"You can't stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere."
- Mr. Universe (the original LMG)
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
50-Word Story: On the Christmas Bus
He resented boarding the bitter 5:24am bus. But after watching the driver’s kid sleep uncomfortably nearby, and lending his phone to a yellow-eyed man who, through tears, called in late for work again, he realized that spending two hours at his warm desk job on Christmas morning wasn’t so bad.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Veggie Stew
Veggie stew for a cold, wet day |
Ingredients
4 cups - vegetable broth
2 cans - fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can - black beans (drained/rinsed)
1 can - red beans (drained/rinsed)
1 large sweet potato (peeled/diced)
3 large carrots (peeled/chopped)
4 stalks of celery (chopped)
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup frozen peas
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
Combine prepped ingredients in a crock pot and cook for at least 3 hours. Easy-peasy.
Makes about 8 servings, 200 calories/serving.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Watch Glitch!
![]() |
Kathy and I with Conner Marx (left) and Jesse Lee Keeter (right) of Glitch |
My wife penned this in an email for some like-minded friends and it really hits the mark, so I had to share it here...
Last weekend I was in Seattle for a convention put on by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and Dead Gentlemen Productions, which produces entertaining online content, such as JourneyQuest (watch the first episode) and full-length movies such as The Gamers and The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising. Both series stem from the gaming/RPG/D&D genre and at the same time poke fun at and laud gaming. I was able to be an extra in some of the filming of The Gamers 3: Hands of Fate and experienced what these super-talented and hard-working people do to make it all happen.
I was also privileged to meet Tyler Hill, the director and writer of an online series called Glitch. (watch the pilot episode). The first season of Glitch is nearly complete with episode six to be released next week. If you grew up and/or identify with the video game generation or consider yourself nerdy, I think you'll dig this series. And if you do enjoy, please share!
At some point they'll do a Kickstarter or some other fundraising to make season two happen. The more people know about it and like it, the more likely it'll get made. At this point there is much uncertainty of that.
Cheers,BTW, the lead actor in Glitch, Jesse Lee Keeter, was just nominated for IAWTV's - Best Male Performance (Comedy) for his role. He's up against Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek Next Generation) for his role as 'himself' in Fresh Hell.
Thanks,Kathy
PS: Also watch this Bonus Life episode (my favorite)
Seth
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Apollo's Daughter
One day she observed the savages to the west and felt pity for them as they did not know the joy of reading or writing. So she taught them, though it was forbidden. When the Gods found out, she was banished from Olympus and instead transformed into the very language the savages used.
Her name - Ellemenope, is uttered every time they recite their alphabet.
[I wrote this on Facebook c.2010 and the joke still makes me smile -- SMD]
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Vasovagal Syncope
She missed again, the vein dodging the needle.
The body reacts
confused
And ineffective. Cold yet sweaty, those ears sink under water.
My bags unpacked, my threads untied, yet
I am gone.
Nothing remains, and the nothing is tranquil.
A second? An hour?
The cacophony begins, muted
The ears throb and resurface.
Voices touch, hands speak. I taste their worry.
And finally
I am back.
I wash in the relief of my return. I’m not ready.
[Written April 2010. I'm on a medication that requires my blood to be
monitored no less than once a month. Since starting this process more than 7 years ago, I have had a few vasovagal episodes like this one. - SMD]
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The Poem I Asked For
in fragments
over my desk.
I tried to sculpt it to my will
but it only cut
my flesh -
tried for hours, days, weeks,
slicing myself more, coating it
with my dried blood.
Hordes of flies reveled in my poem.
Disease infested, it only grew
until that came
blasting through
my dead-bolt door.
Your toad of a poem arrived,
feasted itself on my massive poem
unyielding, even when it grew full.
It wouldn't stop
Exploding, a sickening squirt.
Flies, blood, entrails,
bile, and shards
enveloped me, my house
with a vast loden fog killing
my neighbor's pit bull.
I called you on the phone
said Shit
said I had a twenty pound sledge.
A twenty pound sledge
and was coming over to thank you.
* * *
[c.1996. This is one from a poetry writing class at University Nebraska - Kearney. There's another that was better (Fridays with Harry) but I've lost it (which grieves me to no end). Another one that I like was called Summer Chickens. I will share if I can locate it) - SMD]
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Hide and Pee
[I originally wrote this back in March 2011, just after my daughter turned three. I'm posting it here mostly for me to capture the snapshot -- Seth]
I’m sick of changing diapers. It’s been over three years (yes, this is minor compared to some people who have been changing multiple kids for over a decade, but I digress) and for the last 14 months or so it felt like the end was near, but alas – like showing up 11 days late – she has decided that she should not be hasty.
I’m sick of changing diapers. It’s been over three years (yes, this is minor compared to some people who have been changing multiple kids for over a decade, but I digress) and for the last 14 months or so it felt like the end was near, but alas – like showing up 11 days late – she has decided that she should not be hasty.
She knows though, that I get very happy when she uses her potty, perhaps a little too happy. This past father/daughter weekend found us upstairs playing hide and seek. I decided to make things difficult by flushing the toilet and then quietly slipping across the bedroom into the walk-in closet and behind a row of hanging clothes.
It worked – she was very fooled. First checking the bathroom before checking her bedroom then our bedroom, then her change room. All the while calling out “Daddy! I know you are up here!”.
After several seconds she changed tactics “Daddy! Are you down stairs?” Pause “Daddy, Where are you?” Pause “Daddy?” Longer pause --
“Daddy! I put a pee-pee in my potty! You can come out now and you will be soo happy!”
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Fries and Shine
![]() |
Ho'made Fries and Shine |
This morning Kathy asked me to create something similar using a mushroom gravy (we had some mushrooms from Costco that were on their way out) and tater tots.
Searching google, I decided to try this Easy Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy Recipe. Swansons' 100% vegetable broth made up the base. For the soy sauce, I used Bragg liquid aminos and for the poultry seasoning I used Fox Point from Penzey's Spices. I topped it off with a Morningstar Farms soysage pattie (wow -- this is turning into one big advertisement). The whole thing turned out really well. You should come over some time and try it ;)
Fan Fiction: 'Zen' vs. Tony Becerra
PREFACE
In May
this year, I joined some of the cast and crew of JourneyQuest along with Clint
Black (and surprise guest Cheyenne Wright!) from Pinnacle Entertainment Group
in playing a session of Savage Worlds set in the JourneyQuest universe. The following piece was written a few weeks after that amazing weekend. At the time,
MAYHEM! was in full swing. MAYHEM!, a 64-character tournament held on Facebook,
featured characters from Dead Gentlemen and Zombie Orpheus matched up in
unlikely fights to the death (though not all were fatal). Fans voted for who would
advanced and creative writing juggernaut, Jimmy McMichael, had to compose a short story
that explained the match. In meta-game fashion, Tony Becerra (1st Assistant Director to writer/creator/director Matt Vancil) had just stolen victory from Mort Kemnon by
threatening cast, crew and fans to vote for him (video link) or else Gamers 3 would suffer.
He looked to be doing the same with his upcoming match with Carrow. At that
same time, fans were pushing for Zoe Adastra and Wren the Bard to pair up and
advance as ‘Zen’. The bout between ‘Zen’ and Tony Becerra seemed inevitable and
I intended this piece of fan fiction (if Jimmy and Matt felt it was good enough) to provide
the account. Although the Zoe/Wren duo did happen, Carrow crushed Tony. This account
now only exists in another reality.
Thanks to Clint Black for creating Mubi (aka Mooby).
Thanks to Clint Black for creating Mubi (aka Mooby).
“ZEN” VS.
TONY BECERRA
Complete
darkness.
An
echoing breaker switch accompanied by a piercing overhead light splits the
darkness onto a wide ring of nondescript cement floor. Beyond the ring is still,
impenetrable darkness.
Tony
paces around his side of the ring and taunts the darkness with the binder, “Zoe!
Wren! Come out and play or I’ll start tearing out more pages of Gamers Three!”
![]() |
Tony Becerra |
Becerra
rolls his eyes, “You are not Zoe.”
“No.
Not Zoh-ee,” agrees the orc in halting English. “Mubi Firehair, I am.”
“What
the hell does that mean?”
Mubi thinks for a moment, and then in stilted English, as if repeating memorized
sounds, “I am a contractually obligated character who will be appearing in the
JourneyQuest universe sometime in the future.” As he says this, he flips open
his robe and unclips two fist-sized glass spheres from his black leather belt.
Becerra
scoffs, “Whatever.” He snaps his fingers loudly, “VANCIL!”
Flash! — Poof! Matt Vancil appears.
“Yes,
Master Becerra?” replies Matt sheepishly.
“Write
this — thing — out of existence. And bring me Zoe and Wren!”
“I,
I, I can’t, Master Becerra.” Vancil replies, visibly wincing.
“You
dare?!” Becerra shoots him a stare. A stare Vancil knows all too well.
Matt
drops down to his knees crying, grasping for Tony’s pant leg, “Please! Please
don’t hurt my family, Master Becerra. It…it’s not my fault,” he sobs. “I’m
not writing this story!”
Another
eye roll and a sigh. Tony kicks off the blubbering writer. “That’s. Just. Great.” A second snap, “JIMMY!”
Flash! - Poof! Jimmy McMichael appears on the other side of Tony.
Flash! - Poof! Jimmy McMichael appears on the other side of Tony.
“Yeah,
Tony?” McMichael isn’t subservient. What seems to be asthma kicks in and he
coughs, although the cough sounds more like *dickhead*.
“End
this…,” Becerra gestures quote marks in the air, “‘Official Mayhem Fiction’ -- Now.”
“Sorry,
no can do, ‘Master Becerra’,” Jimmy fingers quote marks back at Tony before
coughing again. This time sounding more like *asshammock*
![]() |
Wren the Bard |
Mubi’s
grin morphs into a sneer and he rolls the two glass spheres. They course loudly
across the cement, interweaving slowly and hypnotically toward Becerra’s feet.
Jimmy
continues, “I’m not writing this story, either. It’s being written by some fan
in St. Louis, Missouri.”
“Ooo!”
Wren appears at the circle’s edge to the far left of Tony. Rubbing her hands
excitedly together, “Did we miss anything?”
“I’ll
take that.” Zoe’s hand reaches from behind Tony and removes the binder from
Becerra’s grasp.
![]() |
Zoe Adastra |
“Entrancing aren’t they?” Wren chirps. “Oh, Zoe? You might want to step away -- quickly.”
The
glass balls roll to a stop at Becerra’s feet. He can see there is a word
written across each one. His eyes widen as he takes in the word ‘creative’
written across one ball and ‘commons’ written across the other.
“Nooooooo!”
Becerra yells before the scene is engulfed in two fiery explosions.
WINNER: “Zen”
Epilogue
The
scene re-focuses. Mubi Firehair stands silently over the balled-up Matt Vancil.
Both are near the small crater of cement where Becerra once stood. Jimmy is nowhere
to be seen, likely off drafting more fabulous accounts of these MAYHEM! bouts.
“Huh.
I wonder why we’re still here?” Wren asks, curious. She wonders over, away from
Matt and Mubi, to stand close to Zoe. A little too close. Zoe looks up from
the open binder, her one eye locking with Wren’s deep pools for several breaths.
A gust of wind from no particular direction catches their hair. Wren throws
her best smoldering smile at Zoe and delicately reaches for her shoulder.
“NO!”
Barks Zoe firmly. She slams the binder shut, slashes the wind away and points a
cautioning finger at Wren. “This will NOT be one of THOSE stories!”
“But…”
“Wren Birdsong!” Zoe says sternly as she grabs Wren's touch from her shoulder. “My smolder
is more perilous than you can possibly imagine.”
Wren
winks playfully, “Oh, I don’t know – I am a bard. I can imagine a lot of peril.”
“No!”
Wren
pauses, “Not even, a little peril?”
“…”
Wren
pouts, “Then why are we still here?”
“I’m
not sure,” Zoe looks around the ring, and then calls out “Whoever is writing
this better finish up! You may think you’re funny, but it is starting to bore
the fans and I’ve got a company to run
thank you!”
![]() |
Mubi Firehair |
Mubi,
accustom to post-explosion conversation, replies in slow, loud orcish, “Krysliul va abriul aka! Petkart udz.1”
Vancil’s
eyes light up, comprehending. He takes the card from the contractually
obligated character. A mischievous grin skims across his face and Matt casts a sideways glance at the back of his one-eyed nemesis as a final breaker
switch floods the scene in darkness.
* * * * *
1 - “It is dangerous to go alone! Take this.”
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Managing Kickstarter Perks During the Campaign
We’ve seen it before, a Kickstarter project gets wildly successful so starts having and hitting stretch goals. These are great for backers, but before too long they are wanting customized options (add-ons) and, of course, who wants to tell them no as they yell “shut up and take my money!”
However, after a while of adding both new stretch goals and add-ons, it become very difficult for backers to follow along. The best solution I’ve seen lately was set up for Deadlands Noir. They created a perks summary table that made it fairly easy to track. It didn't hurt that they kept their campaign pretty simple.
Other campaigns can be much more complex. Take, for example, Monte Cook’s exciting new project Numenera. It has 33 different pledge levels, plenty of goodies that came via reach goals and several items that can be purchased as add-ons.
I’ve tried to turn this into a simple PDF table to make it more clear. Unfortunately, blogspot will only let me post it as an image, so here's a .jpg version (click the image, then right click and select 'view image' then click on the magnifying glass to see the full thing). There is a lot of information here -- does this look easier to comprehend than plain text?
Sunday, September 2, 2012
At least I'm not Brent Spiner
I've been slowly catching up on episodes of the Nerdist Podcast. While walking Leeloo this morning (and then grinding away on a work related project due this weekend), I listened to two from earlier this year that synced together very nicely: Brent Spiner (ep. 212, released 5/30/12), and LeVar Burton (ep. 228, released 7/9/12). In both they promote Brent Spiner's webseries Fresh Hell which finished its second season this past July. It's a self-deprecating comedy where Brent plays himself after an 'incident' has destroyed his career.
Here's the episode of Fresh Hell referenced in LeVar's interview.
If you like it and want to start from the beginning, here is Season 1, Episode 1.
Happy Labor Day Weekend -- now back to work,
Seth
Here's the episode of Fresh Hell referenced in LeVar's interview.
"That guy's got the foulest balls in show business."
If you like it and want to start from the beginning, here is Season 1, Episode 1.
Happy Labor Day Weekend -- now back to work,
Seth
Friday, August 31, 2012
NERDLINGS ASSEMBLE! Support Hands of Fate
-->
You may recognize
me from – well, actually you probably don’t recognize me because I’m not an
actor, I don’t have a blog (well now I do. Welcome to my first post!), attend cons, or make videos of myself and post them to YouTube.
But today I am writing this because I am a fan of Dead Gentlemen Productions and they need the support of gamers like me and gamers like you
to help fund their next project – Gamers: Hands of Fate.
Please, come check out their work. Discover for yourself what they are capable of producing. Come watch the RPG cult-classic The Gamers -- which they released in 2002 and made while
they were in college. Come laugh at the farce and violence in The Gamers: Dorkness Rising --
which they released in 2008, and become enchanted with their webseries, JourneyQuest which, thanks to fan
support, is in the middle of its second season. In fact, if you haven’t seen any
of their work, if you know nothing about them – just watch the first three
minutes and 20 seconds of JourneyQuest episode one. It will suck you in.
Their business model is open-access distribution – anyone
with an internet connection can view their creations for free. But to fund these gems they need the community’s financial
support. Please come discover for yourself the joy, the fun, the farce. Come like them on Facebook and check out their
community. They respond to their fans. They are fans. They are us.
I am proud to be
a fan, to make an investment in their projects and to unlock these creations with them. I
hope that you will be too.
Please, give what you can.
Thank you.
Seth
P.S. Here is their Hands of Fate Teaser Trailer
P.S. Here is their Hands of Fate Teaser Trailer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)