Boat Model

I finally got around to making a model of the Gypsy last weekend. I did it very simply and in an afternoon, not trying to be too exact. I wanted to see the thing come together more than I wanted something for the mantelpiece. It's just poster board, glue, and lots of tape, but I still got that "wow" moment when the hull took shape from those flat pieces of paper. I can only imagine how wonderful the same moment will be with the real thing.

As you can see from the picture I only bothered with the central frame mold, mostly because my girlfriend was bothering me to put it down and eat dinner, but I'm still very pleased with the results. I can't wait to get back to work this weekend. I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and get the wood, or order full patterns for the pieces. Either way it's probably still several months before I have any chance of getting on the water, but for now I'm letting my imagination do the work. And shopping for a pirate hat.

Analog Temptations

I mostly post here about the digital side of my work and play, but recently I've been preoccupied with analog pastimes. I'm gearing up for the boat project as the weather slowly gets better and better, and to do that I've been trying to get some practice in with a few other projects. My attempt at shelves has stalled at one step past what you see below. Or one step past what you would see if my phone hadn't just died.

(photo update coming...swearsville)

The idea is to drill holes and run plumbing pipe through them to form a pretty interesting blend of industrial material and bare wood. You can see a successful example here. I got hung up because once I drilled the holes I found they were a hairsbreadth too narrow for my pipe. Also, since I'm not using a drill press, they seem to be slightly canted, and not necessarily in the same direction. You can see where this is going, and it's called failure. But my plan is to get a larger bit and drill over-sized holes. I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

The above gadget arrived in the mail today as well. Its a key chain sized bottle opener basically, but with the added benefit of having a two sided bit in it with a #4 phillips head and a flat head screwdriver. The website claims the hole where the bit goes in can also be used as a hex tool, but that sounds like a bit of a stretch to me. Anyway, at $4.95 who's complaining? I ordered four (you can order up to five before the shipping jumps up) to have three to give away as small gifts.

Gamer

I watched Gamer last night. You know, the one where game players control real flesh-and-blood humans in a gory death match, broadcast on live TV? If you haven't heard of the movie I'm not surprised, considering it vanished about as quickly as a movie can. If watching it is at the top of your to-do list though, run away, as this post will spoil you silly.

The movie takes place in a not-too-distant future where The Guy From Dexter has invented a thingy that replicates the cells of your brain to...he invented mind control. What he does with this awesome power is get people to pay to watch death row inmates shoot each other, and give players the chance to control them in combat.

I knew from previews that this wasn't gonna be great, but I wanted to see it anyway, as the movie is based on a pretty common fear of the effects of increased realism of games and the implications of sex and violence in a realistic system. While the movie focuses on the "Slayers" death match game, the far more interesting "Society" is what raised the most questions. "Society" is like Second Life, but people can choose to play an avatar in the game or be an avatar, giving up complete control to whoever is playing you. Like Second Life, "Society" consists mainly of fucking and doing drugs in silly costumes (if that's not cultural commentary I don't know what is!). But of course, the avatars are real people made into puppets. There's plenty here that a different movie could have sunk it's teeth into; it's almost a shame they wasted it on an action movie.

Ultimately the movie falls flat because rather than confront the idea of a society engrossed in these pastimes, the movie portrays the players as what folks would like to believe they are, douche-bag teens and fat people, even "deviants" with (gasp!) tongue peircings. And of course it all boils down to The Guy From Dexter's evil plot to extend his mind control to everyone, allowing him to control what they buy, watch, and do. This final reveal seemed particularly unnecessary, not to mention ignorant of the far more terrifying implications of the humankind portrayed by the film: that controlling the consumer tastes of the globe doesn't require anything nearly as fancy as biological mind control, and that, in many ways, we've already surrendered control to Google, Microsoft, Pfizer, and on and on and on.

Polar Bear Payback

We launched a new game yesterday at AS. Polar Bear Payback chronicles one pissed off bear's mad dash for revenge against humanity for trashing the world and shrinking the polar regions. Is it brilliant? No, but it's got a healthy dose of blood, so who cares really? It's also a nice long game, which always impresses me with flash content. And it's pretty fun. Take a break from Robot Unicorn Attack for a few minutes and give it a shot.