Mainstream Go Sightings

[tchan001]

According to Google Translate, "Aasian iso peli" means "Asian big game"

[imabuddha]

Today's xkcd mentions go: http://xkcd.com/1263/

[Vesa]

Almost forgot this picture I took in a bookshop in Helsinki two months ago (put it between spoiler tags because it's a little larger than what it should be):

Meanwhile, only two pages back:

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=138764#p138764

Cheers,
Vesa

[xed_over]

Chinese movie: Master of Go -- Romance Over Qinhuai River
古装电影《大国手之秦淮风月》
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InfIyywZbPo

unfortunately, no English subtitles

[Chaos]

In Patrick Rothfuss' novel "The Wise Man's Fear", the main character is taught a game by a noble which sounds precisely like Go, It's very beautifully described and stretches over several pages. I should sit down and type it up. (The book suffers from the "second novel of a trilogy" issue, but the writing itself is as brilliant as in the first; just story-wise nothing really happens.)

I remember reading this, it was unmistakably Go. I really loved the whole bit.

[BaghwanB]

From J.G. Ballard's first published short story Prima Belladonna (1956):

"Admittedly it isn't every day that you get a chance to play i-Go with a golden-skinned woman with insects for eyes, but never the less I was annoyed." [about her cheating].

Bruce "Crash" Young

[dankenzon]

In the Korean Drama called "Faith"or The Great Doctor, around chapter 12 the character of Prince Deokheung is introduced as a new villain and he is an very passionate Baduk player. Enjoying hours playing himself and always asking everyone around to play against him. He appears several times playing alone or even teaching.

Here's screenshot from Episode 15 where he is playing and is faced by the hero, Choi Young

[lindentree]

Go is mentioned once in Caliban's War, the second book of a recent scifi series by James S.A. Corey. The character, a UN politician, uses it as a metaphor for her machinations.

[EdLee]

He appears several times playing alone or even teaching.

I first misread that as playing online.

[Inkwolf]

A scene from the anime Special A.

Special A is a group of the seven highest-scoring students in their elite school. Here, at one of their meetings, the twins play a game of go until they are interrupted by the obnoxious student council president. The game was pretty much just incidental, though, with no plot significance.

Looks like Megumi is fond of empty triangles...

Special_a_go.png (462.77 KiB) Viewed 13654 times

[yoyoma]

Lee Da Hye, who came to the US Go Congress in Seattle, will appear on "The Genius 2", a Korean game show. I found this through a Starcraft fan site (there will be 2 famous Starcraft players on the show also).

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpos ... d=20111211

Korean source:
http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp ... id=2089599

[Nyanjilla]

I found this post:

http://davincisdemons.com/blog/2013/04/29/the-prisoner

"We also had a Go advisor on the set to help ensure that the placement of the Go stones was correct. Hoping we didn’t screw up!"

This is the first I've heard of folks finding people who know the game to advise. (In "Pi," for example, the game was laughably bad)

They must be part of the British contingent, wonder who it is...

I hadn't spotted this post before, but the "advisor" was me. Not that I was actually on the set during the filming, but I did have a session with the actors beforehand to show them how to hold the stones and suggest different ways in which their two characters would play and fiddle with the stones (the prisoner wouldn't, but Riario would). Both had already researched the game online and had a basic grasp of it--especially the point of playing on the intersections.

My husband also fudged up a game that fitted the lines in the script, from two historic games, and I supervised the placing of the stones on the spare board before each scene (and hoped desperately that stones didn't get joggled as the board was transferred on the set).

It was an interesting/frustrating experience, but a little disappointing to see so little of it ended up on screen. But I had to cheat and see it on YouTube....

[snorri]

The October 26th, 2013 issue of The Economist features a 14-page special report on the Koreas. On page 8 of that section, there is an article titled: "Demography: The 54th Parallel." It's about the plight of aging workers. It includes a photo of two elders playing baduk in a park with the subtitle "not much else to do." (The article does not mention baduk.)

[shapenaji]

xkcd is at it again this time with a chess-go crossover:

[moyoaji]

xkcd is at it again this time with a chess-go crossover:

YES!

I'm part of the Go and Chess Club at my university. We are meeting later today. Perhaps we'll have to try this puzzle out ourselves... Let's hope we don't throw some of our shogi pieces into the mix.