Another Strook featuring something I've drawn, read, and listened to. And 3D-printed.

Drawing (and 3D printing)

This weekend, I had the honor of being a witness at a magical wedding. During my speech, I mentioned that we’d been friends since third grade. My earliest memory is of being at his house, where he was… taking apart old radios. A very common hobby among 7-year-olds back then.

In sixth grade, we waged a joint battle against our teacher. We hated him back then. But he was crucial. He gave us a computer. It was an 0861, with a Hercules graphics card, 5” floppy disks (the black ones), and a monochrome amber-colored screen.

By the time we got the computer, it was already an antique. But it sparked something in us. We thought it was magic. Especially the groom. Our lives revolved around the computer. We started our first computer company, HABO, and sold 3.5-inch floppy disks (we kept up with the times) with games we’d tested ourselves. We had one customer, a boy who lived across the street. Our school presentations were about MS-DOS, and as 13-year-olds, we started building websites.

As a gift, I recreated the computer as a 3D-printed scale model that fits my A6 drawings. I filled the computer with 30 years’ worth of hand-drawn core memories. Dozens of drawings. A crazy project. Luckily, my kids helped out too. Can I just say how awesome I think it turned out?

Reading

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a coming-of-age novel about friends who start a game company. Sam and Sadie meet in 1987 at the hospital, where, as children, they spend hours playing NES games. Their friendship fades, but years later, they run into each other again as college students. They develop Ichigo, a game steeped in Japanese culture where your character can constantly take on different forms to solve puzzles. It becomes a global hit.

Gabrielle Zevin, the daughter of two IBM employees, weaves the story into the timeline and cultural landscape as we know it. Names like John Carmack, who developed both Commander Keen and Doom, come up in passing. At a party, “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)”2 is playing.

The book’s title refers to the second chances you get in video games. You die and start over. Tomorrow you’ll play another level. In the book, 30 years pass, marked by these second chances that shape the friendship between the main characters.

The book is certainly not just for gaming enthusiasts. Rather, it’s a book about creativity and ambition. And above all, about friendship and how minds find each other to create something beautiful.

Listen

Jesse Welles quickly found an audience with his sharp lyrics about American politics, the promises of technology, and other social commentary. Think acoustic songs à la Bob Dylan, paired with a presence à la Mick Jagger. Every week, I get a new favorite song from the groom. This track seemed like a great way to wrap up this Strook:

See you next week!