New Book: Panda Apples

3 Comments

by MCM in Books / April 30th, 2008

Short Version:  New book!  Download here, or you can buy a hard copy if you prefer.

Mid-size Version: “Panda Apples” is a book about a young bear named Owen whose second cousin, Panda, comes to visit. Panda seems like a mild-mannered boy, but whenever he eats his fruity snack at the end of the day, things go… well, a little bit crazy.

The book may or may not be an allegory to the tendency of certain members of society to blame violence and/or anarchy on certain activities (say, visual entertainment of an interactive nature). Regardless, it is dedicated to a man you may have heard about, named Jack T, who is my hero. Ahem.

Long Version:  Those of you who have been around this blog since before it got silly [cough hack sputter -ed.] may remember back in the summer of 2006, I talked about a book called “Panda Apples”.  You may also remember that the book was not actually released “real soon now” as promised.

While I won’t get into why it wasn’t done (on the advice of my attorney, and because I’m plum out of chainsaws), I will say this: good writing takes time.  And mine does too.

Thusly, I present to you a collaboration between myself and the formidable Mr Len Peralta of Jawbone Radio and Monster By Mail.  Len is, I am sure you can tell by the thumbnail, quite genius with a pen, and he has vastly improved my meagre story with some of the most whimsical artwork you will ever see.  [we have no idea what "whimsical" means -ed.]

Both Len and I hope you very much enjoy the book, and if you do, be sure to tell everyone you know.  The book is downloadable under a Creative Commons Share-Alike Non-Commercial license, and also available in papery form from Lulu.com.

P.S.  If you are interested in translating the book into your local language, drop me a line and I will send you the RTF source.  I’ll try and remember to upload the actual file when I get back from my trip on a flying deathtrap.

Jack Thompson v Halo 3

No Comments

by MCM in Opinion / September 24th, 2007

What a morning already! Via the article on Slashdot comes an article on GamePolitics.com about how Jack Thompson is trying to get Halo 3 declared a public nuisance! Basically, he wants to use legislation (aimed at closing down brothels and rowdy gambling joints) to stop a video game from being released. I can understand why… there’s always been a very real danger of kids dressing up in armoured suits and shooting aliens with sci-fi weaponry, and THIS GAME MAKES IT SEEM LIKE FUN!

Bastards. Those Bungie guys… what were they THINKING? Alas, poor Covenant… I knew them, Horatio!

The thing in the article at GP that doesn’t actually work for me is this:

More troubling by far are the long term implications of this action. Thompson apparently feels emboldened to invoke Florida’s public nuisance law against any video game he desires to target. That is the essence of censorship and the video game industry cannot allow it to continue on any number of grounds – legal, moral or creative.

I would have to say that the video game industry needs to let ol’ Jacky-boy have his fun, because the only thing that will finally shut him up, is for him to ruin his credibility so often that no news organization will print his name ever again (nay, not even when reporting his inevitable disbarment), and he can reflect upon his life with a lonely bottle of whiskey as the world goes to pot around him. Or something like that.

But my point is: don’t try and shut Jack Thompson up. He is his own worst enemy, and it’s much more entertaining to see him dig his own grave.