Month: March 2006

The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation on a retired Texas schoolteacher…..for paying down his credit card.

The schoolteacher and his wife paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance [$6,522], and then checked online to see if their account had been credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn’t changed. They called to see what the problem was.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment—and if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified.

For paying off your credit card.

A reminder to my players, since it’s been quite a while since our last session: We are playing Serenity this Sunday, 2-ish.

: If you’re still interested in playing, come on out and observe, and we can talk character options.

Last night, my head was splitting, due to apparently-painkiller-resistant sinus pressure, so I didn’t feel much like writing. So, I decided to instead absorb some inspirational material appropriate to the novel, and watch a couple of Hammer films.

First up was The Devil Rides Out, Hammer’s adaptation of the Dennis Wheatley novel of resolute aristocrats thwarting the Satanic machinations of a thinly-veiled caricature of Aleister Crowley in 1920s Britain. Lots of late-60s OMG!!REALOCCULTKNOWLEDGE!!!111! stuff, with magic circles, the Goat of Mendes, and Eko-Eko’s and stuff. Lovely. One of the few movies where Christopher Lee plays the hero, and he obviously enjoys himself. Charles Gray ( of “Where’s your fucking neck?” Rocky Horror fame) chews the scenery as the charming and utterly eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Mocata, head of the Satanists. The film was directed by Terence Fisher, who was one of Hammer’s best. Great cast, great director…..OK, no “shocking terror” for modern audiences, but still very fun.

The second film was a non-horror entry in the Hammer canon: Night Creatures (Known as Captain Clegg in the UK). This is probably best described as a “Thriller”, based on the “Doctor Syn” pulp novels (which were made into a Disney live-action film as well.) Peter Cushing as the town priest with a mysterious past. Smuggling, piracy, scarecrows….lots of fun. Cushing is always great, and the film also features a young Oliver Reed as the dashing young squire, and the pultritudinous Yvonne Romain providing the Hammer-standard “heaving bosom in peril.”