Sat Oct 22 08:58:28 EDT 2016 Slept from eleven-something to eight-thirty. Woke once in the night, briefly. Mostly cloudy today. High of fifty-one. Goals: - Work on mini D&D rules Done. - Review potion rules (clerics? alchemists?) - Brief magic sword rules - Grocery Done. - Laundry Done. Watched the Hollow on Netflix. Poor. Poor writing and pacing. Picks up slightly around the forty minute mark. Vacuumed, dusted, put away laundry, watered plants, minor tidying. Did a quick wipe-down of the kitchen and bathroom counters. Mm. A movie to add to my Halloween viewing: A Field in England. I've been meaning to watch that for months. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/monuments-of-ludwig-ii-of-bavaria-undergo-restoration-a-1115304.html > On the night of June 12, 1886, a group of psychiatrists drove up the dark road to Neuschwanstein, the fairytale castle in Bavaria on a mission to take the lord of the manor, King Ludwig II (1845-1886), into custody. [...] The king was not "incurably" mad, as the medical experts claimed at the time. At most, he was nothing more than a quirky eccentric. The real reason for his arrest was that he had lost control over his finances, and had amassed 14.5 million marks in debt. [...] The money was consumed by a singular ensemble of elaborate, phantasmagorical structures built against the Alpine backdrop of southern Bavaria --- a magical array of fantasy castles, oriental kiosks and Indian mogul palaces, decorated with an exuberant mix of styles drawing on the Renaissance, Gothic and Rococo eras. Ludwig kept hundreds of upholsterers, wood carvers and gilders busy, along with engineers and Siemens technicians. He had his artisans design submarines and "peacock carts" that glided through the air, as well as a hunting lodge with a Turkish great hall at an altitude of 1,866 meters (6,122 feet). There, the king smoked water pipes --- but never went hunting. The value of his largely frivolous legacy remains a matter of dispute to this day. Some see Ludwig as the grand master of kitsch. Others, like Peter Gauweiler, a politician with the center-right Christian Social Union in Bavaria, celebrate him as the "precursor of Andy Warhol" and the person who perfected the stylistic era of historicism. [...] Ludwig's castles feel like stone and mortar versions of Wagner's music. The king planned Neuschwanstein as a "worthy temple to the divine friend." Its design was based on the stage directions for the second act of the opera "Lohengrin" and the latest technology was used in its construction. Explosives experts removed part of a mountain near the town of Füssen, a steam-operated crane lifted the stones up to the site and the castle itself was a precursor of the steel skyscraper. Inside, it had a telephone and forced-air central heating. The king had meals brought up to the dining room with an elevator. Watched From the Dark on Netflix. Not bad. Fifteen or twenty minute walk in the early afternoon. Pretty day. Mostly sunny, cool, breezy, but not cold. Saw a hairy (?) woodpecker. Breakfast: carrots, yogurt, coffee with half-and-half Lunch: chicken pot pie Dinner: coffee cake