Ben Johnson 🏺👻
@gamedesignerben
Best of the Web. Minnesotan New Yorker in Oakland, CA. Game Designer on KILN at Double Fine. Previously: Psychonauts 2, Dead Space (2008), Babycastles. He/him.
It’s been nearly 60 years, but we might finally get that bake sale.
Apocalyptic air quality measurements coming out of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin today.
“Is housing becoming more expensive or is the purchasing power of fiat currency steadily eroding?”
Waiting in line for Reem’s new location in Oakland, and it’s packed
Hard to imagine anything old Johnny Rowdy Roddy T. would have hated being associated with more.
I had forgotten how much screen time The Prisoner devotes to its straight-faced portrayal of Kosho, a surrealist combat sport involving two trampolines, a pool of water and a balcony.
Port of Oakland’s own AT-AT dinosaurs through the haze at sunset
I’m only about halfway through, but if you played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and ever thought, “But what if this all had happened during the Nazi occupation of Paris?” do I have a book for you.
Early fireworks looking south across the East Bay from Downtown Oakland
Man, The Prisoner straight up did a subversion of Andor’s “One Way Out” sequence in 1967. This show is usually remembered for its goofy surrealism, but just like the real Cold War it was only ridiculous until it turned sardonic and tragic on a dime.
There is something about the cheapness of 60’s tv, the light layer of grime on the resort where they filmed The Prisoner, that makes me think about a version invoking the cruel incompetence of the current US/Russia, rather than the cold omnipotence of their Cold War personas.
I confess that I have a sentimental affection for the “Let’s put on a show to save the community center!” aesthetic, even though the amount of hidden-funder money flowing through this event would have solved a lot of real problems for a lot of people.
It is really fun how this story, which feels like it could be about algorithmic facial recognition technology is actually about a bunch of panicking nerds in a little room trying to make people laugh.
Life can be chaotic at times, but in that chaos you volunteer to give tarot readings at a benefit gala for a theater company and end up reading for Ayo Edibiri.