Skidding but the expression remains pan

Thursday music corner: London art-punk band Wire were formed in 1976, four months after the Sex Pistols' culture-shaking performance at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Wire's initial burst of energy lasted until the band split for the first time in 1980. After a five-year hiatus the band re-formed in 1985 for a further seven years; since 1999 Wire has been active in some form.

The band released three albums and six singles in its 1970s incarnation. The first album Pink Flag (1977), which despite disappointing sales at the time of its release has gone on to be regarded as a classic of the genre, with a widespread influence on many other artists including Elastica's Justine Frischmann and Graham Coxon of Blur. As at 2023 Wire have released 17 studio albums and 24 singles.   

Dot Dash, a non-album track, was Wire's third single release, issued in 1978. Issued forth at a furious pace, its typically opaque lyrics may or may not refer to perilous night driving, although a simplistic reading of Wire lyrics is seldom a rewarding exercise.

Wire - Dot Dash (1978)

See also:

Music: Wire - Outdoor Miner (UK #51, 1978)

Music: The Stranglers - No More Heroes (UK #8, 1977)

Music: Chelsea - Right To Work (1977)

Royal Hotel, Featherston

Royal Hotel, Featherston (1868)

 

Because baby, the thrill has gone

Thursday music corner: Soul singer Ann Sexton (b. South Carolina, 1950) has been performing and releasing music since the late 1960s. She had hit records in the US with tracks such as You're Gonna Miss Me (1973, R&B charts #47) and I'm His Wife (You're Just A Friend) (1979, R&B #79). Later she also found a following on the UK Northern Soul circuit with tracks like You've Been Gone Too Long. It was the B-side of her 1971 Impel Records single You're Letting Me Down, backed by the Masters of Soul. After a long period out of the music business in the 1980s and beyond, Sexton returned to live performances in Europe in 2007.

Ann Sexton - You’ve Been Gone Too Long (1971)

See also:
Music: Shirley Ellis - Soul Time (1966)

Music: Laura Greene - Moonlight Music In You (1967)

Music: Eloise Laws - Love Factory (1973)

An AI-generated Dungeons & Dragons campaign

Obviously loads of people are mucking around with ChatGPT and similar sites at the moment, seeing what they can do. Seeing Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves yesterday reminded me that while there are already plenty of random adventure idea generation sites out there, it would be worth trying out the new AI approach.

The result of my ChatGPT query set out below are promising, which isn't too surprising given how much D&D content there is on the internet. The core ideas are reasonably well-formed, if a little hackneyed. The AI fails to provide nuanced details such as suggesting specific Forgotten Realms locations for the adventures, and it doesn't really understand the concept of 'low fantasy' (a less mythic milieu, rather than the super-powered 'high fantasy' of powerful magic, mighty kings, gods and immortals). And surely any starter adventure worth its salt has to include a mandatory kobold encounter?

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Query: Write an outline of a 'low fantasy'-themed multi-adventure Dungeons & Dragons campaign for starter players set in the Forgotten Realms world.

Response: Sure, here's an outline for a low-fantasy D&D campaign set in the Forgotten Realms world:

Title: Shadows of Faerun

Premise: The players are a group of adventurers hired by a local lord to investigate strange happenings in a nearby village. The lord has been hearing rumors of dark magic and otherworldly creatures, and he fears that the village may be in danger. The players must explore the village and surrounding areas, facing various dangers and uncovering a sinister plot that threatens to unleash an ancient evil upon the world.

Adventure 1: The Haunted Village

The players arrive in the village and discover that it is indeed being plagued by dark magic and other strange phenomena.

• They explore the village and surrounding areas, investigating the source of the disturbances.
• They eventually discover that the local necromancer has been using forbidden magic to raise the dead and control the minds of the living.
• They confront the necromancer and put an end to his dark plans, but not before uncovering hints of a larger conspiracy.

Adventure 2: The Forgotten Tomb

The players follow a lead to an ancient tomb that is said to hold powerful magical artifacts.

• They must navigate a series of traps and puzzles to reach the tomb's inner sanctum.
• There they face off against a powerful undead guardian and retrieve a powerful artifact.
• However, they also discover that the artifact is cursed and may have unintended consequences.

Adventure 3: The Cult of the Dragon

The players hear rumors of a cult that worships dragons and seeks to bring them back to power.

• They infiltrate the cult's stronghold and discover that they are planning to summon a powerful dragon from another realm.
• The players must prevent the ritual from taking place, fighting off cultists and their dragon minions.
• They are ultimately successful in stopping the cult, but they also learn that there are other, more powerful cults at work in the world.

Adventure 4: The Demon's Curse

The players encounter a village that is being plagued by a demonic presence.

• They discover that a powerful demon has been summoned to the village and is possessing the minds of its inhabitants.
• The players must track down the source of the summoning and put an end to it before the demon can do more harm.
• They discover that the summoning was orchestrated by a powerful mage who has been experimenting with forbidden magic.

Adventure 5: The Final Confrontation

The players learn that the mage they encountered in the previous adventure is part of a larger conspiracy to unleash an ancient evil upon the world.

• They must travel to the mage's stronghold and fight their way through his minions to reach him.
• In a climactic battle, they confront the mage and his dark master, a powerful demon lord.
• They must use all their skills and wits to defeat the demon lord and prevent the apocalypse.

Conclusion:

• The players are hailed as heroes and rewarded for their bravery.
• However, they also realize that there are still many threats to the world and many more adventures to be had.

See also:

Games: Spinward Marches naval shipyards, 17 August 2022

Games: Republican candidates as D&D characters, 29 October 2015

Games: Random adventure generator

What I say and what I mean are two different things

Thursday music corner: New Zealand new wave rockers The Swingers emerged in 1979 from the remnants of the Suburban Reptiles, and featured Split Enz founding member Phil Judd on guitars and vocals. Judd had left the Enz in 1977 after creative differences with Tim Finn, and his departure ushered in Tim's younger brother Neil Finn as his replacement. 

With a career lasting until only 1982, The Swingers were not especially prolific, but they released one studio album (1980's Practical Jokers, which hit number 2 in the New Zealand album charts), and five singles. Four of these hit the New Zealand top 40, and one, the bona fide classic Counting the Beat, topped the pop charts in both New Zealand and Australia in 1981. 

Their first single, the 1979 release One Good Reason, was a legitimate icebreaker, reaching number 19 in the notoriously conservative New Zealand pop charts. That same year The Swingers illustrated their cultural reach, both appearing in the top 40 and also contributing two tracks (Certain Sound and Baby) to the seminal punk compilation AK79. In 1991 Auckland band Strawpeople with guest vocalist Merenia covered the song - it became their second single, on their debut album Hemisphere.

The Swingers - One Good Reason (1981)

See also:
Music: The Swingers - It Ain't What You Dance, It's The Way That You Dance It (NZ #4, 1981)
Music: The Crocodiles - Tears (NZ #17, 1980)
Music: Screaming Meemees - Stars in My Eyes (NZ #18, 1983)

Music: Graham Brazier - Billy Bold (1981)

“Well, I lost half a day of skiing”

Everyone loves a good low-stakes put-up-yer-dukes between self-absorbed silly people, and this one is the best example since the immortal 2022 "Wagatha Christie" trial. Marina Hyde has the measure of this utterly inconsequential event:

Before we go any further I want to make a deeply serious point. Something happened that day. Something happened on that mountain in that luxury ski resort, up there in God’s cathedral – and, like anyone who has watched either the plaintiff or the defendant on the stand at any length … I literally could not care less what it was. I mean, this is as low stakes as it gets. Asked about what had been taken from her by the events on the Deer Valley slopes, [Gwyneth] Paltrow delivered the sociopathically straight-to-meme line: “Well, I lost half a day of skiing.” (Bear in mind this is a woman who claims that water has feelings.) For his part, Terry Sanderson’s lawyer put things into perspective by declaring: “After the crash, he’s no longer charming.” [...]

First, a reminder that Mr Sanderson is seeking $300,000 in damages, which – to us country mice on this side of the Atlantic – feels a little eye-catching. Of course, we only have an outsider’s grasp of the baroque flourishes of the US legal system, but it is surely our understanding that any citizen of that great nation making some kind of personal injury claim understands that this is America, and asks for at least $30m just as a point of principle? Then again, having watched him, I think I’m on the verge of understanding why Mr Sanderson values his lost charm at a mere $300,000.

- Marina Hyde, 'Did Gwyneth Paltrow ski into a retired optometrist? I couldn’t care less, but the farce is unmissable', Guardian, 28 March 2023