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on hiatus
New this week:
The
Revolutionary Path
"He asked if anyone had Glaucoma
in the family."
"Yeah, well, Mom had it."
"She did?"
- me and Dad (via phone)
lovat (luv'-utt) n. a
predominantly dusty color mixture (as of green) in fabrics
- Bottle Rocket :)
- The movie that dares
answer the question: "Why do
nerds make bad gangsters?"
 
Vertigo
For many years, Vertigo topped my ever-under-revision
list of top ten favorite movies, and it's certainly at the top
of my list of 5 favorite Hitchcock movies. But it's vital that
you know nothing about the storyline going into it... a lot of
why this film has been such a favorite of mine is the memory
of the impact it had on me the first time I saw it, when I knew
basically nothing about it except that it was Hitchcock's lost
masterpiece, re-released at last. I was absolutely blown away
by it. It's a different movie altogether the second time through
- and similarly, not the same at all if you know what happens
in advance. And it's even been recently restored! You owe it
to yourself to see Vertigo sometime, if you haven't.
 
Phosphor Dot
Fossils
Straight Dope
Superstar
Car Wash
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ChronoRules, Posters, Icehouse
Assembly, & Ralph Nader |
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 With
Origins
now just 2 weeks away, we're starting to go bonkers, trying to
get everything on our list finished up in time. And it seems
like we just keep adding more to the list! But even though we're
feeling harried, things are going great. Origins is gonna rock!
New stuff we've ordered for debut at the show has started to
arrive, including the Tirade promo nickels (which look great),
the new, improved, and totally beautiful chessboard bandanna
designed by Alison (I haven't updated the Black
Ice page yet, but we've already starting including the new
bandannas), and the tags (yes, just the tags) for the Big Bag
of Looney Games.
Of course, the biggest item remains the production of my new
game Chrononauts.
Last week we got the card printing underway (and we've already
seen proofs, which look great) but I hadn't had time to begin
writing the actual rules until this week. And it was a big job,
too. But I'm pleased to say they came together really well, being
both concise and entertaining (at least in my opinion... tonight
I'll start seeing what the proofreaders have to say).
To promote Chrononauts at Origins, we'd been thinking to make
a new postcard to hand out, and a few weeks ago I posted the
design for it. But this week I had a better idea. Since all we'll
have at Origins is a limited
number of Beta release copies (the actual product won't be
out until Oct 1), it's really too early for a postcard campaign.
So instead, we're using the postcard idea for an 11x17 mini-poster!
Kristin's already been looking into making little posters like
this, since we're creating a Fluxx poster (with the design you
see here, which we also finalized this week), for inclusion in
a Fluxx/Aquarius demo kit we're planning to make available to
stores later this summer. Most of all, while providing us with
a cooler Chrononauts promo items for Origins, the poster will
also be used as part of the packaging for the Beta release edition!
This is roughly akin to using a small rock to drive a couple
of birds away from a bush, because it saved us having to format
the actual rules as an 11x17 sheet, an earlier plan that was
becoming increasingly harder as I got later and later with the
rules. (In fact, thinking up this scheme allowed me to slip the
schedule on the rules text for an entire week!)
We also ran the Icehouse factory a couple of times this week.
Since we currently assemble all Icehouse sets ourselves (using
boxes of components that have been filling up every corner of
the house for months but which we can now start storing at our
new warehouse space), we needed to create more inventory so that
we'll have plenty of sets to sell at the convention. Happily
we still have friends who are willing to help us with this grunt
work as long as we feed and entertain them, so thanks again to
Kory and John and Gina and Renee and especially Zarf and Dale,
who drove in special from distant cities just for the event.
And remember, if there's a piece missing from your set, it's
probably John's fault. (On the other hand, if you're missing
a book, I'm the one to blame...)
Lastly, over the weekend I stumbled in on CSPAN coverage of
the Green Party Convention, and became completely absorbed by
it. The more I listened to Ralph Nader and the people who spoke
about him, the more impressed I became, both with the man and
the new party he's leading. I had already been interested in
the Green Party, ever since I heard Steve
Gaskin had aligned himself with that group, but watching
the convention was like a religious experience for me. I've been
writing material for a new essay ever since, which I'd hoped
to have ready to post this week, but with everything else that's
going on, I just couldn't manage it. But the bottom line is that
we've gone Green and Looney Labs is hereby endorsing Ralph
Nader as our choice for the next president!
 Remember
Peter
McWilliams!
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"If you can stomach the hypocrisy of government
unlawfully exempting the two deadliest drugs, tobacco and alcohol,
from every drug law, while refusing to allow cannabis to be used
for medicinal purposes, vote for a Republican or Democrat. If
you think it is OK that the government can throw people in jail
for years or decades, steal their homes, cars, cash, and other
assets, and even kill them, for growing plants, vote for a Republican
or Democrat. On the other hand, you might consider voting for
a candidate of some other party, such as: Libertarian, Green,
or Natural Law." - "Major
Parties Equally Dismal" by Tom Barrus |
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"Given the tens of billions of dollars that
have been spent on the failed War on Drugs year after year, we
are entitled to ask of the perpetrators, 'What is your standard
of failure?'" - Green Party Presidential
Nominee Ralph Nader |
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"Let's call the Drug War what it is: Ethnic
Cleansing American Style." - Green Party
Presidential Candidate Jello Biafra |
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