RPG Party - This Saturday

Role-playing Game Geek Out Party!

When: Saturday, November 14, 2pm - Late
Where: My house in Costa Mesa.

>20 people coming. We'll have Call of Cthulhu, D&D, Dragonstorm, Unknown Armies, and FATE games going on. Two main sessions, before and after (pizza) dinner.

Email me for details, or check out the official Meetup Page. The event is full on Meetup, but we might be able to handle a few game crashers. Email me if you are interested...

Carl Sagan Music Video

If, like me, you wish astronomy was better represented in popular music, you will enjoy this hot new music video posthumously starring Carl Sagan...

Banjos and Decaying Civilizations

I've been burning through Jack Vance books lately. I was greatly entertained by the Tschai series and now I am just finishing up the Durdane trilogy. Next up are Demon Princes books. I love Vance's variations on the theme of civilizations evolving in isolation, usually in various states of drift, decay, and decadence. The character dialogue in his books is amazing, often hitting a chill-inducing sweet spot between hilarity and beauty.

Actually the main reason I like Vance is because he plays jugband music on his banjo, much like myself. I love the space jazz musician protagonist of the Durdane books.

I was surprised a few months back when the NY Times published a laudatory article on Vance.