Two people on two separate occasions recently reached out to me and asked if I had any sage advice on the best way to go about moving to New York City. Person One is the guy who manages my finances. He was asking on behalf of a colleague whose post college-age daughter is moving to New York. Person Two is a man who is enduring a breakup and decided, now that the chips were down, to make a run at his lifelong New York dream. If I was a sporting man, of these two candidates, the man with the broken heart…
[Why have I played 101 stages of Donkey Kong [Game Boy, 1994] in 101 days? Go back to Day 1 to find out. Report back here once you’re all caught up.] After 101 days, it seems that we’ve finally arrived at our destination, people. Welcome to stage 9-9 which, unless Nintendo pulls a fast one on us, should be the very last stage in the game. Also, be sure to check the area around you for any personal belongings before exiting the aircraft. And thank you, in advance, for flying with us. (more…)
A few days before my Arrival, it occurred to me that I’d never actually delivered Santa’s trademark greeting—the “ho-ho-ho”—before in my life. I panicked, imagining myself stepping down from my antique fire truck, a sack of toys thrown over my shoulder, with dozens of children flocking around me the same way that women always flocked to Rod Stewart in his MTV videos. Then, I’d take a deep breath, rear back, open my mouth, and nothing—not a sound—would come out. (more…)
Moving on to stage 8-15. Only 10 more stages to go, people, and it’s obvious that the developers are really pulling out all the stops now. It’s not hard to figure out what you have to do in today’s stage—key is in the bottom right, door is in the top left, etc.—but getting it done requires tremendous amounts of both dexterity and patience. In fact, no stage has challenged my thumbs or raised my blood pressure the way that this stage did. Let’s get started. (more…)
It’s time I introduced you to the concept of “Mario harvesting,” people. Donkey Kong (Game Boy, 1994) is structured so that gamers are offered save opportunities only once every four stages. These save points always come immediately after the boss stages, like the stage I happen to be playing through today. (See: the second half of this post.) I always feel a tangible sense of relief whenever I reach these save points. It’s reassuring to know that everything I’ve done, all the barrels I’ve jumped over or fleet-footed porcupines I’ve navigated around, wasn’t for naught. I survived four more levels…
I’m packing my suitcase this morning and heading back to the airport. I’m in one of those end-of-convention limbos, where I feel ready to go home, ready to leave all of this behind–San Francisco, the Game Developers Conference, everything–yet also feeling empty or hungry, like I somehow didn’t quite get enough of something here. What that something is, I can’t easily say. (more…)
Last day of the Game Developers Conference. Between appointments this week, as we’re hauling our equipment around San Francisco from hotel to hotel and booth to booth, talk between me and my camera man/producer Enzo, without fail, turns to food. (more…)
My morning began yesterday with a walk from my hotel on Powell Street to a place called The Box SF on Howard Street. It was a long walk–much longer than I’d anticipated–through some of San Francisco’s less than scenic neighborhoods. I kept thinking, Is this right? Am I going in the right direction? A man in a wheelchair with no legs rolled past me on the sidewalk. The sun was brighter and warmer than it normally is in San Francisco. Ten in the morning and already I had a lather going. I checked and double-checked my map. Yes, it seemed I…
