Friday Flash Fiction: "That's Entertainment"

This one's for my friend Jeff, who once posited that if humans ever develop faster-than-light travel, the adult entertainment industry will be the first to find a way to capitalize upon the new technology.

Read "That's Entertainment" at 512 Words or Fewer

SnoutCast #53: "GC Summit 2011 Panel: MY FIRST GAME"

And now, for your listening pleasure: a complete audio recording of the "My First Game" panel discussion (~40mins) from this year's Game Control Summit. Video will be online soon!

The panelists were:

• Jan Chong (coed astronomy),
• Dan Egnor (Burninators),
• Justin Graham (Mystic Fish),
• Trisha Lantznester (Burninators),
• Dann Webster (Briny Deep/Nevermind the Balrogs), and
• Curtis Chen (moderator; Team Snout).

[ Download mp3 - 45 MB ]

00:59 - "colloquial"
02:47 - "My First Game" panel discussion
03:08 - Introductions
07:00 - How did you find out about "The Game" and get involved?
16:15 - How did your expectations compare with the first event you played?
20:52 - Justin's show and tell: marble maze clue from Megahard (2000)
24:08 - (continuing with first-Game expectation vs. reality...)
29:23 - Dann's true confessions: broken bones in Justice Unlimited (2004)
32:49 - What has kept you playing and involved in the Game community?
46:47 - Upcoming Events: Iron Puzzler (2/26-27), DASH 3 (4/30)
48:10 - The End

Got a comment or question? E-mail podcast@snout.org or post at snout.org/podcast !

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "A Talk with George" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Kitten Dylan Has Found a Home

One final update on the stray kitten we fostered for a few weeks: the lady at the Humane Society confirmed that he'd been adopted last weekend, and yesterday, we got a message (via online photo comment) from his new family:



We're glad Dylan found a good home!

Friday Flash Fiction: "Assassination"

Happy Presidents Day, everyone! (No? Too soon?)

This piece is a first for me, in that it combines elements from two previous 512 stories: futurismic police detectives Jake and Andy, who first appeared in "The Forty," and the alien race known as the Varna'ut, from "Universal Language." (It's not fanfic if you wrote the source material yourself, right?) And yes, there's definitely more story here. I'm working on it.

Read "Assassination" at 512 Words or Fewer

SnoutCast #52: "Game Control Summit 2011 Debrief"

Slides and videos of this year's GC Summit talks will be online Real Soon Now. Until then, you can listen to us blather about how great the event was!


[ Download mp3 - 26 MB ]

00:59 - "conscientious"
02:10 - get well soon, Cary
04:13 - Happy post-Valentine's Day, everyone!
04:44 - anyway, about the GC Summit talks...
06:16 - Bill Jonesi: "Gimmick Car Rallyes"
08:49 - Curtis Chen: "Everything I Need To Know About Running The Game, I Have Learned From Running The Game"
15:04 - Larry Hosken: "Too Hectic: 2-Tone as an Overnight Game"
16:28 - Sean Gugler: "Case Study of a Puzzle: from Concept to Completion"
18:16 - Allen Cohn: "Run More Games: The Doctor When Solution"
21:32 - Panel Discussion: "My First Game"
25:37 - YOU can make glass tubes
27:50 - The End

Got a comment or question? E-mail podcast@snout.org or comment at snout.org/podcast !

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey and "A Talk with George" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Friday Flash Fiction: "My Funny Valentine"

I thought this story was going to go one way, but it ended up going in a different direction. But I'm still pretty happy with it. Even if it does include a somewhat gratuitous cock-punch.

Read "My Funny Valentine" at 512 Words or Fewer

SnoutCast #51: "Between a Rock and a Hard Clue"

In which we once again demonstrate our total unprofessionalism. That's a word, right?


[ Download mp3 - 26 MB ]

00:00 - Teaser: it's too early to talk about grammar
02:06 - "bad"
02:34 - the wages of sin is slogging through Dragon Age
04:05 - Now that we've actually seen 127 Hours...
07:58 - ...we can talk about when it's reasonable to leave a note to tell people where you've gone.
08:25 - A PURELY HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION
10:30 - is this related to Game safety and physical challenges? sure!
16:23 - We're not going to talk about mine shafts.
19:45 - possibly the worst pizza/game metaphor ever
21:47 - events this month: Puzzled Pint (2/8), GC Summit (2/12), SF-CNYTH (2/19), Iron Puzzler (2/26-27)
27:40 - The End

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "I Crush Everything" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Kitten Dylan Does Some Paperwork

Tye and Dylan have been playing through the gap under the bathroom door ever since we brought Dylan home. They usually bat a paper ball or toy mouse back and forth.

This afternoon, I saw Tye playing with something larger. At first I thought it was one of the rugs we'd put down in the bathroom...



...but no, actually, it was toilet paper.



All the toilet paper.



Despite his innocent looks, I'm pretty sure I know who the culprit was.



We'll be dropping Dylan off with WCGHS at the PetSmart Nationl Adoption Event in Vancouver, WA this coming weekend. They tell us there's already a family interested in adopting him, which is great!

Friday Flash Fiction: "Kibitz"

This story isn't very good. I was literally falling asleep Tuesday afternoon as I wrote the first draft. (Next week's won't be that great either. You've been warned.)

Read "Kibitz" at 512 Words or Fewer

Cats Don't Care About Spelling

Whether you spell his name "Dylan" or "Dillan," this adorable kitten is ready to leave our spare bathroom and go to a good home in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington metro area!


http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18554780

See those handy Twitter and Facebook buttons on PetFinder.com? You know what to do. KTHXBAI

ADDENDUM (06 Feb 2011): It turns out that WCGHS previously had a cat named "Dylan" in their system, so they had to enter a different spelling to get Stray Kitten into the database. But I also enjoyed our vet's telephone-based spelling: VILAN. (Our two cats would probably agree with that.)

SnoutCast #50: "For Your Consideration"

Many movies, including but not limited to Midnight Madness, have inspired puzzle hunts. Do any of this year's Best Picture nominees have Game theme potential?


[ Download mp3 - 50 MB ]

00:59 - "cinematic"
05:20 - Black Swan?
08:30 - The Fighter?
11:40 - Inception?
19:40 - The Kids Are All Right?
24:38 - The King's Speech?
26:33 - 127 Hours?
30:27 - The Social Network?
32:50 - Toy Story 3?
36:27 - True Grit?
39:17 - Winter's Bone?
50:27 - upcoming events: Puzzled Pint (PDX, 2/8); GC Summit (bay area, 2/12); Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt (SF, 2/19); Iron Puzzler (bay area, 2/26-27).
53:42 - The End

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "First of May" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]