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The Winter 2011 issue of Diplomacy World, #116, is now available for download. You can find it at the official Diplomacy World website - www.diplomacyworld.net - or in the Diplomacy World Yahoo group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/diplomacyworld/

Check it out, and send it some feedback...plus start thinking about ideas for articles. #117 is only 3 months away!

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The new issue of Eternal Sunshine is out!  You can find it in the ES Yahoo group, or at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Direct links:

pdf - http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es55.pdf

html - http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/dw/eshtml55.htm

Check it out and send feedback. Lotsa good stuff....

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A lot of comparisons can be drawn between Woody Ellen’s latest film and his prior work. The most obvious is The Purple Rose of Cairo, because of the cinematic connection. I prefer to think of Midnight in Paris as more of Play it Again, Sam meets Paris, albeit with a quieter and understated humor. Regardless of the comparisons you may draw, while Midnight in Paris will never be my favorite Woody Allen film, it now holds a strong position ...

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Diplomacy World #114 is now available for download, both from the Diplomacy World Yahoo group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/diplomacyworld/

and the official Diplomacy World website:

http://www.diplomacyworld.net/

Among the articles inside this issue you will find:

David Hood on the 25th DixieCon
Joshua Danker-Dake on Anschluss strategy
Jack McHigh on Balkan Wars VI
Two articles on the new Diplomacycast.com
1907 Results and Commentary in the ongoing Diplomacy World Demo Game
A lively letter column
Chris Dziedzic on The Diplomatic Pouch
and much much ...

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The July 2011 issue of Eternal Sunshine is now available for download. Plenty in there to bore you, or keep you interested, depending on how demented you are. First turns of Lifeboat, By Almost Popular Demand, and the Eternal Sunshine Index, plus columns, letters, lists, an interview, and the usual crap. Check it out! Can be found in the Yahoo group at:

 

 

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I've just uploaded Issue #53 of Eternal Sunshine. Inside you'll find stuff like:

All the details of my first attempt at running a Dip event...

An interview with the amazing Antje Duvekot...

Review of a terrific show with Raina Rose, Rebecca Loebe, and Jenn Grinels...

Columns from Jack McHugh, Richard Walkerdine, and Paul Milewski...

New Games: Lifeboat and By ALMOST Popular Demand...

First installments of "100 Films to See Before You Die"...

Next chapter of The Twisting Tale...

The new Eternal Sunshine Index...

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Eternal Sunshine #52, the May 2011 issue, is now available ?(and actually has been for two weeks..I just forgot to post this). Inside, besides the usual crap, you'll find:

The3rd turn of 23 Tunes
Hypothetic Questions
more Richard Walkerdine than you can shake a stick at
and much more!

Check it out, send some feedback, and participate!  You can find the latest issue in the Diplomacy section of my personal website at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Direct links:

pdf version - http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es52.pdf

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Diplomacy World #113, the Spring 2011 Issue, is now available for free download. You can find it in the Diplomacy World Yahoo group at

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/diplomacyworld/

or directly from the official Diplomacy World website at:

http://www.diplomacyworld.net/

Download it, read it, and send in some feedback! And start working on YOUR contribution for Diplomacy World #114, which has a deadline of July 1st. It will be here before you know it.

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I am not a huge fan of the recently popular comedies. Maybe I’ve become too old and grumpy, or perhaps I need films to be more character-driven. But take a random comedy at the top of the box office charts, and odds are I’m not interested in going to see it.

 

 

So given that, I can’t ...

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Eternal Sunshine #51, the April 2011 issue, is now available. Inside, besides the usual crap, you'll find:

The 2nd turn of 23 Tunes
A new You Don't Know Me interview
More of Humboldt by Kevin Tighe
Letters
Movie Reviews
Hypothetic Questions
The new ES Baseball Prediction Contest
and much more!

Check it out, send some feedback, and participate!  You can find the latest issue in the Diplomacy section of my personal website at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Direct links:

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Paul Giamatti cannot turn a bad movie into a good one. But he has proven time and time again that he has enough talent to take a decent film and turn it into a terrific one. This isn’t simply due to his ability to act. It is also the adhesive chemistry he demonstrates with the cast around him. I’m sure a portion of this is due to excellent casting, but I give most of the credit to Giamatti himself.
...

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Eternal Sunshine #50 is now available. Inside, besides the usual crap, you'll find:

The first turn of 23 Tunes
A new You Don't Know Me interview
The return of Humboldt by Kevin Tighe, awaited for decades
Letters
Movie Reviews
Hypothetic Questions
Results of the ES Football Prediction Contest
The new ES Baseball Prediction Contest
and much more!

Check it out, send some feedback, and participate!  You can find the latest issue in the Diplomacy section of my personal website at

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The Winter 2010 Issue of Diplomacy World, #112, is now available for download from www.diplomacyworld.net

Inside you'll find 71 pages of fun, including:

The 1903 and 1904 results (and commentary) of our latest Demo Game
Fabian Straub on both WDC and EDC
Larry Peery on the Man Who Toppled Russia
Another brilliant piece from Richard Maltz
Richard Walkerdine on The Invention of Diplomacy
Jack McHugh on The Replacement Blues
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Eternal Sunshine #47, the December 2010 Issue, has now been released. Inside you'll find: << MORE >>

By now most of you – if not all of you – have heard something about “the Facebook movie.”  This is the movie in question: The Social Network. Based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires,” it tells the tale of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), and the development of Facebook (originally “The Facebook”), in what is quickly revealed to be a series of flashbacks during two separate lawsuits Zuckerberg is facing. It seems that how he initially developed the site, as well as how he treated his best friend and partner, are in question. We soon learn that ...

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If you saw, and somewhat enjoyed, the first Paranormal Activity, you’ll like this one too. If you didn’t like it, there’s no point it seeing PA2; in many ways it is the same movie. If you never saw PA1, see it on DVD first and then decide. But I thought PA1 was decent, and I feel the same about PA2. If nothing else, it’s tense, a bit scary, and goes by fast (smartly keeping a 91 minute running time).

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When I saw the trailer for The Last Exorcism, I wasn’t really given enough information to discern the full plot. But the general idea seemed simple enough: a documentary crew films an exorcism, and finds more than they bargained for, ala The Blair Witch Project. I wasn’t enthralled with that prospect, but one recent Sunday it was the best option available.

Actually, the storyline in The Last Exorcism is a bit more interesting than I thought. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) has been a preacher since he was ten years old. He is a master at capturing ...

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With the holidays coming up, remember that Diplomacy World has a lot of Diplomacy-related merchandise perfect for your facorite Diplomacy fan. Shirts, Mugs, Notebooks...and countless designs to choose from (plus lots of other design styles, including the Helpful Kitty, Haters, and Whining Kent Pigs). You can find them at:

http://www.cafepress.com/helpfulkitty/

Anything you buy helps support Diplomacy World. So does clicking on our advertisers (like Amazon...if ... << MORE >>

Here is my initial Diplomacy World announcement:

Diplomacy World #111, the Fall 2010 Issue, is now available! Inside you'll find:

* Conrad Woodring on one of the most difficult journeys ever to reach a World DipCon

* The final installment of the Known World Demo Game, including all EOG's (from players and commentators)

* Gwen Maggi on how he became world champion...and others on how they didn't.

* Jim O'Kelley on the Rise of the Weasels

* The Epistemology of Strategy by Richard Maltz

* and sooooo much more

Download it ...

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The new October 2010 issue of Eternal Sunshine, #45, is now available in both pdf and html formats. You can find it at:
 
http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/
 
Included in this issue is the usual junk, including:

Columns from Paul Milewski, Jack McHugh, and Richard Walkerdine
The start of the new Eternal Sunshine Movie Quote Quiz
Another "You Don't Know Me" Interview
Household updates on new dog Kayza
Game Openings in Diplomacy and Gunboat -> get in before they are gone!

Check it ...

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Robert Duvall has a history over the last few decades of selecting some lower-profile but well-crafted characters and films. Some, like The Apostle, were projects he championed and organized himself. I don’t believe Get Low came to life the same way, but it still shows Duvall’s eclectic and inspiring character work has not lost a step in his later years.

 

 

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The reviews I’ve seen for Inception, the new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, have in most part been full of raves.   And don’t get me wrong; I did enjoy the film.   It just wasn’t nearly as exceptional as I had hoped it would be.   Christopher Nolan (who wrote and directed one of my all-time favorites, Memento) has long since moved into the world of big budget blockbusters (Batman ...

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I kept an eye on the Call-Out schedule each morning, to see if the doctor had set me up with an appointment. But for three days, there was nothing. So I decided I had no choice but to wait in line one afternoon and wait to see him without an appointment. The other inmates waiting in that line were usually there to ask questions about their eligibility for RDAP or deal with matters within the program; I don’t believe anyone else in line ...

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The August 2010 issue of Eternal Sunshine, #43, is now available. Inside you'll find:

The usual games

The rehoused Graustark games

The final round of By Popular Demand, and the new gamestart

Part Nine of Fire and Rain

An interview with author Lisa Gitlin

Call for your annual Football Picks

Columns from Jack McHugh, Paul Milewski, and Richard Walkerdine

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This film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Festival, reeks of desperation and misery. Nobody in the film ever truly smiles, except for the youngest of children. Life is hard, and it is never going to get easier; only harder. Such is the hand dealt to Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence). She lives in the Missouri Ozarks with her father (who produces meth for a living), mother (basically catatonic most of the time, between having gone crazy and the medication ...

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Now, with the card returned in the mail, we knew for certain that Mara was dead. But we didn’t know when she died, or how. Of course I assumed it was suicide, but there were other possibilities aside from the normal ones (accident, murder, etc.); her physical health had been poor enough at times that there was always the chance that she’d died due to complications from her Crohn’s Disease, her gastric bypass surgery, or a multitude of other ailments. I gave Heather ...

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Diplomacy World #110, the Summer 2010 Issue, has now been released. Inside the 113 pages you'll find:

The Results of the Diplomacy World Variant Design Contest
Joshua Danker-Dake on How Germany Wins
Richard Walkerdine on Praise of the Press Saga
1901 Results and Commentary from the new Diplomacy World Demo Game
Matt Shields on How to Lose in a Diplomacy Tournament
David Hood on DixieCon 24
Zachary Jarvie on The Catholic Shark
The Diplomacy World Reader's Survey
and much much more!

Check ...

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The new issue is now available in both pdf and html format in the Diplomacy section of my personal website at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/ ... << MORE >>

Nicole Holofcener’s latest film is less of a story than it is a look into the lives and motivations of enriching, multi-faceted characters. We see the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful in everyone she introduces us to, and this gives us glimpses into their thoughts and feelings which ring true. Between that, and the on-target dialogue, Please Give is a generally enjoyable and interesting movie, even if it doesn’t provide anything majestic or inspiring.

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After her second letter, while I continued to get plenty of mail from elsewhere, Mara’s letters ceased to arrive. From this I suspected one of four things:

 

 

 

#1 - She was back in the hospital again, likely a mental hospital but there was always the chance it was a physical issue.

 

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Sorry, somehow Part 5 never got posted....

At some point, Mara’s future second husband entered the picture. She met him at a therapy group – whether it was inpatient or outpatient I can’t remember. But I didn’t press for details. Mara seemed happy with this relationship, and there was talk of the two of them moving in together. However, at first the relationship had to be kept secret from the medical staff, because it was a violation of the programs rules. To be honest, ...

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The Federal Government, if nothing else, is consistent in its ability to be ineffective. I was given a date for my sentencing of September 11, 2006. I found this very odd, as it had only been a few years since 9-11 and I was doubtful they’d want unnecessary activity going on in any Federal building. My father was adamant that he wanted to come down for the sentencing hearing, and in order to afford to do so he was going to ...

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The May 2010 issue of Eternal Sunshine has now been released. It can be found in the Diplomacy section of my personal website at

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/

Direct links to the html and pdf versions:

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/dw/eshtml40.htm

and

http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es40.pdf

 

 

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In all likelihood, if you haven’t seen The Art of the Steal yet, you’ll have to wait for DVD. But it’s worth looking for, whether you are a lover of great art or not. The art is a wonderful, breathtaking backdrop to the story, but the story itself could be about almost anything…anything that power-brokers and politicians want to get their hands on, that is.

 

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Diplomacy World #109, the Spring 2010 issue, has now been released!  Free to download from the Diplomacy World website at http://www.diplomacyworld.net, in this issue you’ll find material such as:

 

Lewis Pulsipher on “Modernizing Diplomacy”

Jim Burgess on “Why I Hate Economic Variants”

Kit Jillings writing on “You ...

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Eternal Sunshine #39, the April 2010 issue, has just been released. Inside this issue you will find:

The latest columns from Paul Milewski and Jack McHugh (Andy York had to skip this issue)

Lots of game results

The latest chapter of Fire and Rain

Movie Reviews

The next round of ...

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It seems these days that the combination of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio is a foregone conclusion…I’m told the next Scorsese film – a biopic of Frank Sinatra – will star DiCaprio as well (fortunately the songs will still be sung by Frank).  

 

Shutter Island, their latest collaboration, was pushed back from a late 2009 ...

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Once our divorce was final, Mara seemed to have finally given up on the idea that she could somehow move back to Dallas and live with me as a roommate.   Either that, or she simply found herself too involved with the life she was trying to build in Florida to think of escape any longer.   A few of the details of the events of the time remain fuzzy in my brain, which is partially ...

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Look, I love movies.   You know that by now.   I love great movies, silly movies, funny movies, cheesy movies, classic movies…even a few TERRIBLE movies.   And because Heather and I try to see as many films as we can in the theater instead of just watching them at home, we know we’re both sort of out of step with the modern-day movie-goer.

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When it comes to music, I am a liner note reader (which could be one of the many reasons I want the physical CD or other medium in my hand, rather than just downloading the songs).   I get an odd pleasure from seeing connections between one release and another.   Sometimes they are in completely different genres, or 30 years apart.   But you recognize a ...

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After much arguing and discussing and threatening between herself and her family, Mara agreed to fly down to Florida (where her parents were living, or soon moving to – the exact circumstance escapes me).   There she would become a short-term inpatient, followed by a longer-term outpatient, with yet another mental health facility.   Mara didn’t seem interested in the program itself, nor in moving to Florida.   But she ...

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