Games indeed

So I've been thinking about games, and the type that we play out in the northwest. There is a definite meme out there about hipsters and wanting to replay every childhood game because it is some sort of ironic thing to do. "Look at how crazy I am, I'm a grown man playing 4 square!"

But I think this meem misses something. With dodgeball season starting up next week, I think I would equate it more to work softball leagues back in the day. 

Back when baseball was America's past time, everyone had some basic understanding of the game, and could probably play if you made the ball bigger and threw underhanded (i.e. softball). People just want to get out and play with each other. I imagine this is still going on in places with large baseball fanbases, although I'm not sure.

But that is not an option for us, so we play dodgeball, or wall ball, or 4 square. Because it is an accessible game that everyone can play and knows how to play. Furthermore, the veterans of these games have only been playing for a few years at most. This isn't the same impossible hurdle as trying to get into a pickup game of basketball or soccer, where most people on the court/field have been playing since they were six. 

People want to play games, and that doesn't stop as we get older. The reason these games were awesome in the first place is that there pick up and play factor is through the roof. Except in outdoor games, which are obviously roofless. Then the play factor is just really really high.

Black 2.0

Check out Leonard Pitts' column in the Chicago Tribune. There's really not much else for me to say, great article.

Of dinner parties and puppies

I was listening to Jesse Jordan's blog again about the New Sincerity. He has a whole list of things to do that are new sincerity (newly sincere?). Among them are go someplace wet (done and done, thanks Oregon), hold a parade, and throw water balloons at people. All great ideas, if you live in Southern California. Otherwise, here in the soggy northwest we're going to need more creative ideas, if we don't want to (a) catch a cold, or (b) get beat up.

Games. Everybody loves games, while I was camping on the coast in a yurt this week (flooding and 50mph winds, awesome!...R.I.P. Kyle's pop up tent) we played "catchphrase", pretty much a mix of taboo, and hot potato. Selena and I are addicted to Lux (a.k.a. Risk), and have learned that parker brothers has Monopoly on lock down and there's like no way to get a free version of monopoly for mac.

Have a dinner party. I wish I had room to host dinner parties. But I think that it would be awesome if the new cool thing for 20 somethings was dinner parties. With cocktails and sweaters, and slacks. A dinner party with massive quantities of food and wine. A dinner party that ends with dancing and someone going home with somebody else, while a completely different person prays to the porcelain god. That kind of dinner party.

Do something creative (DIY bitches!) make music, write a story, make a movie, draw pictures of puppies. Seriously, draw pictures of puppies and send them to me, that would be so cute and hilarious! They don't have to be good, I drew one on a post it note in 5 minutes! Just do something, maybe you could start a blog and write about how awesome dinner parties and pictures of puppies are.

I'd love to hear what else you could do that is simultaneously awesome, joyful, and fun. Please post new ideas to the blog, or email them to me eshell6681@hotmail.com