From Billy Eilish meowing along with fans to revolutions, unicorns and fairy queens, this is what is preoccupying Angus in his first ever blog for PlayTime.
What are three words to describe your mood today? Distractedly, procrastinating eagerness
Last game you played? Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which came out on February 4. I am currently eagerly procrastinating on playing more of it, though, because inhabiting protagonist Henry is a rough experience for me.
A task you’ll finally get around to this week? Writing a blog entry for Playful Time Machines.
Quote from a reading you’d recommend? “Unicorns and fairy queens seem to posses more reality than the lost treasure of the revolutions” (Hannah Arendt, in the Preface to Between Past and Future.)
Something the team is working on? A brand new season of PlayTime livestreams with a lot of interesting questions, games, and thought pieces is coming to you soon on twitch.tv/streamingthepast
Latest earworm? I am sad to report that my household is in thrall to the months-old meme of meowing along to the tunes of What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish. I never needed it and certainly don’t want it anymore, but cannot escape its infectiously artificial cuteness. Then again, apparently not even Billie Eilish herself could.
Something you’d write another dissertation about? I do not believe I or anyone should ever write another dissertation. Going along with this counterfactual universe, I’d write one about the concept of hyped heritage.
Quote from something you’ve written? “The original TIPC had president Benjamin Franklin as a speaker, but he was not our most watched presentation on Youtube, that honor goes to the Dwarf Fortress Archaeologists.” It’s from a blog that is currently in staging on Interactive Pasts, but should be live soon.
A dish you’re hoping to make soon? Tonight I’ll be making a completely Dutchified version of nasi that would make any Indonesian cook go “tssskk” but that has been a trusty family staple for decades.
What question should be swapped out for another?
I’d like to boot “What are three words to describe your mood today?“. It’s a cruel thing to ask any scholar to describe something in three words.
I’ll swap it out with: “Where do you want to go today?”
From ancient boardgames to the hopeful future of fun, Angus Mol has been blending past and play since at least 10,000 BCE. A completely healthy childhood fervour for Nintendo and, later, PlayStation and PC gaming was discontinued in favour of a career in Caribbean archaeology, a decision that still left plenty of need for game-based escapism. Some entanglement studies at Stanford and a stint at the Prince Claus Fund for development and culture later, Angus has found his way to play as a co-founder of the VALUE foundation, director of the LUCDH, and as the Principal Investigator of PlayTime where he combines heritage and game studies with Digital Humanities tools — talk about lucking out in the long game.
