To borrow a quip by Douglas Adams, here’s a new installment of my increasingly inaccurately named Weekly Newsletter! So, where was I. The vacation I urgently needed last time, at the end of July, naturally didn’t materialize. August is grading month, involving not only grades for lectures but also for a kazillion term projects and level design assignments, all followed by our Game Fair and the subsequent traditional term cool down until sunrise. Very exhausting! September, then, was packed with events and conferences, particularly the University of Konstanz’s terrific Games & Game Studies Beyond Postmodernism and the CGL Cologne’s Transformations: Dynamics of Change in Media Environments. After that, in October, the winter term did commence, with an intense (*cough* until sunrise *cough*) Campus Party and the largest class of fresh(wo)men I’ve ever had for my game design 101 course at the Mediadesign UAS. It’s fun! But it’s also a lot of work. As for some R&R at least, for the record, I recently went with my SO and friends to Phantasialand—for me a first, and it was totally awesome. Everything was enjoyable, and the steampunk area with the Flying Launch Coaster F.L.Y. was the absolute best. We went on the F.L.Y. once during the lunch hour lull and three more times in a row when the park was slowly winding down for the night. In all applicable respects, that was sooooo up my alley. (And the memories of that experience are being revived now each time Genshin Impact with its current very steampunky Nod-Krai region is fired up in this household.)
Because of all that, I’ve written a lot less than usual, and I’m even lagging way behind with my cherished movie micro reviews. (Somehow I’m perpetually reminded of my favorite composer Morton Feldman, who once said, right before falling sound asleep, “Now that things are so simple, there’s so much to do.”) At my primary blog between drafts I wrote only one post, Self-Determination Theory Applied to Games: The Issue of Goal and Purpose, and at just drafts, one post on A Grain of Hope After the Economic AIpocalypse and one linked-list item on Matthew Inman on AI Art. (As for the latter, I haven’t yet gotten around to writing a full follow-up post on the counterargument that “people said similar things about photography when it came along” or some such—which, while essentially nonsense, is worth reflecting on.) But at least I made progress on my photography backlog! On Flickr, I posted new albums (and new photos in existing albums) from Taipei and Hualien; shots from Konstanz and Offenburg; shots from a Pexels photo walk at Düsseldorf Nordpark; and some new casual squares. And on Pixelfed, I kept posting my daily travel squaries.
For the Sunday Funnies, please enjoy this modified Mario game that plays its code as music; this picture of Business Cat who has important kitty business to attend to (i.e., sleep); and writing Italy as a fantasy novel.
Enjoy!
J.
Because of all that, I’ve written a lot less than usual, and I’m even lagging way behind with my cherished movie micro reviews. (Somehow I’m perpetually reminded of my favorite composer Morton Feldman, who once said, right before falling sound asleep, “Now that things are so simple, there’s so much to do.”) At my primary blog between drafts I wrote only one post, Self-Determination Theory Applied to Games: The Issue of Goal and Purpose, and at just drafts, one post on A Grain of Hope After the Economic AIpocalypse and one linked-list item on Matthew Inman on AI Art. (As for the latter, I haven’t yet gotten around to writing a full follow-up post on the counterargument that “people said similar things about photography when it came along” or some such—which, while essentially nonsense, is worth reflecting on.) But at least I made progress on my photography backlog! On Flickr, I posted new albums (and new photos in existing albums) from Taipei and Hualien; shots from Konstanz and Offenburg; shots from a Pexels photo walk at Düsseldorf Nordpark; and some new casual squares. And on Pixelfed, I kept posting my daily travel squaries.
For the Sunday Funnies, please enjoy this modified Mario game that plays its code as music; this picture of Business Cat who has important kitty business to attend to (i.e., sleep); and writing Italy as a fantasy novel.
Enjoy!
J.