Monte Cook's Blog, page 144
March 29, 2010
TVs Greatest Meta-Moments
TVs Greatest Meta-Moments
The top three self-referential moments in TV:
3. The End of Newhart. At the very end of the very last episode of the show Newhart, Dick (played by Bob Newhart) wakes up in the bedroom of his character Bob on the Bob Newhart Show. Next to him is Bob's wife Emily, played by Suzanne Pleshette. It turns out that the entire show Newhart was a dream of Bob Hartley, the character on the Bob Newhart show. Newhart was a great show, but it almost always lived in the shadow of th...
The top three self-referential moments in TV:
3. The End of Newhart. At the very end of the very last episode of the show Newhart, Dick (played by Bob Newhart) wakes up in the bedroom of his character Bob on the Bob Newhart Show. Next to him is Bob's wife Emily, played by Suzanne Pleshette. It turns out that the entire show Newhart was a dream of Bob Hartley, the character on the Bob Newhart show. Newhart was a great show, but it almost always lived in the shadow of th...
March 24, 2010
The Loss of Woxy.com
The Loss of Woxy.com
The shutdown of the Internet radio station woxy.com came as a shock. I saw the announcement on Facebook just as I was getting up from my computer to go out to dinner with Sue. It didn't seem real to me until I tuned my Sonos to listen to woxy.com last night and got only sorrowful silence.
For the last couple of years, woxy.com has been my conduit to new music. I thought, for a moment, of listing the bands that I love discovered thanks to woxy.com, but it only took me a few ...
The shutdown of the Internet radio station woxy.com came as a shock. I saw the announcement on Facebook just as I was getting up from my computer to go out to dinner with Sue. It didn't seem real to me until I tuned my Sonos to listen to woxy.com last night and got only sorrowful silence.
For the last couple of years, woxy.com has been my conduit to new music. I thought, for a moment, of listing the bands that I love discovered thanks to woxy.com, but it only took me a few ...
March 22, 2010
Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Book Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible
I've loved superheroes since I was a very little boy. For more than 35 years, I've been immersed in all the familiar tropes. It's clear to me that Austin Grossman has been as well. His book, Soon I Will be Invincible, hits almost all the right notes when it comes to capturing the feel of comic book superheroes and villains, despite the fact that he's written a novel. I used to believe that superheroes wouldn't work in prose, but that's because most of the...
I've loved superheroes since I was a very little boy. For more than 35 years, I've been immersed in all the familiar tropes. It's clear to me that Austin Grossman has been as well. His book, Soon I Will be Invincible, hits almost all the right notes when it comes to capturing the feel of comic book superheroes and villains, despite the fact that he's written a novel. I used to believe that superheroes wouldn't work in prose, but that's because most of the...
March 17, 2010
Too Much
Too Much
Sometimes I get feeling really down because I'm not doing everything. I mean, even if you put aside all the non-work-related stuff: all the books I want to read, all the movies and shows I want to watch, all the friends I want to spend time with, all the games I want to play, all the hobbies I want to participate in, all the classes I want to take, all the events I want to go to, and so on (and on), there's still too much to do.
I think about all the contacts I should be following up o...
Sometimes I get feeling really down because I'm not doing everything. I mean, even if you put aside all the non-work-related stuff: all the books I want to read, all the movies and shows I want to watch, all the friends I want to spend time with, all the games I want to play, all the hobbies I want to participate in, all the classes I want to take, all the events I want to go to, and so on (and on), there's still too much to do.
I think about all the contacts I should be following up o...
March 15, 2010
Two New Interviews
Two New Interviews
I was recently interviewed by the nice people who put out Big Iron Vault and it appears in issue #4, which is just out now.
Also, the very cool Johnn Four interviewed me for his weekly newsletter, Roleplaying Tips (#480). And as an aside, if you're a GM for any system, you're going to find Johnn's free newsletter extremely useful every week. I highly recommend it.
I was recently interviewed by the nice people who put out Big Iron Vault and it appears in issue #4, which is just out now.
Also, the very cool Johnn Four interviewed me for his weekly newsletter, Roleplaying Tips (#480). And as an aside, if you're a GM for any system, you're going to find Johnn's free newsletter extremely useful every week. I highly recommend it.
March 9, 2010
More Comics Thoughts
More Comics Thoughts
Marvel recently announced that they're going back to a time when heroes were more clearly heroic and the general outlook was more optimistic. That's fine by me. This is clearly a throwback to what comics were like when I was a kid, and so I'm certainly not going to object to that. An attempt to make the Marvel Universe back into the place I fell in love with back then seems like a great idea.
Here's the thing, though. If Marvel really wants to recapture that time, the thing...
Marvel recently announced that they're going back to a time when heroes were more clearly heroic and the general outlook was more optimistic. That's fine by me. This is clearly a throwback to what comics were like when I was a kid, and so I'm certainly not going to object to that. An attempt to make the Marvel Universe back into the place I fell in love with back then seems like a great idea.
Here's the thing, though. If Marvel really wants to recapture that time, the thing...
March 4, 2010
Comics Writers
Comics Writers
A few days ago, I wrote about credits in shared world instances and I mentioned that in the 1980s, Marvel's attitude was "it's not the writers or the artists that matter, it's the characters."
This will always stick with me because, at least for me, it's precisely the opposite of the truth. I don't follow the characters. Sure, I like some more than others, but I'm not going to follow Iron Man no matter what because I just can't stand the thought of missing any of Tony Stark's exp...
A few days ago, I wrote about credits in shared world instances and I mentioned that in the 1980s, Marvel's attitude was "it's not the writers or the artists that matter, it's the characters."
This will always stick with me because, at least for me, it's precisely the opposite of the truth. I don't follow the characters. Sure, I like some more than others, but I'm not going to follow Iron Man no matter what because I just can't stand the thought of missing any of Tony Stark's exp...
March 3, 2010
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONTE COOK’S DUNGEONADAY.COM IS ONE YEAR OLD!
Site offers game fans a daily dose of adventure.
March 4, 2010 (Milwaukee, Wis.)—Dungeonaday.com, Monte’s subscription-based adventure site, is celebrating its 1 year anniversary this month. The web site, known for offering great game material and DMing advice to its members, introduced Dragon's Delve, a vast dungeon with a complex history. Along with the nearby...
February 26, 2010
Poor Credit Scores
Poor Credit Scores
This morning I was looking through a WotC-published monster book from a few years back and came upon a monster that I knew had appeared somewhere before but couldn't remember where. Perhaps the mists of sleep still clouded my mind a bit, because my first thought was, "I'll just look to see who originally created the monster, and that will help me figure it out." Of course, a tenth of a second later I remembered, WotC doesn't credit the original creator of the material.
Now, ...
This morning I was looking through a WotC-published monster book from a few years back and came upon a monster that I knew had appeared somewhere before but couldn't remember where. Perhaps the mists of sleep still clouded my mind a bit, because my first thought was, "I'll just look to see who originally created the monster, and that will help me figure it out." Of course, a tenth of a second later I remembered, WotC doesn't credit the original creator of the material.
Now, ...
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