I listened to the eponymous She Wants Revenge today and was very, very confused. They sound more like Interpol than Interpol themselves. Like someone whispered “Ian Curtis” into the Look Around You song-writing machine. Their beats are sometimes catchy, but their lyrics are always ridiculous, repetitive, and inexplicably profane. These are less songs than simulations of songs; a copy of a copy that’s unclear on why music is interesting, anyhow. They’re completely bizarre.

I drove up to Hollywood this afternoon and caught the in-limited-release Little Miss Sunshine. It was the most fun I’ve had at a theater this year, and you should definitely see it when it comes to your area. It was great to finally leave the movie theater thinking “that was great!” instead of making apologies for yet-another-underdelivering Hollywood blockbuster. It’s an incredibly feel-good movie comprised almost entirely of terrible things happening to the characters. Yet, somehow, it works. I’d rather not say too much about the plot, but if you want a character-based comedy with a real heart, see it!

I recently replayed The Fool’s Errand for more-or-less the third time. Astoundingly, this nearly 20-year-old Macintosh adventure game still holds up today; probably because there’s never been anything like it before or since. If you’re curious, it’s available for free download; Windows users should get the Mac version and Executor.

Roughly speaking, The Fool’s Errand is a collection of puzzles. Some are fairly standard: word searches, substitution ciphers, mazes. Others are tricker, like XOR polyminoes (turning “on” and “off” overlapping shapes to create pictures), tangram-style lettered tiles, and string manipulation/concatenation. There are a few head-wracking meta-puzzles involving the game’s structure and interface. One of the more famous puzzles, the Wheel of Fortune, pits you against an old man at a card game to which he knows the rules, and you don’t…at least at first.

Yet if the game were only puzzles, even good ones, it would hardly still be remembered fondly so many years after its release. The game has a lot of extra pieces holding its puzzles together, and it’s this which elevates it from a clever diversion to a gaming classic. All of the puzzles in the Fool’s Errand are based around cards of the Tarot. Major arcana become the primary characters and locations; additionally, the Fool’s path takes him through four “Kingdoms,” each related to one of the Tarot’s suits. The writing which ties together the various puzzles is colorful and amusing, providing much-needed context for each abstract puzzle.

Also, the solutions to most puzzles are words or phrases that tie into the next puzzle that is unlocked, providing a sense of continuity between the different kinds of challenges. This is important because the puzzles are unlocked in “non-linear” order, and the player is free to jump around within the Fool’s quest and solve puzzles in whatever order the solutions come.

When all of the puzzles have been solved, however, the incredibly clever “meta-puzzle” design of the game becomes apparent. The completed “scroll” of the story is coherent and complete in ways not apparent during the unlocking phase. Also, when each puzzle is solved, the player receives a piece of the Sun’s Map. After solving all of the puzzles, the Fool’s task is to assemble the map–no mean feat. Small clues on each piece relate to each puzzle; though seemingly impossibly obtuse, a careful reading of the scroll reveals the order and relationship between the pieces. Astoundingly, all of the pieces fit together in a single, winding path with no cheats or shortcuts, and the Fool’s apparently wandering path is revealed to be completely continuous.

Here, the final stage of the game begins, as the Fool searches for the “14 treasures of the land.” Meta-puzzles exposed by assembling the Sun’s Map require the player to revisit the scroll and the puzzle solutions and to manipulate them in new and unexpected ways. Puzzles you had thought “solved” are shown to have extra layers of meaning related to the 14 treasures. These final, most challenging puzzles draw together not only the earlier puzzles, but elements of the narrative, as well. Previously unnoticed connections between characters and geography are brought to the forefront.

And once the 14 treasures are found, there’s still the Grand Finale.

The game is just awesome. If you like puzzles, the Tarot, or really clever game design, then you’ll probably enjoy The Fool’s Errand. Which, as I mentioned, is free. Much to my pleasant surprise, I learned that the author, Cliff Johnson, is working on a sequel to be released later this year, The Fool and his Money. Considering how little there’s been like The Fool’s Errand since its release, another game in the series is welcome indeed.

Coming soon: WHEN HELL IS FULL THE DEAD WILL ROCK THE EARTH.

I read a short story recently where the main character, a time-traveling archeology student gone rogue, travels back in time over and over, attempting to manipulate the timestream into a future where airships become the dominant mode of transportation. Why? Because airships are cool. The story was a pretty clever sendup of myopic otaku tendencies taken to their impossible extreme.

Driving north on the 405 today, I saw the Good Year Blimp take off. And so help me, it was. cool. I assumed that airships took off just by floating upwards, like a balloon. But this blimp took off at a nearly 45 degree angle into the sky, then blasted a huge fiery jet (seriously!) to stabilize itself. It was completely impressive just on a physical level. I mean, it fired its retrorockets!

Don’t worry, the timestream is still safe.

Many Zidane photoshops have been posted on the Internet today.

But only one can be the best.

YOU ARE A PIRATE!