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I said something flippant early this week about West Wing setting unreasonable expectations for a Presidency. Stephen Kaye (nice new blog location and layout) noted that some people do ask why President Bartlett couldn’t be president, which actually doesn’t surprise me. All this in preamble to today’s California recall news: Schwarzenegger asked Rob Lowe to join his campaign. Lowe is in fact a Democrat, and of course was a regular on West Wing. George Schultz and Warren Buffett are already on board the campaign. ...

WISH 60 (original) asks: How do you use different frames of reference or mindsets in your games? In what ways do your characters or NPCs in games you GM think differently from the people around you? What sorts of things make them different (societal, mental, physical, etc.)? Do you feel that you’re successful in incorporating and showing the differences? I was actually kind of taken aback by this question for a moment. Shifting mindsets is a really basic, low-level component of my gaming. I am, to borrow the r.g.frp.advocacy jargon, an immersive player. I don’t forget who I am — that path is not deeply healthy for me — but I like the experience of mentally filtering reactions through a different mindset. ...

This (original) is my favorite picture so far from the blackout. New York by night. That’s not a picture you’re going to see very often. I like the grainy effect produced by the cell phone camera; it’s very post-apocalyptic. Mad Max was here.

LiveJournal from the streets of Baghdad. Yeah, no kidding; rebelcoyote is a National Guardsman who’s serving a tour of duty over there. He’s got some interesting stories to tell. (Thanks to rollick for the pointer.) Of the other LiveJournallers who list their location as Baghdad, slownewsday, notquitejesus (original), and giantlaser are the only ones who seem to actually be in Baghdad. Or at least are making a good effort to fake it. The directory of people listing their location as Iraq has 161 people in it, so perhaps I will not sort through them just now. Best guess: “not many of ‘em.” ...

By way of Warren Ellis, we have open phonecam NYC blackout coverage (original). News moves at the speed of people.

Bravo started airing reruns of West Wing today with a six show marathon, so of course I watched the whole thing. Now I really recognize the vibe Mr. Sterling failed to achieve. Yep, that’s Sorkin, all right. I liked it OK. Snappy dialogue, noble and honest politicians and staffers. My new theory is that Democratic resentment (original) of Bush arises from his failure to live up to the example set by President Bartlet. (Sure, I’m joking.) But it’s a good show, and I like the impossibly witty characters. ...

When I read about Bush dissing Schwarzenegger, I can’t help but think of Dana Carvey’s voice. And I know that’s wrong of me. “It is the biggest political story in the country? That’s interesting. That says a lot. That speaks volumes. Oh, I think there’s maybe other political stories. Isn’t there, like a presidential race coming up? Maybe that says something.” He can’t possibly have said that as snippily as I’m imagining, right? ...

What can I say? I thought everyone had read the Narnia books. OK, another Mashup. Rules are here. Your media item of the day is Neuromancer: think ever-speeding pace of change, think future shock, think new types of intelligence. Go.

Let’s take this meme out for another spin. Yep, it’s time for another Monday Mashup. Ryan made a suggestion which I’m going to take up. He pointed out that a lot of respondants were interested in the idea but didn’t know enough about Greyhawk to take a stab at it. He suggested that I should pick a piece of modern media, and let people choose their own game for the purposes of adaptation. I think he’s right. Thus, how to participate: pick a roleplaying world and talk about how you’d use the specified book/movie/TV show/whatever as an inspiration for a campaign or one-shot set in that world. You can post on your own blog or LiveJournal or in the comments here, as you see fit. This week, your mashup subject is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (The 1978 remake is also valid fodder.) My contribution follows.

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!