Dr. MID-Nite

I can appreciate that, but when one side wants to legislate minorities out of existence...I'm not seeing much room for compromise. I'll reference the  "Paradox of Tolerance" for my general views on that. The simple fact of the matter is that nothing will fundamentally change until we substantially reduce money in politics....and that's not going to happen in our existing system. You do the math. The change that is needed is not going to organically happen without strong outside influence.

Definitely used the earlier versions. I mostly used the Devil's Advocates, but the other characters got used on occasion either directly or as background setting. I won't lie though. I never used Lady Twilight. To me, she was the least interesting character in the book. The Mind Master Complex, Dr. Black, and Hell Rider all got major stories in our campaign. I also plan to use The Totems, but haven't introduced them yet.

Several of the 4e characters I created in Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies were revised for later editions of Champions, ultimately making it to the Champions Villains trilogy. Most of them, however, did not. Tiger has expressed interest in updating selected characters for his Forgotten Enemies series (and used Lady Twilight with my blessing), but -- since I am still here -- I might like to do this myself. I've noodled around with Creatures of the Night Resurrected for the last several months, writing up 5e/CC versions of several characters. Before I go further, though, I have some important questions:
 
Does anybody want this? Did you ever use them, back in the day? Would you use them if they were revised?
 
Subsequent posts will discuss ways I plan to revise characters, but if they were never that useful in the first place I probably won't bother.
 
Dean Shomshak

Grab a drink and sit yourself down as I have another list to get through and it will take a while.
 
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
This was a co-production between Hammer and Shaw studios. Dracula goes East and Van Helsing follows. Peter Cushing is in this but this does not have Christopher Lee as Dracula and it is the only Hammer film that does. It has Kung Fu sequences and Van Helsing is ably assisted by a family of fighters to take on six golden vampires as a seventh was killed by a member of their family earlier. I liked it even though it is not up to the high standard of other Hammer films  It has Peter Cushing, what more do I need to say ?
 
Candyman 2: Farewell ton the Flesh
The Candyman is back and is killing people again if they say his name. The hook is that a family whose father was killed are connected to the mythical killer as he is an ancestor of theirs although they pass as Caucasian, The film goes into the origin and death of Candyman. Veronica Cartwright plays the heroine's mother, a teacher who decides to face down the Candyman after ill advisedly saying his name and causing the death of her husband. It is not too bad but the original film is better and flows better.
 
Dr Phibes Rises Again
Vincent Price is back as the Phibes trying to resurrect his wife and restore himself. Ably assisted again by Vulnavia (played by a different actress), Phibes travels to Egypt to find a secret river, the river of life. Robert Quarry is also after the river in an attempt to prolong his own life and that of his lover. There are some ingenious deaths as in the previous film with Price again not speaking except via recordings. If you liked the previous film, you will like this and Quarry is better in this than he is in the Count Yorga films. Terry Thomas is a travel agent in this film who booked Phibes passage (despite the fact he played a doctor killed by Phibes in the previous film), and Peter Cushing as a cameo as the captain of the ship that Quarry and Price travel on to reach Egypt. See the Abominable Dr Phibes first and then this.
 
Food of the Gods
Giant chickens, giant maggots, giant wasps and giant wasps menace people on a remote island after something comes bubbling out of the ground that makes animals grow larger. Some of the cast are recognisable as they did other work that was more memorable like Jon Cypher (chief of Police in Hill Street Blues) and Ralph Meeker (who played Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly). The cast are mainly menaced by giant rats and this is where the film is let down because this looks bad. As in Night of the Lepus bad. But the cast play it straight. Marjoe Gortner plays the hero and does a good job.
 
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy
The actor travels around Italy sampling the cuisine. This has six episodes in season 1 and is enjoyable. Tucci is Italian on both sides of his family so can speak the language and he has a nice time. This is pleasant.
 
John Carter's Vampires
This is one of the films I saw at the cinema and watch again. One it is a John Carpenter film, two it has James Woods and three it has Sheryl Lee (forever embedded in the public consciousness as Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks). After taking out a vampire nest, but not finding the master vampire, a team of hunters is attacked by the master who slaughters them and seems to know the name of Woods character. The only survivors are Woods and his friend and fellow hunter Daniel Baldwin. Also a prostitute who the master vampire bit. This gives her a psychic connection to the vampire which the hunters hope to exploit in order to kill it. Reporting back to their Vatican source, Woods finds out that the vampire they are searching for is the origin. It is trying t find a relic to recreate an excommunication ceremony which it hopes will allow it to exist in daylight. I liked the book a bit better than the film but it has Woods who is always very watchable and it has Sheryl Lee who I have a crush on.
 
Vuelta a Espana 2023
The last of the three Grand Tours of the year and Jumbo Visma are trying for something unprecedented, winning all three Grand Tours in the same year. Consequently they brought the Giro d'Italia winner Primoz Roglic and Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard to the race. Remco Evenepoel the defending champion was back and looking to repeat. Geraint Thomas of Ineos was also present having come second to Roglic in the Giro.
The racing started with a team time trial around Barcelona as the day was turning into night. So the weather kicked in raining like anything so this made the going bad, something which Evenepoel was quite vocal about. Evenepoel struck on the third stage to win it in the mountains around Andorra. This meant he took the overall lead. The next two stages were hilly but were taken by a sprinter, Kaden Groves who was after the sprinters jersey.
It was the next stage that Evenepoel may have made a misjudgement. He and his team allowed a break to get away that finished the stage and pushed him down to ninth place. He finished close behind favourites Roglic and Vingegaard. He also lost the young riders jersey to Lenny Martinez who was the new race leader. Super domestique Sepp Kuss of Jumbo Visma won the stage.
The next stage was for the sprinters and was won by one of the domestiques Geoffrey Soupe. This was followed by a mountain stage with the favourites battling it out with Roglic winning ahead of Evenepoel but with Vingeaard and Kuss close behind. Martinez was dropped and Kuss became the new overall leader.
Weather conditions affected the next stage with mud being an issue that made the organisers alert the racers to potential difficulties/dangers. Lennard Kanma won the stage and completed the set of having won a stage at all three Grand Tours. And thus we came to the first rest day.
The second block of racing kicked off with an individual time trial won by Filippo Ganna who specialises in these. Evenepoel and Roglic also did well which cut down Kuss's lead but he did well enough to hang onto the lead. This was followed by a hilly stage that saw Spain finally get a winner from the home country. Ineos tried to set it up for Geraint Thomas but he was almost out by the end. A flat stage was next which let the General Classification contenders take the day off. This led on to stage 13 which went into France and the Col du Tourmalet and Jumbo Visma took the three top positions for the day with Vinegaard winning the stage and in the General Classification they has the top three spots. It also ended Evenepoel's challenge as he had a bad day and dropped out of contention losing over twenty minutes. 
He bounced back the next day winning the stage which was also a mountain stage. The last stage before the second rest day was hilly and was won by Rui Costa who has a reputation for not doing work in the breakaways in order to allow him to sprint at the end to win.
The next stage was a hilly stage and was won by Vingegaard who dedicated it to one of their colleagues who was injured in a car accident that day. Roglic won the next stage in the mountains and this is when both Vingegaard and Roglic got a lot of criticism. Their team mate was in the lead and they were likely to usurp him which seemed out of order to many on social media and also the media.
Evenepoel switched to attacking for the mountains jersey and took the stage. This was followed by a sprint stage won by Alberto Dainese. The 20th stage was a long hard hilly stage won by Wout Poels just ahead of Evenepoel but Kuss, Roglic and Vingegaard crossed the line together having ensured they were 1-2-3 or the race and having made history as they won all three Grand Tours in the same year.
The same team has held all three Grand Tours over a year but not in the same year notably Eddy Merckx and Chris Froome
Kaden Groves won the last stage around Madrid ensuring he won the Sprint Jersey with Evenepoel winning the Mountains. Jumbo Visma had all three places on the podium for General Classification with Kuss the faithful super domestique for Vingegaard and Roglic taking the overall win. He had been with Roglic during the latter's wins at the Vuelta, the win at the Giro and the two tilts at the Tour de France in 20202 and 2021 but he also served Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023. He competed in all three Grand Tours in 2023, the first time he had done so. He earned the win, the first American to win a Grand Tour since Chris Horner at the Vuelta in 2013.

Rosemary's Baby
This is renowned as a horror film and I have missed opportunities to see it. Finally I did. A woman moves into a new building with her husband. She has an odd nightmare wherein she has sex with some odd beast faced individual while her neighbours stand around chanting. Her husband admits it was him and he feels terrible about it as she was unconscious. However a friend of hers is suspicious and almost has proof but dies suddenly. The over-friendly neighbours recommend a doctor as the wife finds out she is pregnant. The woman feels more and more terror before the truth is revealed, she is pregnant with the child of the devil. It i9s a bit of a long film but the terror builds. So worth a rewatch.
 
World Championship Men's Road Race
This was interrupted by a protest so there was quite a delay. But it ended in a circuit race around Glasgow. Mathieu Van Der Poel won with Wout Van Aert second and Tadej Pogacar third.
 
The Long Weekend
This is an Australian horror film where nature turns on humans. A couple whose marriage is in trouble go to the coast but find nature turns against them and it eventually leads to both their death. There is not a lot of gore and no really deadly animals like crocodiles or sharks but it is still effective.
 
The Other Guys
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are detectives who are desk bound because one is an forensic accountant and the other accidentally shot a famous baseball player. Following the deaths of star detectives played by Samul L Jackson and The Rock the two investigate a hedge fund manager played by Steve Coogan. Their captain might be in on it as he is played by Michael Keaton. It is not bad.
 
Talking Pictures with Derren Nesbitt
Talking Pictures is a channel over here and it shows old films It thus does some interviews with older actors like Derren Nesbitt. He is recognisable as the Gestapo Officer in Where Eagles Dare. He did a nice talk and mentioned his work with Frank Sinatra on The Naked Runner. Derren was offered money to ghost a story for the papers about working with Sinatra but refused point blank. Sinatra funded a holiday for him abroad at his expense (with Nesbitt's wife) which was greatly appreciated.
 
Fantastic Voyage
Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence are shrunk down and injected into a scientist in order to remove a blood clot. They are in a submarine. The submarine must navigate the body in order to reach the brain where the blood clot is. But there may a saboteur involved. Well worth a look.

The grift has worked fine. Why stop now? 

This point alone is all that's needed to show the state of the "law and order" party.

SPFX pioneer Eiji Tsuburaya was born on this date in 1901.

The best part about this case is that the plaintiff was never actually asked to design a LGBT website in the first place.  The case is entirely theoretical.
 
The second best part about this case is that it is now totally unclear when businesses are "allowed" to discriminate against protected classes of people, especially in light of the recent affirmative action case.
 
The third best part is that the ruling might allow discrimination against MAGAs. 

Well, can't say we didn't expect it, but still...
 
SCOTUS backs a business saying "go somewhere else" rather than back a message they disagree with, meaning laws barring discrimination against gay people are nullified.
 
It's nuanced...from NYT:
 
 
Even if it's narrowly applicable now, tho, we know the religious right will make every effort to expand it.  

When one side essentially wants to wipe out marginalized people in the country either figuratively or literally....I'm done "finding ways to manage despite disagreements".

When one side essentially wants to wipe out marginalized people in the country either figuratively or literally....I'm done "finding ways to manage despite disagreements".

When one side essentially wants to wipe out marginalized people in the country either figuratively or literally....I'm done "finding ways to manage despite disagreements".

al yankovic already did this
 

Human Rights Campaign declares a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people

https://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2023/05/28

I have three options... two due as of today.
Well, I could use an archer, of course. This will help prevent suckage. Of course I can't use my own list...sorry, Oliver.
I could also use a psychic because hey, we got mind controlling villains.
And, you know, someone with leadership skills might be useful!
Which to pick, which to pick... oh wait...
how about someone who is all three?
And with Asgardian ties on top of it!
Option Pick #1: Danielle Moonstar!

Option 2:
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_from_20,000_Fathoms

My apologies. I've been sick....sooooo....I'll take Wolverine, Miss Match, Warpath, and Fission Chicken. Not my initial plan, but I'll work with it. Only one way I can think of this remotely making any sense. So....my first option pick is...Q (from Star Trek).

So I'm way behind, but I'll pick Union Jack and Merlyn the Archer.

Today's Pick: Firebird (Bonita Juárez)

SNIPED !
 
I'll pick Grond before someone else does

Psylocke....please and thank you.

My first pick will be Captain Britain.

This could be Batgirl from the 1966 TV show....