First post in years...

So I haven't posted to this blog in two years or more. I'm at a different stage in my life, in a different state, with a much more benevolent employer, so I'll be switching the focus to a more light-hearted one. Stay tuned.

Sonny and Wendy on the internet

Click here to listen to my old buddy Sonny, aka "Krillin", Strait talk with Wendy Pini about how they met and Elfquest's influence on his work.

At the Request of Richard Pini

Richard Pini, co-creator and publisher of Elfquest, is asking that series' fans spread the word about the comic's availability for free online at http://www.elfquest.com. By year's end, all 200 issues created between 1978 and 2006, will be made available on the site, with updates every Friday. I cannot recommend the seres highly enough. It is centered in Native American, Japanese and Indian tropes, turning traditional fantasy on its head. And it's drawn and written by a woman, what more do you want?

E Gary Gygax: 1938-2008

Alright, I know I should be diligently grading papers right now, but while taking a break perusing the usual sites, I was halted by the announcement of Gary Gygax's passing on rpgnow.com. His work, the quintessential Dungeons & Dragons books, is responsible as any for my interest in text and literature. The first edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide was the fist book not assigned in school that I valiantly attempted to read cover to cover. It's fitting that if he had to leave us, he'd do so on GM's Day. A world of fanboys [and girls] mourns.

Illinois is ass backwards

I had a very pleasant, productive conversation with Suzy Woods, Visiting Director of Disability Services at UIS, this afternoon; during the course of which I discovered that UIS Lincoln Residence Hall is indeed ADA compliant, but here's what that means:

LRH is ADA compliant because residence halls are classified as "transient housing." In the words of Eddie Murphy, "Let's talk about that." Other spaces classified in like manner are motels. The term "transient" is most often used to refer to .... come on readers, you know this one ... the homeless! So, the government considers students residing in residence halls analogous to homeless people living in motels, or ...can somebody say "crack house!"?

My home state has laws and procedures in place that require residence halls to meet conditions above the "transient housing" mark, but Illinois still has nine institutions dedicated to housing the mentally disabled, the kind of places no doubt that were revealed as cesspools in New York state in the late 70s. Why? Because these
"institutions" are staffed by well paid union workers.

I had high hopes when I moved to Illinois, a union state. I now see it as a rheumatic old man chocking on red tape.

Language as play part 2: an intellectual discussion of Hentai?

I didn't believe it either, but at the bottom of the page linked below, you will find an audio commentary that amounts to an intellectual discussion of the sociological implications of Hentai in 21st century Japanese society within the context of tabletop role playing. If that isn't a white nerds' version of "Your Momma," I don't know what is.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=54698

Of course, I haven't bought the pdf advertised above because I don't want to spend $13 on something that amounts to a bunch of zeros and ones [I've used "amounts to" a lot in this post. I must be thinking in terms of quantity, like money, or maybe it's lack of sleep. I apologize of the lack of finesse.]. I'll go "halvesies" with anyone interested though. Then again, I fully support paying for intellectual property. Contradictions, I know.

The positive side to being broke

Broke people are forced to be creative. Hip Hop was born that way [and I mean real Hip Hop, not the "booty-butt cheeks" crap marketed to board white kids with too much disposable income]; inter-city arts programs were cut, and kids in the South Bronx had to make due with what they could find cheap--turn tables, mics, etc.

So, to my point. Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I have about twenty-four bucks in my bank account until payday. I can't afford to take my wife out to dinner or buy her a Reno 911 DVD, something that I would normally do. I wrote her this poem:

A Soft Place to Fall

Twilight hours—anxiety all the rage,

The warm smell of you

Bundled with mammal care,

In quilted generations—

Thread count, thousands of days;

Krishna is the taste of water,

You’re the waterfall

Because you’ve given me

A soft place to fall.

My cold skeleton meets your flesh.

You babble lucid affections—

Sleepy syllables give weight to love,

Heavy too, at the wake of sunrise.

Only we, or maybe a guinea pig,

Would have it so good—

Marriage isn’t mystical;

It’s sharing life’s deliciousness

Amid the struggle.

God is no fool,

Only plays one on TV.

Our trajectory is backward

Into transcendence, you and I.

She said it made her year [and yes, she gave me permission to post it here].