HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)

[HapexIndustries]

Regardless of your political affiliations, this Twitter account of 'Donald Trump as DM' is killing it.

"I will build a great dungeon. And nobody builds dungeons better than me. Mark my words. #DonaldTrump #dungeonmaster #DungeonsAndDragons "

https://twitter.com/dungeonsdonald

[CADmonkey]

One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, never before officially released in the U.S., BELLADONNA OF SADNESS is a mad, swirling, psychedelic light-show of medieval tarot-card imagery with horned demons, haunted forests and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, equal parts J.R.R. Tolkien and gorgeous, explicit Gustav Klimt-influenced eroticism. The last film in the adult-themed Animerama trilogy produced by the godfather of Japanese anime & manga, Osamu Tezuka and directed by his long time collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto (“ASTRO BOY” and “KIMBA THE WHITE LION”), BELLADONNA unfolds as a series of spectacular still watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together. An innocent young woman, Jeanne (voiced by Aiko Nagayama) is violently raped by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa’s RAN) who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire.

Extremely transgressive and not for the easily offended, BELLADONNA is fueled by a mindblowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by noted avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh. The film has been newly restored by Cinelicious Pics using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements – and including over 8 minutes of surreal and explicit footage cut from the negative. On par with Rene Laloux’s FANTASTIC PLANET and Ralph Bakshi’s WIZARDS as an LSD-stoked 1970s head trip, BELLADONNA marks a major rediscovery for animation fans. If Led Zeppelin had a favorite film, this would be it. In other words, Stairway to Hell.

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'Belladonna of Sadness' is a Japanese animated film that will ruin you

You can never un-see “Belladonna of Sadness,” an animated Japanese sextacular dug up from 1973 to traumatize today’s adventurous viewers. Perhaps you won’t mind never un-seeing it. Infinitely crazier than any breathless description could manage, it’s a deep dive into one woman’s mental Gotterdammerung, depicted as a fluid, ever-changing nightmare of ceaseless, unprintable oddities — like “Yellow Submarine” gone blue (or pink, to borrow the term for Japan’s brand of naughty films), and sometimes with even better music.

If that makes it sound like it’s for horndogs only, then be warned: It’s more progressive than retrograde (though arguably that, too). Inspired by tales of witchcraft in the Middle Ages from the 19th century French historian Jules Michelet, “Belladonna” begins cruelly: Jean and Jeanne are pretty people in love. “May they live happily ever after,” the narrator crows, before adding, ominously, “But this is just the beginning of the story.” No kidding. Their village lord orders Jeanne gang raped. Later he and his cronies accuse her of being a witch. Meanwhile Jean, unable to look on his tarnished beloved, turns his back on her.

Or maybe it’s all a horrible dream. Director Eiichi Yamamoto and his heroic editors treat Jeanne’s psychological descent to an unfailing, epic battering ram of terrible sights, with enough demented creativity to inspire 1,000 animated masterworks. The style changes on a dime, from pans across still life, painterly drawings to noodly bits of kinetic business, usually against either woeful songs or fusion jazz sex music. When the Black Death arrives in town, that gets a five-minute horrorshow of melting buildings and rapidly decaying skeletons. It’s all a fever dream, where even the main events — Jeanne’s abuse, her submission to a shape-shifting demon, her trial for witchcraft — seem sprung from her mind. Barely 15 seconds go by without our hero getting naked or suffering some form of otherworldly, did-that-just-happen? abuse.

But it’s hard to imagine anyone treating “Belladonna” as mere spank bait. This is a deeply sympathetic, angry, even political work meant to delve into one woman’s unimaginable trauma. The images are perpetually outrageous and ridiculous, with an entire universe of crazy creatures and genitalia with wings and lascivious tendrils and orgies enacted inside everflowing strands of Jeanne’s hair. “Belladonna” never lets up, and like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the endless excesses are part of the point. It’s meant to abuse the viewer, to make them feel something of the bottomless agony of its tragic hero. All one can do is submit to it, to give in and acknowledge that it’s a singular whatzit that ruins you long after it finally ends.

[CADmonkey]

Here's a little jem from the 80's.  From Italian schlock director Lamberto Bava, Blastfighter is best described as a ripoff of The Deer Hunter, First Blood and Death Wish:

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Former cop Jake 'Tiger' Sharp returns to his old hometown after having been in prison for the murder of his wife's killer. Illegal hunting seems to be widespread and inbred rednecks control the city with an iron fist. Jake manages to make himself an enemy to hillbillies and he and his newly found daughter had to flee for their lives. Fortunately, Jake has a GAT that can shoot grenades and rockets ...

And then of course, there's Jake's "GAT", an SPAS-12 shotgun which looked pretty futuristic in 1984.  Jake's gun is like Chekhov's gun on steroids:  In the first act, the gun and all the different ways it can kill people are lovingly described by Jake's best friend: "She's a honey, Tiger".  Jake then hides the gun away as he tries (vainly, of course) to start a new, less violent life.  Then in the final act, Jake brings the gun out of hiding and uses it to slaughter an army of rednecks.  While it doesn't have a sweaty, barechested gunsmithing montage like Cirio H. Santiago's Equalizer 2000, Blastfighter is definitely a film for gun porn lovers, there's even a fan trailer that focuses on the gun:

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[clockworkjoe]

Nice! Sounds like good fodder for bad movie night

[CADmonkey]

Another lost gem dug up by cinefamily (the same folks who restored & distributed Belladonna of Sadness), this is, to quote Nicolas Winding Refn, "a movie that pushes ‘auteurism’ to a whole other level":

https://vimeo.com/110431621

A carnival con man discovers that he has genuine psychic powers and uses them to become an astrology bigwig. But the plot isn’t necessarily the focus of THE ASTROLOGER. It’s the kind of film where the main character makes a movie that is basically THE ASTROLOGER within the movie and then we get to spend a few minutes watching The Astrologer watch THE ASTROLOGER inside the movie THE ASTROLOGER! It’s the kind of movie that has an entire dynamic dinner scene shot entirely in slow-motion. It’s the kind of movie where someone shouts, “You’re not an astrologer... YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE!” And it’s all done without an ounce of irony. It’s all genuine, it’s all passion, it’s all GOOD.

This is a movie that saw limited release in a few drive-in theatres across the U.S. and then disappeared (as Denny apparently disappeared, leaving his creditors with a stack of worthless I.O.U.s).  As a movie, it's a steaming pile of crap left by a smirking "auteur" who couldn't be bothered to learn the craft of moviemaking;  but as something to watch in a theatre full of like-minded individuals, laughing and shouting in bafflement as the story alternately jumps from location to location and then grinds to a halt for a drawn-out, pointless, dialogue-free montage, it's a gem.

[Alethea]

Because some people have an athleticism score of YES

http://digg.com/2016/tae-kwon-do-high-kick

[Twisting H]

Re: Podcasts and Production

So I was listening to the podcast How We Roll, episode 7.1 the Sanatorium - Alpha Rhythem

They've added music and sound effects in an amazing way to really make the Call of Cthulhu actual play creepy.

Listen to what I mean here: http://www.howwerollpodcast.com/

The GM is using a soundboard/mixer called Battle Bards to add effects in real time.

https://battlebards.com/

Create your own dramatic audio scenes that'll leave your players jaws on the floor. Control the layering, cropping, and timing of various tracks together to create a seamless masterpiece.

Imagine an apocalyptic mix that starts off with the drum beat of a rampaging orc army towards the castle. The roars are heard at a distance but they get louder as the seconds progress. Then a barrage of fireballs are cast from behind them. Maybe you select 5 fireballs, or maybe 15? As the fireballs impact the castle with a gigantic BOOM, you hear the castle walls crumbling to the ground below. What will your players do?

This is the power of the Mixer. Create, edit, share, stream, and download your creations.

Other audio resources from that episode (royalty-free music and fx):

https://incompetech.com/ 
http://www.fesliyanstudios.com/
http://pederbhelland.com/use-my-music/

[SynapticError]

New Call of Cthulhu Game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhXvQMIU3bE

[CADmonkey]

Saw the new Canadian near-future apocalypse drama Into the Forest last night:

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Sisters Nell (Ellen Page) and Eva (Evan Rachel Wood) are going wild. They aren’t going into the wild, mind you, for they’re already there. The sisters hole up in their family’s beautiful cottage that sits tucked kilometres away from civilization in the Vancouver woods. Things are dire, but Into the Forest doesn’t tell the audience why. It just gives impressions, feelings, as the sisters restlessly pursue their studies with the creature comforts of light, music, and electricity. Then all goes black.

Into the Forest gives a story akin to a dystopian drama as an unknown catastrophe puts the world in a blackout. The film marks a firm comeback for writer/director Patricia Rozema who delivers another boldly lyrical and literary film that fans of her ingenious 1999 Jane Austen pic Mansfield Park will relish. As with Mansfield Park, Into the Forest breathes with the same visionary that often puts Rozema in lists of this country’s top filmmakers. Her latest film might be the sharpest feminist tale in a body of work that creates strong roles for women as Nell and Eva endure the elements. The sisters live in isolation with their dad (Callum Keith Rennie, memorable in a small role) and the radios aren’t giving much in the way of information. Living offline, in that bubble outside the Twittersphere and the world of instant news, is a unique, surreal, and terrifying experience for a plugged-in person of today.

A trip to town, however, reveals that things are dire. A store clerk (Michael Eklund, in a sinister performance that makes the skin crawl) holds the scant remains of provisions at a shotgun’s length and gas is a hotter commodity akin to prohibition-era hooch. The film evokes the allegorical world of Blindness with the eerie imagery of a town on the verge of a meltdown. The family, reading the clues that trouble’s a-brewin’, heads back into the safety of the woods and the resources of the natural surroundings.

Then an unexpected tragedy rocks the safety of the cottage and the sisters find themselves in a disaster far greater than whatever terror is sweeping the globe. Loneliness, isolation, and insecurity reframe the safety of their surroundings as they realize that they are wholly dependent on the woods and each other for survival, as the few gallons of gas remaining are barely enough for a round-trip to town.

Page and Wood give excellent performances as the two dynamic sisters. Both actresses push themselves to physical and emotional lengths as their characters endure the hardship of the woods and the harsher element of being cut off from the world and the luxuries they’ve come to see as life sources. Page, who also produced the film, does ample hard work as Nell, the studious sister who becomes the more pragmatic sibling of the pair when she assumes a leadership role and manages the supplies with great efficiency. A rock of reason and rationality, Page’s Nell is easily the one of the siblings who one might want to have on a desert island.

Wood, on the other hand, gives the film a strong emotional centre as Eva, the artsier and more creative talent of the sisters. Into the Forest charts the progress of the catastrophe, and of the sisters’ dire isolation, through the development of Eva’s art. Eva, a dancer, throws herself into her rehearsals as she strives to perfect her form and technique for an audition that comes whenever the world returns to normal. Wood throws herself into Eva’s rehearsals with sharp, increasingly violent movements as she dances to the beat of a metronome in place of the music that usually gives her dance its beat. The dances and the clicks of the metronome give the film a hint of madness thanks to Wood’s intense and full-bodied performance. She’s cabin fever in a contemporary dance.

The film needs both sisters to work on par, though, and Page and Wood create a strong sisterly bond as the drives and energies of each sibling complement the other. The minimalist balancing act from Rozema keeps the scope of the tragedy intimate and powerful through the relationship of the sisters. It’s emotionally arduous thanks to the closeted scope that invests the audience in the sisters’ survival, although the film might have benefited from a running time that was equally tight. Similarly, Rozema keeps the dystopian element sparse by withholding as much information as possible to shroud the film in ambiguity and menace. Things are scarier under the shroud of uncertainty when the imagination lets one invent the cause and—worse—false hopes that offer escape.

Into the Forest is not an eco-thriller per se, but in the years since Y2K when people are more dependent on technology than ever, it conveys the pleasures in sans-Siri resourcefulness as the sisters explore the terrain outside the house. The house itself becomes a richly symbolic character as it degenerates quickly in the months following the blackout. Shooting in a house with so much glass and open space, Into the Forest uses the sunlight to a practical effect as the stirring cinematography by Daniel Grant favours natural palettes for the film’s strong imagery, and the evocative score by Max Richter is wonderfully unsettling. Into the Woods feels timeless in its natural setting and haunting woodland landscape—it’s a relevant cautionary tale not for tomorrow, but for today. Rozema uses the lush authority of the dense landscape to create a setting that feels safe in one frame and wildly beautiful and terrifying in the next. Into the Woods finds a strong parable about looking to the natural resources of the landscape as the film builds a ripe allegory about getting back to basics and living off the land.

There’s an air of Margaret Atwood, too, to the rich dystopian atmosphere that uses the pull of the wilderness and a strong feminist energy to engage the viewer in a compelling parable of survival. This adaptation from the book by Jean Hegland firmly puts Rozema in Atwood territory and the director’s a perfect fit for the material. Into the Forest sees Rozema in her element as she devises a powerful, lyrical film driven by the resilience of two women. The film is Rozema at her best and arguably one of her most visually and thematically satisfying works. She lets the actresses be commanding vessels for this tale of sisterhood and rebirth.

Similarly, the director challenges the actors (particularly Wood) to put their characters through hell as the sisters encounter evil predators that emerge from the woods and circle the home like hungry dogs. Rozema handles an act of brutal violence with sensitivity, yet the film cuts with a visceral sting by restricting the range of the camera’s gaze to the pain of the victim. The film mimics the sense of isolation afforded by the woods in its confined and tight framing, and the violence that takes the film into its unexpected third act is likely to polarize, but the challenge brings its own rewards. One feels suffocated until the final images of release. Into the Forest is one of Rozema’s best films yet.

- Patrick Mullen, Cinemablographer

[Twisting H]

Re: Podcasts and Production

So I was listening to the podcast How We Roll, episode 7.1 the Sanatorium - Alpha Rhythem

They've added music and sound effects in an amazing way to really make the Call of Cthulhu actual play creepy.

Listen to what I mean here: http://www.howwerollpodcast.com/

The GM is using a soundboard/mixer called Battle Bards to add effects in real time.

https://battlebards.com/

Create your own dramatic audio scenes that'll leave your players jaws on the floor. Control the layering, cropping, and timing of various tracks together to create a seamless masterpiece.

Imagine an apocalyptic mix that starts off with the drum beat of a rampaging orc army towards the castle. The roars are heard at a distance but they get louder as the seconds progress. Then a barrage of fireballs are cast from behind them. Maybe you select 5 fireballs, or maybe 15? As the fireballs impact the castle with a gigantic BOOM, you hear the castle walls crumbling to the ground below. What will your players do?

This is the power of the Mixer. Create, edit, share, stream, and download your creations.

Other audio resources from that episode (royalty-free music and fx):

https://incompetech.com/ 
http://www.fesliyanstudios.com/
http://pederbhelland.com/use-my-music/

Re: Monetizing podcasts

As a follow up to this post, How We Roll are playing their Call of Cthulhu games live over Twitch.

That's nothing new, but their monetization strategy is interesting.

Donators to the stream can :

- give inspiration to any character
- request a player do impressions of their favorite character
- make a character autofail a san roll in lieu of rolling. (or autosucceed on a roll in general).
- add a new insanity to the insanity table.

[CADmonkey]

So I see that Jay Cheel has a new documentary coming out, I was reminded that I haven't yet shared this with you folks:

https://vimeo.com/20169506

This is Cheel's 2011 documentary about Ralph Zavadil, a man who got his 15 minutes of fame when he broke his neck while performing a stunt for his local public access cable show The Cap'n Video Show.  As they say in the documentary, Cap'n Video was doing Jackass before there was Jackass, only with no budget.

[D6xD6 - Chris]

I somehow just now discovered the Last Podcast on the Left, in which comedians go into detail about serial killers, creepypasta, and other dark areas of humanity.

It's beautiful, if you don't mind laughing about human atrocity

[CADmonkey]

So, once again I attended the monthly bad movie night at one of our local independent theatres:

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Yes, that's a pickled David Carradine, playing an offensive caricature of a trans woman.  He also wrote & sang the theme song heard in the trailer.

Short synopsis: Slue (Paul L. Smith), Pearl (David Carradine) & Weasel (Brad Dourif) kidnap a baby whom they ritually abuse & train to be a killer.  When "Sonny Boy" (Michael Griffin) escapes, he finds love in the form of a motorscooter-riding Manic Pixie Dream Girl and the townsfolk (who have been living in fear of Slue for decades) are finally riled up enough to take on Slue and his gang.

Despite the fact that "David Carradine In Drag" would seem to be the main selling point of the movie, he actually doesn't get a lot of screen time (which is probably for the best).  The movie is carried by the performances of Smith, Dourif & Griffin.

[Adam_Autist]

apocalypse-world.com/

Free Apocalypse World anyone?

[Gorkamorka]

apocalypse-world.com/

Free Apocalypse World anyone?

With all the extra playbooks to.