tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481651232371324622011-11-28T02:45:07.377+03:30Because not all geeks think alike...Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-21649719016697578142008-03-05T06:29:00.002+03:302008-03-05T06:36:28.977+03:30

From the time I woke up this morning, a lot of the forums I frequent (such as that is, anyway) were awash in first the rumor, then the confirmation, that Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and therefore much of the roleplaying hobby, has passed away at the age of 69.Like many of my generation, D&D was the gaming gateway. It's what put me in a place to exercise my creativity with

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-56980163081140963562008-02-19T20:48:00.004+03:302008-02-19T20:54:45.084+03:30

So Toshiba has officially dropped HD DVD, ceding the home video realm to Sony and their Blu-Ray format.I have to admit I'd been rooting for HD. They had what should have been a major advantage in their double-sided disks (HD on one side, and regular DVD on the other, enabling people to go ahead and buy them now and have natural inclination to purchase an HD player later on). The PS3 seemed a

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-63792074037762949932008-02-05T10:52:00.000+03:302008-02-05T10:54:02.999+03:30

Check out this music video someone did combining footage from the Harry Potter movies and Firefly/Serenity, to music by Jonathan Coulton. Cool stuff!

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-49879625864474971132008-02-02T06:41:00.000+03:302008-02-02T06:50:14.942+03:30

So I finally checked out the Half-Price Books that just opened up down the road from me. I really need a chance to take all the time I need, rather than be rushed to hit the door and catch a bus.I found some interesting things, though.I found a Kedregern book for my girlfriend. I never cared much for them, but she likes them.I found some games. An RPG from Tri Tac called Incursion (they're

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-73353954223031441132008-01-23T00:54:00.000+03:302008-01-23T01:10:54.996+03:30

So this afternoon I ventured out into the melting snow and caught the day's first showing of Cloverfield, J.J. Abrams big monster movie.As seen in the trailers that caught our attention last summer, it's shot in first person, Blair Witch Project style. If you liked that movie, as I did, you'll dig this one. It doesn't quite bring up the scares as Blair Witch did very effectively, as in

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-1398761078653255092008-01-20T06:19:00.000+03:302008-01-20T06:49:20.278+03:30

I still haven't settled into an actual posting schedule here. The best I can say for now is I'll post once a week, maybe more. For example, watch for a post on Cloverfield probably on Tuesday.In the meantime, though, the Phillip K. Dick nominations were announced recently, and among the nominees is a book I had the joy of experiencing through our friends at Podiobooks. That is Jon Armstrong's

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-47257456061634696402008-01-10T21:25:00.000+03:302008-01-10T21:29:12.191+03:30

Okay, so I lied about a February relaunch. I didn't intend to.But while poking around another popular blogging site, I encountered a link to Sillof's Workshop, in particular one of his custom action figure links to a Gasligh Justice League.I seriously wish I had that kind of time and talent.

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-61232043690016824152008-01-09T07:19:00.000+03:302008-01-09T07:21:03.011+03:30

Okay, so I vanished for a little while.I'm going to try to do better.Official relaunch: February 1st.Count on it!

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-38808879911104232962007-07-04T00:35:00.000+03:302007-07-04T00:44:01.374+03:30

I know a lot of us dreaded the coming of the Michael Bay version of Transformers. We clung to our memories of the 1980s animated series, no matter how well it may or may not hold up today (and in truth, a lot of it probably does).There is one scene that will make you cringe at its silliness. Still, those existed from time to time in the animated series too. Other than that, this movie actually

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-16975254372709737692007-07-03T05:45:00.001+03:302007-07-03T05:52:35.374+03:30

Sorry I've been away from this for so long; things have been rather busy in real life.I'm working on what will eventually be an urban fantasy superhero novel (although lots of people seem to want it to be a game setting, so I'll likely do that too). I don't know that I'll actually do anything with it once I'm done. Maybe I'll podcast it. Maybe not. I'm actually starting over on it, after

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-9250363292291264392007-06-22T00:13:00.000+03:302007-06-22T00:21:59.465+03:30

So, what is it that caught my attention about My Tank Is Fight! Deranged Inventions of WWII? Well, doesn't the title say it all?Perhaps even more than that, is the author's description of his work as "Pulp History." All of the things in this book wouldn't be out of place in the wildest pulp stories, and yet all were at least on the drawing boards, and a few actually saw prototype.Things like

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-3295290094248669522007-06-15T22:14:00.001+03:302007-06-15T22:19:52.277+03:30

I just got back from seeing Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It's still early, so no big spoilers yet. But...They did some very good things here. I wish it had been longer (I was surprised, looking at Cinemark's web site last night, that it was only around 90 minutes) but they did good with it. The group dealt with very real issues among them, while dealing with the greater threat,

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-69913449652347576892007-06-15T06:20:00.000+03:302007-06-15T06:48:02.167+03:30

With the sequel coming out tomorrow (and I more than likely will get out to see it fairly early), I figure I should talk a little about the first Fantastic Four movie.Well, the first released Fantastic Four movie. I've never seen the legendary Roger Corman version.Fantastic Four was one of the early wave of comic book movies that came out after the smash success of Spider-Man. It was also more

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-77922393164982623122007-06-13T06:14:00.001+03:302007-06-13T06:33:04.394+03:30

And I read just after this evening's game that Don Herbert, television's Mr. Wizard, has passed away at the age of 89. And I'd thought he was getting along in years back in the 80s, when I was watching Mr. Wizard's World.Something tells me he'll have to be honored with a character on the Rolemonkeys, at least when we get back to GODSEND Agenda.

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-12298228836441990052007-06-12T19:16:00.000+03:302007-06-12T19:23:57.023+03:30

I've decided on my book list to only plan one book ahead rather than two, especially as my backlog stack isn't immediately in front of me.You'll recall my qualms about Heroics For Beginners, though. Unfounded. It's physically short (under 300 pages if I recall correctly), and a quick read. I didn't find it uproariously funny, but it was still quite amusing, with the characters being completely

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-68121439232111187382007-06-08T05:13:00.000+03:302007-06-08T05:17:13.142+03:30

...thinking I'm going to keep the books I'm about to read in some kind of order, but I'm finding I'm not sure I want to put Heroics For Beginners up next after Blood Rites. For one thing, I've just got the next two Dresden books (Dead Beat and Proven Guilty) which catches me up to just before the current hardcover, and Timothy Zahn's new Star Wars book Outbound Flight, which I'm reading at least

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-26668614341051281082007-06-02T07:47:00.001+03:302007-06-02T07:57:35.932+03:30

So, one of my roommates started collecting an anime series after seeing some YouTube videos made from it. I've watched the first four episodes thus far, and find it intriguing. The series in question is called Trinity Blood. Or maybe it's TrinityBlood. Either way, it's good. Think of it as supernatural post-apocalyptic steampunk -- while not technically true, that's what it feels like from

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-11566906920509031032007-06-01T04:09:00.000+03:302007-06-01T04:22:45.421+03:30

As I lead up to talking about the most recent installment of Disney's Pirates of the Carribean series, I start with the first.Of all the genres, perhaps the two that tend to not do well in the last few decades are the western and the pirate movie. Westerns do better, though, especially with the acclaim of Clint Eastwood's last few offerings. Still, neither are often seen.Sure, we've had Roman

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148165123237132462.post-13992793655985676752007-05-26T03:41:00.000+03:302007-05-26T04:05:27.048+03:30

I'm sure you're wondering what the hell I think I'm doing.Of all the podcasts I do, the closest I get to any kind of commentary, on geekery or otherwise, is really on I Wish I Had This Show In Real Life, but the drinks tend to sidetrack all sorts of neat trains of thought. And so, noticing several other friends maintaining blogs that have not so much to do with life stuff and what they're having

Mark Kinneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252792142170839576noreply@blogger.com0