A Coal Story

I recently ran into an interesting little short on the web that I feel I must share here.

Produced by the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather in China, Greenpeace brings us a Coal Story.

It's Ze Brush!

Or ZBrush, to be exact.

Pixologic's remarkable 3D modeling tool isn't suited to games (at least, not until our computers can handle millions of polygons per object), but the ability to freely sculpt without the need to keep track of vertices and quads is an artist's dream.

Plus, it's a LOT cleaner to work with than clay.

From Models

When Alcohol and Classic Gaming Collide

I've been a fan of the Wii Virtual Console since day one, but one thing that always irked me was the lack of some of the more beloved N64 classics, such as Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon, Banjo Kazooie, and of course, Mario Party. So, with the help of my newly purchased hard drive, I recently set out to download the full collection of Nintendo 64 roms and emulators.

It was with Logitech game pads in hand and a lot of free time last evening that my roommates and I set out to relive the glory days of Mario Party, but it was by turning it into a drinking game that we had a real event on our hands.

Game Rules

-Every time Toad speaks: Everyone drinks

-Every turn: Lowest dice roll drinks

-If lowest dice roll is tied: Both players drink twice

-After a minigame: Losers drink

-When a player gets a star: Everyone else takes two drinks

-When a player encounters bowser: Take a drink

-When a player lands on a Bowser tile: Finish the drink

-At the end of the game: Winner finishes their drink

For Everyone Who Ever Died of Dysentery...

Courtesy* of xkcd.

Really, you should read it.

*For 'courtesy,' read: stolen and reposted from...

Reciprocity

Generally I refrain from simply reposting another person's expostulations, but today I'm going to make an exception.

I was reading some question and answer forums earlier today when I encountered an interesting question, something that all of us, I think, can relate to. A user, "socrates," asked: "Why is it embarrassing not to have romantic interest reciprocated?"

"I just called a girl from one of my classes, and invited her to lunch on Wednesday. She said yes, but it was clear that she's only interested in friendship. Embarrassed that my romantic interest wasn't reciprocated, I then acted as though I had only meant it as a friendly invitation all along.

This is completely irrational. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to someone, and her lack of interest doesn't mean that I'm somehow inadequate as a person.

So why is revealing a non-reciprocated romantic interest so embarrassing?"

This got me to thinking; what IS all the fuss about? Surely everyone has been in this situation at some point or another, and yet we still allow ourselves to be embarrassed and discouraged by something so ultimately minor. The responses were... varied, as you might imagine, but then I came across a jewel. The user "mendel" cut right to the heart of the issue:

"The general topic you're asking about is what a symbolic-interactionist sociologist would call impression management. (You might recognize the name Erving Goffman, whose book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life basically addressed the general ideas around the specific case you're wondering about.)

According to the symbolic interactionists, your face (as in "saving face") is the public image you are trying to impress upon others, and in doing so you're actively trying to manage their perceptions about you. As much as you can control this you create a definition of the situation that you try to impose on others (or, at least, have a consensus on).

When you ask a girl out and she imposes her own definition of the situation (friendly lunch, not a date) on yours, all of a sudden your impression management mechanisms fail; you need to create a new face on the fly without letting her know that you're doing so, and also try to make it seem like what you'd done up until that point was consistent with the new definition of the situation.

That's hard to do, and it means that a lot of the bits that make up your public face don't work so well -- you'll say awkward things, stumble on thoughts and speech, and worry that you'd said something before the definition of the situation changed that you can't fit in with the new definition. When that happens, you think that the other people in the conversation see the "real" you instead of the impression you are managing -- you feel like you've lost control over your public face. Everyone does impression management, but no-one wants to admit that they do, and when it's obvious that it's happening it feels like you're missing some important social skills, and I think that's where the embarrassment comes from. It's not socially acceptable to expose your impression management mechanisms but you're afraid you've had to do so when the definition of the situation changed.

(On the other side of the coin, if she's smooth and catches what's going on, she'll let you find your way around the new definition of the situation and ignore any past actions that are incongruent with it, and once the two of you have implicitly agreed on the new situation it feels a lot less embarrassing because you can be engaging in normal impression management again.)"

I know that's a lot to read, especially considering that it didn't come from yours truly, but if you got this far I have to ask: How close did this hit to home?

Don't Swallow the Seeds

Based on a true story.

From My Comics

Okay, so maybe not so true.

About a Squirrel

Following the theme of cute animal videos (I sense divine retribution for this in my future), I would like to present a rather heartwarming video about a big squirrel and a little squirrel.

It's impressive how much a bit of music and some narration can transform some otherwise boring amateur footage into a veritable Disney-quality tearjerker.

Stealth Cat is Stealthy

Truth be told, I've never been much of a fan of anything involving cats or kittens (excepting, of course, this one); too much cuteness is the equivalent of kryptonite to my shriveled heart. Even so, on rare occasion something will pop up that is just too rich to pass up.

Enter the Stealth Cat: