orthogeeks

Check out this amazing new Overclocked Remix of Gitaroo Man’s ‘Legendary Theme’:

(h/t Dante)

When I went searching for the original tune on Youtube (I found it here) I also discovered a great playlist: It’s called ‘Best VGM’ and it’s by a user called ‘SupraDarky’. Nonetheless, it has a number of my favorite songs from across genres and systems.

Indeed, that’s only the *first* playlist. There are several and at least 1000 songs he’s earmarked in total.

To conclude, here is something fun and delicious, or something like that:

From St. Katherine’s College Forum: ‘Civilizing the Heart: C.S. Lewis on Education‘ is well worth listening to. It should come as no surprise that we’re down with the idea here, that the actions that people repeat form their deeply felt affections towards various things. Indeed, also that the things we experience become impressed upon our souls. For many of us, video games, popular music, science fiction and fantasy literature, movies and T.V. shows and Anime form a great deal of that ‘inform-ation’ (in the sense Aristotle punned it) – and the times we re-read, hit the repeat button, pressed rewind, or started up that favorite game again? They trained the dispositions of our hearts, certainly. Not always for the better, perhaps, but if one wants to know what people actually feel about the world, these are the places one must start.

As an aside, This is another reason to be cautious for what you watch, read or play both in terms of quality and content; this formation does not cease but continues in us as long as we live (at least on this side of the grave, to my knowledge). To this end, we hope that this discussion here will aid in that process. We are not children here, so I think Father Chris will agree that we’re not here to instruct so much as to inform and discuss, to give opinions based on our beliefs and experiences, and to see what others convictions are and why they hold them.

Along with this Lewis argues for a ‘proper affection towards’ something, which is a way of defining an objective morality. The speaker talks not so much of ‘a one particular proper way’ to feel or think about something, but rather ways which are ‘right’ and other ways which are ‘wrong’. As a programmer, I’m much familiar with the ‘many wrongs, many rights’ approach.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Presented without comment. Also check out the humble bundle – you get to choose how much to pay for Voxatron (3-d iso shooter), The Binding of Issac (Zelda/roguelike shooter), and Blocks That Matter (Puzzle+Platformer similar to Boulderdash)

So what is the range of geek we have here? Let’s delve into one of my favorite topics, that of spaces and their construction and design, namely, Architecture:

In the last half-century, the clear result of “architectural myopia” is buildings whose makers have been so concerned with the drama of their appearance that they fail on the most fundamental human criteria. They isolate people; they do not provide enough light; or provide a poor quality of light; they provide a hostile pedestrian environment at their edges; they cause excessive shade; or create winds in what is known as a “canyon effect;” or they trap pollutants in the “sick building syndrome;” they use resources wastefully; etc. Moreover, the buildings themselves are a wasteful use of resources, because they are not likely to be well-loved, cared for, repaired, modified, and re-used over many years. In short, it is not just that people find them ugly, but they represent a fundamentally unsustainable way of building human environments.

As a kid who was obsessed with architecture and who went on to design countless levels for FPS games (and of course, loves Minecraft) I really dig this stuff. This idea of ‘construct as spectacle’ applies also to video games (and games in general) wherein the press for novelty among AAA game studios produces games that are more and more visual spectacle and less intellectually gratifying gameplay. ‘Atmosphere’ in a game can be related strongly to how ‘human’ a space it provides both in gameplay and visual design. A game with little visual impact relies on the imagination to fuel its visuals and it is then the text and the gameplay that provide grist for the mill of the mind.

There are also some other good articles on the topic of the madness of modern architecture, but I’ll leave ‘em for later. Take instead a link to one of my personal favorite architectural firms

When talking to my mother the other day about video games (since we’re on the topic of parents, I suppose!) she related to me a comment my brother had made on the topic of the toys we had (whether software or hardware.) He said that what we had played with, from blocks to SimCity had helped him learn how to delay gratification.

In my thinking, there are differing ways in which a game could be addictive. One way is like a slot machine: constant offer of instant gratification. Games which offer far too much randomness vis a vis an individual action’s result often have this problem. But also games which have no long term goal may suffer from slot machine syndrome as well. Some sandbox games, for example, can ride a fine line in regards to this. Take Spore. While in theory it is possible to create long term goals for yourself (i.e. defeat the galactic enemy, the Grox; create series of themed custom buildings and ships, make the largest class of empire, etc) mostly the gameplay involves short term goals almost to the point of distraction. You will end up meeting the long term goal without noticing it, and you could end up playing the game like a slot machine; collecting food, body parts, spice, technologies, etc. Only the two middle modes (tribal and civilization) are more thoughtful in their approach. The rest can be played like a non-stop game of Pac-Man sans strategy.
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I know I usually don’t write about this sort of thing, but really, happy name day, Mom! May we all be preserved by the prayers of St. Tabitha.

Thanks for the many years of prayer and nagging!

I know what you’re thinking. But the answer may be yes.

Was Merlin Irish? Yes, I think he must have been. [NO BIAS I SWEAR].

Of course, I’m not a believer in the Arthurian mythos, I much prefer, along with Chesterton, to accept the factual and far more awesome St. Alfred. It may just be that I’m not French enough.

There are new memes to be made. Great meme makers of the west, I call upon thee! Ride!

Check out Hallowe’en: An Orthodox approach. While this is not entirely geek related (though it certainly is Orthodoxy related!) it kind of relates to our general approach to cultural ephemera. On a similar vein, at OCF we recently talked about the Orthodox approach to culture (especially as it is aimed towards evangelism) which is one of analysis and ‘reclaiming’. Instead of reacting against the negative elements, you sideline them and isolate the positive elements. Granted, Orthodox have not had much involvement in the ‘culture war’ and if anything our representation during the era of ‘the Moral Majority’ was certainly sparse. This is another way to say that a key point is not take a side in the culture war while at the same time not acquiescing to unacceptable things. To take one side or another draws you into what can only be called at this point a State of Reaction, made most visible in the actions of the Tea Party and the Wall Street Occupiers.

In my view, and I suppose Fr. Chris may back me up on this, the Christian’s role is not to seal themselves in a scripture-cell (though if you’re a monk a cellular existence is viable) but to ‘plunder Egypt’ as our Father among the Saints Gregory of Nyssa put it. The reclaiming of positive elements is much like the reclaiming of persons through baptism; in essence the whole person comes through unharmed, but all that is evil must pass away from them.

And in this, even the bad examples (and isn’t all literature rife with them) serve a purpose.

Thoughts on this concept?

Here at Orthogeeks.

You may want to (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ because of this image. If so, find a table without valuable, fragile and/or irreplaceable items such vases, items of pure wrought gold, heirlooms, or chemistry sets.

You may also wish to consider:

>People who inexplicably find rushing stats more interesting
>who inexplicably find rushing stats
>who inexplicably
>inexplicably

>mfw

Seriously though I’ve never played Fantasy Football, but I also know that any campaign involving +5 items has gone too far.

Don’t know if you guys had seen this, but the Smithsonian (of all places) has created an exhibition called ‘The Art of Video Games’:

The Art of Video Games exhibition will explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects, the creative use of new technologies, and the most influential artists and designers. This website offered participants a chance to vote for 80 games from a pool of 240 proposed choices in various categories, divided by era, game type and platform. Voting took place between February 14, 2011 and April 17, 2011. The exhibition will be on display at the museum from March 16, 2012 through September 30, 2012.

It’s been ages since I’ve been back to the Smithsonian, but I might go just to see this. The last I checked this page – you can tell it’s been awhile – they had yet to select the winners. Now that they have, I’m quite elated at some of the choices. Earthworm Jim did indeed have very striking visuals, if I may say so myself.

Your thoughts on the selections?