionalcorpsonline/

The Tuesday fantasy group was down to Beruk A./"Kunal," Greg D.C./"Killian," and Brian W./"Mumtaz." I've recruited Ben R./"Slink" and John M./"Nebi," both of who seem promising. Since my freshman year at the State University of New York at Binghamton (1986), I've tended to run for groups of as many as 12 to 20 people, but many gamers prefer smaller ones with only four or so members. We'll see if we can find a happy medium.

The "Broken Chains" have been dealing with a cursed magical ring (sound familiar?) while traveling through the Halmed Desert, while "Holy Steel" regroups at the port of Sileran on its way to the distant empire of Khemet (New Kingdom Egypt). Other higher-level Player Characters still hope to seize the Bracers of Air Control from the Temple of Elemental Evil and fight Undead pirates, but that's a story for another time… http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DnD3VanishedLands/

We've also been discussing "Dungeons & Dragons" Fourth Edition, due out next summer. At least Wizards of the Coast is providing numerous previews of the revised rules. In a few weeks, I look forward to Byron and Dexter's visit to the Boston area and Dex's D20 "Star Wars: Saga Edition" one-shot!

Next time: MTV Music Video Awards, genre television, and comic books…

On Friday, 24 August 2007, Janice and I took the day off from work and drove to Upstate New York. We visited her parents near Saratoga Springs for a pot pie dinner before returning to our hotel. On Saturday, the four of us had a barbeque (sloppy joe) lunch and carpooled to Utica, where we attended the wedding of niece Jessica W. to Jason J. Jesse is the stepdaughter of Janice's middle sister Michelle, who was there with her family: husband Melvin W. and children Becky, Laura, and David, as well as grandson Daetyn (see photo above).

The drive through the countryside was scenic and uneventful, but violent thunderstorms knocked out power in the converted barn where the ceremony was to be held. High winds also forced the reception from a pavilion tent into the barn. Fortunately, with a sense of humor, a patient minister and guests, and some generators to keep the food warm, the wedding and reception went smoothly.

The food was good (you can't go wrong with pasta), although I'm not a big fan of country music, which Janice's youngest sister Melinda and her husband Gary T.L. also contended with at another wedding. We had to leave early because Janice's parents had to go to work early the next morning.

On Sunday, Janice and I visited Melinda and Gary and their children Amanda and Joshua. Everyone in Janice's family loves animals, and I enjoyed seeing various dogs, birds, fish, and a cat over the course of the weekend. While Janice, Melinda, and Amanda walked to the hospital where Janice's mother's is an emergency room nurse, Gary, Josh, and I talked about superheroes and played various Xbox videogames. It's a pity we don't live closer.

Shelly's family visited the Boston area this past summer, and Gary & Melinda hope to travel down to Washington D.C. with us next year. In addition, Janice's parents Marvin and Linda are beginning to plan for a trip to Hawaii next May! We hope to join them.

Speaking of travel, while my parents are in Belgium, France, and Switzerland this month, Janice and I won't be attending a technical communications conference in Seattle. Aside from our Manhattan holiday and my mounting dental bills (plus next year's Hawaii trip) affecting finances, getting a block of vacation time from work on short notice would be problematic. As it now turns out, I have some extra leave days that I had allocated for Seattle that I need to use before year's end, since they won't roll over!

This past weekend, Janice and I stuck around the house. On Friday, Aug. 31, we had dinner at the "Fuji" Japanese steakhouse. On Saturday, in addition to "Ninja Warrior" and "Feasting on Asphalt," we watched the DVD of the computer-animated "Monster House," which was pretty good. Although the horror/comedy wasn't as visually stunning as some of the works of Aardman/Dreamworks or Disney/Pixar, at least it didn't involve singing animals or satire of beloved fairytales. I also caught up on reading and sleep.

We also stopped by New England Comics and Papa Gino's in Norwood, Massachusetts, as well as at a Halloween store. While I get annoyed when Christmas decorations go up after Halloween, the latter is my favorite holiday, partly because of the lack of social obligations and the freedom to wear costumes and scare people! I picked up a few decorations, and Janice and I got some fantasy art prints framed.

On Sunday morning, Janice did her usual volunteering at a local animal shelter, and I played "City of Heroes." We went for some short walks and straightened up around our duplex. On Labor Day itself, we finally refiled approximately 500 DVDs that had been in binders whose pages are not removable and thus made alphabetizing our collection difficult. Even our boxed sets are now out of their cases and in binders, saving precious shelf space.

I was mildly annoyed to realize that several discs are out on loan, and I vowed to again be vigilant. Thomas K.Y. had hoped to meet for a meal and a movie, but we both ended up being too busy this past week. Janice and I grabbed dinner at Bertucci's, which is reliable in being open on holidays such as Independence Day or Labor Day, as well as within walking distance from our duplex.

I also talked briefly to some of the New England role-players (more on that in other postings) and to "Westchester crew" members Damon F.P. (Happy Birthday!) and Ron J.K. I haven't yet heard from David I.S., who relocated from Ithaca to Rochester, N.Y., but Robert A.S. in North Carolina and Byron V.O. in St. Louis, Mo., did touch base.

Work has been busy, but recent editorial meetings at CW have been productive. The ongoing shift in emphasis from print to online is challenging the publishing and journalism industries, and I hope that my peers and I will be able to adapt to changing technologies, workflow expectations, and skill requirements. Most of my colleagues are very busy, uncertain about job security, and willing to learn.

I've posted new animated avatars on my MySpace.com page (myspace.com/gened5) and have joined several "Web 2.0" social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Meetup.com, Facebook, LiveJournal, and GoodReads, often to read friends' blogs. In upcoming postings, I'll write more about the new genre television season, gaming, and comic books, as well as about anything you request!

The recent resignations of presidential advisor Karl Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, which President George W. Bush blamed on partisanship on Capitol Hill, have provided political observers numerous opportunities to comment. Although I've found Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's shows on Comedy Central amusing, I'm distressed to see the current administration's inability to accept criticism and the Democrats' failure to stir popular support for reformist policy alternatives.

I prefer positive discourse, so rather than criticize current policies as I had originally planned, here are my broad goals. I support campaign finance reform, gun control, and full marriage rights for homosexuals. I also think that we should consider legalizing marijuana and prostitution, so that they can be taxed and strictly regulated rather than waste resources that could be spent fighting other crime. Contrary to popular belief, Massachusetts residents aren't taxed much more heavily than people in other states (especially if you count sales and property taxes in addition to income taxes), and the middle class reliance on educational and infrastructural subsidies means that demand for services can only be met with careful taxation.

I believe that health care should be considered a basic utility and not a profit center. Growing medical expenses have become a drag on our economy, as have excessive executive wages and real estate speculation. Offshore outsourcing may be inevitable, but we should work to guarantee proper labor and product standards in our trading partners, as well as more training and retraining support in the U.S.

Fuel-efficiency standards for all classes of vehicles should be raised higher than they have been to encourage environmentally responsible driving, the use of mass transit, and the development of alternative fuels. More research is needed to understand global climate change and to develop new energy sources. While I am a proponent of human space exploration, NASA needs more reform and a safer launch vehicle than the expensive space shuttle and limited space station.

In foreign policy, I support investing more in military recruitment, training, and veterans' care. The U.S. has tended to rely on technology rather than on human intelligence. I think we should send our troops to fight direct threats to national security and to stabilize regional conflicts, but other agencies should be responsible for so-called nation building. We should resist the urge to privatize our defense, which is one of the basic functions of any government.

We should continue to encourage democracy and free markets through alliances, leading by example rather than intimidation. The U.S. should stop selling billions of dollars in weapons to both Israel and its hostile neighbors, and we must continue to contain nuclear proliferation. If peace can come to Northern Ireland or the Balkans after generations of bloodshed, than we should strive for no less in Africa or the Middle East.

Religious fanaticism, like imperialism, fascism, and communism, must be countered with the promotion of human and civil rights everywhere. Americans are a generous, creative, striving people; our talent can yet be harnessed to make this country as much of a beacon of liberty in this century as it was in the last one. I'll support the presidential candidate I feel can best advance these goals.

Next time, report on my niece's wedding in Upstate New York and more!