gewgaw

After finishing the last post, I was sitting in my nice new living room, thinking about my boots. Obsessing, even. Because I couldn’t figure out what happened to them.

It’s not as if I packed them off free-standing, or in a box all by themselves. And yet – I hadn’t noticed what else was missing. Comics seemed to make it in tact, I have several boxes of CDs (haven’t counted but they seem to be all there)… The more I thought about it, the more agitated I got. Something was not right.

Mentally, I went room by room, imagining what I’d packed up. Closet – purses, shoes, clothes. Boot box was really large – so we put that in another box. Wasn’t filled with books tho – those were too heavy and would crush the boots. Same with knick-nacks. I could have packed them with photos – but that box (still in the garage) – was really small. Maybe I should go open it and double-check?

My photos had been in the glass cabinets, in my living room… just below my games. But when I opened the box, there were no boots… and NO GAMES!

EA’s movers lost my games! From PSOne and Dreamcast all the way up to Xbox and GC titles. Parappa to Psychonauts. Mojibribbon! Rez + the famous attachment! Incredible Crisis!!! My very first Japanese copy of Katamari Damacy!!!!!!!!!

*shakes fists at the sky*

And I thought I was sad about the boots!

:(

The weather here in SF has been cold and rainy, with just a few nice days sprinkled in among the soggy ones. Some might complain – but for me, it was the perfect setting for getting things done. As a kid in upstate NY, I spent most of the coldest, crappiest weather inside – usually in the basement, building or making stuff. When the weather gets cold and rainy, my natural impulse is to get to work on a project… or three.

This week, I tackled the list. I set up bookshelves, unpacked my books, and made the obligatory trips to Ikea (and Goodwill). I sorted through old crap, organized the garage, and even got a couch (Ho ho ho… the most grown-up present I’ve ever asked for). Now, I can actually see/work on my bikes! Once my trainer arrives, I’ll be all set to prepare (probably in vain) for a ride down (and later back up) the hill I live on.

Even tho there’s a zillion little loose ends to deal with, I must say it’s nice to have made visible progress. At the same time, finishing is bittersweet. In addition to destroying my drafting desk, the movers (somehow) misplaced my brown, hand-made, knee-high cracked leather boots. They were not cheap – and this weather makes me miss them all the more!

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It also makes me miss steam heat. Despite dropping energy prices I’m still spending way too much to heat my place. I’ve taken to wearing socks/slippers/sweater in the house, and making lots of tea. Today, I stocked up on wheat bread, tuna, and pickles – which (with the tea) comprise my favorite wintertime lunch.

Grocery shopping here is strange – mostly because the local store is so much nicer than its Chicago twin. They carry a wider variety of organic products, and the baked goods (despite common conglomerate ownership) are fresher and lighter. The deli has wonderful fish, and it’s realtively inexpensive.

The only real disappointment here (and I can’t really blame SF for this one) has been Pringles. The folks at P&G seem to have changed their recipe – so that the chips are all puffy and insubstantial, like wafer-thin rice cakes. Most likely, this is a thinly-veiled ploy to reduce the total amount of actual food required to produce a single chip (and thus, improve margins in the ever-raging potato-crisp wars ). Regardless, it SUCKS. I don’t have many guilty, snack-food pleasures – and I will miss their sour-cream-and-onion goodness.

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Luckily, new messaging on the package (ZERO TRANS FAT!) makes it a lot easier to part with them. Now, thanks to some specious research or other, the trans fat disclaimer is on just about everything – from salad dressing to chocolate. Honestly – I actually avoid the cookie and snack aisles (and cereal too, now) because the marketing of these products makes me so insane.

Must we purchase food with excuses printed on the box? Can’t we accept responsiblity for the crap we put in our mouths?

Frontline’s recent special on Americans, obesity and the diet craze (hosted by Steve Talbot – of “Leave It To Beaver” fame) actually took a pretty decent look at America’s eating issues – and I reccommend it. While they could only scratch the surface, the segment does examine the close ties between food industry pushes toward easily-marketable, “diet-friendly” foods and the increasing trend towards obesity and diabetes in our population.

This trend is especially alarming in children, though hardly surprising when kid-friendly outlets promote food gimmicks in the name of Science, and major corporations hawk their junky wares in schools.

One of the most interesting points made in this piece relates to eating habits in general. In the last 10-15 years, marketing has moved beyond convincing us to eat whatever we want, to justifying consumption whenever and wherever we want. Drinking soda from cans in class or meetings, snacking at desks and computers, eating in cars, on trains… even standing in line at the airport. I am guilty of them all!

I wonder: if Americans decided en masse to eat only eat 3 meals a day, sitting down at a table with friends, family or a good book – what (and how much) would we lose? Will the tech-aided exercise programs showcased in Frontline’s special really take off? Will companies work with authorities across the board? Or will junk food (like cigarettes) become our next deadly export to developing nations?

It has become a habit of mine to make popovers on Christmas Day. However – now that I’m in a new place, with significantly different weather and a different (electric) oven – I’ve had to practice a bit to get them to… pop!

Why? Because the humidity of your location, temperature of your oven and all manner of little things will make a difference. Which is one of the reasons you will find so many conflicting recipes out there.

Start with a cold oven… or hot? Butter in the batter… or in the pan? 450 turned down to 350…. or 375? Each of these decisions (and many others – including how many eggs you use and how long you beat the batter) can result in a squished-down puck of solid dough or a light, fluffy bubble of warm air and crust. Trial and error are the only way to find out!

Luckily, they tast great regardless of how they actually look…

For those of you less interested in the process than the product, it’s possible to get popovers that someone else has perfected. This list (from a really informative site on the history and science of popovers) includes NYC’s own Popover Cafe, which serves the most fantastic popovers of all time (IMHO).

Here’s to a belly full of warm tasty goodness! Merry Christmas!

May your holidays pack a fantastic and unexpected punch – much like short, over-full glasses….

…and may you out-run any killer robots in the new year!

Who would do such a thing???

At least his brethren will have a nice place to hang out… in Turkmenistan?

People = Odd.

Today the French Postal Service officially announced the Sims Stamp which is part of their commemorative series about videogames. We all had a chance to grab one at the last team meeting… and it’s probably my favorite piece of Sim memorabilia to date.

Up until now, if someone tried to convince me that I’d be working on a game which would appear on foreign postage – I probably would have laughed. Because the thought of a state body celebrating games in this manner is… so foreign to me, itself. How sad that in its country of origin, the press and legislature have focused so much energy on condeming what they dislike instead of promoting what they’d prefer to see more of in the medium.

For the RPG/Creative Anachronist in your life…

…what could be more perfect?

Is my new desktop icon.

Photo by Heidi Schulman, for Reuters – featured here.

So now that the project is in alpha, I have been doing a ton of tuning. Tuning means using the editor (Edith) which means mousing and even more clicking.

I got my first batch of tuning goals – and within a week, my elbows were burning after work. The stress of deadlines, ramping up on a new tool, and late nights all created tension in my back and arms, while the tuning activity worked over my wrists. My elbows were halfway – and seemingly, most of the damage ended up there.

So today I had the ergo-lady come by my desk. Turns out:

• My desk was to high.
• My chair was too high.
• My mouse was too slow.
• My monitors were at the wrong angle.
• My chair is broken (the lock doesn’t work – so it’s always tilting back).

And I had actually *tried* to be good about this stuff when I moved into my new cube….

After taking some measurements, watching my work activity and discussing the symptoms with me, ergo-lady adjusted my desk and monitors, put in an order for a new chair – and also suggested that I switch from a standard mousing setup to incorperate a rollermouse.

I’ve been using Smartgloves to isolate my wrists from lateral motion, and to provide support under my palms – but the problem is that they work best when you’re programming or writing. Mousing is uncomfortable, as the bean-filled pads on the bottom actually nudge the mouse out of your hand. So I’m gonna give this crazy mouse mod a try, and see how it works. I will report back!

So yeah – a new chair, footrest and mouse. Are those jingle bells I hear?

In the mood for some light industry reading? There was an interesting (if thinly-sketched) article in the NYT on game sales – which, among other things, points out that many of this year’s biggest games are actually from previous years. Also an article in Wired this week about the demise of AC2. Looks like Massive is making waves at THQ… and 1-Up has posted a history of game-related lawsuits.

Ho, ho, ho.

Theories about the proliferation of crap games “for girls” are not that hard to come by…

Perhaps it’s because so many are attached to licences, and therefore rushed out the door to capitalize on brand or character popularity. Maybe publishers torpedo products in advance by seeking to provide flaccid digital versions of popular toys (like Barbie) that already reach the target market. Could be that the designers shy away from proven, compelling systems because they think girls will find them boring… or that we are simply driving girls away from our products, due to a fundamental (sexist) misunderstanding of the nature of “fun”.

Whatever the reason, these games exist – and continue to be made. Yours truly was asked at one point if she would like to work on an SP product “targeted at tween girls” and had to fight a visible cringe. Should I have stepped up to the plate? Are we missing opportunities to do good? The Escapist has published an issue on gender and games which pokes at some of these questions – and features the rantings of Montreal’s lovely and talented Heather Kelley.

Read! Ponder! Strive to make a difference!

So today I explored the perks of working for big companies – first traveling to the Sony Family Center with Mark, then going to a free screening of King Kong over at Pixar (courtesy of EA and the Bay Area chapter of the Visual Effects Society). In both cases – we had to sign in and get little sticky nametag passes to gain entry to the destination at hand. First I was his guest, then he was mine. It was so equal opportunity. So California!

I signed up for the screening because I was interested to see how well the effects were executed – much as with the Narnia film. But this time – instead of being impressed, I was moved. Partly, because Naomi Watts does such a great job of looking moved. But a lot came down to Kong… in particular, his eyes, nose and mouth. As the credits rolled and names scrolled by – I sent a mental salute out to the thousands of people it took to craft the film – and the hundreds responsible for bringing this digital actor to life. Bravo!

The film is not without flaws. Sadly, the stellar CG Kong threw the relatively cardboard performance of Jack Black into such stark relief. From his first line, all the way to his last (which is totally gratuitous) – he was either silently twitching (eye movement – once again!) or boisterously overbearing. I cannot help but wonder what the film would have been like if they’d cast someone a little more versatile in his role… Philip Seymore Hoffman, perhaps? Someone a bit more neurotic and devious – a bit more wounded and desperate. The long “native” scenes were kind of tiresome and a bit silly, and the pole-vault kidnapper scene was actually really bad. I also could have done without the gross-out insect battles, too. As the grashoppers swarmed and tube-worm-monsters gooed, I kept wondering: Is this level in the game?

Still, I’d definitely recommend this to people. I watched two creatures meet, learn to trust one another, and then fall in love – and even though that love was doomed, I rooted for it. I wanted Kong to win the girl… for them to ride of into the sunset together (on say… a giant shipping freighter). Sure – they were from different worlds. Sure – they couldn’t talk to one another. But I wanted to believe that it was possible for them to co-exist, happily.

I just couldn’t help myself.

Kim has posted a link to one of Will’s recent talks as well as some thoughts on Game Industry 2.0. So smart, that Kim. No wonder they pay him the big bucks!

(you can make that check out to my Swiss account, Kim)

As the holidays approach, so does a slew of dorky holiday email…

This thread on the physics of Santa Claus is a favorite!

And surely there is room for a few more rebuttals!

One of the best trailers for a documentary I’ve seen in a long time. I cannot wait to go see this movie.

A little poem, quoted in The Glass Bead Game, which struck me as I read this morning:

Our days are precious, but we gladly watch them going,
If in their place there is something precious also growing.
A rare, exotic plant, our gardener’s heart delighting,
A student we are teaching, a booklet we are writing.

I had been on the fence about some non-work commitments (speaking engagements and the like) – and this strenghtened my resolve to move forward with them. If we don’t plant seeds – how can anything grow?

And speaking of photos…

Found Photos has some pretty great new images!

The holidays are almost here!

Why not treat yourself to something fantastic?

Designed by Keita and Ryo Kimura – and soooo cute!

Indeed!

takes really great photos.

Today I woke up feeling tired and not a little groggy. I was over at Lulu’s till 4, chatting with her and Brian about love, God and the nature of life changes. Deep conversation, cigarettes and wine (much like the weekend before) left me with a sort of hazy do-nothing feeling. So I played some Animal Crossing DS and went back to sleep! But later, Mark and I went over to Japan town to eat croquette, drink tea – and see the Narnia movie. Maybe it was all that God talk that got me in the mood?

With things being as busy as they have been, I’ve made very little time to go see movies. In fact – with the exception of a few stray art flicks and animated films, it’s been a long while since I really indulged my love for movies, and years since I spent 2-3 nights a week staring at the sliver screen.

I miss it. Chicago has some wonderful theaters, and a great independent festival scene – as well as the fantastic Documentary Film Group – which is where I began watching films with a real passion, during college. I will never forget seeing Intolerance screened there – a reconstructed print which was touring the world’s major cities – complete with a live musical score.

But that’s far from what you get at films these days. Between the piped-in don’t-you-want-to-go-out-and-buy-it radio hits and the on-screen “entertainment” – it’s almost a punishment to show up early. The peaceful pre-film hush is now a cramped and noisy spectacle – where any attempt to have a conversation with fellow attendees is thwarted by the bright glowy advertisments there in front of you – or cell phone conversations to your fore and aft. It’s almost like being at an airport – which is pretty much the last place I want to be these days.

But I am glad, despite all this, that I went. I can’t really give the film a complete thumbs up… it’s slow in places and I have a feeling the cuts they made to keep it under 3 hours were less deft than they could have been. In the interest of drawing out Aslan’s sacrifice, it seems as if the writers rushed through other, character-building scenes… places where, as a child, you’d really wanted to hear the voices, see the faces – and know that what was said would come true. It isn’t as good as it could have been – but it’s better than I expected. I was surprised by the animation and especially taken with the costume design.

Jadis in particular was stunning. If you saw Tilda Swinton in Orlando – you know that she has a face and body which melt into sets, costumes and wigs. Here, the use of raw textures and unearthly yet elemental color in her dresses, hair, and makeup really take advantage of the canvas she provides, creating a super creepy, inhumanly beautiful witch.

The costumes and weapons also help reinforce the film’s darker undercurrents. Subtle things tell you she’s losing hold: the width of a bodice, the arch of its back or the shape of a collar… sweeping hairdos and crowns that eventually begin to fall. Dress lines which freeze into place thanks to rigid, felted wool underpinnings… only to be replaced later by slinky mail and a gorgeous headdress that, while regally tribal, simply cannot protect her from the final onslaught. Each piece contributes to the character, broadcasting a strict, unforgiving chill which cages untold passion and anger. You almost get the sense that her own anger is burning through – causing her to melt.

Seriously – this alone is worth the price of admission. You may go to see the rustling of Aslan’s fur – but you’ll find yourself marvelling at the empress. This fan site chronicle of Jadis’ various transformations (I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of them next halloween) will give you some sense of the work that went into her costumes. But try not to peek until after you go (if you plan on going, that is). It’s better to see them in action. Cell phones and all.