Weekly Geekly for June 7, 2024
Americana, Mysterious Spillways, Cheese Races, and Goodness All Around
Circular Spillways and Cheese Races
When it comes to my recreational tastes, I lean a bit Clark Griswoldian. Maybe it’s because my dad made sure to take me to the Mystery Spot when we made the road trip to Santa Cruz, but I think it’s because each oddity reveals someone else’s inner geek and I’ve got a deep appreciation of all kinds of geekdom from collecting comic books to building giant dinosaurs to promote your roadside restaurant. In a very meaningful way, at least to me, roadside attractions and strange festivals demonstrate the creative spirit of humanity.
When I watched the Pixar movie Cars, the part of the story that hit my heartstrings the most was the celebration of the small highway town and one of my dream vacations is to drive Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago stopping at every little roadside attraction I can. I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting places and events to see. Last summer, my family drove out to the Shoshone Ice Caves and the nearby Mammoth Cave and Natural History Museum. Let me just say that as awesome as the two caves were, there was something about the Mammoth Cave’s Natural History Museum that really sang to me. It wasn’t so much a curated museum as it was an individuals collection of oddities, A LOT of oddities. I loved every minute.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I ventured into Eastern Oregon to visit the Glory Ring Gate Spillway at Owyhee Dam on a whim. It’s one of the few circular spillway’s in the United States and it was a very interesting thing to see first hand. Every time I look at it, I think of Hollow World stories and find myself inspired to play D&D or another RPG.
Speaking of interesting things to see, and do, on a whim. I’d like to introduce you to the World’s Greatest Sporting event. It’s more exciting than Formula 1, has participants who exhibit more joy than Thomas Müller, and is harder on the body than American Football.
The prize for winning this amazing sport? Not money. No, that’s for chumps who don’t truly love the competitive spirit. Glory? Maybe a little bit. Cheese? Damn straight Cheese! In a week when a new Wallace and Gromit movie is announced, what could be more fitting than an event wherein you can walk away victoriously with a 7–9-pound (3–4-kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese?
That’s right, I’m talking about Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, an annual event that takes place at Brockworth near Gloucester, England and an event that really embraces the roadside spirit. I know, I know. My readers from the Isle of Britain are saying “this is a distinctly British event with an honored tradition of over 200 years!” And they are right, but it still has an unbridled sense of fun that I absolutely adore. You might think I’m being sarcastic when I say that I love this event, but I’m not. I might be engaging in a bit of hyperbole, but watching the video below was the most fun I’ve had in a while. The Cheese-Rolling race is one of the most interesting sporting events I’ve seen since I first watched a Hurling match and Hurling is essentially Soccer with a baseball and bats.
America may be the king of fast food and films, but the Commonwealth is king when it comes to the creation of sporting events. From Australian Rules Football to Royal Shrovetide Football, the nation loves games. Not to mention that the modern miniature wargaming hobby, and thus table top role playing games (thank you Tony Bath), were created on the Isles.
A Brief Moment on My Approach Here at Geekerati
While I might, as I did above, venture into hyperbole from time to time here, I created the Geekerati Podcast and this Newsletter in order to celebrate things. There is far too much negativity on the internet, and in fandom in general, for too long. Fandom has been toxic since the 1920s (and probably earlier) and I’m working on a discussion of that for a future newsletter. I want Geekerati to be a place where people talk about the things they love.
That doesn’t mean that I’ll never be critical of something here. I’ve been critical of a couple of things in the past and I’m working on a post regarding some much talked about book covers that is critical as well, but when I’m critical here I want it to be with an honest and constructive intent. It’s one thing to discuss the lighting and editing of a film or how its plot has holes in it (see Luke’s review of The Watchers below). That’s fair game. It’s quite another to engage in the kind of meaningless rants that Roger Ebert channeled for the reviews in his two books of hateful rants. That’s just being mean and is time better spent praising something people might have overlooked.
This all comes to mind because I recently read
’s post over at discussing The Four Dark Laws of Online Engagement. It’s a wonderful read that discusses exactly why there is so much negativity on the internet and why growing a positive space like this one is a challenge, though I try to minimize that challenge via humor, deep knowledge of vast amounts of trivia, and sharing other people’s thoughts in the hopes of building community. Jay, like me, is concerned with political polarization. Unlike me, he’s not still struggling with his dissertation. Check it out!Weekly Film Article Cavalcade
The Lamentations of Luke Y. Thompson
Luke has quite a few reviews and articles this week, so I’ve only selected a couple of the ones that interested me the most. Either because they might be overlooked with “bigger” news/review discussions out there or because they are right up my alley.
In the first of two reviews I’ll be sharing from Luke this week, he gives a mediocre grade to the new horror film The Watchers. Given how critical the overall assessment of the film is, Luke does a good job of highlighting what really works in the film and he’s convinced me to see what he considers to be a flawed film. I expect he’s right about the flaws, but there seems to be enough there to interest me even if it will leave me wishing the film had something to say. I often agree with Luke’s filmic senses, though I disagree on the overall quality of Lady in the Water. I think Lady in the Water is a brave and inventive film that does something rare in that it creates a new and largely original faerie tale. I put it up there with Sean Stewart’s Resurrection Man and Lord Dunsany’s King of Elfland’s Daughter as a story that got me to re-envision what a genre could be. That doesn’t mean that Luke is wrong about it being weird. It is weird. I just view it as a positive, where Luke’s review implies that it is a negative thing.
On the news front, Luke has some excellent coverage over at SuperHeroHype of the recent Netflix Animation announcements that included, among other things, the announcement of a new Wallace and Gromit film. That alone has got me excited for what Netflix has coming down the pike. So while I might be mad that I actually had to search to find Godzilla Minus One on the service on the day it released, so much for their algorithm predicting my tastes, I’m really impressed with what they are bringing to the service.
Luke’s been on the documentary beat a bit lately and my reading and viewing are the better for it. He’s got a review of the new true crime documentary How to Rob a Bank up over at AV Club and after reading it, the film is on my must watch list. Once again, the Netflix algorithm has failed to make a connection where a critic has come in handy for a recommendation. AI loses again.
Courtney Howard’s View from the Center Seat
Courtney Howard’s review of Ishana Shyamalan’s The Watchers is very similar to Luke’s. Both comment on how Ishana has learned well how to direct suspense from her father, but that the film overall fails to deliver real impact as the story unfolds. Luke credits a lot of that to the book, but Courtney is a little harder on the director for being unable to maintain tension towards the end of the tale. I’m a defender of PG-13 horror movies in general, Drag Me to Hell is a favorite of mine, and don’t think a film needs to be R to be scary. It does, however, require a consistent tone of suspense and I’m not sure The Watchers delivers. I’m still up for watching it, since I’m always up for seeing Dakota Fanning.
Mendelson’s Melodic Meanderings
For a detailed discussion of the documentary Movie Pass, Movie Crash from a man who is extremely knowledgeable about Hollywood finances, make sure to check out
’s latest podcast episode. He ties that financial mistake into a discussion of some pretty big mistakes happening right now.Glimpses from the Substackosphere and Bloggerverse
Are Algorithm’s Fun?
has a very interesting post over at his newsletter that discusses whether playing Game Theory Optimal poker is fun or not. I’ve been a fan of Geoff’s since early in the podcast days and still have my hardback copy of his first Kickstarter collection of Gametek essays. This particular post brought to mind two things for me. The first was a comment from Reiner Knizia regarding pure chance in dice games and whether that was fun and the second was my own experience as a 21/Craps dealer.The main question of Geoff’s piece is whether playing a game in a way that Maximizes the Nash Equilibrium is a fun experience. In a classic Prisoner’s Dilemma, it certainly isn’t but it might be in play under the right circumstances. I’ll let Geoff’s article do the explanations here, but as I mentioned it got me thinking about other “fun factors” in game play and my comments about that are below the link to his article.
A lot of wargamers and role players complain about resolutions that are purely due to chance. They want their actions to matter. Depending on the Lawsian/Allstonian player type (see Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering and Strike Force) a player might want all of their actions to automatically succeed or for every action to be a gamble. Most players want resolution to fall somewhere in the middle of the chance outline. If BoardGameGeek’s ridiculously low rating for Candy Land is any indication, many table top gamers want to maximize choice and minimize chance. Recent “story first over emergent story” advocates in the role playing game space also lean toward Pure Choice (either Player Agency or DM Story) over chance.
Reiner Knizia took this reductive mentality to task in his book Dice Games Properly Explained. Not only does he write a defense of pure chance as fun, he devotes an entire chapter to games of pure chance. As suggested by my article defending Candy Land, linked above, I love games of pure chance and think they are underappreciated. Sometimes having no control, and watching a story emerge, is the most fun.
That was the first thing that came to mind after reading Geoff’s piece was my time as a 21/Craps dealer when I was an undergraduate in Reno. That’s right, your host paid his way through undergraduate studies via gambling…other people’s gambling. I’ll set my Craps experience aside for a moment as though the game is pure chance there is a ton of choice for players and the croupier never plays. The only “play” I did as a croupier was invent cool banter and fancy ways to distribute chips.
Blackjack is different though. Even though there is some player agency in betting choices, though there is also a Game Theory Optimal way to play that involves counting (which is NOT cheating), the dealer plays via pure algorithm. The dealer never has any choice. When it came to game play, I was effectively a robot that had a return on investment of $x.xx per hand dealt. Even though this was the case, and even though I spent many nights feeling very sad for some of my regulars who were there not to gamble but for company, I often had fun. I had fun with the people at the table.
As you might guess, I’m a gregarious guy and the Blackjack table was often the perfect place for me. I got to work on my standup routines and chat with interesting people, often Techies from Silicon Valley looking to blow off steam. Those times were fun, and the playing was fun too, even though I was a mere automaton in game play.
More Game Design Conversations
by has become a regular read for me. I love reading game theory insights into game design. In this case I don’t mean Nashian Game Theory, rather Kosterian Game Theory of Fun game theory. I love how designers look at and examine game play.Indiana Jones and the Dodecahedron of Delight
has a really interesting episode discussing Indiana Jones merchandise that reminded me of the fun I had playing TSR’s old Indiana Jones Role Playing Game. Like the Marvel FASERIP game, the game got a lot of unjustified criticism back in the day for being too simple and for the kids. Unlike the Marvel game, it never really caught on which is too bad. If you own the boxed set and the Judge’s Kit it’s a really fun experience. The chase rules in the Judge’s Kit are some of the best I’ve seen in any game ever.Luke Crane Visits Old School
Crane and his writing partner have been exploring old school games of late and asking/answering how mechanics create setting. They also started up a podcast and you should listen.Kyuss from Undead Spawner to Stoner Metal
touches on the origin of Kyuss’s band name in a recent. The name was inspired by the Fiend Folio monster created by Michael MacDonald, who was the Line Editor for R. Talsorian Games from 1990-1995. His work includes contributions to the Dream Park RPG, some writing on Mekton, and Home of the Brave for the Cyberpunk RPG. ask whether Zelda is Epic Fantasy or Sword & Sorcery, which is a question worth pondering. celebrates Robert E. Howard Days in his latest report. The Robert E. Howard Foundation, to whom I pay membership dues, recently acquired Howard’s original writing desk and continues to celebrate Howard and Howardian inspired fiction in all forms. I’ve got to get to Howard Days soon. is having another monthly giveaway over at . This month, he’s giving away copies of Lone Wolf game books. While Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and Tunnels and Trolls Solo Adventures created the market for role playing solo page turners, many consider Lone Wolf and Blood Sword to be the pinnacle of the genre. Choices made in one book have legacy effects in later volumes making choices really matter.Role Playing Game Recommendation
June 10th was the 40th Anniversary of the release of the movie Ghostbusters starring Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as the eponymous spectral warriors. Two years after the film was released, West End Games released the Ghostbusters Role Playing Game. Ghostbusters wasn’t the first licensed role playing game. Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo was released in 1977 by Fantasy Games Unlimited, Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier was released in 1978 by Heritage Models who release John Carter Warlord of Mars in 1977. That’s right, my beloved Planetary Romance accounted for the first two licensed role playing games.
Thought it wasn’t the first licensed role playing game, Ghostbusters set a high bar standard for all licensed role playing games to follow. Designed by Lynn Willis, Sandy Peterson, and Greg Stafford of Chaosium, the game had robust mechanics the allowed for very cinematic play. It did that job so well that Ghostbusters game system was used by West End Game to power their later Star Wars Role Playing Game. That’s right, the d6 System had its debut with Ghostbusters. What I find remarkable about the Ghostbusters game is that as silly as the subject matter was, the designers were among the most serious game designers in the industry. Sandy Peterson had designed Call of Cthulhu and Greg Stafford’s Pendragon is among the most serious treatments of any mythic cycle ever published.
Track down a copy if you can. It’s a great time. If you can’t find a copy of this game, and you want a little Ghostbusting fun, I can also recommend InSpectres and Goons & Ghosts. I have a particular fondness for Jared Sorensen’s InSpectres, a game that like Ghostbusters has influenced games with much bigger followings. If you are a fan of modern story telling games that are Powered by the Apocalypse, you should really check out InSpectres. It’s like those, but without the weird lingo.
Music Recommendation
This week’s music recommendation is about generational connections. My family alternates between Amazon Music on the various Echo’s around our house and YouTube on the television for our background music. It depends on which room we are in and our moods. Last week my daughters caught a glimpse of the live performance of The Offspring where Ed Sheeran joined them on stage. While my daughters have a wide ranging appreciation for their father’s music tastes, which range from Classical Music to Modern Pop, there was a sudden greater appreciation for it when they heard that Ed Sheeran liked The Offspring…a band that I frequently have on rotation. I know, I know, it’s pop punk, but one of my fondest memories is attending an Offspring concert with my wife. In part, because The Dickies were the opening act and I was able to discuss how the influence of the older band on the new band’s music.
Anyway Ed Sheeran does a bang up job joining in with the band and in wearing his Offspring T-Shirt to the show, he shows that (like me) he’s “that guy.” That’s right, I’m the guy who wears the team’s kit to the game and who wears the band’s shirt to the concert. I love what I love and celebrate it. I’m pretentiously anti-pretense.
As much as people complain, rightly, about the state of pop music today, Ed Sheeran is a true talent. Like Hosier, Lady Gaga, and a host of other artists, he comes up with really engaging songs. I could have selected one of a number of songs, but I chose Perfect because it hit the right spot with me this morning as I played through a number of his songs.
Speaking of perfect, I absolutely love The Offspring’s album Ignition. While later albums fully embrace their pop punk aesthetic, Ignition combines both punk and post-punk sensibilities. Their song Dirty Magic is a perfect mix of Cure influences, punk riffs, and proto-shoegaze sensibilities. When people dismiss The Offspring, I often think of times driving between Reno and San Francisco in my Volkwagen Bug listening to The Offspring and the complaints of the tiny engine as it drove over Donner Pass. It had a broken sunroof that would slip back as I drove up the incline and I swear that the “Thunk” of me slamming it shut as it slipped is in time with the drums on this song.
Classic Film Recommendation
Could there be a doubt as to what this week’s recommendation would be? The 10th was Ghostbuster’s Day for goodness’ sake. My family and I watched the entire franchise this week and here’s how we ranked them.
Ghostbusters (1984) — Classic. For all the improvised bits, this film has a tight screenplay and the effects hold up remarkably well.
Ghostbusters Afterlife — This was a perfect “legacy sequel” that combined nostalgia with good storytelling and that finished off with a tear jerking moment.
Ghostbusters 2 — There are some wonderful moments in this film, but those are muted by a lack of development time and a sense that the film was a money grab.
Ghostbusters Frozen Empire — This is exactly how not to make a legacy sequel. Where the first one had three parallel storylines that were fully realized, this film had one that lacked real motivations and the conflict seemed forced.
Ghostbusters (2016) — Like the Starsky and Hutch, 21 Jump Street, and Baywatch “parody remakes” this film fails where it winks at the audience, which is far too often. In many ways this marked the end of the “ironic remake” Hollywood period. We really wanted to like this film, as it does have a great cast, but in the end it lacked heart and sincerity. It’s okay, but could have been much better as its stronger moments show.
As much as I loathe the hate-click culture and often-forced negativity of the Internet, I have also worked for some corporate sites that mandate "positivity," and for the writer, they can be worse. In some ways, they create more haters by never allowing anyone to make fun of or criticize anything.
What always, always trips them up is they think "no politics" will make them immune to a certain kind of troll, yet the moment they promote anything with a gay or female lead, they get them anyway, and are specifically accused of politics, en masse.
Genuine positivity is a special quality worth modeling.