Moe Lane's Blog, page 124
November 24, 2024
‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da.’
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, The Beatles
#commissionearned
Anybody see GLADIATOR 2?
I figured I’d skip it, because my biggest problem with GLADIATOR is that, well, it’s not very historical. I’m one of those guys who was all, like, Why are we cutting away from the war? That’s a lot more interesting than the arena combat! I figured I wouldn’t like more of the same, but people do seem to like the new movie. Is it worth catching, considering that I have a sort-of free movie ticket for it anyway?
#commissionearned
11/24/2024 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH.
Comeuppance!
Patreon!“So those are your tourists?” Lucas asked Catty. He did try to keep the smirk out of his voice, but not very hard.
“Not as much as you, gramps,” Catty replied, in a voice sweet enough to make your teeth ache. Lucas’s smirk popped like a soap bubble — well, that’s a lie. Some of it decided to visit my face. “And they ain’t my tourists, neither. These aren’t the usual flounders, come slumming. They’re…” she broke off, frowning.
That got my attention. When a teenager starts giving off looks like that, a lot of times it’s because somebody hadn’t been friendly to her lately. Or they’d tried to be too friendly, too soon. Girls and boys grow up quick in New California, but not that quick.
Lucas must have picked up on that, too, because he choked out his incoming snit-fit and got his head on the job. If this was one. “These guys can’t take a hint, Catalina? Even when it’s swung at their heads?”
The MIDGIES teaser trailer.
I’m sorry, but MIDGIES is actually a killer (heh) concept for a horror flick. Straight up.
It’s a swarm animal horror movie. Millions of little bloodsuckers, attracted to human breathing and capable of attacking in all directions at once. Sure, if you’re wearing a moon suit you’re safe… until you tear a hole in the fabric. Past that? It’s an implacable composite enemy that wants nothing except to drain you dry.
And obviously guns aren’t gonna do a damned thing. Even that flamethrower above is gonna be of limited utility.
Seriously, this is gonna be horror comedy but they still have hold of something good, here. I look forward to it with some interest.
Patreon Microfiction: “Only Six Hours? A NIGHT?”
Patreon!“Only Six Hours? A NIGHT?” is very firmly in the ‘Humans are Space Orcs’ tradition of modern Internet fiction. I enjoy that genre very much, by the way. The trick is to find something new that works as a hidden superpower.
November 23, 2024
‘The Ballad of John and Yoko,’
The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Beatles
#commissionearned
11/23/2024 Snippet, BANSHEE BEACH.
I’m not going to be doing number updates, unless I somehow manage to write twenty-eight thousand words tomorrow (which is what I’ll need to get back on track). NotAWriMo is no longer on the table, and that’s fine. The important thing is to get this book finished, and I finished the trip to Red Beach today. I needed it done.
Buy the first two books in this series!
Patreon!At least the Banshee didn’t make us wait for the fireworks.
I’d expected something dramatic, and quick, and I was half-right. The festivities started with the biggest ‘broomstick’ — the one that could seat twenty — suddenly shuddering under multiple explosions of arcane fire. In a second its entire surface was covered in overlapping, expanding circles of flames, each of which changed color when they encountered another line of fire. It was weirdly beautiful, until you really thought about what those flames would have done to a person, hey?
The smaller brooms started flying randomly right away, which I figure meant the link spells must have fallen apart. But that was good. It made it look like they were trying to escape, only the Banshee wasn’t having any of it. One by one they exploded, in a cloud of splinters and smoke. Denny snarled at the steady pace, or maybe it was because it was so slow pace. “What the fuck! What is this, a game to her?”
“Yes,” I told him, as leadenly as I could manage. Above us, the last small broom pinwheeled through the sky. “She’s a Dominion Archmage. This is a game, and we’re all the toys. So stay in the box.”
He opened his mouth, and I raised my voice. “I said, stay in the toy box. This only works if she thinks she’s killing her some wild mages out of spite, along with all their stuff. If she doesn’t, every town and village within ten miles of here will get their own personal fireball, just to be on the safe side. And you didn’t ask us first if we wanted to get caught up in your drama, compadre.”
#commissionearned
RPG Book of the Week: The Day After Ragnarok (Savage Worlds edition).
This is a somewhat self-serving recommendation. Ken Hite’s THE DAY AFTER RAGNAROK is an alternate-history fantasy/horror guns-and-sorcery game set in a world still reeling from the manifestation, and prompt nuking, of the World-Serpent in 1945. (You can also get it here.)
And why is it potentially self-serving? …Well. Conversations have been had. They may or may not pan out. But it’s a really good game setting anyway!
#commissionearned
THE SWORD INTERVAL is being republished on a new site.
Ben Fleuter is republishing it on a dedicated site, after putting up each individual case up on Patreon first. I can heartily recommend both. As you all know, Ben did the artwork for my I’ll-get-a-finisher-for-it-eventually RPG, and he’s worth supporting. SWORD INTERVAL in particular is excellent. Check it out!
DoJ proposes using the antitrust Hammer of Mighty Fun upon Google.
I’m aware that it’s worrisome that PC Gamer and I are both down for this.
Earlier this week it was reported that the US Department of Justice’s top antitrust officials would likely ask a judge to enforce a significant break up of Google, in part proposing that Chrome be sold off.
[snip]
Not only will a judge be asked to enforce Google’s sale of Chrome, but the filing made to a Washington federal court also outlines that, “following its divestiture of Chrome [Google] may not reenter the browser market for five years” (via The Guardian).
…On the other hand, I’ve been watching my site disappear from Google Search for several years now, only to replaced by crappy ads and AI-generated chaff. A lot of Google’s search and indexing stuff just flat-out sucks now, and I’m not really thrilled with Docs, Maps, and all the other stuff I use every day. I appreciate that the company is there to make money, but I’m not a hardcore libertarian. I’m perfectly fine with the government wielding an antitrust broom, and using it every so often to sweep away a monopoly or two.
And on the gripping hand? Come January, that broom will be held by a different hand. Whether that hand will decide to keep sweeping, put the broom back, or decide to swap out for a power-washer has yet to be determined.
