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i.
Back when the "are video games art" debate was raging in the 2010s blogosphere (and what a quaint-looking debate that is nowadays, haha), the piece I often cited as the go-to example of what an Art Game should do was a little 15-minute text-parser-based parlor trick, "maybe make some change". Not because it was my favorite game or the only game that I thought of as art, but because it accomplished the marriage of narrative and gameplay in such a tidy and decisive way.
The game consists of a single puzzle. The solution to the puzzle and the emotional epiphany at the core of the story are one in the same. Solving the puzzle gives you the epiphany; the epiphany is the solution to the puzzle.
If I were to engage in that sort of discussion today... well, first off, I'd go read some actual literature on how people define / think about art first, haha. And I'd do away with the distinction I previously held between gameplay and narrative—too often they're impossible to pull apart, and even a game without any of the stuff I'd associate with a "story," characters and plots beats and such, can still have a narrative. And I'd actually accord more respect to the various Square Enix RPGs than I did at the time—my complaint back then was that they aped too much from cinema to really be thought of as their own kind of thing, and the seeming total separation of narrative from gameplay concerns held them back, whereas now I'd argue there's quite a bit more interplay between the two than I'd first thought.
But I'd still hold "maybe make some change" in pretty high regard. That perfect marriage of mechanical and emotional insight isn't something that makes a game art, but it's still a neat damn thing to pull off*.
( Read more... )
Back when the "are video games art" debate was raging in the 2010s blogosphere (and what a quaint-looking debate that is nowadays, haha), the piece I often cited as the go-to example of what an Art Game should do was a little 15-minute text-parser-based parlor trick, "maybe make some change". Not because it was my favorite game or the only game that I thought of as art, but because it accomplished the marriage of narrative and gameplay in such a tidy and decisive way.
The game consists of a single puzzle. The solution to the puzzle and the emotional epiphany at the core of the story are one in the same. Solving the puzzle gives you the epiphany; the epiphany is the solution to the puzzle.
If I were to engage in that sort of discussion today... well, first off, I'd go read some actual literature on how people define / think about art first, haha. And I'd do away with the distinction I previously held between gameplay and narrative—too often they're impossible to pull apart, and even a game without any of the stuff I'd associate with a "story," characters and plots beats and such, can still have a narrative. And I'd actually accord more respect to the various Square Enix RPGs than I did at the time—my complaint back then was that they aped too much from cinema to really be thought of as their own kind of thing, and the seeming total separation of narrative from gameplay concerns held them back, whereas now I'd argue there's quite a bit more interplay between the two than I'd first thought.
But I'd still hold "maybe make some change" in pretty high regard. That perfect marriage of mechanical and emotional insight isn't something that makes a game art, but it's still a neat damn thing to pull off*.
( Read more... )
This American Life: Eight Fights (episode transcript)
Really good podcast episode. The host interviews various members of a large family that's split across the Russian-Ukranian border, recounting the family's history over the course of eight different "fights," both well before the war, and after the war breaks out. Mostly, the fights are the kinds of little fights all families have—what kind of school should we put the kid in, what's an appropriate gift for this kid, and so on. Except, before the war, questions of who feels more Ukranian versus Russian are only a matter of only theoretical import, but after the war breaks out and the family is scattered across Europe, those same fights fights become understandably more... heated. And painful. (It's very clear everyone loves everyone else! which is what makes these kinds of things so hard.)
A really good listen. And it does end on a surprisingly uplifting note, despite everything.
Naomi Wu, Why Do I Look Like... This?
In the past, I'd watched a few videos by Naomi Wu, a Shenzhen-based maker/hacker and YouTuber. She seemed like a generally intrepid & cool hackertype, even though my interests lie more in software and hers more in hardware.
So I was dismayed to learn, recently, that she and her girlfriend have run into some trouble with the CCP—always a risk for a Chinese media personality with a large western audience, a risk she was well aware of and pretty outspoken about. And you could tell she was so careful to avoid direct criticism of the CCP even while living a pretty bold & unconventional lifestyle. (She also certainly wasn't anyone's patsy, be it the CCP or westerners or anyone else—she was pretty outspoken when dealing with, e.g., western feminists who made stupid assumptions about what progress in China should look like, or biting back against westerners who acted like she was an arm of the CCP simply because she sometimes thought their policies were sound or sensible. I didn't even always agree with Naomi! but holy hell did I respect her for always speaking her mind.)
In light of that news, I wound thumbing through her YouTube channel, and I stumbled on this video I hadn't seen before, and...
...wow. Most her videos are focused on technical details, 3D printers and Raspberry Pis and the like, so I was honestly expecting, like, technical details for how she made her clothing or got her boob job or something. What I wasn't expecting was this very vulnerable & honest bit of biography—there's some Complicated Gender Stuff that she talks about in detail in the video, as well as how that fit in with her own introduction to & then life within the Chinese LGBTQ community. (Also there's a bit about Dolly Parton that I liked a lot, haha.)
I learned some things & was also quite moved. Recommended.
Really good podcast episode. The host interviews various members of a large family that's split across the Russian-Ukranian border, recounting the family's history over the course of eight different "fights," both well before the war, and after the war breaks out. Mostly, the fights are the kinds of little fights all families have—what kind of school should we put the kid in, what's an appropriate gift for this kid, and so on. Except, before the war, questions of who feels more Ukranian versus Russian are only a matter of only theoretical import, but after the war breaks out and the family is scattered across Europe, those same fights fights become understandably more... heated. And painful. (It's very clear everyone loves everyone else! which is what makes these kinds of things so hard.)
A really good listen. And it does end on a surprisingly uplifting note, despite everything.
Naomi Wu, Why Do I Look Like... This?
In the past, I'd watched a few videos by Naomi Wu, a Shenzhen-based maker/hacker and YouTuber. She seemed like a generally intrepid & cool hackertype, even though my interests lie more in software and hers more in hardware.
So I was dismayed to learn, recently, that she and her girlfriend have run into some trouble with the CCP—always a risk for a Chinese media personality with a large western audience, a risk she was well aware of and pretty outspoken about. And you could tell she was so careful to avoid direct criticism of the CCP even while living a pretty bold & unconventional lifestyle. (She also certainly wasn't anyone's patsy, be it the CCP or westerners or anyone else—she was pretty outspoken when dealing with, e.g., western feminists who made stupid assumptions about what progress in China should look like, or biting back against westerners who acted like she was an arm of the CCP simply because she sometimes thought their policies were sound or sensible. I didn't even always agree with Naomi! but holy hell did I respect her for always speaking her mind.)
In light of that news, I wound thumbing through her YouTube channel, and I stumbled on this video I hadn't seen before, and...
...wow. Most her videos are focused on technical details, 3D printers and Raspberry Pis and the like, so I was honestly expecting, like, technical details for how she made her clothing or got her boob job or something. What I wasn't expecting was this very vulnerable & honest bit of biography—there's some Complicated Gender Stuff that she talks about in detail in the video, as well as how that fit in with her own introduction to & then life within the Chinese LGBTQ community. (Also there's a bit about Dolly Parton that I liked a lot, haha.)
I learned some things & was also quite moved. Recommended.
some books i read lately
Aug. 17th, 2023 02:23 amcatching up a bit! nowhere near comprehensive, this is just what i noticed when scanning my "recently read" bookshelf & started spitting out some Thoughts TM
( The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams )
( Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou )
( Acceptance: A Memoir by Emi Nietfeld )
( The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips )
( Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer )
( Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck )
( The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams )
( Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou )
( Acceptance: A Memoir by Emi Nietfeld )
( The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips )
( Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer )
( Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck )
Pokémon Puzzle League
Jul. 6th, 2023 06:52 pmI posted a while back here about having some anxiety while on flights that experience turbulence.
Well, I had a hell of a test of that earlier this week, when a little puddle-jumper of a flight wound up going through some serious thunderstorms—no beverage service, repeated intercom appeals to ensure all seatbelts are fastened, and the whole plane getting tossed and turned every which way like a damn McSalad Shaker.
And the only thing that kept me from full-on freaking out in the cabin... was having Pokémon Puzzle League in my hands the whole time.
See, I've been grinding that game's 1-player campaign on Very Hard mode, which, as you might expect, is very hard. The whole last 30 minutes of the flight was just me playing against Team Rocket, over and over, and losing every time, but relishing the moments when I was able to hang on a little bit longer or put a little more pressure on them, and also, I had the absolutely certain knowledge that if I looked away for even a few seconds, I would lose immediately. No thoughts, just pure focus on the little blocks on my screen.
So, yeah. New lay anxiety treatment: crank up the difficulty on your favorite reflex-heavy puzzle game to the max and you'll be so stressed by the game you can't be stressed by anything else :D;;;;;
( i got way too into this game over the past week so here's some thoughts )
Well, I had a hell of a test of that earlier this week, when a little puddle-jumper of a flight wound up going through some serious thunderstorms—no beverage service, repeated intercom appeals to ensure all seatbelts are fastened, and the whole plane getting tossed and turned every which way like a damn McSalad Shaker.
And the only thing that kept me from full-on freaking out in the cabin... was having Pokémon Puzzle League in my hands the whole time.
See, I've been grinding that game's 1-player campaign on Very Hard mode, which, as you might expect, is very hard. The whole last 30 minutes of the flight was just me playing against Team Rocket, over and over, and losing every time, but relishing the moments when I was able to hang on a little bit longer or put a little more pressure on them, and also, I had the absolutely certain knowledge that if I looked away for even a few seconds, I would lose immediately. No thoughts, just pure focus on the little blocks on my screen.
So, yeah. New lay anxiety treatment: crank up the difficulty on your favorite reflex-heavy puzzle game to the max and you'll be so stressed by the game you can't be stressed by anything else :D;;;;;
( i got way too into this game over the past week so here's some thoughts )
media i have consumed as of late
May. 3rd, 2023 02:07 ammy brain has only been like 20% working this past month; i think i reread the first two chapters of this one book like eight times and still couldn't really grok it??? weird.
anyway in lieu of books i mostly devoured other things; here are some rambling thoughts on 'em~
The Bright Sessions (podcast)
Radio play-style podcast, structured as "recordings" of therapy sessions between Dr. Joan Bright (a normie human psychiatrist) and her "atypical" patients (who have a range of powers—one's an empath, one's a mind-reader, one's a time-traveler, etc).
( Read more... )
In Treatment (TV)
The show's setup: Paul is a psychotherapist. Each episode is a half hour, and corresponds to one appointment with a patient. There's five episodes per week, Monday through Friday, and each day always features that day's patient (so Mondays you see Laura, Tuesdays you see Alex, etc). Also, on Fridays, Paul goes to get some therapy himself, from his old boss/mentor, this badass retired lady, and okay sorry I'm editorializing right now in what's SUPPOSED to just be the summary but suffice to say Fridays are extremely interesting lol.
( Read more... )
Sick Girl by Amy Silverstein (book)
Memoir written by a woman who developed a sudden sickness at age twenty-four, leading to a heart transplant (& all the associated baggage that such a transplant entails).
( Read more... )
anyway in lieu of books i mostly devoured other things; here are some rambling thoughts on 'em~
The Bright Sessions (podcast)
Radio play-style podcast, structured as "recordings" of therapy sessions between Dr. Joan Bright (a normie human psychiatrist) and her "atypical" patients (who have a range of powers—one's an empath, one's a mind-reader, one's a time-traveler, etc).
( Read more... )
In Treatment (TV)
The show's setup: Paul is a psychotherapist. Each episode is a half hour, and corresponds to one appointment with a patient. There's five episodes per week, Monday through Friday, and each day always features that day's patient (so Mondays you see Laura, Tuesdays you see Alex, etc). Also, on Fridays, Paul goes to get some therapy himself, from his old boss/mentor, this badass retired lady, and okay sorry I'm editorializing right now in what's SUPPOSED to just be the summary but suffice to say Fridays are extremely interesting lol.
( Read more... )
Sick Girl by Amy Silverstein (book)
Memoir written by a woman who developed a sudden sickness at age twenty-four, leading to a heart transplant (& all the associated baggage that such a transplant entails).
( Read more... )
what it says on the tin! basically, i'm interested in hearing from y'all: any recommendations you've got for really good/interesting scenes from any kind of fiction (film, movie, novels, whatever) in which there is (1) Person A, who is interested in finding out something from Person B, and (2) Person B, who has a vested interest in not revealing that thing (whether or not they consciously realize it), and (3) there's relatively little action happening in their scenes together besides them talking. (so, this could be anything ranging from "gritty grimdark interrogation" to "the only piece of fiction that's ever managed to make a therapy session look compelling," lol, so long as it's relatively talk-y)
for some reason i'm getting a mental block on this and can only think of The Silence of the Lambs? which is, y'know, great at what it's doing, but i'm trying to collect a few examples/case studies for the sake of A Thing I'm Working On TM
so yeah, reply a way, and thanks a bunch if you can help!
for some reason i'm getting a mental block on this and can only think of The Silence of the Lambs? which is, y'know, great at what it's doing, but i'm trying to collect a few examples/case studies for the sake of A Thing I'm Working On TM
so yeah, reply a way, and thanks a bunch if you can help!
Final Fantasy Kiss Battle 2k23!
Feb. 17th, 2023 06:33 pm
all you FF nerds, come join :) super-simple super-fun fandom event. leave some prompts that you'd like filled, then fill whatever prompts you feel like, no minimum wordcount or anything.
ok i'm off to go drop like a billionty prompts SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE
webcomic reviews that no one asked for
Dec. 12th, 2022 11:13 pmbecause of Reasons TM i decided to read all of Minna Sundberg's back catalog, enjoy
A Redtail's Dream
( review )
Stand Still, Stay Silent
( review, pt1 )
( THE SPOILER-Y PART OF THE REVIEW )
( review, pt2 )
Lovely People
( review )
A Redtail's Dream
( review )
Stand Still, Stay Silent
( review, pt1 )
( THE SPOILER-Y PART OF THE REVIEW )
( review, pt2 )
Lovely People
( review )
