Moe Lane's Blog, page 663
October 27, 2021
Ooh Watch: two new supplements for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition.
We got Sabbat: The Black Hand (supposedly coming out in October) and Second Inquisition (coming out in January). Well. I just got them both. I happened to have enough personal cash to cover the purchases.
Moe Lane
PS: I’m more interested in Second Inquisition; I’m assuming that it’s gonna cover more original ground than the Sabbat sourcebook. But I figure I’ll like both books.
Quote of the Day, You Volunteered To Write A Screenplay For Paul Verhoeven, Scooter McGee edition.
Don’t be surprised when that particular path takes you to weird places:
[Paul Verhoeven’s upcoming film Benedetta] is based on the book by Judith C. Brown. The screenwriter of the film, Gerard Soeteman, has distanced himself from the project because he “is very unhappy with the director’s emphasis on the sexual aspect of the true life story of a lesbian nun in the Renaissance.”
After all, ‘messing with the book’ is pretty much Verhoeven’s thing. You think he was gonna stop doing that? For Heaven’s sake: why?
Moe Lane
PS: You can watch the trailer at the GeekTyrant link. I’m not putting it up here out of prurient interest: when you promise me ‘lesbian nun erotic thriller,’ I expect at least cleavage. Which is, I suppose, the exact opposite of Soeteman’s objections.
10/27/21 Snippet, TINSEL RAIN.
Worldbuilding!
Patreon!I waited until Graciella was off chasing the Lore before I went to go have a chat with Mira. Why her? Because if you volunteer to help a Shamus, you should learn right off the bat what that means.
Mira worked out of one of the soup kitchens the Syndicate runs, all over the city. It takes an effort to starve in Cin City, but it’s easy to miss a few meals; those places always have people coming and going, all hours of the day or night. Seems like the kitchens always have pots of this or that, bubbling away. Amazing how many different kinds of ingredients you need for soup or rice, too. And the Syndicate funds it all themselves! Guess charity is its own reward.
She was going through some papers when I arrived, and her nose gave the same little wrinkle at the sack in my hand as had every other cleaning lady I passed on the way. “That’s a bad habit,” I muttered as I plopped the sack on a spare desk.
“I know,” she agreed. “We’ve gotten spoiled, the last few years. We’re working on it. So, what in God’s name is that?”
I opened up the sack, to reveal my little friend from last night. It didn’t look any better now. “Funny: I was going to ask you the same question.”
Two thousand, eight hundred, ninety-nine and eight-tenths hours.
2,899.8 hours. That is my current runtime on Fallout 4, according to Steam. And apparently I did not know before today that you can get power cables inside your buildings by putting a power conduit on a floor mat, connecting it to an another conduit, and then move the mat inside.
…2,899.8 HOURS!
October 26, 2021
‘The Devil’s Son.’
Yeaaah maybe we’ll put the video for this under the fold. It’s a good song and performance, mind you, but the video… well. There’s a reason I picked it for Halloween month.
Tweet of the Day, This Two-Kid Toy Tank Has Me *Shaking* With Anger edition.
Why? Because IT DOES NOT COME IN MY SIZE.
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) October 27, 2021
So, there’s not gonna be that THE TRENCH movie.
It turns out that THE TRENCH was misdirection; they were going to do a Black Manta movie instead. Now that it’s fallen through, too, director James Wan sees no reason not to admit it. Personally, I’m with GeekTyrant: I’d rather have had the Lovecraftian sea monster superhero flick.
Nothing against Yahya Abdul-Mateen, mind you. He’ll be a great villain for the second Aquaman film. But I wanted Cthulhu and Deep Ones in the DC, dagnabbit. I do not think that this is an unreasonable thing to want.
10/26/21 Snippet, TINSEL RAIN.
It had been a while in the book since somebody messed with Tom.
Patreon!I got a complicated attitude about people trying to thump me. It ain’t so bad when they’re just trying to thump me. There’s nobody better to pump for information than some poor dumb sujeto who was supposed to do this one simple job, and now he’s gonna get it in the neck from both sides of the law unless he starts singing, see? And then there’s the guys who’re just sending a message, there ain’t nothing personal in it, Shamus. That means they’ll run if the thumping goes bad, and won’t chase you too hard if you’re the one running away.
But when they’re trying to kill me? I ain’t so calm about that. Especially when whoever’s after me knows their stuff.
I was a few blocks from the precinct station when I got ambushed. No fireballs or anything ornate, this time: just a sudden greasy-queasy feeling, a flash of ugly light, and suddenly my tie was smoldering. I never saw it coming.
Ain’t gonna lie: I came this close to losing my cool. Fortunately, the tie comes right off, with one yank — we’ve got a special knot called Shamus’s Noose, for just this situation — and I tossed it clear of me before the protective charm woven into it actually caught on fire. Then I ducked. Always duck. Hell: always dive. If somebody’s got you lined up that way, staying in one place just gives them another shot at you.
As I dived and rolled I slipped my knuckles on, and had to stop myself from tossing back right away, too; they were almost too hot to touch. Whatever this whammy was, it was serious business. And about as subtle as a cattle stampede.
There will *likely* be a DUNE sequel…
…First off: note that it’s not performing under expectations. Variety notes that it’s hitting expectations or a bit above, and obviously it was intended to have a sequel from the start. So:
It now seems possible that “Dune” could cross $300 million worldwide and potentially break even theatrically, something that’s a rarity for tentpole projects in good times and nearly impossible during a pandemic. (Even the latest James Bond film “No Time to Die” may struggle to turn a profit in cinemas.) HBO Max has not reported any viewership metrics.
So why hasn’t “Dune: Part II” officially been announced?
Variety downplayed it a little, but the answer is probably “how it’ll be distributed.” HBOMax will want to simultaneously release the film in theaters and on its streaming service; Legendary Pictures (the production company)… does not. They’d prefer a traditional 45 day theater-only release window. HBOMax won that fight for DUNE; Legendary likely wants another bite of the apple for DUNE II*. But, yeah, they’re gonna make a sequel. That was always the plan, after all**.
Moe Lane
*DUNER? DOUBLING DUNE? THE DUNE THAT CAME TO HARKONNEN? Wait, that last one isn’t actually all that bad.
**Apparently this surprised people. I’m surprised that they’re surprised; I thought it was known that this was going to be at least a two-parter.
