My own performance in the Asian-Oceanian Open was embarrassingly bad, even for a match at one o'clock in the morning, but it's been a great tournament for the Japanese players who got to start it at a healthy daylight time! Almost a clean sweep of the semi-final slots, with just Simon carrying the flag for the rest of the world!
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Monday, September 05, 2022
Return of the mojo
It's the Asian-Oceanian Open this weekend!
You may remember [first and only memory joke in this blog post, I promise] that we have three 'slam' opens each season, at different time zones, so that everyone gets at least one that happens at more or less convenient hours. This is the one that's hugely inconvenient for me - it starts at one o'clock in the morning - and I've taken advantage of the absence of several of the world's best players to qualify for the event this time round!
But more importantly, I've rediscovered my mojo when it comes to memory league and memory competition in general! I've got reasonably good results in online matches recently, and I'm feeling enthusiastic about the whole thing again! It's been a while since I was in that kind of mood about memory!
Of course, getting past the round of 16 seems a bit unlikely - Koba is really a lot better at all the disciplines than I am...
But I did that 23.83-second pack of cards today in a friendly game, the first time I've gone really fast in head-to-head competition for a long while, and it worked very nicely. I can go a fair bit faster in numbers, too, and images. And although I've not had a good words attempt for ages, it's still possible for me to do better than the top 5 recent scores up there. I'll try to set some personal highs in the early hours of Saturday morning, even if my opponent still does better!
Friday, August 26, 2022
Marvel's lowest ebb
Marvel Comics actually have a history of almost boasting about this period of their history. There have been editorials along the lines of "we were once on the absolute bottom rung of the American comic-publishing ladder, and look at us now!" But there's no denying that the summer of 1957 was not a good time for the company that had started out with great success in the superhero boom of the early 1940s as Timely Publications and by the mid-fifties was going by the name of Atlas.
The indicia at the bottom of the first page of their comics, incidentally, gave a different publisher name for each comic. All of them registered at office of publication 655 Madison Avenue, Atlas comics were apparently published by the likes of Warwick Publications Inc., Chipiden Publishing Corp., Sphere Publications Inc., Canam Publishers Sales Corp., Foto Parade Inc. and many, many more. I have no idea why that was necessary, but I assume it saved someone a few dollars in taxes somehow.
Whatever they were called, Atlas/Marvel had found themselves without a distributor, and had to go cap in hand to Independent News Distribution - which, far from being independent, was owned by DC Comics. Independent limited Atlas to publishing eight different titles a month. Even choosing to go for sixteen bi-monthly titles still required a big cull of the Atlas range. I think it's interesting to take a look at the sixteen comics that boss Martin Goodman and his editor in chief Stan Lee decided were the ones to stick with.
So, if 65 years ago you were browsing the American comic book stands in your local newsagent, what could you see from Marvel? You'd probably have trouble spotting them - the Atlas logo that used to adorn the top left corner of the cover has been replaced by the stark capital letters "IND." and there was a lot of other, more popular, competition on the shelves. Superheroes were still few and far between, though - DC had already launched their all-new Flash, which some people pinpoint as the start of the Silver Age of superhero comics, but it was still the very early dawn of that era and nobody else had followed suit yet. The Marvel comics went with six different genres and carefully monitored them to see which ones were selling. Here they are, in roughly ascending order of significance to Marvel's resurgence in the early 1960s and beyond.
Homer
Homer the Happy Ghost, a shameless clone of Casper the Friendly Ghost, seems to have been popular enough to justify his continued existence; the only one of Atlas's kiddie-comics to make the cut. But it seems he wasn't able to capitalise on the axing of his rivals; Homer was cancelled the following year when Marvel re-evaluated their range, and that was the end of trying to copy the popular Harvey Comics titles for many many years.
Girls' Romance
There were a lot of comics aimed at girls in those days - what had started out as a boys' industry had branched out into another gender by the late forties and discovered an apparently insatiable appetite for romance stories. They seem to be the same story over and over again (and these comics, as was normal at the time, had four or five short stories in each issue) - girl loves boy, something seems to get in the way of true love, but everything works out okay in the end. Marvel's titles seem to incline more towards 'good girl gets her just reward' than 'bad girl gets her comeuppance'. Our heroines are spared the worst possible fate for any woman, "becoming an old maid"!
War
The theme of the war comics being published in 1957 was generally "smash the commies", in stories set during the Korean War. But there was also an increasing interest in stories set during the second world war, which the young comic-readers of the time will only have heard about from their parents. There was usually a theme of clever individual soldiers outwitting the enemy, rather than graphic depictions of gunfights.
Westerns
There were occasional gunfights to be seen in the Western range, but more importantly there were individual heroes with distinctive costumes! Kid Colt and the Two-Gun Kid were very much prototypes of the superheroes who'd soon make a comeback. Wyatt Earp was a real person, of course, but his comic depiction had long since drifted away from reality. This issue of his title is the one where he shaves off his historically-accurate moustache, remaining clean-shaven until the comic was cancelled in 1960.
Patsy and Millie
Patsy Walker was Marvel's biggest star of the fifties. Marvel don't seem to have been all that interested in publishing a teenage boy comic in the style of Archie, but threw themselves quite enthusiastically behind Patsy - three of their precious sixteen titles were devoted to her! The high-spirited fun with recurring characters makes more interesting reading than the romance comics, even if Patsy's adventures can be almost as repetitive. She remained a central part of Marvel's line well into the superhero-dominated sixties. Millie the Model, reduced to only one title of her own in 1957, was just as enduring.
Fantasy
These comics seem to have been the ones that really went down well with the comic-buying audience. A year later, when Marvel re-appraised their sixteen titles, they launched four more comics of the fantasy style - resurrecting "Journey into Mystery" and introducing "Strange Worlds", "Tales to Astonish" and "Tales of Suspense". The comics dropped were "Homer the Happy Ghost", "Marines in Battle", "Navy Combat" and "Patsy Walker in Miss America". Suspense and mystery was the big thing, it seems!
The stories are a heady mix of vaguely sci-fi thrillers, perhaps finding their origins in the Crime Does Not Pay narratives, but with a twist ending usually along the lines of someone turning out to be an alien. The strange tales soon developed into monster stories, and then after that gradually gave way to superheroes once those had become fashionable again.
Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy were dropped in the 1959 reshuffle (replaced by "Kathy" and "A Date with Millie" as the teen girl comics fought back against the monsters and aliens), but the other four titles lived on longer than any of the others on this list, albeit as the homes of Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man and their friends!
Looking down this list of comics, I have to say it's impressive that Marvel kept going at all. And it makes you appreciate just how much Stan Lee was starting from scratch when he dreamed up the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and all the rest!
Friday, August 19, 2022
The double spiral of life itself
Back at the dawn of time (April this year) I thought it might be fun to do one of those online DNA analysis things that some people believe tell them actual non-made-up things about their ancestry. It would be nice to see how I match with relatives in the family tree, anyway. So I sent my saliva sample, and then never heard anything back. I assumed it had been lost in the post, but perhaps it had just been put on a shelf somewhere, because four months later I've had a notification that it's been received. So I might possibly be able to say things about my DNA at some point in the future! Stay tuned!
Thursday, August 18, 2022
It CAN be done!
I've done a full day's practice for the Marathon Memory Championship! 30-minute binary, numbers and cards, and three tries at spoken numbers. And though I'm so hugely out of practice generally, and my mind was wandering to a disturbing extent before long, I still achieved almost acceptable results.
I mean, it's not world-beating, but attempting four journeys' worth of data in each of the half-marathons seems like a sensible start, and I can build on it in the future if I've actually got my mojo back and found a way around my mental block. Woohoo!
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Battery life
You know, the last entry was meant to be called "Miss Bindergarten is an old lady", or something along those lines. I changed it just before posting, and must have accidentally deleted the second half entirely. Either that or Blogger automatically removes anything that casts aspersions on Miss B, which would be fine with me. Those books really are awesome.
Anyway, it's been a very long time since I used my speed cards timers, you know. When did I last memorise a pack of cards at speed in real life, rather than on the internet? It must be ages and ages ago! Long enough for the batteries to have died, anyway, so I went out and got some more to recharge my whole collection of timers (five of them still work, after all these years). You have to put some serious thought into which brands of battery to buy, of course - personally, I think you can't do better than Ordinary Zinc Batteries. I think they get a bad press. Don't listen to what the bunny tells you.
Monday, August 15, 2022
Miss Bindergarten
If you're not familiar with the wonderful Miss Bindergarten series of American children's picture books, then you jolly well should be. There are seven of them (plus some more simplistic early-readers books), written by Joseph Slate and quite amazingly beautifully illustrated by Ashley Wolff. Go and check them out if you haven't already!
The first book was published in 1996, so there might well be people out there who've grown up with the books and are thinking 'those kids must be thirty years old by now; that's a bit depressing, isn't it?' - well, sorry to depress you further, but actually they must be even older than that!
See, "Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten", as you can calculate from the calendar and the number of school days they've had so far, takes place in a November when the first of the month was a Saturday:
And the most recent year that happened when the first book was published was 1986! Miss B's class must therefore have been born in 1980 and 1981, and thus be 41 years old by now. She herself must be in her sixties - she's probably retired.
But I imagine she married Chief Dave and lived happily ever after, and Coco the cockatoo is no doubt still going strong - they live for absolute ages. So cheer up, old people who've been depressed by reading this!
Saturday, July 30, 2022
I'm an actor
Okay, I'm not an actor. I don't really claim to be one, but I do have an account on backstage.com. Nobody has ever used it to contact me for my services as a memory man (they find the strangest, most obscure ways to get in touch with me, as a rule), but it's worth it alone for the contact I got from a student film, back in February. They asked me if I'd like to audition for the part of Eugene, father of a young wizard who wants to break with family tradition and study agriculture instead.
I look like the kind of person they imagined Eugene to be, apparently. Also, I'm under five foot nine, which was a requirement for the production due to low ceilings. I suspect they contacted everybody on backstage.com who fitted the height and age range they were looking for.
I was quite delighted by the idea, and immediately got to work recording my performance of the script they sent me! Since the scene involved collecting washing from the line, I went out to Poundland and bought a washing line and pack of clothes pegs, roped in my brother (a rather better actor than me) to play the part of 16-year-old Duffy, strung the line between the bannister and bookcase at opposite ends of my living room, and got to work with some serious acting!
Firstly, here's the script, in case you think I'm interpreting it wrongly:
In the previous scene, Duffy told his parents that he wants to follow a career in agriculture instead of one in magic (which is the family tradition). Only the mother, Clementine, shows a reaction to these news (since she strongly disagrees with this decision). Eugene, on the other hand, does not like confrontation, leaving the serious talk for his wife.
Duffy eventually leaves this space, wanting to be alone. Clementine tells Eugene to go to their son and reason with him. He obeys to this order, goes to Duffy’s room to ask for his help to pick up the washing that is outside. The scene starts right after this.
EXT. COTTAGE - GARDEN - DAY
Duffy and Eugene unpeg washing from the line outside. Robes. Bed Sheets. Stuffed and dead animals. Scrolls. Etc. Duffy picks a tattered old wizard hat off the washing line.
EUGENEI -- I hope you know what's coming your way. Oh, boy.
DUFFYPermanent groundings. Overloaded with chores.
EUGENEPermanent groundings. Overloaded with chor -- See, yes, exactly.
DUFFYI thought we were only meant to hand wash all of the old clothing?
EUGENEEarly bedtimes. No pocket money.
DUFFYThe stitching had already started to tear. Now, look at it.
EUGENEI get it -- you -- how it doesn't seem a big deal right now...
DUFFYIt's too delicate for our janky old machine. That's the problem.
EUGENEBut, being apart of a community like ours, your uncles, aunties, cousins. You're meant to be the one setting an example for, for -- forget about the washing!
DUFFYIf you make sure to spot treat it, then maybe you can salvage another couple years -- in a clean-esque and hygienic-esque way.
EUGENEHow the ones with it in their blood are the only ones who can truly excel. Duffy, did you hear what I said?
Duffy wiggles his finger through a hole in the hat.
DUFFYColour faded. That smell! And all these holes, like a rat chewed right through –
EUGENEGimme that!
He snatches it from out of Duffy's hand. Tosses it in the laundry basket.
EUGENEWhat you have is a birthright, passed down by generations. You have magic--
DUFFYRunning through your veins.
EUGENEJust, freeze! Please. To be a wizard it's like...
DUFFYAm I supposed to stay frozen while you search for a metaphor?
EUGENEDuffy!
DUFFYDad, no! I'm not -- I can't turn back now. Look, I'll always have my wand. To walk away from this. That isn't what this is.
EUGENEIf you don't go down a certain path... not something you can come back from... you won't... this family... old fashioned... without doing exactly what they want, they might turn their back on you.
DUFFYWould you?
Silence. Rain starts to fall.
EUGENEQuick!
Duffy grabs the laundry basket and dashes in. Eugene whips the bed sheet off the washing line and lifts it over his head as he runs in. Eugene trips as the bedsheet drops down over his eyes, blocking his vision.
And here's the video! This was my favourite take, mainly because of a minor mishap at the end...
I really thought the bookcase was solid enough that that couldn't happen, even if I got the sheet tangled up. Here's a take without all the damage...
The students picked someone else for the part. I thought the finished work would have been posted online by now, they must have finished for the summer and gone onto whatever film students do after they graduate, but it doesn't seem to be. I think we've given more than enough spoiler space to stop my audition tapes ruining the story for any potential viewers, so here you go! Admire my performance skills!
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
The MSO is on!
It's now possible to register for the Mind Sports Olympiad 2022! It'll take place 25 years after the first one, you know - this makes me feel old. But please click on this link to register for the events of your choice. If you're going for the whole week, the best thing to do is buy the all-you-can-play ticket for £130 (it was fifty quid in 1997; I feel even older now), but if you're just in it for the memory, then you need to look for Marathon Memory (£15, all day Sunday 21 August), Natural Memory (£10, morning of Monday 22 August) and Speed Memory (£10, afternoon of Monday 22 August). These three competitions can be entered separately, but if you take part in all three, it adds up to an overall MSO Memory Championship!
Here's how the whole thing works...
Please pay attention to that one. This year's MSO competition, for the first time, will be done digitally, using this software. Competitors should bring their own laptop - although it might be possible to provide one for people who arrive without.
That's the marathon memory - it's a long and mentally draining day! Only for serious professionals or masochists! Or weirdos who actually LIKE this kind of thing, such as me...
To pad out the Natural Memory competition, I'd also like to add these three quick bits too, from the Memory League competitions. I haven't yet agreed this with anyone, though. What do you think? It would be fun! We might have to save it for next year, though - it's a bit late to be changing the format now...
And as for the speed memory...
Again, these two are something I would like to add in - maybe next year, when everything won't have been arranged in such a hurry...
I hope that all makes sense, but I will gladly answer any questions people might have. Hope to see you there!
Friday, July 22, 2022
Erdős
A mathematical friend of mine said to me yesterday that he wants to publish a paper with his supervisor and thus get an Erdős number of 4. This is an entirely new concept to me, but cool enough that I immediately added it to my list of fascinating trivia to talk about at length. I also didn't know that Hungarian has long umlauts, so I'm learning so much all at once, I fear my brain won't be able to handle it all.
An Erdős number measures the distance in terms of collaborating on mathematical papers with noted mathematician Paul Erdős, or collaborating with people who collaborated with him, and so forth. As I said last night, it's like that thing with degrees of Kevin Bacon*, only much cooler in an intellectual geeky way.
*Actually, last night I said 'Kevin Spacey', because you know what I'm like with names. I do apologise to whichever one of those actors is offended by being mistaken for the other.
I'm going to Cambridge tonight for the British Othello Championship over the weekend - I notice that Imre's Erdős number is 2, so quite possibly this is the key to being really good at othello! Does anyone want to co-author a paper with me? Only people with Erdős number of 1 need apply.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Optimus Prime seizes up
It was harder to find good transforming-robot cartoons in 1985. Nowadays, you can find them all over the internet or on DVD in every household, but unfortunate children of the eighties were starved of that kind of entertainment beyond five-minute segments on the Wide Awake Club. But if you were patient, you could watch Optimus Prime transforming a little bit every week on the cover box of the Transformers comic!
The Transformers comic had a different cover format (and everything-else format too) for the first 26 issues, but when it went full-colour, weekly, and down to twenty-four pages, the cover box became an ever-present thing, all the way to the end in 1992.
The first two, numbers 27 and 28, both used the same picture in the cover box - a rather hard to decipher at such small size clip from the very first cartoon animation created for the first Transformers toy commercials. It's the planet Cybertron, a spaceship and some lasers. But after that, we launch into a series of cover box pictures from the Optimus Prime commercial footage - used in Britain for an Optimus and Soundwave advert, but originally intended for Optimus versus Megatron. The Megatron toy wasn't released over here at first, because of the way it transforms into a very realistic gun...
And I could go on. After that, Optimus never moves again. He remains in that pose all the way up to number 74! People started to write into the letters page to ask what happened to him, but that's the end of the animation, unfortunately, so that's where we're stuck. I tell you, this was riveting to follow in late 1985!
The early adverts, both British and American, can be found aplenty on YouTube - this one is the most interesting:
I'm pretty sure whoever posted it is right to say it's the first ever Transformers advert on UK TV (but wrong to say it was 1985 rather than 1984). I distinctly remember the advert briefly leaving me under the impression that there were characters called "Heroic Autobot" and "Mini Autobot", before I learned some more about these fascinating new toys and their accompanying comic - it launched in late September 1984, and I must have seen this advert very shortly before that, probably after school had already started. I have an idea that I talked about it on the playground using those inaccurate names.
From a historical point of view, it's fun to see that they made this advert using a red Bumblebee and a yellow Cliffjumper - they were meant to be the other way around, but opposite-colour ones were widely available when the toys first launched. It's no wonder people got confused about names and things!
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