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Last night’s RLTP discussion included a reference to one of my favorite games — Prince of Persia. Not the fancy new wall-running version (though I enjoy that, too),

but the original DOS game. I reacted predictably.

The part in question was what I’ll refer to as the Dark Prince. He shows up a little bit into the game when you are forced to jump through a mirror. This shadowy version of yourself runs off without any sense of what his deal is.

The next time you encounter him, you fall to what seems will be your death. As you stand on the precipice, he could help you. He doesn’t. Or does he just react too late?

Before you face the evil vizier, you must face the Dark Prince. He’s at a fairly unassuming place — no big arena or dark cellar. He’s just there in a hallway.

Try as you might, you cannot defeat him. Each time your sword reaches past his parrys, you are hurt. The only way to pass him is to sheath your weapon.

What a great nugget of narrative, especially considering the source. Aside from the don’t-fight-puzzle near the end (very Arabian Nights), the Dark Prince doesn’t add much to the game-play, but he certainly prompts an emotion. What is the developer saying with the Dark Prince? More importantly, what interpretations can the audience bring? You must face and accept the darkness within yourself, since fighting it will not work? Is he evil? Fear? Your opposite, or a part of you?

Here’s a speed-run of the whole game. The screenies above are from (3.08), (3.49), and (8.27).

Last night’s RLTP discussion included a reference to one of my favorite games — Prince of Persia. Not the fancy new wall-running version (though I enjoy that, too),

but the original DOS game. I reacted predictably.

The part in question was what I’ll refer to as the Dark Prince. He shows up a little bit into the game when you are forced to jump through a mirror. This shadowy version of yourself runs off without any sense of what his deal is.

The next time you encounter him, you fall to what seems will be your death. As you stand on the precipice, he could help you. He doesn’t. Or does he just react too late?

Before you face the evil vizier, you must face the Dark Prince. He’s at a fairly unassuming place — no big arena or dark cellar. He’s just there in a hallway.

Try as you might, you cannot defeat him. Each time your sword reaches past his parrys, you are hurt. The only way to pass him is to sheath your weapon.

What a great nugget of narrative, especially considering the source. Aside from the don’t-fight-puzzle near the end (very Arabian Nights), the Dark Prince doesn’t add much to the game-play, but he certainly prompts an emotion. What is the developer saying with the Dark Prince? More importantly, what interpretations can the audience bring? You must face and accept the darkness within yourself, since fighting it will not work? Is he evil? Fear? Your opposite, or a part of you?

Here’s a speed-run of the whole game. The screenies above are from (3.08), (3.49), and (8.27).

Oh, wordle. Where have you been? Allowing anyone to make art out of text? Awesome. How can I resist?

Beginner’s Luck — the new space play.

Alpha Geek — last year’s play

B A Start

My Twitter account

I’ll tell you one thing -0 I say ‘just’ a lot.

Thing the first.

I’m pretty sure I remember someone in the DVD documentaries for the special edition of Fellowship of the Ring saying that Tolkien invented the word “wraith”. Imagine my surprise, then, when I read a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald using the word. Fortunately, someone is handling this for me.

Thing the Second.

Nice try, Mountain dew with this commercial.

Doesn’t hold a candle to this:

Thing the third.

After reading this post, I really am disappointed that my brother didn’t propose to his fiancee on Warcraft, though I am wondering if there will be a ceremony in-game. For the record, I am a priest.

Thing the last.

The Rock Band forums have a post dedicated to the analyzation [sic] of the Beatles cinematic. A few good catches in there.

If you haven’t seen the opening cinematic of the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band, you really ought to. Here’s my attempt at annotation. This is mostly from memory, so please feel free to contribute.

update — contributions have been labeled with initials.
latest update 6-7-09

We start off in Liverpool, with the Fab Four playing at The Cavern Club, the bar in which more or less had their beginnings. As we pan down, we get a lingering glimpse of posters featuring the names of several songs and lyrics.

Hard Days Night (title)
Come Together (title)
Benefit of Mr. Kite (title)
Rocky Raccoon (title)
Maggie mae (title)
The Revolution (title — Revolution #1 and #9)
Carry That Weight (title)
Mr. Moonlight (title)
(MG)

St. Peter’s Parish Church is where Paul met John. (TRB)

Dizzy Miss Lizzy (title)
Twenty Flight Rock (Eddie Cochran song Paul later covered)
The Blackbirds (title)
Blue Jay Way (title)
Maggie Mae and the Word (titles)
The Diamond Buyers (if it makes you feel all right) (lyric, Can’t Buy Me Love)
Jeremy and the ? (character from Yellow Submarine)
(TRB)

Rock & Roll Music (title)
(JK)

The Meanie Blues (reference to the Blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine movie)
My favorite reference here is “The Semoline Pilchards” (lyric, I Am the Walrus).

Out on to the street in avoidance of throngs of screaming teens (which, if I remember correctly, was the plot of Hard Day’s Night). And, wouldn’t you know it, there’s an Old Brown Shoe (title) in the alley.

The dash includes this shot:

Based on this photo:

Next up, a road featuring Maxwell’s Silver Sundries (song title, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer) and a fireman, who I assume likes to keep his fire engine clean (lyric, Penny Lane). Maxwell Edison was majoring in medicine (lyric), and perhaps thus the Surgery sign. Also look for the lizard outside the window (lyric, “lizard on a window pane”, Happiness is a Warm Gun)

I believe there’s a stack of pennies on the lane (or sidewalk) underneath the fireman. I’m willing to bet the WANTED poster is Bungalow Bill (notice the pith helmet). (TRB)

And poking his head out of the hole in the ground in which he sleeps is Mean Mr. Mustard (title, lyric). (TRB)

Duck into a restaurant, whose menu is surely all references. “Fish and Finger Pies” is from Penny Lane, and Hippy Hippy Shake is a title — tough to read much else, but there’s clearly more. The restaurant lists mostly items from “Savoy Truffle,” but also includes “Honey Pie.” (TRB) “One and One is Two” is a title, as is “Mean Mister Mustard” (above the door). The Grapes was one of the Beatles hangouts.

An Abbey Road (album cover). Where’s Paul cigarette? On the left in the back, the horse with the H blanket is Henry the Horse from “Mr. Kite” (TRB) I think the mailbox on Abbey Road is actually a newspaper vending machine for the paper “What Goes On” (title) (TRB)

And who’s that in the background as they get in the car? It could only be Lovely Rita, meter maid. (title) Without the bag across her shoulder she doesn’t look very much like a military man, but she can give us a wink anytime.

And a gift basket from Strawberry Fields Farm (title) in the car. How nice!

It even includes a green apple, which is the logo for Apple Records. (MG)

Next up, the arrival in the States. Also, a yellow submarine (title, movie) can be seen in the river. (MG)

I’m fairly certain the sound of the plane as it lands is from Back in the USSR.

Note the accurate clothing.

On to the Ed Sullivan show.

and some other venue. (Anyone?) The typewriter’s got to be a Paperback Writer reference, right?
Next up, Shea Stadium.

Shea Stadium signs…
P.S. I Love You (title)
Paul, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (title)
(JK)

And then things get… a little weird. Sgt. Pepper uniforms appear on our favorite moptops.

Note the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (title) on the left. Can we safely say those are eggmen on the right? (lyric, I Am the Walrus)

Here’s a fellow whose stomach says Goodbye and Hello (title). Is the “stupid bloody Tuesday man”? (lyric, I Am the Walrus)

The piano on the left of this shot is from the promo video from Strawberry Fields Forever. “I think the audio equipment in the English Garden is from the outdoor recording sequence in Help! as well as the silver teapot (Buckingham Palace scene?).” (TRB) Needs verification

Is this a newspaper taxi? (lyric, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)

There’s a very brief glimpse of the top of the giant drums, which shows they are the drum from the Sgt. Pepper album cover, (JK)

The costumes from I Am the Walrus.

A quick shot of a Blue Meanie (from the Yellow Submarine movie). Are these elementary penguins? (lyric, I Am the Walrus — TRB)

And this last shot of them… so familiar but I’m not sure from what. Anyone?

Perhaps the pose at least comes from this. The order of the boys and color of their pants are correct. (TRB)

The Beatles are riding the elephant god Ganesha: Lord of Success at the end. (TRB)

Fairly certain the last note heard is the second to last note from “Day in the Life”.

Also of note: The game drops on September 9, 2009. Is that a shout out to Revolution 9? (“Number 9… number 9… number 9…”) (MG)

Thanks to Todd, Garv, and Johnny K for excellent contributions.

To say “In God We Trust” is to say that there is a “we” of unified belief in a deity. This is not true.

If I were to put a poster of a swimsuit model up in my office, this would be deemed harassment. I would have created a hostile work environment for my coworkers without saying a word.

Perhaps not the best metaphor, but the same goes for putting “In God We Trust” on our money, having our schoolchildren declare their allegiance daily to a nation under God, and having prayer open Senate sessions. By doing these things, we are saying “not welcome” to people who do not believe in the monotheist’s god. It is exclusive, divisive, and contrary to the spirit of our nation.

My opinion that “In God We Trust” should not be on our money is not founded in ungodliness, atheism, or any anti-religious sentiment. All people most certainly have the right to relate to the divine in any way they choose. It is for precisely that reason that our government’s actions should not put one belief before another. You don’t have to believe in the Judeo-Christian god to be an American. Thus the “We” is a misnomer, and makes people feel as if this country does not want or respect them.

The issue of what the founding fathers wanted is one of fervent debate. I posit that it doesn’t really matter one way or the other. These are people who decided to keep slavery legal and that women shouldn’t vote — their opinions on social matters don’t carry as much weight as they used to. If the whole lot of them had signed a document that clearly said “we’re a Christian nation”, I would say that we should throw that doctrine away.

A relative of Her Worshipfulness’s says I look like Ben. I took me several iterations of this to realize she meant not some relative or friend, but rather Ben Affleck. Now, the veracity of this observation aside, it brings to light a social development which I simply do not understand: reference to celebrities by first names only.

How do you know which Jen is “Jen”? How does one receive this Kane-like honorific-free honor? Who decides? Does it change? Was it Jennifer Garner at one point? I was just at Dash’s and the latest rag declared the nuptials of two people I’ve never even seen before, but who are listed by first names only.

He casually scratched at his beer gut, eyes surveying the green plane of lawn he had just finished mowing. His pre-faded baseball cap basked where he had tossed it, and the sight of it warmed his heart a little for a reason he could not — or perhaps did not want to — quite grasp.

It was then that he knew his journey down the path towards utter domesticity was farther along than he had realized.

I’ve started a new blog project: Steampowered World. A frequently-updated compendium of notes on my travels through steampunk and Victorianism. if that’s your kind of thing, stop on by.

Dear Nintendo –

It’s me, Alex. Congratulations on the release of the Nintendo DSi. I have been enjoying the product thoroughly, and am excited about the future of DSiWare, the downloadable applications.

If I may, please allow me to suggest an application — DSNotes. A simple DSiWare app which allows the user to write text documents and save them to the SD card. These could then be transferred to the user’s main computer for use in other applications.

I carry the DSi with me most places, and I also carry a pocket-sized notebook. DSNotes would allow me to ditch the paper and move another need to the DSi.

Yours, as always,
Alex