tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41151072012-01-12T23:35:05.581-08:00Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-69483325101677251652011-11-11T23:10:00.000-08:002011-11-11T23:32:51.265-08:00

Thumbing through The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer, I came across a list of lecture topics Frost had drawn up in 1916, and enclosed as part of a letter to Untermeyer. His price of $50 for 60 minutes translates to about $1000 in relative 2011 currency.That was thirty years prior to those lectures unearthed at Dartmouth. In NPR's coverage they play a recording of one, where Frost says

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-36321566793620172872011-07-27T16:25:00.000-07:002011-07-27T16:30:18.760-07:00

No, there's no reason for this post. None atall.So, well, hello Internet travelers! Hope you're feeling fine!

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-6824871561725988182011-06-04T07:30:00.000-07:002011-06-04T07:49:38.697-07:00

Birds are chirping, laundry is finally bopping around in the machine, I’m drinking coffee from someone else’s cupboard, and this morning there’ll be a parade. Sounds like the start of any good SyFy natural disaster movie. For awhile now I’ve been looking forward to today, and these next few weeks, where I’ll sit in an old familiar house, with its old familiar dog, and hopefully write some things

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-2922994455592488762011-03-09T00:15:00.000-08:002011-07-27T16:22:52.854-07:00

Socrates said that writing killed the memory. Wonder what a harddrive does.It's neat to find yourself snooping through one of many discarded 'documents' folders, only to find a really good poem. At least, one you like. And I personally liked stumbling upon this one:the magic catalyst, knowingnames of elements that color the skytruths that swim behind a friend's eyedynamics of contrivance to let

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-39197308173260294232010-12-27T20:41:00.000-08:002010-12-27T20:57:07.897-08:00

This last week was a good one. I threw and attended some great parties, watched a lot of horror flicks, and did some writing that’s got me fairly-well jazzed. The highlight was probably Christmas eve, where Grandma and I watched Bing Crosby romance some dames.The simultaneously very neat, and very not neat thing about writing as a pseudo-profession, is that it never quite feels like I’m allowed

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-54606382905022992012010-10-28T14:29:00.000-07:002010-10-28T14:50:05.966-07:00

Seattle’s Penny Arcade Expo, which now seems to go by the name PAX Prime, was sufficiently action-packed to deserve its own post. It’s getting the deluxe treatment, in the form of some type of specious games article you’ll be able to find in a bit. It’ll include banter with booth babes, banter with people who created my favorite games ever, banter at sexy parties, and reflections of unadulterated

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-58578320591139579362010-10-25T15:37:00.000-07:002010-10-25T15:49:29.247-07:00

This is not The Promised Post. That I've been legitimately busy (maybe for the first time in my life) makes writing about the past few months evermore the daunting task for one so traditionally lackadaisical. Or lazy, lazy probably works better. I'm indulging the lazydazical side today, sipping hot chocolate in the Seattle drizzle.Yes, this coffee mug moonlights as a cereal bowl.Language is

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-85352645329939938082010-10-17T17:15:00.000-07:002010-10-17T17:18:19.366-07:00

I'll update my CV. Happy now?A lot's happened since my road trip down to Sunny Southern California. I'll make a post about it. Later. Promise.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-28182891903548441452010-08-04T20:02:00.001-07:002010-08-04T20:04:17.662-07:00

I think I'd rather post announcing that I'm not updating my CV, than actually take the time to update my CV.That is all. Thank you.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-4590636871821385092010-06-27T20:12:00.000-07:002011-07-27T16:24:46.361-07:00

Salutations and such. In this installment of neilsclark.com I'll give a modestly sensible accounting of the adventures in Los Angeles, a city which we might otherwise call the 'massively single player game.'I set out in the evening, about 9PM, and drove from Burien, WA, to Morro Bay, CA. With a brief stop of about two hours in between, I arrived at my Co-Author Shavaun's house in the late

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-32380990215698474122010-05-12T12:42:00.000-07:002010-05-12T14:51:43.722-07:00

Amid the heaviest crunch of finals week, only slightly before losing electricity and internet, which occurred only slightly before being prepared to submit the grades online, which was of course far, far before the deadline for submitting the grades online, I learned I'd be speaking on addiction at the 2010 LOGIN conference. There were, functionally, three days to prepare. Maybe four. I gave the

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-21752607921965888072010-04-20T23:54:00.000-07:002010-04-21T00:07:10.915-07:00

With all the usual end-of-semester hustle-and-bustle, an unconventional question, wrapped in song, can't be anything but on my mind:David?Or Nina?'With your kiss my life begins.'

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-10254912598079060192010-04-12T16:29:00.000-07:002010-04-12T16:57:33.404-07:00

It's been awhile since I gave a non-nonsensical interpretation of goings-on.-In early February, Gamasutra published a piece on the physicality of immersion. Initially it was meant to be the first of three, the second exploring psychology of play and the third exploring a values-free discussion of media effects. I'm still looking at doing some very cool interviews for those articles - but they're

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-23019222863372157202010-04-11T23:24:00.000-07:002010-04-11T23:26:46.445-07:00

I’m driving on a thin highway in SeattleWearing an expensive black overcoatAnd a Hawaiian shirt that’s blue, with white plumeriasI look into the black and yellow of a strip mall at nightThere I imagine a young man pushing a grocery cart, a miniature oneHe looks and talks like me, but we’re different peopleA kindly but large black man asks him for the sixteen centsGiven on the way into the 24-hour

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-40748730333242923202010-04-03T16:46:00.000-07:002010-04-03T16:48:16.849-07:00

I’ve seen your poetryLong vines hanging from evesI’ve never been able to read it in eyesTransplant from more arid climesGlare overwhelms like emerald and rubyOversoled in all directions but mineRather than grate my eyes or heart, aspirations are picked apartOne of us knows why I am, one knows whoVines move slow, I stop the followI’m well watered while you strangle and dissect, and you are air,

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-56956890001089422162010-03-23T20:34:00.000-07:002010-03-25T02:50:10.702-07:00

Today, a student stealthily made my banana a happy banana.I couldn't bear to eat him.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-82026992176900632472010-01-04T10:46:00.000-08:002010-01-04T10:49:21.333-08:00

Hello. If you've recently found some odd books in a blue backpack, and then also spotted my name, and then found this website, then email me. I shall reward you handsomely. And of course pick up the books.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-29970127883744646632009-12-08T21:31:00.000-08:002009-12-08T22:41:57.844-08:00

I do so love music. In highschool, me and this guy messed around making wonderfully exotic electronic music. I did toy with the idea of linking the ancient website that still somehow has our music posted, but as it involves me rapping that shall never happen. The world is better without it.My tastes have always been eclectic. Never good, for Chrissakes I started off with Mix Alot and MC Hammer. I

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-81683319887315945042009-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:002009-12-01T10:20:10.965-08:00

This morning the Escapist published issue 230, which included a piece I've been working on for them on Kids and Gaming. When I'm not swimming in a sea of deadlines I'd like to say more, and include some notes on my interviews that couldn't make it into the half-dozen drafts I went through to pound that much information into that tight a piece (I've got to thank Jordan Deam at the Escapist for his

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-45713676012982201962009-11-05T19:25:00.000-08:002009-11-06T01:46:21.552-08:00

Just took my dog out into the year's best windstorm yet. Now he's curled on on the bed next to me, all semi-toweled and smelly. Rudy's his name, and he may well be the greatest canine in existence.I've been meaning to blog it up on a couple counts. Writing has been interesting. I've gone few three casual drafts of this kids-and-gaming piece, doing what I can to add to the conversation while

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-12282449990186815192009-10-12T22:30:00.000-07:002009-10-12T22:40:24.178-07:00

So tonight, in between a little wheel and antiques roadshow, my grandma beat the crap out of me in smash. She beat me to an exact 2:1 ratio - her 36 wins to my 18.Now that Grandma's got the skills, we just need to work on her banter...

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-65113165461785369112009-10-10T17:17:00.000-07:002009-10-10T17:44:55.894-07:00

This last Saturday was 24-hour comic day. It's a neat sort of event where local cartoonists pile into comic shops, trying to compile a full comic over the course of a full day. Below a few members from the Cartoonist's League of Absurd Washingtonians (or CLAW) prepare for battle.But they weren't the only stalwart artists there. The claw picture and the next are via John Munn, who owns Comic Book

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-63583533654240030512009-10-03T18:34:00.000-07:002009-11-04T12:55:29.440-08:00

First off, I’m giving a talk on Game Addiction next week. It’s at my hometown library, the Gig Harbor/Peninsula Pierce County Library, Oct. 6th at 7p.m. The address is 4424 Point Fosdick Drive N.W. It’s more or less an hour drive away if you live in the Seattle area.--Big Trouble in Little ArticlesTen Game Addiction FallaciesToday (ok, so admittedly it's three days ago now) I caught an article on

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-84154279278704811662009-09-10T15:58:00.000-07:002009-09-10T15:59:41.376-07:00

The first videogame for my 93-year-old grandma? Lego Star Wars.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-89023648556992845722009-09-05T20:28:00.000-07:002009-09-05T20:37:26.579-07:00

I've had an aversion to fluffy dogs, most especially little fluffy dogs, most my life. But I also love exceptionally happy dogs. They remind me of the crown jewel of comically ecstatic dogs, my very own black flat-coated retriever Rudy. Someone once said that dogs have about 10 times as much of that chemical - the one that makes you sad when someone's gone and excited to see them again. Rudy has

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-67231340103785584752009-09-01T10:18:00.000-07:002009-09-01T10:58:36.789-07:00

First off, I'm ridiculously sick and drugged. That's not an apology, but rather a cautionary warning that the following grammar or language conventions may deviate somewhat from established norms. I just wanted to tip my hat to two articles from last month, one on 'seeking' from Slate, the other on depression from SciAm. I got both of these via Hilarie Cash. In the depression article, they more

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-69193480660179631972009-08-07T10:34:00.000-07:002009-08-07T11:09:16.357-07:00

A good old-fashioned beatdown. Apparently drill instructors at a Chinese Internet Addiction camp beat to death a sixteen-year-old, Deng Senshan, for running too slow. For godssakes the boy was running! I've been working out daily for two months, but I still have to stop after about a mile and a half (Admittedly I'd gotten pretty bad). Would they not-so-surgically remove my spleen? This is after

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-77882916443695498382009-08-04T12:10:00.000-07:002009-08-04T15:12:48.994-07:00

I think I've gotten too comfortable writing about feelings and events from the perspective of fictitious characters. At a certain point of blasting out kooky characters and odd science fiction, it feels more strange to take all of those details for yourself, distilling them into a representative and satisfying blog post. At least, that's how I feel right now. For the past month or so I've been

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-26597456688425376732009-07-06T16:18:00.002-07:002009-07-06T16:25:31.494-07:00

When my grandma Cora died, I distinctly remember somebody telling me that she wasn't dead. “She's living on in you,” they said. I have no memory who. “As long as you remember her and keep her in your heart, she's never really dead.” I was twelve. I'll never know if that was just one of those comments meant to stop a crying child. I don't even remember if it made me feel better. What I do remember

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-59340010448337386842009-07-06T16:18:00.001-07:002009-07-06T16:18:18.328-07:00

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-48097989872386655772009-06-02T18:37:00.001-07:002009-06-02T18:40:59.792-07:00

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-40675579238759341982009-05-15T07:33:00.000-07:002009-05-15T10:03:58.920-07:00

The book, my friends, is ready for public consumption! Well, at least, in one sense of the word. Finding the thing has its own lovable quirks. The first problem you’ll have is with typing my name into any kind of search feature. It has a high probability of taking you to, among other things, the charming e-harmony guy Neil Clark Warren. Maybe my next book should be about identifying the love of

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-71479024795361252012009-05-14T09:13:00.001-07:002009-05-14T09:14:44.664-07:00

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-28123296022325231292009-05-14T07:32:00.000-07:002009-05-14T07:37:57.444-07:00

Oh gosh. Oh jeez. How long ‘as it been since I posted here? I’m picturing a search engine startup that ranks sites on the dust they’ve collected. Maybe driving the point home with a rating system based on Hello-Kitty-style, sneezing kittens. Maybe pictures of actual sneezing kittens, we’ll send it to focus testing. The point is: the less activity, the higher the allergic reaction. We’d call it

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-45764771536962032312009-04-07T13:15:00.000-07:002009-04-07T13:17:06.257-07:00

I really enjoyed this 1986 episode of Crossfire, featuring Frank Zappa defending against the moral panic aimed at rock music.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-59257377998053343402009-04-04T07:40:00.000-07:002009-04-04T07:44:16.514-07:00

This weekend I helped my dad to clean up an article on his campaign to sail for the USA in the 1976 Olympics. My mom helped, too. In going through some old pictures, she found this picture of me, conjuring some of my earliest prose.

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-80484480614423321212009-04-04T07:02:00.000-07:002009-04-05T08:26:08.065-07:00

I want to bounce ideas off of teachers who've worked teaching media effects, most especially game effects.We're running into the last month before finals at DigiPen, and I'm curious. Obviously there were major themes that I could pull from the book, communication classes and my own coursework. Most influential there was probably Aaron Delwiche's courses, the ones that first got me interested in

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-20209945458759784092009-04-04T06:39:00.000-07:002009-04-04T07:57:14.414-07:00

I just picked up my editor's proofs, for Game Addiction, Thursday night. I was frankly a little worried. I've never gone through an editor's comments for a book, and I'd heard horror stories. Reading these proofs was a pleasant, pleasant surprise. The edited copy flows, matching my style extremely well.More than that, I was worried that my writing, especially when critiquing the ideas of other

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-47885232890347051002009-01-21T03:07:00.000-08:002009-01-21T03:28:03.666-08:00

I've been busy. A bit too busy to post.I wanted to mention a couple of updates that I can't put off any longer.First off, I've got a new article up - on Gamasutra again. It's an inclusive piece on Videogame Regulation. As usual it was an interesting topic - with interesting interviewees and twists. Get at it [here].Second off, I've started a lecturing position at the DigiPen Institute of

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115107.post-67971392613338898872008-10-23T18:30:00.000-07:002008-11-03T14:18:10.535-08:00

Surprise!I've been meaning to move my personal blog to blogger for a few months now. There are a few issues I've had with hosting my own wordpress - keeping my widgets up-to-date, losing data and other technical frustrations. So far things seem somewhat less rich with blogger, but much more straightforward.Since submitting the manuscript to my publisher this month, there's been a chilling absence

Neilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12629966217673330687noreply@blogger.com0