11.12.07
Posted in Random Accidents at 5:26 pm by Administrator
What did it take for films to be considered an art form? What about music? The first thing most of us think of when we see the word Art is a painting hung in a museum and from this starting point art has taken many shapes, forms, and meanings. Art style can simply be an asthetic form created to be pleasing to the eyes but soon this visual is given an underlying nature of meaning, this is probably where the term art truly starts to take the definition that many have struggled to grasp as they create what they consider to be art. You can sit back and watch a mindlessly entertaining action film and feel like you received a certain amount of stimulation that you were expecting from watching explosions. The alternative is watching a film that doesn’t instantly give itself away to the viewer, instead its hiding something underneath its seemingly simple narrative, and that is an idea. This idea is what seperates an art film from your average movie.
I firmly believe that one can inject artistic elements into almost anything that requires creative input. That doesn’t automatically make something art but its certainly artistic and requires such talent to implement ideas in inventive ways. Art isn’t simply what you see its also about the reaction that it causes you to experience as you view, listen, or play it. If a video game can cause you to think about what you are doing, other then simply asking you to just shoot bullets or jump platforms, if you take a moment to consider that something truly important is occuring between your character and the others in this virtual world, that indeed, in my opinion, can make a video game art.
Keep in mind I am not talking about the look of the game I am focusing on the complicated interelationships of the characters and how it relates to you as the game player. In my next two blogs I will briefly explore two games I feel match this criteria and manage to go from being simple entertainment to becoming a work of art.
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07.13.07
Posted in Random Accidents at 2:37 pm by Administrator
This years E3 conference has confirmed our worst fears. Nintendo’s Wii console is not merely providing entertainment for the millions of non-gamers in the world its completely leaving behind any support for those of us who understand how far video games have come and what they are truly capable of achieving thanks to all of the new hardware. Nintendo’s biggest announcement was Wiifit, a fitness game that comes with a board that measures your weight and allows you to use a virtual hoola hoop to shed those pounds.
Last I checked I didn’t play video games to do work. I play them to be entertained. Nowadays some video games can beat most Blockbuster films as a story telling medium. What has become possible as seen in such franchises as Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and God of War is a level of emotional realism that has never existed until now. A level of immersion beyond simple game play mechanics. You don’t just move characters across the screen you care about them and this creates a real desire to see the games events through to see how it all ends. We use to play games to get a high score now we want to know what happens to Kratos, Snake, and Master Chief.
The Wii is deciding to use its popularity to push the lowest form of entertainment. Gaming made simple. The video game equivalent of fast food. It will sell because that’s how you sell to the masses. This isn’t a PS2 you are buying this is a Wii, it will never have games like Metal Gear Solid, Psychonauts, Shadow of the Colossus, or God of War. It will have games created for your mother and your grandma. When you walk into your living room to crack a couple of hours into Super Mario Galaxy you’re going to have to wait because your mom is doing her morning work out routine on Wiifit.
Nintendo will please their fan base with the usual suspects without a single new intellectual property in sight. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda are enough to please those who never tire of playing the same old thing. Those who seek out new worlds, new characters, and immersive storylines with three dimensional characters will have to seek refuge in the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 because Nintendo is not aiming for you anymore. They want everyone but you and for the company that gave us the NES that is just sad.
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06.07.07
Posted in Random Accidents at 3:10 pm by Administrator
My favorite director photographs my favorite actress. I take this is as a good omen for the next couple of days. I remember the first time I laid eyes on the voluptous and sensual Monica Belluci. Since then my life was never the same again. I took a moment to try and capture in my mind what it is that Lynch could be doing differently in this photograph. Initially nothing really stands out from all the other glamorous photos of Monica and trust me she has done plenty in the past. None of Lynch’s classic nude poses nor any sense of dark distressful tension. Is he getting soft in his old age? Well if you’ve seen INLAND EMPIRE the answer to that question is easy: no.
Surprisingly Lynch did quite a few photographs for the latest issue of the french version of Elle Magazine. Here’s the link, check them out while I try to discover whats behind this picture of Monica Belluci.
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05.30.07
Posted in Random Accidents at 3:24 pm by Administrator
It’s the console everybody loves to hate and if there is one thing people love more than giving praise it’s showering rain storms of hate. I dear reader have taken the PS3 bullet for you so that you may decide for yourself whether or not Sony’s latest gaming behemoth is worth $600 of your hard earned dollars. So I’ll just get right down to it, is the Playstation 3 worth all that money?
I wish the answer were a simple yes or not but it really depends on what you’ve got at home and what you want from it. So lets add up all of the features the PS3 has to offer. It’s backwards compatible with your PS and PS2 games. It offers 60GB of storage space which will ensure that no matter how many Demo’s, videos, music, or games you download onto it chances are you will not likely need any more space in the future. The PS3 offers free online gaming, a tilt sensor in the controller, and a PSN store service much akin to XBOX Live where you can buy downloadable games. If you’ve recently purchased that gorgeous 40″ LCD HD TV for your living room and are seeking out any and all Hi-Definition content than Sony’s got just the thing for you. The Blu-Ray disc format will offer HD films that look ten times better than a regular DVD. You will not want to watch Spiderman 3 or 300 any other way, trust me on that.
The console has the look, the feel, and the features, but what’s missing? Well its the games really and since that’s the primary feature its hard to recommend the whole thing without at least giving you a handful of must-have games to purchase along with it. Resistance Fall of Man and Elder Scroll’s IV: Oblivion are excellent titles but hardly worth getting the PS3 just to play. As much as I love the package that Sony has put together it’s just simply not worth getting right now. After they release a few key titles such as the latest Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid titles then that price tag will easily be brushed aside for this truly enhanced gaming experience.
You’ll notice I didn’t waste time comparing it to the XBox 360 or Nintendo Wii and that’s because such comparisons are really unnecessary. Each video game system has lots to offer and I’d rather not waste my time putting one down just to promote the other. I currently own a 360 and a PS3 and will get a Wii once Nintendo makes them easily available in stores.
PS3: Wait and see but don’t count it out just yet.
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Posted in Random Accidents at 3:18 pm by Administrator
With the advanced film screening well running a tad dry I thought I’d tackle a couple of topics that have caught my eye recently.
HD Wars: The Dual Format Menace
You probably have no idea what Blu-Ray is and you probably have some idea of what HD-DVD could be. Chances are you’ve been eyeing that 40 inch wide screen LCD 1080p television at your local best buy then chances are you’ve seen an in-store ad trying to sell you on the next step in digital media. Once you take that bad boy of a television home you are going to want to watch most of your shows on the Hi-definition channels. Sure your DVD’s will look good but sooner or later you will begin to notice that HD is looking a lot better and that’s where these two formats come into play.
Basically what you have is two formats dueling it out for supremacy. In one corner you have Sony and their Blu-Ray format which comes as standard with every Playstation 3 purchased. In the other corner you have Toshiba and Universal pushing the HD-DVD format. What’s the difference between the two? If I went into all that techno babble trust me you still would end up with an answer that sort of sounds like “not much really.” So why can’t these studios just get together and release ONE HD format so we can all finally take that leap without the worry of purchasing hardware that is going to be pulled from the shelves in a year or two. I want nothing more then to watch 300, TMNT, Zodiac, and Spiderman 3 in HD goodness but pick a format to sell me and stick to it.
If they refuse to come to an agreement then they will suffer because the consumer won’t sit around waiting and they certainly will not gamble 600 dollars for a product they have zero confidence in.
Grindhouse getting a divorce?
No one can predict how any one film will perform at the box office. 300 excceded expectations and many thought Grindhouse would follow suit but unfortunately it opened at 4th place behind the ice cube family film Are We Done Yet? Rumor is that the Weinsteins are going to split up the two movies on DVD and internationally. If you didn’t get to see the flick because you were too busy painting eggs well you’ll get another chance this weekend. With the Weinsteins running scared you’ll probably never get another chance to watch these films the way you were originally meant to.
I Wii, You Wii, We all Wii for Nintendo Wii
Are you still looking for a Nintendo Wii? I cannot believe it’s April and I still cannot purchase a Wii online or find one in stores without waking up at the crack of dawn to catch an early shipment. I guess they just don’t want my easily wasted money do they?
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Posted in Random Accidents at 3:07 pm by Administrator
Okay I believe you, I know its not butter. But if its not butter then what the hell is it?
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Posted in Random Accidents at 2:57 pm by Administrator
Life lesson # 7,358
Whether you make the right or wrong choices in life, you will still be fucked. Do the right thing, and you’re fucked. Do the wrong thing, you’re still fucked. Life will find a way to screw you over one way or the other.
End Transmission
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Posted in Random Accidents at 2:56 pm by Administrator
Yesterday I had some light chips that contained the ever so popular fat substitute Olestra. As of yet their is no anal leakage. I will keep you updated as the situation continues to unfold.
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Posted in Random Accidents at 2:53 pm by Administrator
David Lynch has his own brand of organic coffee available through his website davidlynch.com
I heard that if you drink it you become an artistic genius but don’t take my word for it.
http://ecomm.davidlynch.com/catalog/coffee.php
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Posted in Random Accidents at 2:50 pm by Administrator
A0620-00 is the closest black hole to the earth. It is approximately 3500 light years away from the earth.
I’d be worried if I was you
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