So the strike didn’t happen last night. Yay. And there was no hassles getting into work this morning (I did had plans to join on a carpool with a coworker just in case it did go down). Actually, the ride was nice and smooth, and I got in on time for the first time in weeks! And thankfully, with the crisis adverted (at least for the time being…. the deadline has been pushed to Tuesday at midnight), its been just another quiet Friday afternoon. And thank God for that, because I am soooo tired; its been once hellevua week:
(last) FRIDAY
In the evening was “Deathmatch in the Stacks”, the launch event for The Game Designer Reader, a collection of essays from game designers, as well as educators, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and the like, from Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (and which acts as a companion piece to their Rules of Play).
… I forgot to mention that I was able to flip through a copy when Zimmerman had a copy with him at a party on the Wednesday prior (Skunk Studios threw a bash at Revival to celebrate the opening of a NYC studio I believe). I ended up spending most of my time talking with some guys that make games for the Mac, as well as a software that helps cartoonists create word bubbles in their comic pages; I wonder if any of my friend uses it? I’m pretty sure I pissed them off when I went on my anti-Apple tirade…
I wrote up a detailed report of Friday night’s event for Gamasutra which isn’t live yet, but I’ll pass along the link once it is (which should be sometime next week). But, I will say right now that the best part was easily when one author, when trying to illustrate how crazy little girls’ imaginations can be, asked women in the audience: “So what did you do with Barbie as a little girl?” And basically, every woman who came up described how they enjoyed torturing their Barbies, and often made up these wacky back stories to go with the action (my fave being the one who liked to come up with “Donner Party-esque” scenarios). Plus Warren Robinett was in attendance, and it was awesome hearing stories about the creation of Adventure for the 2600 firsthand.
SATURDAY
MK & I got up pretty early for Saturday, around 11-ish (well, early for us) to make a show at the Center of Book Arts. The drive into the city was made totally awesome thanks to a set of anti-hippie country and folks songs on WFMU. One was just like the 12 days of Christmas, but instead of stuff appearing in a tree, each stanza was an additional reason why hippies are such pinko-commie scum. And another country ditty had far and away the best use of a sitar in any song, ever. Plus there were plenty of “I did heroin and was got so high that I killed my wife, so now I’m in jail, but its okay because I’m in a better place” type songs, of course.
We meet up with John and Mario at the center, and John characterized the show best by saying “It’s like SPX but for books!” And it really was, with tons of neat little books to be found, though everything had a purely printmaking focus (not surprising of course), plus everything was pretty pricey (again, not surprising, since its all made by hand and not produced at Staples or Kinko’s). But I did get one book, which happened to be the most mini-comic-ish of all the things available: Death Made Simple.
Afterwards we all drove up to Queens to Dave and Raina’s place for their second annual holiday specials party. This year’s had even more Muppet content than last time….
The Muppet Christmas Carol – Its the Christmas Carol but with Muppets (duh). And it was surprisingly decent; I really haven’t been terribly interested in any of the post-Henson Muppet movies, though Muppets From Space definitely kicked ass. Though nothing’s gonna beat Mickey’s Christmas Carol in my book.
The He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special – So fucking stupid, yet so fucking awesome. I had totally forgotten how awesome Skeletor was. And John does a pretty good impression of him too.
The Christmas Toy – Another Jim Henson produced Xmas special, from the late 80′s and for television, which I had been curious about since seeing a clip at the Henson retrospective at BAM last year. Just think Toy Story (toys comes to life when humans aren’t around), but much, MUCH more depressing.
Robbie the Reindeer – A stop-animated tale from BBC about Rudolph’s slacker-ish son trying to fill the shoes of his dad. Easily my fave special of the evening. It was very Nick Park-ish, meaning it had excellent animation and that awesome Brit humor. Plus MK was won over due to it featuring a talent from Father Ted.
The Chipmunks Christmas Special – I have to admit, it does win points for breaking convention, but then you have the always annoying Chipmunks (in particular Alvin… God I hate that fucker…. sorta like how I always wanted Mr. Wilson to kill Dennis the Menace). The animation was less than stellar Chuck Jones fare, but the watercolor painted backgrounds were simply gorgeous.
The Snowman – Another BBC classic. I too get a headache whenever I think of all the work involved in the show.
Christmas Eve On Sesame Street – Dead God, 1970′s Sesame Streets is so Goddamn sweet. I believe it was said during the Henson retrospective, and illustrated in the special, that Sesame Street is technically supposed to be around 86th St and York St in Manhattan.
SUNDAY
… Afterwards MK & myself went back to John and Marion’s place to play video games and get boozed up. I brought along a slew of multiplayer GameCube games, but Marion simply wanted to play against us all in the new tracks she and John had recently unlocked in Mario Kart. I also brought a huge bottle of Bulleit Bourbon; a friend of Stephy’s needed some help with her Mac, and I offered to help as I always do, even though most people are unfortunately not at all appreciative. But not this girl, who was kind enough to pass along the bottle as thanks, since bourbon happens to be her family business. Anyway, I did piss poor, but I can’t blame the booze since I’m not so hot at Mario Kart anyhow. We played till 4, but before going to sleep, I did manage to finally catch a bit of the Boondocks on Adult Swim, and it was fucking horrible.
The next morning, John and Mario cooked us up some breakfast (Jesus, that woman can sure make some amazing waffles). We then just sat around and chatted until I realized that MK & I had to head back to my place to wash up for another holiday party that night. But when Mario professed her dire need to play Soul Calibur 2, we had no choice but to stay for a bit more. Afterwards, MK & I got to my place, took showers, and went back into the city. By evening, MK was in a whole new world…
Over the past year, and up until that point, MK had meet and hung out with almost all my various circles, which includes cartoonist, gamers, punk rockers, and dock workers… but not my film peeps. So that night she finally got to interact with the Jeff Rovin empire and at last meet face to face with his son, and my longtime friend, Mike. Plus Barry, my once time possible editor for the ill fated encyclopedia of Anime and Manga book was on-hand, as well as Mike Simses; I was at last introduced to his new girlfriend, and even though I didn’t get a chance to talk to her that much, I learned she likes hot dogs, so that’s good enough in my book. I know MK was rather overwhelmed by it all, but I’d like to think that she was at ease when she came into the upstairs den to check out the new 40 inch LCD screen among a bunch of hardcore film aficionados and saw that the one thing that everyone wanted to test the new screen with was the South Park movie.
After the party, MK & I had dinner at Chipotle at St. Marks and went to Kim’s Video where I picked up Godzilla Final Wars (which I just knew I had to get once I first saw it, tight budget or not). Too bad the American DVD release sorta bite (more on this later)…
MONDAY
I didn’t do jack except work on various projects. I didn’t even go to SVA just to get stuff done, but it was also because I wasn’t feeling good (mostly because I ate too much from over the weekend).
TUESDAY
Sony stopped by the Nick offices to show off some upcoming games. Among the batch was Ape Escape 3, which I swear to God has come out like 6 times already. Anyway, the one I was most interested in was Tourist Trophy, the new motorcycle racing simulation from the makers of Gran Turismo. It was decent, but motorcycles games just aren’t my thing (they just never “feel” right). And later in the evening was the big SVA staff holiday party at a swanky jazz club/BBQ joint called Blue Note. The food was absolutely amazing, especially the mac & cheese. So good that I would have to assume that it costs $7 or something, considering the quality and the nature of the establishment (hey, I wouldn’t know, SVA footed the bill).
WEDNESDAY
Once again, movie night. I mentioned to Ric Myers that whoever fucked up the translation for the American DVD release of Godzilla Final Wars. For example, instead of using the term “maser” which is basically a laser for monsters (hence the m in the beginning), its just called phaser. WTF?!?!?!?! A sacred staple of the Godzilla universe, and its been shat upon! Ric then mentioned how he offered to do the translation job, and for free, but was turned down, and is going to have to make some phone-calls in Sony…
THURSDAY
Last night was two parties: the first was a rather small affair thrown by Sony. Most of the games I had already checked out on Tuesday, but there was something else, a particularly violent title in which you drive around, jumped onto other vehicles, and kill the driver to take the wheel, all while in motion (gee, no wonder they didn’t bother bringing it to the Nick offices). I made one of the biggest no-no’s you could make at such an event when I addressed it by a totally different name by accident, which really irks p.r. folks. In my defense, its called Pursuit Force, which sounds like 90% of all the other generic sounding games out there. Anyway, I was really digging the food until I burnt the shit out my mouth due to the molten lava hot cheddar cheese in a jalapeno popper.
The second party was the annual Large Animal holiday party. Everyone was playing a game, of course, elves vs. gnomes. I ended up being a gnome. It was fun. There was also some really good cookies there.
TODAY
I know I’ve been super late on this, but I finally managed to get the mix CDs finished up that I’ve been promising certain folks. Here’s a semi-blurry pic:
BTW, if anyone wants one, just let me know (btw, you can get one for free if you buy a copy of Unlucky!).
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- So I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t had any chance to check out what’s going on in games. But somehow this Beatmania vid managed to cross my path. Funky.
And for those unfamiliar with the game, I guess maybe this particular video might be make things a tad bit more clear. Maybe.
- Earlier this week, Toby pointed towards a selection of very stylish Katamari shirts (and from the folks who make the best damn FTP app for the Mac, btw).
And someone at the GAF who remembered how much I wanted the limited edition Space Harrier shirt from Japan pointed me towards this: a place to get it. Pretty awesome, but unfortunately, its $55 American, and with shipping, the total is exactly $72. Thanks, but no thanks….
Which reminds me; last Friday I mentioned the single greatest game related shirt I had ever laid eyes on, but I was in such a rush to get out (to attend the Deathmatch in the Stacks) that I totally forgot to mention which one. Well, once again, its from Way of the Rodent (and not Way of the Rat as I said by mistake), and the shirt is based on my favorite game (and maybe yours), Rez…
