Prolific game designer Louis Dozois released his second game just before the end of the year, this time a card and dice game he calls Shake Out! which he self-published (very cool) through a service called GameCrafter. I really like this one!
The cards are laid out in a 3×3 grid, and each one features a [...]

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It’s 2012! Happy new year!
I’ll wait for the formal introspection stuff until my 35th birthday on the 28th, when I plan to have a full-on mid-life crisis. But in general terms, 2011 was a pretty stellar year – one we worked pretty hard to make happen. I feel very lucky to have an [...]

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Over the Christmas holidays I picked up and fiddled with my grandfather’s Rubik’s Cube between family visits and catastrophic shopping trips. I finally solved it last night watching TV with Natasha, after about 45 minutes of twisting. I’ll probably scramble it up again for my father-in-law – a solved cube looks nice, but it’s zero [...]

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I’ve somehow gone my entire life without ever shopping on Boxing Day, but this year Natasha wanted to pick up some off-season Christmas decorations and we had to return a sweater to the mall, so we braved it. Polo Park was crazy busy. There were multiple accidents on the streets leading to the parking lot. [...]

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Got to spend a fantastic Christmas with Natasha’s family in Winnipeg – my favourite part of the night is rocking out with Ron and Uncle Jim on guitars while we all sing Christmas carols and eat cookies. Happy holidays!

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We were fascinated (and overwhelmed) by the enormous halls of antiquities on display at the Louvre – but got a giggle out of this chunk of an Egyptian frieze showing a man doing I’m-not-sure-what to a cow, and the cow exclaiming “THRONE SNAKE BIRD SUN FLAIL!”. I’d probably say the same thing, given the circumstances. [...]

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Rather than let our herbs hibernate this year, Natasha and I cleverly brought a bunch of our herbs in from the garden before the weather got cold. Not only does it come in handy for cooking and add a nice bit of green to the living room, but the smell of fresh oregano and rosemary [...]

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Among the very many cool things happening in Paris this week (seriously, what gives?) is an art show by Tom Sachs titled “White”, where he meticulously papercrafts science-fictiony sculptures. His best work, though, is science fact – an enormous Saturn V, Lunar Module and Orbiter. WOW! This blew me away! So much amazing detail!

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I’m not sure what the deal is with this song, but I watched the entire video and felt my brain melting. The Japanese have an amazing affinity for abstract, overwhelming visuals – I find when I watch stuff like this I start questioning whether I’ve accidentally fallen asleep and started dreaming.
Psychedelia starts now!

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I am fairly well read – I’m open-minded and have covered a notably broad range of work from Dante to Harry Potter, Giller Prize winners to terrible, terrible self-published e-books. I read literary reviews. I try to keep on top of other people’s suggestions, jotting down mentions of interesting titles overheard on the radio or [...]

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