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Many of us 80s children have fond memories of the first two Savage Steve Holland opuses, Better Off Dead… and One Crazy Summer. John Cusack’s amiable everyman teen demeanor was the perfect foil for Holland’s insane vision. His third movie, How I Got Into College had no John Cusack and generated few fond memories. But it’s on HBO Go until May 1st. Corey Parker, Lara Flynn Boyle, and a pretty crappy script. Savage Steve didn’t write this one. Philip Baker Hall in a bit part? Nora Dunn and Phil Hartman cameo? ...

Yo, Unknown USA people! Were you aware of Anais Mitchell’s folk opera, [Hadestown](http://web.archive.org/web/20160915135516/http://web.archive.org/web/20160915135516/http://hadestown.anaismitchell.com:80/ (original):80/) (original)? It’s just a folk opera retelling of the Orpheus myth set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Great Depression, no big deal. Justin Vernon and Ani DiFranco are part of the cast. I may be the last person to know about this.

Awesome first six weeks! At which point we had a major reorg at work and I went from doing architectural work and consulting to managing an awesome team of 20 people. No regrets, but it does mean I can’t work from home as effectively, particularly for the first couple of months as I get familiar with the team and vice versa. Thus, no more Friday AM sessions and I’ve had to drop out of the course. ...

Movies reviewed this week: Magic Mike.

Movies reviewed this week: Jenny Lamour, Two Men in Manhattan, Rififi, Singapore, Macao, and The Shanghai Gesture.

I got into CopyrightX! I’m very excited about this; it’s a subject near and dear to my heart and admission is competitive. The course begins this week with readings, a video lecture, and a discussion group on Friday. The syllabus is online (original), for the curious. My discussion group looks fairly amazing. We have a couple of techies, at least one lawyer, an academic – really varied group in terms of age, careers, and especially location. Unsurprisingly, it’s a bunch of people who are good at expressing themselves with the written word. I’m finding myself excited about interacting with this bunch, which I didn’t really think about or expect. ...

Movies reviewed this week: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Movies reviewed this week: Rock of Ages and Her.

Movies reviewed this week: Frances Ha and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Years apart, actual quotes. It’s interesting how two of my favorite designers approached the same problem. Unlike a lot of games out there, InSpectres didn’t start as an idea for a cool setting or anything like that. What I wanted to do was try designing a game that “fixed” some problems I saw in similar games that dealt with investigation (no names, please). That problem is what I call the “murder mystery” plot. Basically, it goes like this: the players stumble across a mystery of some sort. The GM then provides clues (in the form of helpful or not-so-helpful NPCs, scraps of forensic information or first-hand knowledge of the event). If the players are smart, they’ll figure it out. If not, then the GM has to guide them along until they do figure it out. In effect, it becomes an exercise for the GM in which the players are guided down a pre-built track and react to stuff that pops up along the way (not unlike a funhouse ride). In the end, the game succeeds or fails on the merits of the GM running that game. ...