Ludic thoughts

I saw this site linked from my bro's blog recently, and decided to take a look at just what "Existential Mario" would look like. Turns out it's real boring.

"Players were invited to sit in front of a television and pick up the controller hooked up to a concealed Apple computer running a ROM of Super Mario Bros. on a small black television. Myfanwy had hacked the ROM to remove all enemies, prize boxes, power-ups and scalable architecture, leaving nothing but the solid floor and the bushes and clouds of the background."

Now, while this is an interesting study in what people will do when confronted with entertainment that isn't entertaining, I'm not sure what purpose it serves in a discussion about creating video games, which seems to be what that blog is devoted to. In fact, if you scroll down and read the discussion in the comments, you'll see it looks like a bunch of different people all studying computer science with a focus in gaming weigh in using fancy words like "ludique" and "paedia". My first reaction to this was, "What the hell are they talking about?" So I stopped to look up the fancy Latin words in the dictionary.

Having expanded my vocabulary (ludic = fun, playful, etc.), my next thought was, "Well, this is a fine discussion for a bunch of college students (who may or may not be stoned) to have, but how does it help in the creation of a good game?" As intellectually stimulating as Existential Mario may be, would you pay $50 for it? I'd rather play Final Fantasy X-2 (barf).

I'm not dead yet!

You might have noticed a little thing in the lower right-hand corner of my blog that says "I am currently alive". On a whim, I decided to sign up for DiedOnline, "The Internet's first online death notification system". I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I think it'll send me an email every few days to check if I'm still alive. If I don't respond, then it changes my status to dead. I imagine the novelty of this will wear off pretty quick, so don't be alarmed if my blog says I'm dead. That's most likely not the case.

**Evil laugh**

Cheap as free

My new favorite website: GmailSwap. A forum where people who want gmail offer stuff to get an invitation. I've managed to snag a free copy of "The DaVinci Code" so far. I've also, as commanded by Wil Wheaton, invited the family of a soldier who's stationed overseas (Iraq or Afghanistan, I forget which), thereby allowing the sharing of videos and pics. Gmail -- getting me free schwag and bringing the world together one free gigabyte at a time.

Oh, and did you hear about Dave Chappelle? Scandalous! Fame ... it's a bitch, eh? Kinda like that scene in "Man on the Moon" where Kaufman tries to do stand-up and all the audience members yell, "Do Latke!".

Did he need 1.2 gigawatts of electricity?

The end is nigh. At least, if you believe John Titor. He's a dude who claims to be from the year 2036. He travelled back in time to 2000 and decided to spread a message of warning the way any citizen of a technologically-advanced society would: Internet message boards. Apparently, a massive civil war is due to start this year or in 2005 and continue through 2015, when World War III starts. When I read his postings, my first though was that they were pretty decent science-fiction. Then I realized that his answer to every question was either "I'm not answering that" or "Beware Mad Cow Disease!". In any case, it might be good for a laugh or two. Espeically the part about how the new capital of the United States in 2036 is Omaha, Nebraska.

In other news, I'd like to welcome my buddy and coworker Jay to the blogosphere! Be sure to stay tuned for his musings on a wide variety of subjects.

I had another weird dream last night that involved being shot in the back of my head and being comatose for 3 months, thereby missing the first month or so of my senior year of high school. The weirdest part is that when I woke up, I was actually surprised to find out it was all a dream. Usually, I know when I'm dreaming, but I just sit back and enjoy the ride. This time, I got really sucked in. Very strange.

This is for fighting, this is for fun ...

Had a really weird dream last night, so I feel compelled to share it with y'all.

Apparently, I decided it would be a good idea to join the Marines. I'm not sure why, but it made sense at the time. I was going to enlist with this guy whom I lived with two summers ago (a friend of my current roommate's). We both thought that if we could just get past the first week or so of basic training, it would get easier. Again, not sure why we thought this, but it made sense at the time.

I tell my girlfriend about this idea, and her response is (and I quote): "Why are you joining the Marines? Aren't you too weak?" Damn. That hurts, baby. Even if it is true. She also said, "You seem like you're too peaceful to do this." Which was nicer. That's when I revealed my secret plan -- "I'm going to be like Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket! You know, the outsider-looking-in kind of thing." Which I don't really know is an accurate interpretation of Full Metal Jacket, but I guess that's what Dream-Me thought.

So my buddy and I continue our preparations, and suddenly I realize: "Hey, if we're in basic training, I'm not going to be able to go to work, am I?" So we abandon our plans and resume our daily lives. Which, I admit, is somewhat of an anti-climactic ending. I've scheduled a meeting with my Dream Writing Staff.

The weirdest thing, to me, about this dream (besides the obvious stuff of me joining the Marines) is that I remember all the dialogue almost verbatim. That doesn't usually happen. So, yeah, it's weird.

I welcome interpretations from the peanut gallery.

Daniel Quinn loves me, this I know...

...For his website tells me so.

Check it, bitches, and weep before my glory. Daniel Quinn answered the question I sent him! Yeehaw!

Turns out he likes the Coalition of Essential Schools, which is reassuring.

Oh yeah. I'm the man.

On Being a Smart Ass

Got a present today -- my Series 6 training stuff! Complete with practice exams and a CD-ROM of more practice exams. Yeehaw! Now if I could just get my fingerprints taken, life would be grand.

So it turns out that I'm not the only one whose been trying to get this stuff. A few other people in my unit have as well. For more than a year, says my supervisor (who has also been waiting for it). It's been delayed by the fact that the boss can't really justify it in the budget -- our group doesn't require Series 6 licensing. However, my Series 6 stuff isn't being paid by my group's budget; it's being paid by the group that I applied to be in a few months ago. Because eventually, I'm going to join them. Apparently, applying for that job got people's attention.

See? It pays to be a smartass.

Geekus Meus!

It's official. I'm a Harry Potter fanboy.

After seeing the most recent Harry Potter flick -- which kicked serious (Sirius?) ass, by the way -- I've decided to devote a good chunk of my free time to reading all of the Harry Potter books currently released. So I went online last night and ordered all five of 'em. I got the first four in a paperback box set for $20. The fifth one cost me $10. Not bad for 5 books. And god knows how many hours of fun.

Let the ridicule commence.

I've also been looking at J.K. Rowling's website. She's a wee bit on the bitchy side, methinks. Or maybe she's just British. Hard to tell. There are lots of hidden features on the site, and they're actually fairly difficult to find. If any of you figure out how to get through the "Do Not Disturb" door (or what to do with that room in general), let me know.

In job news, for the Series 6 stuff, I need to get a background check done on myself. However, the next available time for an appointment with the Providence Police, that bastion of efficiency, is in August. So I'm working with the boss to see if there's a quicker way to get this done. Jay suggested I get arrested. I'll keep that in mind.

Don't Call it a Comeback...

What's going down? Sorry I've been away for awhile -- been partying like a madman with my guh'fren. And by "partying" I mean "eating very tasty vegetarian food and playing video games". She's one helluva veggie cook, my lady is. I think she should look into that as a possible career, a la Morgan Spurlock's wife.

I also attended her graduation on Monday of this week. It was like my own, but without all the goddam rain. Which is to say, it was awesome. The speaker at Baccalaureate was this Iranian lawyer/activist/educator who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work in trying to bring democracy to Iran. It was quite the speech. Unfortunately, the person doing the translating sucked. Terribly. So it sounded a lot more virulent than it actually was, as though she were talking smack about America. Which, you know, is kind of an odd thing to do in a college graduation speech. Even if the college is Brown.

I then ate a ton of expensive and tasty food courtesy of her 'rents, which was also nice. Oh, and I hung out with her sister and her sister's husband (brother-in-law? as those of you who've known me all my life know, I've always had a problem keeping familial terminology straight), both cool people. And the sister gave her an iPod Mini, which is hella cool. It has almost as much harddrive space as the computer I used troughout my college career.

But now I'm back to the ol' routine, and 'petals is back home in Connecticut. *sniff*

Now, here comes a story from the land of the ridiculous:

I got a letter in the mail yesterday from the good people down at Providence Municipal Court regarding an unpaid parking ticket I got back in March. That letter was the first time I heard about it. Then I looked at the date the ticket was issued: March 23rd. Hmmm... Well, thanks to my personal record-keeping system that I like to call my blog, I know for a fact that my car was stolen during that time. In fact, it was stolen on the 20th, 3 days before the ticket was issued. However, it wasn't recovered until the 29th. Now, keep in mind that I reported the car stolen on the same day I discovered it stolen. Do we see something wrong with this picture? That's right, boys and girls -- the dumbass cop issuing the ticket didn't stop to see that the car he was ticketing was stolen. Plus, the ticket was issued at the same location where the car was recovered.

Wait, it gets better.

I called the Municipal Court today to see if there was some easy way to take care of this, knowing full well that there wasn't, but what the hell? The clerk (who was very nice), told me that there were actually THREE parking tickets issued on my car during the 9 days it was stolen. All at the same location from which it was recovered. That means that three separate cops (or one really stupid one) issued three tickets on my car before running the plates to see if it was stolen. So now I have to go down to the police station, get a copy of the police report (which I was never given), and give that to the municipal court. And I have to do this during my lunch break because the records department is only open from 10:00 - 3:45.

The moral of the story is: If you ever commit a crime and you're worried that somebody got the license plate # of your getaway car, all you have to do to hide it is park it in plain view of every cop for miles around.

On a completely unrealted note, the Golden Sun series for the Gameboy Advance? Kicks. Major. Ass. It 0wnz my soul.