Tongue, buffet, oysters, yoga, guitar, stumbling, skates, cat, bees, hotel, Audi, sleep, pizza, dissertation, rewrites, TV, backpack, Target, 007, comics, flan
Anthropology in Games: Red Dead Redemption
July 20th, 2010“Grand Theft Auto with Horses” is a pretty accurate synopsis of Red Dead Redemption. One of the characters the main character runs into is an anthropologist. A cocaine-addicted anthropologist. Here is one of the cutscenes involving this character (warning: swearing):
So How is My Dissertation Going Now?
July 13th, 2010It’s been a while since one of my updates on my dissertation. Though my blog is mostly about games and fish sauce, in between these diversions is some hardcore writing!
My page count actually shrank in the past few weeks. I broke 300 a month ago, but I dropped back after getting some feedback. My original Results chapter was 95 pages of exciting… graphs. And graphs. And charts. My advisor suggested that I only show the most interesting graphs, and shrink them. Apparently the 100% view in Pages does not offer the same readability as a printed copy. One Photoshop macro later and I have a pretty easy workflow to go from SPSS tiffs to shrunken gifs (to reduce file size). Redoing the charts and enhancing the statistical tests took three weeks or so, but the end product is a sleeker 55 pages of Results. My advisor has it right now. While I wait, I rather not go to the Discussion chapter in case some analyses could be further improved. Counting chicks before they’ve hatched, and all that.
I’ve also been talking to my peers about the general academic process. It turns out that only chumps buy their own overly-expensive statistical packages. One of my tasks now is to find a small grant that would buy one for me instead. A friend suggested Systat. While I’m good with SPSS, I also hate it, so it might be worth my time to invest in a different program.
That’s all in the realm of dissertation to report! Next… more anthropology in games.
Anthropology in Games: Shadow Complex
July 5th, 2010
This is how I imagine my dissertation defense will go (Youtube video via splicd.com)
From Shadow Complex, an Xbox LIVE Arcade game 
.
This is Snoop Riding an Origami Pegasus
June 29th, 2010
Your argument is invalid. (Image credit: Kristin).
Flying Horse on Earth Brand Fish Sauce, and other Nouns
June 28th, 2010Hong Kong Market is a grocery store on the eastern edge of Columbia, on the outer road of I-70. They used to be in a cramped barn (yes, an actual barn) but a few years ago they moved to a new building next door. The place has a lot of good stuff for people who like Asian food, including food and cooking implements. I usually pick up some canned vegetarian fake meat when I shop there. On my last trip I also bought several bags of dumplings to steam in my rice cooker. While I was browsing the sauces that would go with them, I noticed that the food distribution companies that handle these products have interesting brand names and logos.
Three Crabs brand looks exactly like the name implies: three crabs arranged in a triforce of crustaceans. Golden Boy Brand’s logo has a boy, holding a bottle of his own sauce. My friend Sharon pointed out that his “thumbs up” gesture is offensive in the company’s home country of Thailand, so I’m not sure what is going on there. It’s possible that in Thailand, it’s Up Yours Brand.
Three Crabs and Golden Boy Brands of Fish Sauce. Image from Cooking with Kathy Man
The company with the craziest name, however, has to be Flying Horse on Earth Brand. As if the name isn’t weird enough, take a look at the logo:
Look at it. Look.
It’s literally a horse with wings, with his hooves landing on a tiny Earth (or is the horse planet sized?).
All these wacky names and logos made me want to have my own Asian food distribution company with a crazy name. I brainstormed some with Kristin and I made mockups of two of my favorite brand names. The first is Jade Hobo Brand:
Jade Hobo Brand Sauce
The part of the brand name that generates interest is the juxtaposition between the hobo’s destitution and the fact that he is made up of a valuable mineral. The other choice is UFOs Shooting Carrots at Tigers Brand Sauce:
UFOs Shooting Carrots at Tigers Brand Sauce
This one has a little more pizazz, almost futuristic and strangely somehow both anti-animal and pro-vegetarian. Be glad to know that if grad school doesn’t work out (possibly because I’m spending my time photoshopping clipart onto a bottle of oyster sauce), look for either of these brands at your local Asian market.
Small Joys
June 24th, 2010One of my favorite part of dissertation writing is going through the articles I’ve collected and finding little tidbits relevant to my own work. In the past twenty minutes I’ve found something interesting from a review of Inca child sacrifice (they sacrificed the children of elites, probably to cement political ties to the Inca and show how devoted they were to the Inca religion), an archaeological report on the giant prehistoric city of Chan Chan (no relation), and a guide to the uses of log-linear modeling for data analysis. Now: camelid pastoralism and the Titicaca Basin. I just learned a new word: “transhumance:” the seasonal movement of people and their livestock!
SAA, Part 4
May 24th, 2010I late-registered since I wasn’t sure I was even going until a week prior. My ID didn’t have my school information, and I wanted to represent, so during my lunch break on Thursday I used the wifi at the Renaissance to call up some reference pictures and sketched some MU insignias on my pass:
It got a few extended looks when people checked my ID!
Speaking of wifi, downtown St. Louis has free wifi. The signal is spotty in places, but it works pretty well ironically in the outdoors. I spent a lot of time walking around sweeping my iPod around like a tricorder looking for a signal. Hotel wifi cost $10 a night per device so I actually did most of my emailing and websurfing around the convention area between talks.
Warranty Void if Seal is Broken
May 12th, 2010pinktentacle.com had a post about the Kaikidan Ekotoba, a kind of Monsters Manual from 19th century Japan. One of the illustrations is of a seal, which can be quite nasty. The picture shows it is rather menacing. Coincidentally I had been researching Moche watercraft from the 2nd to 6th century AD or so and found this illustration from a different blog, Echoes of a Mesa. Based on a painted pot, and part of a display at the MNAAHP, it shows an altogether different type of seal, a ridiculously happy one.
Thanks for Kristin for putting 2 and 2 together!
