Dungeons & Desktops is a very rich and detailed look at the history of computer role-playing games. Matt Barton takes us on an extensive journey, beginning with the genre’s roots in tabletop games, to its early years on mainframes and BBSs. We’re then given a tour of some of the most beloved CRPGs of all time, such as Richard Garriott’s Ultima series (a personal favorite) and The Bard’s Tale. Barton even explores Japanese console RPGs, as their explosive popularity with gamers in the 90s has had an acute effect on modern CRPGs. The book concludes with the future of CRPGs in the form of persistent massively multiplayers, such as World of Warcraft.

What makes D&D (hah!) a treasure is that Barton doesn’t just pay attention to the hits and genre influencers, but also the misses, such as Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (which Barton calls the worst CRPG ever) and games which never got their due, such as the great Planescape: Torment. The MMORPG section could have used some better fact checking (e.g. EverQuest’s realm is called Norrath, not Narrath, and Asheron’s Call 2 was shut down years ago), but otherwise the book is quite spot on.

Fans of gaming history will really appreciate this book and may rediscover some long-forgotten classics. I know I have. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some Universe.

after ryan…

and in no order…

• Joust
• Seven Cities of Gold
• TIme Pilot
• Temple of Apshai
• Ultima II
• Satan’s Hollow
• …

screw it, here’s a big list off my facebook page…

Tempest, Ms Pacman, Ultima Online, Zork, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, anything by Infocom, Adventure, Asteroids, Popeye, Chip’s Challenge, Burgertime, Zelda, Super Street Fighter 2, Krusty’s Super Fun House, Donkey Kong Jr., Dragon’s Lair, Galaga, Punch Out, Ghosts and Goblins, Joust, Satan’s Hollow, Pitfall, Lemmings, Miner 2049er, Pirates! (the original, tho the remake is ok), Seven Cities of Gold (the original), Sim City (all of them), Sim Earth, Oblivion, Hidden Agenda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Agenda_%28game%29), Spy Hunter, Tron, Time Pilot, Defender, Zeus: Master of Olympus, Populous, Pandemonium, Tomb Raider, Mario Kart, Castlevania IV, Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate, Ultima II, Civilization 2/3/4, Alpha Centauri, Welltris, Pokemon and Pokemon Pinball, Mario 64, Silent Service, Ghostbusters, Karate Champ, Shadowrun, Pinball Construction Set, Pipe Dream, Star Wars (coin op), Temple of Apshai, Dragon’s Lair, Emperor Dune, Dune II, Montezuma’s Revenge, Mr. Do!, Pole Position II, Crazy Climber, Tutankham, Zaxxon, Elevator Action

Despite author Mort Zachter’s frustrations at his own family, who are the subject of this book, Dough is a heartwarming tale of discovery and understanding.

Uncles Harry and Joe run a bakery in New York’s Lower East Side. They don’t actually bake — they sell day-old bread. Open 7 days a week, including blizzards, Joe and Harry close the shop only for the high holy days. To most, including Zachter, they appear to be extremely poor, hardworking men struggling to make ends meet. Zachter’s parents certainly are: they live in a one bedroom apartment where a young Mort is forced to sleep in the kitchen, his head cooled on hot summer days only by the fridge he uses as a headboard.

The truth about Harry and Joe is that their penny-pinching ways have resulted in them being multi-millionaires, a fact Zachter learns only after Uncle Harry (Joe being long dead) moves in with Zachter’s parents, who care for him as Alzheimer’s takes hold of the beloved joke-telling uncle. A chance phone call and a case of mistaken identity results in Zachter learning about Harry’s account of $1 million from a broker. He quickly discovers that there is at least $5 million more.

Zachter takes us on his journey of discovery. We are taken back to the glory days of the bakery, where even his mother, Helen, works for break, cakes and cookies as payment. Zachter struggles with the truth of his uncles’ wealth, resenting the fact that while his own family struggled to survive and he, as an adult, struggled financially to support his own family, his uncles never helped to relieve their family of their financial burdens.

Dough is wonderfully written, easy to read and quite absorbing. We never do learn how Harry and Joe really did make their millions, and on occasion the question does tug on the reader’s mind. But that’s the point: Zachter doesn’t know either, and as many questions linger for him as they do for us.

Getting Into Guinness is a fascinating look at not just the history of the Guinness Book of Records, but also author Larry Olmsted’s tales of two attempts to break records of his own. We’re told of Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of Guinness (the brewery) and his interest in producing a book filled with trivia that could be used to settle factual disputes in British pubs. We’re also told about twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, trivia obsessives who became the first editors of The Book. Olmsted also shares the tale of the most official Guinness record holder, Ashrita Furman, who has done everything from finger snapping his way into the record book to doing forward rolls on the same path Paul Revere took to warn the American revolutionaries of the coming of the British.

Each of the above, including the author’s stories, are fascinating tales of human endurance and drive, and Olmsted does a wonderful job exploring the fascinating world of record breaking… but there’s a problem. Olmsted, while obviously a talented writer, seems too used to writing for magazines. At times the book feels as if it is an extended magazine article meant to inspire the reader to go for the record of sitting on the toilet while reading a rag. That’s not to say that Getting Into Guinness is boring — it’s not at all. It just seems as if Olmsted padded his word count by being repetitive creatively. We’re treated to a number of facts repeatedly, almost to the point of ad nauseam. Olmsted also opts to tell some truly fascinating record stories in the appendix, when they would be much better served in the main portion of the book.

Padding and repetition aside, Getting Into Guinness is a wonderful read and is recommended to all trivia lovers.

Chicago is the first novel I’ve read by Alaa Al Aswany, Egypt’s best-selling author, dentist and political activist. Chicago tells the tale of a number of Egyptian medical students studying in Chicago on an Egyptian government scholarship, several expatriates, and Americans. The themes are as vast as the great city: racism, prejudice, class, love, religion, politics.

Chicago’s greatest strength is that it presents to the American reader a glimpse into a culture that is not only foreign to (most of) us, but on that has been distorted by the media. Aswany surprised me, particularly on two of the above themes: sex/love and politics. I never expected a novel geared towards a predominantly Muslim audience to be sexually promiscuous (with sharia consequences, of course), nor one that would so openly criticize Egypt’s current despotic administration, the effects of which are displayed heavily in the novel, particularly with Nagi, an Egyptian student-poet who was once a political detainee, and General Shakir, a convincingly evil and sadistic part of the secret police machinery who takes pleasure in the human rights violations he commits. Another character of note is Shaymaa, a devout Muslim woman student who falls in love with fellow student Tafiq, and is faced with the needs of love and the conflicts in brings with her religious upbringing.

The problem with Chicago is the translation, especially during the first fifty or so pages of the novel. Much of it makes Chicago seem like amateur fiction, as if Aswany was writing a short story for a fiction workshop at some community center. The translation is clumsy and stiff, and at times I found myself wondering if I should bother finishing the book.

Ultimately, what won me over is Aswany’s presentation of his own culture, particularly the way in which the predominance of Islam influences the choices the characters make, in addition to Aswany’s strong and daring political views. Had the translation been better I might have given this 3.5 or 4 stars, however, once can’t really escape the effects of a poor translation when considering the quality of fiction.

woodward avenue, ridgewood queens… where i grew up:

a view of my block in cambria heights, queens:

Hunter College apparently sent out emails requesting personal information to be sent to them by students. But, while they did in fact send out these emails, they will never ever ask for your personal information via email! *scratches head*

Over Memorial Day weekend, an e-mail request for personal information, including social security numbers, was sent to a number of Hunter students. After an extensive investigation, we determined that the e-mail was sent in error. All responses were received directly by the College; absolutely no third parties had or will have access to them.

We nevertheless regret the error and want to assure all students that their security is extremely important to us. Hunter College will never ask you to provide personal information via e-mail. You should never respond to any e-mail request for personal information, particularly your social security number.

If you are ever in any doubt as to the validity of a request, you should contact our staff at (212) 650-EMAIL or (212) 650-3624.

Franklin Steen
Chief Information Officer
Hunter College

me calling doctor: hi dina (receptionist), it’s misty. dr. so-and-so told me that if i wasn’t better to bring in a stool sample. is anytime tomorrow fine?

dina: yeah, sure. i’m here 9 to 5 but if i’m out to lunch you can just leave it on my desk.

me: um, i really don’t want to leave literal shit on your desk.

i’m sick and i find this funny. bite me =P

“hi, i’m calling to speak to mitsy”

“misty, speaking”

“hi i’m [so-and-so] from Highland Care Center calling about your grandmother. the nurse was looking over your grandmother and she noticed her right toe was falling off so i put in a referral for the podiatrist so they can cut the toe off.”

“wait, what? do you mean her toe or her toenail?”

“oh, i’m sorry, her toe nail.”

“okay, just so you know, you scared the shit out of me =P”

no one liked my less-than-24-hour Twitter feed post experiment so I removed it from the site. pussies

• M.I.A., “Bamboo Banga”
• Flobots, “Handlebars”
• Foxboro Hot Tubs, “Alligator”
• Jason Mraz, “The Dynamo of Volition”
• The Mighty Lemon Drops, “Inside Out”

• sleep
• wish for death
• spend too much time on the toilet
• wish for foods you can’t eat right now
• ignore reality, embrace delirium
• drink plenty of fluids
• release plenty more fluids
• constantly take temperature and blood pressure
• sleep some more

i just sent this email to my parents, as mom was interested in the Kindle and was the inspiration for me getting one for myself:

okay… so, i was able to port a PDF i had to read for class onto the kindle sans drm. it does allow for non-DRM files. like you, Bent, I think DRM is extremely evil and must be destroyed.

i’ve been wasting a shitload of money printing out my reading materials for class (paper, 2 changes of color and b&w cartridges oy!), and being able to have a large digital page that where i can highlight important text is very useful to me. kindle stores these highlights in a file called “clippings”… i haven’t investigated it yet but if my “clippings” can be downloaded onto my computer this will save me even more time when it comes to pushing my reading notes to my Hunter class/notes wiki. i think in the long run i’ll save both money and trees

the power button is stupidly placed, in the back of the unit. because the (very large) page next and page prev buttons are on both sides of the unit, it’s super easy to accidentally “turn the page” while trying to turn the unit off! the work around i’ve discovered for this is to hit the home button to return to my content menu and then turning off the unit so i don’t wind up losing my place

i’m also accidently pressing the VERY LARGE page buttons, which is annoying. i suspect the kindle isn’t cache-ing the previous and next pages in memory, so it takes about a second to load a page. not too bad (pdf’s did the same thing on the clie, only slower for me). there is an odd page color inversion thing that happens, but it’s not too annoying (again, also saw this sometimes with the clie)

it would be nice if the scroll button worked to turn pages, but it doesn’t

the text is VERY clear and sharp and very easy to read. you can change the text size to Bent and mist teeny tiny font size to very large perfect for Eve size.

i think this would be good for you, ma. the buttons are big and the font adjustment will be perfect for your failing eyesight

oh, the SD card slot is hidden in the back near the battery. the grey back slides out and off without issue, and the wireless download is very good. a little slow pushing from kindle to SD card, but that’s to be expected. also can push content via USB connection (but can’t charge via USB, which is a little disappointing)

so, to sum, my big issues are the page turning buttons and the location of the power switch.

much of the blog of late has been about the grandmother. this is about the grandmother’s home, my home.

towards the end of january the NYC department of buildings paid a visit. there was a complaint that said that i had converted my basement to an illegal apartment. of course this wasn’t the case, and nothing came of it, save the complaint being on record.

exactly one month later i get a second DOB visit. this time the complaint is much more major, that there’s a structural collapse imminent for my backyard deck and that debris is falling into backyards. the deck was not at all collapsing, but i did have work done… the kitchen from hell was remodeled last fall (without a permit, which is illegal, actually) and we left the cabinetry on the deck pending Spring, when the weather is not as cold and the sanitation department is much less pissy about doing heavy lifting. this second visit resulted in a summons (2.21.08) with a cure date for 3.27.08. okay fine. that’s 5 weeks to get it all out.

of course it cost me 500 bucks to clear out the cabinets and shit. that was my house tax money. but the downside is a fine of several THOUSAND DOLLARS, so i think i can be late paying the taxes =P

in the meantime, there’s a second visit for the same exact violation… on 3.20.08, before the first summons is up. it’s not a second violation, it’s just a second summons. this time the dates on the summons are different, with a cure date of 4.24.08. the day after i received the summons, which was posted on my door, i contacted DOB and inquired which i should follow: the first summons/dates or the second. they said that they had neither in the system yet, but that i should follow the second dates. okay.

last week i received a letter from DOB regarding my court date (5.13.08) for the second summons because apparently i missed filling the affidavit that i “cured” the violation. said affidavit was due on 3.27.08… the date on the first summons. the violation number, however, matched the second summons which has the 4.24 date. wtf.

so i called the DOB yet again and inquired about the discrepancy and i had the most confusing conversation i have ever had with a person who is supposed to be part of the human species. from what i could make of the conversation: their computer says 3.27, and i can’t get that changed because the date of violation was 2.21, but then she told me the cure date is 35 business days from when the actual summons is posted on the door. so i told her the summons was posted on 3.20 and she said right, and your cure date is 3.27, to which i replied, is it 35 days or one week for the cure. she responded 35 days. i said okay, so if he posted the summons on 3.20, the cure date is 35 days after that. correct, she said. okay, i say, this means that the actual cure date is 4.24. no, she said, it’s 3.27. she heard several banging noises, which i apologized for. “that was me banging my head on my desk. is there someone there who can make sense with whom i can speak?”

i gave up that notion, and hung up the phone.

then i called the environmental board, which is where the hearing is taking place. they also didn’t have the first summons in their system, and also said that they had a cure date of 3.27 but that i should follow the dates on the summons itself and submit my affidavit by the 24th. she said worse comes to worse i would just go to the hearing with the two summonses, explain the discrepancy to the judge regarding the dates and inform him or her that i’ve filed the affidavit per the summons. that works for me, i told her, and thanked her.

yesterday i gathered up the materials: trust for the house and power of attorney, since the house is Oma’s and not mine, and i’m just the trustee/agent (heck, lord knows if they need it, but i’m not taking chances when $2500 is on the line), before and after photos, the affidavit (notarized) and a sweet letter summing up the cure (not the BS with the dates, i’m saving that for court). i’ll be dropping that off in a few hours in the city.

because of the three visits that i’ve had this year (so far), mom is under the impression that someone is out to get me. that amuses me because normally it’s I who is the paranoid one about such things. but i figured that maybe the complainant is either the neighbor with whom i share the stoop (he’s selling his house, but his backyard is a jungle of 5′ tall weeds, racoons and possum) or the people who like to call the cops on me. it can be either/or, and in the end it doesn’t really matter. i’ve never been keen on the whole neighbor concept, anyways.

but in searching around the DOB site for their location, i noticed that you can see what complaints and violations have been issued on specific buildings. it turns out that on the same day i got inspected for the alleged illegally converted basement, so did the cop callers. and they got cited for a collapsed basement ceiling the very same day that a complaint went in regarding my backyard. makes you wonder, eh?

Update: all resolved. went. waited for my number to be called. handed in all my paper work, proof, etc. then the guy told me that i was passed my cure date and i showed him the summons with the 4.24 date. he simply typed some stuff into his computer, printed out a page, signed it and handed it to me. everything was approved, and i don’t have to go to court. yay.

a week ago I had to readmit my grandmother to the ER as she had once again respiratory failure after being home for just a few days. late last week I found out, after speaking the pulminary specialist at the hospital, that what’s wrong with her is aspiration pneumonia. the short of it: her mushy brain is telling her to send food not to her stomach, but to her lungs.

i spoke with him about options: tracheotomy, feeding tube, etc. and then spoke to my grandmother’s primary care, who is not only my ex-boss, but a long-time friend. and after consulting my mom, i’ve made a decision about my grandmother’s long-term health care.

oma’s coming home. she’ll be getting a feeding tube permanently. once home, I will out-of-hospital DNR (do not resuscitate)  her. the DNR is not an easy option for me to take, and it took a lot of thought and soul searching on my part.

oma’s out of CCU and in a recovery ward atm. i got off the phone with her attending, and he was going to call me in a few days for permission of the perma-feeding tube. he had a CAT scan done, and it didn’t indicate a stroke, but ordered a second one because the results weren’t conclusive.

other than that, go mets =P

it’s been quite a rough two weeks in mistyland.

alicia = car accident/rear-ended. spasms, otherwise okay

oma = hospital: respiratory failure -> UTI that went septic. off respirator, now in recovery from her infection

mom = hospital: mild heart attack,  pleural and pericardial effusion, current cause unknown

jason = traveling to alicia’s to look for work. currently on the road somewhere in middle america.

me = just very strung out stressed bang bang head wtf mood of late wishing i still sucked my damn thumb

we’ll survive =P

overnight i added a lot of the old friends from my college days (round one, heh) at Hunter, and if they look at my profile, they’ll notice that i’m back at the old stomping grounds. so i figured i’d fill in a little holes here and there.

i first left college without filing for my diploma. i was of the age where i felt it was worthless to me, and found several high-paying jobs that pretty much proved that i don’t need a diploma to get by in life. in 2000 the net bubble burst and i wound up unemployed and in virginia at christmastime, very much broke. i returned to nyc with my tail between my legs, and unable to find work (the ny market was super bad), i started caring for my grandmother, an alzheimer’s patient, full time.

five years pass, and i’m itching for something to do. i decided to not only get my theatre degree, but to add media studies to the list as well. since i care full time for my grandmother (who’s health has degenerated badly since moving in), i only take 2 classes a semester. i’ve been at hunter since spring 2007, and i feel very old surrounded by all these wacky young kids who think that i’m 10-15 years younger than i am. bless them and may they all get A’s.