The Nukezilla Sunday Supplement – February 27th 2011

Every Sunday we’re going to post links to articles we think are interesting from the last week. Sundays are usually very quiet around here, so this seems like the best day to do it. We’re going to link to articles on range of subjects, including videogames, technology, movies, geek culture and much, much more.

Videogames

On Videogame Criticism – Paste. An email discussion between two writers, Tom Bissell and Simon Ferrari. The two pair debate videogames criticism and it’s pretty interesting.

Videogames as Media – Gamasutra. “Tale of Tales’ (The Path) Michaël Samyn explores the interplay between games and existing media, urging developers to have a full understanding of precisely what the elements of the medium they’re working in add up to.”

Internet

The End of Blogging – The New York Observer. This article was written just before Gawker unveiled their latest (and frankly, bloody awful) blog design. It talks about the end of blogging and various other notions and asks whether the new design would (and it has!) remove the rule that “once you’ve learned to read one blog you can basically read every blog.”

Science

How Skyscrapers Can Save the City – The Atlantic. “Besides making cities more affordable and architecturally interesting, tall buildings are greener than sprawl, and they foster social capital and creativity. From New York to Paris to Mumbai, there’s a powerful case for building up, not out.”

Can Dreams Predict the Future? – The Guardian. The short answer is no, but this interesting little article examines why some people think they can, especially when it does seem very likely.

Collective Behaviour: How Starlings Dance in the Sky – That’s Curious. This is (once again) shameless self-promotion, but I wrote this article about starlings and how the birds manage to flock in such beautiful and chaotic ways.

The Stutterer – Slate. This is a great article by a man who stutters. In it, he explains the frustration he faces every day in trying to get the words out and express what he means. Quite an insight into what it must be like to have a stutter.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Brain – Slate. Why do human beings have Gods? What is it in our head that (arguably) creates these constructs. The question is to do without our advanced brains and the article asks: ”Has our species’ unique cognitive evolution duped us into believing in this, the grandest mind of all?”

Movies

The King’s Speech Revisited - Slate. Christopher Hitchens, the historians and academic looks at the historical accuracies (or omissions) in the latest movie, The King’s Speech. He argues the case that the film washes over key parts of history (such as the fact Churchill supported the abdicating Edward). Worth a read if you’ve seen the movie.