- Culture

Celebrate good times...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:57:14 +0000

Beaverton, Oregon will celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Mexico's Independence. Here is an interview by radio host Lars Larson with City Event Coordinator Erin Hickey. This interview is exasperating, but entertaining. No, Beaverton does not have a July 4th celebration. They also celebrate St. Patrick's Day (?) with a "Pooches on the Green" event (???).

Finally, a fitting review...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:25:36 +0000

UPDATED:

A few more HP series links and debates. I'm not necessarily agreeing with all of the content of all of these links, but all of them have interesting things to say.

R.U.I.N.S. Can't Stand Deathly Hallows thread. An ongoing forum discussion of Deathly Hallows and the other books from several angles. Small but thorough. The link takes you to the 7th topic, you can move back and forth from there.

Daniel Hemmens at Ferretbrain comments on Chapters 1 - 12 of Deathly Hallows. I don't agree with everything Hemmens says, but it's humorous.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Red Hen Publications essays on the Potterverse. Mostly very long treatises on what was left OUT of the books. Conjecture and implication, not fanfic. Hard site to navigate, check out the sidebar.

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I have been searching, ever since the last book came out, for other Harry Potter fans who disliked Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I've read the book through a few times, and it gets worse every time. It's garbage. This is not the kind of thing you say on even the most neutral HP fan site. You will get death threats. But surely I could not be the only HP fan on the planet who didn't like the final book and didn't think it was even written very well?

Finally, I found via the Confused Matthew forum a link to a Youtube review of Book 7. These guys pretty much nail my thoughts on Deathly Hallows, except for the section on scenes Rowling left out that they would have liked to see. I don't care about that, whether I agree or not. There's also a section in the second video with one of the reviewers upset that his fanshipping didn't turn out the way he wanted. But the rest of it is right on.

Pavlov's "Racist" code word...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:42:57 +0000

Via Brickmuppet: The Herding, by Baldilocks. Anchor link is messed up and will deposit you in the middle of the article. Don't miss the link to part two at the bottom of the article. Excellent essay for all of us racist white folks.

Retelling the classics: Shinji and Warhammer 40K...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:11:36 +0000

I mentioned a few posts back that I was reading a fanfic titled "Shinji and Warhammer 40K." This novel-length offering by Charles Bhepin takes the story of Neon Genesis Evangelion and tweaks one "minor" detail in Shinji Ikari's past. Bhepin's purpose appears to be to present the NGE story with a different Shinji, one who is truly a hero and mankind's savior rather than, well, what you get in the story.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

As presented in the anime, Shinji Ikari was abandoned at a very young age by his father Gendo to an unnamed aunt and uncle after the "death" of Shinji's mother Yui Ikari. This leaves the boy with massive emotional and psychological damage. When the anime starts, Shinji, now eleven, is effectively a hollow shell. He feels unloved, unwanted, useless, and has practically no sense of self at all. From this point, the anime tells the story of man fighting desperately for it's own existence against invading space monsters called angels. In the end, after all of the backstory; the betrayals and secret plots, have been revealed, the future of the human race (maybe) is left in Shinji Ikari's hands (maybe) and he has to fall back on everything that happened to him during the course of the series to make some enormously crucial decisions (maybe). All of the "maybe's" are because the ending of the series (supplemented by rewrites and two movies, and a current retelling via movies) is an ambiguous mess. What I summed up above is one possible (and simple) interpretation of the ending. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

NGE is one of the more important and influential anime series ever produced. It's not necessarily the best liked; in fact Evangelion would make the top ten hate list of many anime fans. Lauding the merits of Evangelion (as well as taking the opposite tack) is one of the biggest hot-button issues in anime fandom. I personally love the show, while acknowledging that the story is full of holes, the production is a mess, and it's possible that you may wish to commit suicide after a viewing. The bottom line for me is that I can see greatness peaking out from behind many corners in NGE, and I can really glom on to the massive epic taking place behind what is actually shown

One of NGE's biggist faults, it's gaping plot holes, is also it's greatest asset. So much of the series is left unexplained, or is explained by characters who are shown repeatedly to have imperfect information or an agenda that prompts them to lie about the backstory; that the viewers can easily, if they wish, provide the details themselves. It is entirely possible to change almost anything in the given story without actually screwing with established canon. In fact, this appears to be the deus ex machina Charles Bhepin uses to re-tell the first half of the series. You could watch large portions of the series as reference material to Bhepin's work; the changes he has implemented all occur behind the scenes or at the level of subtext. This part of "Shinji and Warhammer 40K" I quite enjoy. In the second part Bhepin strikes off on his own on a quest to provide an entirely different ending to the series, and this part doesn't do very well. Instead of working within the boundaries established in the first part, the author intentionally devolves his epic into a pun-a-minute commentary on anime and fan-fiction tropes. As I said, Bhepin does this intentionally (according to his notes); unfortunately I feel he lost something great when he moved the series in that direction.

However, the first half of "Shinji and Warhammer 40K" provides not only a funny but fascinating "what if"; it actually tells the NGE story in a much more appealing way. All of this, initially, is accomplished simply by providing a Shinji Ikari who is not *the Shinji*.

I didn't really include many spoilers, I guess. Bhepin's work is incomplete, but he has apparently spent the last few years editing the earlier parts of the story. I do in fact want to know how he ends the series, as the current stopping point feels very much like the end of the second act in a three part epic. I definitely recommend a reading, especially if you want to dig a little deeper into the original story or if you would just like to see Shinji Ikari as a true, intentional hero.

Spartan Prep...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:19:22 +0000

Forgot to link this earlier, via Kaedrin: God of War, the movie. Sort of. Not exactly what you had in mind.

Late to the party: GTA San Andreas Finished

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:20:19 +0000

I've been sitting on writing a summary of my experience playing San Andreas for a couple of days, mainly in the hopes that I could come up with something really significant to write. But I got nothing, really. So here goes.

One of the few real debates amongst the Grand Theft Auto faithful is whether Vice City or San Andreas is the best game Rockstar has made. Having played both now, I've really been going back and forth on the question myself. The bottom line, I think, is that I would have liked a lot of the game mechanics, the somewhat refined graphics, and the HUGE size of the gameworld in San Andreas to have been available in Vice City. I would have liked San Andreas to have been as fun and irreverent as Vice City was. San Andreas is clearly, technically the better game, but I had a lot more fun playing Vice City.

Ultimately my enjoyment, or lack thereof, is rooted in the story and characterization. And it should be fairly noted that GTA III, Vice City, and the two Stories games don't really have much of either. GTA III features the silent protagonist Claude Speed obediently following a chain of missions that are linked by arbitrary but not necessarily nonsensical plot points. Vice City added a ton of characterization to the main character, Tommy Vercetti, and his many minions and compatriots; but the missions that form the story didn't always fit together as nicely as they seemed to in GTA III. The two Stories games cut back a bit on the story and characterization, to the point where the games were even more just a list of activities to be checked off.

San Andreas tries very hard to bring a good story into the game and fit everything together into a cohesive whole, but after the first third of the game the plot just seems to get stretched too thinly. The final act seemed especially silly to me. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know. I'm the right age, but I am neither of the proper geographical or racial demographic to truly identify with 1992 Los Angeles (as presented in the game). Of course I don't have the proper background to identify with a New York Italian mafioso taking over the underworld of 1986 Miami, but I didn't really get the feeling I was supposed to. Rockstar seemed to try very hard to get the player to identify with Carl Johnson and internalize the story of San Andreas, and it worked for a little while. I was really into the game through the first major story arc, but everything just seemed to collapse after that. Although I really liked Wu Zi. I would play the game again at least through the Wu Zi missions in San Fierro. But after that the game just doesn't seem to have much to offer.

The single biggest problem, though is that San Andreas isn't nearly as over-the-top as Vice City and GTA III. There's still a lot of comedy, and one of the real joys of the game is hearing the dialogue that occurs during missions, mainly when driving. Generally, though; the game is much more serious in tone and style. This appears to have been Rockstar's intention; from what I've heard San Andreas is a laugh-a-minute madcap adventure compared to GTA IV.

Which is why I am now trying Saints Row 2. Getting scored for how well I fling myself into oncoming traffic sounds like just the thing.

Late to the party: GTA San Andreas

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:56:23 +0000

I posted a couple of years ago that I didn't even start playing the GTA III games until, well a couple of years ago. I've finished III, Vice City and Liberty City Stories. I tried Vice City Stories and didn't like it very much, and I tried San Andreas right after I finished Vice City. I didn't really like San Andreas much either, but I put that down at the time to being so much larger and a bit more realistic.

Thanks to one of the many Steam sales, I picked of San Andreas for PC and decided to try it again. After spending a day and a half trying to come up with a decent control scheme (I ended up using my PS3 controller), I'm now several hours into the game and can give a few thoughts. I'm trying to play the game a bit more naturally than I did GTA III, Vice City or Liberty City Stories. I haven't gone out of my way to do collection games or mini-games until they're introduced in the story or I stumble on them. Of course, I still looked up the Graffiti Tag locations online, and even then I missed one (ONE! out of one hundred) and had to cross check with another guide to find the exact one I missed. I found the burglary mini-game by accident (got in the truck) which was really handy; finishing the burglary game is one way to get unlimited stamina. I have tried but not completed the standard Paramedic, Vigilante and Firefighter games. The Firefighter game in particular seems to be much harder in this iteration.

I visited the gym after it was brought up in the story and got my muscles maxed out. Either something has bugged, I completed some unknown achievement, or I've just managed to keep things really balanced lately because sometime in the last few missions I stopped periodically losing muscle tone (normally, it seems to lose it slowly and have to keep working out to keep it up, which makes sense).

Here's our protagonist, Carl Johnson; or C.J. to his friends and tormentors:

Here's how he looks when he wants to show off:

The last mission I did brought in one of the things the GTA games have always done that really bug me: Changing the rules for a specific mission. After rescuing someone from a shootout, you have to get them home safely. Right as you take off, a rival gang shows up in a couple of cars. They don't shoot, they just try to ram you. You can't shoot them, they're bulletproof. Your car is somehow limited to about 40 mph, so the rival gang can easily slam into you over and over, spinning you around and eventually doing enough damage to cause your car to catch on fire. BS like that drives me nuts. It would be a hard enough mission with two normal cars full of gun-toting, vengeance-seeking rivals to dog you all the way home; the handicapping is a bit silly to me.

The only other thing that really bugs me in this game is that there's no reason in the world to keep a car for personal use. Every time I take my favorite daily driver out to do a mission, it will disappear after the mission starts or after it ends. Additionally, if you leave your car for an extended period of time, it will almost always disappear. At first I thought they were just being stolen a lot, but after I while I confirmed that the car would be there one minute, then I could literally turn my back on the car then turn around again and it would be gone.

One neat addition to the game is bicycles. They're a bit weird, in that if you're in good shape you can outrun almost anything, plus you can go just about anywhere. Of course, you're completely unprotected and everything else on or around the road can knock you off and send you flying...which is bad when your doing 80 mph in downtown LA on your Huffy.

Generally, the controls are better than the last GTA game I played; the story as well. There hasn't been a cut scene yet that felt out of place, and the only really silly mission arc so far has been C.J.'s attempts to help a friend (who was a prison bitch, apparently) become a rapper. Or hip hop artist; or something. This missions include dancing well enough to get invited into the D.J.'s van (so you can steal her equipment); and stealing famous rapper "Madd Dogg"'s Rhyme Book, because your friend can't rhyme or write worth anything.

There is the general silliness of C.J., the budding crime lord, rescuing a girl from a fire he started (this is after slitting the throats of "Madd Dogg"'s guards in order to facilitate the theft of his rhymes for a former prison bitch (apparently) who can't rap worth spit.) Oh, and after winning the pimping mini-game, stealing guns, and killing crack dealers for dealing crack while killing rival crack dealers so your buddies and make a buck.

On the plus side, C.J. bet all his money on the long shot at the horse races to win twice in a row and made 1.4 million dollars.

You'd think he would smile more.

Yes, Japan, we GET IT already...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:42:56 +0000

350 episodes into the Naruto series. I've actually really enjoyed it, as I mentioned previously. After some early problems, the second series has been even better than the first. Shippuden gets into a lot of the history and politics of the setting. The viewer is also finally starting to find out exactly what's going on. I tweeted earlier today that one of the key points is that the country behind all of the funny business is apparently Belgium. I mean that in jest; however, as Dave Barry once said, Belgium is "...the screen door of Europe..." constantly being slammed as surrounding countries go to war with each other.

Of course, Naruto is about Japan, too...and only a few episodes later we get to see one of Japan's favorite plot points. It just seems a bit out of place in a show about ninjas, however magical they happen to be. To wit:

Jutsu = Ninja Technique, more or less. What's the ultimate forbidden Ninja Technique? I'm sure anime fans can guess:

Japan has a...unique...relationship with the atomic bomb, and the concept shows up in Japanese culture quite a bit. But, as Little Kuriboh said, "This is a show about Ninjas! Apparently!"

The most awesome music video of 1776...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:45:46 +0000

Hat tip to The Unwanted Blog

More fun with Google...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:12:32 +0000

From Sankaku Complex (site is NSFW, link is ok):

You know how when you start typing in a search term in Google, the search engine will pop up suggestions? Generally along the line of, for example:

I type "hobbit" Google will suggest such phrases as "hobbit house", "hobbit name generator", "hobbit travel" and so on. If I type in "how can I" I get suggestions such as "how can I keep from singing lyrics", "how can I lose 10 pounds in a week", "how can I tell if i am pregnant" and such like.

If I type in "Christianity is" Google suggests some fairly insulting search phrases, although to be fair most of those suggestions are repeated for Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and so on.

But not for Islam. If you type in "Islam is"...you will get nothing.

Apparently Google has been made aware of the problem, and they deny any type of "favoritism". The suggestion feature has a bug that for some reason the Google programmers can not discover, won't make suggestions on the phrase "Islam is". Weird, but possible. In fact, If you search on "Islam" plus any other preposition, you get suggestions. You even get some negative suggestions...but not many. E.g. search for "Islam should" will prompt you with "Islam should be banned."

If there is any story here, I think it's much more telling that suggestions for all other major and minor religions include predominantly negative phrases, while Islam includes mostly positive statements.

The Rise and Fall of the History of Star Wars...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:00:06 +0000

Just finished reading The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski. Fairly well-written and exhaustively researched, the book does a good job of addressing a few issues relating to the history of the writing of the Star Wars Saga; or as George Lucas now calls it, The Tragedy of Darth Vader.

The intent of the book is to address the claims by George Lucas that he had both trilogies written out before-hand in some form or another, and that what transpires in the films is pretty much what he intended from the very beginning. While most long-time fans can (and have) stood up to refute these mostly ridiculous claims, Kaminski's book collects, for the first time, all available info addressing the argument. Most specifically, Kaminski targets the specific claim that Darth Vader was always written as Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke and Leia. Second to that issue, the book also directly addresses the claim that Leia was always written as Luke's twin sister. The final, compelling conclusion is that until Lucas took on the re-writes of the script for The Empire Strikes Back (following Leigh Brackett's death from cancer), Vader was always written and thought of as a separate character from "Father Skywalker." Likewise, the reveal of Leia as Luke's sister was used to close a thread tossed out in Empire that was added when Lucas was still planning a sequel trilogy as well as a prequel trilogy.

Beyond including references to actual rough drafts, scripts and notes, Kaminski quotes Lucas himself on dozens of occasions contradicting his current claims. Thankfully, the author also includes a ton of insight into George Lucas himself, and does an admirable job of answering, if indirectly, the third-most famous question regarding the origins of the Star Wars tales: What happened?

What most people mean by that question is, "What happened to George between Empire and Jedi? What happened in the interval between Jedi and Menace? Why is the new trilogy so bad?

First, a couple of house-cleaning issues. I present the following as, hopefully, objective statements that all fans can at least attempt to agree with:

1) Star Wars was intended as a light action-adventure in space.

2) It's phenomenal success was derived partly from how new and different the movie was from recent theater fare.

3) There was no way Empire and Jedi could have lived up to fan expectations.

4) Like many sequels, these two movies appeal more strongly to Star Wars fans than casual viewers.

5) The prequel trilogy probably could not have lived up to fan expectations under any circumstances.

6) The prequel trilogy was very successful financially. Critically it was reviewed similarly to the original trilogy at the time.

With that out of the way, the rest of my comments will primarily be addressed to those fans of the original trilogy who feel as if Lucas has given them a wedgie.

The first bit of fundamental knowledge that one needs to know is that George Lucas, by his own admission, is a poor writer. In addition, he doesn't really care about characters and dialogue; he feels they are largely unimportant to the stories he is telling. Or at least less important. Most readers are probably saying, "No duh!" right about now, but these things are important to remember.

Something that may make a lot of long-time fans feel a bit better is that George Lucas really is the foundation of the Star Wars story. No, he didn't write the whole thing back in 1973 and then just film it, but he did write all of it; the good and the bad. I think he does deserve a lot of credit for his story-creating ability, if not his story-telling ability.

One of the most important things to know about the writing of the Star Wars movies is how much of the final product of each Lucas wrote himself. For Star Wars, Lucas wrote each draft, but each copy was extensively reviewed and criticized by Lucas' circle of friends at the time, including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, and others. George's wife Marcia also provided significant input on characterization and dialogue, and before shooting George had his friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck specifically work over the dialogue in the shooting script. The final script was therefore the product of a collaborative effort involving some of the best filmmakers of the era.

The writing of Star Wars 2 is quite notorious and interesting. While Star Wars was still being made, after he had negotiated rights involving potential sequels with Twentieth Century Fox, Lucas met with noted author of fantasy and sci-fi Alan Dean Foster to write two sequels. Fox was willing to commit to two low-budget sequels for Star Wars, and Lucas wanted the novels ready to go. Lucas and Foster worked out the story for the first sequel, which was eventually published as Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The book was well-received, but discarded as the basis for a sequel when Star Wars broke box-office records.

As best as can be verified, Lucas began writing what would become The Empire Strikes Back with Leigh Brackett during a story conference. Lucas wasn't satisfied with her rough draft, but learned of her death when he tried to contact her to discuss revisions. Lucas decided to undertake the writing of the subsequent draft himself; it was at this point that he (as he himself said at the time) hit on the idea of combining Luke's father with Darth Vader. Following the completion of the first draft, Lucas, producer Gary Kurtz, screenwriter Lawrence Kasden and director Irvin Kershner collaborated on subsequent drafts all the way to the shooting script. The actual shoot of Empire is legendary among Star Wars fans: Kershner slowly and methodically created a slower, deeper, more character driven movie than Lucas had in mind. Gary Kurtz is seen by some as enabling this creation by running interference between Lucas and Kershner, almost always siding with director Kershner over executive producer Lucas. The result is one of the few motion picture sequels frequently cited as better than it's progenitor; a movie that, like Star Trek's The Wrath of Kahn, is even considered one of the best sci-fi movies ever created. Even today, Lucas claims Empire is his least favorite Star Wars film, and has commented to many over the years that the Star Wars sequel was "better than it needed to be"; it would have made just as much money with less effort and a smaller budget (budgeted for $15 million, Kurtz and Kershner eventually spent $33 million...all of which was borrowed personally by Lucas. You can understand his consternation, if not his story telling vision.) In fact, Lucas hated the final product so much that he frantically tried to re-edit the movie into a faster-paced, less-talky film. In the end, Kurtz talked him down and persuaded Lucas to let Kershner to another cut. The rest is history. Kurtz and Lucas parted ways, Empire eventually became the most beloved of the original trilogy (not initially, though) and George Lucas apparently still dislikes this movie. On a side note, contrary to popular belief, Irvin Kershner was actually invited back for Jedi...most likely before Lucas saw the finished movie. Kershner turned the offer down, though.

After the blowout success of Star Wars, Lucas had conceptualized doing either twelve episodes of serialized Star Wars as a New Wave project for directors; or more commonly a nine movie series consisting of the current trilogy (which did not yet have an ending), a prequel trilogy based on young Obi-wan Kenobi, and a sequel trilogy that would conclude the Rebellion versus Empire story. A line was even added to Empire to possibly point to the sequel trilogy. Following his ordeal with Empire, Lucas resolved to finish the current trilogy, then quit. He also resolved to work with a producer and director who would follow his wishes. Again, Lucas wrote the rough draft then collaborated with producer Howard Kazanjian, director Richard Marquand and Lawrence Kasdan for the Jedi scripts. An interesting observation is that while Empire's shooting script was changed during filming by director Irvin Kershner; the last notes and edits of Jedi's script were made by Lucas. Although the rough draft was written after Lucas had decided to end the series, during the writing process Lucas and the others found many storylines that needed to be closed, mostly because of the changes made in Empire. After reading the rough drafts, my advice to Star Wars fans is to be thankful for what you got in Return of the Jedi...the original plans were much, much worse. Kasdan seems to be most directly responsible for the final story, although as usual Lucas provided many of the more loved and loathed details.

When Lucas decided to make the prequel trilogy following the Star Wars renaissance of the early-nineties, he made two important decisions: he would direct the movies himself and he would write the movies himself. Of the original movies, Lucas directed the first only; and all of the screenplays were collaborative. Although Lucas would plan to have another screenwriter do a "polish" of his final drafts, he eventually only does this for the second movie. Ironically, Lucas' rough, revised rough and first drafts are, more or less, the story that many Star Wars fans had been expecting. However, the second draft would introduce the film as it was eventually filmed. The first draft is very similar to the filmed plot, actually...just replace Qui-gon Jin with Obi-wan; Obi-wan with nothing; characterize Obi-wan somewhere between the final Qui-gon and Obi-wan; elevate Anakin's age a few years; don't include midichlorians...see where I'm going here? Qui-gon does appear in this draft as Jedi Knight Kenobi's friend and mentor (not master) who accompanies the return trip to Naboo. He is killed by Darth Maul as usual, which is one of the two reasons Lucas went back and added him to the rest of the movie: to build some sympathy for the character. Unfortunately, Obi-wan is clumsily pushed aside by this addition, leaving no screentime for he and Anakin to bond. The midichlorians are added because Lucas felt that the Jedi Council would not agree to allow Anakin to be trained based on the recommendations of Qui-gon and Obi-wan; they needed a more compelling reason. However, I felt the rough-draft version of this scene played perfectly with the council washing their hands of the boy, Yoda specifically recommending against training, but leaving the final decision up to Obi-wan.

Lucas handed off his first draft for Episode 2 to Jonathan Hales, who would create the second, third and fourth drafts. Lucas would edit the fourth draft, and then change and add several scenes during and after filming. While the editing and SFX of the second movie does make it fun to watch (some of it, anyway); I think the dialogue and story speak for themselves.

Lucas completed the first draft of Sith after pre-production for the movie was complete. Lucas would complete several more drafts before filming, but would significantly alter the script several times during filming. After the film was completed, Lucas re-wrote the script, filmed additional scenes, re-looped several audio tracks, and re-edited the film into something almost completely different. I would love to see what it looked like before. The pivotal change was Lucas' decision to soften Anakin's fall in order to make him more likable and tragic.

What's pretty clear is that, especially with the prequels, what you see on screen is what Lucas wanted you to see. His dialogue is almost universally terrible, and without any form of peer review or collaboration he tends to override his own best ideas. His visual sense is quite keen, and he is a good editor, but Lucas just doesn't have the story-telling ability that he thinks he does. Or that a lot of fans thought he did. In making the prequels, Lucas became more and more focused on the visuals above all else. The flow from movie to movie was hampered by story decisions he made in the first movie not being compatible with the original trilogy. The post-production rewrite of the third movie made Attack of the Clones even more nonsensical than it already was.

*********

It should be noted that people frequently complain about George Lucas "juvenilizing" Jedi and the prequels, but I personally don't see any compelling evidence. Lucas has been consistent in stating that the movies were targeted at kids, and beyond the Ewoks and Jar-jar, there's a lot of violence and adult content in the new movies. I won't spend time defending either, I'm just saying that nothing I've read so far indicates that anything in particular was added to the movies that Lucas was most responsible for because that addition would appeal to kids or sell more toys.

As far as the "dumbing down" of the movies that some people complain about, I think it's perfectly clear that when left to his own devices, that's just how George Lucas writes.

I strongly recommend picking up The Secret History of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays. Between those two books (and The Jedi Masters' Quiz Book), just about any question you might have about Star Wars can be answered.

Star Trek: The Original Movies...initial thoughts

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Not counting a 15 hour break between 5 and 6, I just finished watching all of the original cast Star Trek movies. I'm going to put down my initial thoughts now, and hopefully do some more writing on this subject later.

Background:

Being born in the mid-seventies, I was a Star Wars fan long before I had even heard of Star Trek. As a matter of fact, the first Trek movie I saw, or even knew about was The Search for Spock. A friend had only recently introduced me to the original series, although I didn't get much out of it at the time. From my point of how, how could Trek (the series) compare to the visual extravaganza of Star Wars? As I got older, though, I found more and more to appreciate in Star Trek. I even saw 5 and 6 in the theater (this is significant because I hate going to movie theaters). The order I saw the original movies in (on VHS, TV and in the theater) is 3,2,4,1,5 and 6. Most watched in order are 4 (because I owned this one on VHS as a kid), 2,3,1,5 and 6. Before this rewatch I would have listed my favorites in order as 2,3,1,4,6 and 5. Immediately following the viewing I would list my favorites as 2,3,5,1, 6 and 4. The biggest surprise to me is the big move by 5. The biggest caveat is 6, which in many ways is a much more enjoyable movie than 1, but is so full of plot holes and contrivances that the experience is nearly ruined for me.

The editions I watched are those contained in THIS new box set. What's interesting about this set is that it does not contain any of the Special Editions or Director's Cuts. In fact, I don't think 1 and 2 are even remastered or cleaned up. With the exception of 2, the commentaries included are "fan" commentaries made by other Trek producers, designers and consultants. The commentary on Wrath of Kahn is by director Nicholas Meyer and one of the producers for The Next Generation, I think. I don't remember who. Two of the other commentaries included noted Trek experts Michael and Denise Okuda. The commentary for 4 was done by two people who worked on the newer Trek properties and the Abrams movie. The commentary for 6 was done by people who worked on DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. The commentary for 6 wasn't very good (and I'll leave it at that), the commentary for 4 was interesting because of what these two people from the new movie took away from Star Trek 4. Namely, that it was the best of the movies to both of them, and was apparently the final word on many of the "canon" issues that came up in the new movie. The commentary for the first movie made a few subtle digs at the new movie, and at the later TV series.

The original movies can be grouped into three sections: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Treks 2 - 4, and Star Treks 5 and 6. Thematically, 5 and 6 should probably be separate, but they have more in common with each other than with the other movies.

On with the show!

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the bastard child that made good (sort of ) of the Star Trek universe. The movie was critically panned but financially successful. The movie bears little resemblance to either it's successors or the original series. You could say that TMP is literally a Star Trek story done in the style of 2001; a far cop considering the primary effects crew was the same as worked on 2001. Still, without this movie there wouldn't be subsequent movies or series...maybe.

TMP almost didn't get made...and yet in one way it was already in production when Star Wars opened the floodgates for silver screen sci fi. Paramount had finally cottoned on to the huge fanbase that had briefly saved the original series from cancellation and had given Gene Roddenberry the green light for a new Trek TV series. 13 scripts had already been paid for, casting was being completed (although Leonard Nimoy was almost definitely not returning as Spock, the production team thought they had Shatner, at least for 13 episodes. A new captain, Willard Decker, was being included in the stories.) New sets and models were being built. Following the Star Wars explosion, Paramount upgraded the project to a motion picture and the production team essentially had to scramble. Without going into more detail, the production was a mess. It's amazing director Robert Wise got what he did out of the door, let alone a more polished product. A Director's Cut was made about ten years ago that, according to Wise, is what he wanted put out in '79. The most useful bit of knowledge from the DC is that ST:TMP is still effectively the same movie...and it's still something almost completely unlike either the original series or sequel movies.

I included all of that info because ST:TMP is probably the most "different" and controversial Trek film. The most Trek-like of all of the productions, yet the least Trek-like big screen appearance. The Motion Picture has maintained a loyal following among Trek fans, though hardly ever ranked higher than The Wrath of Kahn. However, while I still appreciate watching this movie, much of it's appeal now boils down it's place in history with regards to the Trek franchise. The Motion Picture is a fitting backdrop to all of the behind-the-scenes action that finally resulted in the Star Trek we know today. When the story of the production makes for more interesting cinema than the movie itself...well, that pretty much speaks for itself. While hardly a bad movie, it's not really good, either...and it's ability to fulfill it's place in Trek's legacy has more to do with a redesigned Enterprise (one of the movie's great successes) and as a placeholder in the timeline.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Still one of the best sci fi adventure movies ever made, let alone the best Trek movie. Meyer's insights into directing Shatner and Montalban were enlightening. Not much point in discussing any more right now.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Falling into Kahn's shadow, TSfS is frequently overlooked. This film is a worth successor, although it doesn't quite reach the level of The Wrath of Kahn, Definitely more than just another sequel. Biggest disappointment: Losing Kirsty Alley as Lt. Saavik. Robin Curtis just doesn't cut it. Alhough she's better than some.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Generally considered the most successful Trek film, I think this one suffers the ravages of time the most. Time travel is always a tricky plot device, and unfortunately TVH ties the entire movie to an ecological statement that petered out in the popular consciousness. Custodianship of the planet is a wonderful Trek message, but grounding it too firmly in a specific message and '80's pop culture drags the movie down. Many people think of TVH as the "funny" Trek movie, but I'll take the more sporadic humor of the other movies any day...especially 6. Also loaded with plot holes.

Star Trek V: Where No Man Has Gone Before. The sole Shatner-directed movie was much-maligned when it came out. Five holds up better than four, I think; but it has it's problems. You really start seeing the age of the cast in 5. They look utterly ridiculous in the action scenes. The action scenes themselves seem like needless additions. Still, much more enjoyable than I remembered it being, and I would rather go back and watch it than TVH.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. OK. If you keep in mind that 6 was a complete fan wank, you have to deal with so many fewer issues, and the movie isn't too bad. However, if you rank fan wanking on the same level as pandering and preaching, then TUC is only conditionally better than TVH. The original series actors, excepting George Takei and Leonard Nimoy, look completely out of place in this movie. Kim Catrrall's Valeris is an embarrassment, which is an embarrassment itself because she supposedly took the role very seriously. The plot is so contrived it's dangerous to try to figure out the links between the holes. On the other hand, the movie is gorgeous and the jokes are funny. In fact, I think TUC is possibly the funniest of all of the Trek movies. Still, this final original Trek movie is just so much fan service. Less important and not quite as re-watchable as the first movie. At least, that's how I feel right now.

Gonna stop there for now. I'm going to try to come back and talk about certain aspects of the movies later.

Climategate means no more advocates, right?

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:15:00 +0000

Don't kid yourself. Sure, you might have thought Copenhagen didn't count because that was a conference of politicians. If you don't have a global warming/severe climate change advocate available, you can read through this post and these comments at Information Dissemination, which normally confines itself to Navy and General Defense news.

Thankfully, Gahlran offers a decent post that may quiet some of the more severe comments. The biggest problem with almost all of the severe climate change/global warming international agreements is that there is no serious enforcement or verification. Many of the chief nations involved, especially China, will not sign on if they are required, in any enforceable way, to comply with the agreements. And as much as some of these people run down the U.S., the United States is far more likely to keep it's promise voluntarily.

Of course, it doesn't help that so many of the severe climate change/global warming advocates refuse to acknowledge that some of the data and procedures used to justify their beliefs are suspect, and were BEFORE Climategate. Never mind that a lot of the data used has always been used out of context, is unverifiable, or lends itself to multiple or contradictory conclusions from what are claimed. There is an imperative for quality custodial care of our planet and all it's systems. Unfortunately, the alarmists are preventing it by not taking the subject seriously.

The most wonderful and stressful time of year...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:53:36 +0000

No, not what you think. With few exceptions, the "holidays" aspect of the Fall and Winter is a stress-reliever for me. What I'm referring to is that my financial year usually starts in March, April or May; and ends in December. I start getting some income in December. So, the period from November to the end of the year is filled with making every dollar count. Plus, you never "really" know how good a job you did during the year until this final huge, expensive effort.

The amount of work that goes into a harvest and all of the stress mentioned above means, as I posted last year, that I don't really have a lot of time for posting...and when I do, I don't feel like it. I don't want to just do more re-posting from other blogs. I like to try to keep blog mentions confined to other bloggers' original work rather than contributing to another round of viral videos. OTOH, Wonderduck comes up with some of the more unique and entertaining examples I've seen, there are currently two good videos on his front page.

So, just to force myself, I'll just run through some randomness.

Recently found the Let's Play Archive. This particular LP got me wanting to play KotOR 2 again...he made the game sound pretty good. As I tweeted recently; though, I actually think the writing is WORSE in 2 than in one. Different, yes. The story certainly has the basis for something MUCH deeper and more complex than KotOR. Unfortunately, the writer(s) didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Obviously, somebody made it through the first chapter of the Pop Guide to Chaos Theory and a Psychology 101 primer, but missed out on War Strategy and Tactics That Anyone Can Understand and Principles of Leadership: A Common Sense Approach. Then there are the "moral choices." Bioware games and western RPG's in general have become well-known for their "black and white" moral choices. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian rather than Bioware, and a lot of players felt that Obsidian did a better job of making those choices more like "multiple shades of gray." I don't see it, myself. Most of the choices are still "Save/Eat Puppy", they just word them differently. Most of the "gray" choices are actually railroading by the plot...which is to say, rather than "Save/Eat Puppy" you get to choose "Eat Puppy Now/Eat Puppy Later." See, the writer(s) don't really give you a lot of freedom in "defining" your character. Sure, you can level and play your Jedi as Light/Dark Side, Neutral or Insane; but KotOR 2 goes well beyond KotOR's "this is who you are and what you did, now what are you going to do?" KotOR 2 says, "this is who you are, what you did, why you did it, who you did it with and for, and what you thought of them. Now what are you going to do? Oh, and you're still mad about this, so you should probably choose A, and even though we've made it perfectly clear to you repeatedly, and you have high intelligence and wisdom, you don't really understand B, so we'll just fill in "duuuuuuuuuuuh" for that answer.

And so on.

End the end, it still comes down to "side with/kill bad guy". But there's so much arrogance and ignorance in the story, and the frequent Character Development railroading make the game less enjoyable than KotOR...at least to a certain degree. On the other hand, the story IS more complex...not better, just deeper. The game is bigger, the mechanics are a little better, the crafting system is much improved, and the animations and graphics are much better. On the third hand, the rushed development time means that something like 20% of the game got cut before release, and you see a lot of the resultant broken bits still in the game. I don't bear any hard feelings about that, though...13 months is not enough time to develop a game like this.

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I'm just about tired of my iPhone. Getting sick of what I can't do with it. It's a decent multimedia phone, but it just can't compare to a full smartphone with better desktop integration. Add to that the number of ways that Apple WON'T service the phone, and the dreaded iTunes. Think I'll switch to THIS.

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Thought about playing Dwarf Fortress. Got over it.

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Can't think of anything else, right now. Although this is good:

Just what I needed...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:25:27 +0000

Checked google webmaster tools. By far the most popular page on my site now is the post I did about the Stephanie from Lazytown bed; i.e. "Pedobed".
Which means either tons of pedos are visiting my site and leaving disappointed, or I've been turned in by worried mothers. If you never hear from me again, this is the most likely reason.