Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
I took Friday off from work and drove with my friend Anders to Avesta, an industrial town in Dalecarlia, where our friend Pär and his lovely wife, both teachers, have recently settled. We spent the afternoon and evening walking in the sunshine, admiring their house, eating like kings, listening to some pretty far-out and eclectic music (including Earth, Heino, Om, Demis Roussos and Sunn) and playing the Swedish 70s board game Marinattack. It's notable for coming with an electronic device that replaces dice and outcome tables. They kicked my ass five games in a row. The shame!
Then on Saturday Anders and I returned to Stockholm where my son and I went to the Retro Gathering vintage video gaming event. (He made me take him to it!) There was a surprisingly large number of attendees and a surprisingly large percentage of them were women. I ran into my friendly one-time editor Jonas Svensson that I hadn't seen in almost 15 years. During the early 90s I made some extra money writing reviews and making translations for a couple of video game magazines, Nintendo Magazinet and Super Power. My perspective on the games -- being an archaeologist and a non-video-gamer -- was a bit strange. For instance, when reviewing a 1991 Defender clone for the SNES, Darius Twin, I remember explaining who Darius the Persian king was and informing my 12-y-o readers that he was actually named Dārayavahush.
As I write this I have two Spotted Dicks steaming on the stove and two loaves of bread in the oven. Tomorrow the two most beautiful girls in the world are coming home from China. Tonight, though, is gaming night. And we are not playing Marinattack.
[More blog entries about nintendo, snes, games, boardgames; nintendo, snes, spel, brädspel, Avesta.]
Comments
Posted by: Bob O'H | October 11, 2009 11:06 AM
Actually, in my limited experience bakers of this kind pretty much retain their usual appetite for the treat in question, though none of the ones I've had dealings with were attempting to produce more than one loaf at a time.
Posted by: Marttin R | October 11, 2009 12:24 PM
Hurray for you for introducing a tidbit of real history to your 12-year-old readers, once upon a time! There's probably some adult out there who goes around telling people what Darius' real name was, while playing "Trivial Pursuit" (or something else), all because of you. My son is that sort of kid. Only he's 27 now.
Posted by: DianaGainer | October 12, 2009 11:47 AM
Thank you, Diana! (-;
Posted by: Martin R | October 12, 2009 2:48 PM
That is the most random thing Martin, I just made Spotted Dick two weeks ago, with Bird's custard sauce! I learned about them in the Patrick O'Brian books, where they're the main character's favorite dessert, although they're called Spotted Dogs there. Once you've had one, nothing else quite satisfies you in the same way!
Posted by: Kevin | October 12, 2009 3:08 PM