But why go to all the trouble in the first place? According to the 2. Melbournian, his love for poetry wasn’t an overt pleasure.
It came from a much more common connection: music.“I’ve always written little poems and tidbits since I was a kid - as I’ve gotten older they’ve gotten sillier,” Ward told me over Discord. I grew up listening to the Beastie Boys and like, Rage Against the Machine and Green Day and stuff- and being the kid I was if I I’d known that MCA, Zach De La Rocha and Billy Joe Armstrong were thoughtful lyricists and aspiring poets in their own way I would’ve chucked all my tapes out.”It’s a bit cliche. Like many kids, Ward was attracted to the music of rebellion. But it wasn’t until later in life, when circumstances took a turn and Ward ended up homeless, moving from place to place. Life was unstable and as many do in similar circumstances, he returned to the music he grew up with.“I think that’s when the heart of all the music I was listening to as a kid really started to matter,” he explained, “because I really needed something solid to grab onto or make where my life was something fun and exciting rather than just like, scary and uncertain. And yeah, fortunately when shit really hits the fan, silly videos are a great cure for the blues.”Some of the silly videos that ended up being the strongest inspirations were from Brad Neely, an American artist and producer.
Neely worked on the 1. South Park as a consultant and, a couple of years later he created the webseries I Am Baby Cakes.
Inspired by the blend of comedy, simplistic graphics and darker themes from videos like Neely’s, Ward gained the confidence to create something of his own. He made a pilot for a show called This Week in Hearthstone, which was picked up by the US esports organisation Tempo Storm.
One thing lead to another, and after a few episodes he ended up creating a script for a parody of a show Tempo Storm was creating called The Inn Crowd. His script was well received, and he ended up producing a script and recording the voiceovers for what would be The Inn Crowd’s final episode.
But the end product, which Ward says he wasn’t allowed to edit, completely bombed. Free Hacking Books For Beginners Download Music here. It was an empty process, he explained, and without the creative control over the end product or brand, it wasn’t worth the trouble. So Ward released the Life in Hearthstone pilot and spent the next year focusing on a music band and improv.
But what happens if nobody gets it? Life on Hearthstone is a five part series, and the reception to the first few episodes has been warm. That’s encouraging given how dark the videos can get. The first episode draws a metaphor from the widgets on the Hearthstone board, equating them to objects placed in a bottle designed to keep an insect from being bored, from trying to escape. One comic device used is a construction worker, who suffers from vertigo and has no hands.
Ward doesn’t use the worker purely as a visual gag - although given the simplicity of the animation and drawings, having a character fall down is one of the most effective devices - but more as a blunt tool for highlighting the futility of chasing virtual rewards, of things people complain about but never do, of life. Another episode quips that video games have eroded people’s attention spans so far that people can’t even get upset or depressed by their own thoughts, because messaging apps fill the void of loneliness before the thought is even completed. Not all of it comes off, and Ward explains that the script has to walk a fine line. I asked if in- jokes and Hearthstone references were almost like a currency with his audience, tools used to buy the attention of viewers so they would be more receptive to other themes, and Ward agreed.
For a content creator, there’s more leniency in parodying and referencing material viewers already know and understand. It works, but there’s also a limit to how far you can take that shtick. And because of that careful balancing act, the weirdness works.
The responses to some of Ward’s videos are telling. People talking about their own depression, emptiness in their lives. It’s far from happy. But Hearthstone fans love it. Ward has been talking for several hours. He’s talked about how his videos wouldn’t work if it wasn’t for the music in the background.
He’s chatted about games being a gateway to something deeper. He’s talked about his inner demons (and I talked about mine). I asked why his videos have an ASMR- esque quality. It’s forced, he said, as the only way to get clean audio was by turning his pre- amp down and getting close to the microphone. So the question had to be asked: what if people don’t get it?
What if the only response is “this is great content”, and the deeper message never sinks in? But that’s still something; my friends will know I tried.”But if not opening up to poetry, one consolation is that it’s encouraged a conversation about depression. It’s hard to go past the email that inspired the series, a viewer who uninstalled Hearthstone and thanked Ward for it. Responses like those are rare, Ward says, and he reads every comment he can.
And that’s a toxic loop: you might see thousands of shares, enormous amounts of views, but none of it sticks in the mind like a negative comment. Ward isn’t thinking about that too much, though. The last episode in the series isn’t out until next week, and a week is a long time on the internet. But he’s hopeful that the goodwill continues.
The internet has plenty of introspective comics, and we’re not far removed from the successful Kickstarter campaign for Check. Point. It’s late, almost midnight, and I have to be awake in six hours. But it’s OK, and I’m going to bed happy.
Happy because through it all, I’m convinced Ward will be fine - and the Hearthstone community will be the better for it. This story originally appeared on Kotaku Australia.
Genius Converts an '8. Intercom Into a Google Home With Raspberry Pi. When it comes to homebrew projects, Google is actually a pretty cool company. Unlike some of its rivals in Silicon Valley—particularly in Cupertino—the search giant sometimes likes to help people hack into its hardware and make it their own. The latest example of this fine tradition helped one crafty British man turn a vintage intercom into a working version of a Google Home. The adventure started when Google bundled an AIY (Artificial Intelligence Yourself) Projects Voice Kit with the May issue of Mag.
Pi magazine. The kit included a Raspberry Pi HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) that made it possible to add natural voice interaction to any Pi- powered project using the Google Assistant SDK. While the Mag. Pi magazine offered instructions on how to build a little cardboard box that you could talk to, a hardware hacker from the United Kingdom had other designs. Mister. M, the hacker in question, has an ultra fun habit of converting vintage electronics into powerful computers using technology like Raspberry Pi. And since Google basically gave him everything he needed for free with the Mag. Pi magazine, Mister. M decided to turn an intercom from 1. Google Home. The process of the conversion actually sounds pretty simple as there’s no soldering involved.
Based on Mister. M’s step- by- step breakdown, it actually seems like the toughest challenge was getting the Raspberry Pi and related components to fit into the 8. But he did it! In the end, the Google Assistant- powered intercom isn’t quite as powerful as a Google Home.
It can accept commands and, with the help of IFTTT recipes, control some of Mister. M’s smart home gadgets. But for now, the Google AIY software doesn’t offer Chromecast or music integration, and it won’t work with a wake word like “OK Google.” That could obviously change if and when Google updates the source code. Either way, Mister.
M’s intercom is not only clever. It’s absolutely awesome—especially because his Instructables post tells you how to build your own.
The only problem is getting your hands on that Google AIY kit. Right now, issue 5. Mag. Pi, the one that included the Google AIY Projects Voice Kit, are selling for up to $1. Bay. However, Mag.
Pi says that Google and Raspberry Pi are now working on a way to sell the kits to the general public, no overpriced magazine required. So be patient, hackers.
Help is on the way. And if you thought this project was fun, check out what else Mister. M has done with vintage electronics and Raspberry Pi. The 1. 97. 0s telephone with Amazon Alexa built in is especially cool.