He narrates some bizarrely awesome-sounding games he and other kids played, based on the 1973 Planet Of The Apes TV series (not the movies, weirdly enough).
The live-action series wasn't much of a much, but the cartoon was surprisingly awesome, in part because it deviated from the movie and series by showing apes using more advanced technology; the bit that showed a good ol' ape driving a truck while listening to a country & western song called "I'm Going Humanoid Over You" remains burned in my brain. #michaelchabon
@Anekanta - Go Play!: Adding to my wishlist also. I enjoy books of essays, and while I might not see the depth that Charlie Jane sees in it, I think I'd enjoy this. #michaelchabon
From time to time I feel guilty for being so cold to the products of Chabon Inc., when its certified Geekcredgineers are so patently well-adjusted, warm-hearted and generous with their tales of liking the things that I like and disliking the things that I dislike and the products in its premium fiction line -- The One About the Comic-Book Creators and The One About the Jewish People in Alaska, particularly -- are so finely-finished, like Lexuses of hysterical Brooklyn fictioneering, and its mission statement so helpfully accessible and open-source. Chabon Inc. would never ask me to put away my childish things. It's like the cool father/older brother/professor/boss/mentor/secret sharer I never had but always wanted. #michaelchabon
@Rasselas: I don't know exactly what you are saying there. It's clear that you have some kind of issues, or at least have issues with the fact that you don't have issues. I suspected for just a moment that we had some of the same issues, but then I realized that you were saying you didn't like MC's work. That's opposite. Totally opposite. Now I'm really confused. #michaelchabon
@robfagen: I won't pretend to be able to speak for anybody else, but, less obliquely put, sometimes I get tired of people selling me things, and sometimes the things that I get tired of them selling me are themselves. #michaelchabon
"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.
I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.
@Rasselas: I've always been a fan of Chabon. I remember reading Kavalier and Clay in college and thinking, "I wish I could write like this." And I read Yiddish Policeman's Union on a sunny Caribbean beach, but his creation of a rainy, dark, seedy Alaskan town was so showing that I felt like I needed an umbrella and a lamp (maybe not the best choice for a beach book, then.)
Also, I love Chabon's genre-busting mentality when it comes to publishing and marketing.
I was never so suspicious as to think, "Oh, this is too well-laid-out," or, "this is too Geekcredgineered," especially while I was busy enjoying the books. #michaelchabon
@Rasselas: The quote wasn't a snipe.
I never thought Lloyd's aspirations were childish. They seemed born of undiminished expectation.
So often, the loftier the ambition and the more elegant the execution, in that we see around us, the more precarious is the equilibrium between our satisfaction and disappointment.
Nagging unease, at the edge of insight, that something, somehow, doesn't quite 'sing'. #michaelchabon
I'm always happy to see someone else trumpeting the concepts and purposes behind the Long Now (with or without the Foundation), something I consider one of the most important ideas people have come up with since the Enlightenment. #michaelchabon
Is this the part where I admit that I still play with Legos in spite of being older than the recommended age for most sets? I find they are a great stress reliever and promote my own creativity. Also "customizing" Lego mini-figs by rearranging their little arms, legs, and heads is great fun. And to reiterate a common theme on this thread, everyone who plays with Legos builds the pictured model first and then takes it apart after a week to build something else. Building the pictured model first is actually a learning activity: its a great way to learn how different parts can be put together or how to put together parts that you normally wouldn't consider using together to make something cool. It's how I figured out how to make war hammers for my Lego knights. #starwars
@aubreyf: I think he was talking about the new generation of Legos, where they have a very specific theme like Indiana Jones. Contrary to Olden times (when I was a kid) where Legos were either SPACE or CASTLES, and in its own universe were very versatile and could create a wider range of stuff. I had the Alliance Explorer and the bad guys which I can't remember their name. I made a Gundam suit for one of my guys (yes, with elbows and knees, and everything).
And really that's the point behind all of this jibber jabber by Chabon (whose work I generally like). As a kid, you have to make do with what Legos you have and scrounge the rest from your toybox to fill in the rest. Play is the thing. The Legos just support it. Only adults and perhaps teens entertain notions of making Legos for a specific purpose. These themed Legos go back to marketing what is essentially blocks that connect to each other. It's original DIY by kids for kids. #starwars
The one gripe I have with Lego Star Wars is that there are no suggested images for OTHER things you can build with the pieces in a set. When I was a kid, you would buy a Lego set to build one thing, then the images on the back of the box suggested other possible constructions. Lego Star Wars sets don't have that. #starwars
@iliad2099:
They did for the first few years of the theme. I remember specifically that one of the first wave of sets had a picture on the back of a lifesize lightsaber hilt built from the bricks in the set. #starwars
Yeah, he's got a point. I remember back when I was a kid, hearing some statistic that the average person is 90% less creative when they are 40 than when they are 10; and this difference was attributed to cultural rather than biological factors.
It sure rang true, as I remember going through an educational system worked very hard to beat the creativity out of people.
I know others who feel this way as well, but did anyone have a different experience growing up? #starwars
That's the thing about LEGO sets--you always want to build the thing on the box at least once and admire it for a little while, then you get down to the proper business of play.
(Says the person who mostly bought LEGO sets for the minifigs so they could be used to make custom characters for tabletop gaming. SO MUCH EASIER than painting lead figurines.) #starwars
@Lampbane: 100% true that. I was a Legophile forty years ago. The stuff I made was far more interesting (to me anyway) than any predetermined design. #starwars
Anyone who says any set is restrictive is a fool and uncreative to boot.
It is a challenge to do certain things with certain sets but you aren't too limited by even a very small set.
The thing is, Lego does sell creator boxes with no instructions, just a themed figure (Pirate, Knight or Fireman) and lots of bricks. You don't have to buy Star Wars you know... #starwars
That was always how it worked for me as a kid (and Lego devotee): the thing on the box was always the first thing built, and it might even be treated extra-carefully for a long time, but the reality of pitched Lego battles was such that damage was inevitable, and eventually the gorgeous, color-coordinated spacecraft dreamed up by the Lego designers would be recycled into multi-hued beasts of my own imagining. It does seem like the Lego licensing boom has lead to a proliferation of single-use (or, perhaps more fairly, "purpose-made") pieces, but that's where Chabon's statement about the inherent subversiveness of childhood comes into play. Even when I was a kid, it seemed at first glance that a minifig's legs were irrevoacably a minifig's legs, but danged if they didn't become a new race of aliens when I couldn't find a torso for them, and they even became vehicle parts when necessary. #starwars
Dude, your kids aren't as amazing as you think. All kids with Lego did the same thing (even 30 some odd years ago.) What makes Lego great was that you could do whatever the hell you wanted with it. #starwars
@ManchuCandidate: Haven't Legos changed over time, though? I remember when I got my first Lego sets, there was a large number of different sorts of blocks, but you basically used the same kinds of blocks to build every sort of model, just putting the same elements together in different ways. But -- though I could be mistaken -- I think there are a lot more specialized blocks now, designed to make some specific Star Wars model look right, and not inter-changeable with generic Lego pieces. So those would sort of restrict creativity.
Also, aside from that, it's the merchandising. When I was a kid, I had a bunch of sci-fi themed Lego sets. But they weren't licensed from any specific franchise. That left me free to make up my own stories and my own world. With Lego sets based on Star Wars or whatever else, I can see how there would be a tendency for creativity to be a bit more restricted, since you already know the narratives the set is supposed to fit into. So I am guessing the author finds it interesting that children find ways to be creative despite these restrictions, which were not necessarily there in the Legos of decades past. #starwars
@ManchuCandidate: he's not saying his kids are remarkable -- his point actually hinges on his kids not being outliers. But making unexpected things out of a collection mainly of general-purpose blocks (Legos of the 70s and 80s) is different from making unexpected things out of sets like the current Indiana Jones sets, where it seems like a good 30% or more of the Legos could only possibly be used for one thing, and less than 30% are truly general purpose. #starwars
@ParryLost: My favorite LEGO as a kid were the Castle sets. Some of the pieces were just generic grey one-peg pieces. Some were triangular Tudor-style wall pieces meant to support the roof. About the only thing you could do with the drawbridge bits was build a drawbridge, but I still managed some pretty wicked new castles.
My favorite LEGO as a teen were the Adventurers sets. Some of the peices were just generic sandy-coloured six-peg pieces. Some were Pharonic statuary with trapdoors. Nevertheless, I got some pretty rad Egyptian temples out of the deal.
Nowadays, I just use all those bits to make little Steampunk things. I still need to get an AT-ST Walker so I can cannibalize the legs for my own contraption. #starwars
@ParryLost: I know exactly what you're saying but there are still endless things you can do even with the more specialized pieces.
Older sets used to just use bricks to make the roof of a house. Then they came up with the sloped piece. The slope pieces are more specialized than the regular bricks but that doesn't necessarily limit the number of things that they can be used for. #starwars
@ParryLost: "I think there are a lot more specialized blocks now, designed to make some specific Star Wars model look right, and not inter-changeable with generic Lego pieces. So those would sort of restrict creativity."
THIS. Goodness, people-- all of you in this thread who don't get what Chabon was saying, he's saying THIS.
Legos in the 1970s, back when I was a kid? The same pieces were used for everything. The space sets, the police sets, everything. Since they were all clearly interchangeable, you quickly just messed around with them, and creativity flourished.
Then somewhere along the way, you started seeing the "specialized" sets that no matter what you did always looked like what they were supposed to be-- pirates, medieval knights, now Star Wars. Yes, you can make your own creations, but it's clearly designed to *start* from a more specific place than before.
Personally, I just want a giant box of Legos. (Lego-- whatever, I'm not f'ing Danish). No plans, no suggestions, simply freedom.
11/04/09
The live-action series wasn't much of a much, but the cartoon was surprisingly awesome, in part because it deviated from the movie and series by showing apes using more advanced technology; the bit that showed a good ol' ape driving a truck while listening to a country & western song called "I'm Going Humanoid Over You" remains burned in my brain. #michaelchabon
11/03/09
11/03/09
I'm adding this to my wish-list.
Also this: "...one of the constants in Chabon's essays is the primacy of play..."
reminds me of this:
[go-play.org]
11/03/09
11/04/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Lloyd Dobler, in 'Say Anything...' [en.wikipedia.org] :
"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.
I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.
You know, as a career.
I don't want to do that." #michaelchabon
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/04/09
Also, I love Chabon's genre-busting mentality when it comes to publishing and marketing.
I was never so suspicious as to think, "Oh, this is too well-laid-out," or, "this is too Geekcredgineered," especially while I was busy enjoying the books. #michaelchabon
11/04/09
I never thought Lloyd's aspirations were childish. They seemed born of undiminished expectation.
So often, the loftier the ambition and the more elegant the execution, in that we see around us, the more precarious is the equilibrium between our satisfaction and disappointment.
Nagging unease, at the edge of insight, that something, somehow, doesn't quite 'sing'. #michaelchabon
11/04/09
11/03/09
10/16/09
10/15/09
Go Play!
[go-play.org] #starwars
10/15/09
But the bit about his kids sticking it to the corporations is a nice touch. #starwars
10/15/09
It was awesome.
10/15/09
10/15/09
10/16/09
They did for the first few years of the theme. I remember specifically that one of the first wave of sets had a picture on the back of a lifesize lightsaber hilt built from the bricks in the set. #starwars
10/15/09
It sure rang true, as I remember going through an educational system worked very hard to beat the creativity out of people.
I know others who feel this way as well, but did anyone have a different experience growing up? #starwars
10/15/09
(Says the person who mostly bought LEGO sets for the minifigs so they could be used to make custom characters for tabletop gaming. SO MUCH EASIER than painting lead figurines.) #starwars
10/15/09
10/15/09
It is a challenge to do certain things with certain sets but you aren't too limited by even a very small set.
The thing is, Lego does sell creator boxes with no instructions, just a themed figure (Pirate, Knight or Fireman) and lots of bricks. You don't have to buy Star Wars you know... #starwars
10/15/09
10/15/09
Dude, your kids aren't as amazing as you think. All kids with Lego did the same thing (even 30 some odd years ago.) What makes Lego great was that you could do whatever the hell you wanted with it. #starwars
10/15/09
Also, aside from that, it's the merchandising. When I was a kid, I had a bunch of sci-fi themed Lego sets. But they weren't licensed from any specific franchise. That left me free to make up my own stories and my own world. With Lego sets based on Star Wars or whatever else, I can see how there would be a tendency for creativity to be a bit more restricted, since you already know the narratives the set is supposed to fit into. So I am guessing the author finds it interesting that children find ways to be creative despite these restrictions, which were not necessarily there in the Legos of decades past. #starwars
10/15/09
10/15/09
My favorite LEGO as a teen were the Adventurers sets. Some of the peices were just generic sandy-coloured six-peg pieces. Some were Pharonic statuary with trapdoors. Nevertheless, I got some pretty rad Egyptian temples out of the deal.
Nowadays, I just use all those bits to make little Steampunk things. I still need to get an AT-ST Walker so I can cannibalize the legs for my own contraption. #starwars
10/15/09
Older sets used to just use bricks to make the roof of a house. Then they came up with the sloped piece. The slope pieces are more specialized than the regular bricks but that doesn't necessarily limit the number of things that they can be used for. #starwars
10/15/09
THIS. Goodness, people-- all of you in this thread who don't get what Chabon was saying, he's saying THIS.
Legos in the 1970s, back when I was a kid? The same pieces were used for everything. The space sets, the police sets, everything. Since they were all clearly interchangeable, you quickly just messed around with them, and creativity flourished.
Then somewhere along the way, you started seeing the "specialized" sets that no matter what you did always looked like what they were supposed to be-- pirates, medieval knights, now Star Wars. Yes, you can make your own creations, but it's clearly designed to *start* from a more specific place than before.
Personally, I just want a giant box of Legos. (Lego-- whatever, I'm not f'ing Danish). No plans, no suggestions, simply freedom.
THAT'S what Chabon is getting at. #starwars
10/16/09
Screw that. If all I had was a box of generic LEGO bricks, I never would have been able to build this:
[sluggy.com] #starwars