King of Kong

Though the complexity, graphic quality, and gameplay realism of video games have improved exponentially in the 30-or-so years since the genre became a staple of our culture, good old Donkey Kong is still considered the toughest game around. Reaching the "kill screen," the moment at which a programming malfunction kicks in and the game ends, is among the most coveted achievements in competitive video games, …

Russian Architecture

Wondering what the latest architecture being built in the new Russia is like? One of the major trendsetters that led to today's architectural modernism, Russia is having a real spurt of building. The construction above is example of a proposed hotel in New Holland, St Petersburg. The hotel features a large courtyard with a waterway, once used for ship building. The central building is a …

The Reel New York Film Festival

I recently started watching "The Reel New York Film Festival," a show highlighting experimental works, shorts, documentaries, animated shorts and narratives made by New Yorkers and/or about New Yorkers on local cable. Now in its twelfth season, tonight's program features several shorts including Jane Nisselson’s “Electromagnetic Spectrum,†which—in the tradition of the Eames science films—communicates a basic science phenomena via an apparently non-scientific situation. Nisselson …