Vacation Plans

As we roll into the holiday season, my business tends to slow down a bit. In addition, my Mom travels on her annual vacation to somewhere with ancient ruins, rich culture, amazing food and little to no toilet facilities. My girlfriend is likewise away for much of December, visiting friends and family in India.

Bet you think I'll be one bored and lonely pup, huh?

Well, truth is, of course I will but it does give me time to hang out with the gang and get some extra gaming in. Time for Barking Alien to take a little vacation of his own.




I am hoping to get in at least one session each of both my D&D-But-Not game and Traveller, in addition to my semi-regular Champions game. In a perfect world that is. I don't know how viable my chances are of actually pulling it off but it would be great if I could. I figure it shouldn't be impossible to do between now and the first of the year, right? Right?

You don't sound very convincing.

In other news, I have submitted not one but two game session proposals to NerdNYC's RECESS. One for Sesame Street and one for The Muppet Show (although there will be a twist on the Muppet Show adventure to keep it fresh).

I have some crazy blog theme ideas for the new year. Expect a follow up Muppet Month, a Superhero Campaign setting based on an Superhero IP that is not originally from comic books and perhaps, finally, some actual, postive gaming notes on Medieval Fantasy from yours truly. Well, maybe.

Until next time,

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Barking Alien

Artwork by Tommoy

Muppet Mondays! - Life's A Happy Song

Did I mention there's a new Muppet movie?

Here's my my-version-of-a-review review of the new film, The Muppets.

It's good. Really, really good.
Practically great.
I really, really liked it. I liked it a lot!
Not loved. Almost loved. Just short. Like a few inches from love.

Why? Well...Hi-Ho and Welcome to the SPOILER ALERT!

I will try very hard not to put actual SPOILERS in my review but I may mess up. You've been warned.

The Good

There is a good deal to like in this movie. The original songs are pretty much awesome, the dialog is great, the humor is quick and smart in its silliness and the characterizations are fantastic.

Kermit is an actor in this movie. He is as warm and charming as ever but there is a sadness, and pain that I wouldn't have thought Disney would let the writers and producers of this film get away with. It was moving.

A number of characters who has gone underused or into complete disuse due to the deaths of their original performers (most notably Jim Henson's Rowlf and Richard Hunt's Scooter) are back and performed beautifully.

Obscure side characters take the limelight! Uncle Deadly!!! Woohoo! We see the massive, blue creature, Thog and the dancing Mutations. Wayne and Wanda! The frickin' Newsman has lines! Too cool!

Walter. I love this guy! The newest addition to the Muppet family is sweet, dopey, charming, adorable, funny and just perfect for the film and the group. Welcome to the team little fella.

The Bad

OK, the 'Bad; isn't really bad per se, it is more...I'm not sure how to put it into words. Less than perfect is probably the best way to say it.

Some of Muppets look strange. Deadly's head and body are completely different shades of blue. In fact, his head isn't really blue at all but a pale grey. Fozzie's fur color and style seemed off at points. There were a few others. It wasn't a huge deal but it did look weird to me.

It was the same with voices. While hearing any Rowlf was like a little present just for me, Fozzie's voice was somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes Eric Jacobson had it, sometimes he just didn't. There were a few others with minor off moments but honestly everyone did an amazing job.

The movie could've used more Gonzo. What couldn't? But seriously, I thought his sequences were rushed and opportunities for humor missed. It would've been great to see an expanded conversation between Gonzo and Camilla the Chicken (are they married now? Are they still just boyfriend and girlfriend? I find that hard to believe given the nature of their moment in the film).

This leads me to one of my two true complaints about the film. Much like Gonzo's scenes, many of the other characters intro scenes and much of the humor seemed rushed. Not rushed in a 'done sloppy' way but in a way that didn't allow for the amount of time necessary for them to carry impact. Timing is the key to comedy. The original Muppet Movie had it perfect. This film...sometimes the punchlines come too fast, or too late, or just seemed disjointed from other things happening in the scene. The biggest and worst example of this is...

The Ugly - The Ending

The ending of the film was not quite satisfying to me. It seemed like an afterthought or more precisely, like two or three thoughts that the filmmakers couldn't quit decide how to execute.

It's a happy ending but only if you are paying really close attention. Otherwise, it seems like the good guys lose, like their comeback isn't one. I left the movie liking it so much but feeling sad, or at the very least, like the ending was bittersweet. That's not exactly how I want to think about the comeback of my favorite thing in the world.

Overall, it does seem appropriate. I guess I'm thinking, it didn't have to be that way.

In conclusion, I will likely see it again. Once it hits DVD, I will see it again and again and again. I love 'Life's A Happy Song' and 'Pictures in My Head'. I loved Rowlf's dialog. There wasn't a lot of it but it was great. I loved the Humans in it, though more active/inactive parts for the cameo stars would've been cooler.

Four out of Five from this Muppet Fan.

More Muppety stuff to come...

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Barking Alien

Talking Turkey and Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving.

It is definitely my favorite holiday. So much so that I spent the entire day with my small but really awesome family, eat, laughed and didn't think about gaming one bit. OK, maybe one bit. Perhaps two. Ten times tops.

The point is, this holiday reminds of the things I consider myself lucky to have in this life, while all the while chowing down on my Mom's incredible turkey (never ever dry in any way - the best turkey anywhere!).

Things like...

My family. My Mom, Sister, Brother-in-Law, Nephew and close family friends who are so close you might as well just call'em family and be done with it.

My girl. I consider us both pretty smart and pretty lucky to have re-established contact and started seeing each other again.

My dog. I mean, she's my kid, ok? So cute, so smart, so well-behaved and she makes me smile every day.

My friends. I have quite a few and I am thankful for you all but I want to give a shout out to those who've been very close and special over the last year. Thanks Dave, Erin Palette and Selina. You guys have rocked above and beyond in 2011.

NerdNYC. It may seem weird to thank this entire group of people as I do not know them all and certainly few of them well, yet NerdNYC has given me a venue beyond this blog to try my Muppets RPG out on unsuspecting vic...I mean, open-minded players. Recently, on NerdNYC's RECESS facebook page, they said my Muppets game was in the Top 5 list of Most Wanted games at the event. Me. Muppets. TOP 5?! Wow. I am thankful for the ego boost if nothing else.

OK, enough of this sappy stuff. I need to get in gear and kick some Player Character butt. Champions again today. All gonna hit the fan.

Peace Out!

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Barking Alien

Oh yeah and the Muppets movie. Can't forget the Muppets movie.

The Second Coming of Kermit The Frog

Tomorrow, 'The Muppets' opens in theaters across the USA. This is the first Muppet film to be made in 12 years. Screw Christmas. I got what I want. 


I plan on seeing it opening day, which probably doesn't surprise anyone who knows me or has read my blog before. If it's, good (which I know it will be), I hope to see it at least one more time in the theaters. Haven't seen a movie more than once in the theaters in a long time but this one warrents it for me.

In other Muppet related news, I have submitted another installment of my Muppets RPG for the next RECESS Game Event to be held on Janurary 14 & 15, 2012. This time, instead of running a Muppet Show themed adventure, I am going to introduce NerdNYC fans to my variant/expansion, Sesame Street! 'Cause, y'know. I'm all grimdark and edgy like that.

If the response to this one is good I will likely do it again and then switch to Fraggle Rock for my fifth and sixth tries. Basically, run two sessions of each before switching to the next one. This gives people who hear about it but didn't get to play it the chance to try it next time while hopefully keeping things fresh.
Oh man, how am I gonna sleep tonight?

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Barking Alien

Champions Powers Up

After an unintentional break that lasted nearly two months, Dave (Night Knight), Marcus (The Power - pictured above), Jeff (Siphon Zero/Revenant) and I have finally returned to our 4th Edition Champions campaign, simply titled, 'The New Champions'.

I've missed a number of opportunities to recap and update the status of the various characters and their adventure so, in the interest of staying interesting and current, I'll simply explain where they are now.

While our PC heroes have spent the majority of the campaign following similar goals but completely different paths, it was awesome to see their agendas cross and the three of them finally form a cohesive team. Allied with several NPC heroes and supported by agents of UNTIL (the United Nations SHIELD type organization they work with), the PCs attempted to pull a sting operation and draw out a major villain who's been working behind the scenes since the early sessions. It worked, perhaps too well, as the villain showed up with a number of powerful supervillain henchmen in tow.

Now these weren't goons. Oh no. This was more like Lex Luthor hiding in the bushes while he sends Metallo, The Atomic Skull, Weather Wizard and a few more villains of similar level to get the job done. While The Power, Revenant and a couple of NPC heroes fought the gang of uberbaddies, Night Knight and another NPC hero located the mastermind's hidden aircraft (a cloaked, super-high tech jet that looked like the Star Trek: Voyager Aeroshuttle) and snuck inside. Night Knight entered the craft through an access hatch near the forward landing gear, while the NPC did the same through the rear gear well.

Many rounds of crazy super powered, energy manipulating, car throwing, martial arts using mayhem later, our heroes had defeat all six of the villainous lieutenants as well as the head honcho and his hidden bodyguard, an intelligent, emorphous pool of blue-black ink similar to the animated and current versions of Batman nemesis Clayface or Batman Beyond's Inque. It was an impressive battle full of ingenius power useage and deep character moments in the aftermath.

Revenant, who tends to become obsessed with odd things at odd moments, tried to use his energy absorbtion and conversion abilites to permenantly nullify the abilities of one of the villains, determining said criminal's nuclear radiation powers to be a threat by the fellow's mere existance. In explaining why he wanted to attempt to negate this villain's capabilities, I saw in Jeff's PC, for the first time, a concern for innocent lives outside his own personal supporting cast and subplots. I was moved.

Anyway, the truth of the matter is that this was only the beginning of their getting to the bottom of a much larger evil scheme. I am looking forward to running the next installment this weekend. The return of Champions...RETURNS!

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Barking Alien