podcast friday

[sabotabby]

 Go listen to the Wizards & Spaceships episode "Some People Call Me the Space Cowboy." No particular reason. It's about Space Westerns, problematic representation, and why Firefly was bad, actually.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I specifically didn't know about the OK Corral, because I was a child and didn't grow up with any of that stuff.

[greylock]

I didn't either. But somehow, I absorbed a lot from somewhere.
I remembered overnight that I have scrappy memories of seeing 'Spectre' for the first time, less for the western aspects, but just how weird it looked.

There's an RPG I recall seeing decades ago (Deadlands? Weird West?) I am sure fits in with this episode. I'm stunned it's never been made into a TV show or movie.

[selki]

Steve Jackson Games had a GURPS Deadlands RPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/309516/gurps-classic-deadlands-weird-west
They also had a board game: https://www.sjgames.com/frag/deadlands/

[greylock]

Exscuse you! That's noted hacker, wanted criminal and threat to America Steve Jackson!
(or The Other Steve Jackson!).

But thanks. It seems to have been one of the many GURPS adaptions of the original game, but looks the same. (And I did get a burst of nostalgia for the old GURPs cover style looking at that).

I found a post on Blackgate that suggests it was released in '96, but my memory would date it to '93. So, not sure what's happening there - but I'm glad to see it's still going. It did seem to be a fabulous idea for a setting.

I assume it would raise all sorts of colonialism issues, but it does remind me there is a fantastic "zombie" show called The Dead Lands set in pre-contact New Zealand which is a favourite.

[selki]

Yes, Steve Jackson, of Steve Jackson Games, like I said. I don't know where your reply is coming from or why I would be perceived as needing to be excused. I volunteered for SJG at many conventions demoing their games in the 1990s, thereby earning free swag and games from them, including an early prototype of the Frag DeadLands board game, and various GURPS books, and, of course, *Hacker*, the board game inspired by the SS raid. I was a member of the Electronic Freedom Frontier and of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, I was aware of the raid at the time and the near-destruction of SJG thereby (I'm pretty sure it was also talked about on comp.risks at the time, or at least once the lawsuit was filed, as being computer security (overreach) related) and of EFF's amicus brief, and I read Bruce Sterling's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hacker_Crackdown 1992 book with great interest. For those who've read this far and want more context, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jackson_Games,_Inc._v._United_States_Secret_Service

[greylock]

Aha!
So, back in the day, when I was involved in gaming circles, when Steve Jackson was mentioned, it was always a riff, because you had to determine if you were talking about the UK or US game designer.

Obviously my attempt at being flippant didn't translate at all. So, I should apologise.

But how we laughed back in the day at the stupidity of the US SS. It usually involved references to Paranoia! and Illumunati (the latter is still my favourite card came of all time).

I do have the Sterling book in hardback somewhere, a relic of my days of hanging around "cyberpunks".

[selki]

Thanks for clearing that up!

Oh, I FREAKED out a guy I'd started to date when I mentioned playing the card game Illuminati. It turned out he took all that seriously. We were not together long.

I think I culled the Sterling book at last while prepping to move in 2019 (gave boxes of books to the library). I hope someone else bought it at the library fundraiser used book sale.

[greylock]

One of my favourite bits from The Simpsons is the Reverse Vampires bit, which I swear was based off Illuminati. It reminds me of Illuminati's basic concept"
Ahem. OK, here's what we've got: the Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people, under the supervision of the reverse vampires, are forcing our parents to go to bed early in a fiendish plot to eliminate the meal of dinner! We're through the looking glass, here, people.

[kore]

My dad HATED John Wayne but showed me many, many non-JW Westerns as a kid. So I have this really lopsided viewing history, lol. I tried rewatching spaghetti Westerns a few decades later and omfg, the violent sexism.