This Blog Contains Caffeine

Tetris is, by far, my favorite video game of all time. There are plenty of video games that hold a place in my heart. There are plenty of games that I’ve logged way too many hours playing. None come close to Tetris.

It’s the perfect game. Easy to learn, hard to master, with a difficulty ramp stretching to infinity. At the beginning it moves so slow that you can leisurely build your foundation, using hard drops to speed up the game. Then you move into the zone. Pieces falling swiftly, moves seem fluid and automatic, you don’t even think. Your thumbs move by instinct. Eventually it gets too fast. You misdrop and you’re ripped out of hypnosis into a panic where you try to regain that flow, only to watch in horror as the pieces fail to obey your commands fast enough and pile themselves into a grotesque stack that eventually takes you to the death point.

So many games have been based on Tetris. I’ve played many of them and enjoyed some of them. Off topic: The Chime leaderboards make me cry…how are people so good at that game? But none of them achieve the perfect simplicity of Tetris. I have spent more time than I’d like to admit watching tutorial videos to learn which spins are legal in different Tetris versions. I have participated in debates on the variant rules that read like the schisms between religious fundamentalists and the progressive movements. One’s opinion on “infinite spin” is not a matter of preference, it’s a hallowed issue that will pit you on either side of a war.

I am telling you this so that you will understand the significance of this next statement. I have thought A LOT about Tetris, but never as much as this guy.

I posted this on Facebook a while ago, but thought I’d share here too.  There was a flurry of discussion on the Facebook thread about what the ending look means.  But, I don’t want to give any spoilers, so just watch!

I love the weird pseudo-English found in spam comments. I’m assuming these spammers just paste some text from their native language into some sort of translator, but sometimes it comes out poetic.  I received these comments today. Titles and line breaks were chosen by me:

I esteem what you maintain -  Author unknown.

I esteem what you maintain done here.
I
like the associate oneself with where you divulge you are doing

this to exude retreat
from but I would try on at hand all the comments
that this is working also in behalf of you
as well.

The report – Author unknown.

I was looking looking for
momentous facts on this subject. The report was leading
as I am with respect to
to embark upon my own portal.
Thanks because of providing a missing associate in my business.

Truly profound.  Aren’t we all just looking, looking for momentous facts on the subject?

The nerdiest thing I own, and the most obsolete thing I own.

We all have to live on this planet together, so doing something for the sole purpose of offending someone is kinda assholish.  But 10 million people drawing Mohammed is less disgusting than one person getting murdered for doing it.

I am disgusted by anyone who feels otherwise.

Are the following things good or bad for women?

- Quebec bill would ban niqabs to all receiving government services

- Boobquake

- Iceland Bans Stripclubs

I think the first and third are counterproductive. It seems like these rules seek to control the behavior of women more than empower them.  But  then why do so many people disagree?

Boobquake is just silly, but I have soft spot for making misogynist religious fundamentalists squirm.  I’m not sure if I’ll be attending the rally at Robson Square tomorrow, but I’ll make sure to pack my boobs with me just in case.

When Chloe Moritz dropped the c-bomb in Kick-Ass, was it a moment of feminist glory in reclaiming a word long used to shame women for being women or men for being “woman-like”, or was it merely exploitative and sexist in a round-about way that says woman are only awesome when they take on roles typically portrayed by men?

I don’t know. I just know I cheered out loud every time Hitgirl was on the screen.

Feminism is hard.

<What I said in my head> Hi Wil, it’s really nice to meet you. I’m a big fan. I’ve been following your blog for many years.

<What I actually said> hi…uh… squeeeeeeeeeeeee

I’m such a dork.  As evident in this photo. Could I have made a dorkier grin? I managed to grin myself an extra chin.  Anyways, it was still awesome.

I played some free poker tournies tonight and did well.  Got second place in the first one. That got me a seat in the second one in which I made it to the final table (out of 3).

Oh, and I also won this card cover:

Not really sure if it’s incredibly offensive or incredibly hilarious.  Joe wants it but I’ve become strangely attached to it.

Several unrelated things are going on with me.  I will not attempt to segue between each. You will just have to keep up.

We’re moving.  This makes 4 times in 5 years. This time we will have no roommates and no crazy basement suite tenants.  This is a good thing.

Work is going really well, at least I think so.  I’ve been busy lately, and I feel like I’m pulling my weight these days.  Getting laid off really screwed with my confidence.  I lost faith in my skills, and constantly second guessed myself.  I noticed lately that my cocky, opinionated self is returning….now I have to work on keeping that in check.  But that issue is one I’m familiar with…it’s good to be back!  And, I’m actually getting paid now, so that’s a plus!

Making games is really interesting. The art side of game development makes it difficult to apply process to, but I’m surprised that the industry hasn’t adopted more process and project management standards for the other stuff. I am constantly reading articles that say things like “video games are not amenable to regular project planning”.  So far, I think this is bullshit, and haven’t seen any good reasons for this to be true.  However, I have only a couple months experience with games, so I will stop talking like a know-it-all and focus on learning.  Regardless, it’s amazing to watch the process and see a game come together.  It’s exciting to work on something that people will be able to buy and play.  I get gleefully giddy thinking about how I contributed in some small way to a game and I hope that feeling never goes away.

I started a Sunday column on Skeptic North which I hope you all read! I realized shortly after signing on to that project that I wasn’t much of a writer. Seriously, I mean it. You have no idea how long it takes me ot write a bullshit post like this one, imagine how long it took me to work on one with some actual substance?  Have you seen how many commas I use? Since this column is mostly content sent in by readers it let’s me make a contribution without too many literary skills.  So far I’ve been receiving enough links each week to keep it going, which is nice.

Oh yeah, and speaking of skepticism, I’m helping to organize Vancouver Skepticamp which is fast approaching. Oh, that was a segue, wasn’t it. If you’re not sure if you are a skeptic, this is a good event to check out and test the water.  Plus, it will have rad t-shirts. Plus it’s free. So why would you not go?

In December, I dyed my hair this stupid color of red.  It has not faded, and I found out it will cost $140 to undo what I did unless I want to dye it darker.  You can sort of see my orange roots in this picture…they are really getting bad and must be dealt with soon.

I realized as I was writing that I have made a lot of blog posts about my hair.  This is not vanity.  My hair and I have had a rocky relationship my whole life, and major changes to my hair is a major event for me.  My hair pisses me off on a daily basis by being unruly, and I get my revenge by drastically altering it every few months.  I recently agreed on a cease-fire, and have been letting it do it’s naturally curly thing.  Most days I wonder why I even bother styling it in the morning. After waiting at the bus stop for 2 minutes in the wind and humidity, it pretty much looks the same as when I rolled out of bed…so I just pretend like that’s what I was going for.

So what’s new with you?