Lisa Albers

The Clothes Make the Man #poetry

This is the first in a series of poems I'm going to publish here on the blog (and on Facebook). While I've published poetry with plenty of lit mags in the past, I've decided to publish them myself this time. See how it goes. I'm not so concerned with the publishing designation or prestige as I was in the past, so why not? Interested to know whether these find an audience. Here's the first one, written I think in summer of 2008, during the time I was working at Crosscut.com half-time while also writing a corporate history for Documentary Media. It's one of only a handful of poems I penned that truly busy year. Please feel free to comment or critique. Mainly, I just like to play with words and story.

The Clothes Make the Man

Don’t be sorry that you
snagged the sari,
tripped the swatch,
switched the workstyle
while wearing a habit.

Dagnabit, the prospector said,
while filling his gold tooth
decay of our moral fiber.
They found trace metals
on his coat, linking him to the time.

A screech, a roar, a gurgle:
what children have to say.

He swayed in the wind,
getting stronger. I wish
the world would cut me
some slacks.

Nintendo's Style Savvy

I just got word that the game I worked on for Nintendo will be in stores Nov. 2. Here's the official game Web site, with a fun sneak-preview video:  www.stylesavvyds.com

Freelance Experience Résumé

Documentary Media (2008-present)

corporate and institutional histories and special project publisher

Writing the book-length history of 100-year-old heavy marine, civil, and industrial construction firm General Construction Co.

FA Insight (Jan 2009-present)

consultants to the financial services industry

Writing/editing Web content (including corporate tagline), marketing materials, and research report.

Seattle Public Schools (Aug 2009-present)

K-12 school district

Copyediting disaster preparedness manual.

Cat Daddy Games / Take 2 Interactive (July-August 2009)

game software developer

Wrote two player manuals, a voice-over script, in-game text, and box package copy for two circus-themed video games for the Nintendo Wii and DS.

It's summer, and I'm still playing games

Last I posted to this blog, I was regaling you with stories of my Nintendo glory project, Style Savvy. What the name might not adequately convey is that it's a very, very cool game, and I say this as someone who up until being recruited for the project late last year did not pay one whit of attention to the gaming industry. 

All that's changed now. I own a DSi and have been known to play it while waiting in line for the ferry. Yes, even on a nice day.

The thing about the DSi is, once you buy it, you realize you must acquire games. That's games, plural.

First there was Hotel Dusk, which my intrepid and entirely delightful Nintendo team leader Steven Grimm said I'd like because it's beautifully drawn and well written. It is both, and also reminiscent of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Then of course I had to get Super Mario DS, because it's a core Nintendo title. It's terrific but might be an even better game to play on the Wii. 

Nintendo steps out in style

At last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E³), Nintendo announced its game lineup for 2009 release, including the one I've been working on as a writer/editor for the past six months: Style Savvy^TM.

Courtesy of Nintendo.

Here's the promo movie. The announcement was an exciting, anxious moment for all of us on the team, like how I imagine it must feel for a parent watching his child debut in a school play. Admittedly, E³ is maybe not the best audience for a fashion game targeted toward young girls, dominated as the conference naturally is by hard-core gamers. I was encouraged by Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata's keynote speech, which made a strong case for audience expansion beyond traditional gamers (young males, mostly) to include, well, everyone else.

It's worth noting that 20 percent of people who buy a Wii never owned a game console before buying this one. Included in that 20 percent, just as an aside, are my sister and her husband, and my brother and his wife. I can name a dozen or so other people I know who've bought either a Wii or a DS in the past two years who aren't traditional gamers. I bet you can, too.

Style Savvy is for the DS, so I've been playing that little handheld console like mad the past six months, as part of the localization work. I'll be buying a DSi soon, and not just so I can admire the fruits of my own labors. I want to know what happens with this mythical box that is supposed to kill whoever opens it. I've been looking over the shoulder of one of my coworkers as she plays Hotel Dusk, and I want my own copy. And then there's a game developed in collaboration with a fiction writer.