MachineMachine /stream - tagged with story http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron text@machinemachine.net “Primal Sound” by rainer maria rilke http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2008/12/19/%E2%80%9Cprimal-sound%E2%80%9D-by-rainer-maria-rilke/ it must have been when i was a boy at school that the phonograph was invented. at any rate it was at that time a chief object of public wonder; this was probably the reason why our science master, a man given to busying himself with all kinds of handiwork, encouraged us to try our skill in making one of these instruments from the material that lay nearest to hand. nothing more was needed than a piece of pliable cardboard bent to the shape of a funnel, on the narrower round orifice of which was stuck a piece of impermeable… ]]> Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:10:15 -0700 http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2008/12/19/%E2%80%9Cprimal-sound%E2%80%9D-by-rainer-maria-rilke/ Talks Tree of Codes and Conceptual Art http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/11/jonathan-safran-foer-talks-tree-of-codes-and-paper-art.html There’s something about Jonathan Safran Foer that drives a certain breed of dyspeptic New York writer/blogger to drink—more so than usual, anyway. They chafe at the six-figure advances, the visiting professor gigs at Yale and NYU, the majestic Park Slope brownstone. There’s even a catchphrase for it—Schadenfoer!

However, those hoping for a colossal career misstep might want to pour another highball, because his latest book, Tree of Codes, is a quietly stunning work of art. The first major title by new London-based publisher Visual Editions, Tree of Codes was created by slicing out chunks of text from… ]]> Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:58:00 -0700 http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/11/jonathan-safran-foer-talks-tree-of-codes-and-paper-art.html Is There Too Much Exposition in Games? http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html "Exposition is a dirty word," was one of Kasavin's top points. Too many developers front- or back-load games with heavy exposition to create the game world instead of smartly weaving it in the game itself. This kind of world building sets up a series of... ]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:31:36 -0700 http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html Is There Too Much Exposition in Games? http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html "Exposition is a dirty word," was one of Kasavin's top points. Too many developers front- or back-load games with heavy exposition to create the game world instead of smartly weaving it in the game itself. This kind of world building sets up a series of potential problems. One, if done too thickly, it can completely overwhelm a gamer – or worse, leave them with no surprises. After all, if a game drops a massive info dump on you within minutes, you might struggle to remember all of it when it finally comes time for the story to be wrapped up… ]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:31:00 -0700 http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html Who Goes There by John W. Campbell http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbell/ Who Goes There? is a science fiction novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. under the pen name Don A. Stuart, published August 1938 in Astounding Stories. In 1973, the story was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science fiction novellas ever written, and published with the other top vote-getters in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two. The novella has twice been adapted as a motion picture: firstly in 1951 as The Thing from Another World and later in 1982 as The Thing. ]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:46:00 -0700 http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbell/ The Ship Argo http://www.flickr.com/photos/huge-entity/4593039926/in/set-72157624025953884/

Mr. Daniel posted a photo:

The Ship Argo

Extract from 'Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes', page 46

]]> Sun, 09 May 2010 12:37:00 -0700 http://www.flickr.com/photos/huge-entity/4593039926/in/set-72157624025953884/ The Wall and the Books http://southerncrossreview.org/54/borges-muralla.htm by Jorge Luis Borges I read, in past days, that the man who ordered the construction of the nearly infinite Wall of China was that First Emperor, Shih Huang Ti, who likewise ordered the burning of all the books before him. That the two gigantic operations—the five or six hundred leagues of stone to oppose the barbarians, the rigorous abolition of history, that is of the past—issued from one person and were in a certain sense his attributes, inexplicably satisfied me and, at the same time, disturbed me. The object of this note is to investigate the reasons for that… ]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:17:00 -0700 http://southerncrossreview.org/54/borges-muralla.htm What do Amnesia, Immortality, and Mind Control have to do with Game Design, Immersion, and Suspension of Disbelief? http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2009/07/what-do-amnesia-immortality-and-mind-control-have-to-do-with-game-design-immersion-and-suspension-of-disbelief/ What breaks your sense of presence in a story? The culture of video game playing has developed a tolerance for the common practices and limitations in designing and producing games. We’ve stopped asking “why?” and have come to expect the typical input arrangements, the impermanence of death, and restrictions of our own free will. Although much of the work in the EIS lab is focused on investigating new practices in creating and playing games, I’ve found, in my personal “research” of popular games, that despite the predictability, certain innovations in narrative are notably novel. If we break down a game… ]]> Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:53:00 -0700 http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2009/07/what-do-amnesia-immortality-and-mind-control-have-to-do-with-game-design-immersion-and-suspension-of-disbelief/