TrueGentleman

OK, 40% off consumables counts as a markdown. (That begs the question of whether or not the consumables are fairly priced to begin with, but the invisible hand of the market will presumably sort that out eventually.) Still, the absence of any other item, even a discount on a previously available item or two, nudges this Featured Items thread further in the "disappointment" category. At the very least, this is an all-or-nothing announcement, which isn't good betting odds.

So next week's sales will not only have to stand on their own but also make up for this one?

No, I out-levelled that zone the first go-round and don't usually play it, so I missed the temp powers from Stephanie Peebles and Tobias Hansen. That doesn't mean I'm interested in paying 400 Paragon Points to make up for that, though.

Murnau's Nosferatu, more than the (lost) The Golem or, arguably, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, established much of the visual vocabulary that all horror movies since have employed. I haven't seen Werner Herzog's 1979 remake with Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani, but improving on it is hard to imagine. No matter that it's black and white, silent, and German, it remains essential viewing.

Did anyone find Coppola's version of Dracula, for all its lace and corsets, especially sexy? Never mind how miscast Winona Ryder was - she basically shouldn't be cast in period films, period - whose idea of "darkly charismatic" is Gary Oldman? (Monica Bellucci in a cameo as one of Dracula's brides isn't enough to compensate in a two-hour movie.) Incidentally, post-modern horror writer Kim Newman has written a novella mashing up Dracula and Apocalypse Now, "Coppola's Dracula".

Some day, some A-list director is going to read Newman's Anno Dracula and realize that the vampire story to end all vampire stories has been sitting around waiting to be adapted to film.

The Lost Boys, like Salem's Lot, is a fun horror movie, but it's not really a vampire movie in the end.

Seconding the recommendation. The six-episode series follows a complete story arc from a police detective's reluctant recruitment into the secret force combatting the "code five" outbreak to the final revelation of what the master plan is. The tense, paranoid atmosphere neatly plays against the characters' emotional lives and an element of moral ambiguity to their methods, not unlike a good spy series or police procedural. Notable as Idris Elba's breakout role, incidentally.

Absolutely - despite its rip-off pedigree, it's a classic on a par with Lugosi's authorized original. (Coppola plundered it shamelessly for his thoroughly overrated Dracula adaptation.)

Also check out Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional version about making the movie, with John Malkovich as Murnau and Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck, imagined here as an actual vampire. Both deliver great performances, of course.

Not to start another front for generational warfare, but the Baby Boom was the audience responsible for the gradually more serious tone of the Silver Age comics, most notably Spider-Man. Peter Parker had to deal with more adult responsibilities than Clark Kent ever did, and student protesters and the Viet Nam War were present in the background in his titles at that time. Then the death of Gwen Stacy* re-wrote all the rules of what could happen in a comic book. Stan Lee was well aware that Marvel had college-aged readers and pitched his stories accordingly.

Yes, the 80s' The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen dealt with serious themes as well as older heroes, but comics had been on the path to that juncture for more than a decade.


* "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" Amazing Spider-Man #121-122, June–July 1973.—The True-Believin' True Gentleman.

Very well, here's more:

Don't call Kyle's mom a *****!

Instead, drop the "t", because "bich" is Latin for generosity, m'kay?

"Tough Love" by Shandi?

Oh 80s, you were the cheesiest decade.

It's coming frmo SyFy Films, which is a distinct venture from the cable channel's original made-for-TV movie production arm (i.e. the makers of Mansquito, Sharktopus, and the upcoming Piranhaconda).

Here's the description of the co-venture from SyFy's website:
Earlier this year, they hired the studio exec formerly in charge of DC's film and TV ventures ranging from Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and Watchmen to Green Lantern and Human Target.

Other contributors to the Wild Cards anthologies besides Martin include Roger Zelazny, Howard Waldrop, Chris Claremont, and Paul Cornell. The most interesting detail from a gaming perspective, though, is that the series was inspired by Martin's own RPG campaign for the pen-and-paper Superworld.

Wait, what?

Absolutely - Flower Knight deserves a promotion after retiring from the old tutorial. I'd also like to nominate Sakai Tamaki for the Red Side trainer, assuming he finally broke out of the Zig.

Besides being one of my favorite hang-out spots, Ouroboros is a well-trafficked zone, with its own mission arc, flashbacks, Incarnate-themed NPCs, and more. The addition of a trainer-tailor and/or rep-giver would only benefit it. With the entry barrier lowered with Issue 21, the community could take real advantage of it.

But can you induce his former allies to chase him into lethal environments? It's the lava chase that's the pièce de résistance.