đ weekend edition vol.016
the game by e. florian gludovacz and a review of the collective by kim gordon
this is...
/ËfoÍofÉËrĂ´/
-
a great deal of fuss or attention given to a minor matter
-
The Media Guide - a weekly report out of all the new tv, albums, comics, and movies worth checking out
-
Weekend Edition - a weekly zine featuring contributions of criticism, essays, webcomics, fiction, art, and more
-
Review of Links - a twice weekly analysis and commentary of the news across tv, albums, comics, and movies for paid [+] subscribers
Published by The Independent Variable
Today:
đŽ Story Time: The Game by E. Florian Gludovacz
đ˝ Willful Listening: The Collective by Kim Gordon
Hey folks! Iâm going to be super brief here because Iâm back home in Chicago for a wedding this weekend and have been filling every waking second trying to see friends and family.
So unfortunately, Iâm not going to be able to do justice in introducing our first fiction story from E. Florian Gludovacz about a magnificent little handheld world-building game (with an accompanying illustration from Andy Carolan) or Willâs review of The Collective by Kim Gordon, which has convinced to try to give it another shotâŚ
Be sure to check both of them out and enjoy a lovely weekendâmaybe even have a negroni (or beer) to celebrate my birthday with me this evening đ
Cheers! đť
The Game
by E. Florian Gludovacz
âHere, check this out!â the girl told her friend enthusiastically, pointing at the game console on her desk.
âWhat is it?â
âItâs a world-builder game and itâs the coolest toy ever!â
âVery nice! How does it work?â the boy asked.
âI donât know how it works, but itâs easy to operate.â
She flipped a switch and the display projection lit up, showing a blank slate scenario.
âThat doesnât look like much,â he said dubiously.
âNot yet, but it will. This is just the beginning. We start by creating the universe. First we have to define some parameters, and then we can get started on the actual world.â
âWhat kind of parameters?â
âWe get to decide whether we want a closed universe or an infinite one.â
âLetâs make it infinite, that sounds much more interesting!â
âOkay. Here we go. Itâs infinite now,â she smiled. âAll you have to do is flip the menu switch here and press confirm.â
âCan I try it?â
âOf course. The next parameter determines whether the universe is expanding or contracting.â
âLetâs go with expanding. Infinite and expanding just go really well together,â he said and turned the appropriate dial.
âThatâs a lot of space to fill.â
âI guess so, but I have an idea. We could put in some galaxies to fill the empty void.â
âSure, why not? Here is the selector setting for that. How many do you want?â
âI donât know, a few hundred billion maybe? It doesnât really matter. Itâs just a backdrop, isnât it?â
âYou're right. So, Iâll set it to 200 billion? That fills up the space and doesnât noticeably slow down the gameâs processing speed,â she offered.
âSounds good to me,â he examined the projection critically. âYes, that looks nice. It gives the universe a certain sparkle. Anyway, what happens next?â
âNow we start to build a world. This is where it gets interesting. There are so many things to choose from. Like, for example, do we want a flat planet or a round one?â
âFlat sounds more intuitive to me, because things will stay on the planet.â
âUnless they fall over the edge,â she pointed out.
âWe could put a dome over it and keep everything inside, couldnât we?â he mused.
âOf course, but then what is the point of having an infinite universe with billions of galaxies. We could have simply put some fake stars on the dome instead and been done with it.â
âI hadnât thought of that! So, I guess round planet it is,â he paused, looking sheepish. âBut how will things stay on the round planet?â
âOh, thatâs easy. We adjust the gravitational force projection from the âDownâ setting to âOmnidirectionalâ,â she demonstrated by twisting the dial to the right and continued. âNow we confirm the selection and then the system will throw in a bunch of random parameters for our planet. This is where the fun really starts, because you never quite know what you'll get. When the machine generates the planetâs solar system, it picks the number and configuration of other planets at random. Sometimes they're habitable, sometimes not. I played one game recently where three planets had life on them, but it was all different. One was water-carbon-based, and the other two were methane-based.â
He stared at the unspectacular little round planet.
âAnd thatâs it?â
He sounded disappointed by the anticlimactic result and lack of action.
âWe're only getting started. Now we zoom in and see what kind of world we have created.â She manipulated the dial again and looked at the profile summary critically. âIt says here that it is a water-carbon based world. Those are great, lots of stuff can happen on them.â
âWhat kind of stuff?â
âEvolution, of course. The world comes pre-seeded with tiny organisms that will grow over time until you have complex organisms all over the place.â
âHow long does that take?â
âOh, billions and millions of years. It isnât exactly a quick process, you see.â
âBut we donât have time for that before dinner,â he sighed.
âThat doesnât matter. We can use this dial to move things along in the fourth dimension. Like this!â
The girl turned the dial rapidly and as they watched, many things began to happen on the surface of their little planet. The oceans stopped boiling, the continents emerged and began their endless journey across the surface, sometimes colliding with each other, sometimes drifting apart. The oceans began to teem with life, then animals emerged, first small amphibians, then larger creatures. Some returned to the oceans while others remained and thrived.
âI kind of like those big things, but this game is a little passive, if you ask me,â the boy mused. âI was hoping that there would be more to do. All we're doing is watching the little creatures move around and evolve.â
âWe can influence things, if we want. For example, letâs have a little mass extinction event and see what happens. She pressed a button and moments later an asteroid appeared. It slammed into the small, blue planet with a resounding crash and the children watched intently as the results of the detonation played out, darkening the sky, killing manyâbut not allâof the creatures that had populated their world.
âI feel kind of sorry for them,â the boy sighed. âKilling all of those creatures isnât fun.â
âThere are more than enough of them left, donât worry. Here, let me speed up the time function some more and you'll see.â
They watched in fascination for a while.
âI like those little creatures, they're cute. They are building things too! Look! Did you see that? They are hauling stones and building little pyramids! How cool is that?â he said.
âYes, thatâs the weird thing with all the planets I have made. Nine times out of ten the intelligent life forms will develop some kind of religion. I have no idea why, but it almost always happens. It's the craziest thing.â
âIt probably makes them feel less alone in the endless universe?â he ventured. âBut what happens when no deity answers their prayers?â
âThat's taken care of. Here, watch. The system knows what to do. There is one praying right now. And then this happens.â
A message ran across the projection.
Thank you for contacting [deityâs name]. [Deityâs name] cannot answer your prayer right now. If you leave a message, [deityâs name] will get back to you at their earliest convenience. Thank you for your continued belief.
âHey kids! Itâs time for dinner! Come on down and donât forget to wash your hands!â the girlâs father yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
âWeâll be down in a minute! We are just finishing up our game!â the girl called back.
âAll right! But donât take too long! You donât want your food to get cold!â
âSo what do we do now?â the boy asked. âDo we have to pause the game or what?â
âWe donât have to do that. We can just let the simulation run and leave the creatures to their own devices. Things will progress on their own.â
âThey will?â
âYeah... well, kind of,â she admitted with a shrug. âThose little beings will muddle along, build a civilization or two, and then proceed to wreck the place.â
âWreck it?â
âOh, you know, they will have some wars and kill each other, pollute the planet and the environment, and make an absolute mess of things. Sometimes itâs climate change, sometimes itâs nuclear war, but they usually manage something destructive. Oddly enough they always end up fighting over the stupidest resources, differences in opinion, or just because they enjoy strife.â
âThatâs bizarre and also kind of sad, isnât it?â
âI guess so, but they arenât all that special. Anyway, we have to get dinner now,â she said dismissively. âIf things donât work out by the time we get back, we can always reboot the game and create a new world!â
E. Florian Gludovacz has been a writer, musician, and artist since his teens. He was born in Austria and grew up living in different parts of Europe (Germany, France, the UK, and Austria). He currently resides in rural Southern California with his wife and their mixed Great Pyrenean Mountain Dog.
đ˝ The Collective by Kim Gordon
Kim Gordon has made a hip hop album. The miasmic, hair-raising beats on The Collective have more in common with the youth vanguard of plugg rap than they do with Sonic Youth's pioneering noise rock. Her corrosive guitar in dialogue with Justin Raisen's industrial production delivers a writhing, taut record that seems to skew past its 40 minute runtime.
It's only fitting that The Collective channels the distorted grime favored by rappers like Playboi Carti and Trippie Redd. This rage rap scene bubbling to the mainstream from rap's underground, has inherited punk aesthetics and antagonism to make maladjusted music that teenagers of any age can mosh to. It's a full circle moment for Gordonâan early experimenter in what punk does when stretched and re-formedâto embrace these timbres.
Not to say that this is a rap album. Wellâexcept for the "The Candy House," where (I assume) Gordon really does spit a sick verse through a distorted voice filter. Otherwise, Gordon deadpans potent clipped phrases straight from her chest. Like rage-rappers who emphasize repetition, mumbling, or ad-libs over crafted bars, it's equal parts what she says, and how she says it.
On the opener "BYE BYE," she savors each syllable of a packing list, daring us to read into things:
conditionerâŚYSL, Eckhaus Latta eyelash curler
vibrator, teaser.
So what if I want the big truck? Giddy-up, _giddy-up!
she challenges in "I'm A Man."
On "Tree House," she seethes,
We fucked some way.
Luxury fashion? Cars? Sex? She's adapting rap's classic flexes for a snarl deeper than bravado. It's inspiring and utterly badass that at 70, Kim Gordon is still making confrontational, forward-looking music that brushes off easy labels.
One More Thing
I'm quite mesmerized by the massive, engulfing pop-art paintings of James Rosenquist. This native North Dakotan came out of a commercial sign-painting trade to create elusive, yet disarmingly earnest images of commercial Americana.
Upcoming
Jersey Star's rollicking and tender EP, "Loser," drops on Tuesday April 2nd. These songs have an intimate opacity, but the idiosyncratic bops still sound like they were made just for me. Anyone near New York will be equally fortunate to catch this troubadour garage rock trio at their EP release party on April 4th, at the Living Gallery with support from Reaux Cham Beaux and Waterghost.
âWill Kaplan
Writing artist based in Queens, NYC
That's it, I gotta run!!
Stay sane,
âhumdrum