Author Archives: Kelly Boudreau

Always a shift in gears, as the kids get ready for another school year and the weather starts to cool, I always find myself sliding into a nostalgic frame of mind. Most people reflect on the past year over the holidays in December – custom has convinced us that we are to reflect on ourContinue reading “Heading Into Fall”

After a long day staring at my screen, and technically August 16th, I have finished the book chapter that I have been working on over the summer. The crunch hurt more than usual, but I am relatively happy with the end product. Always open for more technical editing – it is off. Holding my breathContinue reading “Mission Accomplished”

As I sit here, typing this post, I am well aware that there are other things that should be penned instead. I am working against a deadline of August 15th for a 5,000 word book chapter (due out in 2007). I am about a half of the way through it, yet I have known (andContinue reading “Stress & Motivation”

Sadly, my proposed abstract (Finding Ourselves in Play: Identity and Identification in Video Games) was not accepted to be part of an edited collection on cinema and games (linked in the previous post). It was a bitter-sweet rejection. I was excited to be part of this project, and had the entire paper written (to beContinue reading “The Taste of Rejection”

Its been hard to get some work done. After spending some time on the coast of Prince Edward Island, my brain should be refreshed and rarring to go. Instead, it has settled into vacation mode, making my to-do list grow faster than summer grass after a week of rain. The submission deadline to our upcomingContinue reading “With a view like that…”

Summer is here, and I have made my annual pilgrimmage eastward. Although with more work on my plate than past years, it is still nice to be out of the city – smog and humidity – to be able to breath dry, fresh air. I am working on a book chapter and my thesis proposal,Continue reading “Summer Holidays”

Since posting on the state of video game addiction and it’s rehab centers, I found this link via Gameology.org showing the dark side of addiction.

My daughter started playing this mmorpg – Rose Online, geared towards pre/teens (7 day or 35hour free trial). The graphics are adorable, as you play slight anime children who fight jelly beans, flowers and pumpkins (so far that is). You can play the usual gamut of classes (fighter, caster, healer and vendor). But what IContinue reading “Rose Online”

My skin crawls when I see articles such as this one. The opening of a “gamer addiction” center, to help people of all ages kick their addiction. I agree that people can be addicted per se to playing games. I think anyone with an addictive personality can be addicted to anything really. But I getContinue reading “The Growing Realm of Addiction”

I have been reading Baudrillard’s ‘The system of objects’, and have been quite taken with his analysis of the role of furniture in socio-cultural history. How social status and structure is defined through the materiality of the home, how it reflects the nature of the family. I never really thought about my furniture before beyondContinue reading “Symbolic Order of Furniture”