Remember when you were in high school and you’d get really high? You know, so baked that you’d eat things like sticks of butter. And then you’d sit around with your friends having “deep” conversations about the meaning of life. Maybe you’d bitch about the state of the world too. “Oh man, they’re destroying more of the rain forest every day!” Finally, someone would have an idea that seemed brilliant at the time. Then, when the dope wore off, you’d look back on that piece of genius and say, “Damn, I was SO HIGH.”

Well, in Norway, they either stay high all the time or they actually act on their ludicrous ideas. Case in a point. There’s a group that wants to raise awareness about the destruction of the rain forest. A noble enough goal I’m sure you’ll agree. They’ve decided, however, that the best way to do this is to have sex in front of large crowds of people. Yes, you read that right. Apparently, watching people fuck will get you thinking about the rain forest. Or something. You can read more about it here:

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article250240.ece

As a bonus, there are pictures from the music festival where the fucking took place. And the band that was playing during the fucking? The Cumshots. Surely a coincidence!

Amusingly enough, I attended BBQs on July 3rd and 5th, but not on the 4th. My “patriotic” July 4th started with me waking up on Ray’s couch after a late night of drinking and game design talk. Bruce swung by and picked us up and we went to the International District for dim sum. Bruce figured the restaurants there would be open on the 4th and indeed they were. We went to our local fave for dim sum, a place called Sun Ya that my friend and former bandmate Reuben introduced us to years ago. They do it old school style, with the carts moving around the room. They don’t have the sweet egg yolk buns I like at Sun Ya (boo) but their squid and assorted dumplings are excellent.

Later in the day I watched Heir to an Execution, which is documentary by the granddaughter of the Rosenbergs about how their deaths impacted her family. It was quite well done and good viewing for July 4th I think. The state murdered Ethel Rosenberg and left her two children parentless. And yes I know murder is a strong word but that is the case here. They knew she was no spy but tried to use her arrest to get her husband to crack. When they were both defiant, the government executed Ethel along with Julius. While it does now seem clear that Julius was spying for the Soviet Union, interestingly he was not guilty for the crime that he was executed for (passing on atomic secrets). And really it was the fact that they supposedly gave the Soviets the bomb that made people scream for the Rosenberg’s blood.

Ivy, the filmmaker, started the film on some kind of quixotic quest for truth. She interviews a lot of old lefties (one former union activist was 103 years old), and various members of her family (some of whom she had never met) in an attempt to get to the heart of her grandparents. Her father comes across as tremendously spirited and likeable. Pretty even keeled too, considering that he and his brother not only had to live through their parents’ execution but also spend time in homes for orphans.

For decades the family firmly believed in the innocence of Julius. Declassified decrypts seem to indicate that Julius was an agent for the Soviets. It was interesting to watch the family members try to come to terms with this revelation. It does make you wonder though. If the government had the goods on Julius, why didn’t they prosecute him for something he did do instead of framing him for something he didn’t do?

Now maybe it doesn’t matter what happened to two commies fifty years ago. People like to think that we’ve moved beyond miscarriages of justice like Sacco and Vanzetti and the Rosenberg trial. Five years ago I might have even bought it, but watching the current administration do whatever it pleases, with no regard for law or human rights, has made me more cynical than ever. It makes me wonder how the history books will be written. Fifty years from now, will the dawn of the 21st century be remembered as the year the presidency was stolen and a renegade bunch of millionaire cowboys destabilized the entire world or will it be the same sort of whitewashed bullshit we got during Reagan’s death week? If we have to suffer through Bush and his cronies, the very least history can do is properly vilify those liars and scoundrels.

I didn’t get a huge amount of time to walk around outside the exhibit hall at Origins, but I made a point of touring the miniatures hall to check out what folks were playing and to look at the amazing armies and scenery. The grandest display was Duke Seifried’s Lord of the Rings extravaganza. Something like two years was spent building a series of LOTR terrain boards for a series of battles. Helm’s Deep, Minas Tirith, the Black Gate, the Lonely Mountain, the Mirkwood, and even Mount Doom were all on display, with thousands of painted minis to go with them. Duke and Frank Chadwick ran a whole series of games over the weekend, and they were attempting to auction off all the terrain and minis to one lucky (and rich) gamer. I’m not sure if anyone ponied up for the whole thing, but I think the starting price was about $30,000.

I was looking around the display during the Battle of Pelennor Fields re-fight. As I was admiring Helm’s Deep, a voice said, “Hey Chris!” It turned out to be Don Perrin, who was nice enough to introduce me to Duke himself. Duke is something of a legend. He’s been in the industry since the 60s and still has a great passion for it. I had never met him before, but he was super friendly and before I knew it he was regaling me with tales of yesteryear. He told me that he flew to England and met with Tolkien before he died. They sketched out Helm’s Deep as Tolkien envisioned it and it was these drawings that Duke used to build the diorama at Origins.

He must be used to meeting younger industry guys who don’t know who he is, because he started running down all the companies he’d been involved in (he was one of the first TSR employees, for example). When he got to Heritage I stopped him and said, “When I was 10 years old, I started playing D&D; and collecting minis. The first minis I ever got were the Dungeon Dwellers series from Heritage.” His face lit up, he shook my hand, and gave me this little gold ring. “Just for that, I’m making you one of my Nazghul,” he said.

It was cool to meet Duke. Here’s a guy who was playing minis games when I was in the womb and he’s still at it! I hope I have that kind of enthusiasm 25 years from now.

Nik and I got back from Origins tonight. We had to connect through Memphis and the flight to Seattle was shitty. I swear, the seats are deliberately designed to cause back pain. It takes no more than 15 minutes in one of those for me to feel it, then it’s hours of being uncomfortable. I don’t have a bad back and I sit in all kinds of chairs without difficulty. Something about those airline seats though. I think it must be a conspiracy.

Origins was a show of extremes. High highs and low lows. On the upside, it was Green Ronin’s most successful Origins ever. Sales were excellent, the fans were enthusiastic, we had a lot of demos going on, and our Black Sails Over Freeport adventure won an Origins Award. On the other hand, the GAMA Board of Directors was taken over by a group that will surely move it in the exact wrong direction. While some members of this group are decent folk individually, the puppet masters are lying, duplicitous snakes who are the absolute last people that should be in charge of the industry’s only trade organization. That farce of an election was a black day for GAMA. And it really is a shame because the GAMA staff put on a great show and they deserve better treatment than they’re going to get.

Before the show, I had said to Nik, “You know, I really have no desire to hang out in the Big Bar on Two” (this is a bar in the Hyatt that’s pretty much where the entire game industry socializes after show hours). Naturally, that’s exactly where I ended up on three nights. It was good to catch up with old friends and to meet some of the new faces of the industry. It’s always fun to hang out with John Kovalic, a cartoonist friend of mine and perhaps the nicest, most humane person in the game industry. John has never let his success go to his head, has never gotten cynical and jaded about the biz, and has never left behind the passion for games that gets most of us into this crazy industry in the first place. I admire him for all those things, and for being kind, generous, and above all genuine. The industry could use more guys like Johnny K.

As long as I’m getting all maudlin at 2 am, I should also add that the events of the last eight months (that culminated at Origins) have made me admire my wife even more than I already did. Throughout all the ugly politics, she kept her head, worked hard and honestly, refused to knuckle under to liars and bullies, and conducted herself with the utmost of professionalism. Although often accused of being “volatile”, she did not loose her cool despite the daily attacks on her integrity and the huge amounts of shit thrown at her. In a strange way, the very adversity of the situation seemed to bring out the best in her. It’s my sincere hope that when this is all over with, people will look back on what she did (as an unpaid volunteer, I might add) and show some appreciation for her diligence and dedication. In the short term, my clumsy affections will have to do.

Over the past several years (and at least once on this very blog) I have talked about how I’d feel a lot more comfortable about the upcoming elections if they were being monitored by the UN. The current administration has proven over and over again that it will lie and cheat to get its way. Considering the problems with the last election, why should we expect this one to be any different? And indeed, it’d probably be easier for them this time, with all the implements of state power under their control, not to mention the lack of a paper trail with all the new electronic voting machines.

A few weeks back, I wondered how exactly one would get the UN involved. So I went and poked around the UN website for a while (I had never been there, it’s actually rather interesting) and found the area about election monitoring. The rule seemed to be that a UN member state must request assistance for monitors to come on in. Since there was an e-mail address for the responsible department, I decided to drop them a linr and inquire. I wrote:

This may seem like a strange question, but is there any way to get the UN to send international observers to cover the American presidential election in November without the US government requesting it? The 2000 elections were botched so badly that many people don’t have faith that the results of the coming election are going to be fair, especially considering that the owners of the companies that make the e-voting machines are outspoken Republicans. I’m sure the Bush administration would howl with outrage, but I’m at least one American who would feel a lot better if the eyes of the world were watching this process closely.

Three weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything back. Knowing how customer service can be, I figured that was that. Today, I actually got a response. They wrote:

Dear Sir,

I regret to inform you that the UN is unable to send observers without an official request from the Member State.

Thank you for your interest in our work!

Ah well. It was worth a try and at least the UN answers its e-mail. I wonder if a petition for UN monitors would do any good. I’m sure the administration would never ever make the request, but perhaps the fact that citizens of a country that’s supposedly schools others in democracy would feel the need for this kind of intervention could be worth something as we lead up to the election.

Well, it’s official: I am no longer a youth. On the upside, neither am I a tool. Phew. In honor of my vanished youth, here’s a song from 1981 by guys even older than I am. It’s “Youth of America” by the Wipers, which has been in my head since that Mission of Burma show. My apologies to Reagn Youth, Sonic Youth, Youth Youth Youth, Youth of Today, Wasted Youth, both Youth Brigades, and Youth Gone Mad for not chosing their lyrics to celebrate this occasion. As is often sadly the case, these lyrics from over 20 years ago have lost none of their relevance.

Youth of America

Is living in the jungle

Fighting for survival

But there’s no place to go

Youth of America

Youth of America

Youth, youth, youth, youth, youth

Anarchy flags are once again at half mast here in Seattle. Robert Quine, guitarist of the late, great Richard Hell and the Voidoids, was found dead this week. Weirdly, you can read about it on CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/08/music.quine.reut/

He apparently died of a heroin overdose. It may have been suicide, as he was grieving the death of his wife. How ironic that he would survive NYC in the 70s only to die by heroin in 2004.

I can’t claim to have known the man. He was a fixture on the Lower East Side when I lived in NYC, we had some mutual friends, and met briefly on a couple of occasions. I can say I respected the hell out of him as a musician and his work with the Voidoids was brilliant. Here’s to you, Robert.

Back in the yonder days of the mid-80s, when I was just getting into punk rock, Mission of Burma broke up. They were a Boston band and so local to me. I remember when they played their final show at the Bradford Hotel, but I hadn’t heard any of their records at that point. Within a year I was cursing myself for having missed that show. I eventually tracked down every LP and 7″ and even acquired some bootleg tapes of early live shows. There were a couple of posthumous records (one live, one studio) but it seemed they were gone forever. They had broken up because of guitarist Roger Miller’s tinnitus, you see, not because of rancor amongst the members.

Then last year something amazing happened: Mission of Burma got back together to play small number of shows. Ear protection has apparently improved so much over the past 20 years that Roger can once again play live. I caught their Seattle show at the Experience Music Project and it was amazing. I figured it was pretty much a one-time event though. However, they decided to stick around and record a new album. Groups that reunite after 20 years very rarely put out decent records, but once again Burma delivered with the OnOffOn LP. They are now touring to support the record, so I was able to see them again over the weekend. Fucking great show too. They played searing renditions of classics like Academy Fight Song, That’s When I Reach for My Revolver, and That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate, plus new songs like The Setup and Wounded World. Burma has also always had great taste in cover songs and they closed with two seminal American punk songs: Class War by the Dils (dedicated to the legacy of Ronnie Reagan) and Youth of America by the Wipers. I left the club totally jazzed up. I love that feeling.

So here’s a band I never thought I’d get to see and now I’ve seen them twice in a year. Sometimes, life is good.

A little over a year ago I realized that this year would be the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. I’ve wanted to visit the Normandy beaches since I was a kid, but the opportunity never presented itself. Last summer I started thinking about maybe making the trip in 2004. I figured the 60th anniversary would be a good time and the absurd anti-French sentiment in the US would keep the number of yahoos down. I talked about my plans at the various summer cons and soon Hal and Rick signed on. We’d go together, we decided, and indulge in our history nerdism to the max.

Even up to about six months ago, it seemed like we might still go. We did some research and made some tentative plans. Then, as often happens, life intruded on our fantasy. None of us had a week to spare in June. We all work in the game industry and early June is when we gear up for summer con season. On top of that, with GR’s deal with GW, Hal and I had even more work to do than usual. By March it was perfectly clear: we weren’t going. I wish I had been able to be in France today. Maybe next year.

While waiting for Nik to get in from the airport, I caught Die Another Day on cable. I hadn’t seen it in the theater and Bond seemed a fine way to kill a couple of hours. Turns out Die Another Day blows. Spoilers below if you haven’t seen it.

Top Five Points of Suckage

5. The theme is godawful. As the opening credits were rolling I wondered what talentless fuck had done the song. A few minutes later I had my answer: Madonna. Ugh, just terrible. Furthermore, Madonna shows up and “acts” in the movie and she’s terrible at that too. New rule for future Bond movies: no Ciccone.

4. The film is absurdly self-referential. It’s full of gags that reference the older Bond films, which is a mistake because it just reminds you how much better they were!

3. At the beginning of the flick, Bond is captured. OK, that happens sometimes, but of course the suave Bond always manages an escape toot sweet. This time, the North Koreans hold him for 14 months and torture him mercilessly. And he doesn’t escape, he’s released in a prisoner exchange. That, my friend, is not 007.

2. The villain has a satellite in the sky that can focus the light of the sun like a big frickin’ laser. His master plan? Destroy the minefields between North and South Korea so the northern army can pour south. What kind of master plan is that? If you’ve got a giant laser in the sky, start roasting Seoul (or better yet, Washington DC) until the world meets your insane demands! Don’t they teach these evil villains anything these days?

1. The tidal wave surfing sequence. ‘Nuff said.