Some polling tidbits from Iraq, via Juan Cole — 94% of Baghdad residents think Baghdad is more dangerous now than it was before the invasion. 29% of Baghdad residents have a favorable view of the US; 55% have a favorable view of France. On the other hand, countrywide, 33% of those polled think they’re better off now than they were before the invasion, but 67% think they’ll be better off in five years. Which actually strikes me as fairly accurate. Mind you, they could be thinking “as soon as the Americans leave,” which bodes poorly for our long-term ability to work with Middle Eastern countries. ...

Despite it being an LiveJournal thing, I find myself saying why not? Thusly: Your meme, should you choose to accept it, is to rank the following bands in order, from COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT to COULDN’T CARE LESS. To add value to this process, you must also add one band to the list, and remove one band from the list, before passing the meme on (including these instructions). David Bowie Bob Mould REM ...

Underworld did very impressive numbers at the box office this weekend, bringing in $22 million. That’s about a million bucks under what it cost to make it, which means it’s going to be a solid moneymaker. Expect Underworld 2 sometime in the next couple of years.

It’s Chris’s fault, really. After a pulse-pounding conclusion to his Morrisonian supers campaign, I have a yen to run Champions. Maybe it’ll pass. I’m probably safe, since I don’t think anyone in my current gaming group is a Hero fan. (“The chargen! It burns my eyes!”) (The UNTIL Superpowers Database makes it easy! Really!) Champions Universe? Maybe. Millenium City is a nice piece of work, and there’s a ton of background available. Or I could do my own universe and just reuse all the interesting super writeups from the CU; with novice Hero players, it wouldn’t matter. ...

Half of me wonders if Mark Millar’s latest column isn’t a prank. But — Orson Wells as Batman (original)? In 1946? Millar mentions a Lionel Hutton as the source of the news, and there’s no trace of any Lionel Hutton on the Web. I’m thinking the column is a prank. But, hey; it’s a glorious concept, and I’ll dream of Dietrich as Catwoman tonight. (And Cagney as the Riddler. Yum.)

George Alec Effinger fans will want to be making their way to “Golden Gryphon Press”: and picking up a copy of Budayeen Nights. Nine pieces of fiction, all set in the world of Marid’s Budayeen. Four of them are Marid stories, including one which is just the first two chapters of the never-finished fourth Budayeen book. One of them is the first few pages of what would have been the last Budayeen book. One of them is a Honey Pilar story, and it rocks. ...

Phil Brucato turned up at Gen Con this year with a game called Deleria (original), which was pretty clearly his vision of what Changeling should have been. And I’m a mark for shiny things, so you can tell where this is going. I pre-ordered. The book came in the other day. It’s a big hardcover with really shoddy binding. The inside is glossy and full cover and more or less a design mishmash that actually works fairly well. It’s got a hodge-podge feel to it that makes sense given the subject matter, and the art (lots of Photoshop manipulations) is OK. ...

The Kill Bill watch continues with this review from John Tynes. He says it rocks, with incredible fight scenes, but it’s crippled by the decision to split it into two parts. He also says, quote: Speaking of executed, the film features more severings of hands, feet, arms, legs, and heads than I have perhaps ever seen in a film before. Kill Bill is all about the delirious geysers of blood. Bold statement from a man who, I believe, has seen Takeshi Miike movies.

WISH 66 (original) is about plotting (and, tangentially, the necessity of same): GMs can spend hours designing an adventure and have their players take off in an entirely unexpected direction. How does a GM handle this—try and steer the players back to the designed plot, or hang back and see where the adventure goes? How does a player handle this? Stay on target or go with the flow? I’m inclined to disagree with the context of the question. “How does a GM handle this?” Well, which GM? ...

How to send literally dozens of fans into a tizzy in one easy step: “Sword & Sorcery Studios Announces d20 Versions of Adventure!, Aberrant and Trinity.” (original) I think D20 will probably work out just fine — it certainly isn’t any more of a handicap than the Storyteller system. I think Aberrant will have trouble getting past Mutants and Masterminds, but that’s White Wolf’s problem to worry about. It’ll be good to see Trinity back in print. ...