I forgot. In an ADP essay that I wrote very quickly last summer I found this excellent quote from John Dewey:

Theory, and – to some extent – practice, have advanced far enough to recognize that play-activity is an imaginative enterprise. But it is still usual to regard this activity as a specially marked-off stage of childish growth, and to overlook the fact that the difference between play and what is regarded as serious employment should be not a difference between the presence and absence of imagination, but a difference in the materials with which imagination is occupied. The result is an unwholesome exaggeration of the phantastic and “unreal” phases of childish play and a deadly reduction of serious occupation to a routine efficiency prized simply for its external tangible results.

(Dewey, Democracy and Education : An introduction to the philosophy of education New York: Macmillan; 1961)

Caillois' essay on 'Mimicry and legendary psychasthenia' can be found here. Sorry for those who wanted to read it earlier. It is in one of the best of October (the art journal) books, from 1987, and we do have it at Frenchay apparently. But (I think) the text is there on the webpage. Be prepared for some intrusive advertising, but after a few seconds it will disappear and leave you with a nice table showing the different typologies of play that Caillois has devised.

Oh and no, I didn't have alcohol poisoning: it was food poisoning. It meant that the New Year period was devoid of good cheer/ good beer (or any alcohol in fact ).

G4M3RS - the documentary about the Counterstrike phenomenon - has been released on DVD and here is a review from the Adrenaline Vault. I have a feeling it will be compulsive viewing for research purposes for some of you, and just damn interesting for the rest of us. Perhaps we can all get together and view it at the same time? I know I'd love to see it. As Library Rep I should go ahead and order it for the UWE library, definitely.

Oh yeah, and check out the time I posted this. Hardcore, you know the score...!