Ok, so I suck at updating this blog.
A few weeks ago I attended the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)’s bi-annual meeting. This year it was at Hilversum, The Netherlands!
Penny Arcade Expo PAX11, Aug 26-28, 2011
So, like last year, I was in a panel this year at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)!
It was me, Chris Paul (Seattle U), Roger Altizer (U of Utah), Nathan Dutton (Ohio U), Todd Harper (MIT GAMBIT), and Shawna Kelly (USC/Intel).
While last year we presented a general overview and introduction to games studies/games research in academia to people who may be interested in games as a career but don’t want to go into the games industry, this year we each had five minutes to share where we’re at and what we do and then share the work of someone else in the field that we like.
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning July 4-8, 2011 in Hong Kong
So this post is overdue, and in the interest of just giving an update, I’ll write quickly.
I went to Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in early July. Saw a lot of people. Robin joined me for part of it, and we shopped for toys and nail polish together, sometimes with Cynthia D’Angelo. We went to the horse races (which was totally rad). I had some very, very awesome breakfasts (dim sum type buns) from a hole-in-the-wall across the street from my hotel with Ben DeVane and Ben Shapiro.
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| From CSCL 2011 |
I got a book deal!!! Leet Noobs: The Life and Death of an Expert Player Group in World of Warcraft
Actually, I got it a while back; signed the contract some time in April I think. The draft was due to Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, the series editors, on August 1. Colin just emailed me and a Peter Lang Publishers person that they think it’s good to go!
I just need to reformat, edit it a bit for informal/formal consistency, move footnotes to endnotes, etc. (It comes from my dissertation but is different in some significant ways.)
Working with Colin and Michele has been a total joy. (very smooth and similar experience to publishing something in their journal E-Learning)
After the whole process is over, I’ll do a write-up of it here. Just as with getting a PhD, how to get a book published is completely opaque to people who’ve never done it before, yet everyone who’s done it doesn’t seem to realize that at all…
Family reunion in Hawaii
Yes, I know… not nice to brag. Beach party on Oahu with 4 generations, Kilauea Military Camp in Volcano National Park with younger sub-group, and snorkeling Kona with Robin (and hanging out with cousin Leo’s family for one excellent dinner).
It was great seeing grandma there (she’s the oldest family member). Also great to see nephew Timo!
I love my family and each reunion reminds me how awesome it is. Next reunion is set to be either in Vancouver or Taipei!
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| Hawaii Hsu Family Reunion 2011 |
Wow, I remember thinking Rob Liefeld’s sense of anatomy sucked… and I wasn’t the only one!
It’s been like 20 years since Rob Liefeld made a name with X-Force or whatever. I remember loving McFarlane’s Spider-man and wondering how Marvel could hire both McFarlane and Liefeld at the same time. Thank god Jim Lee was around, too. I remember hearing that Liefeld had taught himself how to draw and never took an anatomy class and thinking “well, no shit!” It’s completely inexplicable that he could get a prominent job in the comics industry.
Anyway, I found this blog post on Progressive Boink about the 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. It’s from 2007, but it’s new to me! Read this early on and decided to link to it here before reading the rest of the write-up:
The most important thing you need to know before reading about all the terrible things Rob Liefeld has drawn is that he has never seen or talked to a woman in his life and has no idea what they look like or how their bodies operate. If you asked Rob Liefeld to draw a diagram of the uterus he’d put on a pair of gauntlets and punch the shit out of your chalkboard. This is how the man operates, and though I know it sounds like a lot, you have to believe me. I don’t want you looking at the stuff he’s drawing and think he’s a conscious adult male with a creative job who can and has influenced the minds of young artists. The man is a pair of blue jeans with a face. He has on a backwards cap, and when he turns it around, it’s still backwards.
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