Bessie Love and the Spirit-Infused Coffee

In early 1925, actress and secret crusader against supernatural evil Bessie Love stopped a monstrous scheme to spread madness and destruction throughout Los Angeles and beyond by infusing demonic spirits into coffee beans that would then be shipped throughout southern California. By going under cover in a coffee shop, she traced the origins of the demon-possessed coffee beans and put an end to the cabal of devil-worshipers behind it. She also made sure that any remaining coffee they'd performed their ritual on was destroyed.

Bessie Love, undercover and hunting for cursed coffee.

As long-time visitors to Shades of Gray are undoubtedly aware, we reveal long-hidden secrets about silent movie star Bessie Love on an irregular basis. In those posts, we typically include some roleplaying game rules inspired by her adventures. We add to the series today, with something that's a little different: We're offering an RPG scenario idea inspired by Bessie's adventure.

THE MYSTERY OF THE DEADLY COFFEE

A Modern-Era Adventure Idea by Steve Miller

THE BEGINNING
A sudden rash of violent murders against either random people, coworkers, or family members, is plaguing the city and slowly spreading across the nation. If the murderer is taken alive, he or she claims to have no memory of what happened. The only common thread is that Spirit-Infused Coffee (a medium-roast made from Arabica beans) has been found in the home or workplace of the killers. Standard analysis of the coffee shows no toxins or unexpected ingrediencies. Even if it is banned from stores, there's no way to stop the firm from offering it via mail order, and their legal team crush anyone who tries to interfer with the selling of the coffee. In fact, the claims that it might be driving people to murder becomes the motivating factor for TikTok Challenges.

WHAT'S GOING ON?
The coffee is literally infused with spirits. Demons are summoned during the roasting process, and they are literally cooked into the beans, and those who drink the coffee are extremely likely to fall victim to demonic possession.

EFFECTS OF DRINKING SPIRIT-INFUSED COFFEE
Roll 3d6 against the following table to determine what happens to those who drink the Spirit-Infused Coffee:
   3. Nothing but a pleasant caffeine jolt.
   4-5. Characters become overly horny and will be on a constant hunt for sexual partners. When advances are rebuffed, they must make successful Will saves (DC13) or attack the target of lust.
   6-7. Characters constantly desire food and drink, and it has to be high quality. When denied, or served bad food, the characters must make successful Will saves (DC13) or attempt to kill anyone who is perceived as standing in the way of a desired meal.
   8-9. Character must roll a Will save (DC13) whenever they are around cash or in shops. If the saving throw fails, they attempt to steal the money or some valuable item from the store. Anyone who tries to stop them is violently attacked.
   10-11. Characters stop going to work and instead just lounge about their homes all day, sleeping whenever possible. If the coffee is consumed at work, they must make successful Will saves (DC13) or immediately stop work and just be lazy. Anyone who tries to get them to stop sitting around is violently attacked.
   12-13. Once per hour characters must roll Will saves (DC13) or be filled with homicidal rage against the nearest, most obvious target. (If it's someone or something in some sort of media, the characters must seek that person or place out). The rage lasts until the target is eliminated, and will grow to encompass anyone perceived as being between the characters and their ultmate target.
   14-15. Characters who see someone displaying obvious wealth, someone who is physically attractive, or who may simply just be enjoying a good time with friends, must roll Will saves (DC13) or violently attack that person. They will also attempt to steal whatever valuables the target is carrying. (This could be mugging, or a mass-killing, depending on the situation.)
   16-17. Characters become extremely self-satisfied and filled with pride over everthing they they do. They will constantly brag about themselves and demand recognition and praise. They must roll successful Will saves (DC13) if anyone denies their greatness, or violently attack the offender.
   18. Nothing but a pleasant caffeine jolt.

The evil spirit that has been infused into the coffee drinker remains in his or her body for six days, or until a Will save is failed. During that time, the coffee drinker cannot be possessed by other demons, no matter how much of the spirit-infused coffee they might drink. The coffee drinker will have only the haziest of recollections of the time he or she was possessed, and will remember nothing once he or she turns violent.

ENDING THE THREAT
It will be up to the PCs to discover the true nature of Spirit-Infused Coffee and stop the spread of evil! They will have to get into the roastery and destroy the ritual site, and kill the demonologist behind the scheme. If their IDs are discovered during this process, they will find themselves hounded by the law firm (who are literally devils' advocates), even if they avoid any consequences from the authorities.

--

The section "Effects of Drinking Spirit-Infused Coffee" is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright Steve Miller 2022

Also in the general area of acknowledgements, we want to state that this post was inspired by real-world "spirit-infused coffee". When ad ad for coffee augmented with the flavors of various forms of hard liquor showed up in Steve Miller's Facebook feed, the idea for an adventure scenario popped into his head. (And if the roastery that was the inadvertent inspiration for this post comes along, recognizes the image of their product that we appropriated and modified--please don't us!)

Come Live Forever on this Musical Monday

In 1984, Alphaville released one of their greatest songs and biggest hits, "Forever Young". They released at least three different versions of the song (two of which were on their self-titled debut album from that same year), each one better than the previous. It's a song from which I've personally drawn much creative inspiration over the years, and it was a song many European Gen Xers loved. (Americans might have loved it too... I don't know if Alphaville made it over to the States or not.)

It's a song that's been covered many times, by many different performers. In the early 2000s, Mr. Hudson recorded this cover. Then, in 209, Mr. Hudson teamed up with rapper Jay-Z to record this... well... it's not really a cover, but it's got way too much of "Forever Young" incorporated to be considered an original work. So--a remake? Yes. Let's call it a remake.

In 2009, rapper Jay-Z teamed up with singer Mr. Hudson to remake "Forever Young" for a new generation, carrying much of the same messages. While it couldn't have existed without Alphaville's song, it is an interesting work in its own right. Watch the video, listen to the lyrics, let me know if you agree.

Jay-Z's version was reportedly a hit in its own right, so it's not surprising that it spawned a parody or two. In fact, it was a parody of that version that made me aware of Jay-Z's remake in the first place--a track by comedian Keith From Up Da Block that I recently came across in the distant corners of YouTube. It starts out a bit rough--Keith should not quit his day job for a career in music--but it is very funny if you stick with it. Check it out:

World Market's Holiday Eggnog

World Market isn't a chain I'm terribly familiar with. From my only visit to one of their stores, they seem to position themselves as a hip department store that offers a little bit of everything--including their own brand of coffee. Among the flavors they offer are a series of Christmas-themed offerings, and I'm covering one of those in this post today, in celebration of Christmas in July!

 

Christmas in July coffee attire: Sweaters but no socks or pants.

WORLD MARKET COFFEE: HOLIDAY EGGNOG

I love eggnog. I love coffee. During the Christmas Season, I have made my own eggnog-flavored coffee blends for many years (basically, mixing medium-roast coffee with eggnog and sometimes a little rum). If eggnog was available year-round, I'd drink it year-round, probably using it as my primary coffee additive. So whenever I come across an eggnog-flavored coffee blend, it goes to the top of the list of the ones to try!

The package promises a coffee that delivers a creamy eggnog flavor with spicy notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. There was a faint whiff of eggnog as I opened the 2-oz sample pack (I got this blend with four other World Market holiday-themed coffees... and if I'd planned better, I'd have done Christmas in July for this entire month instead of just today), so it looked like we were off to a good start.

As the coffee brewed, there was no detectable aroma other than that of coffee. The same was true as I poured it... and as I initially tried the blend hot and black, it tasted like a slightly sweetened basic, generic coffee. What it didn't taste like was eggnog.

I tried drawing out the flavors by trying the blend first with Unsweetened Almond Milk, then Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and finally sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer.

The vanilla almond milk and the creamer successfully brought a weak eggnog flavor to the fore, but the unflavored almond milk did nothing. It didn't seem creamy and there was no spiciness it at all. When consumed hot, this blend was an all-around disappointment. It's not terrible, just bland and uninteresting.

Interestingly, as the Holiday Eggnog blend cooled to room temperature, the eggnog flavor began to emerge, and were particularly noticeable in the cups with the Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. TI could even taste the nutmeg... and the drink seemed genuinely creamy with the creamer.

When I tried the blend iced, the results were essentially the same as when I consumed it at room temperature, but with the flavors muted. They weren't quite as faint as they had been when I drank it hot--I could even detect a touch of eggnog flavor when I drank it black--but icing this coffee is not the way to go.

All-in-all, World Market's Holiday Eggnog is not one that I would recommend going out of your way for. If it's handy and you're looking for something mildly sweet to go with dessert after Christmas dinner, then there are worse choices you could make. But there are also better ones. (Perhaps the most interesting thing about this blend is that the eggnog flavor behaves in an almost perfectly opposite of the eggnog-flavored one from Bones Coffee.)

Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-five

What Has Gone Before: While trying to escape her enemies, our heroine was seized by mysterious tentacles!

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

It's a Fantastic Friday!

Why? Because we've got four more portraits of the Fantastic Four, the First Family of Comicdom!

One does not simply walk into Mordor...

... but if one is wearing pointe shoes and a leotard, it's entirely acceptable to dance on in.

Alice strikes out in the cartoon big league

Alice in the Big League (1927)
Starring: Lois Hardwick
Director: Walt Disney
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Alice proves herself to be the worst baseball umpire in Cartoonland.

A few weeks ago, I posted a review of "Alice's Wonderland" (1923).  In it, I commented that I hoped the "Alice" series would improve over its 50+ episode run. By sheer chance, I recently came across the final entry in the series. Titled "Alice in the Big League" in was released in 1927. It was once considered a lost film, but now there are several different versions available on YouTube.

That said, I can't really recommend it. It's like Disney and his animators stretched three-four minutes of material to fill the eight-minute running time with looped animation, by pounding gags to death, and otherwise delivering a product that makes the Van Beuren output from around this same time absolutely brilliant and the conceptually similar "Out of the Inkwell" series from Fleischer the product of the gods themselves.

 
Although the animated characters aren't as creepily lifeless as they were in the early "Alice" episodes--their eyes aren't quite as dead here as they were in "Wonderland--the degree of integration between the live-action footage and animation has not improved at all. It might even have gotten worse. Take a look at the still used at the top of this post and then look at this one: 

You'd think Alice would be somewhere behind the pitcher mound in the long shot of the game, but she isn't. Even worse, the animators drew a shadow for the soap box the pitcher is standing in, but not one for Alice. This persistent continuity glitch annoys probably more than it should, but it's the most glaring sign that this series probably never came close to "Out of the Inkwell" in quality. Even the film's final moment--where Alice flees cartoon characters enraged by her bad calls--is sloppily done.

On the positive side, I found the various visual gags relating to baseball amusing, and, if the various sequences hadn't be dragged out beyond all reason, I think I would have loved the variety of ways the cartoon characters cheated at the game. Naturally, Alice never called them on the cheating though; all of her calls for of the "umpire, are you blind?!?!" variety. Also, a little more effort appears to have gone into the crowds than in early episodes, and I previously mentioned that the characters didn't seem quite as dead inside as those in the first installment did. But I'm not sure if the visual gags and slightly better animation are enough for you to devote eight minutes of your life to watching this weak effort. The only people I could recommend this short film to are those committed to watching EVERY available "Alice in Cartoonland" film, EVERY baseball-based comedy, or those who love baseball gags so much they thought the "NUELOW Baseball Special" equal parts funny and informative. (Actually, and this might be perceived as arrogant and self-serving, but I think this booklet by L.L. Hundal, Sam Hamm, and myself is far funnier than "Alice in the Big League". Some of the same gags are even implemented better in our product than in the cartoon.)

As mentioned above, "Alice in the Big League" was the final entry in this series. Maybe there was less effort put into this one than others for that reason, so there might still be some better ones between the very first "Alice in Cartoonland" and this last one. I will be watching a few more to find out.

 I am hoping that I DO find some better installments of the series. Although we don't get to see much of Lois Hardwick, who plays Alice in the one, we do see enough to give me the impression that she's a better actress than the original Alice. 

If you want to judge the quality of this cartoon for yourself, or want to watch a film that was once considered lost, it's embedded below for easy viewing!

The Milla Jovovich Quarterly

It's Summer... and Milla Jovovich is going places! She's getting started by putting one top down and another top on!

Taking pictures can be deadly

Black and White (2017? 1987? ???)
Starring: Bobby and Nikitha
Director: Karthik Subbaraj
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A celebrated photographer (Bobby) receives a mysterious camera that literally captures life through its lens. 

"Black and White" is an interesting flick with a strong Twilight Zone vibe. It ends on a serious cliffhanger and every single mystery that arises as it unfolds remains unanswered, without even the slightest indications of what the answers might be. Normally that would bug me to the point where I'd knock the rating a Star or Two but in this case the film moves swiftly and is filled with enough tension throughout that the lack of answers at the end didn't bother me all that much. In fact, this is one of those films that stirred my imagination, and I would love seeing a sequel. I might even make a post about how Bessie Love came across an enchanted camera and took it out of the hands of evil-doers.

With that said, this film is also a bit of a mystery in and of itself. I was unable to track down any history on it through my usual half-assed research, so I can't tell if it's a film that dates from the 1970s or 1980s, or just is made to look like it due to the technology that's featured. If it is a period piece, it's quite well done, with only one major possible slip-up that I noticed. (I know that the Bobby character uses the 35-milimeter camera different than I recall doing in several ways. I can't say if this is the crew and actor having limited knowledge of how such cameras actually worked, or if I just had different habits.)

Why don't you take a few minutes and check out this mysterious little film. I think you'll enjoy it!

Happy birthday, Priyanka Chopra!

Born in 1982 to Indian military doctor parents, Priyanka Chopra was educated in a variety of international boarding schools, including one in Boston. Although she initially was planning to enter a career in criminology, by 2000, Chopra turned a growing sideline as a beauty queen and a model into a full-time career.

In the early 2000s, Chopra swiftly rose to be counted among India's most popular actresses, and during the 2010s, she became increasingly visible on the international stage. In the U.S., she is best known as Alex Parrish in the television crime drama "Quantico" (2015-2018). 

 

In recent years, Chopra has been splitting her time between India and the U.S., making projects for production houses in both countries. In 2018, she married musician Nick Jonas and they have one child together. 
 
Today, July 18, it's Chopra's birthday. She's turning 40, and we're celebrating by posting a few pictures!