music

Christmas various

Happy holidays!

Monday various

  • “TIGA, the computer games industry body, is facilitating links between publishers and computer games developers by inviting its members to create briefs for live publishing-based projects. That’s right. No more video games based on popular movies based on popular books; these folks are going direct to the source. Which naturally begs the question: which books would you like to see made into video games? [via]
  • Speaking of games, here’s two: Small Worlds and Quizapedia. [via]
  • Let Them Sing it for You: does exactly what it says on the tin. Amusing, though your mileage may vary. [via]
  • An interesting exchange between stand-up comedian Paul F. Tompkins and Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd. I’m not really sure which one of them I side with here. [via]
  • And finally, SCI FI Wire cancels its columns. I can’t say I’m at all surprised. Its steady race to be a weak clone of io9 (which isn’t always so terrific itself) continues.

Monday various

Tuesday various

Sunday various

  • True Tales of Conversational Vengeance. I think the closest my own job has brought me to anyone famous is talking on the phone with someone who worked with Fred Rogers, and e-mailing Desmond Tutu’s assistant, trying unsuccessfully to get a book endorsement. [via]

  • I can’t say I’ve never used any of these “lies from a publisher’s argot,” but we try to keep the out-of-control superlatives to a minimum. [via]

  • Domestic violence as a “pre-existing condition”. Seriously, how can anyone not think health care is fundamentally broken in this country? This is just nauseating.

  • Meanwhile, on a lighter note, Chuck Klosterman’s tongue-firmly-in-cheek look at the Beatles:

    Pop archivists might be intrigued by this strange parallel between the Beatles and the Stones catalogue—it often seems as if every interesting thing The Rolling Stones ever did was directly preceded by something the Beatles had already accomplished, and it almost feels like the Stones completely stopped evolving once the Beatles broke up in 1970. But this, of course, is simply a coincidence. I mean, what kind of bozo would compare the Beatles to The Rolling Stones?

  • And finally, a game: Canabalt. It’s like a pixelated parkour. [via]