As part of my day job I record a lot of voiceover. If it’s first thing in the morning my voice and mouth need warmed-up so I can speak crisp and clearly. To warm up I generally perform a spoken word cover of a pop song.
So far I’ve tackled Katy Perry, Black Eyed Peas, and Hanson. Below is a playlist from my Soundcloud account that contains all of them.
I’ll update it every so often, but feel free to subscribe to me over there so you don’t miss any.

NOTE: This review was originally published on my Dogboy Adventures site, but I thought I’d share it over here too.

I’ve done a lot of reading lately, but outside of the Danny Dunn series no books have inspired me to jot down my thoughts until today.

ZZT by Anna Anthropy is centered around a gaming community that consumed a big chunk of my life between the ages of 13 and 15. ZZT was a game creation system, which meant it came with it’s own built-in world editor. I discovered the game and community when we signed up for AOL using the AOL software for MS-DOS in 1995. There were tons of user-created games to download and play, and you could even upload your own. A magical time.

I made several games under my ZZT company Ultraware. The community I bonded with on AOL, then later via the web and listservs, allowed me to escape my restrictive homeschooled upbringing while hanging out with a bunch of people like me. (Note: for more on ZZT’s impact on me check out this episode of My So-Called 8bit Life.)

In ZZT, Anna Anthropy teaches the history of ZZT through the lens of her experience. Anna is a trans individual so throughout the book we’re given snapshots of her adolescent interactions with the game and it’s community as she discovers who she really is. One section highlights how ZZT specifically appealed to trans kids. The story of the first trans girl she ever met online tugs at the heartstrings a bit too.
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