mbf tod@y

I love you, Valentina

"valentina by guido crepax exhibition at triennale milan

at: triennale bovisa, milan, italy
from: september 21, 2008 to february 9, 2009

"Guido Crepax was one of italy's most well known Italian comic artists, famous for creating the character  of valentina rosselli in 1965. originally a minor character in the comic series neutron valentina became  the sole protagonist. illustrated in black and white her character a milanese photographer displayed the changes in time of the sixties, seventies and eighties. a new exhibition will open dedicated to the thirty year  work of crepax and his character of valentina. the exhibition displays the evolution of valentina through  original drawings, large scale drawings and projected images. visitors are also given an inside look into  the workings of crepax and subjects such as history and politics that influenced his storylines displayed  through a collection of art works, magazine articles, interviews with his close friends and snippets of movies." (read more here) (via DesignBoom, Cut & paste Blog)

Gosh, I'm there! Triennale is pretty much the best Milan has to offer - never fails

Schermi interattivi. Il cinema nei videogiochi

Siamo felici ci annunciare un nuovo progetto editoriale intitolato Schermi interattivi. Il cinema nei videogiochi, interamente dedicato al rapporto tra videogame e cinema. Il nuovo volume, pubblicato da Meltemi Editore, inaugura una nuova serie di ricerche di natura trans-mediale, che prenderanno forma sulla carta e sullo schermo. Schermi interattivi. Il cinema nei videogiochi sara' infatti arricchito da un blog che offrira' risorse bibliografiche, saggi e articoli dedicati al tema del dialogo intermediale.

La scheda del volume: "Che tipo di relazione esiste tra cinema e videogiochi? Come cambia la narrazione nel passaggio dal grande schermo al monitor e alla televisione? Qual è il legame tra Hollywood e la Silicon Valley? Che differenza c'è tra guardare un film e giocarlo, tra il ruolo dello spettatore e quello del giocatore? Quali sono le conseguenze estetiche, commerciali e produttive del crescente interscambio mediale? Questo volume risponde a queste e ad altre domande attraverso i contributi di studiosi di fama internazionale nell'ambito dei game studies e della critica cinematografica: Barry Atkins, Matteo Bittanti, Alexis Blanchet, David Bordwell, Luca Castiglioni, Galen Davis, Mark Grimshaw, Rune Klevjer, Henry Lowood, Bernard Perron, Judd Ethan Ruggill. L'approccio è comparativo e multidisciplinare: gli autori esaminano il fenomeno da molteplici angolazioni."

Il volume sara' in vendita nelle migliori librerie ad aprile, nella collana Melusine.

Qui potete leggere l'indice.Il sito internet dedicato e accessibile qui. Il nostro obiettivo e' di proporre a livello settimanale nuovi contenuti dedicati al rapporto tra videogiochi e cinema ed offrire a studenti, ricercatori ed appassionati delle risorse utili per esplorare questa affascinante interazione, un database in continua espansione. Come per videoludica, saremo felici di esaminare possibili proposte di collaborazione. Per ulteriori informazioni, cliccate qui. Buona lettura e buona visione.
 

Link: Schermi interattivi. il sito ufficiale

Interactive screens coming near you

I am delighted to announce the imminent release of a new book on videogames. Titled Schermi interattivi. Il cinema nei videogiochi, (Interactive Screens. Cinema in games), this anthology of essays published by Meltemi Editore, in Italy focuses on the complex, and often contradictory relationship between videogames and film, between Hollywood and the Silicon Valley, between the act of watching a movie and playing a game. It has been a fun project - a very long one -  that involved a bunch of researchers scattered across the globe: Barry Atkins, Alexis Blanchet, David Bordwell, Luca Castiglioni, Galen Davis, Mark Grimshaw, Rune Klevjer, Henry Lowood, Bernard Perron, and Judd Ethan Ruggill. When we started this long journey, I was engaging tangos in Vegas with my buddies. Now that we reached our destination, I am still engaging tangos, but in different parts of the city - mostly rooftops and warehouses, 24 style. That is to say, the point of arrival is basically a new departure. During the process, Alexis and Rune had kids, others got new jobs. Some moved to a different country and others discovered new virtual realms . Everybody, as far as I know, is still manipulating images on the screen. Schermi interattivi. Il cinema nei videogiochi, will be on sale shortly (read: first week of April) in Meltemi's Melusine series (that features words of wisdom from gamers like Slavoj Zizek, Terry Eagleton, Judith Butler, and Iain Chambers among the others). In conjunction with the release of the book, I am launching a blog that offers additional information, essays, news, the inevitable glossary, and bibliographic resources. The content is entirely in Italian, but I might translate something into English for videoludica. Actually, that's a promise. And, yeah, the book cover art is by my hero Brandon Bird.

Link: Schermi interattivi. the official site

videoludica.com 0.9 is online

Ok, videoludica has been slightly redesigned. Version 0.9 of the site now includes the possibility to leave comments and tags. In order to do so, a free registration is required. Users can now change the layout of the page and easily print the articles (gosh, isn't technology amazing?). We've also changed the RSS feeds (English, Italian), just because. Not all the changes are effective as we speak, but hopefully the website will be fully operational by 2011. We will be also announcing more book releases in the coming weeks, so bear with us :-). Thanks to iMille for the great job!

News in Italian

Weekly recap: videoludica (Feb 04.08)

What's new at videoludica?

First, we're still on the old server (don't ask).

- Book: Matteo Bittanti reviews La difficile disintossicazione di Gianluca Arkanoid (Italian), a wonderful new novel about addiction, videogames, and love relationships

- Book: Mario Gerosa reviews Vita di Isaia Carter, avatar, a novel set in Second Life (Italian)

- Article: L'italia non e' la Francia (Italian) Er, Italy is not France. Unfortunately.

- Article:: Cronaca di uno scandalo sessuale virtuale (Italian) - Ivan Fulco discusses the Mass Effect/Fox News debacle

- Essay: Architecture Games (Italian) - a brilliant essay on the role of architecture in digital games by Matteo Lo Prete

- Reminder: Event: Metaverse U (Stanford University, 16-17 febbraio 2008) (Italian, English)

What's new at videoludica?

First, we're still on the old server (don't ask).

- Book: Matteo Bittanti reviews La difficile disintossicazione di Gianluca Arkanoid (Italian), a wonderful new novel about addiction, videogames, and love relationships

- Book: Mario Gerosa reviews Vita di Isaia Carter, avatar, a novel set in Second Life (Italian)

- Article: L'italia non e' la Francia (Italian) Er, Italy is not France. Unfortunately.

- Article:: Cronaca di uno scandalo sessuale virtuale (Italian) - Ivan Fulco discusses the Mass Effect/Fox News debacle

- Essay: Architecture Games (Italian) - a brilliant essay on the role of architecture in digital games by Matteo Lo Prete

- Reminder: Event: Metaverse U (Stanford University, 16-17 febbraio 2008) (Italian, English)

Weekly recap: videoludica (Jan 26.08)

What's new at videoludica?

First, we're still on the old server.

- Essay: "Geometrie della Visione" by Gaetano Longo (Italian) - Longo compares-and-contrasts the perspectives of Renaissance paintings with those of contemporary videogames. A must read.

- Event: on Jan 31 Marc Prensky is in Rome to discuss his latest book (Italian)

- Event: Virtual Moves - a series of art events in Copenhagen focusing on Second Life (Italian)

- Author's Response: Domenico Quaranta discusses GameScenes (English)

- Essay: Don't Mess With The Warriors by Matteo Bittanti (English) - a two part essay

- Article: The latest issue of Queer magazine features a special report on videogames, including my piece on Games vs./and Cinema (Italian)

Weekly recap: videoludica (Jan 12.08)

What's new at videoludica?

- Iconographic Essay_Game Studies: The Interfaces of God Games by Agata Meneghelli (from her new book) (Italian) - zipped file - PDF

- Essay_Game Studies: Gaming Interfaces_The God Game Genre_A Taxonomy by Agata Meneghelli (from her new book) (Italian) - full text here

- Article_Game Culture: The Italian Governments wants to impose new rules regarding the distribution of videogames - the infamous "Law 3014" on media content - yep, this is the outcome of the Rule of Rose's fiasco - The Land of Persimmons never stops to amaze me. Here are a cople of comments on the subject: one and two (Italian) The news is that the gamers are fighting back with a massive petition launched by Andrea Pucci.

- News_GameArt - Gamerz 02 is a new interesting exhibition about Game Art (January 15-27, Sextius, Aix-En-Provence, France) (English)

- News_GameArt - Meet the Fatherboard, the Super Avatar - Luigi Pagliarini's new video installation - (Italian - English)

- Book Review: How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer (Italian)

- Reminder_Event: Metaverse U conference at Stanford (Feb 16-17 2008) (English)

Weekly recap: videoludica (Jan 05.08)

What's new at videoludica?

- Book review: Writing for Games by Steve Ince (Italian)

- Article_Game Culture: Gaming Trends for 2008 (and beyond) (Italian)

- Article_Game Culture: A few thoughts on game genres (Italian)

- Article_Game Culture: The Lost Metaworld (Italian - English)

- CFP_Game Studies: Computer Games, between text and practice (Italian -  English)

- Event: Metaverse U conference at Stanford (English)

- Game Art: Robert William Overweg (English)