Pizza Box technology advances again

It's very similar to the "World's Best Pizza Box" I reported on back here. Watch the video for the new innovations in pizza box technology. I love the idea but sadly I don't see myself ever caring enough about this to make my pizza order choice based on it. But convince one of the delivery giants to switch to this design and your golden! (Sadly I'm sure the bottom line would win out over innovation here.)

Why putting Bioshock on hold is great news

According to various news sources, the planned film adaptation of Bioshock has been put on hold, possibly indefinitely. The film adaptation of this award winning video game was to be directed by Gore Verbinski and was budgeted at around Eleventy million dollars. (The budget is being oft cited as the reason for the production’s troubles.) I loved Bioshock probably more than any other game last year, and I love movies. However it's clearly a good thing that this adaptation will most likely not come to pass.

I was as excited as anyone else to see the movie version of Bioshock. It was without a doubt the best-written, designed and conceived game of the last year. But because it was so good, doing a movie version does damage to serious game innovation. Once a great source material is co-opted into a film it can really tarnish the image of said source (see Watchmen.)

This is obvious, but while comics are getting more and more mainstream respect every day and have a serious level of proper criticism these days, the game world seriously lacks such introspection. Chuck Klosterman recently wrote in Esquire about this very issue. He wonders aloud where is the Lester Bangs of games journalism and how much longer will it take for him to arrive?

So as we search for better game criticism in the world, it will inevitably be games like Bioshock, the best of the best which call out for a deeper appreciation and understanding of game design. When these games are then converted into film it makes it all the easier to write off the need for serious game criticism. After all, people with serious critical faculties can then just wait for the inevitable linear adaptation, which is much easier to apply standard critical tools to. The constant adaptation and re-appropriation only further delays the creation of new critical thought for the interactive medium. Klosterman himself acknowledges this difficulty in analyzing artwork, which takes on different form for every audience member.

Therefore, yay to Mr. Verbinski's troubles. My apologies for the Scradenfrude.

World's largest deliverable pizza

It requires 24 hour notice before ordering. It costs $200. And I need to throw a party ASAP for an excuse to order this monstrosity. Did I mention, they just opened a new branch right in my neighborhood? Looks like I'm about to lose $200 bucks sometime soon. It serves 50-70 normal people but I'm sure I can find a dozen more gluttons to throw this party with. Click here to order from my new masters.

Cinemad

Quitter

Alright as much as I hate to admit it I’m trying to quit smoking. Now that I’m sharing this online I’m sure I’ll immediately relapse. I was having trouble breathing, probably from allergies but it sucked so I thought I’d bail on my sweet smoky friends.

Really the hardest part for me is he psychological, I’ve so many moments I my life when it just seems right to smoke, driving especially. Or coming out of a movie. Plus no one is more annoying that people who used to smoke and no longer do. I’ve been smoking for 17 years no and I’ve seen a lot of quitters come and go in that time. Losers. And now I am aiming to join their ranks.

I’ve enlisted the aid of a prescription drug called Chantix to help me quit. (Here is a scary story about the side effects, 2 words: horrific nightmares.) I don’t notice any physical difference if I take the pill or not but mostly its just useful to have something to do, to look forward to instead of smoking. It helps to fetishize the pills too, I take them when I want to, not on a set sched like medication but more like how I smoked and sometimes I even pretend I am getting high or something, crack them in half and wash them back deliriously.

At least now I end up with lighters at the end of the night mysteriously. I used to just lose one every other day. So all along it has been the fucking quitters who have been walking off with them. Assholes.

But anyway, quitters suck, now I have become one of them and I hate myself.

(I know I should not smoke here’s the proof: According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, between 310,000 and 580,000 of us will commit suicide by cigarette this year. But I still wanna smoke.)

Obama orders pizza from St. Louis, snubs Chi-town

Obama made pizza news again this week. The President invited 140 people over to the White House for deep dish pizza and had it brought in from a place called Pi in St. Louis. This is of course of note since deep dish is one of his hometown's claims to fame.

The incident was reported via this AP story which is hilarious because it kinda quotes Marc Malnati, owner of Chicago's famous Lou Malnati's pizzerias in Chicago. (You can also order Lou Malnati's to be delivered packed in dry ice to anywhere in the USA.)

The only other thing to be assumed is that that St. Louis pizza place is fucking delicious. A cursory glance at the restaurant's website would seem to confirm that assumption.