Video Games are Real

Author: Caleb J. Ross

  • We Play Plathitudes: Cliche Sympathy for Strange Deaths [video]

    We Play Plathitudes: Cliche Sympathy for Strange Deaths [video]


    Named for poet Sylvia Plath, who famously killed herself by sticking her head in an oven, Plathitudes is a game that involves writing fake sympathy cards for the grieving family of people who died in strange ways.

    Think of it like The Darwin Awards meets Hallmark Cards.

    Get it? Platitudes/Plathitudes? No? I hate you.

    Learn more about The Darwin Awards here

    Learn more about Sylvia Plath here

    Learn more about ovens here

  • TBR + TBD: To Be Read + To Be Drunk | July 2014 [video]

    TBR + TBD: To Be Read + To Be Drunk | July 2014 [video]

    What I read:

    • The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (just a few dozen pages left, so I’m considering it a win)
    • Radium Girls by Amanda Gowin

    What I’ll be reading:

    • White Noise by Don DeLillo (seriously this time)
    • Incarnations by Chris Deal

    What I’ll be drinking:

    • Rubaeus Raspberry Ale from Founders Brewing Co.
    • Love Child #4 from Boulevard Brewing Co.
    • Championship Ale from Boulevard Brewing Co.
    • Imperial Biscotti Break from Evil Twin
    • Imperial Doughnut Break from Evil Twin
  • I was happy to not know what was going on: a video book review of Radium Girls by Amanda Gowin [video]

    I was happy to not know what was going on: a video book review of Radium Girls by Amanda Gowin [video]

    This makes two videos in a row in which I wear a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds shirt and drink Sexy Betty Imperial Stout. No, I’m not a slob drunk; I simply recorded two videos in a row.

    Amanda Gowin’s Radium Girls is all sorts of interesting. It’s weird, it’s heartfelt, it’s wavering, it’s beautiful, it’s poetic, and it’s a bunch of other things I can’t think of right now because I’m tired.

    You should buy this book!

  • Even the Holocaust Can be Funny: a video review of The Humor Code [video]

    Even the Holocaust Can be Funny: a video review of The Humor Code [video]

    Even the Holocaust Can be Funny: a video book review of The Humor Code: a Global Search for What Makes Things Funny by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner – I’ve read a lot of comedy studies books. Well, three, but that’s a lot compared to most people, because most people aren’t sadists.

    Luckily, this book isn’t like most humor studies books. This one is readable. It’s interesting. It actually contributes to an overall better understanding of, wait for it, what makes things funny (appropriate subtitles are all the rage right now).

  • Destroying Books with: Oven – Does Paper Really Burn at 451 Degrees Fahrenheit? [video]

    Destroying Books with: Oven – Does Paper Really Burn at 451 Degrees Fahrenheit? [video]


    Once again I purge Facebook for suggestions about how to destroy books. And once again I don’t have a valid reason for wanting to destroy books. It’s who I am. Lay off me!

    Today’s request: “Put “Fahrenheit 451″ in an oven set to 452…. Let’s test this….” Can do.

  • TBR + TBD: To Be Read + To Be Drunk | June [video]

    TBR + TBD: To Be Read + To Be Drunk | June [video]

    It’s June. How did I do with my May TBR+TBD? And what do I have planned for June? Watch to find out.

    What I’ll be reading:

    • The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (still)
    • The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny by Peter McGraw , Joel Warner (almost finished)
    • White Noise by Don DeLillo
    • Radium Girls by Amanda Gowin

    What I’ll be drinking:

    • Avery Anniversary Twenty One from Avery Brewing
    • Milk Stout from Duck-Rabbit
    • Imperial Stout from Samuel Smiths
    • Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter from Horny Goat
  • Girl Found Alive at Bottom of Swimming Pool. Seeks Vengeance.

    Girl Found Alive at Bottom of Swimming Pool. Seeks Vengeance.

    dead

    I haven’t been writing much lately (aside from general outlines in prep for YouTube video making…but I wouldn’t count that). So when fellow Write Club alum Gayle Towell approached me about contributing a story to her new Microfiction Monday Magazine project, I hesitated. But then, I figured 100 words (the limit for stories to appear on the site) wouldn’t be too difficult to squeeze out. And while that ended up being partially true, I also very much experienced how rusty I had become even in the short few months since I’ve last written any fiction of substance.

    Well, my effort–a story about a man and woman being scared of their child–which I am pretty proud of, went live today. Click over to Microfiction Monday Magazine to read my story “When Susan’s Daughter Sank.” It’s visceral, dark, and language heavy, just like I like ’em.