No game this week Rally round!

...Sunday's my Mom's birthday. See y'all next week.
Last weekend, I built a hak resource that contains over a hundred creature models. (100+!) Lots of those were from the massive CODI pack release a couple weeks ago. As always, I start the weekend with a laundry list of desired changes, with comically little time to execute them. The focus this week will probably be systematic changes, again. The hakpak will be posted on the Vault sometime tomorrow. I hope to see your virtual-selves on Sunday!
Update: Okay, I've uploaded the hak file. It's a four-part self-executing RAR, so download all four parts into a directory and then run the EXE. By the way, has everybody seen these screenshots from the upcoming Tir-Na-Nog release?

Bad at Sports

This blog/podcast site suddenly started sending me announcements of their show to an old electronic mail account. I was suspicious at first, but must say that the discussions about art and specifically the definition of a "Chicago Art Scene" are thoughtful and relevant to a large variety of contexts both inside and outside that city.

Would it not be great if all SPAM was about art dialogue instead of trying to sell you Viagra and sketchy real estate financing?

This episode, which is an interview with the Chicago painter Wesley Kilmer was my introduction to the site. He goes on a bitterly aggressive rant about the state of affairs in Chicago regarding art that borders on heroic. He not only cites nearly every criticism that led to me abandoning Chicago but also name drops artists that through personal interaction were very positive influences for me such as Kerry James Marshall and Susan Doremus.

The interview starts out a bit slow and unfocused, but when it gets going biting judgements are clearly articulated surrounding different aspects of the wobbly art scene in Chicago such as:

The role of art dealers.
The mediocre work that tends to dominate the galleries.
The rise and fall of the ArtChicago trade fair.
Lacklustre arts education.
Attempts at challenging these dilemna through art community collective action is discussed briefly as well, both physical and virtual.

Link.

"I Am Drugs"

Manhattan downgraded to stripmall

[Earlier in the quoted entry, the author discusses the ommission of a planned "Drawing Center" (a museum of historical drawings, essentially) from the Ground Zero site, as well as the planned "Freedom Center", a kind of feel-good entertainment geared exhibit about the globalization by way of the shiny-side-of-the-coin, as well as uncontroversial achievements of America, like the Civil Rights movement.]

Still, it was unsettling to open the New York Times last Friday morning and read—right next to a bittersweet piece on Truman Capote that evoked an earlier Manhattan, a lost Manhattan of Breakfast-at-Tiffany's and Black-and-White Balls—that just one day after Gov. Pataki gave the heave-ho to the cultural group, his chief of staff announced plans for a half-million square feet of retail spaceat Ground Zero, and that the business-community breakfast where the plan was discussed—held at the un-Tiffany-like Sheraton Hotel—was attended by "a table full of Wal-Mart executives," eager to emphasize "their commitment to building in New York City." The chairman of Port Authority, which owns the site, denied that the agency was "planning a big Wal-Mart"; but disillusioned observers of Ground Zero—and aren't we all?—might still wonder whether the biggest store on the planet will prove demonically persuasive. Talk about the high cost of low price."

Link to ArtsJournal's architecture weblog, Pixel Points

I've always enjoyed living in cities far more than living in sprawl. But I fear the economies of scale of the big box stores may rot-out our metropolises. It only took them ten years to do it everywhere else.
Retail is about to be promoted from a major symbol and past-time of America, to the status of its only important edifice. Is urbanism, threatened by a vastly improved transportation and communications infrastructure, in its death throws? I say, "Yes."

Prepare for the onslaught...

Alex just gave me the heads-up that the City of Doors Initiative just released a 40 creature pack. It's stupendous, I am a happy boy. Link.

Basket

I am not saying that I am smart by the "Big Brain" above. It is just how I cope with a very large head. It's kind of like Magneto's hat but instead I keep the thoughts in.

Wow.

I find Frank Auerbach to be a very eloquent painter. I've been stuck working two jobs, and being the custodian of a pocket dimension, so I didn't get up to Manhattan to see his most recent show. But I've enjoyed the fallout of images and articles tremendously.
Link to a "Variable Light" feature on the Tate Modern's site, via Artcyclopedia.
Link to a large Spanish archive of Auerbach's work.

D.R.O.D.

Deadly Rooms of Death is a well executed shunting-puzzle game, and is free to download from the author's site. (There is a Linux version, as well.) Link, found on Abandonia.

Mixed Grill

when it comes to a BBQ volume is very important, also "Mixed Grill" does not include vegies as seen from above

I have 4 days to learn how to BBQ...

Any tips?

Dragonforce!

If you crave over-the-top metal about fantasy-worlds, Dragonforce is where it's at! It's a pedigree of Maiden and the NES Megaman sountrack. Absurdism on par with Alfred Jarry!
Link.

The Pirate Bay Strikes Back

Apparantly the Pirate Bay's server was raided by Swedish police after pressure by the United States government. Three days later they are defiantly back online and the free distribution of all types of media continues, possibly on servers in a new country. The new logo is a nice touch.
Link.

Watch this trailer. The target demographic is toddlers. I think I saw Biz Markie in it . . .
Link.

Brought to you by Boing Boing.

myspace

i cant stop. i feel sick.