So I finally have the name for my book! As I mentioned a few weeks back, my publisher needed it so their designers could get to work on the cover art, and ever since I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with something snappy or compelling. Its so stupid that I have awesome names for fake bands constantly coming out of my ass, but when it comes to something that’s a major thing, I’m always stumped (I’m still no 100% sold on the name for my comic book-thing… Unlucky is great, but there’s just something about Never Learned How To Ride a Bike or Yeah, I Can’t Believe It Either).
But, at the last possible minute, I had a flash of brilliance. So it’s going to be, unless my publisher rejects it or something: Paving The Pixel Road – An Introduction To The Principles And Theories Behind Video Game Design (or Paving The Pixel Road – The Art & Science of Video Game Design… whichever they like best). I’m not joking when I came up with it down to the wire, and I was so elated to finally have something that, at least I thought, was pretty damn keen. But I needed a second opinion, so I went on AIM looking for it, but most folks were either not on, or away from their desk (didn’t help that it was the end of Friday), so the only guy I available ended up being Jeremiah, who was in San Fran and in the midst of his chiptunes world tour (don’t ask me then why he was on instant messenger). But he seemed to like it and that made me feel confident enough to hit the send button.
As for the weekend, the Delaware trip was a real washout. Numerous plans were made, but almost none materialized; never got the chance to go to the shooting range, which totally sucked ass, especially since it was the primary reason to go down there. At the very least, heading down south offered a chance to get away from the city and to hang with Morgan and Andy (who just bought a house there). While it was certainly nice and relaxing to just drive around the nice parts of Wilmington, take a stroll through one of its many beautiful parks, hit some small arts & crafts fair where I spotted a midget in a tye-dyed shirt (which I heard is somewhat of a common sight around that state, though I forget who told me so), explore an old cemetery, and even do some shopping (with no sales tax, I finally nabbed New Super Mario Bros and the Venture Brothers DVD set), for the most part, we really didn’t do too much. Mostly because there’s really nothing to do, as typified by our Saturday night, which was just sitting around watching television and drinking beer. And that’s great and all, but I could have easily done that at home. Unfortunately, as more and more gets on my plate, especially with the book’s deadline in less than three months (and I must confess that I’m behind schedule) time has really become a major issue with me. So any moment which I feel could be better spent towards work gets me real cranky. Hey, at least I got plenty of Wawa chicken sandwiches. Also got the chance to finally see a girl’s roller derby game; I’ve always been curious about the sport, ever since Joe became buddy buddy with the Gotham Girls, and because Morgan and Andy’s friend Callie, who plays for the Philthy Britches had a match last night, I finally got the chance to take in a game. And it was lots of fun! It’s what you might expect, which is cute chicks racing around, trying to knock each other down, but I was surprised by the high degree of strategy involved. Plus now MK is thinking of picking up the sport, which would be super hot.
Delaware is nice and all, but its just so damn boring, but also so damn cheap. There was much talk about the ever increasing cost involved of living in New Jersey among MK, Morgan, and Andy, and much of the blame falls on the shoulders of hipsters, who all gather in beat-up, and most importantly cheap, areas which they claim as their own, and then proceed to suck all the life out of it, all while driving up the real estate prices exponentially (and at the same time, they believe that they’re also doing a great service by instilling “culture” into the area). Granted, its classic gentrification at work, but instead of dumbshit business yuppie types, its their dumbass offspring who either use mommy and daddy’s money, or worse yet, hot shot fucks that have already amassed a small fortune by the age 25 in advertising or design. I myself was basically run out of Groove Street in Jersey City by the folks who currently dwell there today, who have basically turned the neighborhood into “New Willamsburg”. Back when I moved there in later 99, it was this nice little cheap area that was close to NYC, and when I invited folks over to come check out my digs, it was like pulling teeth. They’d all say “But its New Jersey…..” and I’d go, “Yeah, but the thing is, its really nice out here! And get this, even though I’m in a different state, its actually faster and cheaper to get out here from where you’re at in Manhattan then where you live in Brooklyn and Queens”. And to that, all they could say is “But, its New Jersey…” That was until they actual came and liked what they saw… then immediately staked a claim and took things over, which caused everything to get so fucking expensive and obnoxious that I had no choice but to pack my bags. I think the epicenter for all the bullshit is a trendy coffee place called Ground, where the tragically hip gather to morn the fact that they are in New Jersey. And that’s the thing that really pisses me off, and that’s precisely the attitude that Morgan got when she ran into a gaggle in Asbury Park; they have to constantly bemoan the fact that they were in Jersey, by making tired jokes about the smell and the such, and act as if they’re doing everyone a favor by bestowing upon the lowly Jersey-ites with their grand presence. One of the main things that made the roller derby game so much fun was the crowd, which was admittedly mostly cool kids, but they didn’t have any of the pretense that you find in Willamsburg. Everyone where was there to have a good time, not just stand around and have this stupid sneers on their faces to signify that they bear the burden of being so Goddamn young and smart and beautiful and talented (in their minds of course). Another thing I really noticed was that there were plenty of girls in all shapes and sizes, and none of them looked all self-contious, whereas all the chicks in Willamsburg have that cocaine sculpted physiques.
Aside from bitching about hipsters, I outlined another group I hate intensely, known as “Waysians” (there’s many other terms, such as Rice Eaters, which is a favorite of mine). Basically, it’s a white person who wants to be Asian, really, really bad, by parlaying facets of the culture to a ridiculous degree. There’s two basic types: the first is the tough guy who wears a wife beater, with short cropped hair that sticks straight up with plenty of gel. Their favorite film is Fast & The Furious, they have tons of tattoos with assorted Asian characters (all of which they think says cheesy shit like “war” and “fire” but probably says “cheeseburger” or “I’m a fucking retard” in Chinese), and they roll around in souped up Japanese with huge (and grossly inappropriate) spoilers. Then you have the nerds & wieners that feel that the key to being Asian is to be a walking, talking Anime & Manga encyclopedia. These types annoy me the most since I deal with so often, since most are also diehard gamers. The worst is when they try to use Japanese grammar, also grossly inappropriately…
“… And that’s what I told Peterson-san.”
“Excuse me, Peterson-what?”
“Peterson-san.”
“Look, first off, you’re not Japanese. Second, neither is Peterson. Third, we’re not in Japan.”
Anyway, even though the roller derby got out at a relatively early time, 8:30, it took about three hours for MK to drop me off at Hoboken, where I just missed the PATH train to NYC. So I had to wait 30 minutes, then wait another hour at 34th Street for a Q train, transfer from Atlantic to Pacific, wait another hour for an express D train to 36th Street in Brooklyn, then walk all the way in 23rd St. in the pouring rain. I finally got home around 3, plus I still had work to do! Which meant that I accidentally slept in and was late for work by 30 minutes, and with Monday morning classes just starting that was not good. And since I was totally out of it, I could barely get any work done, including prepping up my syllabus for tomorrow evening (it’ll be the first class for my intro to game design course this summer). So today has not been the best of days.
Plus the MoCCA Art Fest is this upcoming weekend, and I am totally not prepared. Aside from not having the How To Organize For Nerds picture comic ready, which I knew would be a longshot but totally perfect for the NYC audience, but I don’t have the coloring book ready, which is something I really wanted, as well as new covers for my Unlucky mini’s. I suppose I can have them all read for SPX, but like many folks, I’m getting a bad feeling about this year’s event. Aside for it being at a new location, a strange time of the year, plus the fact that Dave & John will be missing, I recently heard that there won’t be a show anthology, which is total bullshit.
Though today wasn’t a total pain in the ass. MK alerted me to the fact that this year’s Asian Film Festival has been finally announced, and this year’s selection looks particularly strong. We both already have a list of stuff that are must see, including the bizarre masked wrestling/bugs from outer space tale, the live action adaptation of Cromartie High School which looks even funnier/stupider than the comic and cartoon show, the latest Takashi Miike picture which happens to be (believe it or not) a kid’s movie, a film called “Oh! My Zombie Mermaid” which seriously needs no explanation, the Spinal Tap meets winter the Olympics movie, and the latest movie from both the director and cast from last year’s brilliant The Taste For Tea. Sweeeet.
Oh, and I got the chance to (finally) play some New Super Mario Bros. Its Mario back in glorious 2D action, so what else needs to be said? And speaking of games, and for those who haven’t heard… the Dreamcast, yet again, is not dead. 10 news games are coming out, and on these shores. Granted, they’re basically homebrew titles, but still!
Last thing, aside from it being the first day of my class, tomorrow also happens to be 6/6/6. And you know what that means…. yup, it’s Nation Emo Kid Beatdown Day. Get ready.
