Adventures in fun raising

I found this article in the Sydney Morning Herald, called "Adventures in fun raising." Which was somewhat kismetical, as I had just been meditating on how most of my game events are really what you might call even more accurately "fun raisings," because that's, in fact, what they do, and what they're for. Raising fun. Raising the spirit of fun. Like a barn raising, you know, everybody pitching in. Except for fun. Anyway, the article was about Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. And it starts by saying that Rodriguez's "priority is to have fun." Nice. Already I like this man. I read on.

Rodriquez, whose films include El Mariachi, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, says he "has expunged the word 'work' from his life. "I changed it to 'play.' And I play all the time. Every night I play!' Not that his idea of play would be everyone's. On Spy Kids, he decided he would do his own special effects and set about learning how to do it. 'I like stacking the deck against us so we have less time and less money and I'm forced to be more creative. That makes it a lot more fun and it makes the movie better.'"

"So often people say to me, 'I don't like those violent action movies, but I like your [mariachi] movies for some reason'. And it's got nothing to do with the dialogue or the story, but with the spirit that infuses them...You can tell we're having fun."

Less time and less money. More fun. Who knew?