Keeping November Real

As America prepares to stuff it’s collective face this Thursday, let us not forget our history.  The good and the bad.  Remember our Native American brethren and how they have been treated, remember those who have fallen to protect our freedoms, and enjoy the time we have with those we love.  Try to work a slice of pie in there somewhere as a personal favor to me.

Game Theory

Video games fascinate me, as both entertainment and art.  (I’m aware of the debate over whether or not they are in fact art, but am arbitrarily tabling that discussion for now).  Using an interactive medium to tell a story, convey a sense of atmosphere, or evoke powerful reactions has an experiential quality that non-interactive mediums cannot capture, and which is difficult to explain out of context. And there is so much context. The moment a particular scene,  level, fight, etc is described ex post facto it loses so much in the telling that, to the uninitiated that it may as well not be told at all. As an art form, games are relatively new and still brimming with untapped potential. Many developers seem to be refining old territory, and while there is nothing wrong with that (especially from a business angle) it’s not really advancing gaming as art.  Entertainment yes, but no new territory is being covered by the industry en masse.  Every rule has an exception though, and I’ve listed a few titles below that either in mechanic, setting, art style, or atmosphere differ significantly not only from other games, but current entertainment or art on any medium.

Zeno Clash

The Graveyard

The Path

Braid

And Yet it Moves

Machinarium

The Painting

He went to the museum every day it was open.  To stare.  Not to appreciate the art, to view the latest exhibit.  He only went to stare at it.  It didn’t start out that way of course, it began innocently enough, as these things often do, with the museum’s acquisition of Ivan Bilibin’s painting.  The man decided to go the the museum one day and view the Russian exhibit. But back then, he could view the other works and enjoy them. It’s a strange painting, the way He is depicted, viewed from the side, riding a horse, sword in hand, naked.  The man didn’t particularly like the painting, he just had to stare at it.  The museum staff didn’t know, he’d just wave and pay his fee and smile, but wouldn’t be able to relax until he got to the last area on the right, where it was.  That’s when the changes began.  One day he noticed that the background seemed a little dimmer than it had been, or perhaps the Subject a little brighter.  No need to worry he thought, it’s only natural that I should notice new things as long as I have been staring. A week or month later he noticed that the Subject sat up straighter and the horse had slowed pace.  He thought about pointing it out to the staff, but no doubt they would not see it.  The man slowly realized that he was seeing the gradual process of the horse stopping and Him sitting up, would he turn and stare back?  The thought of being looked at by Him was more than the man could bear, but he could not stop looking, he could not stop staring.  Gradually, His back got straighter, and the sword was lowered.  Odd no one noticed the changes until the end. The horse stopped and He began to turn His head.  One day the man was found dead at closing time, no satisfactory cause of death was found by the coroner.  But I know how he died.  I am Koschei the Deathless, and I took his soul.

Questions for the Particles From the Future

So they have finally reactivated the device.

I don’t know much about particle physics, but I think there are some questions we need to ask the particles from the future:

1. Is the nature of physics at all levels governed by a single set of rules, or does the very fabric of reality change over time?

2. When will I be able to purchase a flying car?

3. Is the “god particle” actually God?

i) If so, is there any way in particular it would like some acknowledgment for the existence of the universe?

ii) If not, why is everything here?

4. And of course: Did you create us, or do you exist simply because you can be conceived of?

Simple stuff right? Except for the bit about the flying car, that shit is bananas.

The Horror in Clay, pt. II

The Horror in Clay, pt. I

“…I made it last night in a dream of strange cities; and dreams are older than brooding Tyre, or the contemplative Sphinx, or garden-girdled Babylon.”

-from The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft

(sorry for the quality, I’ll get a proper camera after i’ve made a bakeable version)

My Favorite Things

What is best in life?  I imagine you know the classic answer.  The fall weather wakes the viking who lives in my head.  Like a reverse-bear,  he hibernates in the summer. Now he’s up and about, swinging his axe carelessly in wide arcs, demanding blood and roasted meat and pretty girls. I’ll have to have a talk with him, this is 2009 and it just won’t do.

A Horrible Menagerie, Part II

My God, I wish I were crazy, but i saw it standing there.

Pointless Minutiae

Déjà vu.  One need not examine every atom of another’s existence.  If you disagree with someone on a moral, political or really any other basis, by all means speak out.  But speak intelligently, with rational dialog rather than flinging mud like an animal.

Gullibility

To: Internet users

RE: Cut it out

Please stop voluntarily using spyware. It’s not helping anyone but the people who make and distribute it.

Thanks