Life of Brian

Frozen Grand Central

Merry Christmas . . .. . . I'm In UR Manger Killing UR Savior

Thanks to Aaron for the snarfable post.

Bookstore Now Online

We've added a bookstore to our webpages.  You can go directly there via the pages at http://astore.amazon.com/shakespeareeclec or just click on the bookstore link in the sidebars here or at our main pages at http://www.briandavidphillips.com for convenient access.

Not a lot there right now, but we will be adding new products and categories over time (I probably will just have the one bookstore for all of my interests instead of several small stores for different sites and just expand the categories).

It will be easier to keep everything under one roof that way.

If there's something you feel I really must list that's available from Amazon, the let me know and I'll consider adding it).  I will likely material sent to us for a reveiwer here in a category here and in the bookstore as well so it's easier for folks to access.

All the best,
Brian

Sign Up NOW!HYPNOTICON
http://www.hypnoticon.org
WALKABOUT TRANCE BEACH RESORT GETAWAY
http://walkabouttrancebeachresortgetaway.blogspot.comHypnosis Shows, Sessions, Training . . . and MORE!
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details!

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]
Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

Fancy Frontier 10 . . . cosplay!

Last weekend, July 28-29, 2007, the Phillips family headed off to the Fancy Frontier 10 comic book and cosplay convention held at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

Kaye cosplayed as a character in the manga/anime Reborn and spent most of the time with a couple of her friends.  The friends were supposed to also be in costume but didn't get theirs in time.  Next cosplay, there should be a group of 'em in costume though.

This was a big event with over 33,000 people in attendance.  Yes, that many folks.

See the complete gallery of images we took during the weekend, go here.

IT'S GOOD TO BE KING

A couple girls ran over to me and asked to take a photo with me. One of them demanded that I let her kiss me for the photo because I'm so "cute" for some strange reason, when asked by a pretty girl to be kissed I have this odd habit of consenting.

REBORN

My daughter Kaye in her Reborn costume doing her Death Note pose.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST

My wife, Lorraine, and my daugher, Kaye, take a breather in the hot sun of the first day of this weekend-long event.

THAT'S A LOT OF HOT SWEATY BODIES

Since he was visiting, we dragged our good friend Joshua Samuel Brown (yes, the internationally reknowned author [web]) to his first ever major cosplay event. Josh is usually as carefree and easy going as a human can be but even he found certain aspects of cosplay convention culture to be well beyond the pale.

PHOTOGRAPHER MADNESS

While there were a LOT of cosplayers out there, at certain times, it seemed that the number of photographers far outnumbered the cosplayers. In fact, at times, it seemed that the photographers were moving in swarms. This was particularly true if the cosplayers happened to be beautiful women in rather . . . er . . . hot not because of the weather . . . costumes . . .

For more of these images from Fancy Frontier 10, go here.  For more Life of Brian cosplay images, go here.  For cosplay news in Taiwan from the good folks at Cospho Up Commision, see here (the next big event is Aug. 11-12).

All the best,
Brian

Sign Up NOW!
Hypnosis Shows, Sessions, Training . . . and MORE!
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details!

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]
Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

I really wish this actually existed . . .

I do too . . . I really wish this actually existed . . . awesome idea. Now, what I'd like to see is a live public space reinactment of key scenes from John Norman's "Gor" or the awakening scenes from Philip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" or even Farmer's "Flesh" novel. Folks who know will understand.

Wildest Dreams . . .. . . coming soon

Check out one of the "trailers" for the upcoming performance of Wildest Dreams, the senior graduation play for my students in the English Department at National Chengchi University to be performed Dec. 14 and Dec. 15 at the university (be there!) . . . the play is about a group of friends who play role playing games (RPGs) to the point of the games becoming their escape from reality . . .

The students have gone all out and created a film that will be used in conjunction with the on-stage drama . . . the characters on stage will "play" the table top game with their fantasy personae manifested within the film. I am the faculty advisor of the play for which I am quite qualified (my doctoral dissertation is in interactive drama (live RPGs), I have advanced degrees in theatre, I deal with reality levels in my hypnosis work, and I played more RPGs than a human really should play).

See the official blog for the play here and the fullsize versions of the trailers here (download links for the mov files are below the embedded player).  Venue information is on the blog.

Koolness.

All the best,
Brian

Magic Arrows . . .. . . that's gonna sting!

Snarfed from David at A Hypno Groovy Guy whose son, like my daughter, has been bitten by the bug that is dee-und-dee.

Fear of Girls . . . . . . wow, just wow

Fear of Girls . . . the greatest elite gamer satire ever made. Double wow. Say howdy to reality.

call for papers . . .. . . Journal of Interactive Drama

Journal of Interactive Drama A Multi-Discipline Peer-Reviewed Journal of
Scenario-Based Theatre-Style Interactive Drama
Freeform Live Action Roleplaying Games Call for Papers

The Journal of Interactive Drama is an online peer-reviewed journal on scenario-based interactive drama freeform live action roleplaying games which provides a forum for serious discussion of live roleplaying game theory, design, and practice. Two to three issues per volume are published annually. The journal provides a forum for the discussion of any of the various scenario-based theatre-style live action roleplaying games, freeforms, and interactive dramas and invites contributions in all areas of literature, theory, design, and practice for educational, entertainment, and recreational roleplay. Formal and informal essays, articles, papers, and critical reviews are also welcome.

This is a peer-reviewed journal that may include formal papers and informal essays for and by the roleplaying community from a wide variety of disciplines. The focus is general enough so that authors should feel comfortable submitting material of either a formal or informal nature, albeit all submissions are peer-reviewed and should be appropriate to a serious and thoughtful discussion of that type -- we encourage articles, essays, and formal papers on all manner of live roleplaying, freeform, and interactive drama-related topics. Discussions of related ludology, techniques, and good solid critical book and roleplay scenario or event reviews are quite welcome as well. As this is a multi-disciplinary journal, material related to a wide range of scenario-based learning, social psychology, critical theory, performance studies, popular culture, design, and more as they intersect with the interactive drama are also welcome. Pure design pieces related to scenario construction and review are also encouraged. Each issue will showcase one to three longform or four to six shortform interactive drama freeform live action roleplaying scenarios; creative scenario submissions of this type are very sought after. Scenarios for submission should include a section of self-reflective critical thought and formal designer's notes that discuss issues related to the creation of the piece as well as a formal section which reviews the author's performance experiences with the scenario.

While this is an international journal, the language of publication is English. Submissions are accepted throughout the year. E-mail submissions are accepted at phillips@nccu.edu.tw where they will be vetted by the editor and assigned to editorial board members for blind peer review. Hardcopy submissions are also accepted (see http://www.rpg.net/larp/journal/ for details).

Include a cover page with your submission containing Your Name, Qualifications and Rank, Institutional Affiliation, Address, Email, Telephone, and a copy of the abstract for the submission. Please also attach a brief author's biography of 150-250 words to be included in the contributor's notes section of the published journal. The text of your submission should not have any identifying features.

Questions regarding the journal can be addressed to the Editor at phillips@nccu.edu.tw.

Visit http://www.rpg.net/larp/journal/ for more information.

Pieces of Ass

Where in the world can I get a copy of this playscript? Pieces of Ass . . . for some interviews and here for the official site. It looks like it would be a wonderful acting exericise for my classes . . . not as hateful or spiteful as vagina talk and yet delightfully to the point with a female cast.