Heard of Braid? It’s an Xbox Live Arcade game, going for low price of $15. Notably, it is currently the highest-rated Xbox Live Arcade game ever. Is it deserved?

Yes, a thousand times yes.

The only way I can describe Braid is this: it’s a Haruki Murakami story in videogame form.

Two weeks ago, I was curious at seeing this game mentioned so many times on game news sites, so I downloaded the demo on Live. I went through the first level, and found it to be a weird, cool little platformer, with echoes of Super Mario Bros. The central game mechanic is a Rewind button, which drew comparisons to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I felt the puzzles were interesting and clever, but yet I wasn’t sure this was a game for me.

But over the last two weeks, I felt drawn back to the game. The text, displayed as a prologue to each world, hinted at something larger. It spoke of time, and forgiveness. So I went back to it and bought the full game.

Braid is a story about memory, forgiveness and regret. It’s about loss, and the search for meaning. It tells its story through moments and impressions, and leaves you clouded in emotion from a source you can’t quite pinpoint. The last level, in which the themes of the game come together, pulls off something of such magnificence and grandeur that I was left breathless by it. It is, quite simply, a piece of art.

The gameplay? Well, it’s really damn good, actually. The Rewind feature is part of it, but it goes much further. Much like Portal before, this is a game that requires you to be in a certain state of mind to succeed at it, and it leaves your perception of time askew once it’s over.

I always believed the videogame industry was capable of producing art. Much like Hollywood, however, I have my doubts that true art can be produced by a large, profit-driven enterprise. I had a hunch, back when the X360 launched, that Xbox Live Arcade could be the independent filmmaker equivalent for videogames, where little gems filled with insight and meaning could thrive, and tell their tale away from the well-trodded paths of the corporate giants.

Braid has now proven this possibility, and left me breathless in the process.

One note: the game is hard. Some puzzles are hard enough to give you a headache, but all of them are fair and well thought out. Personally, I took to the story so much, that I couldn’t endure laboring through the puzzles for days. I have to confess, I took a solver from GameFAQs. I’m sure the game is more rewarding if you solve it by yourself, but I have to say that the experience was totally worth it for me regardless.

Liberals BAD! Conservatives GOOD! CONSERVATIVES SMASH!!! Please vote fur me!

And then it invites you to “vote” on which candidate will address the one-sided issue they bring up, fold up the cheap photocopy, and mail it to Ottawa free of postage.

Which is why I did. Here’s what I wrote in it:

If you can’t make it out, I wrote: “Please stop wasting paper and taxpayer money to send me your cheap political rhetoric.” And in a very childish moment, I voted for everyone EXCEPT Harper. HAH! (Ok, I do realize that on an official ballot this would just annul my vote.)

Ok, so that ain’t much of a political statement. It just felt good upon receiving the fifth cheap pamphlet in a month.

Edmonton is really nice, and quite comfortable so far (granted, this is the summer and not the dark end of February.) Montreal was also familiar very quickly when Helene and I went back last year. That’s a good thing, in a sense… But I’m reading about exploring Japan or chatting with a North Korean waitress in Mandarin, and I feel like I left a part of myself in a foreign land.

I’m not saying I want to leave Edmonton right away, or that it was in any way a bad decision to come here… But it feels like I’m gathering myself, here in Western Canada. I’m gathering myself for another jump into the unknown. I don’t think it will be China (although I wouldn’t exclude the possibility), but China is, well… somewhat familiar now. I miss it, for sure, and I want to go back, but the lure I’m talking about is the pure joy and terror of being in a completely alien land again; which China isn’t anymore.

Where to next? I don’t know. I have 2-3 years to think about it. It’d be nice to go somewhere strange again.

That’s it… I’m strangesick.

Let me make one thing very clear off the start: yes, China has issues with human rights, and its treatment of Tibet and Xinjiang independentists is an important issue.

That being said, I have a major problem with the way the West is dealing with the Olympics being held in China right now. The protests along the olympic flame’s paths were pretty embarrassing, but the slew of smug reporters talking about China, not to mention the misspelled Powerpoint presentations I’m getting by email, are making me facepalm vigorously.

I’ve taken part in protests in the past, so I’m not condemning this mode of citizen expression at all. I stood in the streets of Montreal in -30 weather when I felt I should send a clear signal to my Government that it shouldn’t participate in the unlawful invasion of Iraq. I did so because standing in the streets by the thousands is an effective way of talking to your elected Government. It is stronger than a vote, in a way, because it requires initiative and active participation on your part.

But what are the objectives of protesting against the Beijing Olympics? Specifically, why do some journalists and tourists go to Beijing, then protest and get kicked out by the PRC? Do these people believe one second that doing so is going to change the way things are run in China?

The worst part is, it aggravates things. The young Chinese have an unparalleled access to Western media and information nowadays. Of all the people I’ve met in my age group, none ever suggested things were perfect in China. Some may argue that the theory of communism is very sound, but none would deny the state of affairs in the country.

And these are the people who can make a difference. This is the first generation of Chinese who are seeing the world open up before them once again. They are informed and critical, and they listen to what the West is saying about them. And you know how they react to seeing sensationalist attacks on China throughout the Olympics?

They see it as an attempt by the West to make them lose face. It’s all the more problematic that these reactions are not posted in plain English for us Westerners to see; they happen on Chinese forums, and are written in Simplified Chinese. In their eyes, the protests are not a rallying call, they’re a humiliation of their nation in a critical moment of openness to the world.

Is that worth having the smug feeling that comes from acting like an ass on Tienanmen Square before getting expelled?

The problem with China requires much more complex means to resolve. It demands that we open up a dialog with the people of China, so that we can present them with our values, in the hopes that this might leave a mark. This approach demands that we also listen lest the dialog turns to a sermon: and the danger in listening is that you, too, might change your mind.

And to me, that demands a lot more courage, conviction and will to change things than wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt.

With the arrival of the Olympics, it seems like every journalist is busy scouring the hutongs of Beijing looking for stuff that will challenge their definition of food. I’m actually a bit miffed at that, because focusing on the stuff you find ‘disgusting’ actually takes away from the cuisine as a whole; it’s one thing to get all freaky about eating a duck tongue, say, but you’re focusing on it instead of all the rest of the dishes around it.

To give you an example, when I tried pidan doufu (tofu with fermented egg), it was more of a dare, and the strange thousand year egg was an experience in itself. But instead of freaking out about it, I gave it an honest try. And you know what? It became one of my favorite dishes in Shanghai. (I miss it a lot!) Same goes for chou doufu (stinky tofu) and yu tou (fish head).

Anyway, just for kicks, here’s a list of unusual things I’ve eaten over the last few years. Some of it isn’t very ethical… I don’t particularly feel proud of the whale sashimi, though I couldn’t pass it up. But I’d say that everything was worth trying at least once.

I’ve marked the place I’ve eaten these dishes for the first time… When nothing’s marked, it means China.

• Live fish, as sashimi
• Drunken shrimp (live shrimp drowning in rice alcohol)
• 30 lbs lobster, still alive, as sashimi
• Thousand year egg
  
• Dog hot pot
• BBQ dog meat, imported from North Korea
• Alcohol with a viper in it
• Alcohol made from deer horn
• Fur seal penis alcohol
• Sheep testicle [q]
• Scorpion
• Silkworm crysalis
  
• Grasshopper [q]
• Ant in chocolate [q]
• Fresh cobra blood mixed with rice alcohol [v]
• Durian
• Durian flavored popsicle that tasted like a dead rat floating in an oil spill on the highway [q]
• Sheep brain [q]
• Pig head [q]
• Fish head
• Chicken head
• Chicken feet
• Duck feet
• Pig feet
• Stomach
• Intestines [q]
• Lungs
• Spleen
• Liver [q]
• Heart [q]
• Beef tongue [q]
• Veal cheeks [q]
• Jellyfish [q]
• Eel
• Stingray
• Pigeon [q]
• Shark
• Whole baby chicks on a stick
• Many species of snake [q]
• Ostrich [q]
• Kangaroo [edmonton]
• Turtle
• Alligator
• Frog [q]
• Snails [q]
• Fresh oysters [q]
• Parrot fish
• Whale sashimi [j]
• Horse sashimi [j]
• Raw beef [f]
• Raw deer
• Haggis [s]
• Sea urchin [q]
• Sea cucumber
• Chicken blood soup
• Blood sausage [q]
• Beef marrow [f]
• Sticky tofu that smells like poo

[f] = France; [j] = Japan; [q] = Quebec; [s] = Scotland; [v] = Vietnam

I’m a newcomer to Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels, but boy are they giving me my money’s worth. Case in point: Excession. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first venture into the Culture, but if you’ve read a Culture novel before… You’re in for a brainride. Check out my review.

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Well, to be fair, that’s not exactly true. I’ve left cities before, and I’ve missed aspects of them a lot. So now, wisened, I get to enjoy things as they happen.

When Helene and I moved to Edmonton, I didn’t expect to like it very much. I figured it would pretty much suck, so I’m surprised it’s growing on me as much as it does. Does it mean I’m gonna settle here? Hell no. But I do get to spend my time here and enjoy a few things that are unique about Edmonton. Things like:

The Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market

I can’t get enough of the Farmer’s Market. Yes, there are markets in Montreal, but they don’t approach this one, I’m sorry to say. The Old Stathcona Farmer’s Market is filled with local producers, and whether you’re buying a homemade pie or choosing your fresh-picked vegetables, you get to chat with the people who prepared your food for you. The quality is insanely high, and the people there are just nice. I’ve been there often enough that they wave at me as I walk by the stands.

The Kindness of Strangers

I’ve been to a few places around the world, and I’ve met many nice people, whether it’s the Chinese, the Macedonians or the Scotish. But there’s something just so damn nice about Edmontonians. They smile at you on the street and say hello. They smile at you when you pass them by. And even in the nicest restaurants, the staff is kind and genuinely interested in your well-being. To be frank, I think Edmontonians are the nicest strangers I know.

The Food

This one’s a big surprise. I expected to find good steak, sure, but that’s pretty much it. Instead, I found restaurants obsessed with freshness and local produce, and whether it’s the steak at Von’s, the delicious breakfast at Highlevel Diner, or the mind-boggling beef carpaccio at Packrat Louie, I’m amazed by the quality of the food here.

BioWare

BioWare is often cited as one of the best employers in Canada, and there’s a reason for that. It feels very much like a Western Canada company, founded on hard work, integrity, and honesty. That would already be awesome if they didn’t also produce the best games in the industry.

Blue Skies

Oh, we get blue skies in Montreal, although I did miss them in Shanghai. The sky there is most often gray, sometimes pearly yellow, and when it’s blue, it makes the news. But the skies in Edmonton… My goodness. They’re impossible blue. I’m often stunned by the perfect blue of the sky in the afternoon, and I’m caught staring at it for long minutes. The sunsets are pretty awesome, too.

(Warning: although I don’t spoil specific plot points, I do discuss in depth some themes of the movie that would give a lot away.)

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is not the best superhero movie ever.

The good superhero movies of recent years (Spider-Man 2, Iron Man) have followed a fairly standard plot structure: the superhero’s powers define not only his own moral code, but the framework of his nemesis. What takes place in the course of the story is the external projection of an internal struggle, until the superhero defeats his enemy in a fistfight symbolic of the overtaking of his own demons.

Batman Begins, in my opinion, was the best superhero movie of all time for this reason. Bruce Wayne’s “powers” come to him through his dedication to the greater cause of Justice. Alfred represents his own conscience, and Ra’s Al-Ghul articulates the thirst for vengeance that sleeps deep down inside Batman. Ultimately, Wayne’s moral code triumphs: that of justice, not born of vigilantism, but out of a real thirst for peace and harmony.

The Dark Knight has its own superhero: Harvey Dent. He is described throughout as the “white knight” of Gotham, while Batman’s “dark knight” moniker is only implied by contrast to it. The real dychotomy, the dialog that takes place in The Dark Knight is between Batman and Harvey Dent. Batman is initially rendered obsolete by Harvey Dent, who rallies Gotham under his leadership and banishes the ghosts of crime. Harvey Dent couldn’t have accomplished this without Batman, of course; but Batman likewise needs Harvey Dent to center his morals in a coherent frame. Dent, quite simply, is the pillar on which Batman’s moral code rests. Without Dent, there would be no justice in the way Batman envisions it.

And then the Joker comes in. He is not a villain in any traditional sense of the word. Even using the word “character” is rather inappropriate. The Joker’s role in The Dark Knight is closer to that of the Oracle in homerian tales, which announces the wrath of the gods. He is the Oracle, but also the god itself, striking chaos into the heart of Gotham. He is not a terrorist but Terror itself. He is Shiva, come to this world to test its mettle. To test Batman and Dent’s equilibrium.

The sense of gloom and despair seeping out of The Dark Knight comes from this very traditional device of the Oracle announcing impending doom, then the gods enacting it. The Joker never loses; he is never truly put to the test. All he does is carry out his plans, assaulting not only Gotham, but Batman and Harvey Dent’s own moral framework. The Joker puts it in sublime terms himself when he says to Dent, “I am just a mad dog chasing cars.”

Until the framework breaks.

What happens next is the deconstruction of the white knight: how Harvey Dent’s approach simply cannot work in the context of chaos and social frenzy brought on by the Joker. Dent holds on for the longest time, while Bruce Wayne doubts his own role, as he naively sees himself as a white knight lurking in shadows. Alfred is the first one to point out the need for a new approach, that of realism: “Endure. You can be the outcast. You can make the choice that no one else will face - the right choice.”

And so, as the white knight of Gotham falls and becomes a creature of pure chance, the Dark Knight rises from its shadow.

Batman, who will spy on the whole of Gotham to get at his enemies. Batman, whom cops fear and accuse of murder. Batman, who must take upon himself the pain and anger of others so the city will endure. Gordon says it himself: Batman is not a hero. He’s a guardian.

Batman rises from the corpse of Harvey Dent like a malevolent shadow, prepared not to do what’s right, but what’s necessary. The Joker never won, and never lost; he is above this contest. He defines it, rather than play a part in it. Chaos has come and gone, and the balance is broken.

The Dark Knight is a morality tale, a conflict between two men in balance who see their roles crushed by the arrival of fate. It is a moral tale of the post-9/11 era, where good and evil simply dissolve in the face of chaos, and we are left to wonder how to reframe the world.

And that is why The Dark Knight is not the best superhero movie ever. It is something entirely different, much darker, and much more satisfying.

+ + +

Update [2008-07-22 18:30]: I just want to point out that I’m not dismissive of the source material, or of the medium of comicbooks here. I’m fairly well-read in comics, and my point was more addressed to the existing conventions of superhero movies. Thing is, superhero movies, even when excellent, follow a fairly simple superhero formula. The Dark Knight, in my opinion, really transcends this formula, and offers a story that is set in the superhero genre, but well outside the superhero movie formula. The title of this post was specifically chosen to counter expectations, but loses in clarity. Hope that makes more sense.

BioWare, being the awesome, nerd-friendly company that it is, has treated us to private showings of Second Skin. The documentary on the lives of a few MMORPG hardcore players has received positive reviews from the MMO community, so I was eager to take a look at it.

I have to admit I’m disappointed in Second Skin. It purports to present an unbiased view of the subject, and while the lack of preaching on the dangers of game addiction was refreshing, I felt neither side had a coherent argument to present. As a result, I didn’t feel the movie offered any insight on why MMO players play the game and build relationships with fellow players.

It got me thinking, though.

I’ve known a fair share of hardcore players addicted to the online gaming lifestyle, both in my MUSH days in University, and more recently while playing WoW. While Second Skin didn’t offer any outrageous tale I hadn’t heard before, it got me thinking on how close I’ve flirted with online gaming addiction myself.

You see, I did do the online dating thing myself, way back when. I’ve flown to a few cities in the US in the hopes of transforming an online romance into something tangible. These attempts never imploded violently as much as they fizzled out; online gives you the illusion of proximity for a while, and then you meet face-to-face and realize there’s still a chasm to cross to truly be close. Online worlds aren’t so much alternate realities, as much as a refuge from the one reality we all live in. It’s not to say I haven’t made dear friends over the Internet (some of my longest-lasting friends I met through social gaming), but these friendships grew into something concrete once pulled out of their gaming context, instead of existing solely through online.

Ultimately, that’s the lesson I took away from online social relationships. They are real, and sometimes very significant, but they exist in a space that’s a refuge from the real world. And when a relationship exists in a place of comfort away from the rigors of the real world, it’s hard for that relationship to exist in the real world you’re trying to escape in the first place. I’m glad to say online dating is something I moved away from quite a few years ago.

I don’t know what prevented me from truly falling into online addiction myself. I mean; I did, for a while at least. Helene would surely agree that she had to put with some grief during those times when I was obsessed with World of Warcraft. But somehow, these things passed, perhaps because I never tolerated that they would put real elements of my life at risk. Somehow, this has prevented me from falling down the cliff, where my real life would have slowly eroded around me. Something inside me forced me to keep my life and play in balance.

That’s the kind of reflection I would have liked to see in Second Skin, I think. Not some self-professed expert exhalting the values of “synthetic worlds”. Not a Dolores Umbridge-like videogame addiction “expert” still seeking revenge on games for the death of her son. (Although the tragedy of that story - of how a geek seeking solace in videogames was persecuted by a concerned mother - was pretty haunting.) I would have liked Second Skin to truly take a hard look at online worlds, and understand its illusory promises and limitations all at once.

Because beyond all that, there is a reason why we game. It is neither a simple addiction nor a utopia of acceptance, but a social phenomenon all in itself, a symptom of an information age where, as Gordon Walton of BioWare Austin puts it, we are estranged from our neighbors against all conventions of human social instincts. Online worlds are the new tribes of the Information Age. They exist in World of Warcraft and Second Life, but they took root way before them, in BBSes and newsgroups.

And, I’m afraid, the exploration of this reality by traditional media has been merely skin-deep.

They’re all obviously my evil clones. Here they are.

MIT Daniel Roy

Website: http://web.mit.edu/droy/www

Why he’s evil: He’s a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at MIT, dealing with the “intersection of computer science and probability”. If that doesn’t sound like the evil plot for the bad guy of the next Die Hard, I don’t know what is.

Further proof of evilness: 15-year cello player; uses a Dvorak keyboard; uses the word ’skillz’ in his curriculum vitae

DanielRoy.com

Website: http://www.danielroy.com

Why he’s evil: He registered the domain name danielroy.com and puts a simple page with broken links on it. Obviously an AI trying to pass as a human being.

Further proof of evilness: Wrote Facebook applications; registered the domain name danielroy.com so I couldn’t get it; also has danielroy [at] gmail [dot] com.

Cajun Daniel Roy

Website: http://www.johnnycajun.com/daniel.htm

Why he’s evil: He plays mandolin in a Cajun band. I mean come on.

Further proof of evilness: Admits to having been created when somebody combined “extra firm tofu with Zycofax, and [added] half a cup of muddy water”. Oooook. Also, uses the words ‘overflowing cornucopia’ in his bio.

Emo Daniel Roy

Website: http://profile.myspace.com

Why he’s evil: He’s Emo. ’nuff said.

Further proof of evilness: Spells his name “DaNiEl RoY”; current occupation is “Shop Floor Assistant and Return Operator”.

Director Daniel Roy

Website: http://www.usw.ca/program/content/921.php

Why he’s evil: He’s the “District 5 Director”. That makes him, like, a villain in a SF dystopia.

Further proof of evilness: Was born in Sept-île, where I was also born.

Poet Daniel Roy

Website: http://roydaniel.com

Why he’s evil: He’s a poet; that makes him automatically mad. Has published 17(!!!) poetry anthologies in French, which makes him possibly the most well-known of my evil clones.

Further proof of evilness: His website is roydaniel.com, which sounds like Daniel Roy from the Mirror Universe; he is a certified highschool teacher.

***

There are many more Daniel Roys out there, but the evilness of these ones is overpowering. I’ll get back to you when I find a way to return them to their evil, parallel dimension. Here’s a partial list of Daniel Roys I haven’t covered:

The Daniel Roy Corporation
Musician Daniel Roy
Semi-Pro Hockey Player Daniel Roy
Cowboy Daniel Roy
Fisherman Daniel Roy
Norwegian Daniel Roy
Muscle Daniel Roy
Australian Emo Daniel Roy
Daniel Roy III (I guess he’s a Pope or something)

So many Daniel Roys, so little time…