James Howard

I hadn't heard of South Peak Interactive. They apparently made a number of licensed games, none of which I played, from 1996 to 2000. (I remember the Dukes of Hazzard game on a game store shelf, at least.)

upper play field of pinball machine showing plastic castle, ramps, trolls.

Tina Fey, perhaps best known for her voice work on the 1997 Williams pinball machine Medieval Madness,

"The sea is calm tonight."

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the toilets of Death
Trod the six hundred.

Dudes rock

That would be a sick character select screen.

Counterattacks > party + riposte

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The Jets were originally the Sujets, in honor of French existentialists, the word *sujet* acknowledging that we are all beings and all animals. Then they shortened it to "Jets" because they didn't want to be boys named Su.

Clocko, the portable Alarmo pocket watch device.

The movies don't really get into it, but it's worth remembering that Denethor went crazy because he spent too much time doomscrolling on the Palantír and it cooked his brain

Do we get confirmation of an extended universe of musical fabrics, like satin, chiffon, or Lycra?

It's like they say, fin-de-siècle, keep-de-siècle.

I'm a lecturer now! I teach FYW and, currently, technical writing.

When I ran a writing center, Teams was indispensable for quickly communicating with staff in other centers, on other campuses. We also shared files we all needed to keep updated that way (like training records).

In my current role, I hardly touch it.

Beyond the Forbidden Forest. The game is basically walking amid scraggly trees with foreboding music. Then a monster comes and kills you. Yes, you're supposed to shoot it with an arrow, but it usually ate me first. I was six.

Might be risky to say, but X-Files? It wasn't nearly as good after David Duchovny left.

I like when General Organa shoots Poe. He was acting as a hot-head, refusing to believe that Admiral Holdo had a plan or that his actions got people killed. So it's satisfying to see that, no, your heart is in the right place but you need to shut up and listen.

I'd look at something like Savage Eberron. Eberron is a D&D setting that is low magic and more developed technologically, and it has swords and guns. Savage Worlds, meanwhile, is a more pulpy, run-and-gun kind of system that can be tailored. (If you do 5e, their Eberron comes out in December.)

Video games peaked with the Sega CD

Chakan The Forever Man always felt like a fever dream. I only played it on my parents' friends' oldest son's Sega, and only for long enough that it didn't matter I was no good at it. Lanky gothic sword man in dark environment would saturate my imagination.

I was watching District 9 with a friend. When Wikus was sprayed with the alien gunk, I felt a droplet hit the back of my neck - a leak? spray from a drink? I don't know. But I spent the rest of the film witnessing the transformation my body may have already begun in the theater dark. So gross.

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(From Serpent's Reach, C. J. Cherryh, cover art by Ken Barr)

One wonder of the original Iron Chef was how I experienced foods in multiply defamiliarized ways. This is from the jumbo mushroom episode. (They're huge!) Here, the smoked mushrooms rest on red snapper-wrapped stuffing, which is in turn wrapped in fat netting and then fried (picture) and roasted.

The Sonic runs is a serious condition that leaves hundreds feeling depleted every day

It's hard to understate how important Representative & former Speaker Hortman was to Minnesota politics - she was probably the most prominent woman politician & integral to the recent budget deal. She was also incredibly kind and a real person - Kiernan sold her girl scout cookies. It's horrifying.

Miss Piggy as Immortan Joe.

"What is defamiliarization, Iron Chef?"