Words for the wise from the mouth of a fool.
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The weblog of Seth Johnson -------------- INKSLINGER.ORG -------------- OD ARCHIVES -------------- FEEDS Posts:  Shared Items:
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Saturday, March 01, 2003
I was really disappointed that I couldn't get my hands on an MP3 of Harvey Smith's talk from GDC2002. Now I discover that it's been on the web the whole time: Systemic Level Design for Emergent Gameplay (requires RealAudio, sadly.)
The amazing story of convicted spy--now about to be paroled--Christopher "The Falcon" Boyce (via MeFi)
- Currency Union Announced
- LAZY DEMAND GOVERNMENT IN ORDER TO GET GOVERNMENT HELP
- Have you met the Good Ober?
The goings-on in the Pine Curtain region of Nation States continue to crack me up. (The first link in the preceding sentence is to the new off-NS archive of PC news for those who still won't spare two minutes a day to play.)
I think you care enormously. I think it's keeping you up at night. I think breathless, paranoid run-on paragraphs that spit off accusations and erratta like a comet shedding debris are a sure sign of a disturbed mind.
Bad news followed by intriguingly entertaining comics-industry paranoia and gossip-mongering are to be had in the Pulse thread discussing the recent break-in at Bob Layton's Future Comics.
“There’s an attempt on President Grover Cleveland’s life after he’s attended a command performance of the Greatest Show on Earth -- the Barnum and Bailey Circus. P.T. Barnum is deputized by the President, along with the Congress of Anomalies, to find out who is behind it. Our heroes ultimately uncover a dastardly conspiracy to divide the country at the Rocky Mountains.
“This is twenty-some years after the Civil War; the emotional wounds and the political fallout from the war between the states is still fresh. America could never withstand another conflict of such magnitude. The conspirators form a cabal financed by the world’s wealthiest men, manipulated by Nikola Tesla."
You know, I was sold just by the title and the piece of art I saw six months ago. But with this article BARNUM! shoots to the top of the list of graphic novels I can't wait to read.
Via Making Light, a fantastic gallery of Jack Kirby designs for a movie and theme park based on Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.
There's been a lot of coverage on the ongoing shuttle investigation as the pieces start to come together, but here's a good piece on the status of the crew aboard the International Space Station.
Friday, February 28, 2003
Play Liquid War, enjoy, and know that you have Bezzy to thank (or blame) for your lost hours. Mmmmmmm....multiplayer....
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Another link from JP, this time to an amazing new form of African music--traditional instruments pumped through homemade amplifiers and AV equipment. WARNING: embedded audio/video clip; adjust speakers accordingly.
Take some time to look through the impressive Mah Jong Museum--everything from scans of vintage supply catalogs and mah jong art to a survey of tile materials and beautiful pictures of an enormous number of sets. The whole site lives up to its name--I feel like I'm browsing through a museum well stocked by someone who loves their subject with a passion.
Oh, and I know it's a horrible and outdated pun, but I couldn't resist putting Ma and Pa Jongg on my desktop.
JP points out that Junkbot has returned with Junkbot Undercover. There went part of my weekend. Then he pointed out the page of games on the site of Junkbot creators gamelab, some of which I hadn't seen before.
Um, it looks like I'll be playing games this weekend.
The League of Bizarre Gentlemen and Alan Moore paper dolls, already enough to convince me that I have to pick up a copy of Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman when it comes out.
Also via Newsarama, word that Empire returns this summer. Hooray!
Best non-sequitur post subject line on AICN today: PETER FALK DESTROYS ALL MONSTERS.
The sad news of the death of Mr. Rogers was leavened just a bit knowing that the man delivering the news to the press was Mr. McFeely.
Of course, the official Mr. Rogers website continues to do the good work, helping parents and children deal with the loss.
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Tickets for the Wisconsin Film Festival go on sale today. A lot of good stuff, in the festival's usual, wandering way: even a talk on independent games. Anyone else want to go?
My tentative schedule:
Thursday, March 27
- 7:30 - 9:30: Bend It Like Beckham
Friday, March 28
- 7:15 - 9:45: A Hard Day's Night
- 11:00 - 1:00 AM: Bronx Barbes
Saturday, March 29
- 2:00 - 3:30: Game Design and Game Culture - Where are the Indie Games?
- 5:00 - 7:00: Mon-rak Transistor
- 9:45 - 11:15: Breath Control: The History of the Human Beat Box
- 11:00 - 1:00 AM: The Eye*
- 5:00 - 7:00: Mon-rak Transistor
Sunday, March 30
- 12:30 - 2:45: The Manchurian Candidate
- 3:15 - 4:45: Blackboards
* Yes, I know my last two movies overlap on Saturday, and experience suggests that the first will probably start so far beyond schedule that getting to the second anything but way too late will be an impossibility. It kills me already, from a month away.
There are at least six or eight more films that I would go to if I could squeeze them into my schedule, but...
Anyone see anything cool that I missed? Who wants to come along? I'll probably be picking up tickets early next week.
First OD is unavailable for most of the morning, now my usual bookmarks to BloggerPro don't let me update the page. It's like the world doesn't want me to update, like I should go get some work done.
Keep up the good work, world.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
The Worldwide Flotsam Checklist! Including such items as:
- LEGO toy elements
- Abandoned yachts
- Submarines
- 900-foot-long pipes
- Torpedoes
- Nurdles
- Bales of raw tobacco
- Human bodies
and more!
Start walking the beaches with open eyes, my friends.
A page of links and commentary related to the infamous "worst American novel ever" mentioned on OD last week.
Dr. Chris passes along the website of Custom Concealment, with their gallery of photos demonstrating "thermal ghillie suits". Their Nine Rules for Buying a Ghillie Suit are interesting as well. It's knowing that there are people out there who put this much thought in tiny niches* that makes me realize how far we've come from hunting and gathering.
* And yes, I realize I spend my days in my own little niche.
Today on IMDB's Hollywood news, a rumor via David Carradine that Quentin Tarantino is splitting Kill Bill into two movies that would be released five weeks apart.
Splitting one movie into two and releasing two installments in quick succession. It worked for the Back to the Future movies, and I bet that the Matrix movies will rule the box office this summer. But this....this seems like it's happening as an afterthought. Since seeing the trailer I had really been looking forward to Kill Bill. Now...I'm not so sure.
UPDATE: Chad passes along AICN's debunking of this rumor.
Monday, February 24, 2003
Sunday, February 23, 2003
"The mask was designed so children would carry it and wear it as part of a game."
A spoonful of sugar for a culture steeped in fear, the Mickey Mouse trademark and emergency readiness collide in this WWII-era product: do your kids have their Mickey Mouse gas mask?
(via Incoming Signals)
The Gibbon-o-Matic (part of The Best of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, both links via Incoming Signals) has pushed me to officially pull my copy of the book from the Shelves of Read Someday so that I could add it to the Pile of Read in the Near Future.
In theory, you could directionally crystallize filtered deionized or
distilled water under its vapor pressure after vacuum degassing. In
practice, refrigerated vanes are dipped into flowing purifed water and
the ice progressively forms, excluding defects as it proceeds
My sister called earlier today and wanted to know how to make some clear ice at home so she could try replicating photos she saw of flowers frozen in ice. There you go, Shala.
It's probably outside her price range, but I also poked into what the pro ice carvers use. Iceworks says they use "Clinebell" iceblocks--so a quick Google search leads us to Clinebell's own website, which even has a page of tips and tricks (though I wonder how long it would take to "hold item in place until it's secured In the Ice".) It's interesting that they suggest their carving block maker be run at an ambient temperature of 72dF, as "cold temperatures can cause cracking in the blocks and much warmer temperatures may slow the freezing cycle.") I have to admit, though, that the equipment does turn out some huge blocks of clear ice.
Best side-discovery of this search:: The MIDI-riffic Smitty's Snowballs site, Here Only To "Help" Any One That Is "Interested In" The SnowBall, Snow Cone And Or Shaved Ice Business.
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