The Lost Game

It was a hot summer day when my then girlfriend and myself got into my car and drove off to Best Buy. The purchase that was going to be made was a brand new Xbox system. By the time I was buying this square black box the system had already been out for some time but was still new enough that there was a hype and buzz about it. A few hours after later my girl and I were in front of the television playing Halo and mindlessly letting the hours slip away just like many other twenty somethings at the time.

This was the first system that I had actually gotten into since my brother had recieved as a present the super Nintendo some years back. Video games had significantly changed from the Super Nintendo to the Xbox but I changed also. Rather than ride the wave of the future, video games disappeared from my hobbies for many years until I was turned onto the Xbox by a friend and my cousin. But there was another game "system" that did preoccupy my time, sometimes more often than not. That "system" was the war-game.

The war-game is not like a board-game, but it can have a board. The war-game surpasses leisure and becomes a boot camp for the brain and an analytical labyrinth. The war-game finely sharpens the competitive edges of the soul and enhances the depths of history. But the war-game is also an outsider and those who dare enter its' realm have to face the repercussions of being a part of it.

The relationship with the war-game has always been a tricky one. There is a sense that playing any type of war-game is hanging onto the past and living in a hyperbole of history. In fact many people that I know who are younger than me dare even touch the box of a war-game. And for those curious enough to browse through a games contents, the realization that you actually have to know rules to play the game properly is a complete turn off. It is so easy to turn on a video game and just start playing. Convenience has replaced the war-game, and the luster of technology replacing the imagination of cardboard.

But now there is the Xbox 360 and the ability to game with people via the internet. For those who have done this I'm sure you know of the gamut of gamers who exist. Those who's competitive edge is win at all cost and there are those who's failure to accept loss brews hatred and spite. The Xbox 360 is fun to play but there are those times, and they are very few, when friends and family get together and sit down to play a war-game. The hours pass unknowingly but camaraderie is built, character formed and an appreciation for each other is gained. When failure comes, sure we can say the dice beat us and when the unexpected is achieved we try to believe that was what was planned all along. Long live the war-game.

Best Soup Ever?

We all have a favorite food. There's that one thing that you can go to when you're feeling down or just needing to satisfy that one spot of your belly that just doesn't seem to not be hungry. For myself, I'm a soup guy. I firmly believe that soup is not a meal, if anything an appetizer, but for me it's pure delight. I've had allot of soup in my time and over the years I've had to say farewell to some soups for my stomach and their content could not agree with each other.

I've had many soups over the years and it's hard to peg which one is my favorite. Chicken noodle is the bedrock of all soups and nothing compares to a hearty chicken noodle. In fact Aubrey makes yummy chicken noodle. Then there's Wonton soup, which in my belief is imperative whenever one eats chinese food. Sure you can go with the Egg drop (yuck!) but a large Wonton soup is the chaser for the main dish. There's also the chowder dishes. Especially Aubrey's Clam Chowder (which has gone under the moniker of Big Fat Loser Clam Chowder after the Patriots lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants) which is the best Clam Chowder I have ever tasted. Sadly my stomach can no longer visit Manhattan but if memory serves me right that was a pretty darn good soup.

The best? There is one soup that every time I eat I wait in expectation like a child on christmas day for it to be brought to me. Not a drop is left in the bowl, the spoon licked dry. That soup is Cream of Turkey. I have not seen this soup anywhere else in my travels, then again I don't like to travel far from the soup. If I were to ever move from central NJ I feel as if I would have to visit monthly just for the soup. The Cream of Turkey is golden and may very well have been the mysterious Manna in the book of Exodus. (Ok, maybe not.)

Many attempts have tried to replicate the soup but all have fallen short, the deliciousness alluding the cook. If there were ever a food I would have genetically broken down it would be this one. What savory flavors are added to make a soup so tasteful? What mystery's of culinary expertise have been tapped into to create such a soup?

The cream of turkey is so good the most I've ever had in one sitting is 8 bowls. And that wasn't even my meal, cause soups not a meal! If I were to ever be stuck on an island with one food choice it may very well be the cream of turkey soup. If you are ever in the central jersey area I can show you where to get this soup but beware your life may never be the same after having it.

Reprieve

For too long I was in the shadows of a final paper for a graduate class on ideas in media studies. And now that I am out of that shadow all I can say is, "Wow that light is really bright." The spring 2009 semester is finished and in a few months another ton of work awaits me.

Many of you may know that I and the wife have moved further into Middlesex (the smell emanating from Dunellen was just too much to take, jk) and are setting things up nicely. Even though we don't own the place and are pesky renters we still get to have the responsibilities as if we did own the place. In some odd way there is a cyclical rhythm that travels through my brain and makes me think about the concept of a house.

We've got houses upon houses in the U.S of A, so many that there are many places where they're just sitting empty where as in other places there are tents that people are living in. Don't have to go too far for that in NJ. And of course many places around the world there are houses made of refuse, land features and for some, the only roof there is are the stars above.

But I guess for all of us the only house we've really got is the earth, there's enough space for all of us, with rooms with temperatures of whatever we like and if you prefer a water bed we got 4 oceans just waiting for you. The little place I live in now is so far so good. I don't want to trash it in any way or abuse the structure in any way but for some reason the greater house that I've got isn't treated the same way as this little place in Middlesex.

I don't know about you but I wouldn't defecate in the glass I was about to drink out of or dump my garbage in all over someone else's house but in a way we all kind of do that. Then I think about what this one person said;

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

I don't think those pioneers in American history ever did this, nor do I think the pilgrims did that upon their arrival. I'll just wonder if there's something more to this.

The power of protest

For some time now the New School University has been in a struggle between the students and the President of the college Bob Kerrey. For those located in the New York tri-state area maybe you have seen some of the small news coverage of said protests. For as many protests and sit ins and the such there has been little to no movement from the President (besides being chased down 5th avenue).

Yesterday, in a silent announcement, Bob Kerrey said he would not renew his contract with the school in 2011. The board of Trustees, student senate and everyone else now try to figure out how to transition to a new president. There is no denial that the growing protests and frustrations with the administration are evidence enough of Kerrey's willingness to not renew his contract. But I wonder, is this evidence of protest having an impact to cause change, or is it the establishments victory through time?

Since we well into 100 days of a new presidency we have moved on from the former president of this country who, as we all know, was a great polarizer of the people. Yet for all of protesters demands of the former president, he graciously handed over the keys to our current president and flew out of Washington D.C. without even looking back. Did the protester's win? Did they get their way by getting the polarizer out of office?

With the New School president moving on after 2011 there will be some jubilee for those who have been in opposition to Bob Kerrey. But did the protests do what they were intended to do? The school has to figure where they will go with student demands and administration policy. As for the government of this nation, the dirty laundry is out on the past administration and what will happen? It is clear to see that nothing will happen. In the end the protester gets what they want but only masked by the civil law that was established by the establishment.

For Marilyn

I'm willing to take the heat from this post but I've got to say that on April 13th a legend passed away, and not the type of legend that many of us are willing to look up to. Her name was Marilyn Chambers, actually Marilyn Ann Briggs. For you see Marilyn Chambers was the performing name of Ms. Briggs. Marilyn became an icon of a different type of cinema, a cinema fraught with many battles and cast into the limelight of cheap sound bites and media exploitation. That cinema is what many people call pornography or adult cinema.

Marilyn got her start in an extra role in the Owl and the Pussycat and then in Sean S. Cunningham's adult sex education film Together. Her first touch of fame came when she was selected to represent the mother on Ivory Soap products.




Marilyn's icon would soon create stirs when she took on her first adult film role in the Mitchell Brothers Behind the Green Door. Marilyn was immediately placed into the spotlight and at the time of Behind the Green Door's release, adult cinema's golden age began with Marilyn Chambers becoming an instant queen of the screen. Unlike other adult film actresses of the time, Marilyn made two films with the Mitchell brothers and then decided to do cross-over into mainstream film. She was cast in David Cronenberg's Rabid as a disease infected temptress that spreads an outbreak that causes people to become zombies. The film would be prophetic in its representation of the growing spread of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. The film would also be the last major mainstream role in which she would play. Which in my view is not a bad thing considering that she returned to adult cinema and put on one of (possibly her best) roles as Sandra Chase in the film Insatiable.

Insatiable was a film that brought a high quality of filmmaking to adult cinema that had always been attempted but many times fell short. The film cost more than most adult films but also created a non-linear narrative that added a sophisticated aesthetic to the film. It is possible that Insatiable is what the adult filmmakers always wanted out of adult films but failed in developing. But just as Insatiable opened the doors to the possibility's of an adult cinema of high aesthetics, that door was shut in the anti-pornography crusades of the 1980's.

Spearheaded by the Moral Majority on the right and feminist groups on the left adult cinemas began to close their doors and fall away from film and into the world of video. Marilyn had few to little choices and continued her career in the video market. With growing concern with AIDS and STD's Marilyn backed away from starring roles in adult films and began starring in softcore cable productions and making guest appearances in adult films.

I got to meet Marilyn Chambers a few years back at a film convention. I wanted to meet the actress that created characters that battled the stereotypes of adult cinemas opponents. She was pleasant and courteous and spoke to me about what it was like working with David Cronenberg and making films. She had guts and she had talent. She was part of a time period of filmmaking that is no longer with us. It is my hope that someday film historians and critics of adult cinema will look back and see how valuable the contributions that Marilyn Chambers has given filmmaking throughout her career.

The Question

Here is a question from a math problem that I found in an old jacket that I used to wear. (In fact it was a Hawks jacket. I was probably the only one in central NJ with one back in 1995 but anyway.)


8. Ingrid takes 4 clients to dinner. the check amounts to $160. She wishes to leave a tip of %15. To find this amount, Ingrid computes %10 of the check. She then takes half of that number. She adds the two numbers.

A. Use a calculator to compute %15 of the check.
B. Compute the tip using Ingrid's method.
C. Compare the answers to A and B and explain why they are the same of different.

(Here is the answer I gave.)

A and B are the same because if you take the two answers and you average them in a combination that can really blow your mind. If you take A and put it to Charles theory you will find that you will get a completely wrong answer. Although there is no Charles Theory I am just proving a point. A is a complicated question. It seems that numbers are numbers and there are so many numbers in the numerical system that if we kept counting we would die before getting to the last number. B is one of the hardest questions in the whole number system.


Hence the reason why I was a terrible math student. Oddly enough I use Ingid's method when computing a tip at a restaurant which I guess in an odd way is me learning something all those years ago. And so the answer to A is $24. B is $24 and they are the same. My only problem is they are different because the methods used to determine %15 of $160 are figured through different means. Sure that's not what the question is asking but it is possible that question C is the very reason why I gave the answer that I did.

The worst college sports school in America?

I just have to share this with everyone who might be reading this blog but after visiting my college website I found an article written by an espn reporter about the worst college sports program in America. Yes, the New School is #1. Part of me chuckles but part of me is embarrassed. I know I'm many things but anyone who knows me knows that I like sports. Not just one or two but lots of sports. I was highly involved in athletics in high-school and have sustained a competitive road running attitude since high-school. Besides that I've been known to sacrifice precious hours of sleep to see the San Jose Sharks play a triple overtime playoff game (only to lose), see the Mets play west coast road trips, and watch Germany battle Brazil in the world cup in Asia some years back.

The New School student body doesn't care so much about sports. There are many people at my school who do occasionally watch a sporting event of some kind and there is a large proportion of students who exercise. But the New School has no football, basketball, soccer, running or anything kind of team. In central New Jersey there is Rutgers University, which in the past few years seems more concerned about certain athletics that certain academics, but the student body comes together over sporting events. Then there is the plethora of intramural activities that Rutgers offers and if you have the time you can make some friends over a simple activity. The New School on the other hand falls short in that respect.

Check out the article by Kieran Darcy and you'll get to learn a little bit about some of the alternative sporting things that the New School has to offer.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=darcy/090216