(Non-Game-Related)
Stuff I Like (At the Moment)
People
have told me, "I love your website. It
doesn't ramble on and on about whatever stuff
you like, you actually put content up...."
I
don't really know what they said after that,
because I was thinking, "People who have
their own websites get to ramble on and one
about the stuff they like? Why didn't anyone
tell me before?"
Without
further ado, let the ramble begin!
House
of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
This is a novel like few others. It's a horror
novel about a house. I know, you've heard
this one before. The house is bigger on the
inside than the outside. Still heard it, right?
Not like this, you haven't. Rather than me
trying to explain this nigh-unexplainable
book, just go to your local bookstore or library
and flip through it for a couple of seconds.
Suddenly, all will become clear -- at least,
clear that this is not at all an ordinary
novel. Actually, the more you get into it
the less clear it will be (but in a good way).
Shadow
of the Vampire. This is a good movie.
Great makeup effects on Willem DeFoe, great
plot, and John Malkovich is awesome (after
Being John Malkovich, he can practically
do no wrong in my eyes). I really mention
this because of one of the secondary actors
in the film, however....
Eddie Izzard. If you've never heard
of him, that's okay. He's the funniest man
on the planet (that's a quote from John Cleese
of Monty Python), but that's okay. Eddie's
a British comedian, relatively unknown in
the U.S., although his special on HBO won
some Emmys. There are many good Izzard websites
if you're interested in finding out more.
Try this
one or this
one. Really, though, what you should do
is try to find a tape of one of his shows.
His comedy isn't like that of other stand-up
comics. He doesn't really do jokes, and he
doesn't have much of a Seinfeld "examination
of everyday things" sort of approach
either. What he does do is talk about ideas
-- but in an incredibly funny way. His comedy
isn't for the slow-witted or the uniformed.
He examines what would have happened if Church
of England had run the Inquisition, how Dr.
Heimlich invented the Heimlich Maneuver, and
how Englebert Humperdink ended up with his
name (and that's all from one show). When
he's at his best, he's doing one-man skits,
suddenly erupting out of his monologue to
play the Holy Ghost talking to God and Jesus
like he's one of those unmasked villains at
the end of a Scooby-Doo episode, or miming
how blades of grass feel as they are run over
by a lawnmower. I can't recommend Eddie Izzard
highly enough. (And for the gamer in us all,
Eddie also talks about how Hitler clearly
never played Risk when he was a kid,
or he'd never have invaded Russia, and how
people invented the spelling of words like
"through" to win at Scrabble
-- it's not roleplaying games, but he does
talk about games a lot.)
Best
in Show. Written and directed by one
of the main forces behind This Is Spinal
Tap, and the same guy who brought us another
great movie, Waiting for Guffman, Best
in Show is a comedic look at dog shows,
done in the same sort-of-a-documentary style
of the previous movies. The greatest thing
about all of these movies is that practically
all of the dialogue is ad-lib. That's why
it seems so fresh and real, yet it's done
by people who are so talented that it's also
incredibly funny. It's satire that holds nothing
back -- it makes fun of everyone.
Grant
Morrison. Yep, I'm a comics fan. Wanna
make somethin' out of it, bub? Anyway, of
the writers in this peculiar genre, Morrison
might be the most peculiar. He writes super
hero stuff that's pretty good (JLA, and now
the New X-Men), but what he really does well
is the weirder stuff. Animal Man, Doom Patrol,
and the Invisibles. These might look like
super hero comics, but they aren't. They're
examples of someone who is truly on the cutting-edge
of creative thought, crafting stories and
storytelling methods unlike anything we've
seen before. All of Morrison's works contain
"big ideas." The stuff that just
makes you go, "Wow." It doesn't
just make your eyes widen in surprise --it
makes your mind's eye widen.
Seanbaby.com.
I used to go to The
Onion's site every week. Now I usually
do, but it's not as urgent. It's hilarious,
but not as hilarious as seanbaby.com.
Before you follow that link, however, be warned.
Seanbaby is crude and extremely harsh. That's
why he's SO DAMN FUNNY. (Sean also seems to
have some issues with homosexuals that really
bother me personally, but whatever...) Start
with his take on the Superfriends. It's great.
Really, really great. My wife always knows
when I'm reading his site but pretending to
be working, because I just can't keep myself
from bursting out laughing about every minute
and a half.
Moody
"Ambient" Music. "Ambient"
is one of those words people use to describe
something without realizing they're doing
so with wild inaccuracy. Saying you like ambient
music is like saying, "I like rock and
roll," or "I like hot food."
It's such a broad category that you really
haven't said much. Some musicians that I'm
listening to lately include: Delerium,
Dead
Voices on Air, Harold
Budd, and Brian
Eno.
My
Wife. Sue is the greatest. Period. I have
no idea what she's doing with me, and I sometimes
bet all our friends say the same thing. But
a website's no place to get all mushy, so
let me just say this. This website and
The Book of Eldritch Might certainly
would not exist without her direct efforts.
She's right there with me in everything I
do, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather
have both at my side and watching my back.
(There
are some links to Amazon in this column if
you want to get some of this stuff but, really,
I don't care if you get it from Amazon or
not.)
