I Want It

The other night we went to see Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast at the new SIFF Theater. At the show I picked up a flier advertising Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. I so totally want it. Janus is the distribution company that brought most of the classic foreign films over the US from the 50s on. To celebrate they have released this enormous boxed set that features 50 films, one for each year they’ve been in business. You can see the list at http://www.janusfilms.com and as a collection it is truly awesome. From Kurosawa and Fellini to Wajda and Eisenstein to Truffaut and Bergman, it’s a who’s who of art house directors. Even after a SIFF discount though the set is still $600. That is a great deal considering what you get, but I can’t really justify dropping that much money when I’ve got credit cards to pay down. It is quite tempting though, so I’m considering selling some minis and game stuff on Ebay to fund a purchase. Then it’d be more like trading for it, or so I could tell myself.

My Gaming Maxim

If you are a player or GM, you’ve probably read a lot of advice on how to make your gaming more fun. It almost all boils down to one thing though and that’s my gaming maxim: don’t be a dick.

Yep, that’s all there is to it. Don’t be a dick and you and your friends will enjoy your games a whole lot more.

If your GM tells you his game is about heroism and camaraderie and you insist on making a character who is a loner and an assassin, you are being a dick.

If your players tell you they want a break from the current campaign and you respond to that with a total party kill, you are being a dick.

If you beat someone in a competitive game and you then gloat and rub their faces in it, you are being a dick.

Don’t be a dick. It’s that simple.

Pigs and Creeps

Any visit to a con makes me ask an age old question: what is it about such get-togethers that cause people to forget how to use the toilet? I seriously don’t get it. I lost count of the number of times I had to wipe down toilets and flush other people’s waste. By the end of each day at ComicCon I seriously feared using the bathroom because the stalls had become so foul. Is seeing girls dressed up in anime costumes so exciting that these guys just don’t have time to aim? Were they in such a hurry to get to the Jedi Stage that they had to plotz everywhere?

At the other end of the spectrum I went to two restaurants with bathroom attendants. Man, do I find them creepy. Look, I know how to wash my hands. I don’t need anyone squirting soap into my hands and giving me towels, and I’m certainly not going to tip for the privilege. Here’s an idea for bathroom attendants. They should hire them at conventions, sporting events, and movie theaters. Their job would be to check the stalls as the patrons exited. If they find the places befouled, they make the mad sprayers clean up their own messes. THAT is something I’d tip for.