How We Played the Game: The SPI "Infomercial"

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Courtesy of John Cooper on ConsimWorld, we have this “infomercial” (and, indeed, there’s not really any other way to describe it) created by SPI, one of the powerhouses of wargame design and publishing in the 1970’s:

The footage was apparently taken from a set of video tapes about Strategy and Tactics magazine (video reviews of the individual issues, according to a review of the set) by Big Bear Productions.

As far as explanations of wargaming go, this film succeeds in presenting the basics to laypeople and could serve the same expository function today as it did some thirty-five odd years ago, except maybe for the hairstyles and wide collars and all the smoking.

The segment about two minutes in, with stop-motion animation of counters marching across a map, is particularly effective—especially when a cavalry counter literally gallops across a bridge.

Several gaming faux pas exist in the film, however, most notably the rolling of dice on the map itself and the presence of open beverages on the gaming surface. Given that the footage seems to have been taken in SPI’s headquarters, though, I’d imagine that, in the event of a soaking, replacement counters and maps were but a room away…

Station to Station: Bergen to Oslo on Film

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This, then, is the brilliance of publicly-funded television: Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) produced a documentary of the train ride from Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, to Oslo, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the Bergensbanen. But rather than an overview of the route, they showed the whole thing—the entire seven plus hour journey.

Bergensbanen on flickr.com by abbilder via a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License

This, too, then, is the brilliance of publicly-funded television: more than a million Norwegians watched it.

Or maybe this, then, is the brilliance of publicly-funded television: NRK has released the footage they took from the front of the train to the public under a Creative Commons license.

Now we want to give the material to our viewers, the whole thing, for download.

The documentary had picture-in-picture clips with videos about Bergensbanen, a reporter interviewing people on the train, music and two cameras pointing to the sides of the train. Because of rights, we had to remove the music and many videoclips, so we decided to make a clean frontcamera version for this download.

The footage is a real gift and an example of a public institution serving the public.

(Via Boing Boing, via Espen Andersen)

(Image courtesy of abbilder via a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License.)

Thankful for . . . TastyPies!

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In the spirit of this most American of holidays, I give thanks for a delivery of TastyPies—including the elusive Seasonal Pumpkin TastyPie—fresh from a Center City Philly Wawa:

So very fresh and moist and lovely!

TastyPies are, of course, best at the peak of freshness, so no need to examine the nutritional contents panel, especially on Thanksgiving. If you have TastyPies at home, just enjoy.

Happy 46th, Doctor Who

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Wired points out that today, November 23rd, marks the 46th anniversary of the first airing of Doctor Who, with BBC viewers tuning in at 5:15 P.M. to catch “The Unearthly Child,” the first episode of the first story, “100,000 BC,” in which two schoolteachers unwittingly stumble upon a Time Lord and are kidnapped for their curiosity.

Logo from 1963 to 1967

According to Howe, Stammers, and Walker’s Doctor Who: The Handbook: The First Doctor, only 4.4 million people can claim to have been with the Doctor from the beginning, the first episode coming in at 114th out of 200 shows that week. A repeat airing of the pilot, shown as a lead-in to the second episode the next week, did marginally better, climbing to 85th and 6 million viewers.

The show’s continued existence was, indeed, in doubt after this disappointing debut, the combination of poor ratings and high effects budgets potentially dooming the Doctor to be a footnote in the BBC’s broadcast history, until the Dalek’s appeared and decided to, ahem, Exterminate! all doubts…

So, happy anniversary, Doctor Who! Here’s to many more.

(Image from the BBC Doctor Who site.)

Cthulhu Primer: A Guide to Lovecraft

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When the stars are right, when mighty Cthulhu has risen (even in adorable plush form), and when the color beyond space is flashing in your eyes, you know you’re in H.P. Lovecraft country. It’s easy to get lost there.

Risen from R'lyeh again and sort of hungry.

Thankfully, science fiction superblog io9.com has provided those who seek to put their sanity to the test with a roadmap to the works and worlds of H.P. Lovecraft:

You’ve heard about Cthulhu, and you’ve probably heard about the man who created this tentacled horror, H.P. Lovecraft. Now you want to try delving into the world of Lovecraft, but where to start? Let us help you.

As with their earlier guides to Blake’s 7 and the Culture novels of Iain M. Banks, io9 does a nice job of providing an approach to entering the complicated and delightful Cthulhu Mythos through a variety of media, including the all-important Call of Cthulhu role playing game.

I would add Fantasy Flight Games’ Arkham Horror series of co-operative board games to the list of essential Mythos works. Any game where everyone can lose definitely captures the spirit of Lovecraft’s world.

Fan-a-Delphia: An Analysis of Philadelphia Sports Fans

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Phillies World Series Pep Rally: Franklin Square by Vincent J. Brown on flickr.com, via a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.With all four of Philadelphia’s professional sports teams in action at present, Philadelphia sports fandom is in full swing, pass, dribble, and slap shot. And with most eyes on the Phillies and their quest for a repeat World Series championship against the Yankees, the New York Times has posted a nice piece on the essential character of the Philadelphia fan.

Mike Tanier’s “In Philadelphia, Heroes With a Lunch Pail” (Saturday, October 31, 2009) proposes the “Schmidt-Schultz Fan Appreciation Axis,” with the cooly reliable Mike Schmidt, a star by any measure, less appreciated than Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, who helped the Flyers win consecutive Stanley Cups with his grit (and his fists):

Most cities would treasure Mike Schmidt, a three-time most valuable player who led the Phillies to their first World Series title. Philly old-timers, however, swear that Schmidt stank in the clutch, his 548 home runs somehow producing only 274 runs batted in.

Philly fans preferred Greg Luzinski, a portly slugger who played left field like a brontosaurus flailing in a tar pit. Schmidt was aloof and sensitive, Luzinski flabby and fun.

While Mike Tanier interjects a few incendiary jabs typical of most writing about Philadelphia sports fans—”Philadelphia’s most beloved sports legends provided hooliganism and success”—the article nonetheless provides a fair look at the social and emotional context surrounding sports’ finest, most passionate fans.

(Image courtesy of Vincent J. Brown via a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.)