—Echochrome – the Escher Game (YouTube, Via Game Girl Advance) What a hypnotically simple interface! This is a PSP game. Since I’m not a platform gamer, I’ll have to admire this one from afar. Similar:Gawker Media Files for Chapter 11 BankruptcyThis is fallout from losing an invasion …BusinessTroy Sterling and the Active and Passive VerbsJerz > Writing…
Gamers never sit around and fondly recall games that were so ludicrous they circled back and arrived at greatness. There is no game analog to, say, Sid and Marty Kroft children’s show, or Plan Nine From Outer Space. When a game is bad, it’s just … bad. I think this tells us a lot about…
Wow. I needed that. The summer’s more than half over, and I’ve got to start focusing on getting things off of my summer “to-do” list. Similar:Where Professors Send Their Children to CollegeTo understand this story, you have to ke…AcademiaThe difficulty is the point (teaching critical thinking skills differs from teaching facts…In the past few years…
—Lego White and Nerdy (YouTube) Weird Al’s awesome “White and Nerdy” has spawned not just one but several different Lego versions (of various quality levels). Similar:What happens to local news when there is no local media to cover it?The pressures on local news outlets have…CultureI went with frisse. German uses esse “to eat” for people…AmusingFacebook…
Schwartz is describing how the two main characters in the student film will sit on a couch, simultaneously reach for popcorn and inadvertently touch hands, when Kit Reiner of Silver Spring and Max Simon of Potomac — both 18 — cry out, “Just like in ‘Lady and the Tramp’!” And Schwartz could take it no…
We thought our “Pimp my Book Cart” contest was a funny idea that would spawn a dozen or so entries. But it seemed to spark something, and we started hearing from folks all over the country. It even spawned a “Pimp my Book Trolley” contest Down Under in Australia (we’re judging that one too). Still,…
RUR Cats (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) My first (and probably only) contribution to the LOLCats meme. In the 1920s, the Czech play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) introduced the world to a word that quickly displaced older terms such as “automaton.” As author Karel Capek was working out the plot, he fretted that calling them “labori” would be…
When the steam train roared into history, hissing smoke and howling into the night, it was an awesome beast, adorned in the finest woods, ivory, gold, and intricate inlays, like some Serpent King on a sacred tapestry. The automobiles of the 20’s to 60’s, each was a work of art. The television and radio affected…
—How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan (YouTube) Thanks for the suggestion, Josh. I generally ask my students to post their presentation notes on their blog, and rather than read through their blog entry word-for-word just take the class through the links and talk us through their main points. Similar:Literature Is Not Data: Against…
—IF Comic (David Garcia’s Blog) So far there are three installments of a new interactive fiction comic. I’ll be watching this site. Similar:Copspeak, "the past exonerative" tense, and punching NazisIn the Constitution, any suspect is inno…CultureVisionary #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 3, Episode 17) Time-jumping O'Brien Must SufferRewatching ST:DS9 The episode starts …BusinessMe Checking into My #4C19…
I am an animator and concept artist by trade. However, I don’t think my art is really so great that it deserves a “how to”. My devotion to my live steam hobby however, lends my steampunk designs a level of authenticity that often lacks in steampunk art. Therefore, this is just a quick explanation of…
“Looking at this brochure, it’s obvious Paul just wanted to use the ‘wave’ frame effect from that new PhotoFrame 2.0 software package we got last week,” fellow Blue Moon graphic designer Jared Mahaffey said. “There’s whacked-out, psychedelic edges all over the place–on the photos, on the floor-plan charts, even on the text boxes, for God’s…
BioShock will be Ken Levine’s magnum opus. It will be his career defining game. It’s ambitious, unusual and aggressive, mixing the high polish expected of a “next generation” shooter, with equal parts storytelling, politics, and philosophy, all wrapped up in a bloody, underwater, 1940’s bow. […] The most prominent character in BioShock — Andrew Ryan,…
You may or may not be familiar with V-Tech Rampage, a flash game created by Ryan Lambourn. True to its title, the game allows the player to take on the role of Cho Seung-Hui and re-enact the fateful school shooting of April 16th. The game drew hatred from the mainstream media and gamers alike; many…
Venus Redemption is a unique episodic casual game created for 30+ female gamers, with a rich plot written by a noted novelist. Unlike other casual games, it features powerful storylines, deep characters, emotion-based interactive conversations and exciting adventure gameplay. However, like traditional casual games, it’s extremely easy to play, requiring only the ability to move…
The film’s extreme stylization — dark backgrounds, glowing neon colors, polygonal landscapes, geometric vehicles, and an absence of external lighting — was an aesthetic decision that embraced the limitations of computer-generated imagery. “The actual process of making something out of polygons, then shading it, became a design influence,” explains Taylor. “Not only was the film…
Modern interactive fiction, much more than its technically limited earlier counterparts, displays an incredible range of literary influences, tributes and styles. For Sherwin’s part, science fiction is an inspiration, but the greater part of his text adventures’ efficacy comes from the unique and anarchic style of his characters’ dialogue. “I have been greatly influenced by…
—Deleted Scenes (StarTrekHistory.com) An awesome collection of painstakingly-restored still shots and script excerpts, from scenes that were filmed but never aired. Similar:SMS Generator SMS Generator.AmusingReady to teach another set of students what research is (and what it isn’t).AcademiaSeton Hill's #CIO @PhilKomarny is moving on to @robotsNpencilsSeton Hill’s #CIO @PhilKomarny (who insp…Academia[2.5] FPS MouseLook ScriptYay, me. I…
—20 Sided Fuzzy Dice Danglers (Think Geek) Now those are my kind of fuzzy dice. Similar:Narnia board game — enjoyable family activity (but it's weird that the Pevensies compete …It’s weird that in the Narnia board game…BooksThe Importance of PunctuationFrom Yahoo! News: Update: T…GamesWriting, Coding and Education: Why They MatterBack in my grad school days,…
—Atari Candleholder (Wonderland | Mixko) Wonderland credits a designer called Mixko, but I couldn’t find it on that site. (And even I did find it there, I couldn’t link to it, because the site uses Flash in a horribly user-hostile way.) Similar:In September, 2002, I was blogging about science writing, satire, ebonics, Google News, ow…In September,…