Weekly Geekly Rundown for May 2, 2025
I’ve mentioned a couple of times that one of the ways I paid my way through undergraduate education was as a 21/Craps dealer in a small Reno casino. My time in the profession had two significant effects upon me. It took the interest in statistics that playing role playing games had given me and dialed it to 11. I love examining the statistics of things and examining all kinds of games of chance. It also removed from me any desire to gamble. While I find the games and the statistics around them to be fun and interesting, I find the task of playing them for money depressing.
Well, depressing when done in a casino setting. When games of chance are used to raise money for charity or to pass time in various community centers, then I’m all for them. Games of chance are fun. Watching people lose their monthly income just to spend time talking to staff who are contractually obligated to entertain them in a purely transactional way is depressing. I know. I lived that life.
There is a reason that most of my customers enjoyed the experience and that’s the fact that the games themselves are interesting. Sometimes they are only interesting because money is involved (Blackjack) and sometimes they are interesting because there is a kind of tension that builds as play continues (Craps). While not a formal casino game, Bingo falls into that second category. As each ball is pulled/dropped from the hopper, tension mounts to see if you or someone else is a winner. Kino, the casino lottery variant of Bingo, completely lacks this kind of excitement in my opinion and I think a part of the reason why is that the casino atmosphere makes it feel like a less communal experience. Kino in a casino is dull unless you win a big prize. Bingo in a community center or at a fundraiser is an exciting experience, even if the “big prize” is a Stitch bubble machine. Then again, a Stitch bubble machine is pretty awesome.
Play wise, it’s the tension that adds to the fun of Bingo. Statistically, there’s an interesting feature that makes Bingo mathematically exciting. Nick Arnosti has an interesting blog post discussing the Bingo Paradox, which is the fact that you are three times more likely to win Bingo with a Horizontal Set than with a Vertical Set. His post on the topic includes R code where you can simulate the exercise, but my second favorite pop culture mathematician (and favorite math comedian) Matt Parker has a video that explains how and why this is true. He even bought a cheap Bingo set to demonstrate the phenomenon.
It’s a ton of fun, at least for a statistics geek.
The Lamentations of Luke Y. Thompson
Luke has a ton of reviews this week ranging from the review of Thunderbolts* he published here earlier in the week to reviews of obscure documentaries. Two of his reviews were of particular interest to me, the first because it’s a sign of things to come as more artistic works fall into the public domain. The second because it was the topic of discussion for me and Jody earlier this week as we debated whether it was appropriate to watch it or not.
A lot of properties either have already entered the public domain or are soon to do so. Sherlock Holmes is now fodder for anyone to play with. So too is John Carter of Mars and Conan the Barbarian is just around the corner. Sure, you’ll have to worry about trademark violations and be careful about the stories you tell, but the characters themselves and some of their stories either are or will be open for the public to play with. Disney, that company most reliant on public domain tales and also a most ardent defender of expanding copyright, has seen a couple of their cornerstone money makers enter the public domain recently.
First came Winnie the Pooh. Though Pooh is the creation of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, and thus their IP, the character has been licensed and modified by Disney to the point that the first image most people have of Pooh in their minds is the Disney version. Almost immediately after entering the public domain, the character was featured in a horror film because nothing says creativity like subverting childhood expectations and making a beloved childhood character into a murderer. That doesn’t mean the Pooh horror movies weren’t entertaining, I agree with Luke that they were, just that Todd Macfarlane Oz edgelord adaptations aren’t at the forefront of the kinds of creative inspiration that the public domain can create. There’s a big difference between Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley on the aesthetics scale, though I enjoy both. Claudia Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Ms. Tilney Mysteries are a nice balance of the fun of Grahame-Smith’s work and the complexity of James’s.
With Mickey Mouse (at least the Steamboat Willie version) finally entering the public domain, it didn’t take long for Steven LaMorte (The Mean One) and Matthew Garcia-Dunn (Marvel’s Midnight Suns video game) to put together a twisted version of Steamboat Willie in the horrific vein. As
knows, I’m a fan of the Midnight Suns game and that’s probably enough to convince me to give this a try, pending a good review from Luke and his review is just favorable enough to tilt the scales in its favor. Luke’s review is skeptical, but also highlights the hard work of the cast and crew.
Jody and I were just talking about Rust and whether or not we should watch a film where the lead actor accidentally killed a talented young cinematographer. Jody’s initial reaction was that it would be kind of morbid to watch it, but she and I eventually came to the view that it would be honoring the hard work of the artist. Brandon Lee’s The Crow, for all the flaws resulting from his inability to finish the film, is one of our favorite films. The power of his performance, combined with the tragedy of his death, add deeper emotional impact to that film.
Luke’s review of the film highlights how the death of the cinematographer affected the film, but also touches on one of the truisms of lower budget films with regards to how much they pay attention to sound. Sound is one of those things that doesn’t cost a lot, a good screenplay from a new screenwriter is another, that doesn’t cost much but can significantly improve a film. I recently rewatched The Last Picture Show and while there were some moments of film editing, including one direct reference to a Hitchcock camera shot, that pulled me out of the film, the subtlety of the sound design kept me rooted in the world of the decaying Texas town. Bogdanovic relied heavily on how forgiving Black and White can be for suspension of disbelief, but he did not cut corners on sound. It is thoughtful and well done and sound is often what really makes or breaks a lower budget film.
Luke spends a good portion of a paragraph discussing the weakness in sound design early in the film and that is some cause for concern, but his praise of the early cinematography suggests that the film will be worth seeing for the reason Jody and I want to see it in the first place. We want to see the last work of a visual artist and imagine what her later work might have been and what we lost.
Courtney Howard’s View from the Center Seat
Courtney Howard had a few capsule reviews this week that she posted on social media, including on her LulaMayBelle account on Twitter. She gave a wholehearted statement of support for the latest Final Destination film, saying it was a franchise favorite. In particular, she highlighted a scene with Tony Todd as particularly emotional. Todd was a prolific actor who, in addition to being Candyman, was a key character in the Final Destination franchise. Tony Todd was one of those actors who made a film a must see for me just to watch him chew the scenery.
Since the film isn’t due to be released until May 16th, I hope that Courtney gets to write a full review of the film. Whether that happens or not, her microreviews have me itching to see this one.
I read the first two entries in
’s TTRPG Systems series of articles and I highly recommend them. They jump right into the conversation of how much and how the mechanics and setting of a role playing game’s system really matter. I’ve got thoughts on this debate and expressed some of them in my essay on how D&D has become more like GURPS since Wizards of the Coast purchased the game.I Liked D&D More Before it Became GURPS
“Almost all old school dungeon delving is an off the cuff Player VS DM negotiation made in the moment.” — Jim Zub
There are times when I prefer a Mechanics Based approach to role playing games and there are times when I prefer a Collaboration Based approach. Finding the right balance, and how rules can improve the Collaboration Based approach, is a great topic and Kate really gets at the core of the issue. Can’t wait to read more.
In a post fitting the coming of Walpurgis Nacht, Dr.
has a discussion of the various theories regarding the origin of Stonehenge. The specifics of how the architectural marvel was built has been lost to time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun speculating. Dr. King’s discussion ranges from Giorgio A. Tsoukalos to James I, with a dash of Demons, and I think deserves to be turned into a video of its own.I cannot think about Stonehenge without two things coming to mind. The first are the musical numbers by Spinal Tap and Ylvis poking fun at our obsession. The Ylvis one has a moment of cringe, but is funny overall. The second is the film Excalibur wherein John Boorman visually connects Stonehenge and other megalithic structures with the magic of a dying age.
Making this a newsletter that discusses intellectual property law more than once,
discusses what may be a major Intellectual Property mistake by Wizards of the Coast, a mistake that might be as mockable as when TSR put the trademark symbol on Nazi miniatures in the Indiana Jones Role playing Game. In this case, Hasbro is trying to trademark the Deck of Many Things. Dave points out many of the reasons this is complex, but doesn’t mention one of the funniest things, that according to the D&D rules when using a regular deck of cards the Joker with the Trademark symbol is the Fool.
Speaking about TSR and trademarking Nazis,
has a post on exactly that topic, because of course he does. While I am pretty sure I’d like to meet any and all of the people who take the time to read this Substack, and that a grill party with free flowing bourbon with all of you would be a great time, and seem like mind readers some times. I’ll be thinking about writing about a topic and one of their posts will pop up in the reader on just that topic.As an aside, the Indiana Jones Role Playing Game is a highly underrated game. If you include the character creation rules from the Judge’s Survival Guide, it’s a very playable game that is a ton of fun. It isn’t set up for campaign play though as the rules, in a way Kate would appreciate, focus more on the characters as fully developed but in need of boosts of fate from time to time rather than as characters gaining in power and abilities over time.
The first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play was published in 1986 by Games Workshop as an alternative to Dungeon & Dragons. The game was set in the “Old World” setting that was developed over time for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures wargame. This setting was a fantasy version of Europe during the Middle Ages, but one filled with anachronisms and biting social commentary. The Old World is one of the first “grimdark” settings in role-playing games, it is a place where danger (whether demon or disease) lurked in the shadows.
The mechanics of the first edition are a combination of an easy to understand percentile based system with some subsystems like damage based on the Warhammer wargame. It was part of a wave in gaming to get adventure out of the dungeon and into the city and the adventures written for it are top notch. The gameplay is straightforward, works well with narrative game play, but is one where players should think twice before having their characters jump into combat. Life in the Old World can be nasty, brutish, short, and diseased for those who don’t tread carefully. That first edition is still available in digital form.
The latest edition by Cubicle 7 adds elements of modern game design to the mix and in doing so manages to keep the rich narrative elements of the original game while allowing for characters to be slightly more heroic. The combat system is slightly less lethal and has fewer “dead” turns where neither the characters or their opposition get closer to victory. The older version of the game could be frustrating as there could be several combat rounds filled with “I miss, Dave misses, Christina misses, and all the Orks (sic) miss.”
Under the older system, combat could go from stalemate to “total-party-kill” in the blink of an eye with a combination of “hurry up and wait” and “wait, wait, there has to be something I can do to save my character.” The new system gets rid of the swingyness between failure and death and in doing so creates a balanced experience with dynamic and entertaining combat better suited to the modern gamer. It takes a while to learn, it’s pretty unique in how it’s executed, but once you get the hang of it play goes quickly.
As for the other elements of game play, Warhammer Fantasy has always been a game well suited to narrative game play. So much so that the 3rd edition, the edition prior to this latest entry, used the system that eventually became the foundation for the Star Wars narrative rpg by Fantasy Flight Games. The current edition isn’t as storyteller based as that narrative dice system, but it comes from a long line of games that provide both engaging combat and engaging non-combat mechanics and opportunities.
The first three songs in the Newsletter this week are the product of early morning rideshares with my daughter History as I drove her to school two days this week. When she’s the passenger in the car, she is in control of the audio selection.
Starting off the playlist is Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez. It’s a nice blend of modern pop with 1950s Roy Orbison sensibilities. It feels both modern and classic and is the kind of song I could have played for my Oma to show her that “the kids are alright.”
I’m always up for a Bruno Mars tune and APT. by Rosé and Bruno Mars highlights two of his strengths, his ability to choose great duet partners and his beautiful voice. The song refers to a drinking game and is a fun party song that is already my summer jam.
Finishing off History’s contributions is Literary Nonsense from Eve. It’s a very peppy song that History first heard in a rhythm game she plays called Hastune Miku — Colorful Stage. She’s built an entire playlist of songs that are featured in the game and each song demonstrates one of the reasons she loves to play the game.
In addition to listening to a lot of “Classic Rock” (aka Alt Rock from the 90s/00s and Rock from the 60s and 70s), I listen to a lot of classical music. So much so that I’ve come to be a pretty big fan of Salieri. That’s right. Salieri, the “hack” from the movie Amadeus. As much as I love Miloš Forman, and he’s one of my favorite directors, the amount of damage his film and Paul Shaffer’s play did to Salieri’s reputation is almost unforgivable. I say almost because before the slander of those works, people had begun to forget who Salieri was and thanks to them people started listening again. Salieri was a teacher to Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mozart. Sometimes when a teacher gets outshined by all their students, you need make sure to remember the teacher.
From Classical Music to actual Classic Rock, I’ve been in the mood for Supertramp lately and Goodbye Stranger is about as good as it gets for them.
It never fails to follow that after listening to peak Classic Rock at its almost highest level of self-indulgence (the highest level being Prog Rock), I ache for the anger and simplicity of the music that emerged as a reaction to that self-indulgence. Sometimes, and sometimes is all the time, I need a little Punk in my life and why no Misfits and We are 138?
The choice of film this week was a challenging one as the Rundown falls squarely between Walpurgisnacht and May the Fourth Be With You. Do I chose to embrace the pagan celebration of when the veil that separates the world from the fey are at their weakest and we can almost hear the Horns of Elfland? In that case, I might recommend something like Häxan which explores the connection between mysticism and modern psychology. Do I celebrate the nostalgia of childhood and recommend one of the dozen or so Star Wars movies that have been made to date?
These were the questions I was asking myself all week long. After posting an article about Traveller celebrating MayDay, I figured that I’d covered the Star Wars base already and should recommend a “witch” related film. I know that some of my current and former students read this and they often point out that I tend to recommend films that are a bit too old. If one of them happens upon this post, and if I want them to actually watch the movie, I’ll have to pick something more recent than 1922’s Häxan as my choice for the week even as I’ve written enough about it that you should probably be running on over to the Criterion Channel to watch it. Maybe, as with Nosferatu, someone will remake it in a way that comes at the subject from an inspired angle.
Thinking of more recent films that touch upon the thin veil between Elfland (the Feywild), the first film that came to mind was The Watchers starring Dakota Fanning. That film is well shot and has an interesting premise about the connection between humanity and the supernatural, but I wanted to go with something a little scarier and that brought to mind the 2017 film The Ritual. The film features some wonderful atmospheric cinematography and I very much like the creature design in it. The movie ties into Nordic myth and features a foe that is a threat to both body and mind. This is the kind of film that makes you rethink the stories you read as a child and after seeing The Ritual, how I visualized the Jötunn as Loki and Thor wandered through Jötunheimr was markedly different than my childhood vision.
My favorite fairy tales are those that remind us that Elves and Fey are things to be feared and not the glorious and beautiful servants of light that Tolkien gave us. I love Tolkien’s Elves, but they are not the Elves of the Copse and Holler. They are not the creatures who live in the Schwarzwald. The Moder of The Ritual is that kind of creature and this is a film that influenced my personal D&D campaign setting.
In retrospect, the Stonehenge scene in This is Spinal Tap was life-changing. From that day forward I cannot think of Stonehenge without picturing that scene and my friends and I constantly quoted it. Just thinking about it makes me laugh even now.
Damn. I don’t watch too much horror these days, but The Ritual looks like something I need to see. Thanks for getting it across my eyeballs.