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Thursday, December 29th, 2005
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11:56 am
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Did anyone catch the ongoing series in Roger Ebert's letters column, regarding the concept of video games as art? Much as I like a lot of Ebert's work, he was hideously off on this one, essentially declaring that an entertainment designed to be interactive cannot, in effect, be a work of art.
The letters bantered back and forth for a few weeks, but commentators on both sides essentially missed seeing the forest for the trees. To wit, there were two basic problems with Ebert's basic assertion:
1. Most people would agree (though not all, I'll give him that) that art is defined by the artist. If I stick a fork into a lump of cheese, it's not art. If I stick a fork into a lump of cheese as a deliberate artistic act, and explain the underlying symbolism behind the act and what it means to me, it is art.
It may not be GOOD art, but that's the point: spending time debating the qualities and worthiness of a given piece of art is much, much more rewarding than debating whether a piece is art at all.
2. All art is interactive. Even a still-life (heh) hanging on a museum wall is interactive, in that it requires the viewer to actively engage her senses and her brain. The only way to make a piece of art non-interactive is to lock it in a closet and not let anyone see it.
Further, the best art encourages interaction -- not just with the art itself, but with other people. It makes you want to talk about it, to share what you got out of it, and find out what others felt as well. Is that not the essence of interactivity?
Once you accept that premise, is it really a huge leap to accept direct interaction with the art -- pressing buttons and moving a joystick, for example -- as part of the process itself? Allowing the audience to collaborate with the artist can be a wonderful thing.
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| Thursday, April 28th, 2005
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2:38 pm
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On a lighter note, now that it's out, is anyone going to be checking out Guild Wars? Online RPG described as a cross between Diablo II and Magic: the Gathering, no monthly fees, could be quite cool.
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| Wednesday, April 27th, 2005
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9:43 am
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My Moment of Confusion for the day: heading out to my car at dawn, in my very urban neighborhood, and hearing a rooster crowing. Took me a second to remember that we live in a neighborhood with a lot of Santeros. :)
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| Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
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8:04 am
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I was walking to the office this morning from the train station, and glanced into the lobby of one of the bigger office buildings to see an odd sight: upon a circular pedestal of curving bars, a nearly ten-foot-high stack of debris. The sort of junk you'd get in the aftermath of a remodeling project, such as rebar, chunks of concrete, insulation and the like, all neatly stacked and soaring.
Either they were remodeling in the building, and picked an odd way and place of putting the scraps aside during construction, or it was a piece of modern art.
And honestly, I couldn't tell which. I'm not sure if this says more about my aesthetic skills, or the state of modern art.
(For that matter, while I've often pondered the question, "Is it art, or is it trash?", I've never had to be quite so literal about it before!)
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| Monday, April 18th, 2005
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8:17 am
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I watched "Cube Zero" this weekend which -- with the exception of a horrendously depressing ending -- is easily the best of the "Cube" trilogy. We get some more background on the world in which the films are set (and some cool Cyberpunk technology to boot, along with an office that looks like something out of Franz Kafka's nightmares), and a few sequences (namely the "exit process" scene, for those who've seen it) that really drive home the purile, pointless insanity of the Cube's very existance.
The real horror? Going from that, to turning on CNN and listening to Tom DeLay's latest rant, and realizing that there are real live people in our government who would probably think the Cube is a great idea...
(Oh, and there are some nice ties to the first Cube, including the aforementioned "exit process" scene which makes it clear what really happened at the end of that film, when the survivors walked into the light... I either wanted to shake the writer's hand or slug him for that bit, not sure which. )
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| Tuesday, April 12th, 2005
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10:20 am
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Okay, so you know that meme that's going around, the, er... If there's someone on your friends list who you'd like to, um... Yeah, and then... Yeah. And then five minutes later -- uh huh. That one.
When you see that pop up on the LJ of someone you're friended to, do you pause for just a moment and say, "Huh... What are the odds that they're talking about me?" Or is that just me?
(Yeah, I know, it's not me, but one still has to wonder.)
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| Wednesday, April 6th, 2005
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5:31 am
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Busy season is over and that makes me a happy man. Now I can, like, breathe and stuff. That and get caught up on the backlog of new House projects I want/need to get underway (some cool ideas in the pipeline for coming months).
Took a little time to chill out last night, after sending out a batch of email, and found myself slapping my head at the general mindset of many MMORPG players. More below the cut.
( Read more... )
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
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6:46 am
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| Friday, March 25th, 2005
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11:07 am
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Haven't updated much due both to moving and to shiny-happy-busy-season, featuring lots of ten-hour days and frustrated screaming. It's weeks like this that make you really appreciate Friday... Outta curiousity, now that it's been released, is anyone going to be trying Matrix Online? I'm feeling extremely tempted.
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| Friday, March 18th, 2005
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8:00 am
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Boggling at a commercial I just saw... A woman and her teenage daughter sitting at a table, and the mom asks, "So where is your father picking you up after school?"
"Tennis practice."
"And Thursday?"
"Ballet."
"And Friday?"
"Voice lessons."
"And what are you doing Saturday?"
"Going to the mall."
"No, you're going to the movies. With your mom and dad."
Voiceover: "Get your kids involved in positive activities, and keep marijuana out of their hands."
You know, as a kid I spent most of my evenings/weekends on my own, hanging out with friends and being generally unstructured, and somehow managed to avoid becoming a drug fiend. Honest I did.
MMORPG ranting below the cut.
( Read more... )
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| Sunday, March 13th, 2005
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8:47 am
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The big move was a success. Surrounded by many, many boxes needing unpacking. Back online. Back to work. Very, very, OMFGBBQamIexhausted. Must go back to the apartment today to clean everything up and hand over the keys. Then I come back and unpack more boxes. Much love to (in no particular order) Hemet, Niankh, Benni, Biayt, Robb, Resut, Sedjemes, Dad and the brother-units for all their hard work and help. No love to U-Haul, who made us drive a freakin' hour to a totally different depot to drop off the truck for no particular reason that the clerk could comprehensibly explain. Need sleep, and a new knee because I think my right one is busted and the warranty's expired. La.
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| Thursday, March 3rd, 2005
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7:32 am
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I swear they're doing it on purpose. Every time there's a major episode of Lost, one that kicks the overarcing plot into high gear, it's a given that next week will be a rerun. :P
Last night did not disappoint -- creepy as hell, when you think about the implications of what might be going on here. If the castaways were brought to the island on purpose, then whoever's running the show...
1. Arranged for the two men at the navy listening-post sixteen years ago to catch the Numbers transmission at just the right time, allowing one of them to make the mistake of using the Numbers shortly thereafter, which led to...
2. Sam the Australian swallowing a shotgun and his navy buddy ending up in an insane asylum, the exact one that Hurley would land in, ensuring that Hurley would get the Numbers, which led to...
3. Hurley using the Numbers himself, winning the lottery, then tracing the trail all the way back to Sam's widow in Australia, at the perfect time to...
4. Board flight 815, the influence of the Numbers insuring that he and the other castaways would end up on the island.
The series of events that had to work out just perfectly, and at just the right time, is mind-boggling. How do you fight a force that can plan that far ahead, and work out every possible contingency?
(Speaking of numbers, 8 and 15 are part of the sequence. Which is yet another occurence of the "815" motif. Flight 815, Kate's lockbox 815, Charlie demonstrating copier model 815... Of course, 4 and 16 are repeating themes as well: the numerology on this show is evidently more important, and a bigger part of the actual story, than it first appeared to be.)
The casual mention that Hurley is the majority owner of the box company that Locke worked for was interesting. (Hm. And I just noticed the reoccurring "box" theme as well. Like Twin Peaks, this is the kind of show that benefits from chewing-over the next day. :) )
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| Wednesday, March 2nd, 2005
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1:17 pm
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So this morning I'm listening to the radio, and this morning talk show has on a dream analyst (typical morning-drive fluff stuff, you know what I mean), and while introducing her the host actually says, totally straight: "...And you're Native American, so you've always had that element of spirituality in your life."
Cripes, folks. Just because something is a positive racial stereotype, doesn't mean it's any less of a racial stereotype.
(Though I did have a momentary gigglefit picturing myself being interviewed on that show. "So, Antybast, you're German-Irish, so you've always been an efficient drunk...")
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| Monday, February 28th, 2005
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7:46 am
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| Friday, February 25th, 2005
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7:35 am
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I am convinced that the writers of Lost must be channeling the spirit of Joss Whedon. Sheesh, what a gut-punch that last episode was: the final confrontation between Sun and Jin, the flashback, the music, everything building up to the emotional reconciliation that the characters and the audience not only want but need, and then... "It's too late."
I can't be the only person who shouted at my television set at that moment. :)
(Some Korean translation spoilers below the cut. Don't read on if you don't want to know a couple of things they "hid" in this episode.)
( Read more... )
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| Thursday, February 24th, 2005
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8:11 am
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From the Department of Ill-Considered Church Signs Seen while Driving:
"Do unto others, as Jesus did for you."
What, die?! Dude, I'm generous, but I'm not that generous.
We went to see Constantine this weekend, and while it was a pretty miserable adaptation of Hellblazer, and there's a list of actors as long as my arm who would have been a better choice for the lead than Keanu "whoa" Reeves, I can safely say that it was an entertaining ride. I just want to know why Hollywood feels the need to take an established property and immediately make a boatload of useless changes to it; it happens with adaptation after adaptation, and never makes a lick of sense.
(The worst offender in that category would have to be John Carpenter, who went to the trouble of licensing John Steakley's novel "Vampire$" and proceeded to use... one early scene from the book, and the name of one character -- making up everything else, including the plot, out of whole cloth.)
But Constantine, such as it is, was fun. It did feature Tilda Swinton, who is astoundingly beautiful, and some very nice set design.
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| Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005
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9:05 am
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Yesterday was hard. Today is better. I took some time to reflect on what I learned from Hunter's writings, and the gifts he gave to me. Some of them were things that, I realize now, I'd forgotten long ago; sad that it took his death to jolt me into remembrance, but I'm not going to forget a second time. My regret is that I never had the chance to meet him and tell him in person.
1. Live a life worth writing about.
2. Adventure isn't where you find it -- it's where you make it. Even a boring road trip can become an adventure. You don't even need a trunkful of illicit narcotics; it is, however, strongly recommended that you bring your attorney.
3. If eloquence is better than profanity, eloquent profanity must be the best of both worlds.
4. Few obstacles can't be overcome with the right combination of daring, wits, and a good sense of humor. If you can laugh at it, you can beat it.
5. On that note: my enemies are ridiculous.
6. The world is filled with screeching harpies and scum-sucking lizards in human skin. The world is also filled with honest-hearted people, genuine wonders, and acts of gentle decency in the midst of the foulest corruption. Don't let the presence of one side blind you to the other.
7. The truth is important.
8. And finally, in the man's own words, a maxim to remember: When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Thank you, Uncle Duke. I hope that you're tossing back a rum and coke on the Sun Barque with Set right now, and having the time of your life.
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| Monday, February 21st, 2005
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5:46 am
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Hunter S. Thompson killed himself last night.
There's some news I never thought I'd wake up to. Or wanted to.
Sad day. Not much more to write right now.
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| Tuesday, February 15th, 2005
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7:26 am
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The Donnie Darko director's cut finally comes out on DVD this week, and I'm looking forward to checking it out; not sure whether the director's cut or the original is going to end up in my permanent collection, though. By all accounts, the new version goes a long way -- perhaps too far -- in spelling out the storyline and clarifying unanswered questions. (For one thing, excerpts from Roberta Sparrow's manifesto on time travel -- previously only available by reading the official website or checking out the original DVD extras -- are now woven into the movie via voiceover at appropriate moments.)
If you haven't seen it, do take a look: it's a criminally underrated film and one of the best science-fiction movies I've ever seen. (For that matter, it shows that sci-fi can have a decidedly spiritual bent.)
I'm more leery when it comes to Constantine, hitting theatres this Friday. They've taken my all-time favorite comic character and turned him into an American private eye played by Keanu Reeves, along with a love interest who presumably doesn't end up dead or damned by the end of the first reel (and let's not even start on how they turned Chas into his teenage sidekick...) On the other hand, advance reviews have been pretty positive, and it sounds like they made at least a mimimal effort to keep the core of Constantine's character intact.
I'll be there this weekend, and doing my best to keep an open mind. I'm hoping for, worst case scenario, a Starship Troopers situation. As an adaption of Heinlein's novel, Starship Troopers was a miserable failure in every respect -- but as a stand-alone film, it was a popcorn-munching good time. When it comes to Hollywood, sometimes that's the best you can hope for.
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| Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
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8:35 am
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I'm not going to talk about last night's State of the Union address, because the mere thought of it is making me want to hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.
I will, instead, say that I've discovered something interesting whilst getting some writing done, currently finishing up the melee combat rules for my RPG. "Grapple" is a funny word. It's one of those words where, if you say it or type it enough times, it ceases to look like a real word any longer.
Grapple!
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