2023.10.31
Here's every game:
I love that there was a German game called "Kinder im Verkehr" or "Kids in Traffic". (I guess it was a teaching tool but beautiful concept for a game)
"Smithereens" was highly recommended, along the lines of artillery games like QBasic Gorillas or Scorched Earth.
Also I love the indirect combat of "War of Nerves", but not actually a great game - still might have set the idea of an RTS where you play as a character in the game, ala "Herzog Zwei".
The podcast mentioned they dealt with the memory limitations of the time by hardcoding some default graphics - it reminded me of this evocative character sheet from the Sharp MZ-700 computer:
You can see some of those in action in this video...
I was trying to think of what other systems did that. Like Commodores had PETSCII, Atari 8bits had its thing, and even PCs had that ZZT thing...
Tonight I indulged in JP Honk's founding tradition, the Dunster Road Halloween Block Party!
I was a little worried lights might have distracted from the skeleton vibe but i think the result was pretty awesome
Also just for convenience here is an animation of how the setup can look:
2022.10.31
Open Photo Gallery
2021.10.31
Open Photo Gallery
i think ultimately you become whoever would have saved you that time that no one did
2020.10.31
I'm talkin' necromancer, but in a hands-on kind of way. I'm talkin' rubber boots thick with freshly-turned mud. I'm talking palms all calloused from the effort of it all. I'm talking biceps. I'm talkin ruddy cheeks and a tan. I'm talkin shoving spell components into ratty overalls and scribblin' incantations in the old almanac. I'm talkin bringing back Patches 'cause the mice got in the grain and no one else was quite as good at chasin pests away. I'm talkin asking the old donkey if she wouldn't mind another spin, only the mare's just exhausted what havin just had twins. I'm talking grandpa said, before he went, that he felt he wasn't done, and he's really gonna miss the golden wheat under sun. And who am I, in the end, to deny a dyin' wish?
I'm talkin bringing a yellowed lantern into a field of moonlight and puttin up a scarecrow you'd swear just waved back.
RIP Sean Connery
2019.10.31
You may have heard of a CAPTCHA, which is that puzzle or random letters thing you have to do on some sites to prove you're a person. It stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.My response was:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA
But have you heard of the RAPTCHA? It's the Really Awful Public Test to tell Christians and Heathens Apart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
Growing up with this stuff... I got the bejeebers scared out of me by a Sunday School class on Revelation, showing a Christian facing a firing squad for his belief, etc.and then:
Later I learned there's this doctrine of "pre-tribulation" - that the big sweep up to heaven for believers happens BEFORE the s*** hits the fan.
This has always felt like a milquetoast, consoling philosophy, that this whole "God wouldn't let that happen to US, right?" is a rather unbiblical way to soothe children and people with childlike faith - actually similar to how I feel about how Cartesian dualism explains away annoying questions about having to preserve bodies til the resurrection at the end of the world, and also you can say stuff like "I'm sure grandpa's sitting on a cloud looking down at us right now, Timmy".
Even though I'm not a person of faith for any of it, I still resent people who cherry pick the parts that go down smooth a bit - though there's another, possibly wiser part of me that understands it's probably a good way of bringing out the healthier and more supportive parts of a religious upbringing - maybe more carrot than stick is a way towards reaching potential rather than being cajoled into doing right out of fear.
But the whole Rapture/Revelation thing sometimes feels like an excuse to not be good caretakers of the earth. Hollywood realizes that the people working to bring on the end of the world are hardly ever the good guys... why can't evangelicals see that?
Oh, right, my old carve your own jack-o-lantern virtual toy...
So, we've noted an uptick in my snoring. I think it's mostly related to some seasonal post-nasal drip, but I'm up at the high part the range where my weight has been, so I thought it might be worth trying to redouble my efforts to get below 200 again. So today I started a food log. Man, even when you're eating pretty well, when you write everything down it looks like some sort of weird King Henry feast.
The werewolf detested his human form -- skin so smooth, so thin, so easily turned to ribbons. Dull senses delivering a bland world. Too much claw traded for brain. And so each day, he dreamt of moons.
Melissa wanted to be a Magic 8-Ball and I wrote a little program we stuck on an old iPhone so she could have a working answer window...
2018.10.31
For those of us of a certain age, a BASIC prompt was what you’d expect to see when you turned any computer on.This article is the best I've read on the subject (marred slightly by the amount of ads on the page) In particular, I hadn't realized how important it was as computers moved from the batch process punchcard era to the expectations of real-time interaction we enjoy today - and of getting students to realize that programming was something that mere mortals could do.
That was in the 60s - in the 80s, BASIC was the bedrock of home computers - and most kids were given a chisel and some other basic tools so that if they were motivated, they could get the computer to do whatever they wanted.
The article briefly touches on BASIC's detractors. But as my friend Jeremy Penner (founder of everyone-can-and-should-make-games celebration site Glorious Trainwrecks ) mentioned to me, line numbers, while limiting in many ways, are a super intuitive way to get a kid making that first step of "computer programs tend to go step by tedious step". I think Dijkstra infamous complaint "It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC" is way out of line; understanding simple step by step flow does not preclude later learning of modularity and other more sophisticated topics.
As Harry McCracken writes:
BASIC was so approachable that you could toss off little improvisational programs with barely any effort at all. I probably wrote hundreds of them in my high school’s computer lab—games, utilities, practical jokes to play on my classmates. Most were meant to be disposable, and unless any of them show up on forgotten floppy disks at my parents’ house, almost all of them are long gone.That hit home for me. In the 2000s, that's sometimes my style for stuff in Processing and P5.js (though I'm a bit of self-absorbed nerd so I archive "the good stuff" at toys.alienbill.com.) Other people I know, like Anna Anthropy write books about writing your own games in Twine, Puzzlescript, and Scratch.
But it's still a long way from the "booting into BASIC" days - Mac/Windows/Phone environments are great program launchers, but don't have that ramp into "you type things and computer stuff happens!" Also, the gap between "real" programs and what an amateur can write is MUCH bigger than it was in 1980s - especially for games. "Casual" games are a welcome exception to that, but a beginner programmer usually isn't using a toolset for 3D stuff.
(An upcoming thing I'll be keeping an eye on is Dreams for PS4 - "a space where you go to play and experience the dreams of Media Molecule and our community. It’s also a space in which to create your own dreams, whether they’re games, art, films, music or anything in-between and beyond." That's the same folks who made LittleBigPlanet which had a pretty rich online maker community too, so it'll be neat to see what comes of it.)
A sign you're becoming an adult is when you watch a movie and you stop seeing yourself as the protagonist and start seeing yourself as one of the minor characters.
Thinking how FB offers "plausible deniability" when some issue seems too complex or fraught to provide a compassionate response. Like, maybe the algorithms didn't choose to show it to me, that's why I made no comment.
Open Photo Gallery
Marching with City Life / Vida Urbana to protest ghoulish landlord shenanigans--
Soldiers in reanimated skeleton armies would probably have to use sign language.
A few weeks ago at the Maker's Fair at the Boston Children's Museum:
2017.10.31
(Jefferson Hughes was the one vote against. So hooray it was a white dude and not the one person of color? (also the only woman on the panel) )
Man. Laughable if not so infuriating. "Uh gee we couldn't get this guy a lawyer, because we thought maybe he was asking for lawyer dog" COME THE F*** ON.
Wonder if Vampire's would have a problem using iPhone X FaceID.
For that matter, do they have fingerprints? Or skin that conducts on smartphones in general??
2016.10.31
Peeple of zee wurl, relax.This is what a parrot says, I think it's a reference to the work of Joe Brainard that I need to check out
(Switters's granny, by contrast, wore an outsized, owlishly round, horn-rimmed pair that made her look rather exactly like the late theatrical agent, Swifty Lazar.)FWIW I'm pretty sure Swifty Lazar was the inspiration for that old Six Flags commercials with the dancing old man Mr. Six -
"But what about self-esteem?"
"Heh! Self-esteem is for sissies. Accept that you're a pimple and try to keep a lively sense of humor about it. That way lies grace--and maybe even glory."
Tennessee Williams once wrote, "We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it." In a certain sense, the playwright was correct. Yes, but oh! What a view from that upstairs window! What Tennessee failed to mention was that if we look out of that window with an itchy curiosity and a passionate eye; with a generous spirit and a capacity for delight; and, yes, the language with which to support and enrich the things we see, then it DOESN'T MATTER that the house is burning down around us. It doesn't matter. Let the motherfucker blaze!
"I know what you're saying. But it isn't because words are inadequate. I won't go that far."
"Certain things words can't convey."
"Oh, but they can. Because those things you're referring to are . . . well, if they're not actually made of words or derived from words, at least inhabit words: language is the solution in which they're suspended. Even love ultimately requires a linguistic base."
but the poet, Andrei Codrescu, once wrote that 'Physical intimacy is only a device for opening the floodgates of what really matters: words.'
The Syrians in general are sympathetic people, nice people. It is only the Muslim Brotherhood that makes the problem for Christians, but, then, fundamentalists are the same everywhere, are they not?"
"Yeah. Their desperate craving for simplicity sure can create complications. And their pitiful longing for certainty sure can make things unsteady."
"Et tu?" she asked breathily. "And you? Are you sure?" "I'm sure I want every youness of you," he answered,
You only live twice: once after you're born and once before you die. --Basho
"I love myself," he said. "But it's unrequited."
2015.10.31
School of Honk - Honk Festival 2015 - We Got That Fire from Patrick Johnson on Vimeo.
2014.10.31
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This year my tuba gets a costume too:
Look like 6 years of being the party of no and blaming that on the president will pay off for the Republicans
2013.10.31
Speaking of the Red Sox I do love some Yakety Sax: http://zeega.com/158214
2012.10.31
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
HURRICANE VICTIMS. Avoid unwanted press intrusion by simply moving to Haiti.
A Zombie is a slave, forever Important note about the overused popculture staple...
I think (in the near future), instead of album art, MP3s (or their equivalent) should embed the music video. Would beat youtube.
2011.10.31
Self-Portrait as Dinosaur
"OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW."As reported in his sister's touching eulogy for him.
You don't have to believe everything you think.
Don't worry about this stuff. Just remember my motto: 'Every day is the first day of what's left of your life.'
2010.10.31
monsterball - source - built with processing
A small Halloween entry for Zombies' Corpse-iliary Klik of the Monster's Ball #12 -- click to add in random monster heads, or hit the appropriate key for a (v)ampire, (g)host, (f)rankenstein monster, or (w)itch... spacebar clears.
More of a silly toy and exercise in icon design than a game, but Happy Halloween anyway!
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
2009.10.31
jacko - source - built with processing
This was made for Glorious Trainwrecks' HALLOWEEKEND: A KLIKKIN' BONES SPOOKTACLE... but now I need to get back to my secret Christmas surprise for the site...
I like keeping my beloved tattered decade-old hooded sweatshirt over at Ambers for sometimes-use. It deserves a better nickname than "Sweaty".
2008.10.31
I was pleased enough with the way my costume came together (suggested by EBSO at a Red Sox game) that I thought I'd try to dig up my best previous costumes...
Open Photo Gallery
Cowboy, circa
Robot, circa 1982. This one impresses me most in retrospect, way to go Mom. (Robots don't need hands, just a slot for candy.)
1999 or so. "Unibomber" was my go to costume for a few years, because I had the basic elements (hoodie, dark glasses) with me every day.
2002's World War I... little plastic soldiers on a white shirt. I liked it, anyway.
This year I am Alien Bill!
Maybe the worst part of my costume is wearing sweatpants out in the world, that whole "I give up" feeling
I realize that I have a playlist ("psyched") where the central motif is "could be danced to by Jay in Clerks": http://tinyurl.com/jayclrk
Just read "A Clockwork Orange"- was nervous about the madeup lingo, but it was fun parsing in context, and catchy. Great Bolshy Yarblockos!
2007.10.31
I enjoyed cheering for the people who were on the duck boats but weren't getting enough love from the crowd. "Go confetti guys! You rock!" and "Yay, third 'front office' boat! You guys are so much better than those back office clowns! woooooooo!" The people around me seemed amused, so I count it as a win.
At Copley Square, the church had a giant TV in front of it, which felt a bit Orwellian, at least 'til the test-pattern kicked in:
View from the corner of Boylston and Berkeley (including the other people's cameras which were a part of it all) but with Wally the Green Monster:
Quote of the Moment
The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.
Link of the Moment
| --The other Bill posted a link of rather unsettling German Halloween costumes. |
2006.10.31
Of course my other big game is to see what melodies you can sing the Alphabet to. So far "Theme to I Dream of Jeannie" is the most interesting one that I've found.
Most of those other songs don't have that inelegant "LMNOP" rush that the standard "Twinkle, Twinkle" does. (And it wasn't until Middle School that I realized "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "The Alphabet Song" had the same melody, elementary schoolers were visiting our wind ensemble, and all shouted out the name I wasn't expecting after a saxophone player played it.)
Whoa. Come to think about it, "Twinkle Twinkle" isn't a great fit... not only is there that LMNOP rush, but you have to add that "now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me" bit at the end.
Was it a Tom Robbins book that pointed out that "the Alphabet" is the adult word, "the ABCs" is the kiddy word, but Alphabet...Alpha...Beta... it's just a foreign and/or older word for exactly the same concept.
Band News of the Moment
Speaking of band programs... FoSO pointed out that the Tuba player for the "theme from Jaws". Which is kind of funny, despite playing the tuba part during a John Williams medley in high school, and getting to do the fun shark dun DUNN dun DUNN, I always assumed the original orchestration was more low strings than brass.
Image of the Moment
This is the Avatar of "MausBoy" on the AtariAge forums, who says:
"It's actually from one of my favorite NES games [...] Seirei Densetsu Lickle, and you play as four characters; when you are choosing one it spins around. I always liked the mouse."
I always liked pixel art that could spin.
2005.10.31
Quote of the Day
Halloween is like Christmas for the Drama Club people...working in Salem in the month leading up to it, I have to say he has a point...
Image of the Moment
 | -- This is the third year I meant to finally link to this great and slightly disturbing comic ad... |
Culture of the Moment
10 Things You Might Not Have Known About Iran's Popculture.
2004.10.31
Prose Passage of the Moment
"So," he said, "Janet tells me you're an emotional wreck, too. How long have you been broken up?"
"About a month," I stammered. This was not at all what I'd imagined would happen--the two of us bitching about our failed relationships. And yet, now that we'd started, I realized that I would much rather commiserate with Seamus than date him. "We split up suddenly," I heard myself say. "Just a few weeks ago, we were in Sears, shopping for a DVD player. And then another week later, he's emptied all his stuff out of my apartment. It makes you see how flimsy everything is, not just relationships, but everything."
Seamus made a low purr in his throat--an oddly sympathetic sound. "You're not just losing a person, you're losing all your old habits. Suddenly, you don't know who you are." His voice went husky. "The nights are the worst."
2003.10.31
I'm Steve Stevenson for the daily channel 192 news. Tonight, in a related story we brought to you yesturday, the sun has once again tried to destroy the earth. The sun claims that "we were in the way" and stated "when ya gotta go, ya gotta go..."Also, DogIsMyCoprocessor pointed out that maybe it's time we give up on Allah, Jesus, Buddha, etc, and go back to the Sun Gods, 'cause clearly they're getting a bit ticked...
President George W. Bush commented on the topic claiming that the sun may be in league with known terrorist group Al-Queda. President Bush attempted to stare down the sun in a show of bravery when his eyes were severely burned due to over exposure to UV rays without blinking. Later on today, President Bush will be launching a "Shock and Awe campaign" directed towards the sun to send the message that the United States does not deal with terrorists...
Advertisement of the Moment
This is quite the ad for gum. I have never been so disturbed by nipples on a guy.
Halloween Costume and Lyrics and Phoon of the Moment
I think I love you,Man, that was a great Comedy Central show.
Ms. Pac-Man.
I know your boyfriend.
What do you see in him?
He is round & yellow.
Look at me--I am sexy and trim!
Anyway, I ment Ms. Pac-Man at that paper store between Porter and Harvard Square.
Incidentally, my pose is a 'phoon'--I've been meaning to write up that odd genre of "capturing the running action" photos, but wanted to make up an example first. Here you go, then!
2002.10.31
"Evangelists say Halloween is the devil's holiday.
What a lame-ass devil! Sitting down in the depths of hell, going, "I've got control of the major corporations, churning out weapons and toxic waste, but how can I get candy? Let me think--I'll get the children of the world to dress up as hobos and Power Rangers--and then I'll have all the bite-size Three Musketeers I need! I am Satan!"
Image of the Moment
|
--Jack O' Lantern's Eye View of Mo and the kitchen |
Quote of the Moment
The greatest productive force is human selfishness.Not one of the usual Heinlein quotes I always see kicking around. I'm not sure I agree with it completely. Compare and contrast to
Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.
Link of the Moment
Ranjit pointed me to Googlism, a Google using tool that informed me that "kirk israel is a visionary" and "kirk israel is the blender". It can tell you what nearly anyone is, especially if you only use their first names.
Keep in mind that succesful "hits" on the site get added to a publicly-viewable index.
Old School of the Moment
RIP, Jam Master Jay, the DJ for the hiphop pioneer group Run-DMC.
2001.10.31
Regarding your 10/24/01 entry and the joke about the cows: What do you call a mix between an elephant and a rhino? Answer: Elleph Ino!I've used this joke and it has gotten more laughs than I expected.
Gaming Geek Link of the Moment
DOOM was an early "First Person Shooter", one of my favorite games, running around these bases, physically ducking in my seatr when monsters shot fireballs at me, slaying demons left and right, saving and reloading frequently. (I'm almost tempted to get a Game Boy Advanced to play this version of the beloved game.) Recently I found a page with lots of
alpha version screenshots, and the DOOM Bible, which was the document of the original vision for the game. It got scaled back quite a bit, and it's interesting to see the differences.Quote of the Moment
I have never known a period in this country where terrorism was not an active consideration of how we live our lives. Israelis used to joke that in Alaska they have to deal with the snow, and in the Middle East we deal with terrorism. That is part of the weather here. In the sense of how you balance daily life with fear and caution, Israel is the world expert.I think that's what the new reality here is going to look like, and in some ways it's not as scary as it seems.