gewgaw

Well – after about 10 hours of conferencing, I can definitely say my mind has expanded. Today I learned a *lot* about sub-surface scattering problems (skin and hair, mostly) and even more about animation. I have a nice fat binder, too – chock full of papers and notes. Mmmm… daaataaaaa…..

Hands down, the best talk of the day was given by Lucas Kovar, a student of Michael Gleicher, who I met last year in Monaco, while at Imagina. Individually – the problems here are interesting and relevant; many a game developer has hacked around at least one of them. But when presented together, Lucas’ tools and techniques are an elegant, compelling package.

And after many job talks, his presentation was a slam dunk – dare I say, inspiring? It’s not every day that you see a CS researcher captivate a room full of hardcore game programmers, earning unabashed applause and whoops. The fact that he just graduated (for me) was icing on the cake! As it stands – Lucas is scheduled to do a one-year post-doc in Madison – during which I hope he finds the funding to develop his dissertation work into a full-blown, game-friendly API. Before someone snaps him up, or tries to patent the whole thing.

But either way, it’s encouraging to see this kind of work making the rounds. Slowly, we’re moving from our strange, piecemeal programs of study into industry. Slowly, but surely

I came out to the bay to spend Thanksgiving with Jen, Checker, Tiny and a host of others, a trip that’s quickly becoming a tradition. You can see why! The days have passed so quickly, and I can hardly move thanks to all the deep fried, bbq and pastamanced goodness that I’ve experienced since my arrival.

I did manage to see Dealership and AC Newman with Lulu – tho today I failed to get Ken’s message in time for a polite callback. Forgive me, ma chere! Tommorow, I’ll dial those digits!

Right now, I’m just sitting here like a lump, digesting yet another giant meal (complete with yet another pumpkin-flavored dessert. These things will kill me!). Hopefully sitting in on Game Tech will help me work off some of the excess pounds. Furious mental effort … the key to a slim waistline?

Hrm. Maybe not. But I’m looking forward to it, just the same.

Justin was flying to Chicago when I wrote yesterday’s entry – how funny!

He visited in the evening. We talked about his latest movie (which has generated a firestorm of commentary) , sex, pornography, his studies, creating, authorship, responsiblity, and the fickle nature of artistic vision. At some point, I we were talking about art in nature, natural art, generative art. I remembered some photos….

I find sea creatures so crazily beautiful. Especially sea horses! Where did they come from? How did they ever exist? They are delicate, and endangered. We (humans) eat them for dinner, make them into love potions and vacation souvenirs. By the bucketful – they are being extinguished. Beauty, eclipsed. That makes me sad.

Who needs souvenirs when there are cameras? Why disturb when you can document and appreciate, savor from a distance? I have taken so many photographs of so many beautiful things! I wish I had a giant book of my favorite prints. Perhaps someday, I will.

… …

Justin’s finished the interview he conducted w/Doug while we were hanging out in Vancouver last month. There’s some discussion of PC vs. Console development/experiences… and a bit on “Entertainment vs. Play” – which occupied much of the meeting that weekend.

Since then, it’s become a recurring theme in our conversations. How to get people out of the “sit and be entertained” headspace, when they are on their couch? What baby steps will take us from “interactivized stories” to developed and emotionally involving choices, personal agency, and freeform experimentation? It certainly looks as if consumers want more than well-choreographed rails – at least, some of the time. How do we encourage that and evangalize it?

It probably starts with refining the language and vocabulary we use to discuss these things – no small task. But as always, Doug outlines the various influences and trends here with surprising clarity – especially given how little sleep he usually gets. All this – just in time for his birthday! *

*goofy photo replaced w/one from header. Thanks, Simon!!

The NYT published a strange but interesting top 10 list for games in 2004 – featuring Thief 3 and (drumroll, please……) Katamari Damacy! Days later – in the business section, a commentary on the quality of life for game developers.

Sigh.

For a 54 year-old man, Genesis P-Orridge can really rock out. Over one and a half hours of singing, growling, shrieking, cooing, dancing and guitar playing – nonstop.

I’m not going to say that PTV3 is for everyone – it seemed that most of the people I knew were there to see Wolf Eyes open. But the thing is – they didn’t leave. When Genesis stepped off stage at 12:30, the room was still packed. Despite an eclectic set, and having been off tour for quite a while – he was mesmerizing!

In the last few years he’s altered himself surgically (breast implants, cheek implants, lip fills), in order look more like his wife. They’re trying to become “pandrogynous” – to morph from two separate people (male and female) into the same person, who occupies two bodies. The results, so far, are interesting to behold. I dare say, we couldn’t take our eyes off of them.

“COUM THEMES OV COUM” (Excerpt)

Intuition is a coum theme.
Emphasis is a coum theme.
Time transfixed is a coum theme.
Maximum realisation ov each persons individuality is a coum theme.
Thee most coumplete exploration ov sexual fantasies, realities, activities and images is a coum theme.
Taking daydreams seriously is a coum theme.
Care-fully balancing thee human body in specific spaces is a coum theme.
Juxtaposing memories is a coum theme.
Perceptual alchemy is a coum theme.
Childhood secretion is a coum theme.
Making Jungian slips is a coum theme.
Extension ov sculptural form is a coum theme.
Analysis ov all personality, moral and social structures is a coum theme.
Simply having honest good fun is a coum theme.
Big love is a coum theme.
A pointless but irresistible unconditional donation ov thee creative SELF to humanity is a coum theme.
Arrangement ov intimate objects and reverence for them is a coum theme.
Parody ov pretension is a coum theme.
Stopping a decline into habit and formula is a coum theme.
Intention as thee key is a coum theme.
Guaranteeing thee disappointment ov all expectations is a coum theme.
Maintaining a sceptical sentimentality is a coum theme.
An end ov any and all male/female separations is a coum theme.
Coum having themes for no reason is a coum theme.
Music and sound made without technical training is a coum theme.
Self-conscious SELF/ Conscious SELF conscious is a coum theme.
Secret clues are a coum theme.
Re-integration ov childhood trauma is a coum theme.
Being left alone being is a coum theme.
Thee search for alternative universes is a coum theme.
Relationships are a coum theme.
A dispassionate quest for other dimensions is a coum theme.
Coum itself is a coum theme.
Yet, thankfully, coum has no themes at all, only intuition.

GENESIS P-ORRIDGE LONDON 31st January 1975

I can hardly wait!

Today I picked up a copy of Daniel Raeburn’s latest book/zine… a substantial analysis of Chris Ware, his work, and the theory behind it.

“Comics aren’t really a literature,” Ware says, “not yet, anyway, mainly because the tools for expressing yourself are still so limited. For example, if somebody wanted to make a film about their life, they probably could. It might not be any good, but becasue everyone grew up watching movies, everyone is steeped in the language of film, and they could muddle through the process of conveying their intentions. Or, if somebody decides to sit down and write their memoir, they can do it. Just look at the size of an English dictionary: We have a huge vocabulary of words and the grammer to express our feelings with subtlety. But whenever you try to write about life using the basic recieved structure of comics the result ends up generally feeling like a sitcom. The only way to change this is to keep on making comics, again and again, so that the language accrues the means for conveying details and nuances.”

Now – do me a favor. Read that paragraph over and insert “video games” for comics. Then do the same conceptual replacement with with the following discussion:

“Fundamentally you’re better off using ideograms rather than realistic drawings,” Ware says. “There’s a vulgarity to showing something as you really see it and experience it. It sets up an odd fourth wall that blocks the reader’s empathy.” Imagine if for the cover of the fourth issue of Acme Novelty Library Ware had substituted in place of his symbolically weeping cat head a finely detailed close-up of a yowling tabby with wet fur and quivering whiskers, and you see immediately this wall. Realism is fine for telling tales about jut-jawed good guys in tights who sock dastards, but it is too explicit for anything emotional. It bullies the readers and their emotions, turning sentiment into sentimentality. Just as the old saw holds that in writing fiction you should show, not tell, in comics to show too much is to “tell” too much. Ware kept his pictolinguistic strips simple because his goal was not to depict emotion, but to create it.

Finally – consider games as you absorb this commentary on the artistic ghettoization of comics:

“…But if Ware is the future of comics, he became this future by recognizing a paradox best summarized in the cartoonist Art Spiegelman’s aphorism, “The future of comics is in the past.”

Take any Sunday funnies page from the 1920’s, compare it with any one of today’s, and you will see overall a near catastrophic decay of craft, quality and style. The reasons for this decline are many, but again much of the blame must fall on cartoonists themselves. One of cartooonists’ earliest blunders was trying to compete with the cinematic language on the cinema’s terms. As the popularity of movies began to eclipse that of comics, more and more cartoonists began to ape a cinematic look and cinematic techniques. In doing so they neglected many of the unique strengths and possiblites peculiar to their own youthful medium, including typography, iconography and page composition. The result was comic strips, then comic books, that behaved less like comics and more like storyboards to a swashbuckling, superheroic action film. These action comics so dominated the postwar news-stands that to this day they continue to fuel the near-ubiquitous misconception that comics are not a medium but a genre. It is not necessarily the adolescent content of these comics that irks Ware but their adolescent form. “The basic idea of comics is just slapping word balloons on top of drawings,” Ware says. “That is so boneheaded.”

—

Now consider Neal Stephenson’s Slashdot interview – particularly, the discussion about audience and accountability in science fiction (and by proxy, games). Taking both arguments into account, can we postulate that the nature of artistic mediums is to bifurcate?

The movement towards guaranteed entertainment experiences and away from open-ended systems of interaction is a seemingly popular and profitable one. But it doesn’t do much for the artistic or expressive growth of the medium. If anything (as Ware contends) these things distance our audience from games’ emotional content, and turn serious attempts at drama (as with the storyline of Max Payne) into hoaky soaps. Must games that are increasingly “realistic” and “cinematic” depict decreasingly complex narrative or emotional content?

And as games move from elite to popular culture passtimes, will a certain class of developers move back into the bedroom or garage, with folks like Ware? Certainly, as the gap between art and entertainment grows – we see that there are other differences. Concerns about the nature of play, creativity, design… questions about what kinds of life a developer should lead. Entertainers work hard (sometimes to sickness), but they smile all the while – making it look easy and fun, putting the public at ease. Artists forego showers and socializing in favor of churn – grinding out communications (canvases, sheet music, choreography), narrowing their field of vision to a singular expression.

Neither seems quite right – and one hopes for balance… artists that are entertaining enough (and professional enough) to earn a decent living while “making a statement”. But when even the educators encourage performance over perspective, it’s hard to be enthusiastic about that prospect.

I hate to “golden days” it, or pick sides… but I wonder. Is the future of games somewhere in the past as well?

the slaughter of helpless creatures, how about this for a great idea? Ahh, the thrill of the kill. Right from your very own wheelchair!

Comment one, from the email thread on this forward:

It’s the beginning of the virtual tourism craze. I keep thinking I should spend some time designing a robot that you can dial into from your computer. Then you could position fleets of these humanoid articulated robots around the globe and let people buy time on them – people would be able to dial in and then explore a place virtually. The only problem is, to do anything interesting you’d want basically a fully-articulated figure, and by the time you’ve got that you’ve got a robot that is capable enough for people to do what they really want to do – wreak havoc.

and comment two:

How I’ve longed to be able to have a robot lie on a beach somewhere, his nether regions bisected by the lycra of his speedo, his pale robo-skin blistering in the sun, his robo-paunch not helping his effort to land any robo-babes.

Then I could just stay home and not have to do this myself.

But nothing can top today’s confirmation of a great rumor about the Bush administration’s secret weapon of mass destruction – also known as Dick. After reading the article, I thought about going to the library to look it up – but I didn’t think the payoff would be that good. Thank God for gay friends!!! Even at half mast, it’s… monumental!

PS: The thumbnail doesn’t do it justice… be sure to click for the “enlargement”.

PPS: What kind of photo would produce the same kind of flabbergasted-but-flattering jokes about a female representative? I haven’t been able to come up with one that didn’t involve a substitute “missle” (like a gun or a whip or something) or put the woman in an explicitly sexual context. Hrm.

I tuned in to the Daily Show this evening, and fellow alum/pop culture pundit Tom Frank was on, advertising his new book: What’s The Matter With Kansas.

Frank’s early work on the politics of marketing (primarily with the Baffler) has paved the way for a look at…the marketing of politics. In this volume, he examines the history of his home state. Once the most “radical” (read: populist) state in the union, Kansas is now staunchly Republican. Seemingly against it’s own best interests.

Generally, I find the work of Frank and similar elite, liberal authors half-enchanting. While the prose is often intelligent and funny, their arguments can fall short of the mark. For example, I did some illustration work for the Baffler during college – because I really did find the marketing and commodification of “alternative” culture frustrating and sad. But after an issue on the “digital divide” that read like a luddite handbook (despite the fact that the magazine was edited on a computer), I contributed my work elsewhere.

It’s been a while since then, though. Perhaps Frank’s gotten past liberal indignation and discovered something interesting about the relationship between Red and Blue, populist and capitalist sentiments?

—

I certainly haven’t. Channel surfing after the show, the “news” was dismaying. On MSNBC , correspondants discussed “disturbing footage” from Iraq. This time, it’s a film of US soldiers during a raid in Fallujah, where they apparently shot an unarmed, wounded Iraqi… inside a mosque.

Violence, killing, war – it’s not cool. Seeing violence – especially against the helpless or innocent – sucks. Even when people overstate the effects of viewing violence (as is so often the case with games) – I sympathize. But when the American media starts to criticize Al Jazeera for “bombarding its citizens with images of Iraqis being killed” – well, that makes me feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

It’s a population under seige – one that went for years without seeing, reading, or publically discussing the truth about violence in it’s government and society. Regardless of Iraq’s (tangential, at best) role in 9/11 – I think we can all agree that the Iraqi people were oppressed by a dictator, living in a police state.

And now – they’re hungry for information – ANY information – that helps them process and understand the war taking place on their soil. And when they have a choice (via shortwave or satellite television) they make it. Just like us.

Er, well… some of the time.

—

Given all that we know about the forces at work in the region – and our own media practices…. how is it that we’re whining about the nationalism or violence of Iraqi coverge?

I can (sort of) understand critics who say it’s overshadowing the death of Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan. But if there’s any “bombarding” to discuss – it’s the constant hammering (psychological and physical) that the average Iraqi citizen faces each day. From both sides of the conflict.

“News agencies” talking about bias in foreign reporting, Republicans questioning the use of embedded media and saying that recent footage is “providing ammunition” for radical recruitment movements? Time to go out and buy a new copy of 1984.

I can still do that, right?

Hard to believe – the ODB is dead at 35, suffering from what appeared to be a heart attack while in the studio. Damn, that’s a rough break for Rusty.

I spent the night toasting him with Matt, first with margaritas at our favorite Mexican resturant, later with Blue Moon at the MF Doom show. In between sets, several WU and ODB songs roused the crowd – every word shouted as a tribute to the golden-toothed mid-90’s nutjob, and the clan that blew hiphop wide open for so many young listeners.

Doom’s set was spectacular. Photos of the gig (I was backstage – tho I didn’t get the interview I was hoping for) are here, a short clip of Doomsday – as performed live – is here.

Peace out, ODB. As Matt said: Ain’t no gonnorea in heaven, yo!

Jeb’s ear has been bothering him for a while – it rings because of hearing damage acquired long ago. He’s decided to take a year or so off from touring with the Vandermark 5 and his own Trio – to rest and explore new ideas.

In his last show, at 3030 Cortland, he played with one of his first inspirations - Stuart Demptster. Stewart played a variety of found objects and a homemade digeridoo… walking into the crowd to spread sound as Jeb soloed on stage. Later, both hummed and moaned into their horns in wailing tones – creating those low, womb-like resonances that always bring a tear to my eye. It was one of the best live improvizations I’ve seen here in Chicago – and that’s saying a lot.

It will be a long year for us, Jeb. Get well!

Stephanie wrote this week about covering Arafat’s funeral. A brief excerpt from her email:

it was probably the hardest thing I have ever covered. In fact, most of the photographers I know said they have never covered anything quite like this. As you probably saw on tv, there were thousands and thousands of people crammed together. For long periods of time, our feet didnt even touch the ground. We had to scale like 15 foot walls with long drops onto rocks multiple times. One Palestinian fell and may have even died, we aren’t sure. My friend David, was actually pushed into Arafat’s grave, with four feet climb out above his head. I was groped at least 25 times, my ass was even grabbed while making the photo that is in the magazine.

Be sure to check out the photo (steady even when being grab-assed!) in Time.

Friday night – after a delicious dinner w/Hiroko at Maggianos, I went home and watched 3 hours of AMC – a Grace Kelly marathon. I caught the end of Rear Window (my favorite Hitchcock film) and then The Swan. It was the last film she made before marrying the Prince of Monaco – and knowing how her life proceeded after the marraige really adds a heaviness to the film’s gut-punch ending.

Oh, she was so beautiful…

In the early 90’s, the US and Monaco released commemorative stamps to honor her… I know because my mom collects stamps (geekiest of all geekery, huh?). The engraving on the stamp was so beautiful that I considered having it tattooed on my arm.

I’m still considering it.

Courtesy of Matt.

It reminds me of Jurie’s recent post about the octopus pix.

But I think I like this one even better. You go, God!

I bet God voted for Kerry.

Since I recovered from my cold – I’ve been programming a lot. I’ve got everything on my laptop, so I can take my work anywhere. Ahh, modern living.

When I started this project, I was excited about it. Working on it was to work towards a new thing… exploratory, a bit impulsive – heavy on design. Over time, things were less new, less exciting – and I had to do some backtracking, re-visit things and fix them. But that’s to be expected… Now, as the deadline approaches, and I look at it for the n-zillionth time, it’s mostly about containing the errors, keeping it from breaking, just getting the damn thing done. What was a world of possiblity is now a world of potential snags. For me – it’s a hostile work environment.

Are all projects deathmarches, in the end? Ian and I discussed this during our meeting. If you’re following traditional academic or software production rules, working (by yourself or with just a few people) on something relatively straightforward (say a file system, or a simple compiler) – it’s pretty easy to maintain abstraction boundaries and keep your code from interfering with itself or that of your co-workers. Even if you work on a game, it can be ok… if you stay focused and do your bookkeeping, life is relatively free of headaches. Sure – there are frustrations and the occasional mishap. But for the most part, you don’t feel like it’s slipping from your grasp.

Larger commercial projects (and particularly, games) are a different beast – on that we can all agree. The problems are not straightforward, and it’s hard to maintain boundaries. Codbases are large and prone to tempermental outbursts after changes (to say nothing of the team itself), and integrating different components is a roayl pain. Things like engine and tool chain management are incredibly difficult, and incredibly important. And it only gets worse as the ship date approaches.

—

I have three or four friends who are working on/managing projects in that crucial, final phase. Whoo-boy, are they stressing out. Things don’t work like they should, and it’s hard to imagine they ever will. Despite tight deadlines, teammates are reluctant to cut features. They can’t remember what their personal lives used to be like – don’t sleep well, have given up exercising, cooking, phone calls and non-work email. Everything is focused on keeping the demons at bay, and crunch feels like it’s been going on forever.

And for some of them, it really has. What seemed like a slight bump in hours early in the project has turned into a consistent, overbearing workload. They are sick, sad… and if in management, struggling under the weight of so many watchful eyes. What does this look like from the perspective of a fellow employee, close friend, or spouse? Frankly, it looks like hell. In a handbasket.

It’s been said before that the game industry offers a poor quality of life compared to other software industries. And turnover (especially for coders) has been pretty high for quite a while. Is it getting worse? How much of this strain is the result of purposeful (and potentially illegal) abuse on the part of larger companies – aided by consolidation and market trends? How much of it is due to lack of proper planning, skimpy or undereducated management, cramped or stilted development standards? Is unionizing really the answer? Will a few phone calls make a difference?

I wonder. If crunch time hours were reduced, and better practices adopted – how much would the emotions that make projects a deathmarch (feeling stressed and out of control) persist?

I stopped by the comics shop today, to get some books (read: spend clams on comics with hard covers). I picked up the second volume of Persepolis, along with the McSweeny’s comic reader. I have a lot of the newer re-prints already – but it’s a must for my Chris Ware collection.

I asked after John Pham’s latest (and also Substitute Life – which I keep buying, and then giving away to friends in the game industry) – no luck, will have to write him yet again! But I did get My Faith in Frankie, the manga-form short that Sonny Liew is illustrating for DC, a few issues of Lore, and some other’s I’d been waiting on.

Nick Bertozzi’s latest, Rubber Necker #4 , was among them. I’ve been hooked on “Drop Ceiling” since the first issue appeared – and the story continues to engross as each character’s internal struggle is revealed and multiplied via their interactions and decisions. But in addition to his regular stories, this issue includes some amazing illustrations (intended for the much-discussed Abercrombie and Fitch quarterly).

The main subject of the drawings is playing games (console or handheld – always lit with a game-y glow) while buff, naked co-eds frolic all around him. Guys barely containing themselves, pulling off their pants… girls happily topless or buck, wrasslin… all why he stares intently at a screen. They must be seen to be believed.

—

When I got home, I unpacked my comics and checked email – looks like Neil Gaiman will be speaking here tomorrow (thanks Jurie). I can’t make it – I’ve got a date with Chris, who is here for a conference. We’re going to Green Zebra, all dressed-up-grownup style!

Tho I must say – I’m quite tempted to break out the illicit fruits of my latest and greatest DIY project for the occasion.

Oh how I love that game!

The holidays are just around the corner. If you’re like me, you’ve got little time and less money to spend. So – why not give the gift of illness?

Too far from your loved ones to spread disease, you say? No worries! These plush microbes come in a variety of colors and styles – and can be sent anywhere!

Awww. The ulcer is adorable… perfect for your favorite Democrat!

I grew up in Saratoga, surrounded by craftspeople and wilderness. Bennington (known for it’s pottery – the trigger mugs are awesome) was just a few hours away. Apple picking, maple syrup farms, horses, climbing trees and snow… a tomboy’s dream!

During that time, my mom (who studied and taught history before I was born) worked at the Saratoga and Brookside museums. While smaller, the Brookside had an an elaborate yearly craft fair – you could spin wool, make soap or candles right there – all naturally, from scratch. I still remember making a spooky, dripping version of my hand in the cooling wax cauldron as distracted, costumed adults wrapped up for the day. Perfect for Halloween!

—

Long, cold winters encouraged projects. My dad built a lot of furniture – including a beautiful African Redwood grandfather clock with brass works from Germany. Mom made baskets and band boxes to sell at local events. She started weaving from mail-ordered cane – which she dyed into different colors on the stove. By watching her, I learned to do it, too. Starting with even spines, working in an odd one, weaving out to the rim, finishing it with a binding. It took forever, and made my fingers raw – but I liked it!

One fall, when I was about 9 or 10, we went to a friend’s farm and bought an ash tree – chopped it down and hauled it home. My dad built a special trough for it – filled with a solution of water and bleach. Every so often, Mom would take out the log, pound a layer off with rubber mallets (loosening the stuff between rings and peeling it back). Then, she’d smooth the wood on a special lathing bench my dad also built – using a two-handed flat blade.

Once smooth, she cut the ash strips to exact widths, and wove them together, making beautiful Shaker baskets with carved handles and rims. While I never mastered this art, I always liked these baskets the most. They were incredibly mathematical, despite such wild origins. The perfect embodiment of the Shaker ideals (however odd and extinctifiying they might have been).

—

Other skills I picked up during those years: sewing and quilting. Mom’s made a couple (all hand work, made on a frame my dad also built for her) . My Nama is part of a regular quilting circle – she’s made me two machine quilts. One is a 70’s era crazy quilt (for my childhood bedroom). The other is a queen-sized sunlight and shadows quilt (for the “grown up Robin”) which features puzzle-piece fabric (cause I like games), violin-print fabric (cause I like music), and… lots of black!

While I’ve never taken the time to hand-sew one, I enjoy machine quilting. So far I’ve worked on small things – scarves, wall hangings (quilted frames, essentially, for antique Chinese embroidery I picked up in the mountains near Tibet) and baby quilts for friends. But I’m definitely filing this great idea away for my post-graduation nights and weekends.

A Katamari crazy-quilt! You KNOW it has to be done!!

If you haven’t already heard about Persepolis, take the time to read a bit about the book and author. I just finished the first volume this morning – it’s stunning.

… for all your kind email, forwards, and phone calls. My cold lingers, and I got my period (which explains a lot about my general moodiness and lack of motivation)… but I’m feeling better.

My work focus still sucks – I tried writing today, and it was crap. So I gave up and slept. After a little food, I felt better. Did some chores, read a little, and played some KOL. That’s a sure sign that things are improving!

I really enjoy how the KOL story/world unfolds. Unlocking each little bit is just goofy enough to be exciting, without being totally addictive. And the jokes never fail to amuse me. I needed to smile today, and smelly hippies turned out to be just the trick. Yay – hemp bracelets, windchimes and feng shui for all!!

I’ve also been able to listen to more upbeat music. I dug out an old Unrest tape today – talk about a blast from the past. And thanks to a kind reader, I now have the MP3s from my favorite of favorite games… to go along with this rocking forward from Keita-san.

Naaa na na na na na na na na …..

Thanks, everybody. Really – I’m grateful.