Holy shit. Not only is this incredibly R-rated new trailer for Riddick delightfully violent, it's also genuinely scary. It's like a blood-soaked reminder that "Hey, sure Riddick was kind of the hero of the last movie, but you might want to remember he's also an amoral killing machine who is very, very good at his job."
    
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The Conjuring, out today, isn't just a strong contender for scariest movie of the year — it's also a surprisingly sweet, even dorky story about a husband-and-wife team of paranormal investigators, and how their love saves them. It's a great antidote to your standard dehumanizing horror movie.
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Time for one last glance at Shadowrun Returns before its long-awaited release next week. On July 25, Jordan Weisman's $1.8 millioncyberpunk RPG will finally hit the shelves, ready to immerse us in the grim universe of Shadowrun once again. I'm thinking a mage for my first playthrough. What about you?
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Suppose you really need to put people in their place? Consult the great works of science fiction and fantasy! You need a lot of imagination to concoct a truly bracing put-down, so it's probably not surprising that speculative fiction writers cook up the best burns. Here are 20 great insults from SF and fantasy novels.
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JmicalBy planning to build a perfect anarchist society, duh.
(Seriously, go read Red Mars, it's awesome.)
A human mission to Mars will last more than 8 months, each way. Ship quarters will be sardine-esque. Communications will be laggy and intermittent. And, despite the thrilling nature of the larger mission, astronauts en route to the Red Planet will likely struggle with psyche-crushing boredom. So how might an astronaut occupy her time on such a venture?
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One of the more controversial aspects of the Catholic religion is its history of preserving "relics," or pieces taken from the bodies of saints. Here are some of the most unusual examples of these macabre objects of veneration.
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Archaeologists in Poland believe they have found a vampire grave near the town of Gilwice in southern Poland. The skeletons were found with their heads removed and placed between their legs — a ritualistic practice designed to keep the dead from rising up.
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When Comet ISON's trajectory brings it scorchingly close to the Sun later this year, astronomers believe it could emerge from its close encounter as one of the brightest cometsever seen from Earth. Now, Hubble has captured a stunning image of the approaching ice-ball in flight, against a backdrop bursting with nearby stars and distant galaxies.
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Bill Watterson's enchanting 10-year run on Calvin and Hobbes is the high-water mark of comics. And now the Kickstarter-based documentary Dear Mr. Watterson, which centers around the creation and influence of this masterpiece of childlike wonder, is coming to your television screen.
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Do Avengers LARP? I doubt it — probably because they're busy saving the world, although trying to explain the rules to Cap also sounds like a chore — but if they did, they'd do well to pick costumes based on DeviantArtist TheDurrian's amazing high fantasy versions of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Check 'em out!
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If a player messes up a crucial die roll that will change the entire outcome of the adventure for the worse, you can always give them a chance to recover the situation. Just come up with some plausible reason why they might be able to modify what they've done in time for it to make a difference.
It doesn't even have to be all that plausible. The players will go for it.
Actually, 90% of the time they'll be all too happy to come up with the excuses for you. All you need to do is listen to them try to justify why their cockamamie ideas might conceivably work if you tilt your head sideways and squint at them for long enough. Then pick whichever sounds the least ridiculously unlikely and ask for another die roll.
(You don't have to do this, of course, if you'd rather the real drama and tension of the adventure literally hanging on the outcome of one die roll. Which is also a valid approach in some circumstances.)
It's been a decade since astronomers last spied a moon orbiting Neptune. Now, the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a new satellite circling our solar system's most far-flung planet.
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First there was a lot of talk about fancy pot brownies. Then marijuana-fed pork. Now Redhook and Hilliard’s have come together to announce a something so oddball that I felt compelled to send multiple confirmations that this wasn’t a way belated April Fool’s (or April 20th?) joke.
Redhook, as you may know, began in Ballard in 1981, in the very same neighborhood currently experiencing quite the brewery boom.
Sooo…the two breweries joined forces to create a collaboration beer that celebrates Washington’s new status as weed-legal state. It’s called Joint Effort (of course it is) and is brewed with hemp seeds, as well as lots of hops, specifically the Zeus, Cascade, and Summit varieties. The breweries say the hemp imparts a nutty, earthy flavor. And yes, the suggested pairing is munchies. The tagline: "A dubious collaboration between two buds."
Hemp beers have been around for a while, but what makes this one a bit more notable is the unapologetically bong-shaped tap handle. Which you might see dispensing Joint Effort on draft around town starting this week. Look for 22-ounce bottles this fall. Hilliard's partner Adam Merkl says the brewery might eventually release it in cans, too.
Try it at the official release party this Saturday, July 20, at Hilliard’s, starting at 4pm. The bong taps will be on sale for $42 apiece (You could convert it to a gearshift and pray you never get pulled over) and there’s talk of live music and pot pies to snack on as well.
And, do I really need to say this? This beer will not get you high; the beer was tested to confirm there's no THC. And at a sessionable 5.6 percent ABV, you can even throw back a few before legitimate drunkenness kicks in.
For more on Seattle bars and booze, sign up for Seattle Met’s weekly newsletter Nosh Pit News, subscribe to our RSS Feed, follow us on Twitter @SeattleMet, and visit our Seattle Bars & Nightlife page.
Throughout my working life, I have coached and taught teens. I have coached soccer, at the high school and elite club level since 1990. I have taught high school since 1999. I found that the marginalized high school kids and I so bonded and resonated with each other that my colleagues used to say that I ran “Stanley’s Lost Boys Club.” In working with the jocks and the misfits, I have developed three rules.
Managing adults, I found nearly every situation could be handled with one rule.
When you spend the majority of your interactions with your adult teenager in the Adult Rule #1 sector, the two of you have done some good work. You didn’t get there by accident. Like a marriage, working with the Adult Teen requires work and self-awareness. You, Dad, must have the willingness to relax your grip. Trust that you did a good job of instilling solid values, a good work ethic, a sense of morality in your teenager. Your adult teen must have the willingness and courage to relax the grip on adolescence and move into an adult role. He must also trust you – trust that your skills as a parent are solid enough so that when it’s time to launch, orbital velocity will be reached.
You get there together. Pat yourselves on the back. Hug it out.
—photo by pupismyname/Flickr
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My son told me the verdict in the Zimmerman trial. Three simple words: “Mom, not guilty”. My 15 year old who has been watching this trial from the beginning. At first I tried to register if he was joking just to see my reaction. As I turned on the news, I stood quietly for such a long time, he had to ask me if I was ok.
Painting by*S-Daniels
My first thought was, “Are you ok?” I was shocked, disappointed and slowly became outraged. Until I looked at my son and realized that this wasn’t about me. It was about the countless “Trayvon Martins” who have died because of gun violence.
Let’s be honest, most of these deaths were black on black crimes and the growing crime rate in Chicago sheds light on the fragility of the life of young black males. As the mom of two boys: a teen and a toddler, I have a visual daily reminder of the developmental stages of black boys. While most adults coo and play with my toddler, they’re apprehensive about my 5’10 teen son. I look at my son through society’s eyes, I wonder if he will be approached by the NYPD for Stop and Frisk? At what point will women clutch their handbags and men shift uncomfortably when he steps on an elevator? At what point will he start thinking less about his comfort level and more about making others feel safe around him?
Jonathan Lethem asks in his book, The Fortress of Solitude, “What age is a black boy when he learns that he is scary?” Last night the bigger question became, “What age is a black boy when he learns the value of his life?” My son learned the answer to this question at 15 years old. When I asked him what he thought and felt about the verdict, he simply responded “I’m shocked”. As an adult, I was barely able to process the information, so I knew that he was still trying to make sense of it all. He summed up his thoughts in a simple Facebook post: “I guess Florida doesn’t care about the life of teenagers”.
His post made me look at the verdict through his eyes. He wasn’t thinking about the complexities of the judicial system or why the jury acquitted George Zimmerman. He was thinking about the value of his life. I thought about how Zimmerman’s defense attorneys gloated about their victory as if they’ve just won an NBA Championship. There was little remorse or respect for the life of Trayvon Martin.
Children are polarized thinkers until they become teenagers. At this point, the world is no longer black and white, so they start to question the areas of gray that don’t make sense to them. They start to question the integrity, intelligence and common sense of adults. How can we tell them to be fair and to think before you act, when we are guilty of doing these things.
How do we explain to them that Stand Your Ground Law gives an adult the right to kill a teen boy? How can we tell them that they are the future but we do little to protect that future?
Originally appeared at Raising Great Men
Image of painting courtesy of Raising Great Men
I love reading on my Kindle, but the screen is just too small and blurry to be useful for PDF files. While it's lacking in customizability, PDF4Kindle solves this problem pretty well by converting PDF files into Amazon's native .mobi format, all while being completely web-based.
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The attitude you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from, more than what you tell them. They don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are. –Jim Henson
Our job as parents is to equip our children to have productive, happy and meaningful lives. The best way to do so is by role-modeling the values, priorities and actions to which we hope they will aspire.
Someday, and sooner than we think, our kids will be making choices about their careers, spouses and lives. I hope my son learns:
I once heard a great quote that “the best way to teach your son to be a man, is to be a good man and let him watch.”
I am very mindful about sending signals to my son about the importance of both work and family. These are hard things to teach directly in words, but I try to get the following four lessons through by my actions and by how I talk about work when he is around.
1. Work is for money, and money is important.
That’s why they call it work. And providing financially for our families is something that dads are still primarily responsible for (despite recent headlines, dads are the primary/sole income-earners in 85% of US dual-parent families). While we need to keep money in its proper perspective, neither do I want to minimize its importance.
Our kids need to know (age-appropriately) about money, and to understand that their parents’ work is how we can buy the things we need. One of the ways we show our love for our kids is through our paid work. That’s hard to explain directly to a kid, but there are ways we can help them eventually understand.
For example, Nick recently began getting an allowance, and he has to do a set of chores each week to collect his $4. This has been a great way to teach him about money. He now better understands what things cost, and how he needs to save up for things he wants.
Since we started the allowance, Nick has started asking how much cars and houses and other stuff costs. I answer his questions honestly, and I try to make the point that one of the important reasons I work is so we can afford the things we need- and a few extra things we want. And this sometimes means I have to sacrifice some time that I would otherwise spend with him.
Young kids don’t fully understand why we sometimes have to be away from them and at work. They know they miss us, and they can get resentful- it’s only natural. In response, it is easy to say that we work only for money- to buy them things- and that we’d rather not work and just be with them.
It’s a comforting story in the moment, but I bet it is not entirely true for most of us- and I think it actually sends a very different signal than what we should be sending.
I’d rather Nick understand that work is not JUST a chore, and not JUST about money. Right now, he wants to be a Jedi, baseball player, geologist, waiter, astronaut and circus performer. He doesn’t aspire to these jobs just because of earning potential. He cares about doing fun, fulfilling tasks. I want to continue to encourage that because…
2. Work can be a source of meaning and fulfillment and an opportunity to help others
While Nick knows that my wife and I work for money, he also knows that we really enjoy many aspects of our work. I make sure to tell him when I have a particularly good day at work, and I try not to bring too much work stress home with me.
I talk to him about what I do- at age 7, he can understand that, as a college business professor, I’m a teacher for older kids in college who are studying how to be good managers. He also understands that I write on the internet about trying to be a good dad, and I occasionally do projects for companies.
He sometimes asks why I like my work so much, and I tell him that teaching is rewarding, the world needs more good managers, and writing about fatherhood is both satisfying and can help dads think about important things. I hope that, over time, he comes to see my work as at least somewhat fulfilling, important and helpful—and that he’ll seek out a fulfilling important helpful career for himself.
Nick’s been to my campus a few times to see what I do and meet the people I work with. Last year, Nick and my wife Amy came to a campus ceremony when I received a teaching award, and he thought it was pretty cool. I’m glad he sees at least a little of my work, and maybe this gives him an idea of what a positive workplace looks like.
But mine isn’t the only workplace my son sees—he’s a big fan of his mother’s career as well.
3. My wife’s career is as important as mine
One day, I hope Nick will get married, and I want him to value not just his own career, but also the career of a future spouse. This is not a lesson that is taught effectively through words. I hope that, by seeing how supportive I am of Amy (and she is of me), he will seek out a supportive partner and that he will value his spouse’s career as much as his own.
My wife’s idiosyncratic career as a theater actress poses some interesting work-family challenges. But I do my best to support Amy in her career because I love her and want to support her, but also because I want to signal to Nick that both our careers are to be equally valued (Sheryl Sandberg would be proud).
So, when Amy is rehearsing a new show and working really long hours, I pick up the slack at home; Amy does the same for me when my work spikes. On the rare occasions she travels for work (for example, to Boston this past holiday season for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!), I make sure that Nick and I travel out to see her. When it is age-appropriate, Nick sees his mom perform (Grinch, Peter Pan, etc.); when Amy directs youth theater, we see those shows (Nick enjoys seeing her mom get flowers from the cast as a thank-you on closing night!).
I’ll often help Nick make something for Amy’s dressing room before a new show, so he can be involved in supporting her. Finally, I will take him to visit mom before or after shows backstage and in her dressing room. Being backstage at a big Broadway theater is really exciting, and I’m really happy Nick gets to experience this.
Of course, our work-family juggle is not for everyone. I hope Nick and futurespouse figure out a balance that works for them, and that he understands that successful families can have many different divisions of labor (more traditional, single-earner households are obviously fine, as long as they are consciously chosen). Nick also gets to see successful marriages with different arrangements than ours through our friends and extended families.
No matter which career he chooses, I want Nick to properly value work and his future family. (As a work-family balance advocate and professional, I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to impart this lesson). I hope that, by seeing how I try to juggle work and family, he sees a role model for himself- just like I did when observing my father.
4. Work has its place, but is never more important than family
My father worked for many years in important capacities for the Office of Child and Family Services of New York State. His job was demanding, and very important- helping troubled kids and getting them back on the right track. For several years, he ran a number of juvenile delinquent group homes throughout NYC and was on call 24/7 in case of emergencies.
But my father was a very active, involved dad. He supported my mother as she went to college and grad school part time and became a teacher. He managed my little league teams, and we regularly took family vacations. He made a good living, but we would never be considered rich.
My dad (back middle) was a constant positive presence in my (bottom left) childhood.
But I had all I needed—no matter how demanding or inconvenient his work, I knew my dad was there for me. He never had to tell me about his work-family priorities. His actions made them very clear.
I am lucky to have had a great role model. I hope I can be the same for Nick. I try to signal the importance of family through my actions. My flexible job gives me the opportunity to arrange my schedule to spend a lot of time with Nick; in that, I know I am far more fortunate than most dads.
But I have definitely turned down opportunities so that I could be present for Amy and Nick- I no longer teach in EMBA programs, limit my consulting and other work opportunities, and attend fewer conferences and professional networking events.
While I’m not the coach, I help out with a lot with Nick’s little league teams, and try to spend as much unstructured time with him as I can. Wii LEGO Star Wars, backyard light-saber battles, bike rides, pretending to have an interest in Minecraft, doing everyday errands together, just hanging out and talking- these are all parts of my everyday. I fight the impulse (although I sometimes fail) to let work time bleed into family time and get sucked into work through emails and smartphones. Everyday time is so important.
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I think if we are asking the right questions, pursuing the right goals, and are mindful about how our actions will be perceived by our children, we are doing the most important work of being good fathers. And I can’t think of a better thing to be.
I hope my son learns that work can bring fulfillment, meaning and opportunities to help others- not just money. I also hope he learns that work-family balance means family first and that his career priorities should take his future spouse/family’s needs into account. To get there:
Life and work sometimes get in the way. I don’t always succeed. None of us can. But we can all try. And the trying is the most important part.
I guess most of all, I hope Nick sees that I am trying. If he does, I think he may absorb these lessons.
—photo by Schmarty/Flickr
For more from Scott, see:
The Challenges and Opportunities of Fathers, Work and Family, All in One Awesome Graphic
Taking My Own Advice on Fatherhood, Work and Family (or, helping my wife Lean In)
In a summer of sequels, reboots, and misfires, Pacific Rim is a brilliant surprise. Its cheerful audaciousness will take you back to a time when blockbusters were original stories that filled you with glee and wonder. This movie works just like a fairy tale, but one whose inevitable moral won't make you claw your face off.
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Skullduggery is a new kind of storytelling game, a Competitive Narrative Game. In the game, you will take on the role of a supernatural mastermind with a villainous plot to execute. The first to put all the pieces of his secret plot into place can declare himself the winner!
The game plays out much like a larger and more organized ‘Who would win?’ battle of supervillains, much like the arguments you may have had with friends over lunch or during game night. Skullduggery captures the core of the contest—context, powers, and decisions, and tempers them into a fast-paced, lively battle of wits mixed with a downward spiral of morality.
Skullduggery is underhanded, unrestricted supervillainy in a free-form, open environment. We like to think of it as “the Grand Theft Auto of Storytelling Games”.
Our goal is to produce high quality, old school 28mm demons, daemons, and devils for Roleplaying and Wargaming in a gritty, realistic, lived-in style sculpted by the highly talented Paul Muller.
Last week on KS!! Hop on board!
It's been over a year since we first covered the Tex Murphy reboot, and today, we finally get our first proper trailer for the successful Kickstarter project.
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In the '80s, there was no greater danger to young people than Dungeons & Dragons. Thankfully, religious PSAs like the above tried to save the youth's of America, mostly by completely misconstruing what the game was about.
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Plenty of gamemasters still use graph paper and three-ring binders to organize their role-playing campaigns, but there’s an arsenal of tools available to the tech-savvy GM. I talked to a bunch of experienced GMs to find out how they use digital tools to create and track their RPG adventures.
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Share of people who say they consider themselves a “convinced atheist" in the world.
