The Broken Beyond: How Space Turned Into an Office Park

All the exciting parts of exploring the solar system have been leeched out. What's left is the drudgery of the everyday and the dreams of the rich.

All the exciting parts of exploring the solar system have been leeched out. What's left is the drudgery of the everyday and the dreams of the rich. The Shuttle, its escort, and traffic (Reuters). I am a Space Shuttle child. I ogled big exploded view posters of the spaceship in classrooms. I built models of it out of plastic and… read more

Food Insofar As They Give You Food

A tiny note on first class air travel

I fly a bajillion miles a year and as such I have access to the first class cabin on almost every flight, which makes me a lucky bastard as much as a privileged one. I thought I’d share, from a plane of course, just one humbling notes on modern first class travel just to assure the purported-rabble that things up… read more

Making Books

It's not the same as writing books

Back when his book The Textual Life of Airports was published in December, Christopher Schaberg reported what most authors do: seeing his book for the first time. “What a weird feeling,” Chris wrote. “It resembles an object from outer space. Vaguely recognizable, yet totally alien at the same time.” This is the experience of most authors. We say we “write… read more

Airplane Explanations

Some notes from in-flight

On planes, passengers lose all connection with personal and cultural history. This is why everything must be explained by flight attendants, carefully and completely yet succinctly, efficiency. To fasten your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle and tighten the strap. To release, pull the tab on the buckle. This aircraft is equipped with display screens and earphone… read more

Innovative Leisure Opening

Video with talks by me, Jesse Fuchs, Sonny Rae Tempest

I had previously mentioned Innovative Leisure, a show of new games for Atari I curated at Babycastles. The opening took place almost two weeks ago, but due to travel and then the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s taken me this long to follow up. Thanks to Ida Benedetto, you can watch this great video of the opening. Some timecodes you may want… read more

Frequent Flight

An essay on flying

I will fly more than 200,000 miles this year. It routinizes, like an extended commute. The suburbanite knows every moment of the drive: on-ramp, lane-change, morning-show, cup-holder. I’m like that, but on a global vector: freeway, parking lot, door S-3, South security checkpoint, wallet, shoes, laptop, zip-lock, escalator, train, SkyClub, jetway, seat, jacket, bourbon, nap, tarmac, sky, sky, sky. We… read more

Frequent Flight

My contribution for airplanereading.org

Christopher Schaberg and Mark Yakich have written a lovely little book called Checking in/Checking Out, about air travel. It’s a two-sided book meant to be read from both ends. Schaberg’s side is about his experience working for United in Bozeman, Montana, and Yakich’s is about his attempts to overcome a fear of flying. It’s charming and as lovely to hold… read more

How to Do Things with Videogames

A fresh look at computer games as a mature mass medium with unlimited potential for cultural transformation.

This book is available in digital or physical format. Buy from Amazon In recent years, computer games have moved from the margins of popular culture to its center. Reviews of new games and profiles of game designers now regularly appear in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and sales figures for games are reported alongside those of books,… read more

Beyond the Elbow-Patched Playground

Part 1: The Humanities in Public

Recently, Stanford comparative literature professor David Palumbo-Liu made a case for why the humanities are indispensible. It’s one in a long history of such justifications, a task that seems as necessary as ever. Yet, as with so many such justifications, Palumbo-Liu’s speaks declaratively. Consider his closing charge—one I saw excerpted frequently and with enthusiasm in the days after he wrote… read more

How To Do Things With Videogames

Now Shipping!

My latest book, How To Do Things With Videogames is now shipping from Amazon.com in the US. For those of you in Europe, it’ll be a little while longer. And before you ask, a Kindle edition has been created and should show up Amazon any day now. The book is a little different from my others. It offers a tiny… read more

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