First off, like everyone else, my allergies are killing me, and it pretty much put a damper on the entire weekend.
Friday was the big end of the year screening for the computer art department at SVA. Two pieces really stood out in my mind; the first was an interview with an unemployed couple in Long Island who have adopt down-an-out two robots (a depressed, deadpan talking toaster and a heart-surgery robot that’s prone to violent mood swings) in exchange for government assistance. The second was a personal piece that incorporated two screens; one showed random bits of imagery and other had accompanying text, and there was a song or two byJapanther along the way. Sure it was all very fine/video art-esque, but really good fine/video art, and like nothing I had ever see come from the department.
The original plan was to hit the road after the show to conduct some field work for a piece that I’m working on for GameSetWatch. But because things ran longer than expected, plus there was no time to eat lunch during the screening, I ended up having to cut things short. Though I did make one huge discovery: Game Express, the beloved independent game store that used to be across the street from Penn Station, still lives, albeit in a different and smaller location.
After some kimchee fried rice in Chinatown, I headed over to St. Mark’s to meet up with MK, Robin, and Marion for some drinks while they discussed the new Lulu anthology. John was also on-hand to meet up with Greg, the creator of the engine that Nearly Departed runs off of and who was visiting NYC for the weekend. A few folks have been asking what the status of Spready Bear, that Flash game I was trying to develop last year and basically… its been in limbo for a variety of reasons, but now there’s a chance that both Greg and John will be taking over, and along with one of my chiptunes buddies doing the music, I’m super psyched about the game once again, and more hopeful than ever that Spready Bear WILL get done.
I had been feeling crappy the entire day, but by nine I was began wondering if it was just allergies or perhaps something else, like a cold (since I was coughing and had a sore throat), so MK & I took the train back to her place, and once we got there, I went immediately to bed. The next day I wasn’t feeling so hot, but I was adamant that we stick to the plan. We drove out to Clifton, first to Rutt’s Hut, for my belated birthday hot dogs. And they were quite good, though I wasn’t brave enough to try out this weird neon yellow topping, which chunks of green stuff, so I just stuck to ketchup and mustard. Then it was off to find the Digital Press game store, but after driving around for almost two hours, we couldn’t find it, and even ended up getting lost in the ghetto. Though we did see…
- plenty of fat guys and girls
- plenty of fat guys and girls, but with mullets
- a campaign sign for some dude running for congress featuring his face, with a mullet
- someone wearing a shirt that said “Ride it like you stole it!”
- a huge banner that said “Remember Chernobyl”
- a chicken with a sombrero
- some kids selling lemonade and pastries and setting off a stink bomb
… and plenty of other wacky, “only in New Jersey!” shit that I’m forgetting which I’m sure MK can chime in on. I also noticed that there were a ton of hot dog shacks throughout Clifton, so now I’m thinking of going back on a hot dog eating tour, along with finding the damn store, this time for certain. And when I brought up the idea, MK responded with a rather non-plussed “If that’s what you want…”
Afterwards we hit some stores and I picked up some games and DVDs, including Brain Age for the DS (awesome, though like many people, I seem to have problem with the game recognizing the word “blue” half of the time) and volumes 1 & 2 of the Fuccons. And later that night, MK discovered why I love the character of Time Boy so much. Unfortunately, the Blue Berry King makes his debut in the 3rd collection, which I still hope is on schedule. We also watched Mirrormask which (co-worker) Steve lent to me. Since MK’s a huge Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean fan, she naturally loved it, and I thought it was pretty neat. The story was a bit “eh”, which was sort of a downer given the pedigree of the folks behind the script, but visually it was totally amazing, and a flawless translation of McKean’s illustrations into a moving form.
There’s not much else to report from the weekend; MK mostly tended to the garden (she’s developed a green thumb out of blue) while I tried to get work done, but being sick put a real cramp on things; the worst was on Saturday when I was so chilly that I couldn’t even type, despite the fact that it was hardly cold. And feeling so shitty made me a real grouch, but thankfully MK did a great job trying to keep me in good spirits (and the hot dogs certainly helped). I actually just got back from the doctor and I apparently have a very nasty sinus infection. I had set May 1st as a day to “get down to business” but it seems that I might have to take the night off. I might surf the web a bit (I’m out of the loop in regards to the gaming world, which I imagine has probably been having a field day with the Nintendo Wii) or actually play some games (Jason treated me to a gift subscription to Gamefly, and the first two selections arrived over the weekend), or maybe finally watch those Korean horror flicks that Ric passed along months ago and have since been collecting dust.
