Weekly Geekly Rundown for November 10, 2023
Tommy Lee Jones sells Japanese Coffee, Conan, Marvel SAGA RPG, and More
I Love Japanese Commercials
Okay, to be completely honest I love entertaining commercials in general, but there is something about the outlandish nature of some Japanese marketing that really appeals to me. When I first saw the Tom Selleck starring film Mr. Baseball, one of my favorite baseball films, I was really amused by the two sequences involving his filming commercials as a part of his employment with the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons. His “Big Hit, Happy Body” commercial cracks me up every time, in part because of the very amusing sound design. If I could buy the energy drink/supplement he’s pitching I would.
Selleck’s character’s journey goes from resistance to the fact that he has no choice in whether to participate in marketing and no control over the product, to acceptance that this is a part of his responsibilities to the team as a player. There’s a lot of commentary going on in the film about the balance of individualism, coordination, and obligation. Like Gung Ho, it’s a film that touches on what is great about individualism while also reminding us of the dangers of pure self-interest. It’s the lesson that all team sports teach those of us who played them. Individual greatness matters, and is valuable, but great individuals need a great team.
There’s a reason that Thomas Müller is my favorite soccer (Fußball) player and it’s because of his ability to make those around him better. It’s also because he managed the shift from being the scorer (he’s the 7th all-time scorer in the Champions League and 10th all-time World Cup scorer) to being an enabler (only Messi has more assists in the modern era and he’s 5th all-time) and team player (his 33 trophies are the most ever for a German player and put him just outside the top-ten all-time). That’s a lot of accolades for someone who almost never comes up in conversations of the “best players ever.” Sure, Messi is the GOAT, but Müller is an all-time great and it’s because he is the perfect balance balance between individual greatness and team playing. And he’s a better ball handler than people tend to give him credit for. He’s no Leroy Sane, who is so beautiful to watch, but he had two absolute “ankle breaking” shifts in Saturday’s game against Heidenheim. Neither resulted in a goal, but both made the defender look foolish.
Anyway, that’s a long side track to get to my main point which is that Tommy Lee Jones exhibits a Müller quality in this batch of commercials for a Japanese coffee company. He’s all in with his acting and they are a thing of beauty.
Luke Y Thompson and Courtney Howard’s Week in Reviews
Luke Y. Thompson’s Reviews
Luke’s review of Marvels for SuperHeroHype touches on many of the reasons that the film appeals to a certain audience. No, it isn’t politics. It is that they t “know and like” the characters who are “put them in a high-concept situation, shake, stir, and enjoy.” The problem, of course, is that not a lot of people know and like this batch of characters in comparison to the “Big 5.” Sure, Monica Rambeau is “My Captain Marvel,” and she is. If you ask me who my favorite Captain Marvel of all-time is, it’s her. She was an extra-ordinarily down to Earth cosmic hero. Her relationship with family was more in line with Spider-Man and other medium powered super heroes than those within her power class. I hated it when they pushed her aside and called her “Spectrum” and I wished that they kept the grounded nature of the character in the MCU, but they made her an obligatory orphan instead.
Luke’s review hints that we might see a glimpse of the Monica who became Chairwoman of the Avengers due to her empathy and natural ability as a mentor, but I’ll have to see that for myself…and I will for the space cats alone.
My own thoughts is that the MCU’s treatment of its women heroes has been a mixed bag. Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) an Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) were treated well by the writers and provided engaging stories to introduce them. Kate’s series is going to be a Christmas tradition in our home. Other women have been treated less well. From the slur directed at Black Widow in Joss Whedon’s Avengers film to the robotic nature the screenwriters gave Carol Danvers to reinforce that she is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, the MCU has also dehumanized many of its women.
That’s the obstacle they have to over come with me in Marvels and it is an obstacle that Luke suggests they have somewhat overcome in the film. They’ve done so by focusing on mentoring and team building, but given Luke’s comments on Brea’s performance I’m not sure they’ll have humanized the character as much as I’d like. Just to be fair here, one of the things I hated about Zack Snyder’s Superman was that he didn’t fully grapple the human side of the ultra powerful hero either and had Clark’s mom and dad continually tell him he didn’t owe anyone anything. Superman isn’t an Objectivist. Leave that to Rorschach and the character he’s based on (The Question).
Nicolas Cage dials up the Cage-ometer in Dream Scenario, but Luke argues in his review of the film for A.V. Club that the film could have been more if it followed through on all if its subplots.
Luke also has a positive review for the Hunger Games prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which is a film I was only vaguely aware is coming out. The YA to film pipeline diminished to a trickle in the middle of the Divergent saga, so I’d lost track of what was happening in that space. This one will not be a theatrical visit for me, but Luke’s review has convinced me to check it out on streaming.
Courtney Howard’s Commentary
The Egyptian is one of the great old Hollywood movie palaces and Courtney Howard has a great rundown of the recent renovation of the facility. As she recommends, if you find yourself in LA do yourself a favor and catch a film here.
Courtney’s major review of the week, and if you check her X-Twitter feed you’ll see that she’s watched a lot of films in that time frame, is for David Fincher’s The Killer. Her write up for FreshFiction.tv is overwhelmingly positive and this movie is on my must see list.
Classic Role Playing Game Recommendation
I love super hero role playing games. There was a time, before the digital explosion, that I could claim that I owned every super hero rpg that had been published. I do own the very first one and many that follow. My collection runs the gamut from highly complex games like Champions to abstract and indie games like With Great Power. You might think that my love of these games stems from the fact that I'm a HUGE comic book geek, and that's true, but I also love them for another reason.
It's because I find super hero games extremely easy to run on the fly and without hours or days of preparation.
This ease is due to a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost is that they are the among most accessible games for people to play. "Accessible?," you say, "but aren't Champions and Mutants and Masterminds tremendously complex when it comes to character creation?" Yes, they can be mechanically complex and that partially explains why they never caught fire in table top play in the same way that fantasy games have, but all superhero games are more accessible for new players than fantasy role playing games because they require less homework. At least, they traditionally required more homework.
When I run a fantasy role playing game set in a fantasy world, there is always a learning curve regarding the nature of the setting. If I play in an Eberron campaign I need to know certain things about the setting that are completely different than if I'm in Dark Sun, Oerth, Mystara, Westeros, or a million other worlds. For me, “setting matters.” When I run a fantasy RPG, I want it to feel like I’m running a game in that setting. That means no Tieflings or Giff in my Dragonlance game, but it also means my players can make the full anthropomorphic equivalent of the animatronics from Five Nights at Freddy’s in my Mystara game.
I think one of the reasons for the modern boom of fantasy based gaming is because the livestream play, and a lot of on table play, forgets setting and engages players using the “you’re superheroes” formula. In most superhero campaigns, all I need to say is "you will be playing a superhero team based in Los Angeles" and everyone is in a similar imaginary landscape. While I need to worry that the "magic system" of a fantasy setting fits the setting, comic books don't care about such things. Doctor Fate's cosmic scale mysticism stands side by side with John Constantine's arcane rituals, Amethyst's crystal magic, and Arion's Atlantean magic.
The stories also fall into place. How do the characters get together as a team? I'll just borrow the classic get the team together through misunderstanding and melee that made me fall in love with Marvel's The Champions or the first issue of The Avengers. This misunderstanding melee meetup provides a perfect opportunity to teach the players the rules of the game, build personalities, and introduce villains who will be used throughout the campaign.
One of the absolute best super hero games is TSR's Marvel Superheroes Adventure Game. It's simple card-driven system and game balance allow for every player in a combat to matter. Captain America is always an important contributor, and unlike in the new Defenders TV series, so is Iron Fist. The character sheets are easy to read. And my favorite part? The cards have enough information on them that by drawing about 5 from the deck, you can come up with an adventure on the fly with location, motivation, and villain determined at a quick glance.
Bonus RPG Nostalgia Bit
has a walk down nostalgia lane as he discusses the old “rubdown” transfer toys that were common in the 1980s. He gives an extensive overview of the AD&D sets and since I was lucky enough to get a couple sets when I purchased a new/old copy of the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide on eBay, I was intrigued to learn more. These transfers, and the Zargonians line of cardboard miniatures, have always intrigued me.
Recommended Reading
It’s not often that I find someone who walks the middle path with me when it comes to L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E Howard. I grew up reading de Camp’s compilations. Besides, Roy Thomas’ Conan comic books had been around for over a decade when young Christian first opened the pages of volume 1 of de Camp’s Conan paperback series, so as distant from Howard’s original as some of de Camp’s stories are they were much closer than many of the comics.
I think that Howard’s Conan is the best, to be sure, because Howard was an excellent wordsmith and a creative force of nature. I also think that his writings would largely be lost to the ashes of time if it had not been for the work of de Camp. I’m not just talking about the publication of the short stories and novel, those might have just been a cash grab after all. No, I am talking about the building of a community, a community of fans and critical historians. De Camp’s participation in the fanzine AMRA, as well as his publishing of select essays in paperback form with The Blade of Conan and The Spell of Conan and editing of The Conan Reader, The Conan Swordbook, and The Conan Grimoire, all make him an invaluable part of the Howard legacy.
Thankfully, there is a site called Sprague de Camp Fan that shares my balanced appreciation for de Camp, both the good and the bad. Let’s just say that de Camp’s evaluation of Howard’s suicide is a product of its time and is as accurate as de Camp’s own psychological self-diagnoses in his autobiography. It’s very Freudian and very mid-20th century amateur psychology.
De Camp Fan has a review of the recent reissue of de Camp’s novelization of the screenplay for the Conan the Barbarian movie and it inspired me to buy a copy to add to my Conan library. It’s also a review that discusses de Camp’s proper place in Howard appreciation.
Classic Film Recommendation
Can there be any doubt after the opening piece in this week’s newsletter. My recommended film this week is Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck, for all the reasons above and more. Starting this Friday, I’ll be recommending Christmas and Thanksgiving films until the passing of the season.
Musical Recommendation
In the grand scheme of internet memes, Wintergatan’s Marble Machine may have passed its zenith of popularity but I still think the song is a banger.
Dude - those Tommy Lee Jones Japanese commercials have made my week! He's of Chuck Norris epic proportions in those things.
Thanks for the mention, too!