So this is an experiment. I like genre-mashing. I also like drawing on the tropes of Western media to give genres a new spin. I also think the Game WISH (original) is the bee’s knees. Thus, I’m kicking out Monday Mashup as a writing exercise. The format is pretty simple: I’ll toss out a roleplaying game/setting and a piece of pop culture, and you write up a brief rendition of a possible campaign that incorporates ‘em both in whatever unhealthy form you prefer. If people dig it, I’ll keep going, and if not, I will continue to chortle about my weird ideas in privacy. This week: the forensic scientists of CSI meet Greyhawk. Go!

Daily Kos asks how best to protest the 2004 GOP convention (original). Gee, I dunno — how do you best protest a legitimate, legal gathering that’s part of the normal flow of American politics when you yourself rest firmly within the political mainstream? It’s not the protesting itself that strikes me as wrong. I’m all for protesting at political events. But Kos is someone who participates quite actively in the two party system; he really doesn’t have any business arguing that the Republican side of the process shouldn’t happen. If he just wants to protest the timing of the convention, he ought to be a touch more explicit in his wording. “What do you guys think would be the best way to protest the timing of the convention,” perhaps. ...

“Couple of days of light posting there, huh?” Yeah, a lot of my creative energies got sidetracked over here (original). It’s a wiki for the Unknown Armies game I’m in. I kind of blame John (original) for reminding me what a cool medium wikis can be. They’re basically Web notebooks — anyone can edit a page, and it’s very easy to create a new page. Active wikis grow like ivy, twining in odd and unexpected directions, creating a hedge maze of hypertext. ...

Time for a risky comparison. In the year 2003, we’ve had three high-profile examples of a minority body using their legal ability to either effect or prevent change. The first is the Democratic filibusters used in the Senate to prevent three (out of many) of Bush’s judicial nominees from reaching the federal bench. The second is the Killer Ds — the Texas Democrats who fled the state to block redistricting. The third is the California recall election. ...

WISH 59 (original) asks: Name three games you might use to get someone who has never roleplayed before into roleplaying. Well, it depends on the someone, of course. The games I’d use for my 12 year old nephew might not be the games I’d use for my mom. But, hey, here’s a shot at it. Feng Shui (original) is a strong first choice. Character creation is really simple, especially if you stay away from the martial artists. The genre is one that’s perfect for cutting straight to the action, and PCs are likely to succeed. The chances of a negative experience right out of the gate are pretty slim. Of course, it’s also a fairly violent game, so maybe not the best for Mom, which leads us to… ...

Short form of the controversy: Dave Winer and Harvard are throwing a one-day blogging convention at Harvard. The entry fee is $500; $250 if you’re a Harvard affiliate. This strikes some people as too high. Today, Dave explained why the fee was $500, as follows: 1. It’s absolutely non-profit. OK, good. Irrelevant to why the cost is so high, though. bq. 2. We will use the money to pay expenses for speakers and students who will get in for free, some of whom will have their expenses paid. ...

Remember what Warren Ellis said about Mark Waid, spiky metal things, and Marvel? Read that, then read this (original). “Joe’s done a lot to make right what has been an unfortunate situation,” Waid said. “Not only is there no bad blood, but the door is open for me at Marvel and in some form or another, there is more Fantastic Four in my future.” 10 of 10 for Mr. Ellis. Well done, sir!

Warren Ellis has some simple words of wisdom on the Mark Waid firing (original). Let it rip, Warren: I dunno. I used to know Mark. He’s been humped by Marvel two or three times previous to this. If you keep going back to a place where they fuck you in the arse with spiky metal things, then after a while people will simply assume you like it. It’s kind of a non-story. ...

Boston’s doing pretty well in the community wireless sphere, although perhaps not as well as Portland (original). Now Somerville is talking about business-based free community wireless networks. Not only is this fun times for me, it’s got cool potential as a prototype that could easily catch on elsewhere. Michael Oh is thinking of each network he builds as an instance of a larger concept, rather than building one-offs, which is the kind of thinking that makes a difference in the long term. ...

The new — the last — Warren Zevon album comes out on August 26th. The buzz is good.