& a blog

Dear employers of the world, Stop cheaping out on the young ambitious people of the world by offering only “unpaid internships.” It’s class warfare anyway you cut it, and unless you are quite literally a mom and pop establishment, I think you can afford to shell out $3,000 for a summer of exploitative work. Don’t [...]

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It has become completely impossible to ignore the massive social, economic, and cultural implications of video games. It is an industry that has outsold cinema and publishing for years. Its myths and characters have escaped consoles and computers for popular culture at large. And more and more people are becoming “gamers” everyday. Revolutions in casual [...]

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over the summer, i got a chance to see gustav klimt’s beethoven frieze nestled in the basement of the architecturally stunning (but otherwise uninteresting) secession building. having had no idea before of the mere existence of the beethoven frieze i was totally stunned by the beauty and scale of frieze. measuring at least 6 feet [...]

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my dream of assassin’s creed when my a good friend of mine first got assassin’s creed, i was enchanted by its premise. as a serious lover of medieval history, particularly the crusades, the concept of gaming a 12th century jerusalem was immediately attractive to me. when i finally saw the game, i realized that the [...]

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Now that the internet has become an ambience, we have become enveloped by it. Just ten years ago, society traveled to the internet. It was something somewhat site-specific, a cafe, a library, a corporate office. At that point, the internet still had a certain physicality- one could move into its reach, and, more importantly, out. [...]

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i’ve been missing my gaming fix lately. this time last year, i was rock band-ing daily a la berkman center, and even exercising my gamer theory with monthly mit-harvard game design meetings hosted by the ever brilliant gene koo. anyway, between a brother who is no longer all that interested in video games (or staying [...]

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Canada is like a popular American movie remade by amateurs with French subtitles. You recognize certain scenes, and the plot feels familiar, but somehow the whole thing is off. Not that this is bad thing. Indeed, I rather like it. Valentine’s Day Trip A recent jaunt up to Montreal for a weekend both confirmed everything [...]

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doubt is an actor’s vehicle, a film of great performances, but without any real drive to its narrative. where philip seymour hoffman, meryl streep, and amy adams put in exceptional performances, they seem to be almost freestyling through a listless and contrived story-line. perhaps this artificiality has something to do with the fact the doubt [...]

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the first awesome present of the year has been given, and received by me. this delightful remote control wall-e was a gift of a housemate for our seasonal secret santa, and boy did she impress. my wall-e moves backwards, forwards, and turns! the noises are user-provided, but i am more than capable of that! Waaaaaahhhhhllll-eeee!

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some of the best soulsearching in the world can be done on the ripta 60 bus. take the outbound from providence on a weekday night. take the 10:40; it will be half-empty. there will be a place to sit in the back, a seat on the right, where you’ll be able to see the water. [...]

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