Brian Niemeier's Blog: Kairos - by Brian Niemeier, page 20

Wizards of the Coast President Resigns

The tabletop role-playing scene was rocked yesterday by news that Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams is stepping down. Related: Shades of the Pop Cult In online gaming circles, much is being made of Williams’ rather brief tenure as WotC president. Related: Accidental Death and Dismemberment Williams’ stint as WotC honcho was marked by great successes as well as dismal…

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The Pop Cult Demoralization Trap

For years I’ve been charting the decline of all pop culture media while urging people to stop consuming content by companies that hate them. Recent days have provided a plethora of case studies illustrating why. Take this exchange on X from just yesterday: Related: Mark Kern – Calling All Gamers The reaction from commenters with the least shred of awareness was “They’re right.

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The Downfall of Heavy Metal

Get get FREE books and first looks at my exciting new projects monthly! Join my elite neopatrons to read my new dark fantasy novel The Burned Book as I write it! Join on Patreon or SubscribeStar now. Ragging on Zoomers’ taste in music has become common among older generations. Spend a few minutes sampling tunes that are popular with Gen Z, and you’ll soon know why. Every generation from the…

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Mark Kern: Calling All Gamers

Get get FREE books and first looks at my exciting new projects monthly! Join my elite neopatrons to read my new dark fantasy novel The Burned Book as I write it! Join on Patreon or SubscribeStar now. Just weeks after helping to kick off what some are now calling GamerGate 2, legendary game dev and CEO Mark Kern put out a post on X calling all gamers to strike back against AAA studios. How?

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Nostalgic for Stage Three Cancer

A common obstacle to communication that can crop up between people with different outlooks and motives is the risk of talking past each other. This kind of miscommunication can arise on any subject. No topic of conversation is immune. Take Dunkaroos, for example. One man might point out that they are saturated with high-fructose corn syrup and seed oils. Another may say he thinks they’re yummy.

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The Vampire of Croglin Grange

Readers have been flocking to posts about vampires lately. So here’s an old favorite: The Vampire of Croglin Grange. Back in Cromwell’s day, the Fisher family left their ancestral home in Cumberland and moved south to more spacious accommodations. Loath to sell their old farmhouse called Croglin Grange, they leased the one-story home to Amelia Cranswell and her two brothers. Related: Arnold…

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A Sane and Healthy Society

With Con Inc collapsing, its aging devotees sound like they’ve suffered a strange form of partial memory loss. They are smart, well-meaning people. Yet the mere utterance of certain buzzwords is enough to make them suspend their Christian morals and carry on like the market is a god. If one issue hits the BoomerCon berserk button, it’s student debt relief. So much as suggest that maybe we should…

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The School of Hard Knocks

The recent post on Generation Y drew a lot of comment. One of the most prominent questions pertained to why so many members of generations after X are seemingly unsalvageable. As Bruce Lee taught us, understanding the problem points to the solution. So let’s examine Gen Y’s besetting vice: terminal nostalgia. As the Nintendo generation drifts through middle age…

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Not Even King Brandon Can Get a Movie Made

Getting a movie adaptation of their books isn’t just a perennial dream of writers. Spend any length of time in online reader circles, and you’ll soon hear multiple fans asking when they can expect to see their favorite books by their top authors on the silver screen. As most of those authors have pointed out—much to readers’ chagrin—they have precious little say regarding when or even if…

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Generation Video Grand Opening

OG readers will know that I have a soft spot for retro film review podcasts. Whether it’s author JD Cowan’s Cannon Cruisers or, to go all the way back, the late, great Drunken Zombie Podcast, listening in while a couple of guys talk 80s and 90s movies is a guilty pleasure. That’s why I was delighted when my good friend Wes told me he was starting a new podcast with his co-host Rett.

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