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, April 05, 2003
I didn't have time to wait and play the installation version at the film festival last weekend, but I finally got a chance to play GameLab's Fluid online tonight. In the installation version, the goal is to figure out the rules by observing the behavior of the world. So I ignored the "About" page and played the online version similarly. Took me fifteen minutes or so, but I think I have the basics nailed--and now I know just enough that I want to go play some more to see if there are deeper layers of complexity.
Unfortunately, the evening is booked for writing. So later it must wait for. But you can go play now, right? Enjoy.
Found on the floor at work:
I continue to be stunned at the incredible quantity of high-quality information that those so motivated can access during this war:
Back to Iraq's Chris Allbritton has just arrived in Iraq, and his adventures continue to be fascinating reading. He's nowhere near what most media consider the center of the action, but his pieces are the best kind of only-on-the-web journalism that helps set Headline News in context.
And though I spent almost an hour studying them earlier this week, I somehow neglected to post a link to these fantastic satellite photos (via Instapundit, obviously.)
Now playing on CreateBands, my new supergroup Forgetful Gypsy:
Masters of pop hits created in GrooveBlender, Forgetful Gypsy is Kristie on drums banging out Loop 2, Rachel slammin' Loop 2 on bass, a groovy Loop 3 from FunkyPaul on rhythm guitar, and DJDraStiK on the turntables playin the breaks with Loop 4. PFunk plays Loop 2 on the bottles off to the side, but his volume is turned all the way down; he's in the band for visual novelty, not his musical ability.
They'll still be practicing their hit single "Keep it Real" for a while, but if you stick around long enough they do an awesome cover of the Turtles' "Elenore".
Be sure to check out some of the other bands being created on Metafilter, where I found the link.
Via Boingboing, the brilliance of "Pride and Extreme Prejudice"--an ongoing work of collaborative Jane Austen/Terminator fanfic.
No, I'm not kidding.
Friday, April 04, 2003
Very cool: Poynter's Online Media Map of Iraq. This will be going into the sidebar later today. (via Metafilter)
You know it's a busy day in the office when you have to go find a second restroom because an impromptu meeting was going on in the first one...
Thursday, April 03, 2003
An excellent story by the Online Journalism Review on CNN reporter Kevin Sites' blog and what happened behind the scenes that led to its rise and fall. (Thanks, Phil!)
In the middle of a frustratingly busy day, happiness has arrived in the form of a whole pile of Zusty shirts. Summer wardrobe: check.
Ferry Halim has added yet another great game to Orisinal: The Pond (thanks to Bezzy for pointing it out to me.)
Not only that, he's opened the Orisinal Store! Go get your Three Little Pigs T-shirt and your Pocketful of Stars mug today!
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
For those who haven't noticed, I've been adding interesting links to the WAR NEWS category to the left as I discover them. The latest addition: A Minute Longer, a blog by a soldier now in Iraq.
A L.A. Times photographer uses Photoshop to combine photos into a better composition, gets busted, and loses his job. Three cheers to the Times for working to keep journalism honest, though I wish the editors had been the one to catch the mistake and not the public--it makes me wonder how many other altered photos are slipping past there and at other publications.
Via PCJM, Ex Libris Anonymous, journals made by binding blank pages inside the front and back of an old book. Part of me thinks these are the coolest things ever, while another part cringes at the destruction of vintage books--especially when there's no guarantee (or even, perhaps, likelihood) that the new words between the covers will be better than the old (something especially driven home when I saw a journal made from one of the Danny Dunn books I loved as a child.)You'll have to pardon me if I'm a bit crotchety today; I think my fridge is dead. Much good food went into the trash this morning...
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
Not really an April Fool's prank since it ran all day yesterday and hasn't ended yet, but the Conversatron has gone mad and brought its users along to the point where some are posting nude photos of themselves to break the monotony.
(No, I'm not going to tell you where they are. If I had to suffer through all those threads, so do you.)
In related Q-and-A news (that likely will end up to be a April Fools' joke tomorrow), TMOL's Michael found himself a girlfriend.
My favorite April Fools' Day online pranks:
Bungie's product update for Pimps at Sea ("There's no better way to step up your mack attack than with the PimpWheel...").
The new Ollie the Owl constellation on the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Metafilter getting purchased by Google and the subsequent collapse of the deal.
AICN's bogus 24 spoilers.
The many excellent products advertised today on Think Geek from the Shrinter to the Linux is for Dweebs T-Shirt (see the whole list on their What's New page.)
NPR's "Shellac, the Sound of the Future" on All Things Considered this afternoon.
First Genetics and Marty the Mandrill--one monkey, one keyboard, every possibility of Shakespeare.
Finally got the last line of cops to let me through (after endless "If this is a real ticket, why aren't you in a limo?" questions. I explained I was a writer. "Then where's your Jetta?" Broke down a few blocks away. "I see." They let me in but warned me not to beg gas money from anyone) and made it to the red carpet.
Jeff Wolverton, writer of this year's Best Animated Short, attended the Oscars and recaps hilariously.
Do I get an Oscar statuette? No, I was the writer. Do I get the envelope? No, I was the writer. A certificate? No, I was the writer. Do I get anything at all? Yes, I do (swiped one of those fancy boxes of mints they had near the bathroom.)
Monday, March 31, 2003
Via Metafilter, the 1987 edition of Nuclear Survival Skills. From psychological preparations and evacuation methods to homemade fallout meters and shelter furniture, it's like an after-the-bomb Scout Fieldbook.
Don't miss how to make your own Russian fallout mask, as seen here.
"Our exclusive Advanced Protection System offers a unique combination of "defensive" features: weather resistance, shock absorption, and--most notably--high-tech protection against environmental pollutants and corrosion."
Too cool for neoprene? Too broke for the Roadie? Perhaps you should wrap your electronics in indestructible quilts.
"Based on the links on http://www.inkslinger.org/log, here are some interesting sites you might not be reading."
So wait; are they saying that if you like OD, you might like those sites...or are they saying that if you're reading OD you're completely missing out on information from those sources? More likely, I suspect, is a mix of both.
A page I saw once, lost track of, and have now rediscovered and provide a link here so that I can easily find it again: a collection of logical fallacies and dirty, underhanded debate tactics. Study them well, for those who don't know them fall prey to them.
I might suggest another: "Biased Support", the old "but my Mom likes it!" argument--actually the sort of fallacy that sent me searching for the page again. Can anyone see where this might fall into a preexisting category?
Sunday, March 30, 2003
It's been a great weekend at the Wisconsin Film Festival. Outside of great films, the most notable thing was that nearly every movie I attended was sold out--even films being shown in the 1500+ seat Orpheum theater. At a screening of the Thai musical Mon-Rak Transistor, people were sitting on the floor in the back and aisles of the the theater. I'm suspecting that a) next year the festival will have either more showings or more theaters involved to absorb some of this growth, and b) I'll be getting my tickets they day the day they go on sale (there were at least two movies I missed out on--one an obscure Iranian flick--because I waited a week.)
The best film I saw all last weekend came late last night at a packed showing of Breath Control: A History of the Human Beat Box. I've always found beatbox amazing, ever since seeing the Fat Boys on television way back in the day. But it was fantastic to see one master beatboxer after another, and the documentary took me beyond simple respect for musical ability and respirative stamina to get a real sense of history and context for the artform. Afterward the filmmaker, a UW grad, held a great Q-and-A session which led to the highpoint of the screening when he busted out some live beatbox with Joe Random from the audience.
Yesterday at the festival JP and Zusty and I went to an incredibly inspirational talk given by the CEO of gameLab--makers of Junkbot and many other fine games. He had a lot of phenomenally good things to say about games and about how they make them (prototyping!) and even gave the closest thing I've ever heard to a working definition for "fun" in games: "a satisfactory level of interactivity". Of course, "satisfactory" is still subjective, but it's a step in the right direction. Afterward, the three of us hung out and talked with him about indy games and the difficulties they're facing in the current environment. We were there almost two hours, but I wish it could have been longer.
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