(This was originally posted at Ongoing Worlds.  And yes, it’s a Seventh Sanctum column that’s not an update.  A trend?  We’ll see!)

Look Back In Randomness . . .

In 1999 at a gathering of anime and Mystery Science Theater Fans, I commented how some anime attacks sounded randomly generated by computer.  Suddenly it struck me that it would be easy to write a program to do that, as I’d written code to do superhero names and names in the vein of Elfquest characters.  A few notes later I had enough ideas to try and I made an Anime Power Generator.

Then I began thinking of other options.  And more random generators emerged.  Then I put them on my web site.  Then they took over the website.

Then what is known today as Seventh Sanctum was born.  Eventually it encompassed over 150 generators.  I just kept making these things for 14 years.

So in 2013 I realized that perhaps I had to update the years old design, and go modern.  Fortunately Bootstrap provided me the framework I needed, and I proudly updated it in a mobile, adaptable, and honestly easier to read and simpler design.

This is when Dave contacted me.  He and I knew each other from when I interviewed him at MuseHack.  He noted that I had many random generators for people to use in writing, art, and of course RPGs.  But what is the role of randomizers in RPGs anyway?

I’d never thought of it.  I just sort of assumed it was obvious or instinctive.

Dave had challenged me, in short, to put into words what was rarely expressed.  I was up for the challenge – frankly I wanted to see my own thoughts in more solid form.

So, you run an RPG or play one, or are starting one.  How can randomness help you in something that’s so often the result of planning, phrasing, and writing?  Many, many ways . . . (more…)

First, A Lupin the Third live action movie has been announced!  The movie will be a prequel, showing how Lupin met his crew.

Next, it’s weird where you can find an adaptation.  Back while getting info for the comments about the It’s a Wonderful Life sequel, I discovered that the movie is an adaptation of a short story, “The Greatest Gift” by Philip van Doren Stern.  Unlike the sheer mess of rights that It’s a Wonderful Life became, van Doren Stern properly renewed his copyright in 1971 on his story.

Moving on, here’s what I hope to do for December.  There will definitely be a review, though of what, I do not know yet.  I’m half-tempted to review Miracle on 34th Street because of the number of times the films has been remade; movie versions in 1955, 1959, 1973, 1994, a Broadway musical in 1963, a stage play in 2006, and a half-hour puppet version at Macy’s in New York City.  For the year’s end, a look back on 2013 followed a week later by a look ahead to 2014 and beyond.  Given the sheer amount of news in October and November, twice even, I won’t be short of material.  That leaves one week, which I may leave as a surprise.

I’m also open to suggestions.  The catch is, I need to have access to the original and the new work.  I am keeping my eyes open for certain titles, either due to personal interest or because of influence.  However, as mentioned above, there will be times when I run across a remake or an adaptation without realizing it.  Along with It’s a Wonderful Life, I found out that Bedazzled, with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley, is a remake of the 1967 film of the same name, with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.  I will make a note of when I encounter the new work before the original; it could, as I mentioned previously, make a difference in how the adaptation is perceived.

Next week, back to the reviews!

More news links while I’m on hiatus.

Garth Ennis’ Preacher may be developed for television.
While the news is so far unconfirmed, it looks like AMC, the nice folk who brought us Breaking Bad, has ordered a pilot for the comic adaptation.  The question becomes how much of the comic makes it through the transition.  Preacher is known for pushing boundaries.

It’s a Wonderful Sequel
It took Hollywood sixty-nine years, but the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life is getting a sequel.  It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story follows George Bailey’s grandson, who, in a twist everyone could see coming, is unlikable.  Karolyn Grimes, who played Bailey’s daughter in the original movie, will return as an angel.  Other surviving cast members are being asked to reprise roles.  Why?  My guess is the studio wants the residuals the sequel will get when stations air it after the original during the holiday season.

Even Lifetime is getting in on the adaptation train.
Lifetime will air Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, starring Christina Ricci, in the new year, based on the murder of Abby and Andrew Borden, Lizzie’s parents, in 1892 and the subsequent nursery rhyme.

The Strain becoming a TV series.
Guillermo del Toro’s vampire trilogy, The Strain, is being developed for FX with a 13 epsiode season.  Chuck Hogan, del Toro’s co-writer for the books, is on board for the series.  The pilot should air July 2014.

Beetlejuice 2 getting more alumni.
Everything is still in rumour stage, but Winona Ryder may return for Beetlejuice 2 as Lydia.  Michael Keaton is confirmed as the titular character, and Tim Burton is in talks to direct.

Fan favourite character to return in Star Wars: Episode VII.
R2-D2 will return for Episode VII.  Disney and LucasFilm confirmed that the plucky droid will be back.  With R2, two new employees for the Creatures Effects team are joining the movie.  Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples were part of the R2-D2 Builders Club and met producer Kathleen Kennedy over the summer.  She recommended them to the executive producer who hired them for the film.  Lesson here: Embrace your inner geek and network.

MuseHack’s Serdar reviews Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Read why Serdar thinks the movie missed its mark.

Mad Max being re-imagined.
Where re-imagined means remade.  Expected release date of Mad Max: Fury Road is May 2015, about 30 years after the release of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.  Little is known about what the movie at this point.

Hammer Films dips into archives for a remake.
Hammer Films, known for their genre horror movies, is remaking The Abominable Snowman.  The intent is to put a modern twist of the 1957 original.  Remember, not all remakes are bad.

Thanks for the continuous feedback folks.  So a few updates

• First, you may notice a color change at Seventh Sanctum – the Blue Is Back.  Frankly, a lot of people sort of missed it.  So hey, if it’s part of the brand, there you go.
• Several people would like options to choose results back.  I’m considering a few possibilities and debating if it’s worth restoring.  But the feedback is appreciated.
• I’m considering a slight layout change with the comments to leave less blank space – but it actually makes the layouts trickier in some cases.  Live and learn.
• Finally – and I really would like feedback on this – I’m considering how to add more content and interactive features.  A message board seems a bit excessive and basic, the Disqus comments are nice, a mailing list may be fun, but I’ve wondered what about some direct content with a blog/posting element?  It doesn’t even have to be me writing for it but could give a place for a lot of us to post ideas, creativity, theories, advice, and more.  I’ve got a rough idea of how I can embed a blog into the site without overstraining it, but it’s pretty basic right now.

Let me know!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

OK so the site launch looks successful.  Only two things have come up:

• Some people want to see the blue return.  So I’d like to know what you think.
• Depending on the scale the view can get a bit crowded.  I can tweak this over time, but my goal was to optimize use of space and device scaling.  So if anyone has specific suggestions (make this better padded, etc.) I can prototype them to see if they work.

But we appear to be good!  Thanks everyone!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

If Seventh Sanctum looks a bit different that’s because it is.  After months of waiting, it’s out!  The updated, Bootstrap-driven version!

So, hopefully you’ve seen it, but if by some rare happenstance you saw this entry on my home site, go check it out!

Now, I’ve tested it, I’ve integrated feedback, but there still could be errors and issues.  So be sure to send me feedback!

So some features you should see:

• First of all, you’ve got a more modern, streamlined look.  The old site was a bit retro and frankly the text was just a bit too small.
• Secondly, this should scale on mobile and smaller devices.  So try it out on phone, tablet, and so on.
• Third, I streamlined the generators.  The choice-of-amount really didn’t bring much to the site because people would just have to click again to generate more – and that’s usually what a visitor would want.  The new layout should be a bit tighter.

So try it out and let me know if you have any questions or find any problems!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

Sorry for a bit of a delay here folks, got a bit under the weather and had a convention to go to.  Not an ideal combination, but had a blast – and got to meet some Sanctum-users there.

So first of all, I did some updates to the Seventh Sanctum test site, Page of Generators.  I’d like you to try it again to make sure the updates work.

And after that?  A launch this month.  Quite looking forward to it.

Still having talks about how to do community building, but a lot of the “old gang” are busy right now.  But it’s not forgotten.  I’m always open to suggestions of course – the more I think of it, the Disqus links really do have their limits.  I may think this over during the holidays when I have some spare time – and yeah, I’m taking some time off.

Redoing the site has given me new generator ideas and I think it’s time to get some out after I got the site updated.  Actually the modification of the site has let me really re-examine some of my code so I think I’ll have an easier time of implementing things.  Lately a lot of my ideas have been about concept/fusion generators.

Was wondering if anyone has ideas about building a challenge community.  Yes I know they’d like the contests back, but also I want to think about writers.

OK, so back at it, I’ve got some work to-do, so check the beta and let me know!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

After over a year of writing Lost in Translation, two items recently stood out. One was the concept of the partial adaptation, as seen with Blade Runner and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. While neither movie adapted everything from their original works, what was adapted was true to the original.

Partial adaptations allow taking what is adaptable out of a story without having to sacrifice screen time to explaining an odd occurance. Blade Runner is a good example. The original, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, went further in setting up the time and the aftermath of a nuclear war. The nature of religion had changed drastically, with Mercerism and Buster Friendly at odds for the spiritual audience. In a movie, explaining the religions would detract from the main plot line, adding yet another level of complexity to a movie that was already getting the audience to question reality. The addition could have turned away audiences, or, worse, studio execs. The catch with a partial adaptation, especially when the original work is still being made, is figuring out what can be cut. A complete work makes it easy; the adapter can experience the original and pull out the plot threads needed. In larger works, such as the Harry Potter series, removal of a scene in the first book may cause problems several books later.

The other item that came up recently was the order of viewing. So far, I’ve made sure to watch/read/experience the original work first, then watch/read/experience the adaptation. What I’ve run into, though, is that I’ve watched movies that were remakes or adaptations without realizing it. Movies like Bedazzled and The Mummy* were remakes that weren’t touted as such. This brings about a change in methodology.

The normal way, with the original first, would have me looking for differences in the adaptation, looking at how the adaptation differed from the original. With the experiencing reversed, I’d be looking for similarities in the original. The reversal allows for the adaptation to feature on its own, at least at first, with any problems with it coming from script and casting instead of accuracy. The original work is now receiving the judgement instead of the adaptation. In the future, I will make note of when I approach a review backwards, that is, adaptation first. Chances are, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter will be the first work looked at in this manner.

Next week, I am on hiatus. In fact, I am on hiatus for the month of November. I am lining up guest posts, though, and will have an adaptation news round up around mid-month. The reason for the hiatus is NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, where I will be applying what I’ve learned in Lost in Translation to write a novel in thirty days.
* Both remakes starred Brendan Fraser.