Aaaand yer out!

I don't follow sports, but it was nigh impossible to escape that baseball-n-steroids report that came out.

WTF was up with the naming of names? I thought it was, you know, a really serious matter to accuse someone, in a public forum, of doing illegal things. Usually you let the DA do that, right? But here's this report author, basically baldly accusing a whole big old list of men of illegal steroid use. Damn if I know if they're guilty or not, but isn't that the kind of thing that's usually taking place within the legal system, not within a Congressional investigation? Or have I just not been paying attention?

I understand that at least one of the big names is going to sue for libel.

The ganache turns on me

The first batch of ganache was so simple, I thought I'd make some more and try whipping it into truffles for Christmas presents. But something went Terribly Wrong! I got a whole batch of liquidy, gritty chocolate stuff. It made all right hot chocolate, but I really didn't need a full quart of hot chocolate base in the house, so we got rid of most of it.

Was the cuplrit:
- Discount chocolate chips? (I think not. They tasted OK.)
- Transfer from cooking pot to mixer bowl?
- Residual water in mixer bowl? (I thought I'd dried it thoroughly...)
- Too-rapid cooling?

I don't know. And I decided that, with the holidays rapidly approaching, I would not do it all over again to find out, and went with more traditional and reliable recipes instead. Maybe Valentine's Day...

Revels!

Hurray, we went to the DC Revels Saturday afternoon!

First, I need to warn you all that there is a time-space warp in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon Square in Washington, DC. It transfers you from NY Ave to Mass Ave. It doesn't matter if you're inbound or outbound. You will end up on Mass Ave. Plan accordingly.

Warp fields aside, we made it just in time. The highlights for me included:

• Mark Jaster as Will Kemp, Shakespeare's comic actor. Dude was awesome.
  
• A script which was written by people who had a deep understanding of Elizabethan comedy. By which I mean there were puns, but they were appropriate puns, and several were verbal/physical puns.
  
• WTF a third tune for the verses of "Gaudete." I have no idea what to sing now.
  
• Readings from Shakespeare, which left the entire company (Morris dancers and brass ensemble included) dead. (giddysinger, what was your line? The audience was laughing so loudly we couldn't hear you.)
  
• The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is still the spookiest damn thing I think I've seen. I mean that in a good way.
  
• "Fum, Fum, Fum" has English words? Want! (I learned it in Spanish in high school.)
  
• Piffaro the Renaissance Band is still awesome, and we got another of their CDs.
  
• Just oodles and oodles of great music, including a zippy "Contest between the holly and ivy" which I may endeavor to learn.
  
• Oh and heh, they did "Blow thy horn, hunter." And left out the dirtiest verses. :D As they used to say at the NJ Ren Faire, "Family show!"
  

Thanks to curiousangel who watched the Spud while we were out. The baby is apparently much more comfortable with other people when his parents are not around, which boggles me, but there you have it. (Or else I just can't listen to the full crying cycle which is required before Spud decides that you're not going to eat him after all?)

Multimedia gaming

robin_d_laws seems to often be experimenting with multimedia approaches to gaming, including his recent "Angels and Operators" voting-enabled interactive LJ game/fiction. Today, he proposes using musical cues to signal the end of a non-combat scene.

Brilliant! I love non-combat gaming scenarios, but they can ramble on and on when the GM has nothing more to add but the PCs are still making sure no stone has been left unturned, or if the GM doesn't want to make it feel to artificial by stepping out of character to abruptly cut the scene. The musical cue is simple and unobtrusive, and I bet with some practice, PCs would even come to enjoy ad libbing "wrap lines" to wrap up the scene once they hear the music.

Quote of the Day

"...weird tongue gestures that would be better suited on an epileptic garter snake..."

- La Plumcake of Manolo for the Big Girl describes an 85 mph amorous pursuit by a trucker through Arkansas and parts of Tennessee.