The Anglerfish Magazine Issue #12 - January 2014

Issue 12 | January 2014

Staff Letter

Letter From the Staff Hello fellow gamers & Anglerfish,

David Pantoja Art Director

Issuu - www.issuu.com/theanglerfish Tumblr - theanglerfishmagazine.tumblr.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/anglerfishzine Facebook - www.facebook.com/theanglerfish

This month, the staff gets all nostalgic over Nintendo and video games in general. Nintendo has given gamers so many memorable characters and games that for many, Nintendo is synonymous with childhood. Every classic gamer knows the Konami code for the NES by heart and nearly every gamer has played at least one Pokemon game and liked it more than they want to admit.

My gaming education started with PacMan, but Mario is the character that brought me to Nintendo’s altar where I would sacrifice so many hours on my VCR-sized Game Boy. For some, the Nintendo infatuation started with the Pokemon cartoon series as Marissa Earl-Hubelbank relates in her article “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Like most aging gamers, my view of video games has evolved from simply entertainment. In an industry that generates billions of dollars, it’s no surprise that gaming has become serious business. With games being more prevalent in everyday life, debates have begun over whether video games are art, their violent nature, their addictive qualities, and so on. Alyssa Nabors reviews the book ‘Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter’, which covers a lot of the commentary on video games.

As always, readers, we here at The Anglerfish hope you enjoy reading a magazine that we love working on.

Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,

Managers & Editors Brandon Dannenhoffer Eric Cole Jason Stack Keren Moros Jordan Kahle David Pantoja Eefje Savelkoul Katherine Taylor

Graphics & Design MaddieValley Mayela Gutierrez Hayley Pike Jackie Files Jessika Raisor Kenza Samlali Vaiki Tress

Writers Marissa Hubelbank Alyssa Nabors Cecily Dreyfuss Sarah Mills Melissa Heineman Lucy Pegg Joie Ling Kaya Mendelsohn Ruth Tirado Pallavi Pillutla Jacob Lambrecht

Social Media/ PR Mert Keceli Tristan Dane Megan Manzano

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Founder Editor in Chief Entertainment Editor News Editor Reader Submissions Art Director Sr. Design Lead Sr. Design Lead

David Pantoja Art Director/ Illustrator

Designer/ Illustrator Designer/ Illustrator Illustrator Illustrator Illustrator Illustrator Illustrator

Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer Writer

Social Media Social Media Social Media

The Anglerfish | Issue 12 January 2014

Table of Contents 04

Thoughts From Places: Vietnam

05

NFS: Karen Kavett

07

Don’t be Gary Busey

11

Get an “Extra Life”

12

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

13

Borrowed and Blue

14

The Sound of Nintendo

15

It’s All in the Hands

17 The Bleeped Up History of Valentine’s 19

The Star Lives on

20

Growing Up Without Video Games

21

Working for the Jumpman

23

Joining a Political Party

24

Turn it Up

24

Paging Doctor Mario

25

Art & Literature

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Reader Submissions Thoughts From Places: Vietnam Early in the morning in mid-July, my family of half a dozen, including me, boarded a plane in Atlanta, Georgia, and after two days, a Korean airport and a Japanese hotel, arrived late at night in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. As with any other foreign destination, one finds the city formerly known as Saigon an eclectic mix of the familiar and the exotic. Tiny street cafes with elderly women hunches over steaming pots stood next to high-rise hotels.

Chickens shared the sidewalk with young, texting pedestrians, and motorbikes and rickshaws crowded the streets in equal measure.

By: Anna Lackey (AnnaELackey@ gmail.com) When most Americans hear the word “Vietnam” it is usually preceded by “the war in”, which is one of the reason I was unsure of what to expect. I found that ordinary Vietnamese citizens had no animosity toward westerners. Many of them, like myself, had no memory of the war, only of learning about it in school. However, there were many reminders of the war, especially in the capitol city, Hanoi.

The War Remnants Museum was one such reminder, and quite a stark one. Called “The Reunification War”, “The American War” or even “The War of American Aggression”, the museum’s collection of old tanks and planes, propaganda posters and gruesome photographs were a sobering reminder of the morally ambiguity of nations and individuals. The most unnerving exhibit was a simple black wall, on which were carved the names of the victims of the My Lai massacre, in an eerily similar style to Washington’s Vietnam Memorial.

A second reminder was the Hoa Lo prison, colloquially known as the “Hanoi Hilton” by American soldiers who were prisoners of war there. Now a museum, the majority of the prison is dedicated to memorializing the Vietnamese who were imprisoned during French rule of the country. A small section also commemorated the American P.O.W.s. Although Vietnam is one of the four remaining communist countries on Earth, for the most part information seemed to be freely available.

Not so with this exhibit. Infamous for its harsh conditions, the museum presented the American’s living quarters as no different than ordinary military barracks. The torture and cruelty documented by former prisoners went unmentioned. After leaving the museum, walked a few yards away to buy a Coke from a young women in blue jeans, and couldn’t help but ponder the exact nature of victory and defeat in the last half century.

In my travels, the thing I have found most ubiquitous, other than delicious sugary sodas, has been museums. In a culture as different from my own, I started to wonder what, if anything, was completely universal to humans. An anthropologists would tell you what distinguishes our species are tools, art, culture etc. They’re certainly right, but in my opinion, the most important thing that humans have in common is our collective desire to remember.

One thing to note is that we do not only highlight our culture’s achievements and victories, but also our losses and shortcomings. Perhaps we feel that it is a debt we owe to dead to remember them and their words and deeds, or to future generations to pass on our knowledge, to avoid past mistakes. In my opinion, it is both these reasons, but also, most importantly, out of the hope that someday, someone will remember us.

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Reader Submissions

Nerdfighter Spotlight: Karen Kavett Karen Kavett, a crafter and graphic designer, has come a long way since getting her YouTube start in early 2008.

She sat down with The Anglerfish to talk over how her creativity has helped her career, her YouTube roots in Nerdfighteria, and gives some tips to up-and-coming creatives.

By Jason Stack

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The Anglerfish | Issue 12 January 2014

Reader Submissions The Anglerfish: What convinced you to get started on YouTube?

typography? We see so much on a daily basis, but what convinced you to make that one of your focuses?

Karen Kavett: I started making videos on YouTube because I loved Harry Potter and wizard rock, and I saw a lot of my friends starting to vlog. I thought it was a really interesting medium, and I wanted to be a bigger part of the Harry Potter community, so I started making videos in early 2008. A lot of those videos are private now, because they’re just so awful, but I’ve left up my first ever video, so that if people stumble across it, they can see how far I’ve come.

KK: I majored in graphic design in college, and I’m the type of person who wants to share with the world everything I’m interested in. I noticed when I first started making videos that there was a lack of video content about graphic design and typography that was high quality and well-edited, so I started to fill those gaps. It’s my belief that if everyone understood at least the basics of typography, the world can only become a more beautiful place.

TA: To who or what do you owe your success to date?

Always be making things.

Experiment in different mediums because the lessons you learn in one will definitely overlap with all the rest.

KK: Most of it is just persistence and practice. I’ve been making two videos per week almost every week for over six years now, and with that much practice, of course you’re going to improve. My edits have gotten more complex and flow a lot better, and I’m a better public speaker than I used to be. But, none of that would really matter if no one was watching, and I owe a lot of my views to friends who have appeared on or helped promote my videos over the years. I was lucky to find people like John and Hank Green early on, when it was much easier to get in contact with them, but every single person in the community has inspired me to keep going, and having friends who do the same things you do make it a much more fulfilling experience.

TA: Has all your YouTube and social media-related work become your career or part-time job, or how has it helped your career?

KK: It has become my full-time job. I started making videos in college, and when I graduated I worked as a visual designer for YouTube themselves for just over a year, but now I’m doing entirely freelance work and my own projects. I also just started working with HGTV on a new channel called HGTV Handmade, which is a DIY/crafting collab channel. I’m the community manager for that channel, so I’ve been learning a ton about running social media under large companies, keeping six videos per week organized and published on time, and also stepping up my game on my own videos for the channel so that they’re as professional as the other girls who make videos over there.

That channel takes up about a third of my time, my own videos take up another third, and the rest is filled up with freelance graphic design work, mostly for other YouTubers. I feel so lucky that I can make a living working on so many interesting and fun projects, without having to answer to corporate overlords. I also feel lucky that I get to travel so much (I’ve never missed a major American YouTube event), since meeting fans in person is the best part of the whole thing. I feel honored every day that people around the world choose to let me into their life for even just a few minutes, and that they seem to like watching my videos as much as I like making them.

TA: First, you focused on puzzles (among other things), then graphic design, and now typography, as mentioned. Where do you see yourself going next, both in a social media sense and in a career sense?

KK: I don’t think that summary of my channel is accurate, since I’ve always made videos about a variety of subjects, from Harry Potter to my travel adventures to videos about my favorite things. However, for the last few years, I have been focusing more on graphic design and crafting/DIY videos since those are the ones my audience has responded to the most, and I think they’re fun to make. I’ve already covered a lot of the graphic design and typography basics, so as more topics come to me, I’ll continue to make those types of videos. However, I’m leaning towards doing more DIY videos in the future since I like making things and I love seeing what other people make based on my ideas.

TA: What advice would you give to up-and-coming graphic designers and creatives?

KK: Always be making things. Experiment in different mediums because the lessons you learn in one will definitely overlap with all the rest. Utilize social media and put your work on the internet.

Make designs about the people and fandoms you love, because it will be more fun for you, and it’ll get more people interested in your personal work. But above all, just practice creating every single day.

Thank you to The Anglerfish for featuring my channel. If you’re already subscribed, I hope you continue to watch my videos, and if you’re not, maybe this interview has inspired you to check them out. DFTBA!

You can find Karen online at the following locations: Website - http://karenkavett.com YouTube - http://youtube.com/karen Twitter - http://twitter.com/karenkavett Tumblr - http://karenkavett.tumblr.com

TA: What’s the key to getting people interested or into

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Entertainment

illustrated by: David Pantoja

Don’t Be Gary Busey Part 3 of an Interview With Joel Watson

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Joel Watson, creator of the webcomic Hijinks Ensue, gave us a fantastic interview in autumn of 2013. The Experiment chronicles Joel’s transition to full-time cartoonist, including his most recent decision in September of last year to change from largely fandom-themed comic strips to character-driven story arcs. Here is the third and final part of our talk with Joel, regarding making comics, helping people, and artistic communities.

By: Alyssa Nabors

Entertainment TA: Has having that community of webcomic creators helped you in The Experiment as a whole?

JW: You know, there is this sort of fallacy that there is a community of webcomic creators, and there isn’t. There are typically groups of friends that have met through making comics, but it’s not like, seventy people. It’s usually one guy and the ten other cartoonists he knows pretty well, and five of them are actually his friends. That seems pretty universal, across the board. It’s not that there is this vast community that has welcomed me with open arms, it’s that I have three or four really good friends who make comics, and when I have a problem with comics, there’s someone I can talk to who understands exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a very weird thing to live part of your life in public, and when that public is the internet it’s even weirder, and when sometimes that public is the public, like at a convention, it’s even weirder. So when you have a problem related to having fans, or like, some guy that won’t leave your booth at a convention, most people don’t have any experience to draw on to talk to you about that kind of stuff. So having friends that know what those problems are, and potential solutions, and have perspective on that kind of thing has been beyond invaluable. But there is no webcomic meeting place.

We don’t have a Senate where we sit down and air our grievances. There have been, in the past, fairly large collectives and there have been cliques that operate in secret and keep everyone else out. I think that kind of stuff is pretty damaging, and when you pay attention to it, it eventually falls apart. I’m more of the school of thought that when someone needs advice, when someone is trying to do what you do or have what you have, to view them as a future friend as opposed to a potential threat. Bring everyone up with you, and elevate at all opportunities rather than squash and destroy, and in doing so you end up being the guy that maybe didn’t let you into the cool kids club ten years ago, except you’re the guy who lets everyone in and welcomes them.

Maybe in a few

years what I’m saying will be totally irrelevant, maybe I will be saying “Why yes, there is a Webcomics Gathering-Senate-Forum that we have, and the doors are open, and I let everyone in.” It’s not like that now, so I try to stick with my creative friends, not just in comics, but actors, musicians, writers - especially writers. Every writer I know has been invaluable in this transition. The first idea that I had that maybe I could do a story - I always believed it was impossible, that it wouldn’t fit - I was getting drunk with my friend Josh at Emerald City Comic Con, it was like 3 in the morning in a hotel lobby, when he pitched me this idea. “What if Hijinks Ensue was your story - about you leaving your job to do something creative, having a kid, and the struggles therein. That’s a story, that’s a thing people don’t know about, that people might want to hear about.” It was such a blind spot for me, and hearing it from him, it was suddenly so obvious. It set these wheels in motion, and I combined all that with the stuff I had talked about with David, and that became the thing that I’m doing now.

TA: I’ve been really impressed by everything you’ve posted in your The Experiment blog - the fact that you are trying to make a blueprint for people who want to try it out - to try doing what they really love as opposed to thinking “No, I’ll never make money that way”, sort of paving the way as best you can. Outside of everything you’ve put in there for people to find, what advice would you give people who are just starting out trying to be an artist or a writer?

JW: I did not actually put a lot of writing down about The Experiment; it was basically an idea that I dumped and then updated once a year with how I was coming along. And even just that little amount of people reading that and going “Wait, you can actually do the stuff you want to do, you don’t have to wait for permission, you don’t have to wait for the right time, whatever that is”.

And I’ve gotten at least a half dozen people, about once a year, who’ve said

Copyright, Joel Watson 2014, www.hijinksensue.com

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Entertainment “All right, I read your thing, I started making a plan, and now I do found articles about the early parts of Jonathan Coulton’s career this. I always wanted to be a baker, now I’m a baker. I used to be oddly enough, webcomics people were not that forthcoming with in IT, now I make cookies.” There was one guy in Seattle - I always information about this sort of thing. I think they were scared that ask my readers if there were more to bring me tiny than ten webcomMake all the stuff you’re going to be bottles of booze ics, they would embarrassed about in five years. Make it because it’s so lose their money expensive to drink or audience or right now. Get it out of the way. Draw the at conventions something. I would comics you’re going to wish no one had ever (cause hotel drinks find other people, are like eleven dolthis guy Kevin seen. Right now. Publish them. Get feedback lars) - and this guy Kelly who that had on them. Find out what it’s like to have an brought me these this thesis about two giant bottles having a thousand audience, even if it’s fifty people. Learn how to of vodka. And I was true fans - that if a deal with the one guy out of fifty who’s going like “Holy Crap, I thousand people can’t get these back gave you a hundred to be an asshole to you. And then keep

making more stuff.

on a plane, I guess I’ll have to drink them now.”

And he told me he was a food scientist and that he’d designed these flavors of vodka after reading about The Experiment.

One of them was delicious, it was a chocolate mint, it tasted like Andes candy and vodka. You could almost drink it straight. The other was complex … the end. It was Thai curry chili vodka, it had like fifteen different flavor notes and hit your mouth and your nose and your lungs differently. But I was very impressed, and shared it with all of my friends. I’ve heard from a lot of people that are like “I’m going to start a webcomic, I’m going to write” just because someone told them it was possible. I think maybe what I was looking for early one was someone to say “this is possible”. So I started looking for information, I eventually

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dollars a year, suddenly you’re upper middle class.

I thought, wow, a thousand people is not that many people. Even if you take it to twice that many people giving you fifty dollars a year, or even the same number giving you fifty dollars a year, that’s no amount of money to scoff at. When you really break it down - and this is pre-Kickstarter, this is pre-crowdsourcing, pre-crowdfunding - that one piece of information changed my life, because it took me essentially no time to get a thousand readers. The rule of your audience is, 2-3% will buy stuff or support you in some way financially once a year. So if every hundred people is going to get me 3 closer to a thousand true fans, this is not actually that impossible. And then you’ve got fifteen, twenty, thirty thousand readers, having five hundred to a thousand people in that group

Entertainment that will support you is not that crazy. If you look at Kickstarters that make a hundred grand, and it was funded by like 397 people - 397 people in the whole world made this happen. This is from an comic artist who has twenty thousand readers, it took four hundred people to make a book a reality. All these gatekeepers are just gone, all these executives who could tell you “no, you can’t do this” are gone. My first piece of advice is - keep in mind that the math is shockingly in your favor - that you’ll at least be able to do part of what you want to do. I mean, the universe is not necessarily granting everyone their dreams, so it may not be your full time job, especially not right away. But if your biggest dream is to write and finish a novel and have someone else read it, there are tools in place where a very small number of people can make that happen for you. Maybe having a hundred people read your book is the goal, and then you want to go back to your regular life and feel satisfied that you accomplish something. If you’re like me and it was all or nothing, and you won’t accept anything less than doing what you love as your full-time job, then the first step to take is to start. Start now. Start yesterday. Start immediately. If you want to be a writer and you’re not a very good one, get better. Take some classes. Write all day every day. Write as much as you can. Make all the stuff you’re going to be embarrassed about in five years. Make it right now. Get it out of the way.

Draw the comics you’re going to wish no one had ever seen. Right now. Publish them. Get feedback on them. Find out what it’s like to have an audience, even if it’s fifty people. Learn how to deal with the one guy out of fifty who’s going to be an asshole to you.

And then keep making more stuff. I think that applies to almost all creative mediums that you intend to distribute on the internet. If it’s written word, if it’s music, if it’s comics, it’s art without words, make as much of it as possible. Put it out there. See how people react to it. See if you care how they react to it. Primarily, just keep going. If you’ve been doing the same exact thing for three years and you’re no closer to your goal, change a lot of what you’re doing. Don’t plug away at the same thing that isn’t succeeding for you, and by succeeding, I mean whatever your measure of success is. If it’s not getting eyeballs, and that’s what you want, change it up. If it’s not getting money and that’s what you want, change it up. Don’t force yourself into a ten year contract with yourself, to do this or die. I see that a lot among webcomics, for some reason, these decade-long goals: “I know no one reads this, but I won’t stop until it’s ten years old.” Okay, whatever, or maybe quit and try something you’re actually passionate about.

Starting is the most important thing. Not stopping is the second most important thing. Right after those two is, find the people or communities or places where the thing that you’re in love with is being done by your measure of success. Then go be there, go be with those people, go talk to those people. This could be as simple as emailing an artist that might be able to answer a question or two; don’t send them fifty questions, send them one or two and get some answers, and work with that. It might mean going to conventions- for me that was the biggest thing. I didn’t go to conventions for the first three years of my comic, because I wanted to have a book, and it turns out I probably should not have waited that long, because just meeting another artist can change your life. So go be where the thing you want to be doing is done. If you want to be a screenwriter, I would probably suggest moving to LA, as terrible as that sounds. If you want to make a webcomic, I would suggest going to conventions, talking to other

artists, and genuinely making friends, not ladder climbing with people. Genuinely try to make friends with people who are doing what you do. If it’s something more practical, if you’ve always wanted to be a chef, maybe volunteer somewhere where you can pick up some skills. Maybe classes, maybe traditional education is the way to go to reach your goal.

Start, don’t stop, and then go be where it is. Go be where the people doing your thing are doing it well, whether it’s online or in person. If there’s a forum full of people that are succeeding the way you want to succeed, go participate in that forum. Don’t just read, post a link, and leave. Participate, actually try and offer something up to that community, so that when it comes time for them to decide who to work with, they might pick that helpful guy from the forum.

I guess the last thing would be, just try your best to be kind and honest. Don’t ever, especially not publically, trash someone who is doing what you’re trying to do. Don’t pick fights. Don’t chime in when everyone is beating down on the same person. Even when there’s no one to inspire, try to be inspirational, because eventually there will be someone paying attention. The way that you behave online is set in stone, it’s there forever. So the shitty article you wrote about another creator five years ago? It’s there, when you want that creator to be your friend and lift you up. The funny thing is how the poles change in terms of who’s successful now and who was. How often I see the guy who used to shit on everybody because he was a big shot isn’t such a big shot anymore, and now he needs help and no one wants to help him. As much as humanly possible, stay as positive as possible. Help when you can, don’t be a source of antagonism if at all possible. I keep qualifying these statements because it’s REALLY hard, but do your best not to be a jerk. That goes so far, because every good thing that has ever happened to me in my career has come from a friend. It has come from me doing my own good work, but then a friend lifting me up and elevating me, and saying “Hey i like you as a person, do you want to work on this project?” or “We had fun that time, do you want to come do this thing?” I can pinpoint every life changing moment in my career, and it has been because someone else with more recognition or more influence said “You were nice to work with can we do that again.” or “I heard from another guy that you were an okay guy, come be an okay guy at my thing!”and that is how million dollar deals are made. People want to work with kind, talented people; nobody wants to work with the diva or the insane person. No one wants to work with Gary Busey.

So don’t be Gary Busey.

You can read Joel’s comic here, http://hijinksensue.com/ read about The Experiment here, http://hijinksensue. com/experiment/read the lastest Lo-FiJinks here http://hijinksensue.com/comic/uncancelling-theadrunkalypse/and follow Joel on Facebook,Tumblr, or Twitter. https://www.facebook.com/hijinksensue, http://hijinksensue.tumblr.com/, https://twitter.com/ hijinksensue

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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Entertainment

Get an “Extra Life” An Adult Gamer’s View of Games

‘Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter’ by Tom Bissell came out in 2010, but touches on issues still relevant to the industry and future of video games. Does the book deliver on the weighty concepts its title apparently claims? Get one gamer’s opinion below! by: Alyssa Nabors illustrated by: David Pantoja

The debate on video games rages on and ranges from video games as an art form to their psychological impact on adolescents.

It’s always interesting to get the perspective of an adult who games as avidly today as they did in their youth, and Tom Bissell sets out to provide exactly that in this book.

Extra Lives manages to be engaging on average, but doesn’t present a unified message overall, or even in its chapters. Tom Bissell supposedly intended this work to be “an impassioned defense of [video games as an] assailed and misunderstood art form.”

It’s better viewed as a collection of essays rather than one cohesive narrative; some chapters are riveting, some are clearly laid out to make some point, and some are neither, but there is little indication that they have anything in common. If there were any unifying elements in these segments, they would be Bissell’s recognition and celebration of the incredible advances video games have made, along with his ability to identify areas where they could be further improved. When he focuses on these topics, the writing is engaging, but the theses of the individual chapters are often unclear and end on anticlimactic notes.

The first two chapters seemed promising. Bissell begins with the captivating and hilarious thought that he may one day have to explain to his children that he missed the announcement of the election of Barack Obama because he was so absorbed in Fallout 3. The first chapter

details both the great achievements and the shortcomings of the game, and why, with such shortcomings, would it command too much of an individual’s attention and time, even when cardinal events in history are passing the individual by. While the second chapter focuses rivetingly on Bissell’s first experience with the original Resident Evil, both of these chapters consider video games as a storytelling medium, one whose potential has not yet been reached, largely because of its uniqueness when compared to film and literature. Bissell is incredibly passionate when talking about this, yet is also realistic about current technological limitations, as well as patterns in the industry.

Bissell does not limit his arguments to using individual games as case studies, but has also talked extensively with individuals working on different levels of game development, from grunts to CEOs. He includes personal experiences, as well as general public reaction. The only things keeping this book from being a five-star read in my eyes are the following: First, his chapter concerning ‘Grand Theft Auto’ talks a lot about how he used cocaine while playing GTA IV. This is loosely based around an idea that cocaine highs are somehow similar to video game highs, and that the addictions are somehow wired the same way in our brains.

However, while his thoughts on the GTA series themselves are as interesting and

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well-balanced as any other portion of the book, the sections of the chapter focusing on Bissell’s drug use are uncomfortable and unnecessary. Even if it was to serve as some sort of warning against excess, more than anything, it seems to be an excuse to say that he did cocaine and played video games. It does not add a substantial meaningful dimension to the analysis either of the individual game or video games in general.

The other part that bothered me was one sentence, late in the book, concerning a visit to the Toronto offices of Ubisoft.

While up to this point, Bissell’s analysis and commentary had seemed balanced, or as balanced as possible, regarding the sexes and their representation in the industry, this offending sentence had me cringing: “While I waited to be fetched by Ubisoft game designer Clint Hocking, I noted the number of attractive young women wandering about the premises and began to wonder if the company had expanded to include an escort service or modeling agency or both.”

While it would have been nice to have some mention of the lack of female representation in game development OR in the games themselves, it’s not required to touch on the subject every time a critical analysis of video games is made. However, such a blatant, crude statement indicating that, at the very least, attractive women have no place in a game company truly colored my opinion of the author, and will strongly affect how and to whom I recommend this book.

Extra Lives is not a complex read. It doesn’t even introduce particularly novel concepts with regard to the potential of the gaming industry or the medium of video games. But, if you’re up for a quick, fairly up-to-date read that touches briefly on gaming history and takes a fair look at the state of the industry, by all means, pick up Extra Lives.

Entertainment

Gotta Catch ‘Em All I was born in ‘96, and I’ll be the first to admit that I may as well have exited the womb waiting for the Kids’ WB! time slot to air on the hospital television. by: Marissa Early-Hubelbank For the first few years of my life, while our parents worked, my grandmother would babysit me and my two older cousins. A good many hours a day, five days a week, for years until I started day school, my cousins would sit in my grandparents’ living room and watch episode after episode of Pokemon. Subsequently, so would I; what resulted was a not-so-small infatuation (or obsession) with it.

I’m not exactly unique. Almost every friend I encounter has played one game or another other in their time, and they quite often partake in the newer ones as well.

This undoubtedly says something about my typical friend group and our common interests, but to leave obvious statements like those unsaid, I often wonder why that is. Why there’s still so much involvement from not only me and my friends, but from people who were old enough to participate right from the start?

Rewatching the show, and realizing that it wasn’t quite the stroke of storytelling genius you remember it being, one starts to wonder what’s so great about Pokemon in the first place. You think about it as you buy 99 ultra balls and save, prepared to restart the system as many times as necessary to catch the legendaries. You think about it as you get into small yet competitive discussions with friends, and the one with the most in-depth knowledge often comes out on top. You think about it when you see your little siblings and cousins go on to watch and play the newer generations. How has this lasted for so long?

The Pokemon trademark is eighteen years old. Very few products similar to Pokemon have enjoyed such success

or such longevity - not to mention the fact that Pokemon is “celebrated” on an impressive international level. (The show itself is available in over 40 languages to 74 countries all around the globe.)

But why?

I think that the overall idea of Pokemon itself is a stroke of corporate genius.

Perhaps a significant reason for Pokemon’s ability to survive - and thrive - over a span of eighteen years has a lot to do with its ability to tap into something much more inherent to human nature than obsession with Japanese culture, or our modern generations’ lust to play a good RPG (although they’re both pretty solid reasons).

The marketing and conceptual brilliance of Pokemon is in its ability to connect with our desire for extensive knowledge of a deeply intricate subject.

It’s about our need to compete with others - to, in our own good faith, have utter confidence in our ability obliterate our opponents and friends, both in battle and trivia.

“I want to be the very best, like no one ever was,” the opening theme would tell us. (It’s quite possible and not a coincidence that no other phrase seemed to be used as often as “Pokemon master.”) In another example, the main objective of at least thirteen classic GameFreak creations was to make a record of all the Pokemon in that respective world. The message was always there, being driven in our heads.

It’s all very competitive and driven - and it’s pretty smart.

To digress a bit and take it even further, I often think my dissatisfaction or contempt with the newest generations of Pokemon has a lot to do with the unfamiliarity of it all. Since I haven’t kept up, it’s about being confronted with the fact that I can’t count myself as a “Pokemon master” anymore that bothers me. It’s stupid, but it’s true. (And although I’m miserly and honestly skeptical of it, a pretty strong argument could be made that the quality

illustrated by: Jacquelyn Files

of the television show has in fact remained more or less constant throughout the years.)

Of course, telling people to be “the best” of anything isn’t an amazing marketing technique in itself. While Pokemon’s longevity can be largely credited to selling techniques like that, it’s important to note that it is such a successful enterprise because it’s chock full of substance (and material content to boot).

This is a whole lot of thinking to put into a subject of such modest importance as Pokemon. But being constantly reminded by the success of that which makes up your fondest memories grants said subject a great deal of relevance.

And in the end, it’s hard to not pay some acknowledgement to Satoshi Tajiri and Nintendo and GameFreak for doing something so well - for granting a piece of my childhood such sustainability. It makes you think that some good things can last; and when they do, it’s pretty hard to beat.

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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Entertainment

Borrowed and Blue

‘The Peneloiad’ and ‘A House in the Sky’ The two books featured in this joint review, The Penelopiad and A House in the Sky, are both authored by Canadian women with fantastic stories to tell. by: Marissa Early-Hubelbank

book is markedly more difficult to enjoy than the rest of it was until that point.

Other than that, picking up a book like The Penelopiad is a pleasant surprise, even more so if you’re unfamiliar with Atwood’s writing. It’s sarcastic without being overly cynical; it’s self-mocking without failing to put real points across. The book’s inherent sarcasm serves as a buoy to genuine emotion; this book is a lot of fun, and its content is definitely food for thought.

illustrated by: Vaiki Tress

‘The Penelopiad’ was written in 2005 by Margaret Atwood, and this novel acts as a satirical telling of Homer’s The Odyssey (and to an extent, The Iliad). This time around, the story’s narrators are none other than Penelope and her twelve hanged handmaids.

In this format, Margaret Atwood now tells us a story not of homeric heroism, but that of women scorned - and worse. In this format, Penelope tells us the story of her life, and she’s out to set the facts straight: all the rumors about her fair cousin Helen, The Suitors, and her reputation as Odysseus’s clever, devoted wife.

She also opens up about the injustices she and fellow women suffered under old Athenian ideals, and in doing so, happens to make apparent some of the flaws that exist in our modern examination of Homer’s epics.

What makes this narrative most refreshing is its wit. This book is rather short - it’s one of those smaller novels you could easily blow through in a few hours. But the pleasure to be gained from reading it is best had by maintaining a steady pace. As the story vacillates back and forth between Penelope’s eloquentlytold flashbacks and the Maid’s burlesque interludes, Atwood develops a rhythm that is like watching a documentary (or reading The Vagina Monologues).

There is perhaps one flaw to this book that’s well worth mentioning: if you don’t have “above-average” knowledge on The Odyssey (and on Penelope in particular), the final quarter of this

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‘A House in the Sky’ is an autobiographical account of Amanda Lindhout’s life during the fifteen months she spent as a hostage in the war-torn country of Somalia. In a thorough, vividly described account, this book was co-authored by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett. (An interesting interview was written in the New York Times about that collaboration.)

Right off the bat, Lindhout’s ability to bring the reader so deeply into her world - into her moments of joy, wonder, terror and depression - is damn impressive. As she describes not only the details of her kidnapping, but the events in her life which took her to Somalia in the first place, you start to appreciate as a reader how hard it must be to take a true yet subjective story from point A to point B without losing any important elements of the story.

It’s the struggle between telling what your emotions were and talking about them - and here, Lindhout hits a balance that is extremely effective.

Inspired by her struggle, Lindhout started a nonprofit organization called The Global Enrichment Foundation, which helps to support education in Somalia. (This can also be found at the bottom of the page.) Her story is nothing short of inspiring, and serves as a grounds to continue an important discussion - the suffering people (especially women) endure around the globe.

Entertainment

The Sound of Nintendo A good video game soundtrack is a triumph with a note next to it saying “huge success.” A bad soundtrack deserves to be torn into pieces, and every piece thrown into a fire. The music that video games pump out as we play is vital in immersing us, although its importance is often overlooked. As a tribute to gaming’s undervalued auditory element, here is a selection, in no particular order, of five Nintendo games with some top-notch tunes. by: David Harris Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire Ah, Pokémon Sapphire, my very first Nintendo video game, no less! And I couldn’t have wished for better music to accompany it. I was hooked from the first time I heard the chirpy theme from Route 101, and to this day, I still find myself whistling Petalburg City’s melody from time to time. For me, however, the pick of the bunch is “Verdanturf Town”, a simple and wistful piece of music that sets itself apart from the rest of the soundtrack. illustrated by: Jacquelyn Files

Metroid Prime Something of a contrast in mood to the third generation of Pokémon games, the music for the first installment of the Metroid Prime trilogy ranges from haunting to urgent to simply epic. Throughout, it is absolutely stunning. A prime example (pun intended) is encountered in the “Phendrana Drifts”, where the exquisite beauty of the music’s subtle minimalism is matched only by the jaw-dropping scenery. This is perhaps one of the best examples of music truly feeling like an integral part of the game.

Super Smash Bros Brawl Perhaps an obvious choice for this list, Super Smash Bros Brawl contains the cream of the crop of Nintendo’s considerable musical achievement. Every classic Nintendo tune from Animal Crossing right through to Zelda is here, whether in its original format or as an updated arrangement, and the new music composed specifically for the game is often of equal quality. Finally, the main theme, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is an incredible piece of music, featuring a full symphony orchestra and choir.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

spanning over twenty-five years. As befits a game featuring a magic musical instrument, the Ocarina of Time soundtrack is right up there with the best of them, with the series’ staple themes and new melodies alike handled superbly. “Gerudo Valley” is quite possibly the catchiest video game track I have ever heard.

Super Mario Galaxy Fun fact: I wrote an essay comparing this soundtrack to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a set of pieces based on the work of the painter Viktor Hartmann. No, really. I also once played the theme from Skyrim in an organ recital. But I digress.

For me, Super Mario Galaxy represents the pinnacle of Nintendo music, and that is saying a very great deal. Italian plumbers should have full orchestras in tow on a much more frequent basis if this is the result. My favourite track of all is undoubtedly the soaring melodies and epic orchestration found in the “Gusty Garden Galaxy”. It doesn’t simply stand out in the world of gaming soundtracks; it is an absolutely superb piece of music in its own right.

The Zelda series always turns up in discussions of video game music, and with excellent reason. Koji Kondo’s music from the original game in 1986 was the start of a collection of masterpieces

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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Opinion

It’s All in t

The Top Four Reasons Why Nintendo Despite the rapid success of the Wii, Nintendo’s greatest creations have been their smallest ones, and if Nintendo wants to survive in the next generation of gaming, they will need to rely on their greatest market: handheld gaming.

By Rick Cole It seems like a ludicrous idea, and perhaps it is. Nintendo’s Wii console is the fifth best selling console, of any kind, of all time. It has shipped more than 100 Million units worldwide. It is a smash success, and something that Nintendo should rightfully be proud about. So, why should Nintendo, after creating a phenomenon such as the Wii, step out of the console wars?

Well, before we get to the list, I think it is important to point out the one thing that made the Wii a smash: the Wii had the element of innovation on it’s side. The first console to truly utilize motion technology, and integrate it into gameplay, the Wii was a system that encouraged the family to play together and get the kids off the couch.

It was a fantastic concept, one that other companies, such as Microsoft, attempted to emulate once the Wii began to roll. The Wii not only wowed gamers, but shocked the industry as well. Nintendo will not have these elements working for it anymore.

Microsoft and Sony have gotten wind of the game, and frankly, when it comes to home consoles, Microsoft and Sony know how to play better than anyone. Microsoft’s second attempt at motion technology, Kinect 2.0, is much faster and more responsive than even the Wii, and it is only a matter of time before Sony figures out how to create amazing motion control as well.

Nintendo is bravely attempting to soldier on, but with its Wii U console not having nearly the same success of the original Wii, and with Sony and Microsoft exploding onto the scene this past fall with their next generation consoles, it is only a matter of time before the Wii U is, sadly, left in the dust.

However, there is a way for Nintendo to not only survive in the game market, but to thrive, and Nintendo holds it in the palm of its hands. Nintendo is the undisputed KING of the handheld system and has always been since the release of the original Gameboy. And if Nintendo really wants to remain viable in the game market, then it is time that they gave up on the expensive console market, especially when they are technologically overmatched by their bigger cousins. It is time for Nintendo to concentrate on the items that really matter for them: their handhelds. With that said, here are the top four reasons why:

#4

Convenience You know what the great thing about a handheld gaming system is? Imagine you are sitting on your couch, playing a game, and your mom walks in and tells you that you are going to be going shopping in five minutes. Well, that stinks because you just got to the third dungeon in Zelda and are about to save one of the Seven Sages.

If you were on a console, you would have to save your game, power down the system, and waste all that momentum you got for reaching this point in the game. What gamer wants to do that when they are into a game? Well, here is the great thing about handheld gaming, if you are on a Gameboy or, more recently, a Nintendo 3DS, you wouldn’t have to power down. You could pause your game, get on your clothes, and as your mom is driving, you could be kicking some serious dungeon booty. Nintendo realized the importance and amazingness that is portable gaming way back in the 80s, and in the twenty years since, all they have done is refine and perfect their craft.

#3

Innovation You can’t talk about the innovation that Nintendo has brought to it’s handheld consoles without first mentioning the 3D feature of the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, the 3D can be a bit of a strain on the eyes at times,

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but the simple fact that Nintendo was able to convert 3D onto their handheld is a feat to be proud about.

Not to mention, Nintendo has wisely not used the 3D as a cheap gimmick, but has utilized the potential of the technology to add a greater depth to their games, often to the games’ benefit. Not only is Nintendo innovative in terms of their hardware though, but they are allowing game companies to be innovative in terms of their actual games as well. Take, for instance, Capcom’s long-running series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. What other company but Nintendo would allow a developer to create a game surrounding the compelling concept of a courtroom trial and attempting to catch witnesses lying on the stand? It is a game that is unique to a tee, and it is a series that can only be found on Nintendo’s handheld systems. Perhaps it is because Nintendo feels as though not as many people take simple handheld gaming as seriously as consoles, or perhaps, Nintendo simply feels a sort of recklessness toward their handhelds.

Whatever the case, games l i k e Phoenix Wright show that Nintendo is not afraid to take risks in their handheld kingdom, and that can only be a great thing for gamers.

Opinion

he Hands

Should Concentrate on Handhelds Link Between Worlds, were not only some of the best games to come out on the 3DS this past year, but some of the best games to come out on any console this year, and they were created on a system that most people consider inferior to the big bad consoles. If anything, Nintendo proved that you do not need powerful technology to create memorable games that people will want to play. You need great ideas.

#1

Illustration by Eefje Savelkoul

#2

Power Franchises I believe some of the best games in Nintendo’s staple franchises were released on the Nintendo Wii. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy are some of the best games, perhaps, ever.

However, as Nintendo has shown this year, they do not need the power of a big console, and the money it takes to develop a game on a console, to create games that are considered exceptional. This year was a banner

y e a r for the Nintendo 3DS and for the biggest franchises Nintendo has to offer. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Super Mario Bros 3D Land, Pokemon X/Y and, of course, The Legend of Zelda: A

The Numbers Now, the other three reasons are all well and good, but when it comes down to it, Nintendo is about the brass tax: shipping units and making money. In that regard, nothing has been more successful for Nintendo than their handheld market. The numbers simply do not lie. Since December 2013, Nintendo has shipped more than 275 million consoles worldwide. And, I am not just talking about the Wii and the Wii U. Nintendo dates all the way back to 1985, and that sales figure also accounts for the NES, the SNES, the Nintendo 64, and the Gamecube: 275 million consoles in twenty-eight years. Do you know how many handhelds Nintendo has sold going back to the original Gameboy in 1989? Almost 400 million in a little under twenty four years. Now that, my friends, is a number that Nintendo can take right to the bank.

Despite the evidence, Nintendo will still continue to promote the Wii U, and who knows, perhaps one day the console will catch fire and repeat the success of the original Wii. Eventually, predictably, and sadly however, it will not be enough. Sony and Microsoft have learned how to make bigger, badder, meaner console machines that will eventually crush Nintendo just as Nintendo and Sony once crushed Sega. If Nintendo wishes to survive and thrive in this new world of advanced technology, then the answer is simple: just look in the palm of your hand.

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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The BLEEPED Up History of Valentine’s Day What do we know about Valentine’s Day? Well we know, at least in America, that the 14th of February is a day of flowers, chocolates, hearts, tacky marriage proposals, and love. *girly sigh* Some people even know a little bit about St. Valentine and that his feast day is Feb 14th (hence the holiday), but there are some far more interesting stories that involve this date than most people know. For instance, did you know St. Valentine is also the patron saint of plague and epilepsy?

Written & Illustrated by: Katherine Taylor Saint Valentine was a famous Roman saint who disobeyed imperial orders, like a badass, and performed marriages for young people. The story I remember from Sunday school was that the emperor outlawed marriage to force young men to join the army. (Or it was some law passed that married men couldn’t be recruited or drafted or something. I obviously paid loads of attention in Sunday school.)

Historically speaking, the life and times of St. Valentine are a tad on the shaky side.

Also there is more than one St. Valentine so that doesn’t help at all. Traditionally, THE St. Valentine in question is viewed to have died on 269/270/273 ACE on February 14th. It is believed that he cured a bishop (or child, sources vary) of epilepsy, refused to adore an idol, rumored to wear a sword, and gave sight to a blind girl. Another story says that the blind girl he cured was the daughter of his jailer and that they fell in love. The night before his execution, he wrote her a farewell letter signed “From your Valentine.” There is no evidence proving or disproving it.

How did we get from the execution to a holiday about cards and flowers? Well, it started when the feast day for St. Valentine was declared sometime in the 5th or 6th century. His relic has been an attraction in Rome since 1836, which may have led to the Victorians (of course the Victorians) starting St. Valentine’s Day. At the same time, two historians of antiquities noticed that this date may have been chosen to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia (say that 3 times fast), a three-day festival of purification to get rid of evil spirits.

We may also be able to thank/blame Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Parliament of Foules”

which included some of the traditions of Valentine’s Day that did not exist until Chaucer’s time.

However, one of the most famous saints of the Catholic/Lutheran/Orthodox church he isn’t exceptionally venerated; England never had a church dedicated to him and though there are some around Europe, it’s no more or less than other average saints.

Now that we’ve got the generic info out of the way, time for some of the more horrific things that happened of the day of love!

In 1349 in Strasbourg, Germany, several hundred Jews are burned to death by angry mobs, while the survivors are forced to leave their homes.

Richard II of England starves to death in 1400.

James Cook is killed by native Hawaiians, probably for being an asshole, in 1779.

In 1849, President James Knox Polk becomes the first president to get his photograph taken.

In 1859, Happy birthday Oregon, and Arizona 1912!

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applies for the patent on the telephone.

In 1900, the second Boer War started, in which England invaded the “Orange Free State” in South Africa. (Look Germany isn’t the only country to do something terrible that day! *Machine guns verses spears*) And now time for my personal favorite, that I like the ruin the mood with: the 1929 the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. The target was Bugs Moran, a leader of the North Chicago gang. Spoilers, they missed.

(Fun fact, Bugs Moran was the basis for Bugsy from Loony Tunes.) Seven people were gunned down on the night of February

14th at a warehouse in Lincoln Park Chicago. Chicago was the hub of all bootlegging and criminal activity in the 1920s.

Many of the big names of gangster lore we know today ran operations in Chicago and not many of the names outshine the likes of Bugs Moran and Al Capone. So the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre is still one of my favorite buzzkill posts for Feb 14th every year.

So how does a day with such a depressing, and often violent history turn into cupids, hearts, cards, and flowers? Like I said earlier, the connection with love stretches back to Lupercalia in Rome, but for Christians, it can be linked to Chaucer.

He wrote a small poem to commemorate the engagement of Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia (which was actually May 2, but people just decided it was on Feb 14th anyway).

so that caught on quick.

The candy and little bears? Well, actual gift giving along with the cards is a postWWII phenomenon. Mostly linked to the economic boom in America, and the fact that teenagers actually had time to be big kids with cash in their pockets, getting candies and flowers for their girlfriends really took off--most famously, the heart-shaped boxes lined with satin that contain all those mixed chocolates (with at least one you are allergic to, and three you don’t like, but you spare him the tongue lashing since it’s not his fault, right, ladies?)

In the 1980s, the diamond industry began promoting Valentine’s Day as a great reason to buy her some jewelry. (As someone who once worked in a jewelry department, I can testify that this is true.

It’s the busiest time of year.)

So, once again, an ancient festival was taken over and stamped with a Christian “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, meaning or saint, later to be commercialWhen every bird cometh to choose his ized and made profitable. Around the mate” world, America does it bigger, but in Latin American, celThroughout the ebrations and gift Diamonds. medieval period, giving is similar.

She’ll pretty there were actually Greece, being things called, “The Eastern Orthodox, much have to.

Court of Love” run celebrates on a -Ron White different day (3rd of by the ladies of court. (Most likely July… Heathens!). as a distraction from Scandinavian counthe hyper masculine cultures they lived in.) tries have a cooler name for it. Valentine’s These courts specialized in love/marriage con- day is called “VALENTINSDAG!” Though it tracts, betrayals, and progressively, violence has a cooler sounding name, it’s actuagainst women. At the time, green was the ally more of a low key thing, however, color of love, and cards were usually poems American culture is slowly infecting their written by the menfolk for their lady loves. candle-lit dinners. Finland has “friend’s (This was also around the time the legends of day” so it is a rule of thumb to get everyKing Arthur got that sexy love triangle added one something or at least a card. in which his queen loved Lancelot.)

Many other countries are starting to Cards can be traced back to around 1797. hop onto the bandwagon, while some There was a whole business booming around countries have either outright banned it, the fact that Georgian men in London couldn’t or kept it low. India, a country in which write love poetry worth a damn so why not PDA is not allowed, it’s popular, but heavily cop-out and buy a premade one? By the criticized as neocolonialism or cultural conearly 19th century, they became so popular in tamination. In Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, and England that they needed to be assembled in Saudi Arabia it is either seriously frowned factories. upon, or outright illegal. So it hasn’t quite In 1849, a writer for “Graham’s American taken over the world, but it’s certainly Monthly” Leigh Eric Schmidt commented, trying.

“Saint Valentine’s Day… is becoming, nay it Just keep some things in mind this year. has become a national holiday.” The cards If you don’t have a lot of money, handfrom this early industry are now considered made items can be a cute way to impress collectable items. Move over baseball cards. your love, unless she is kind of superficial These are far rarer than your Great Bambinos and expecting diamonds. Good luck, boys! and Jackie Robinsons. The mass-produced

cards made their debut in America in 1847,

Entertainment

The Star Lives on Esther Earl, the heart of This Star Won’t Go Out, is finally a published author, thanks, in part, to contributions from her family, close Catitude friends, and John Green. by: Jason Stack If you find This Star Won’t Go Out in your local brick-andmortar bookstore, you might be disarmed by the book. The dust jacket is colorful – a mix of mostly lime green with white (and a bit of green) Sans-Serif font and a red-orangey wall. Esther smiles up

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at you from the jacket, the spine, and the photobooth strip of selfies on the back of the jacket. The endpapers have pictures of her journal covers, and the cover is a deep purple – unusual for most books. But it is so Esther.

For those Anglerfish readers who are unfamiliar with Esther’s story, she was a suburban Bostonian Nerdfighter who battled thyroid cancer and its repercussions for nearly four years before passing away at the age of 16 in late August 2010. The book isn’t about her battle; it’s more than that.

Esther’s parents, Lori and Wayne, help anchor and guide the pages within, starting with memories and pictures of Esther as a baby, a toddler, and a young girl before passing things off to Esther’s endocrinologist, who offers her experiences with Esther.

And then Esther’s journal entries (with interspersed chronological CaringBridge updates) take over, making up most of the rest of the book.

While I didn’t personally know Esther, I became acquainted with her through her videos (both on her personal and collab channels), and a niggling neuron in the back of my brain keeps telling me that I Skyped or Tokboxed with her, but I haven’t gone back into my Skype archives to check. I don’t even know if the archives would go back that far. I knew her through what Nerdfighteria helped do for her and with her, and I was devastated when she passed, almost out of the blue that August morning.

This Star Won’t Go Out showed me the other side of Esther, the side that wasn’t always present online. Her entries show an unwavering faith in God, something that a lapsed skeptic like myself can’t begin to comprehend, and a life that was – for all intents and purposes – normal: she watched reality TV, prepared Christmas lists, fretted about not having made a difference, and found her own ways to have fun. As the entries continue, Esther slowly mentally matured and looked more at the bigger picture: she knows her parents and siblings are dealing with more than just her illness, she wants to do more despite her limitations, and she comes to face death headThe measure of on, accepting and friendship is not acknowledging her own mortality and its physicality but even picking out its significance. her graveyard plot.

But what -John Green matters most – not counting the impact Esther had on her family, her Catitude friends, the Harry Potter Alliance, and the organization founded in her name – is that Esther is presented as Esther, not Esther-the-Nerdfighter-withthyroid-cancer. She doesn’t want pity, nor does she want to be idolized as a perfect person: she wants to be remembered as she was, as John Green discusses in his introduction. She is humanized to the fullest extent possible through her journal entries, her drawings, and the numerous selfies and pictures strewn throughout the book.

It’s slightly morbid, though, if you think about it. While the book is full of life and youthful energy, its author has long-since passed (in internet time, anyway), but her thoughts continue to live on. It’s more bittersweet, really – even though Esther isn’t physically with us, she lives on through her parents, the organization, and This Star Won’t Go Out.

Entertainment

Growing Up Without Video Games Born to hippie parents and kept away from all television for most of my childhood, I grew up video game-less.

Without Xboxes and Game Boys, lacking zombies and car chases, unfamiliar with cheat codes and controllers, I have grown old in this world. This is my story. by: Kaya Raven Mendelsohn

Dramatic, I know. Of course, my childhood was not completely void of virtual worlds; Neopets and Club Penguin, among others, were all bookmarked on my dad’s old Mac, but until the winter of my eighteenth year, I could say that I had never played a video game. I once thought myself superior because of this. No days wasted in front of a television, controller in hand; no brain space used for storing combinations or game storylines.

I scoffed at those who talked about killing monsters on their PS3s and rolled my eyes at the little boys riding fake motorcycles at the arcade.

But then I realized that I was very much an outsider. When it comes to childhood, so many associate their favorite games with Saturday mornings or lazy winter days. Especially in the Nerdfighter community, familiarity with Zelda and Mario and whoever else the vast majority of video game fans go nuts for, is valuable and something that serves as universal knowledge and affection. Even outside this community, amongst college students and teenagers, video games seem to be a commonality between most people my age.

I know that I could make a choice and an effort, and buy a gaming console and learn the ways of Grand Theft Auto. But when my friend sat me down, shoved a controller in my hand, and tried to teach me how to play Mario Kart, I realized that it will never be the same for me.

Pressing the A button will never be natural; steering is not ingrained, and picking up coins is not second nature.

I did not learn as a child - I do not associate video games with carefree times.

And so, this article tells the story of my own personal tragedy.

illustrated by: Hayley Pike

This must be how people feel when they try to infiltrate the Harry Potter fandom or learn to speak a foreign language after the optimal age. I hope you appreciate the knowledge video games have given you. I hope you are thankful for your games.

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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News

Working What You Need

By Katherine Taylor

When it comes to the question of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” video gane developer may now rank higher on average than astronaut and president. In fact, in CNN’s 100 Best Jobs of 2013 article, game design ranks fifteenth overall, with “A”s in Personal Satisfaction and Low Stress Career.

Everyone and their dog thinks it’d be a great idea to go into the video game industry, which means two things. 1) job competition is fierce, and 2) only the smallest percentage of that competition has any idea what they’re getting themselves into.

By: Alyssa Nabors No one is saying that creating video games is not a worthwhile pursuit, and no one is saying that just because competition is high no one should bother trying.

However, even normally reliable news sites (like CNN) give a very skewed and incomplete view of what a career in video games is like.

The first thing that any aspiring developer should know is that for every perk there is a responsibility and a cost. These vary from project to project and company to company, but the inescapable truth is video game creation is programming and programming is hard work. To be successful, to be confident in a competitive job market, self-driven learning is a must. If creating video games is something you are interested in, the first step is to learn to program as soon as possible. The fantastic thing about most tech jobs is that it transcends the “no job without experience, no experience without job” dilemma; nothing is stopping you from going out and learning how to make games and then making them.

As you learn languages, you’ll find that some games, like for smartphones or

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The Anglerfish | Issue 12 January 2014

News

for the Jumpman:

to Know About A Career In Game Development flash games, are written in languages like job in the gaming industry, agrees: it won’t be glamorous - someone has to JavaScript or Objective C. However, with “Even experienced developers have make Elmo’s A to Z Adventure for Wii, more complex games, developers creto show that they are very good at what after all. However, with inside informaate what is essentially a “Domain Specific they do in order to get a job. This is tion obtained from contacts and careful Language” that other developers on the compounded by the fact that the idea of a research, you can make an informed project can use to create the levels of decision about who to work for. the game. Learning as many lanCompanies have different policies Video games have guages as possible is good practice surrounding work hours, travel, for becoming familiar with a project’s team structure, and even discloa lot of potential. scripting language. sure. While CNN’s article may have They’re the only truly Another thing you might come claimed high personal satisfaction interactive art form, which to recognize when working on more and low stress, some companies will complex games is that the work expect you to work seventy-hour allows them to do things no can be split up even further; some weeks in order to meet their deadother medium can. They can lines, and those are the companies developers might choose to work on graphics while another develops tell stories, let people explore that treat their employees well. the scripting language. One thing to Work-life balance is a pervasive how they would react in keep in mind is that practicing game problem in the industry. In addition, development on your own helps you the bigger a project is, the less your different situations, teach discover which part of the develcontributions will be recognizable. skills, and more. That is the opment you most enjoy. In some So what are the motivations companies, developers who can do of people who see the industry’s reason I want to work in the a specific kind of programming are processes and flaws clearly? Says video game industry. sometimes paid more. On the other Poppenhusen, “Video games have hand, smaller project teams give you a lot of potential. They’re the only the opportunity to work on many truly interactive art form, which aspects of the game. ‘career’ at a single company is pretty much allows them to do things no other medium Many computer science bachelor pronon-existent in the video game induscan. They can tell stories, let people grams offer one or two classes related to try. People switch jobs every few years, explore how they would react in different game programming, but to ensure that you flooding the job marked with highly skilled situations, teach skills, and more. That stand out to a potential employer in this individuals. This makes it very difficult for is the reason I want to work in the video industry, it is crucial to have a portfolio of new developers to break into the field. game industry.” games you have already worked on. Most Most companies aren’t willing to train new Looking at the creators of acclaimed professionals do not recommend courses workers when there are already so many independent games like Braid, Fez, and at schools that exclusively teach video good workers available.”

Super Meat Boy (as one can in the docugame programming as graduates are not Learning as much as you can on your mentary Indie Game: The Movie) not only familiar with best programming practices. own is crucial. Schofield seconds that is the immense effort put into these games However, for those seeking a more formal many companies are not in the practice apparent, but the drive was born from a education, there are master’s programs of investing a lot of time and effort into passion to do something new with this that come highly recommended. recent graduates. His recommendation amazing medium. While everyone might Bill Schofield, who has more than a is to program on your own often and not be prepared to strike out on their decade of experience in the gaming indusmake connections in the industry through own to create a game, such is the kind of try, says that it is those motivated to learn career fairs, conferences, and mentorship dedication required to be successful in the on their own that will be most successful in programs. He also advises that aside from industry. any tech career: making yourself desirable to the company, Some great resources for the aspir“If you’ve got nothing in your portfolio networking is a great way to determine ing game developer: learn to code and no previous experience, it’s possible to whether a company will be a good fit for at CodeCombat, CodeSchool, and wow them in the interview and get the job, you.

CodeAcademy, find computer programbut it’s not likely.”

While as an entry-level developer, you ming courses on Coursera and EdX, Travis Poppenhusen, a recent graduate may not have a lot of choice on what your and reach out to potential mentors at from Texas A&M who is currently seeking a first project will be, and more than likely StudentMentor.org.

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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News

Joining a Political Party And Why I Left Two Months Later

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by: Lucy Pegg When I joined the Labour Party -- currently in opposition in the U.K. and self described as a “democratic socialist party” -- in October 2013, it was an experiment of sorts. Having become increasingly interested in politics, and with the membership cost only £1 a year for those under nineteen, it seemed that there was nothing to lose in attempting to doing something with the frustration I had about the way certain things were happening in the country. While signing petitions and re-tweeting things certainly seemed useful in some ways, it felt as if I should somehow do more. Whatever Russell Brand may have been saying about the ineffectiveness of party politics, it felt to me that with the political system as it is, joining the political party was the only way to really get involved.

So why did I leave?

Firstly, when I joined, I wanted to get involved with Young Labour, a branch of the party for those between fourteen and twenty-six. This seemed far less intimidating than trying to fit in with people around three times my age who probably had very different priorities and interests from mine. Unfortunately, it turned out there wasn’t such a group anywhere near where I lived. As disheartening as this was, it was the next factor that annoyed me enough to resign my membership.

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The Anglerfish | Issue 12 January 2014

From the very beginning, I felt like a piece in a machine -- a very tiny piece who only mattered in terms of being a guaranteed vote at a general election and a possible source of extra income. At least once a week I would be sent an email asking me to donate money, usually £10, which just isn’t feasible in my current situation. The most notable occurrence of this was an email encouraging members to speak out against the Bedroom Tax, a proposal that would limit the housing benefit people could claim if they had supposedly “spare” bedrooms within their home.

However the email ended by suggesting that to prevent the tax being brought in I should once again donate money to the party.

There wasn’t any encouragement to sign petitions, protest or talk to my local Member of Parliament. They simply wanted me to give them money. I felt used and exploited and it seemed clear to me that I was seen merely as an asset to their bank balance rather than a campaigner. The final straw was when, a few weeks before Christmas, my local party sent me a letter with a list of things I could tell people to discourage them from voting for other parties.

Many of these barely pertained to the opponent’s actual policies and were nearly gossipy enough to be featured in “Hello” or “Heat” magazine.

At a time when young people are becoming increasingly disenchanted with conventional politics -- a 2013 Britainthinks survey found only a third of fourteen to eighteen-year-olds felt a political party could help them -- that political parties are (at least in my experience) so unwelcoming to younger members and in a sense seem inhuman is ridiculous. To me, it doesn’t seem that young people are uninterested in current affairs, but that the traditional platforms for getting involved are no longer appealing.

Having handed in my membership card (metaphorically at least -- apparently nobody actually comes and destroys it as I’d imagined), I plan to get more involved with activism on specific issues.

Organizations like Stonewall and campaigns such as “No More Page 3” or “Lose the Lads Mags” seem to be far more targeted at me as an individual. The communications I receive from them merely from being on a mailing list are far more inspiring than those I received as a paid-up member of the Labour party.

Crucially, these campaigns seem to actually make change happen. Caroline Criado-Perez ran her Women on Banknotes campaign and was successful as the new £10 notes in Britain will now feature Jane Austen. On a darker note, the 2011 London riots were equally effective; people were far more interested in the welfare issues which motivated the violence when shop windows were being smashed than when a new bill was being discussed in parliament. It needs to be understood why people no longer associate themselves with a party beyond the ballot box before people refuse to even support them that far. If trends continue as they are, politics could become a space devoid of the influence of the young.

News

Turn It Up Paging Doctor Mario The Possible Benefits of White Noise

Video Games and Health Care

by: Joie Ling To put it simply, white noise is ALL THE NOISES! White noise is created by combining different frequencies. The human brain is able to pick out differences between different sounds to be able to understand what is going on (e.g. when two people are having a conversation.) However, if there are too many different sounds going on at the same time, the brain is unable to determine the nuances in sound (e.g. when 1,000 people are talking at the same time, it’s not possible to understand what each is saying.) White noise is basically those 1,000 voices talking at once, causing all other noises to be masked (a principle known as sound masking).

True white noise sounds similar to the static created by TVs and radios but the more common sounds perceived to be white noise include nature noises (rain, sea waves), machinery noises (ACs, washing machines), and ambient soundscapes (crowd noise). Although these sounds aren’t true white noise, they do the same job as all are made up of different sounds at different frequencies.

The brain craves sound stimulants, especially when there is nothing but silence. This is why, when one is studying in complete silence to “focus,” simple sounds like a door opening or a dog barking cause one to become easily distracted.

The use of white noise, however, can eliminate all of these annoying noises and allow one to actually focus when studying or working. Some use white noise as they try to go to sleep as white noise masks all other small sounds that could cause one to wake up in the middle of the night. In a world where sound pollutation is becoming a serious problem, perhaps the solution to canceling it out is more sound.

illustrated by: David Pantoja

Is that pesky Wii still reminding you to go outside every half an hour? Is you mom asking you whether you plan on leaving your bedroom this weekend? Has your skin achieved a nice, even screenglow tan? No worries, it turns out video games may be as good for you as the proverbial apple a day! by: Alysaa Nabors While no one is prescribing Super Mario Sunshine to cure cancer, video games are surfacing as a possible treatment for many different kinds of ailments.

Researchers at universities across the world have determined that specially designed games can speed recovery for sufferers from mobility-impairing diseases and injuries. Practicing everyday movements via these games helps the brain relearn control of the damaged areas.

Because one-on-one physical therapy sessions are more expensive and time-consuming, using the games to supplement

traditional treatments also aids in speeding recovery. This kind of therapy has been used for patients suffering from cerebral palsy, stroke, and many other ailments.

In many cases, games can be used to assess mental health status and even in rehabilitation. Video games have been used to help PTSD patients by lessening the distress of a traumatic event through Exposure Therapy. Integrated biofeedback modules can help therapists identify what scenarios cause patients the most stress and allow the patients to practice coping techniques in a low-pressure environment.

According to a study done in Italy last year, certain video games are extremely helpful in treating dyslexia. Other educational games can be extraordinarily helpful for children with non-traditional learning styles.

While many of the games currently used in the cases mentioned above are specially designed for the ailment they are meant to treat, video games in general have been observed to improve hand-eye coordination, keep memory sharp, and improve reaction times and short-term memory!

Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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Art & Literature

FunLand

My pack was probably too full for one afternoon of urban exploration. I had a couple of bottles of water, some protein bars, an extensive first-aid kit, an emergency blanket, a flashlight, and a solar charger for my phone. Oh, and my pocket knife, but I nearly always carry that with me. I might have over packed, but I didn’t like doing this kind of thing. It was only because my best friend, Dirk, talked me into it. His normal exploring partner was away for the weekend. I couldn’t let him go alone, and I was always the one he called when he needed backup.

By Jacey Simon “C’mon, Rob, it’ll be fun. It’s just an old amusement park. The site said it isn’t even that rundown. Just some graffiti and some overgrown weeds,” Dirk said when I got in his Jeep that morning.

I’d read about the theme park too.

I wasn’t about to go in sight unseen.

FunLand had opened in the late 1950s, been a popular family tourist trap in the 1960s and 1970s, only to be taken over by gangs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, until it finally closed down nearly twenty years ago. Some of the rides and decorations were sold off, but most of it was left to rot. No one wanted to buy the rides or the land they sat on.

Dirk parked his Jeep and led me to the hole in the fence forged by those who had come before us. Dirk had a map of the park that he had downloaded and printed.

He showed me his plan to explore certain areas of the park. I was just going to follow and take some photos for my blog. It seemed like enough adventure for me. I didn’t believe in ghosts or anything, but I was always a little worried about getting caught trespassing or getting hurt and having trouble getting back out.

Dirk started walking and I just followed, careful to watch where he stepped because the cement was broken and littered with roots attempting to trip me with each step. I was falling behind, and I could tell that Dirk was getting annoyed.

“Dude, you’re the one who wanted me to come with,” I said as he rolled his eyes at me again.

“I didn’t think you were going to be a little bitch about it,” Dirk said teasingly.

“Whatever, man. I’m not going to come do this kind of thing with you ever again,” I said.

“Good, because I’m never inviting you

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ever again,” Dirk said, and we both started laughing. We both threatened that every time I came on one of these expeditions, but I still ended up in some abandoned building every few months.

We were finally to some buildings. They were just single level storage and a restaurant. I knew there wouldn’t be anything in there but rats. I wanted to get some photos of the cool graffiti on the outside.

“Just go in. I’ll be out here,” I shouted.

Dirk waved and went inside.

I have a blog cataloging local street art, so I know a little bit about it. It is mostly just a hobby, but I’m still pretty proud of it. I would much rather capture this than whatever leftovers inside of a restaurant closed for twenty years. I was still snapping photos of a mural when I saw from the corner of my eye Dirk come back out.

“Hey, man. Just give me a sec. That was quick. The rats didn’t have much to say?” I said. He didn’t answer, so I looked up. Dirk wasn’t there. I walked over to the door and looked in. I could see his flashlight beam moving around. “Did you forget to look in something?” I shouted.

“What are you talking about?” Dirk yelled back.

“You were out here a minute ago.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Dirk said as he made his way back out.

“Weird. It must have been the sun or the wind or something. I could have sworn I saw you come out. Whatever. Are you ready to move on?” I said. He nodded, and we started walking deeper into the park.

I was starting to get a little creeped out.

Seeing people who weren’t there aside.

It was so quiet. Each of our steps echoed around us, amplified as they bounced off the buildings and rides surrounding us.

The only other noises were those of birds

The Anglerfish | Issue 12 Jaunuary 2014

taking flight and rusted chains rattling in the breeze. Dirk laughed at me every time I startled at a noise, but I got him back by jumping out of a building at him.

“Mr. Urban Explorer” actually screamed. I wished I had it on camera.

I had been to shopping centers and even a hospital with Dirk before, but there seemed to be something extra disturbing about something so cheery falling into disrepair. The faded colors, the rusted statues, and the paintings of what people thought were supposed to be happy children in the 50s and 60s but have terrifyingly dead eyes that stare at you relentlessly.

I guess the atmosphere was getting to me because I started to feel a little like someone was following us. I kept looking back, but there was no one there. The occasional rustle of leaves was all that lay behind us.

“Boy, you are nervous. I don’t think you were this jumpy even when we were at that hospital,” Dirk said.

“You honestly don’t hear that?” I asked, hearing footsteps again.

“It’s just our footsteps echoing back.

You need to chill.”

I tried to chill, but the unsettling feeling wouldn’t leave me. In fact, when I would look back after that, I was sure I saw a figure a couple of times. I never saw it long enough to call out to Dirk to look, but it was there. Or at least I thought it was.

I was starting to really believe there was someone else there in the park with us. I didn’t know why they were hiding from us, but it probably wasn’t good. People don’t spend a whole afternoon hiding for good reasons.

Dirk went into another building. I followed him this time because, quite frankly, I didn’t want to be alone. Also all there was outside of the building was one of those big swing rides. It was in pretty good condition, but otherwise not noteworthy.

I hated the way my hands shook as I held the flashlight. I grabbed it with both hands to steady it as I followed him through the strange building. It was quiet in there, and I started to feel more comfortable. Even in the dark, it was calming.

All I could feel was that Dirk and I were alone.

Art & Literature That was until I heard a loud crack outside. Dirk looked at me and I stared right back at him. Even he looked scared.

We agreed to go out and investigate. When we got out there, the swings were running in a slow circle. The Ferris Wheel was also moving in the distance. I said “Nope,” before walking back the way we had come.

I couldn’t see if any of the other rides were moving, but I could not have cared less.

Two randomly moving rides in a closed down park were more than enough for me.

“Dude, don’t be a such a girl. It’s just the wind,” Dirk said following me.

I stopped and turned back to him. “Do you feel any wind?” I asked. There was a light breeze, and even knowing that wind would be more intense up higher, there was no way that it could get some rusted out amusement park rides moving again.

I didn’t even wait for him to answer. I just kept walking back out of the park. I would wait for him at the Jeep if I had to, but I wasn’t spending anymore time in that park than I had to. Dirk followed me out of the park. I had seen enough weird stuff to want to get home as soon as I could. I didn’t care who called me a girl.

I tripped my way through the broken path, but we made our way back through the fence before nightfall. My phone was dead and so was my flashlight, so I was glad we made it back to the Jeep before it got too dark. Dirk called me names and complained until he dropped me off. That was a week ago now, and I still think about the figures and the way those rides started moving on their own. They’ve invaded my dreams every night, and I really never want to go exploring with Dirk ever again.

I’ve done a little more research since I’ve gotten home. I wish I had seen some of these stories before I had gone. There are a lot of creepy stories about FunLand that I somehow missed before our trip.

People have seen figures in the park like I did. Others have gone into the park and have never returned. They are probably all made up urban legends. Still, I don’t think I would have gone if I had seen them before.

Dirk went back yesterday with his regular exploring partner. I haven’t heard how it went, but I’m sure they are fine.

I’m sure he just forgot to call me when he got home. Or maybe his phone went dead too. I’ll probably hear from him tomorrow.

Right?

By Kat Taylor

Wonderfully Eccentric cover.

Submit your art or writing to us at theanglerfishmagazine@ gmail.com! It doesn’t have to be Nerdfighter related, share what you want to share.

Have you submitted something and it’s not in The Anglerfish? Don’t worry, we’re probably just saving it for a future issue.

By Eefje Savelkoul Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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Issue 12 January 2014 | The Anglerfish

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