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Episode 51: Proxies

Download the show: Episode 51: Proxies  (35.3 MB)

Listen to the Show Online:

Total running time: 37 minutes and 40 seconds.

Show Notes:

--Musical Introduction by Dave Gruska.
--Proxies: Should they be allowed or not?
--"A-Proxy-Mation" article by Aaron Forsythe (March 2004)
--"Playing Out of Bounds" by Anthony Alongi (July 2002).
--Unofficial proxies of the power nine (I am not recommending that you buy these, but see this page as more of a resource of what people are doing to make money off the situation).
--"Proxy Tournaments: A New Chapter in Magic" by Dave Scopac (2002)
--More great feedback: Top 5 favorite cards of all time and proxy question.
--Promo for the MS NYC Walk: The Lascivious Biddies
--Music by Beyond the Pale "Sligo." Music available on the Podshow Music Network at music.podshow.com.

Donate to the MS Walk in NYC: Please make a donation to the Lascivious Biddies' "Team Biddy" as they try to raise $50,000 to find a cure for the disease Multiple Sclerosis.

Subscribe using iTunes: To subscribe to The Magic Sock using iTunes, simply click  here. (You'll need to have iTunes installed on your computer. You don't need an mp3 player or an iPod.) For a video tutorial on how to subscribe to a podcast, be sure to check out episode 5 of The Magic Sock: How to Subscribe to a Podcast.

Creative Commons License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Contribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Closing: Magic: The Gathering is trademarked and owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The Magic Sock is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro in any way. To send feedback, send an e-mail to themagicsock@gmail.com.  Audio feedback is welcome.  Call the voice mail line at 1-201-467-4962 but please keep message to under 2 minutes and be sure to mention your name and city/state/country.

For Me

I'm in a certain frame of mind and here's the lyrics to the song by Trout Fishing in America (their song "Are We There Yet?"):

"Written by Grimwood/Idlet

Everything on your side of the car belongs to you.
Everything on my side of the car belongs to me.
It's a million miles to where we're going,
  We might never stop to eat.
I'll take the batting cage with automatic pitch.
You take that beaten up old garbage can out by the drainage ditch.
  We could use some ice cream. Hey, I own a Dairy Bar.
Driving on & on & on & on for hours. Look how rich we are!

Looks like you got a new car dealership.
Come see me at my gas station before you take a trip.
There's money in your bank,
  But you'll starve without my farm.
Driving on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on for hours.
  Look how rich we are!

CHORUS:
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
I don't believe you heard me say are we there yet?
  1-2-3-4 I declare a thumb war.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
I don't believe you heard me say are we there yet?
  Take a look at this old car, you'd never know how rich we are.

There's a checkered flag waving in the wind.
It's a go-cart track on your side. Looks like you win again.
  How'd you get so lucky? Man, you can't even drive.
I'll trade you California for that go-cart track.
I'll even throw in a putt-putt course if you promise not to give it back.
  Think about it, California, you could meet a movie star.
Driving on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on
& on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on for hours.
  Look how rich we are!"

From Trout Fishing in America's "Are We There Yet?" It's only a buck and it's a mp3 so spend the dollar and listen to the song. This is the frame of mind I'm in today. Listen to the song and really listen to what it's saying. That's where my mind is at.

Spent today with my son as his daycare was closed and let me tell you something--in all the years of my short life, I'm so happy that I had the chance to spend today with my son. I took him to a museum today and he and I had a blast. Life's a bitch, but you know what, today wasn't. Thank you for a good day. Peace. Je t'aime.

Marie Antoinette

I saw Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette recently and I did enjoy the film--that's not the glowing review that I thought I would have of it after listening to a critique of the film on Filmspotting.net several months ago, but it's a surprisingly quiet film. Kirsten Dunst plays a solid, introspective Marie Antoinette, who shows us some of her wild child in a world filled with gossip, status, privilege, and wastefulness.  Those French royalty--boy, do they know how to party.  Yet Coppola's film fits nicely into the quiet spot of a dream in which Marie does not intend to be evil or cruel, but simply is so sheltered from the outside world that she's not aware of her people's suffering.  She is surrounded by the court puppet's who desperately try to stay in favor and need to know their rank compared to their peers.

In a funny scene, Marie wakes up in the morning to a roomful of woman who have been given the privilege (as due their rank) to help her get dressed in the morning.  When a woman of higher rank enters the room, she takes over being able to dress Marie.  What makes the scene a bit funny is that Marie stands there naked (Coppola tastefully shoots the scene so that you don't see Dunst fully unclothed) shivering in cold while various women of the court continue to outrank each other to gain the right to dress the new dauphine.  From Marie's perspective, she simply wants to get dressed but every part of her day is carefully planned and controlled--she's not allowed to give cold meats to her friends, can't get her own glass of water, and even has a ritual for lunch. Sheltered and alienated from the rest of the court, Marie's choices are clear: Find a way to fit into the wild world of Versailles or become an outcast like the King's mistress. Marie chooses to shine as she longs to be loved, liked, and surrounded by friends.

It is not with disdain that she tells her adviser that she no longer needs diamonds once she hears of the people starving in Paris.  She doesn't make the grasp between hunger, need, and poverty since her world is so abundant with excess. Another well-handled scene shows Marie uttering the famous "Let them eat cake" but Coppola shows that, in reality, Marie is reading those words in a tabloid like newspaper and says, "I would never say anything like that." The perceived reality of what the people hear of her wildness and of her true self are poles apart.  She is vilified by the people, but in the film she does have a tendency to drink/gamble too much, but after having her children she takes to her country village that she had built into Versailles.  Having been to Versailles and seen the excess there (to walk the ground itself is an amazing feat in itself), one can see how the hungry people of France wanted blood.

Coppola's Marie longs to stretch back to her Austrian roots and play in the country-side raising her children as any good mother would--with love, laughter, and light. Yet when you're the Queen of France and such huge expectations are thrust upon you by the court, temptation to overindulge simply happens. When Marie orders oak trees to line the garden, she wants tall ones and never for a moment truly understands that her spending of 50,000 Francs in one month is tied into reality. She plays with diamonds and precious stones as we would normal rocks--not because she asks for them, but that is what her playground is made of. Her view on reality is shaped by what is available to her and what she can have--because she is the Queen.

Young, bored, and sexually longing, Marie spirals downward not in a self-destructive way, but simply eats through the wealth of France without knowing there ever was a bottom to the barrel. When the people come to storm Versailles, Marie stands fast with her husband and family. Her courage is apparent and how misunderstood she was comes through clearly in Coppola's smart film. Not the best film by Coppola (I'd vote for "Lost in Translation" is her best), but Marie Antoinette is well worth a view. Rent, buy it, check it out.

Richard Garfield and Me

Download the show: Episode 50: Richard Garfield and Me  (46.5 MB)

Listen to the Show Online:

Total running time: 50 minutes and 53 seconds.

Watch the YouTube Videos: Here are two video clips of Richard Garfield and me playing a duel of Magic from spring 1994.

Part 1

Direct link to the video (share with your friends!)

Part 2

Direct link to the video (share with your friends!)

Read the article:

"Richard Garfield Beat me Bad"

Show Notes:

--Special 50th episode celebration: YouTube videos, "Richard Garfield Beat me Bad" article, and regular audio podcast.
--Musical Introduction by Dave Gruska.
--Back story to the video on YouTube.
--Lots of great feedback: Top 5 favorite cards of all time.
--Pro Tour Geneva: Mike Hron wins big.
--Subscribe to some great podcasts: Official Magic: The Gathering Podcast, MTGcast, and The Magic Sock.
--Music by Coppermine "Suffocating." Music available on the Podshow Music Network at music.podshow.com.

Donate to the MS Walk in NYC:

Please make a donation to the Lascivious Biddies' "Team Biddy" as they try to raise $50,000 to find a cure for the disease Multiple Sclerosis.

Subscribe using iTunes: To subscribe to The Magic Sock using iTunes, simply click  here. (You'll need to have iTunes installed on your computer. You don't need an mp3 player or an iPod.) For a video tutorial on how to subscribe to a podcast, be sure to check out episode 5 of The Magic Sock: How to Subscribe to a Podcast.

Creative Commons License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Contribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Closing: Magic: The Gathering is trademarked and owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The Magic Sock is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro in any way. To send feedback, send an e-mail to themagicsock@gmail.com.  Audio feedback is welcome.  Call the voice mail line at 1-201-467-4962 but please keep message to under 2 minutes and be sure to mention your name and city/state/country.

Science of Sleep

Last night my wife and I saw the movie "The Science of Sleep." (Really cool website.) I really enjoyed seeing this film as it caused you to feel disjointed from reality (like the main character), but there was also a playfulness about the movie that tugged at my heart.  The film reminded me of my youth and of the creative urges you have in growing up, trying to play, grow up, and have fun in a truly large world. 

I don't like to really tell people what movies are about because if you do that, what's the point?  Isn't it much more interesting to just learn that the film is worth seeing and that you need to have an open mind? I am remember much about the movie today and I am laughing inside at playing out certain scenes in my mind.  The props used in the movie and the handmade animals and toys are just overwhelmingly beautiful.  There isn't anything about this movie that I didn't like.  Surprise yourself with a fresh movie of strangeness and intimacy--go check this film out. Directed by Michel Gondry (who also directed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), be prepared to enter a dreamworld like no other.  Kick back, relax, and enjoy the ride.