Hopefully Not Stupid
Thursday, April 29, 2004
News of the Week
Mary Kate & Ashley get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/ontv/042904_ontv_olsen_twins.html
Or more accurately they each get half a star, I suppose. Just think: a hundred years from now people running for their lives in terror from the Giant Mutant Bugs swarming over California will pause for a moment on that gilt shape, think to themselves "Who the hell were they?", and then be devoured. A fitting tribute to their talent!
Woman drives dead mother to Florida
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040429-044103-2893r.htm
In other news, the Washington Times has a slow day. There's something heartbreaking about this story, it's true, but it's nothing compared to the fact they felt this saddening tale of insanity and woe needed a wide audience. Has there been an upswing in incidents of corpse-driving?
Survey: Bush's Rating Slips as Americans Debate Iraqi War
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=D846246E-02F7-450B-AE76D2823EAE0398
The American public displays a sluggish, yet inevitable, appreciation for the truth. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 47% of Americans think the U.S. did the right thing in invading Iraq, as opposed to 63% in November. Counting the only way I know how, I deduce that this means three hands and one finger's worth of people are having what are known as "second thoughts." I wonder, is this change of heart because of the conviction that attacking a nation that poses us no direct threat was wrong, or because things aren't going so well for us over there? Somehow I think it's the latter more than the former, but at least they might keep this situation in mind the next time a President decides to hold a splendid little war.
Mary Kate & Ashley get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/ontv/042904_ontv_olsen_twins.html
Or more accurately they each get half a star, I suppose. Just think: a hundred years from now people running for their lives in terror from the Giant Mutant Bugs swarming over California will pause for a moment on that gilt shape, think to themselves "Who the hell were they?", and then be devoured. A fitting tribute to their talent!
Woman drives dead mother to Florida
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040429-044103-2893r.htm
In other news, the Washington Times has a slow day. There's something heartbreaking about this story, it's true, but it's nothing compared to the fact they felt this saddening tale of insanity and woe needed a wide audience. Has there been an upswing in incidents of corpse-driving?
Survey: Bush's Rating Slips as Americans Debate Iraqi War
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=D846246E-02F7-450B-AE76D2823EAE0398
The American public displays a sluggish, yet inevitable, appreciation for the truth. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 47% of Americans think the U.S. did the right thing in invading Iraq, as opposed to 63% in November. Counting the only way I know how, I deduce that this means three hands and one finger's worth of people are having what are known as "second thoughts." I wonder, is this change of heart because of the conviction that attacking a nation that poses us no direct threat was wrong, or because things aren't going so well for us over there? Somehow I think it's the latter more than the former, but at least they might keep this situation in mind the next time a President decides to hold a splendid little war.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Jay Severin: Tool?
Blogspace is abuzz about Jay Severin's comments about, well, killing Muslims. The transcript on the Boston Globe website seems clear that this is in fact what he said, framing the comment quite well. But it was just one statement, and anyway I've never heard his program, and he claims to have misspoke.
But, again speaking as someone who has never heard his show, reading the transcript, Severin strikes me as a real tool. Threatening to hang up on callers who won't answer yes/no questions, his whole "three strike" spiel and complaining that Muslims are loyal to their faith first and country second (ask Christians where, if it came down to it, their ultimate loyalities lay and you'll get a similar answer). And he referred to himself in third person, in a non-ironic mode. Sounds like a candidate for tool-hood to me.
Blogspace is abuzz about Jay Severin's comments about, well, killing Muslims. The transcript on the Boston Globe website seems clear that this is in fact what he said, framing the comment quite well. But it was just one statement, and anyway I've never heard his program, and he claims to have misspoke.
But, again speaking as someone who has never heard his show, reading the transcript, Severin strikes me as a real tool. Threatening to hang up on callers who won't answer yes/no questions, his whole "three strike" spiel and complaining that Muslims are loyal to their faith first and country second (ask Christians where, if it came down to it, their ultimate loyalities lay and you'll get a similar answer). And he referred to himself in third person, in a non-ironic mode. Sounds like a candidate for tool-hood to me.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
The philosophical revelations of Sinistar
I hunger, therefore, I live. I've been playing a good deal of Sinistar lately, and this page gave me a chuckle. So, here you go, kid!
In the same vein is a Bob the Angry Flower strip, Coffee with Sinistar.
I hunger, therefore, I live. I've been playing a good deal of Sinistar lately, and this page gave me a chuckle. So, here you go, kid!
In the same vein is a Bob the Angry Flower strip, Coffee with Sinistar.
Friday, April 23, 2004
ROG-O-MATIC
Rogue is one of the all-time great computer roleplaying games. Every game's dungeons are randomly generated. All the items are scrambled on each play & discovering their uses is an essential portion of the game. And tremendous, unforgiving difficulty.
Rog-O-Matic is a program, unfortunately highly customized to a very specific hardware setup, that will play Rogue automatically. The ancestor of such things as the Angband Borg, Rog-O-Matic is notable because it's known to win occasionally, some feat because Rogue is one of the hardest computer games of all time, much harder than things like Nethack (which is unforgiving to new players but gets much easier once you learn the tricks).
Rogue is one of the all-time great computer roleplaying games. Every game's dungeons are randomly generated. All the items are scrambled on each play & discovering their uses is an essential portion of the game. And tremendous, unforgiving difficulty.
Rog-O-Matic is a program, unfortunately highly customized to a very specific hardware setup, that will play Rogue automatically. The ancestor of such things as the Angband Borg, Rog-O-Matic is notable because it's known to win occasionally, some feat because Rogue is one of the hardest computer games of all time, much harder than things like Nethack (which is unforgiving to new players but gets much easier once you learn the tricks).
CIA - The World Factbook -- Holy See (Vatican City)
Tell me this isn't cool. The CIA World Factbook's entry on "Holy See," in other words Vatican City, everyone's favorite politically-recognized, religiously-themed theme park quasi-state. And let's not forget the World Factbook itself! In the utopian alternate universe I maintain as a hobby, the CIA's function has been completely taken over by its world info division. If only they'd stick with cool reference materials instead of assassinating leaders of Latin American nations....
Tell me this isn't cool. The CIA World Factbook's entry on "Holy See," in other words Vatican City, everyone's favorite politically-recognized, religiously-themed theme park quasi-state. And let's not forget the World Factbook itself! In the utopian alternate universe I maintain as a hobby, the CIA's function has been completely taken over by its world info division. If only they'd stick with cool reference materials instead of assassinating leaders of Latin American nations....
I WANT GMAIL
So I was browsing the comments on a slashback, and found a comment that said that some frequent Blogger users were being asked to test GMail.
I logged into to my account and lo, there was the option, on the right side of the page! I usually use Mozilla BlogThis to post, so this caught me completely by surprise. I had no idea that little graphic was there waiting for me to see it.
Apparently, however, someone else at Slashdot saw the same article, because Blog #8 on the Most Recently Updated List was..... this.
For some reason, I found it hilarious.
So I was browsing the comments on a slashback, and found a comment that said that some frequent Blogger users were being asked to test GMail.
I logged into to my account and lo, there was the option, on the right side of the page! I usually use Mozilla BlogThis to post, so this caught me completely by surprise. I had no idea that little graphic was there waiting for me to see it.
Apparently, however, someone else at Slashdot saw the same article, because Blog #8 on the Most Recently Updated List was..... this.
For some reason, I found it hilarious.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Favorite poem of the moment
I discovered this in my Humanities class. I got to read this (the whole thing) before the whole class. Got complemented on the reading too. Have a look at Smokey The Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder. HE WILL PUT THEM OUT!
Another reason I like this is its prescient rights considerations. "May be reproduced free forever." That's approx. one acre's worth of cool.
I discovered this in my Humanities class. I got to read this (the whole thing) before the whole class. Got complemented on the reading too. Have a look at Smokey The Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder. HE WILL PUT THEM OUT!
Another reason I like this is its prescient rights considerations. "May be reproduced free forever." That's approx. one acre's worth of cool.
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Are video games "deeply conservative?"
Found on boingboing: Reason: Free Play: The politics of the video game
Interesting article, though I don't know if the individualist impulse that underlies so many video and computer games is "deeply conservative."
This is the thing that's caused me so much trouble with deciding on a political affiliation for myself, that when you look closely at what either side is "supposed" to believe in, you find many contradictions. I'm extremely individualist myself. When I look at the Republicans, however, I don't see the party of individualism-for-all. I see people who are individualist, so long as you can afford it. In favor of huge corporations, so big so as to almost become government themselves. While Democrats, or more accurately liberals, who are in favor of broad programs to ease suffering, which invariably stamp on individual rights, are the ones most in favor or preserving freedoms of speech and action, and are arguably more small-business friendly than the current administration.
But anyway, back to the article. It's interesting to see how upset people get when a game doesn't reflect their assumptions. That's one of the reasons, I think, that people are quick to get vicious when dissing a game. One person in the review complained about the game's handling of raising tax rates -- that it presumes that such an action will have a negative effect on the city.
My response to that is, well, duh. Of course it hurts the city. Whenever you take money away from someone, you're hurting that person. But it doesn't imply a conservative worldview for the game, because once you have that money, you can use it to zone additional property, provide the services the citizens need to prosper, build roads, in short, do everything cities are supposed to do. If you do all those things then the city will prosper because of the higher tax rate.
Now again I'm confused -- I look at that paragraph I just wrote, and I wonder, is it conservative, or is it liberal? It looks both to me.
SimCity gets knocked around a fair bit by the article. I guess that means you've hit the mainstream, Sim. Good going, I think.
Found on boingboing: Reason: Free Play: The politics of the video game
Interesting article, though I don't know if the individualist impulse that underlies so many video and computer games is "deeply conservative."
This is the thing that's caused me so much trouble with deciding on a political affiliation for myself, that when you look closely at what either side is "supposed" to believe in, you find many contradictions. I'm extremely individualist myself. When I look at the Republicans, however, I don't see the party of individualism-for-all. I see people who are individualist, so long as you can afford it. In favor of huge corporations, so big so as to almost become government themselves. While Democrats, or more accurately liberals, who are in favor of broad programs to ease suffering, which invariably stamp on individual rights, are the ones most in favor or preserving freedoms of speech and action, and are arguably more small-business friendly than the current administration.
But anyway, back to the article. It's interesting to see how upset people get when a game doesn't reflect their assumptions. That's one of the reasons, I think, that people are quick to get vicious when dissing a game. One person in the review complained about the game's handling of raising tax rates -- that it presumes that such an action will have a negative effect on the city.
My response to that is, well, duh. Of course it hurts the city. Whenever you take money away from someone, you're hurting that person. But it doesn't imply a conservative worldview for the game, because once you have that money, you can use it to zone additional property, provide the services the citizens need to prosper, build roads, in short, do everything cities are supposed to do. If you do all those things then the city will prosper because of the higher tax rate.
Now again I'm confused -- I look at that paragraph I just wrote, and I wonder, is it conservative, or is it liberal? It looks both to me.
SimCity gets knocked around a fair bit by the article. I guess that means you've hit the mainstream, Sim. Good going, I think.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
I'm Off to the Butterfly Mines
Middle Earth Online: A Prediction
Found on Metafilter, but with one of those infuriating titles that really doesn't tell you much about the contents until you click. Usually those posts aren't worth the trouble, but this one was. What if The Lord of the Rings books read like a MMORPG? (That stands for Mighty Morphin' Origami-like Rapid-Peeling Grapefruit, for those who don't know.)
Middle Earth Online: A Prediction
Found on Metafilter, but with one of those infuriating titles that really doesn't tell you much about the contents until you click. Usually those posts aren't worth the trouble, but this one was. What if The Lord of the Rings books read like a MMORPG? (That stands for Mighty Morphin' Origami-like Rapid-Peeling Grapefruit, for those who don't know.)
Soul Calimeter: Automated stat tracking AND COLOR COMMENTARY for SoulCalibur II!
Found on Slashdot. This is absolutely amazing. Someone hooked his Gamecube video feed into a motion capture card, and wrote a program that does real-time image processing on the image to detect how well the players are doing (by watching health bars), win stats, character selections & random select detects, and such things. It uses this information to maintain tournaments between players, keep track of per-player win/loss stats in general and per character, and best of all, uses IBM ViaVoice to create real-time commentary on the match! The commentary is the coolest part, it seems well-designed and extensible.
In the future, I think games should make this information available in a raw, unambiguous data stream for this kind of program, but that degree of enlightenment among commercial game developers is likely years down the road. It might be worth looking into hacking into an open source game to provide that kind of data output, but if you're going to do that, why not just build the stat tracking and commentary modules into the game itself?
Found on Slashdot. This is absolutely amazing. Someone hooked his Gamecube video feed into a motion capture card, and wrote a program that does real-time image processing on the image to detect how well the players are doing (by watching health bars), win stats, character selections & random select detects, and such things. It uses this information to maintain tournaments between players, keep track of per-player win/loss stats in general and per character, and best of all, uses IBM ViaVoice to create real-time commentary on the match! The commentary is the coolest part, it seems well-designed and extensible.
In the future, I think games should make this information available in a raw, unambiguous data stream for this kind of program, but that degree of enlightenment among commercial game developers is likely years down the road. It might be worth looking into hacking into an open source game to provide that kind of data output, but if you're going to do that, why not just build the stat tracking and commentary modules into the game itself?
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
The wrongest possible thing: Metroid the movie
A John Woo produced, possibly directed, Metroid movie.
I've already done my Comic Book Guy impersonation and posted about this voluminously on Slashdot, but I think it bears repeating.
The chances this will turn out any good are slim to none. Of all sci-fi videogames, Metroid may be least suited for moviehood. Further, well, just look at all the other movie adaptations of videogames we've seen lately. Resident Evil -- Bah! (And that one's even getting a sequel!) Tomb Raider movies are at least true to the spirit of the games in that they're all about ogling Lara Croft. And how many worst-of-the-year lists did The House of the Dead make it onto?
Furthermore, Hollywood doesn't make real movies based on games. They make action movies based on games. In fact, it might be possible to create a interesting movie character based on Samus Aran. But I doubt it'll happen in our current movie industry. In any case, Metroid isn't even what I'd call an action franchise. The games are about exploration, even, dare I say it, wonder. Almost the entire game is a secret passage, in one form or another! I doubt John Woo understands that.
I wonder how they'll handle the suit? It was a surprise ending to the first Metroid that there was even a woman in that thing! How can you have a sexy starlet in that thing and still retain the essential Adolescent Male interest that drives practically all action movie ticket sales?
Worst of all is the news that John Woo's video game production studio (He has a video game studio? Damn him!) is already working on three games. I will bet you that they will suck. We have here in the making is a fiasco of CD-i Zelda proportions.
A John Woo produced, possibly directed, Metroid movie.
I've already done my Comic Book Guy impersonation and posted about this voluminously on Slashdot, but I think it bears repeating.
The chances this will turn out any good are slim to none. Of all sci-fi videogames, Metroid may be least suited for moviehood. Further, well, just look at all the other movie adaptations of videogames we've seen lately. Resident Evil -- Bah! (And that one's even getting a sequel!) Tomb Raider movies are at least true to the spirit of the games in that they're all about ogling Lara Croft. And how many worst-of-the-year lists did The House of the Dead make it onto?
Furthermore, Hollywood doesn't make real movies based on games. They make action movies based on games. In fact, it might be possible to create a interesting movie character based on Samus Aran. But I doubt it'll happen in our current movie industry. In any case, Metroid isn't even what I'd call an action franchise. The games are about exploration, even, dare I say it, wonder. Almost the entire game is a secret passage, in one form or another! I doubt John Woo understands that.
I wonder how they'll handle the suit? It was a surprise ending to the first Metroid that there was even a woman in that thing! How can you have a sexy starlet in that thing and still retain the essential Adolescent Male interest that drives practically all action movie ticket sales?
Worst of all is the news that John Woo's video game production studio (He has a video game studio? Damn him!) is already working on three games. I will bet you that they will suck. We have here in the making is a fiasco of CD-i Zelda proportions.
Oops, forgot the link!
Silly me, I forgot the link to the site:
Arborsmith Studios.
"Arborsculpture is a unique art form that has been called the ultimate branch of topiary with the potential to save the environment. Their are other words and terms that are used to describe this art. Pleaching, permaculture, tree trunk topiary, botanical art, botanical architecture, biotechture, living art, visionary art, and really weird."
Amen to the "really weird" part.
Silly me, I forgot the link to the site:
Arborsmith Studios.
"Arborsculpture is a unique art form that has been called the ultimate branch of topiary with the potential to save the environment. Their are other words and terms that are used to describe this art. Pleaching, permaculture, tree trunk topiary, botanical art, botanical architecture, biotechture, living art, visionary art, and really weird."
Amen to the "really weird" part.
Woodsprite-approved furniture: Arborsculpture
Found on boingboing. A certain character I could name might love these things, living trees artfully grown and shaped into furniture. Well, more accurately, I'd like these things. M would probably still object.
Found on boingboing. A certain character I could name might love these things, living trees artfully grown and shaped into furniture. Well, more accurately, I'd like these things. M would probably still object.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Starport Central -- Home of Starflight III
It's interesting to trace the history of various game genres. Many games you may think are original are actually clones, or at least heavily inspired by, previous work. In my web travels, I've come to the realization that actually very few games are really original. Even big names in game design get caught occaisionally (like when Greg Costikyan got tripped up by Snood).
But as near as I can tell, Starflight was the beginning of a genre. A huge, fractal universe to explore with an engaging interface, lots of interesting aliens to interact with, a very interesting combat interface, and one of the best stories in any computer game, I mean, wow. It takes a long time to unravel it all, but it's certainly worth it. My experience came mostly from the Genesis version, which was absurdly well-implemented in my opinion.
Any game in which you explore "space" which is basically a huge 2D plane with planets on it you can land on, and also fight enemy ships on it, is basically ripping off Starflight. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you -- if you're going to steal, steal from the best.
It turns out that a bunch of guys are working on a second sequel! I first heard of it a couple of years ago, but then nothing for a long while. I just popped over to their site and they're still kicking! Maybe we'll get a release soon?
On another note, it seems that Greg Johnson, co-creator of the ToeJam & Earl games, including the extremely underrated ToeJam & Earl III (in my view the only reason to buy an X-Box), is a consultant on the project. Nifty!
Starport Central -- Home of Starflight III
It's interesting to trace the history of various game genres. Many games you may think are original are actually clones, or at least heavily inspired by, previous work. In my web travels, I've come to the realization that actually very few games are really original. Even big names in game design get caught occaisionally (like when Greg Costikyan got tripped up by Snood).
But as near as I can tell, Starflight was the beginning of a genre. A huge, fractal universe to explore with an engaging interface, lots of interesting aliens to interact with, a very interesting combat interface, and one of the best stories in any computer game, I mean, wow. It takes a long time to unravel it all, but it's certainly worth it. My experience came mostly from the Genesis version, which was absurdly well-implemented in my opinion.
Any game in which you explore "space" which is basically a huge 2D plane with planets on it you can land on, and also fight enemy ships on it, is basically ripping off Starflight. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you -- if you're going to steal, steal from the best.
It turns out that a bunch of guys are working on a second sequel! I first heard of it a couple of years ago, but then nothing for a long while. I just popped over to their site and they're still kicking! Maybe we'll get a release soon?
On another note, it seems that Greg Johnson, co-creator of the ToeJam & Earl games, including the extremely underrated ToeJam & Earl III (in my view the only reason to buy an X-Box), is a consultant on the project. Nifty!
Starport Central -- Home of Starflight III
Rampart: Released in 1990, and people are finally starting to copy it
It's kind of heartening to see that people are starting to shamelessly rip off Rampart the way they've been ripping off Asteroids, Tetris and Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move for years. A search on the web turned up Invasion: Repel and Rebuild, Castle Combat and Kajaani Kombat.
I was only able to play one of these things, since Castle Combat is two-player (at one keyboard) only, and Kajaani Kombat required a server that didn't seem to be in the Windows ZIP file I downloaded. But from what I can figure about these games from observing screen shots, and what little play I could get, none of them seem up to matching Rampart's legendary (and legendarily frustrating) gameplay.
This is a game that's been ported officially, to date, ten times. Still, the best versions are the arcade version (recently made available legally in Midway Arcade Treasures) and the SNES version (which changed a lot of things, yet still managed to be rather playable).
By the way, if you want to get freaked out, go out and look for Konami's little-known Famicom port of the game, which never made it to the U.S. (we got a more arcade-accurate version), where in one of the modes your cannons are apple-throwing elves, the enemy ships are wolves, and your castle is Little Red Riding Hood. Oy!
It's kind of heartening to see that people are starting to shamelessly rip off Rampart the way they've been ripping off Asteroids, Tetris and Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move for years. A search on the web turned up Invasion: Repel and Rebuild, Castle Combat and Kajaani Kombat.
I was only able to play one of these things, since Castle Combat is two-player (at one keyboard) only, and Kajaani Kombat required a server that didn't seem to be in the Windows ZIP file I downloaded. But from what I can figure about these games from observing screen shots, and what little play I could get, none of them seem up to matching Rampart's legendary (and legendarily frustrating) gameplay.
This is a game that's been ported officially, to date, ten times. Still, the best versions are the arcade version (recently made available legally in Midway Arcade Treasures) and the SNES version (which changed a lot of things, yet still managed to be rather playable).
By the way, if you want to get freaked out, go out and look for Konami's little-known Famicom port of the game, which never made it to the U.S. (we got a more arcade-accurate version), where in one of the modes your cannons are apple-throwing elves, the enemy ships are wolves, and your castle is Little Red Riding Hood. Oy!
