Friends, it has been a busy fortnight since my last posting. After a favorable annual review, I got a small promotion to "senior copy editor" at CW, just in time for Donna S. to join our unit. Of course, we're still swamped, but these developments should help a bit as we get more online editorial content to edit. Janice has had various meetings, and we plan to attend the Society for Technical Communications conference in Las Vegas in early May.

While many people (including Janice's mother) have been fighting winter illnesses, our thoughts are with Steve M.R., whose mother has terminal cancer. In other health news, I was interviewed by a local television station for a story about hernia surgery:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/6190053/index.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wcvb/20060117/lo_wcvb/3198990

The fifteen-minute interview about my 1993 bilaterial inguinal hernia repair and difficult recovery yielded 15 seconds of screen time, but that's television journalism. At least I was quoted in context and my name was correct. I also had my first digital X-ray during a recent dental exam–the image appeared on a monitor immediately after it was taken.

For the sake of brevity, I'll avoid talking about my ongoing frustration with politics right now; suffice to say I think we're headed in the wrong direction on too many fronts. On a lighter note, as posted at Steve M.R.'s blog and elsewhere, astronomers have found a tenth planetoid in our solar system, proving that humanity's exploration of space has only just begun.

My D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy campaign has been going well, as the latest Boston-area Player Characters reached the city of Hesolin, met various people, went shopping, and fended off Drow assassins. They're approaching "name level" (10 in old AD&D). The role-play by e-mail teams, led by Carolyn M.P./"Grace," Byron V.O./"Ibrahim," and Greg D.C./"Janus," continued to make progress in their own quests…

Out of character, Paul J./"Sai" & Alysia/"Aoelia" returned to college, and a few of the guys weren't able to attend our Martin Luther King Day session. I hope that Brian P.W.'s GURPS 4e "Fantasy: Fallowshare" miniseries and Atilla C.'s campaign are successful, and I had good chats with Carolyn & Hans C.H. and Dexter V.H./"Faelonia." Dex and I hope to return to the "City of Heroes" online superhero game in the next week or so, and David I.S. and Steve M.R. have expressed interest in joining us. Good luck to Peter's paintball party in the Poconos this coming weekend! (Say that 10 times fast…)

Speaking of superheroes, I've been following D.C. Comics' "Infinite Crisis" crossover–its semiannual cleaning house of continuity. My favorite titles right now are "Green Arrow," "Birds of Prey," "Titans/Outsiders," and Alex Ross' "Justice." Marvel Comics has done something similar, although it still has more alternate universes. After years away, I find myself again reading "Avengers," "Shanna," "Spider Man/Black Cat," and "Astonishing X-Men."

I also recommend a number of quasi-independent monthly comic books, not all of which involve costumed superheroes: "Astro City," "Conan/Red Sonja," "Planetary," and "Powers." Some of the local gamers and I plan to return to my D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "S.J.I.: Drake's Port" scenarios when we get the time.

Speaking of superheroes, Janice and I enjoyed the final episodes of the Cartoon Network's "Teen Titans." I thought that the penultimate storyline, about the enlarged team's international battles against the Brotherhood of Evil, to be a satisfying end (similar to both the comics and "Justice League" plots), but the last episode, focusing on the ever-popular Beast Boy (see "the Zeppo" on "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer"), was a bittersweet coda. The last episodes of "Justice League Unlimited" and the end of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's excellent interpretation of the D.C. Universe air in February.

This past weekend, while catching glimpses of the end of the New England Patriots' SuperBowl "dynasty," Janice and I also caught "Hustle," a new series on A&E. The caper show, like the original "Mission Impossible," "The Sting," or "Maverick," is about con artists doing good while grifting. Apparently, the show was popular in England, where it was made, and between that and the BBC's revived "Doctor Who" (to air on the SciFi Channel later this spring), we find ourselves watching more British than broadcast television.

Speaking of speculative fiction, I agree that the half-season returns of the long-running "Stargate SG1" and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" have been excellent. Both military space operas feature strong writing, sympathetic characters (especially on SG1), and solid visual effects. "Stargate Atlantis" and "Smallville" are valiantly trying to keep up, IMHO. "The Boondocks'" MLK episode was also suprisingly well-done.

I haven't been to the movies in a while, but some of the Boston-area folks may try to see vampire/werewolf sequel "Underworld 2" in the next week or so. We passed on the overly teen-oriented "Tristan & Isolde" and tweeny CGI "Hoodwinked," but there'll be enough to catch in the coming months…

Friends, I hope that your holidays were happy and that 2006 is better than 2005! After returning from visiting Janice's family in Upstate New York for Christmas, we had a relatively relaxing workweek after months of being very busy. Among other things, we bought some shelving at the new Ikea in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

We met Greg D.C. and Thomas K.Y. and his brother Tony Y. at the Boston Museum of Science for the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit. While not as extensive as last year's "Lord of the Rings" show or similar exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., it did have lots of interesting educational features for children and a full-size mockup of the "Millennium Falcon's" cockpit!

I also ran two D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy sessions, including the first one hosted at my duplex in Needham Heights, Mass., since October's basement floods. Thanks to friends and holiday gifts, I'm continuing to rebuild my library of books destroyed in those floods. The current Player Character party fought seafaring Ogres and Undead pirates as they sailed northeast…

In addition, I made a cameo as Elf Ranger "Helena" in Paul J.'s D&D3.5 game, which turned out to be a sequel of sorts to the successful Flying Citadel scenario I ran during Dexter V.H./"Faelonia" and Stuart C.G./"Tunnel's" visit in November. Brian P.W. is gearing up for his GURPS 4th Ed. Fantasy miniseries, which I hope is successful.

However, I haven't yet gotten back to the "City of Heroes" massively multiplayer online game (although David I.S. and Steve M.R. may soon join Dexter and me), and I'm still behind with the role-play by e-mail folks–Dex, Stu, Carolyn M.P./"Grace," Bryon V.O./"Ibrahim," and Greg/"Janus." See the Yahoo/eGroups message board for more about these games:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DnD3VanishedLands/

Speaking of visitors, CW's copy desk plans to meet Jacqui M.D. for dinner while she's in town from Des Moines, Iowa, interviewing. Our former co-worker and fellow genre entertainment enthusiast will be staying in Needham. I probably won't be get to Byron's home in Hopkinton, Mass., for the SciFi Channel's half-season premieres tomorrow night (Friday, 6 January 2006) or to Thomas' place in Lexington, Mass., for a viewing of the "Full Metal Alchemist" steampunk/fantasy anime on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to "SciFriday," including new episodes of the long-running "Stargate SG1," space opera spin-off "Stargate: Atlantis," and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica." Let's hope that the current season of teenage sleuth "Veronica Mars," young adult metahumans on "Smallville," and the time travelers on the BBC's revived "Doctor Who" continue to go strong.

Not all is well in genre television: "Teen Titans" is ending after this month, and the final episodes of the animated "Justice League Unlimited" have been delayed. Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Warner Brothers' team of animators and actors have given us close to the definitive version of the D.C. Comics universe for the past decade, IMHO. And yes, I'm also still following comic books and graphic novels, as the two biggest publishers continue darker crossovers in search of the heroic light…

While I watch the latest "Batman" cartoon, it will be a while before those iconic characters are again handled as well (although the live-action "Batman Begins" and "Superman Returns," not to mention various Marvel Comics adaptations like "X-Men 3," are cause for fanboy celebration). Of course, this only whets the appetite to run or play "City of Heroes," D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed., or GURPS 4th Ed. "Powers," preferably in my "S.J.I.: Drake's Port" setting… Excelsior! -Gene

Friends here's my end-of-year update, a version of which some of you may have gotten with your holiday cards. Janice and I hope that all your holidays were happy, and we wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year! I received several books and movies for Christmas, including an encylopedia of Victorian fantasy and Marx Brothers DVDs.

After a busy fortnight at work, I've had a chance to catch my breath this week. Since we saw my family in Virginia around Thanksgiving, Janice and I spent Christmas in Upstate New York with her folks. We played with our nieces and nephews, as well as with numerous pets, including six dogs, a cat, a chicken, and rats.

I also went with brothers in law Gary T.L. and Melvin W. to screen "King Kong." Peter Jackson's remake of the classic 1930s monster movie (also remade in the 1970s) started very slowly, but the action scenes later on made up for that. I liked the recent movie adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" better (not to mention related kaiju "Godzilla: Final Wars," which I haven't yet seen).

I've spent much of this week catching up on filing, sleep, and reading, as well as running D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" sessions and playing in Paul J.'s game. Tomorrow (Friday, 30 December 2005), Janice and I may visit the new Ikea furniture store in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and on Saturday, I'll be meeting some of the local social/gaming groups for the "Star Wars" exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science.

In retrospect, it was great to see so many of my friends at the bachelor parties and weddings of Corbin A.Y. & Andria K.Y. in Virginia and of Steve M.R. & Aleece Z.R. (who are expecting their first child) in Cleveland this past spring! Janice and I took a weeklong cruise on a small ship around the New England islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket last summer. We also hosted visits by our families, Steve & Aleece for the Boston Marathon, Carolyn M.P. from Virginia, and college chums Dexter V.H. and Stuart C.G. from New York. I hope to get down to metropolitan New York and Washington D.C. again soon. With a little advance notice, you’re always welcome up here in the Boston area, but you might want to wait until after our long winter!

On a less happy note, Janice and I are still recovering from our basement floods of October, in which eight-plus inches of water destroyed scores of comic books and magazines, about 200 gaming books (a third of my total collection), and about 35 years’ worth of personal mementos. While I’ve replaced some of the books with help from friends such as Erik B.L., Tim M.B., Jim J.D’B., and Greg D.C., it’s still a pain for a pack rat like me. Our renters’ insurance company won’t cover any of our losses.

In the three years that we’ve been in the duplex in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, we never had a problem with moisture in our basement until recently, and while the new development up the hill has regraded its lots and our landlord has repainted our storage/gaming area, we won’t have peace of mind until a sump pump is put in.

Janice and I also had to give away our chinchillas, Josie and Ginger, which we had inherited from Mark A.S. & Ann W. when they moved their growing family to New Zealand. Janice had become sensitive to their dust baths, hay feed, and fur, and while we were sad to see “the girls” go, we managed to find a good home for them in Connecticut. Janice has also started volunteering at a different animal shelter (one closer to home) on Sunday mornings.

The local social/gaming group has been very active: Eight guys have been meeting for role-playing sessions every Tuesday night. The “Seekers of Lore,” the latest Player Character party in my D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands” heroic fantasy campaign setting, started out as a band of wandering minstrels but became Goblin-fighting mercenaries and have now set sail on the dangerous Sea of Nagendwa…

I’ve also run several successful one-shots, some involving past “Dungeons and Dragons” parties, such as “Faelonia,” “Tunnel.” and former “Dragonlayers” destroying the dreaded Flying Citadel, as well as the D20 “Mutants & Masterminds” 2nd Ed. “Drake’s Port” superheroes! I look forward to returning to them and trying out GURPS Fourth Edition in the coming year. In addition, I’ve been playing the “City of Heroes” multiplayer online computer game with Dexter V.H. and have run play by e-mail scenarios with Carolyn M.P./Jaguar Woman Ranger “Grace” and others… You’re welcome to join us!

What were your favorite movies of the past year? The long-awaited “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” was mostly satisfying, if dark, and “Serenity” was a very good capstone to “Buffy: the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon’s short-lived “Firefly” television space western. Of the latest wave of comic-book superhero flicks, “Batman Begins” was one of my favorites.

Stop-motion fable/horror spoof “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” held its own against numerous computer-animated competitors, and “Harry Potter [4] and the Goblet of Fire” and the adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” continued the resurgence of fantasy in the wake of Peter Jackson’s epic version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” I haven’t yet seen “Zorro 2,” but I’m looking forward to “X-Men 3,” “Superman Returns,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest” in the coming months!

What television shows are you currently watching? I haven’t been following most broadcast programs, such as “Lost,” but I have made time for “Veronica Mars,” “Smallville,” “Stargate SG1,” and the outgoing “Teen Titans” and “Justice League Unlimited.” Janice and I have also enjoyed the BBC’s revived “Doctor Who” more than the SciFi Channel’s revisionist “Battlestar Galactica,” despite the latter’s quality and popularity.

Anyway, take care, and I hope to see you in the coming year, -Gene

Well, I survived the double workload at work and snowstorm (and shoveling) last week and am mostly recovered from the cough I caught after Thanksgiving. Just in time to get a flu shot today… I hope your holidays are healthier than mine have been so far.

Janice's parents' visit went well this past weekend. On Saturday, 10 December 2005, we belatedly celebrated her birthday and went to the Bay Colony Dog Show at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston. We'll be seeing them and the rest of Janice's immediate family for Christmas in Upstate New York in a few weeks, but I don't know when I'll get down to Virginia or metropolitan New York.

Yesterday, Janice and I went to the malls near where I work in Framingham, Massachusetts, and finished most of our holiday shopping, which we began online. I'm still behind in writing cards, so they may be late this year…

Our basement looks decent again, although I'm still waiting on the sump pump. Brian W., Byron V.O., Thomas K.Y., and Atilla C. have all helped with hosting duties for the D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy game, and I'm almost done compiling various lists of damaged or destroyed gaming and comic books.

We're waiting until this coming Saturday (Dec. 17) to screen "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," hopefully with some of the local gaming/social group. Even though I own the extended DVDs of the "Lord of the Rings," I couldn't help rewatching the movies as they've been airing on TNT. We genre fans are lucky to be in a generation during which "Star Wars," "Lord of the Rings," and several other excellent films have been released. "Syriana" and "King Kong" also look promising, but Janice isn't particularly interested, and our time and money are limited.

If you like the outrageous humor of "South Park" or "The Dave Chapelle Show," you might enjoy "The Boondocks," an adaptation of the newspaper comic strip shown late Sunday nights on the Cartoon Networks' Adult Swim. I haven't been watching much regular broadcast television lately, but I'm looking forward to the return of long-running "Stargate SG1" and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" next month. In the meantime, I'm curious whether anybody besides Steve M.R. is reading this, so drop me a line and let me know… -Gene

Friends, I hope that all of you and your families had a Happy Thanksgiving. Janice and I left after work Wednesday, 23 November 2005, and drove as far as Pennsylvania. On the holiday itself, we drove past snow the rest of the way to my parents' home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we feasted with my family, including my brother Peter and his wife Kelly, her mother Maureen, and their young daughter Ava, whose intensity was our main entertainment.

On Friday, Janice and I laid low (I had just recovered from a stomach bug), and we caught up on reading and eating at my parents' place. On Saturday, we went to Northern Virginia, where we visited Chipotle, our favorite Mexican fast-food joint. That afternoon, Janice and I returned to our old haunts in Falls Church, where I stopped by "Hole in the Wall Books" and "the Compleat Strategist" to continue rebuilding the portion of my library destroyed in the previous month's basement floods.

We then met Steve M.R. & Aleece Z.R., David A.H. & Katy L., and Hans C.H. & Carolyn M.P. for an enjoyable pub dinner at "Ireland's Four Provinces." It was great to see them, however briefly. Corbin A.Y. & Andria K.Y. weren't able to join us, having just returned from their own travels. Unfortunately, we also missed Ron J.K.'s visit to his family in Massachusetts while we were down in the capital area.

Back at Peter & Kelly's, we played "Cranium," a fun board game that's a cross between Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, and charades (Janice and I won). We also watched on their new big-screen TV "Kingdom of Heaven," which was an O.K. tale of the Crusades.

Janice and I made the long drive back to New England on that Sunday, and I spent most of this past week getting over a chest cold (aggravated by mold as I continued sorting damp papers in our basement), working longer hours after Michael P.'s departure, and dealing with numerous e-mails. We did, however, manage to screen "Harry Potter [4] and the Goblet of Fire," which was well-done, if somewhat more compressed than the excellent "Harry Potter [3] and the Prisoner of Azkaban."

I haven't watched much mainstream television lately, but I'm still enjoying "Veronica Mars," "The Daily Show," "The Boondocks," and the just-canceled "Teen Titans." Janice and I also caught up on our DVDs, watching Aardman Studio's first season of the stop-motion animated comedy "Creature Comforts," which takes amusing observations by British citizens and puts them in the mouths of animals. I've decided to wait for rental for "Zorro 2" and the live-action version of "Aeon Flux."

Many of us are also looking forward to the movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong," and the stage production of "Spamalot," which is coming to Boston. "Superman Returns" and "X-Men 3" also look promising for next summer. In the meantime, however, I've got holiday shopping and cards to get to…

The latest face-to-face D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy game at the home of Brian W. & Beth S. in Newton, Mass., went well, as some of the would-be adventurers explored the Saganim human port of Sileran and got into a steel cage wrestling match… This coming Tuesday night's session may have to be scuttled if the Boston area gets more than an inch or two of snow tomorrow.

The role-play by e-mail activity has also picked up, as Greg D.C./"Janus" joined Carolyn M.P./"Grace" and Byron V.O./"Ibrahim." I still hope that Dexter V.H./"Faelonia" and David A.H./"Vortanus" can join them and Stuart C.G./"Tunnel"… I'm also looking forward to getting back to the "City of Heroes" MMORPG with Dex and to the D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" superheroic game.

Today is Janice's birthday. I got her an XM satellite radio setup, as well as a chocolate cake to be eaten later. We plan to go to "Fuji," a relatively new Japanese steakhouse in Needham, Mass., for dinner. However, since half of our basement is finally getting painted today, we'll have to spend some time tonight shuffling our remaining stuff down there to the other half. Our landlord hasn't yet said when a sump pump will be put in.

In the meantime, Happy Birthday to Ron J.K. tomorrow, and I hope all's well with the rest of you as winter arrives, -Gene