Reflections on Stranger Things - II

Continuing the Stranger Things theme and digging out stuff from the back of the closet -

Like the sister in Stranger Things, I too had a Trapper Keeper notebook. It was green. Inside was a blue folder (along with other colored folders). It held the D&D stuff. (The other folders held mundane things like math and english assignments. 

I kept some of the original stuff. When we first played D&D, it was the boxed beginners set with the blue rule book. We did not have figures or fancy dice. We used paper cups filled with little chits of paper for our non-d6 dice roles; a d4 cup with four little pieces of paper numbered 1 through 4; a d20 with 20 chits.

Character sheets were hand-written affairs. Some of my adventure notes were typed on a manual Smith-Corona typewriter. 

Battles took place in our heads or on graph paper. A copy of an early conflict is on the left in the picture below. On the right are variations of Tolkien's Elvish runes. I thought they were cool. 

So yea. I saw the Trapper Keeper notebook in Stranger Things and am reminded of my 80s. I remember getting my hands on the original Monster Manual from a classmate and using lunch time to copy as many of the creatures as I could onto paper. No xerox or scanning. Good ole' #2 pencil and loose leaf paper. And then, Friday night, we fought them! 

Morning Joe Re-Tweeted Me!

Probably not that big a deal, but made me feel good. I commented about the President's comments to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and how many service men I talk to believe in the mission. Someone at @Morning_Joe liked my comment enough to re-tweet it.
Excuse me while I deflate my pathetic ego.

Rocket Cam One

Real Live Wookie! (in miniature)

Really late Boston Pics

I just never got around to them -



While in Boston, we hit a Red Sox game.  We also went to the Museum of Science.

More Steve Jackson Games - Cthulhu Lives!

Last week I mentioned how we bought some games while on vacation in Boston.  Along with Zombie Dice, we purchased "Cthulu Dice".  It is another simple dice game (die game actually - is that a pun?).  In this game, each player picks a target player and tries to curse him in an attempt to steal their sanity.  Sanity is measured with little glass stones.  When only one person has any sanity left, he is the winner.  If everyone runs out of sanity, Cthulu wins.

We have played this game with different groups of friends.  Learning curve is short - maybe three minutes to learn.  Like Zombie Dice, this game does not have the depth to be the sole focus of a game night.  Unlike Zombie Dice, Cthulu Dice has the "screw your neighbor" quality that many find fun - Kinda like "Lunch Money" - a long time favorite that I should write about later.

Brains . . . must eat BRAAAAAINS!

While in Boston, Tony and I did some game shopping.  Since we seem to be stuck in a Zombie mode, Steve Jackson's "Zombie Dice" seemed like a good pick.  A little more complicated then "LRC" and more complicated than Yatzee, this novel game can be mastered in under a minute.  We have played it on several different informal occasions.  Zombie Dice does not have the depth to be a stand-alone game for a game night, but would be fun as a filler between games or for casual play while shooting the camel turd.  No previous experience with undead required.

Droid wins - IMHO

From "MASHABLE" after being spotted on "I Love Charts".

I, as you may know, own the Droid (not Droid X) and think it is superior to the I-phones.  Sorry Heather and the rest of you apple fans.  My screen is bigger, battery is replaceable, I have more memory (and can change mini-sd chips), and open market apps (most of which are free).  You get video chat and a bigger price tag.  Oh - and only one type of phone will use your OS.  Android OS works on lots of phones.

As far as the Droid X is concerned, if I decide to give up my Droid for a Droid X, I could transfer just about everything to the new phone.  Can you change to a different phone with Apple?  For now, I'll stick with my Droid.  It lacks a bit in the camera department (takes good video, but photos are often blurry.  Does not take good pictures of moving targets) but makes up for that with a super GPS package that is FREE!   

Another Peanut Butter Cup Moment

Sometimes two good thing go great together (this may not be one of them).  I'm not a guitar player.  My brother is.  And we are both Star Wars geeks.  We had all the Star Wars figures (first generation).  For some reason he always got the good guys.  I remember the first Easter after Star Wars came out.  I got Darth Vader.  He got Luke.  I got C3PO.  He got R2D2.

I never got the vehicles.  He did.  Hands down, the best ship was (is) the Falcon.  He had it and it was awesome.  I can see it flying through the living room in our house in Avis.  Rear legs retracted.  Front leg down so it could serve as a handle for the person "flying" it.  You needed the handle because it was huge (for a ten year old).

Now, someone has turned one into an electric guitar.

Details are at http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/21/millennium-falcon-gu.html via Boing Boing.

19 Facts You May Not Have Known About The 'Star Wars' Universe

For true Star Wars geeks, nothing new here (except I thought it was Darth Vader, not Radar? jk).

However, asylum.com was a cool site to peruse.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pop Quiz 7-14-10

Do you know who this guy is?  I'll even give you his name - Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta.  What is he famous for?

Answer is after the jump.