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BlogThe late Thomas Kinkade said of his 2003 rendering The Old Fishing Hole, “Perhaps the best thing about childhood is what we make of it in our memories. I suppose that in the living there were good times and bad, but in the memory, it’s the good times that live on with a certain radiance.”
Growing up in farm country, my friends and I spent many a hot summer day around, or in, a nearby pond or the brook down back. […]
The Greeks imagined three kinds of water nymphs: Oceanids inhabited seas, ponds, lakes, and springs; Nereids swam in the deep salt water particularly the Aegean; and Naiads made their homes in fresh water streams, and even in wells and fountains. That Diana Nyad, journalist, radio commentator, ranked professional squash player, and most notably, endurance swimmer, should have a name that sounds like a water nymph is a coincidence too rich not to mention. Nyad turns 63 in a few days, […]
Continue Reading about Nyad the Naiad: Finding Play at the Extreme End of Competition
Video games have fundamentally changed our patterns of play, learning, and social interaction, and researchers are increasingly examining the history of video games in order to explain this evolution.
This scholarly search is now bringing researchers to the comprehensive collections of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong with growing frequency. Some of these scholars want to experience how early games worked. Others access the large magazine collection or study the papers of particular individuals like Will […]
At home in the Carmel Valley, I enjoy a view of the steep ridge that holds the flood plain that the Carmel River (only truly a fast-flowing river in springtime) has cut into the rock. At points the shale is so friable you can dig into it with your bare fingers. The geologic past is not always easily readable in this valley; layers of sandstone, soft shale, sandstone, decomposed granite, and big stream rounded boulders in conglomerate residues piled helter-skelter […]
Continue Reading about The Tree House of the August Moon: Play and Solace in the Carmel Valley
As the Olympic Games conclude, I can’t help but remember my years as a star athlete . . . just kidding. People who condition their bodies and minds for extreme competition will forever surpass my skill and understanding. However, I appreciate their urge to better themselves through feats of athleticism. And I, like many of my fellow non-Olympians, strive for personal improvement in my own way.
I never succeeded at organized sports. Two seasons of middle-school basketball netted me (pardon the […]
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Video games constantly evolve. Early on, graphics involved simple dots and now, they provide highly realistic, movie-quality images. Music originally consisted of bleeps and buzzes, while soundtracks now contain fully-orchestrated symphonies. My favorite evolution involves modifications to video game controllers, which began with simple joysticks, then morphed into complex control pads, and currently require nothing more than the player’s own movements. In my experience, no game displays this evolution more completely than Capcom’s Steel Battalion.
In 2002, video game console controllers […]
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Do you know Winnie the Pooh? When you were very small, someone dear to you may have read the adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood as you drifted off to sleep. Perhaps you were given a Pooh Bear to cuddle. You may have learned to read with Winnie, sipped from a Winnie the Pooh mug, played a Winnie the Pooh video game, or watched a Winnie the Pooh movie.
I thought I knew almost everything about Winnie […]
The opening of NFL training camp put me in mind of an encounter in a different field. On a routine doctor visit, I was answering the usual questions. “Do you smoke?” the doctor asked. I said, “no.” “Never did?” she persisted. “Nope,” I replied. “And never will?” she asked meaningfully, leaning forward. A little weary of the interrogation I said, “well, Doc, I’ve been trying to start, but I’m having no success.” Not a smile; not even a twitch. Next […]
Fairy tales and other stories of magic lack a single author, and often writers, directors, and video game designers play with classic versions. Two recent video games, The Path and Alice: Madness Returns, deliver noteworthy heroines to a few traditional tales.
For centuries, various versions of Little Red Cap or Little Red Riding Hood presented a heroine as a device or symbol to spin a cautionary tale. A clever twist came from game developer Tale of Tales’ short horror game, The […]
Continue Reading about Happily Ever After For These Video Game Heroines?
