Joe Walsh

Looks like we're turning to our favorite subject, "What's wrong with HERO and how I'd fix it." This morning on the long drive to the office I was thinking about HERO (as one does) and the RPG industry in general (again, totally normal thing to do -- I don't know why you're looking at me funny) and I started to draw a hasty conclusion (something no one online ever does) and wondered if it was worth anything. Hypothesis: Tabletop RPGs with enduring popularity tend to be beautiful messes. White box D&D, Champions, Shadowrun, D6 System...all were games that did something new and neat with easily digestible basics -- but there were major flaws in design and/or presentation. All became popular enough to get several attempts by different designers and publishers at fixing their flaws, but those attempts don't seem to have boosted their popularity (aside from D&D, which is in many ways its own thing due not least to making it into the mainstream, with a mainstream budget for much of its life). Maybe, from a hobby perspective, what works are games a hobbyist can learn in an afternoon but which cry out for tinkering. As long as there's something neat about them that provides a compelling enough reason to tinker with them and want to share their tinkering with friends and family. Maybe that's why beautiful, orderly designs with great execution like EABA get lost in the waves. And maybe that's one reason why making HERO System more orderly and logical didn't yield more customers. Sure, there are many reasons for HERO's current situation; we're all familiar with them. But maybe this is part of it too?

We finally got around to watching The Menu. It's very good, with plenty of tension from the menacing atmosphere that builds throughout the first and second acts. Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicholas Hoult do a great job, while the set design, props, and cinematography are all excellent. But it's not perfect. There are a couple of story bobbles, and the ending is a little hard to swallow (heh), but it's still well worth watching.

Thankfully, yes! Paramount+ ordered a second season on January 18th. No release date yet, but I'm guessing it takes a while to make a season of a show like this?

Maybe I'm using the wrong term. The first two episodes looked and felt like a prestige streaming production of one of America's media mega-corps. But the subsequent episodes looked and felt like a cheap production created to fill a hole in SyFy's lineup. In that case, maybe we'll watch it some day. But for now it just doesn't seem to be worth the time for us.

That's good to hear! It's in our queue, as is the Short Treks series. I was worried they'd be disappointing.

Glad to see we're not the only ones who think the Picard series wasn't worth watching. If it weren't for Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, we'd be avoiding Star Trek entirely at this point.

Ah, OK. Sounds like I'll want to "proceed with caution." Thank you!

Yeah, it's a shame. They had so much great stuff, but the new owners seem determined to turn it into another forgettable streaming service. Too bad.

Four episodes in, we're on the verge of dropping Star Trek: Discovery from our lineup. The two-episode series opener was good, but the next two episodes revealed those episodes to be the bait for a switch to something else entirely. As a recent fan of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, my only remaining question is whether the inclusion of Christopher Pike makes Discovery S2 worth watching. If you're a fan of SNW, what's your opinion? Is Discovery S2 worth watching for Pike even if we don't care about the other Discovery characters or their storylines?

We started watching the latest season of Doom Patrol, and so far it's pretty good. Fingers crossed!

We decided to watch an 80s movie neither of us had seen before: Broadcast News. It's got a great cast: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Joan Cusack...and Jack Nicholson (just before his turn as The Joker). And it was written, directed, and produced by James L. Brooks (of Simpsons fame). Broadcast News has a similar theme to the previous decade's Network, but dives into the deliberate corporate crapification of the news from a traditional workplace comedy perspective. And it is funny. James L. Brooks knows comedy. The material he gave the actors is great, and they do such a good job with it! Right down to subtle reaction expressions that are just perfect and hilarious. The movie didn't seem as dated as I expected. It's true that sometimes it feels like I remember the 80s better than I do the 2000s, but even so. Sure, the fashion is very late 80s and some of the workplace attitudes are of that time, but for the most part the movie held up just fine to me. Hurt plays the new pretty boy anchor who is honest about how unqualified he is for the job beyond his looks and his way with people. Brooks and Hunter respectively play the veteran reporter and producer who understand the geopolitical world and the media business at an intuitive level - but who have so far been unable to advance in their professions. And they are dedicated to their professions. To them, people like Hurt's character are a symptom of what's wrong with the business. Meanwhile, Hurt wants to befriend them so he can succeed as an anchor. There are some unexpected moments that are just beautiful. Highly recommended.

It sure is fun! I like it about as well as the British original, and I like it a lot that the American version does its own thing with the premise.

HBOMax South Side (S1): A pretty funny look at life in Chicago's South Side, partly inspired by The Simpsons and with much love for the city. Oh Hell (S1): This is a sitcom from Germany that's centered on a woman who is a walking talking natural disaster. They don't go so far as to make her unlikable, keeping this funny and engaging. Avenue 5 (S1): A cruise ship in space, complete with a fraud of a captain and an owner who is probably closer to the reality of most billionaires than they'd care to admit. Funny as hell at times, it functions pretty well as a parody of modern life. Pennyworth (S3): This dramatic action series keeps being really fun and compelling to watch. This season needs more Paloma Faith, but otherwise it's great stuff. Paramount+ Cinema Toast (S1): This series of half-hour episodes uses footage from old public domain films and gives them new dialogue. The first episode was brilliant. The second was just OK. We'll see. Twilight Zone (S1): This one continues to be the rare successor to The Twilight Zone to be worthy of the name. Really good stuff. The Good Fight (S1): This courtroom drama spinoff series (of The Good Wife) is so far juuuust barely good enough to keep us going, like much of The Good Wife's run was for us. Hulu Fleishman is in Trouble (S1): Like The Good Fight, each of the episodes of this dramatic series we've watched so far has just barely given us enough to make it worthwhile to keep going. The setup is that a self-centered social climber leaves her husband in the dust when she realizes he doesn't at all share her ambitions. She then disappears, leaving him with the kids -- and a mystery to solve. Meh.

Finally got around to watching the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery. As a new fan of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, I wanted to go back and see the series it sprang from. Wow, those first two episodes of Discovery were something else! I hope the series continues to be as good.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain - I'd never heard of Louis Wain, but apparently about 100 years ago he was a quite popular artist who specialized in drawing cats. This movie "based on a true story" keeps it pretty entertaining, but I'd say the first half is better than the second.

Weathering with You - I enjoyed this Japanese animated romantic fantasy movie about a runaway high school boy who befriends a "sunshine girl" who can, at a cost, control the weather.

I've always loved that entry in the series.

I thought that was James Woods as GM for a minute there.

Yep. After NFTs ran their course from hype to flop, Trump announces $99 NFT "trading cards".

Amsterdam (HBOMax): An enjoyable retelling of the attempted fascist coup during FDR's administration. The movie could have been done better if they'd spent more time editing the script, but it was enjoyable enough to watch.

My condolences. What a terrible tragedy.

GotG Holiday Special (D+): Not as good as I'd hoped, not as bad as I'd feared. Worth watching.

Invincible (Amazon Prime): This animated supers series was sort of worth watching, and sort of interesting in terms of the various characters and their interplay, but the repeated and extreme violence makes it really not all that interesting to me. I've seen enough violence, and don't need it pushed in my face like that in order to understand the horror of it.

With Chapek out as the head of Disney and Iger back in, I wonder what changes will be made to the Marvel movie and TV show lineup.

That's what I was coming here to say. I also agree with the OP about Prince Valiant. It's a solid, ground-breaking game. TWERPS and Toon are also gems, but I wouldn't necessarily call them hidden. I should also mention Zorro, developed by Gallant Knight Games (the folks who publish the TinyD6 games) and published by the current owners of the West End Games IP. It's uses a new version of the D6 System that works pretty well. If you're a fan of Zorro (especially the classic TV show), I highly recommend it.