Taylor Swift
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Pink Heaven (Studio Pixel)
"Overcome foes, jump to evade danger and save the young Shopkeeper from the clutches of UFOs!" - Author's description
Download on Playism (Windows)
‘You grow cold when you keep holding on’
Like I posted today, I liked Pitchfork’s best of the ’80s list. Not much metal, but who would’ve thought Rene & Angela would get an allusion or that Evelyn King would make it in (thanks, David Drake, Eric Harvey, Tim Finney, Meaghan Harvey, and others)? Much chatter about omissions. Instead, I assembled my own list which I’m calling “Bitchfork” for no other reason than because I’m tired and wanted a stupid pun. Some of the tunes aren’t on Spotify; you can find them on your own. Heavy on R&B and proto house, and Belinda Carlisle in there yelling at Andy Taylor’s guitar solo.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes (Hibakusha Mix)
Frida – I Know There’s Something Going On
Patrick Cowley ft. Sylvester – Do You Wanna Funk
Swing Out Sister – Breakout
Rene & Angela – I’ll Be Good
Teena Marie – Square Biz
Debarge – All This Love
Yaz – Situation
Gang of Four – To Hell With Poverty
Anita Baker – Same Old Love (365 Days a Year)
Johnny Cougar – Hurts So Good
George Jones – He Stopped Loving Her Today
Belinda Carlisle – Mad About You
Visage – The Anvil
Rod Stewart – Young Turks
Merle Haggard – I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink
Sly Fox – Let’s Go All the Way
Freeez – I.O.U.
Stevie Wonder – Do I Do
Kon Kan – I Beg Your Pardon
Robert Palmer – Johnny and Mary
ABC – The Look of Love (Pt 1)
Expose – Let Me Be The One
Cameo – She’s Strange
Kid Creole and the Coconuts – Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy
Human League – Love Action (I Believe in Love)
The Real Roxanne – Roxanne’s on a Roll
Rosanne Cash – Hold On
Sinead O’Connor – Mandinka
K.T. Oslin – ’80s Ladies
Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane
Jamie Principle – Waiting On My Angel
Loose Ends – Hangin’ on a String (Contemplatin’)
Rick James – Coldblooded
Colonel Abrams – Trapped
Dazz Band – Let It Whip
Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs
Frank Beverley & Maze – Too Many Games
Stevie Nicks – Stand Back
Jeffrey Osborne – Stay With Me Tonight
Level 42 – Something About You
English Beat – Save It For Later
Dan Hartman – I Can Dream About You
Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers
Steve Arrington – Dancin’ in the Key of Life
Diana Ross – Swept Away
Robert Palmer – Johnny and Mary
TIP: Destroy Sensitive Documents With Shredder, Not Chicken Farm
Not only is there nothing wrong with destroying documents as a matter of course, everybody should be routinely destroying documents and other data they don't really need. See Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, 544 U.S. 696, 704 (2005) (noting that "document retention policies"—which are technically also document destruction policies, but don't call yours that—are "common" and "not wrongful"). You may have a duty to preserve stuff that's relevant to pending or threatened litigation, or stuff the government requires you to keep (like certain tax records). But there's a lot of stuff that should go up in flames that doesn't. Or shred it instead of burning it. That's also fine.
Not fine: hiring a chicken farm to do it.
(Photo: Evelyn Simak)
According to CBC News, officials learned that a nursing home north of Saskatoon (it's in Dalmeny, but I like saying "Saskatoon") had hired an "undisclosed chicken farm" to destroy confidential health records that contained sensitive information about its residents. (The home's residents, not the farm's.) Officials were investigating the home because some health records had been found in a recycling bin, which is also not a place they are supposed to go. In the course of that investigation, they came across the contract with the farm.
In the contract, the farm agreed "to accept full responsibility to maintain the security and confidentiality of all documents" it received from the home, although the contract didn't specify how the farm would do this. That alone makes the arrangement "unacceptable," said Ron Kruzeniski, Saskatchewan's privacy and information commissioner, in a report he issued on the matter recently.
The report is maddeningly silent on what the farm's plan, if any, actually was. Did the farm have its own, industrial-size shredder? If so, why? If not, were the chickens supposed to do it? If so, how?I will cut the commissioner some slack on that one, though, because he did include the contract itself, with redactions that I found comical. It read as follows:
May 14, 2012
RE: SHREDDING OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS
I, [name of chicken farm owner/operator], on the behalf of [name of chicken farm], hereby agree to accept full responsibility to maintain the security and confidentiality of all documents received from Spruce Manor Special Care Home, from the moment they are received and throughout the process of being transported, and/or stored in my/our care, and to ensure that all the documents are shredded in a timely manner and in such a manner that they are irretrievable.
[signature of chicken farm owner/operator]
[name of chicken farm owner/operator]
Owner/Operator
[name of chicken farm]
Spruce Manor Special Care hereby entrusts [name of chicken farm] with the care and destruction of all sensitive documents that [are] designated for shredding. Spruce Manor Special Care Home retains full responsibility for all documents within its care up to the point that they are securely received by the owners and/or staff of [name of chicken farm].
[signature of former Administrator]
[former Administrator's name]
Administrator
Spruce Manor Special Care Home
Emphasis added.
"I recommend that Spruce Manor Special Care home no longer use [a] chicken farm to destroy records," the commissioner concluded, and that is my advice to you as well.
SNES to NES Controller Adapter
Now, original NES controllers are getting fairly expensive these days--particularly the "dog bone" controllers that are round instead of pointy--and the third party reproductions from Tomee et al. are pretty universally reviled for being flimsy, unresponsive and altogether crummy. SNES controllers, on the other hand, are more ergonomic, originals are generally more plentiful and some of the repros (like this one) are actually pretty great. I also already have a bunch of SNES controllers, including an ASCII Pad, which is possibly the finest third party controller ever produced...
So, with all of that in mind, I cobbled together an SNES to NES controller adapter (there are a number of guides online, see also: here and here, among others) using a couple of cheap extension cables, specifically Tomee NES extensions (I found a set of 2 from an eBay seller for $9) and "Gen" 2-pack SNES extensions. I'll post which wires I connected, but it seems the factories that produce these extension cables just pick a handful of randomly colored wires when they put them together, so don't assume they'll apply to your own cables in any logical way:
NES side | SNES side
Yellow Black->
Orange Green->
Black Red->
Blue Yellow->
Green White->Ideally, you would figure out which wire carries which signal using a multimeter but mine is on the fritz, so I just trial-and-errored my way through it, which was a pain in the ass, but whatever. It worked in the end. Interestingly and unexpectedly, NES' B-button becomes the SNES' Y-button, and NES A becomes SNES B, which is really fantastic, since the angle of the SNES B and A buttons would make them hard to press at the same time had the naming/mapping been consistent.
Fritz Lang's 1927 Masterpiece ~ METROPOLIS
Exploring the abandoned digital campuses of Second Life universities
During the late '00s heyday of Second Life, everyone wanted a piece of the popular virtual world, including colleges and universities who set up their own online campuses to engage students and even teach real classes.
Over the years, most of these collegiate islands have vanished into the digital ether, but a few digital campuses still remain, pristine but abandoned by students and faculty alike. Patrick Hogan of Fusion decided to go wandering through these pedagogical ghost towns, from Arkansas State University to the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.
First, I didn’t see a a single other user during my tour. They are all truly abandoned. Second, the college islands are bizarre. They mostly are laid out in a way to evoke stereotypes of how college campuses should look, but mixed in is a streak of absurd choices, like classrooms in tree houses and pirate ships. These decisions might have seemed whimsical at the time, but with the dated graphics, they just look weird.
This includes the campus for East Carolina University, which features a pirate ship where you can learn about test anxiety. Hogan notes, however that while many of these virtual education spaces might seem bizarre or unpolished, that's part of their charm—and what makes them compelling artifacts from a time when many institutions were making their first, awkward attempts to create digital spaces and engage with people online.
"I actually like how most of these islands represent an attempt by education institutions to embrace the weirdness of the web," writes Hogan. "The current crop of education startups seem bland and antiseptic in comparison to these virtual worlds."
Keep online education weird, everybody.
Harajuku Guy in Ganryu Sweatshirt, Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto & Geta Sandals
Taylor SwiftI love this dude immediately
This is Ippei, a 20-year-old student we snapped on the street in Harajuku.
He is wearing an oversized sweatshirt from Ganryu, which reads “Information is not knowledge”. His pants are from Y-3. He is also wearing glasses and geta shoes.
Ippei told us that he likes the Japanese fashion brand Ganryu, and also at resale shops.
Click on any photo to enlarge it.
The Theory that Claims the Star Wars Prequels Are Too Sophisticated for Us to Fully Understand
Taylor SwiftWhat the shit
In his extremely long and detailed essay “Star Wars Ring Theory”, Mike Klimo argues for a reexamination of the Star Wars prequel movies.
They are, he claims, not semi-competent jangles of garish noise and wooden acting, but in fact, incredibly sophisticated examples of modern mythmaking, and work with the original Star Wars movies to create an interwoven narrative web more complex than has ever been achieved in the history of cinema.
If you like Star Wars and wild theories, this is a great read. I don’t have much love for the prequel movies myself, but after reading Klimo’s essay, I can absolutely look at them with a deeper appreciation, recognizing that a very precise craftsmanship has gone into making them exactly…whatever they are.
Klimo claims in the essay that George Lucas, using “ring theory” (a storytelling concept that involves recurring motifs and patterns), has created in the six Star Wars movies a tightly woven narrative in which no detail is insignificant.
He supports this with examples of mirrored compositions, plot structures, story beats, and lines of dialogue from the various movies (I’ve used some of his juxtaposed images in this post). And seeing the evidence in living color, it’s hard to deny: a lot of thought went into making elements of the prequels reprise (foreshadow?) moments from the original trilogy.
I have some thoughts about the conclusions he reaches, though. I’ll let you go and read the essay, and then come back when you’re done, maybe next week sometime, and read the rest of this post.
Back? Okay. As I mentioned above, it’s clear that absolutely, unequivocally, there are moments and shots and entire sequences in the prequels that are designed to evoke counterpart moments and shots and sequences from the original trilogy.
Klimo’s argument is that this proves that all six movies are interlocking parts of a supremely orchestrated master saga…Which might make sense if the original ones weren’t made decades before the prequels, and if Lucas had himself directed all of the original movies.
What makes more sense to me is that, faced with the prospect of making prequel movies, and not wanting to screw it up, Lucas looked back at the original trilogy, and mined it.
In improv theater we have a technique: to make a mistake not look like a mistake, you simply repeat it. Then, it looks like it was a deliberate move all along.
By making movies that were, as close as he could manage, repetitions of motifs from the original movies, Lucas created the intricate interrelated structure that Klimo is so taken with — by filling in the missing pieces after the fact.
It’s kind of like a Rorchach test: it’s just a blob of ink, until you fold the paper in half. Once you mirror the pattern and start repeating things, every detail starts to look meaningful.
Some of the comments on the Ring Theory website point out a similar point: that no matter how intricate a structure the prequels can be shown to have, they’re still, to coin a phrase, semi-competent jangles of garish noise and wooden acting.
The response to this, in that comment thread at least, is that the prequels are meant to read as myths — “You don’t criticize the dialogue in the Bible, do you?” is a paraphrase of one comment.
To which I say: FAIR ENOUGH. Klimo claims to be at work on a follow-up article exploring this point in more depth.
But! I will also say this. I followed a link from Klimo’s article’s bibliography to an obscure journal of philosophy, which also features (besides the article that Klimo references) an article entitled “Nazi Germany: The Forces of Taurus, Scorpio and Capricorn”.
This article is exactly as impassioned and elaborate and detail-filled in the service of arguing the astrological links between the key figures and events of the Third Reich as Klimo’s article praising Lucas as the most sophisticated storyteller in the cinema history.
It’s like Chancellor Palpatine said: “It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove.”
Ferrolic
In the front, the display has a basin comparable to an acquarium in which Ferro Fluid can move freely. Behind the scenes powerful electromagnets enable Ferollic to influence the fluid's shape, to pick it up and move it around. Ferrolic does not produce light and is 100% silent since it does not contain mechanically moving elements. Its unique dynamics are the visual result of the black fluid continiously finding balance between gravity, magnetic fields and its own van de Waals forces.
An adventure game that teaches you how to draw pixel art
I've always wanted to learn how to draw pixel art. I grew up on the adventure games of the 1990s, but even beyond the nostalgic appeal I find the idea of creating art within limitations deeply compelling. It's the same reason I enjoy structured poetic forms, writing exercises, or even the 140-character limit of Twitter.
But I'm no artist, and I've never really been sure where to start. So it was with great interest that I read about the Kickstarter for Pixel Art Academy, an adventure game about attending a school to learn pixel art, which actually teaches you pixel art.
You play as a student at the Retropolis Academy of Art, a school that welcomes both experienced illustrators and amateurs. You'll be given tasks—watch a video, read an article, make a drawing—that teach you about basic tools and skills, or assigned to create certain types of art and then upload your creations.
Created by Matej "Retro" Jan, Pixel Art Academy will run in your browser, and also be a multiplayer game, which means that you'll be able to share your work with other students and see theirs as well. The Kickstarter campaign has already been funded 22 times over, and you can get your own copy—due out in January 2016—by backing it for $10.
Hacking in high school: Roguelikes in the early '80s
Taylor SwiftVery excited for this book
"You'd open the door of the room and hear kids yelling across the room to their friends and project partners, see some kids playing games, some just hanging out, and others hard at work with total concentration." ...
Fax.ink
Taylor SwiftYAY DANIEL!
‘I gotta keep up ’cause there’s new chicks poppin’ up every day’
What I wrote in January: “She wakes up and puts on her makeup except it isn’t to conceal pain, necessarily: she likes looking good and attracting attention. Sullivan’s long lines and key shifts testify to an impressive self-confidence: it’s one of her best vocals, lavished on one of the sharpest songs of her career.” I still love it and its parent album Reality Show.
Want to design a room escape game?
Taylor SwiftFuck, I REALLY want to do one of these live-action room escape games
Room escape games are all the rage these days—you know, you and a small team of friends get locked in a venue full of puzzles, clues or objects to assemble, disassemble and decode so that you can get out. Apparently Sweden has had real-life secret puzzle castles going for 20 years; here in London, my friend Pip tried a room escape that involved some kind of hint master scolding her through a screen. Recently I was in Belgium and some friends and I were looking for a place to have dinner and we passed a room escape venue on the way, just like you'd pass a convenience store. These things are everywhere now, even in Budapest bars, as you can see from the video above.
As a design form, though, room escapes are having some growing pains, from what I understand. It seems it's actually very challenging to create a series of nesting, escalating physical challenges that interlink, that offer the players the chance to feel smart and successful, but never to feel hopelessly stuck. You have to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant objects—subtly, so it's not like you stick a post-it on every clue, but not so subtly that the players start ripping the actual paneling off the walls in search of secrets. Your storytelling has to be entirely self-contained, so that players never feel confused or that something is missing.
![An escape game in Montreal [via Reality is a Game]](http://i2.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MontrealEscapeGame.jpg?resize=1000%2C667)
An escape game in Montreal [via Reality is a Game]
Designer Adam Clare has written a cool piece on frequently-asked questions and best practices in the design of room escape games that help illuminate some of these considerations. It's neat to think about for anyone interested in this growing trend, and at the very least it will help you with some basic tips before you try locking your friend in her closet for her birthday.
Hylics (Mason Lindroth)
"Hylics is a recreational program with light JRPG elements." - Author's description
Purchase for $3 on itch.io (Windows)
LOVE THAT WORD!
GENIUS; 21 CENTURY SEATTLE, FRYE MUSEUM, September 26, 2015, to January 10, 2016.
Just look at that roster of of local talent! And how will JW represent? Suffice to say you will need to put on special glasses to the full looty.
The image below will not be included in the show. It has nothing to do with the show. It's just a little something I was playing around with.
Konami profits up by 159%, as mobile games gain traction
Taylor SwiftLmao fuck this
Konami has posted its financials for the quarter ended June 30, highlighting an increase in revenue and profit for the company as a whole, as well as the firm's game division. ...
Ennuigi
Assorted Stupidity #78
- Number of lawsuits filed during 2014 in the U.S. District Court in Tucson: 3,772. Number of those lawsuits filed by Dale Maisano: 2,995 (79.4 percent). Number of lawsuits Maisano has filed in the District of Tennessee: over 1,800. Most lawsuits Maisano has filed in one day: 249. Total number he has filed (estimated): over 6,000. Number in which he has prevailed: zero. Year his sentence for aggravated assault will end: 2021.
- Number of Australian men arrested in 2015 for playing a trumpet while driving: one (to date). Number of hands needed to play the trumpet: two. Number of hands left over for driving: zero. Number of Australian dollars the driver will have to pay for careless driving: 354.
- Update: Number of minutes spent by me researching trumpet-playing last night: zero. Number of readers who have already pointed out that it does not take two hands to play the trumpet: two. Number it actually takes: zero. Chance that the man mentioned above (who was reportedly swerving all over the road) was this talented: also zero.
- Number of breasts possessed by Ng Lai-ying: two. Number she allegedly used to "assault" a police officer in Hong Kong during a protest in March: one. Number of days in the prison sentence she received last week for that offense: 105. Number of people who protested her conviction on Sunday by wearing or waving bras outside police headquarters: about 200.
- Days Dominique Rondeau spent in jail after his arrest for allegedly throwing a snowball at a police car in Detroit: 40. Number of witnesses: zero. Number of officers who arrested him after watching a security video of the incident: two. Number of those officers who could identify him on the video in court: zero. Number of lawsuits filed by family for malicious prosecution: one.
- Number of cents in Curtis Jackson's rap name: 50. Estimated net worth in May, according to Forbes: $155 million. Number of cents he now claims to have: zero. Amount of judgment in Leviston v. Jackson, in which the plaintiff accused Jackson of posting a sex tape online in an effort to embarrass her ex-boyfriend: $5 million. Days elapsed between verdict and Jackson's bankruptcy filing: three.
The Data Drive
Summer Games Done Quick speedrun marathon raises $1.2m for charity
Taylor Swift:D
Almost doubling last year's total, speedrunners raise well over a million dollars for Doctors Without Borders. ...
Dungeon small: Legend of Grimrock moves to the iPhone
Taylor SwiftOh shit, I might pick this up. I've seen a number of Grimrock runs and the game is just terrific.
Those sandals are only wearable by characters with at least 3 points in the Hipster skill set.
One of the best games to come to iPad this year was the old school dungeon crawler, Legend of Grimrock. It has everything: massive dungeon layouts, tons of monsters, cool combat, great spell system, interesting character development, and fun loot. The only thing missing from Grimrock was the ability to play it when you left your iPad at home. Not a problem, it’s gone Universal now, which means that previous owners don’t have to repurchase the app but can load it up on their phones for free.
Legend of Grimrock is one of, if not the, best RPG experience on the App Store right now. Following the lead of games from yesteryear like Eye of the Beholder, you lead a group of adventurers through a dungeon via a first person interface, but do so in very Gygaxian 5-foot chunks. Each level of the seemingly endless dungeon becomes its own monster-filled puzzle that you need to unravel before descending another level.
If you haven’t tried Grimrock yet, head over to the App Store right now and snatch it up. For only $5, it’s a steal. Don’t believe me, check out the trailer after the break.
Is that a rook in your pocket: Shibuya Grandmaster arrives on iOS/Android
Taylor Swift*arches eyebrow*
Do not adjust your set, this is an actual screenshot.
Despite its chess-sounding title, Shibuya Grandmaster has nothing to do with rooks or kings. It’s actually a simple color matching puzzle game, but one that Owen has been praising since its first iteration on the App Store back in 2010. This is one of the better puzzlers out there and, of course, it had to arrive last week when Pocket Tactics was experiencing abandonment issues.
Shibuya Grandmaster is an incredibly simple game, borrowing its theme from Tetris, but somehow making it even more basic. Colored blocks fall from the top of the screen. When 2 or more of the same color are adjacent, you can choose to remove them from the screen. You might choose to not remove them in order to add more of that color to the stack and rack up more points but, of course, you’re tempting fate by doing so.
Unlike Tetris which had multiple shapes floating down, Shibuya’s blocks are all one size and all stack neatly in one column. I know, this doesn’t make any sense. You really need to see it in action to believe it, but be ready for the urge to give it a go yourself. To help you do just that, developer Nevercenter has made Shibuya Grandmaster a free-to-play game. Before you run off screaming, realize that it’s not just any free-to-play system. This one is entirely free with no catches: no timers, currencies or ads. In fact, the only thing to spend money on are customizations of the backgrounds and color schemes. Each new background or visual change will run you $1, but they’re all completely optional. You can spend $5 to get the “forever” mode which will buy you everything now and everything that’s released for the life of the game. Again, however, completely unnecessary.
After the break, check out a trailer for Shibuya Grandmaster and then head over to the App Store to pick it up for iOS Universal or Android.
Harajuku Couple in Black w/ Lips Clutches, Emoda, Lad Musician & Vivienne Westwood
We met this stylish couple – carrying matching red lip clutches – in Harajuku. They’re both 20-year-old models.
Yukinn is wearing twin tails and colored contacts. She layered a mesh top from Spinns over an Emoda top. Her culottes are also from Emoda, and her platform boots from Spinns. Her accessories include pieces from H&M, Vivienne Westwood, Justin Davis, and Matilda. Her favorite fashion brands are Vivienne Westwood, Justin Davis, and Pameo Pose, and she listens to Big Bang and Block B. Find Yukinn on Twitter for more information.
Kyo is wearing a t-shirt from Lad Musician with skinny jeans from Zara. His loafers are Dr. Martens, and his accessories are from Vivienne Westwood, Patrick Cox and Salvatore Ferragamo. His favorite designer is Saint Laurent Paris, and his favorite band is Big Bang. You can follow his Twitter profile for more updates.
Click on any photo to enlarge it.
Secret of Qwerty is a 'typing RPG' that will steal your whole afternoon
I admit: as someone who clocks in at about 120 words per minute I have a special affection for typing games. Deprived of virtually all other reflex skills or precision aiming, it is fun to feel good at something. Since childhood there have always been games, from Mavis Beacon to Typing of the Dead, that let me excel at my one main gift.
Now, developer Cannibal Cat Software has crossed Typing of the Dead with Dragon Warrior, and the result is Secret of Qwerty, an old-school RPG where you fight mean trees and ghosts and things by typing at them. You explore a map and some dungeons, gather gold and buy equipment, and I am really, really into it. You probably will be too.
It's the loving little touches—the intentional homage to the bad translations of ancient Nintendo games, the self-managing statistics, the easy saves, that make this one such a pleasure. You start the game at HOMEROW CASTLE. Come on that is so cute isn't it sghfjdghdj.
Secret of Qwerty is a small download, for free or pay-what-you-want. If you, too, love typing games, also check out Monologue, a clever little jam game about having to finish your victory speech before a train runs over the rival you've tied to the tracks.
Will the Newest Ace Attorney Game Come to the West?
Taylor Swift:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
You No Longer Need to Beware of the Blog
Taylor Swift:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
After ten fun-filled years, we're packing up shop here at WFMU's Beware of the Blog. Many thanks to the dozens of volunteer authors who put in so much time and love into their posts and articles, and thanks to the commenters and trolls who almost feel like part of our dysfunctional family.
"Almost" is a funny word, isn't it?
We will keep every single post up here for all of eternity, and someday, WFMU may resume online publishing. First we need to find an admin though, something we haven't had here for many years, which is part of the reason that we are shutting it down.
Thanks everybody!