Places to Go

These are the things you ought to look at today:

• Real Empires Ship. I could link to Paul Ford's Ftrain every day and never tire of it.

The Romans would have loved Steve Jobs. I can easily see him in a turtleneck in the middle of an ampitheater, explaining the digital lifestyle to the assembled nobles at some ancient equivalent of the TED Conference:

• Calendario Romano 2007. Um, I'm pretty sure this is like a "hot priests" calendar. It's like hot firemen, but with this one YOU GO TO HELL.

• "Trailing Spouse": a husband or wife who follows a marriage partner who takes a new job in different city. I always love the Double-Tongued Word Wrester.

• And finally, A Halo Hovel in New York City. They really should focus on the Wii and get a broader audience.

But I was able to find Nyclan, thanks in part to the colorful sign hanging over the West Fourth Street sidewalk as though it were advertising yet another tavern. The gaming center was indeed underground, tucked beneath a ground-level bar called Absolutely 4th where plenty of martini-sipping patrons were visible through the windows.

But down the stairs and inside Nyclan, the atmosphere was strangely reminiscent of a high school computer lab: neat and well-lighted, with a pack of young people intently focused on the monitors in front of them. But the monitors were actually TVs connected to Xboxes, the contents on the screens were the first-person shooter Halo 2 rather than educational software, and the attendees were sitting in extra-comfy padded chairs--nothing you'd expect to see in a classroom. They were supplementing the game with lively conversation: yes, they do actually say, "You got pwned!"

And then, from the same story, the pullquote from Marc Stubbs, Competitive Halo player, "Sugar and more sugar. No caffeine. I mostly do an energy drink or something." To each his own.