Bang! Splat! Stuff! Holy crap!

• Let’s just get the boring work shit out of the way early in this here list. Ready?
• Hey. You. Person who lives in the Tri-State area of PA-NJ-DE (pronounced pah-nuj-day). You play games. I know you play games. You make love to games when nobody’s looking. Don’t lie. You have a fistful of d20s and that little metal wheelbarrow from Monopoly up your ass right now. What I’m trying to say is, you want to come to GameX Game Expo. You want to come see a panel about breaking into the game industry featuring other crazy gameheads, like Filamena “Freak Machine” Young, David “Devil Duster” Hill, and Marty “Muffincakes” Henley. Speaking of Filamena? She has something she wants you to buy. It’s a self-contained gaming adventure. It’s two bucks, which is a low low price for big big awesome.
• I updated the “bibliography” on this here fancy website. You can go over there if you feel so inclined. It might have some links to new products upcoming, like World of Darkness: Mirrors, Unbidden, the Mage Chronicler’s Guide, and some other cool shiznit.
• I am not going to Athens, Greece to speak at a the World Screenwriters Conference. The fine and excellent people of that conference invited me, but it looks like the Conditions On The Ground will not allow me to attend.
• I did get new work, so I am not starving. The new work is unannounced, but it’s ARG-ish.
• Both film and TV progress. The game of inches. Hopefully, the TV project just bounced forward by several inches. More when I know it and am able to tell it without being made to walk the plank. Still. Exciting stuff.
• This is by no means a formal review, but at present, Brütal Legend is a hell-bucket brimming with fun. Jack Black is great. Tim Schafer is god. I thought it was just a hack-and-slash game, but it’s… more. It’s got strategy elements. It’s sandboxy. It’s got racing elements. It’s weird. But damnit, it works so far. Plus — Lemmy from Motorhead.
• Glee is still great, but it’s greatness trembles and wanes. Last couple episodes have sacrificed some of the show’s edginess and complexity — characters have entered into sitcom-like habits of absurdity. The Jane Lynch character was great because she was genuinely kind of sinister. But the character’s devolving into pure camp and silliness; many characters are making decisions that are harder to believe. So, we’ll see. Here’s a good article on the subject, that actually speaks to my fears. Last night’s episode got us closer, back to center, so that’s good.
• My Robert McCammon post was Facebook’ed by Robert McCammon’s official account (moderated by the most excellent Hunter Goatley, who is also the man with the Best Name Ever). For the record, I am making time every day now to read a little more of Mister Slaughter, which is so good, I salivate for it right now. It’s rare that books these days make me really itchy to finish them. Last one that did that was probably Christopher Moore’s Fool.
• Look at my horse. My horse is amazing.
• You people are failing, failing to give me new music recommendations. Fix it! Fix it.
• I bought The Dead Weather’s album. It’s good. Well. The music is good. Fuck, it’s great. It’s like, Southern swamp-grunge or something. But the lyrics leave a lot to be desired. I do like Alison Mosshart, though.
• What the hell, Old Man Winter? Get off my porch. It’s in the mid-30s. It’s not supposed to climb higher than 40. Hey, winter? You can eat my fist. I want autumn back. Thanks much!
• You know the beautiful art of Jeffrey Thomas, yeah? With his Twisted Princesses? Y’know, Evil Jasmine, Evil Mu-Lan, that sort of thing? He’s also got some good superhero and Star Wars work. Actually, if you go to the shared blog for him and his writing partner, Celeste (Jeff and Celeste), you’ll find him use the term, “Waffle-Fueled Hell-Beast.” Finally, on that same beat, this is pretty awesome. On my first look, I missed the grenade, which means I thought the little girl was praying and her prayer achieved… well, just look at it.
• Final note: Cracked is a great and hilarious web-magazine these days. I used to read it when I was a kid, and Cracked was a Mad Magazine clone. But these days, it’s a totally different animal. I’m starting to include it in my daily web rotations. I now want to write for Cracked.