Friday night I had a date with my lady friend, and then on Saturday I walked 'Summer Streets' with my oh-so-awesome Mom.
For those unfamiliar with Summer Streets, New York City closes the incredibly busy Park Avenue, from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM for three Saturdays in August each year, from the South End of Manhattan Island (near the Brooklyn Bridge), to 72nd Street on the Upper East Side.
My Mom, and I started right at the top, and walked all the way to the bottom, and then my Mother suggested walking over the Brooklyn Bridge to check out the park area below it on the Brooklyn side. When I was a young boy growing up in the county of Kings, that area was undeveloped, rocky shoreline. Now, it's a beautiful green space with walkways, fountains, places to sit, places to bicycle, and generally enjoy the view of the Manhattan skyline right across the water.
As a former Brooklynite who was always more enamored with Manhattan, I have to say I was pretty impressed.
Following that long trek, my Mom and I went our separate ways, and I got to hang out with my Barking Alien Gaming Group, debriefing them in greater detail on their time at Gen Con. We also got to play out the 31st session of our Traveller campaign. While it ended on a high note, and was really good overall, it had some stumbling moments that kind of bugged me. Why? The campaign is drawing to a close, with only 5 sessions left to go, and I feel like now is not the time to take your eyes off the prize.
We'll see how it goes.
My favorite appearance of RPGs in the Media? What...hmmm. OK, so my favorite time that gaming appeared in mass media like television, movies, and that sort of thing? Alright.
E.T.? I think one of my favorites would have to be the sequence in the film E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial where Elliot's older brother and his friends are playing what appears to be Dungeons and Dragons at their kitchen table late one evening.
The scene resonated with my friends, and I in such a way that it immediately made the world that Elliot, and his family lived in seem absolutely plausible, and instantly realistic. They were not just any family, or every family. They were just like us.
Also, for a while when D&D was getting a bad rap in the news media, most of the parents around my way ignored it. The attempts to smear gaming's reputation were waylaid by the fact that my friends, and I were able to say to our Moms, and Dads, "I'm going to my friends house to game. You know, like in E.T.."
AD
Barking Alien
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