In the first game of his retirement baduk (go) match with Korean AI Handol, Lee Sedol found a bug in the AI – it failed to read a net and was forced to resign. Yay, Lee Sedol! You can watch game analysis on Go Pro Yeonwoo. Lee Sedol took 2 handicap stones in the game but gave 7.5 points komi.
Curiously Lee Sedol’s winning move was move 78. It was also move 78 when Lee Sedol made his so-called “divine move” in the game in which he defeated AlphaGo. Handol is apparently stronger than AlphaGo.
Here’s Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth….
Check out Charley Crockett’s version of one of my fave country tunes. I love the instrumentation – trumpet and accordion, just right.
The latest episode of The Agency Podcast is now up. You can listen to it here or look for it on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play or TuneIn.
This week: Dark Waters, bottled water, home-based community leaders and more.
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Creating these podcasts is an adventure. Although Candy and I both come to each recording session prepared to talk about various things, unless we agree to talk about a particular movie or book or something like that, we normally don’t discuss what we have up our sleeves ahead of time. There is no outline, no cohesive plan, and inevitably our conversations stray off into areas neither of us anticipated.
Let’s start the week off with a little dose of western swing. Here’s Kelley & the Cowboys….
By the way, Kelly Breiding, who fronts this band, is also a kick-ass old time clawhammer banjo player. Here she is with Spencer Branch, performing Salt Creek…
Wishing you all a great week. Thanks for stopping by 27th Street.
Today The Agency published a special bonus mini-episode, called Just Business. After discussing Scorsese’s recent The Irishman, Candy and I decided it was time to revisit Francis Ford Coppola’s epic gangster flick, The Godfather. You can listen to it here or find us on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or TuneIn.
We’d like to thank our super-fantastic listeners! We’re closing in on 1,000 downloads. When we started, I recall thinking, I hope we get at least a few people checking out this podcast. We’re thrilled to have a regular listenership, and we love getting your emails. You can send us your feedback, thoughts and ideas by emailing: theagency.podcast@gmail.com.
Copies of the new volume of the Squeeze Box Man graphic novel are being delivered to West End Comics on Queen West, here in Toronto today.
This issue is extra-big – at 74 pages it’s packed with Lazy’s adventures, but we’re holding the line on prices.
You can also order by emailing your request to me at 27thStreetPress@gmail.com. Copies are $12 CAN + $3 shipping in Canada (for outside Canada, regular postage rates apply).
“Well, how do I know you’re really an Agent?”
“You’ll just have to accept my word on it.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Ok, I’ve got an official The Agency business card.”
“Anybody could get a card made. There could be fake Agents all over the City.”
“I’m not going to show you my de-coder ring. Forget it.”
“Please?”
“No, we’re sworn to secrecy. Civilians aren’t allowed to see our de-coder rings.”
“C’mon, you can trust me.”
“Look, just tune in to the next podcast. You’ll recognize my voice.”
“Can anybody do that?”
“Yes, for sure.”
“How will I know what you’re talking about if I don’t have a de-coder ring?”
“Just tune in, OK. You’ll know.”
The third volume of stories from the graphic novel Squeeze Box Man is in and I’m super-excited to see them. This is a huge issue, bar far our biggest – 74 pages. Jacob Yerex has once again done a fabulous job bringing my characters to life!
These comics are available through me – just email me at: 27thstreetpress@gmail.com and I’d be happy to get a copy out to you. Copies are $12 each + $3/copy to cover postage. I’ll let everyone know when we get some copies into a retail setting.
The first story in this issue is Barbara – a story about Lazy Allen’s late wife, a sculptor who made massive earthworks, carved out of the landscape. The second story, called Boneyard is all about the New Polka Kings’ first big gig and how it almost didn’t happen. The third story is called Jerzy the Rounder. Lazy shares his memories of a kid he grew up with – a kid Lazy knew was trouble from early on – who ended up leading the local union at The Bottle & Can. The final story in this set is Wildcat, all about a tragic misunderstanding that leads to a violent wildcat strike at The Bottle & Can.
Many readers may not be familiar with the name Lee Sedol, but players of the game of Go, also known as Baduk in Korea or Wei Chi in China, know him as one of the greatest players ever. Go is a game played with black and white stones on a 19X19 grid, in which both players attempt to control a greater chunk of territory.
Lee Sedol is from South Korea, born in 1983. He was a prodigy and became a professional player at age 12 – the 5th youngest Korean player to reach professional ranks. He won 18 international titles – only one player, Lee Chang-ho, won more, with 21.
In 2016, Lee Sedol was subject of many international news articles when he took on a 5-game challenge match against an AI called AlphaGo. For many years, it was thought that it would be at least another decade before anyone could develop an AI that could defeat a top pro at Go, but AlphaGo turned this idea upside down, and has since beaten all comers. Lee Sedol managed 1 win in his games against the bot, after making what has become known as a divine move. Analysis has demonstrated there is a winning response to this move, but AlphaGo failed to find it and was forced to resign a few moves later.
Besides the AlphaGo series, Lee Sedol will also be known in the Go world for what has become known as the “Lee Sedol Broken Ladder Game”. A ladder is one of the two ways of capturing stones in Go. A broken ladder is normally a disastrous blunder. However, in this case, forcing the failed ladder led to the capture of a different group in a corner, leading to a win by resignation. What’s going on in the game may not be obvious to non-players, but here is a diagram of the game, which Lee Sedol played against Hong Chang-Sik in 2003. Those interested in some analysis of this game can find love with a simple search on YouTube.
Next week, Lee Sedol will be playing a final match, against a Korean-developed AI, known as Handol, then retiring from professional play. From the reports I’ve seen, he hasn’t announced what he will be doing after the match in lieu of playing Go.
27th Street 