It's not everyday that you read a newspaper article discussing Kant's views on the relation between moral understanding and aesthetic judgment, but yesterday's Washington Post has such an article. Joshua Bell and the Washington Post agreed to collaborate on a little experiment. They wanted to find out what would happen if you took a highly regarded violinist and had him play during early morning commuting time at a subway station. Would his talented play attract a large audience if he appeared anonymously and dressed just like any other street musician?
Surprisingly, at least to the Post, he was treated like just any other musician.
I read the Post article and was impressed with the questions that the writer asked, and especially impressed that Gene Weingarten took the time to ask a Kantian scholar about what the lack of interest had to say about the aesthetic tastes of the audience. In a nutshell, the Kantian answer is that surroundings matter and that not appreciating high art when it is in a common setting is no moral failing. But I was surprised by how Weingarten, even after presenting the Kantian defense of the "masses," rejects the premise wholesale. From the title to the closing sentence, I could almost read Weingarten's disdain for the commuters.
"Pearls Before Breakfast," is quite obviously a reference to "Pearls Before Swine." Weingarten's title implies that the audience, who failed to recognize Bell's importance, are swine. He doesn't consider the fact that people are genuinely busy (though he does mention that about one of the people who stops for the 3 minutes that he had available). Weingarten also doesn't seem to truly understand the relation between context and appreciation. Certainly Bell's performance is wonderful, at least what is available on the Post site, and I am rushing out to buy his most recent CD today in response to the article, but it is also being performed at a subway station during commuter hours.
Weingarten mentions that all the children want to listen and implies that this means that they still have a pure "poetry of the soul." How about a different analysis? How about the fact that the children haven't fully developed a sense of time and obligation? For many of the commuters, it may have been a moral act of the highest order to not stop and listen. What if Bell performed during a time the subway was filled more with tourists than commuters? Would the results change? I don't think they would change significantly, but I think they would be mildly better.
What is evident here is that Weingarten, like the film critics who can't understand why audiences rush to see 300, doesn't seem to understand the way most people behave. Movie theaters aren't cathedrals of high art in the same way that the Disney Music Hall is, nor is a Metro station Carnegie Hall. When people go to see 300 they know they aren't watching high art and music at the Metro is likely to be ignored as commuters mentally prepare for their day.
I find it ironic that Weingarten, in judging others to be ignorant of the pearls thrown before them one January morning, throws aside the thoughtful examination of a leading scholar.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Housing Market as a Roller Coaster Ride.
The following video represents home value costs, adjusted for inflation, for the past hundred plus years as a roller coaster ride. Those of you thinking of buying now "while the market is good" might want to look at the past first. As for me, I can't wait until this crest drops.
The roller coaster was based on this graph:
The roller coaster was based on this graph:
Live Action Transformers
After watching this, one wonders why Michael Bay needed all that money for special effects.
Metal Men: The Movie. I Don't Know Whether to Laugh, Cry, or Cheer
I have often stated that DC Comics needs to follow Marvel's lead by using some of their second, and even third, tier heroes in theatrical releases. Marvel has had great success, and with lower outlay, producing films like Blade and Ghost Rider who reside far from the lofty 4-Color heights of Thor and the Avengers. Before all the Dan Ketch/Johnny Blaze/Zarathos fanboys out there murder me for calling Ghost Rider a second tier character, let me cut them off at the pass. You're right, Ghost Rider isn't a second tier character. He's a third tier character. Daredevil is a second tier Marvel character. The point is that Marvel hasn't merely relied on their top three most recognizable properties to base movies around. That isn't so true of DC Comics.
DC might make a television show about the Birds of Prey, but it will vary so wildly from the source material as to be almost unrecognizable. They might make a Catwoman or a Steel, but their hearts weren't really in the production. They seemed to think, "make it and they will come." Whereas Marvel, even when I don't like the movie, seems to be genuinely trying to entertain me. I only mean this in recent times, back in the days of the Captain America movie they didn't get it either. But let's face it, as bad as The Punisher was, it was very much drawing from the Ennis version of the character and the few moments most connected to the comic worked. What DC hasn't done in the past is ask themselves if they have anyone apart from the big three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) who deserves to be treated seriously. Well...apart from the Flash television series, but that was a long time ago.
This may or may not be changing. DC has announced that they will be making a Metal Men movie produced by Lauren Shuler Donner. When I first read the story, I worried that DC still didn't get it and that they were going to make a ridiculously awful movie about these absurd, and obscure, characters. But then I read that Geoff Johns one of the best writers in comics today, and a former assistant to Richard Donner, would be working on the project a small part of me began to hope. Johns is truly one of the best writers working in the industry, he just seems to get how to balance "Iron Age" darkness with "Silver Age" levity. His work on the Justice Society is some of the best comic writing ever. I can only hope that his contributions can make a movie about the Metal Men (obscure Silver Age characters if there ever were) entertaining.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Paizo to Publish Backlisted SF in Planet Stories Line of Books
Magazine and game publisher Paizo Publishing has announced that they will start publishing a line of books featuring backlisted SF and Fantasy titles. The line of books will be published under the heading Planet Stories, and given the nature of the initial catalogue of texts this seems appropriate. Paizo has decided to enter the arena of book publishing in response to the current resistance of larger publishers have to keeping strong backlists. Paizo wants to introduce a new generation of readers to older books which have influenced modern SF and Fantasy, at least that is their claim.
Let's have a look at the validity of that claim by looking at their choices of backlisted books featured in their first wave of publications.
One is struck by a few things when looking at the list. First is the fact that three of these novels fall squarely into the genre known as "Planetary Romance" and one of the authors is a seminal figure in that genre, Leigh Brackett. The focus on Planetary Romance makes it a natural that the line of books should be titled Planet Stories. Incidentally, Planet Stories was the name of a magazine in which Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury, among others, were frequently featured.
They even feature Robert E. Howard's (creator of Conan) singular foray into the genre, his novel Almuric. Almuric is an unusual Howard story, so unusual that David Drake, who edited a line of Howard books, speculated that the book might have been written by Otis Adelbert Kline and not Howard. The fact that Kline wrote a number of Planetary Romance novels, in playful competition with Edgar Rice Burroughs, makes the case all the more interesting to imagine even if it is mere speculation.
In addition to the focus on Planetary Romance, one other fact strikes me as particular to the selection of novels. The Anubis Murders is far from a seminal work of SF or Fantasy as far as its influence on modern authors goes, but it is written by a figure seminal in the creation of a genre of game very close at heart to Paizo Publishing's heart. Gary Gygax may not be an SF/F legend, but he is a Founding Father of the Roleplaying Game hobby, which is the focus of Paizo Publishing's two magazines.
What concerns me about the list of chosen novels is how much they ignore the truly overlooked backlisted novel. Sure the Moorcock pastiches to Burroughs are fun and overlooked, but the true inspiration are the Burroughs Mars books which are currently being published by the University of Nebraska Press.. The inclusion of Leigh Brackett is a necessary one, but her works are currently being published by Haffner Press. Yes the editions are more expensive than the $13.00 that Paizo will be charging, but they are hardback and include more stories.
I will certainly be purchasing Paizo's catalogue, but I would like to see the publication list expand from the current list.
Tomorrow, I will likely discuss what I think is a large hole in the current gamer/pulp-nostalgia movement.
Let's have a look at the validity of that claim by looking at their choices of backlisted books featured in their first wave of publications.
Almuric, by Robert E. Howard, is a savage planet of crumbling stone ruins and debased, near-human inhabitants. Into this world comes Esau Cairn, Earthman, swordsman, murderer. Only he can overthrow the terrible devils that enslave Almuric, but to do so he must first defeat the inner demons that forced him to abandon Earth. Filled with vile beasts and thrilling adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Almuric is one of Howard’s few novels, and an excellent yarn from one of America’s most distinct literary voices. Robert E. Howard is most known for creating the fictional character, Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian), who has been featured in comic books, short stories, novels, and feature films for over 70 years. Howard's work is often credited as the source of the sword-and-sorcery genre and influenced everyone from J.R.R. Tolkien to George R.R. Martin.
The Anubis Murders, by Gary Gygax, weaves a fantastic tale of warring wizards that spans the world from the pyramids of ancient Egypt to the mist-shrouded towns of medieval England. Someone is murdering the world’s most powerful sorcerers, and the trail of blood leads straight to Anubis, the solemn god known by most as the Master of Jackals. Can Magister Setne Inhetep, personal philosopher-wizard to the Pharaoh, reach the distant kingdom of Avillonia and put an end to the Anubis Murders, or will he be claimed as the latest victim? Gary Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game over 30 years ago and has watched it grow to become one of the largest entertainment sources in the hobby gaming industry. Dungeons & Dragons has been played by tens of millions worldwide and the name Gygax is instantly recognizable to any fans of the game, past or present.
City of the Beast/Warriors of Mars, by Michael Moorcock, features the return of Moorcock's Eternal Champion, Kane of Old Mars, a brilliant American physicist whose strange experiments in matter transmission catapult him across space and time to the Red Planet. Kane’s is a Mars of the distant past, a place of romantic civilizations, fabulous many-spired cities, and the gorgeous princess Shizala. To win her hand and bring peace to Mars, Kane must defeat the terrible Blue Giants of the Argzoon, whose ravaging hordes threaten the whole planet! Adventure in the Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition from the creator of Elric of Melniboné. The first stand-alone American printing since 1979, City of the Beast/Warrior of Mars will be available this September.
Black God's Kiss, by C.L. Moore, was first published in the pages of Weird Tales in 1934. C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry is the first significant female sword-and-sorcery protagonist and one of the most exciting and evocative characters the genre has ever known. Published alongside seminal works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, the five classic fantasy tales included in this volume easily stand the test of time and often overshadow the storytelling power and emotional impact of stories by Moore’s more famous contemporaries. A seminal work from one of fantasy’s most important authors, Black God’s Kiss is an essential addition to any fantasy library and will be available this October.
Elak of Atlantis, by Henry Kuttner. Published in Weird Tales to satisfy fans of Conan the Barbarian in the wake of Robert E. Howard’s death, the four long stories depict a brutal world of flashing swords and primal magic, touched by a hint of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Never collected in a mass market edition since their publication in the late 1930s, these exciting tales helped to establish a genre and are a critical part of any fantasy library. Included as a bonus are Kuttner’s two Prince Raynor stories from 1939’s Strange Tales.
With seminal, thrilling adventure tales from one of the most important writers in science fiction and fantasy, Elak of Atlantis is not to be missed! Available in November 2007.
The Secret of Sinharat, by Leigh Brackett. Enter Eric John Stark, adventurer, rebel, wildman. Raised on the sun-soaked, savage world of Mercury, Stark lives among the people of the civilized solar system, but his veneer of calm masks a warrior’s spirit. In the murderous Martian Drylands the greatest criminals in the galaxy hatch a conspiracy of red revolution. Stark’s involvement leads to the forgotten ruins of the Martian Low Canals, an unlikely romance, and a secret so potent it could shake the Red Planet to its core.
In a special bonus novel, People of the Talisman, Stark ventures to the treacherous polar icecap of Mars to return a stolen talisman to an oppressed people.
The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman make an excellent introduction to the work of Leigh Brackett, a pillar of science fantasy and one of the greatest writers to work in the genre. Talented enough to co-write The Big Sleep with William Faulkner and influential enough to write the original screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, Brackett’s fiction is no less distinguished than her movie work and never fails to deliver thrills and wry smiles.
One is struck by a few things when looking at the list. First is the fact that three of these novels fall squarely into the genre known as "Planetary Romance" and one of the authors is a seminal figure in that genre, Leigh Brackett. The focus on Planetary Romance makes it a natural that the line of books should be titled Planet Stories. Incidentally, Planet Stories was the name of a magazine in which Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury, among others, were frequently featured.
They even feature Robert E. Howard's (creator of Conan) singular foray into the genre, his novel Almuric. Almuric is an unusual Howard story, so unusual that David Drake, who edited a line of Howard books, speculated that the book might have been written by Otis Adelbert Kline and not Howard. The fact that Kline wrote a number of Planetary Romance novels, in playful competition with Edgar Rice Burroughs, makes the case all the more interesting to imagine even if it is mere speculation.
In addition to the focus on Planetary Romance, one other fact strikes me as particular to the selection of novels. The Anubis Murders is far from a seminal work of SF or Fantasy as far as its influence on modern authors goes, but it is written by a figure seminal in the creation of a genre of game very close at heart to Paizo Publishing's heart. Gary Gygax may not be an SF/F legend, but he is a Founding Father of the Roleplaying Game hobby, which is the focus of Paizo Publishing's two magazines.
What concerns me about the list of chosen novels is how much they ignore the truly overlooked backlisted novel. Sure the Moorcock pastiches to Burroughs are fun and overlooked, but the true inspiration are the Burroughs Mars books which are currently being published by the University of Nebraska Press.. The inclusion of Leigh Brackett is a necessary one, but her works are currently being published by Haffner Press. Yes the editions are more expensive than the $13.00 that Paizo will be charging, but they are hardback and include more stories.
I will certainly be purchasing Paizo's catalogue, but I would like to see the publication list expand from the current list.
Tomorrow, I will likely discuss what I think is a large hole in the current gamer/pulp-nostalgia movement.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Today is William Shatner's 76th Birthday
I am not a Star Trek fan or even a Trekkie.
Yes, I own the entire run of "The Original Series," and the "Animated Series," on DVD.
Yes, I am recording the new remastered episodes of "The Original Series" as it airs on NBC late on Sunday nights.
Yes, I can talk about why I think that having Spock and Kirk meet while in Star Fleet Academy is a bad idea for the JJ Abrams film.
All of those things are true. Why? Because I am a William Shatner fan, not a Star Trek fan. Like the lead in Free Enterprise, I cannot stand the 24th century. It is only the classic for me.
I own all of Shatner's Tek War novels, and I find them enjoyable as airplane ride novels. I am a huge fan of Boston Legal. I will watch Kingdom of the Spiders at the drop of a hat. And I can't decide whether Hammy or Ozzie are the best character in Over the Hedge. My head says Hammy, but my heart says Ozzie. I even own a prized copy of the Encyclopedia Shatnerica.
Today is William Shatner's birthday. Happy Birthday Bill, and thanks for all that you've done to entertain me and my fellow fans.
Since I can't afford to go and visit the William Shatner building at McGill University in Montreal, I'll settle for going out and buying a frame for my autographed William Shatner picture. I know just the place, in my game room, to put it.
Yes, I own the entire run of "The Original Series," and the "Animated Series," on DVD.
Yes, I am recording the new remastered episodes of "The Original Series" as it airs on NBC late on Sunday nights.
Yes, I can talk about why I think that having Spock and Kirk meet while in Star Fleet Academy is a bad idea for the JJ Abrams film.
All of those things are true. Why? Because I am a William Shatner fan, not a Star Trek fan. Like the lead in Free Enterprise, I cannot stand the 24th century. It is only the classic for me.
I own all of Shatner's Tek War novels, and I find them enjoyable as airplane ride novels. I am a huge fan of Boston Legal. I will watch Kingdom of the Spiders at the drop of a hat. And I can't decide whether Hammy or Ozzie are the best character in Over the Hedge. My head says Hammy, but my heart says Ozzie. I even own a prized copy of the Encyclopedia Shatnerica.
Today is William Shatner's birthday. Happy Birthday Bill, and thanks for all that you've done to entertain me and my fellow fans.
Since I can't afford to go and visit the William Shatner building at McGill University in Montreal, I'll settle for going out and buying a frame for my autographed William Shatner picture. I know just the place, in my game room, to put it.
Today is the Day the World Was Told Internetelevision is Here to Stay
According to PaidContent.org, NBC Universal and News Corp will be partnering with AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN to bring the world the largest Internet Video distribution network to date. This announcement marks the beginning of true internetelevision, from this day forward your computer is an interactive television network.
From the looks of it, you will be able to interact with the video content in a multitude of ways. As expected, we will be able to watch many of our favorite shows, but we will also be allowed to futz with them now as well. Okay, we've always been "able" to futz with them, but now we will be able to do so without the Man coming down on us. The man will be giving us the tools to futz with the stuff.
The full press release has lots of exciting news for fans and investors.
From the looks of it, you will be able to interact with the video content in a multitude of ways. As expected, we will be able to watch many of our favorite shows, but we will also be allowed to futz with them now as well. Okay, we've always been "able" to futz with them, but now we will be able to do so without the Man coming down on us. The man will be giving us the tools to futz with the stuff.
The full press release has lots of exciting news for fans and investors.
What Cathy Seipp's Friends Have to Say.
For any of you who might read this blog, but don't read any of the blogs of Cathy Seipp's many friends, here is a list of blogs who have written about this wonderful woman.
"Life Gives You Cancer, You Make Cancerade:" A Tribute to Cathy Seipp (Edited 3/22/2007 9:10)
Photo by Jim LowneyMy wife and I love Cathy Seipp, she is one of the people who made Los Angeles feel like home to us. That's not an easy job considering how intimidating this very large city was for a young couple from Reno, Nevada. We weren't quite doe eyed, but we were very much intimidated by the vastness and potential coldness of the big city. Cathy Seipp made Los Angeles feel like a small town where all things were possible. Cathy is the reason my wife has her current job and her declining health is the reason I feel so sad right now.
Before I write too much about how I got to know Cathy and what she means to me, I think it is only fair if I let Cathy tell you a little bit about herself. Since eulogies are the best time to wax poetic, and since my words are likely to fall far short of what she deserves, I would like to open with Cathy's self-described favorite poem.
On September 24, 2004 in an online interview with Norman Geras, Cathy was asked if she has a favorite poem. Her response was, "One that often echoes in my head is 'Pied Beauty' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. She also blogged about her love of this poem in a post about a conversation she had with the manager of The Stand. Just picturing her at the gourmet hot dog venue where the shift manager has a Ph.D. in English Literature provides the perfect image of the Los Angeles I have come to love thanks to Cathy. It is a place where one finds beauty in the oddest places, like Ph.D. hotdog boutique managers. The Hopkins poem she described is as follows:
GLORY be to God for dappled things --
For skies of couple-colour as the brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced - fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
Cathy is a wonderful woman who somehow manages a balancing act that allows her to be an utter snob, while simultaneously being able to discuss her love of Donald Duck in Mathemagicland and Joss Whedon's Firefly (and the Buffyverse for that matter). It is no wonder that I fell in love with her writing so rapidly. Her writing is funny, smart, sophisticated, and disarmingly pop-culture savvy. In other words, she is exactly what I think a modern critic should be. I only wish I had discovered her writing sooner, so that I could claim to have been a fan since her days at Buzz. I also wish, very selfishly, that I could have known her better and for longer.
Like many other people, I came to know her first as a commenter on her blog Cathy's World. Which isn't exactly true, I first read her at National Review Online. My job at a non-profit devoted to youth civic engagement has me constantly looking for potential speakers and reading multiple political magazines. After reading heavy handed reactionary pieces about how our culture is going to Hell in a hand-basket, Cathy's columns were a breath of fresh air. She was an ideal candidate for a "cross-expectational" conservative speaker at discussion forums.
"If only there was some way, I could get to know her so that I could ask her to speak at one of our events without being presumptuous," I said to myself. Lo and behold, I looked on the bottom of the NRO webpage and saw a link to her blog.
During her over four years of blogging, Cathy Seipp gathered and interesting group of commenters. For a large part of those four years, I was one of them. I wasn't a commenter on her first blog entry, but then again no one else was there yet. No one commented her interesting post about whether dog barks are free speech either. She didn't even have Haloscan which allowed non-journalspace commenters until her 107th post. Nor was I a commenter on her last blog entry, there were so many that I would easily have been lost in the haystack.
Near as I can tell, my first comment was in response to her 353rd blog post where she discussed marketing to children. I wrote the following:
Wish I was a member, my comments could be longer.
One, the market assumes rational actors, i.e. people acting in their own self interest. Enlightened self-interest if you will.
Two, kids don't have enlightened self interest, but unfocused greed.
Three, parents do have enlightened self interest.
Four, government has tried to replace the parent in far too many ways.
Five, even Adam Smith considered the government a part of the Marketplace.
There is more, but I am sure I won't have room to type it or even elaborate.
Not exactly the best first paragraph to write or say to someone to begin a friendship. Could you imagine a guy walking up to you at a bar in the middle of a conversation and saying the above? My second response wasn't much better. In an effort to not seem so "geeky," I made a feeble attempt at a funny comment on her 354th post where she asked if anyone knew how to "take care" of her "raccoon problem." I wittily responded with a link to a video game ad and wrote, "Personally, I say if you can't beat them join them. Make sure you click on the safe to finish the flash animation."
Somehow, even after such an ignoble beginning, I managed to become a friend of Cathy's, or rather came to consider her as a friend. She was a reliable and willing participant in a number of my program's events. She even introduced me to her amazing group of friends, a group of smart people with widely differing political views who could only be found around a woman as amazing as Cathy. When Cathy spoke at my events, she was usually the panelist that the students most remembered. They were taken by her unique sense of style, metropolitan bohemian conservative, and her forceful personality. She was never one to back down from a disagreement in any of the discussions in which she participated.
Though none of the disagreements on Arsalyn panels could compare to the confrontation she had with Lawrence O'Donnell on the Dennis Miller Show. The look she gave Lawrence O'Donnell after he exclaimed "Every single teacher my daughter has had has been a GREAT teacher" was priceless. And her response, "You're delusional," was classic Cathy. It was a strong, direct, and unapologetic response to what she thought was a ridiculous statement. I think it was her ability to be strong, direct, and unapologetic was what made her such a surprise to the students at my events. I don't think that many young people expect a conservative female columnist to be as independent as Cathy and it isn't an act with Cathy. She means what she says.
Contrary to the image of "the scowling critic" that the O'Donnell story might raise in your mind, most of my memories of Cathy are of her smiling or laughing. She had a wonderful smile, and whenever I was in her company I would try to make her smile. Sometimes my attempts were feeble and I would be rewarded with judgmental eyes behind a light smile. Other times, I could tell I really tickled her funny bone. I think maybe my best attempt at making her laugh was a piece I wrote in March 2005 in response to a feud she had been having with Susan Estrich. It also included a couple, okay quite a few, inside jokes. I was also making fun of a particular "Troll Dolls" character, who has been up to some recent wickedness from what I hear. Both Cathy and Maia seemed to really enjoy the piece, Maia even posted it on her Facebook (please read it, she found it very funny). I think it captures her as well as anything else I could write.
I guess it is her sense of humor which inspired her to have a living wake where many of her friends roasted her while also demonstrating how much they love her. I very much liked Rob Long's table setting roast and have included it below, but I should mention that everybody who presented did a bang up job and you can find video of the event at You Tube. Just type Cathy Seipp Roast and you should be directed to the right webpage.
I can't say how much Cathy has done for me and for Jody, but I never would have met her if her daughter Maia hadn't forced her to create a blog. Though my own mom died when I was an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, I am not so bold as to say that I understand how Maia will feel. Our circumstances are very different. But I would like to share some of my thoughts with her, if she is reading this (or this far down). I have recently been imagining meeting Cathy after I pass this mortal coil. In my imagination, I find her sitting next a warm fire talking with C.S. Lewis and comparing notes with my mom. He was one of her favorite writers and, not surprisingly, he wrote a book about loss and grief. I found great solace in Lewis's observations after my mom died. What struck me most was an observation he made about emotional suffering. Lewis wrote:
Aren't all these notes the senseless writhings of a man who won't accept the fact that there is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it? Who still thinks there is some device (if only he could find it) which will make pain not to be pain. It doesn't really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on.
And grief still feels like fear. Perhaps, more strictly, like suspense. Or like waiting; just hanging about waiting for something to happen. it gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn't seem worth starting anything. I can't settle down.
I found solace in the fact that others had felt as hopeless and empty as I had. I also found solace in the Chaos chapter of The Education of Henry Adams. It, too, captured some sense of how I felt.
One had heard and read a great deal about death, and even seen a little of it, and knew by heart the thousand commonplaces of religion and poetry which seemed to deaden one's senses and veil the horror. Society being immortal, could put on immortality at will. Adams being mortal, felt only the mortality. Death took features altogether new to him, in these rich and sensuous surroundings. Nature enjoyed it, played with it, the horror added to her charm, she liked the torture, and smothered her victim with caresses. Never had one seen her so winning. The hot Italian summer brooded outside, over the market-place and the picturesque peasants, and, in the singular color of the Tuscan atmosphere, the hills and vineyards of the Apennines seemed bursting with mid-summer blood. The sick-room itself glowed with the Italian joy of life; friends filled it; no harsh northern lights pierced the soft shadows; even the dying women shared the sense of the Italian summer, the soft, velvet air, the humor, the courage, the sensual fullness of Nature and man. She faced death, as women mostly do, bravely and even gaily, racked slowly to unconsciousness, but yielding only to violence, as a soldier sabred in battle. For many thousands of years, on these hills and plains, Nature had gone on sabring men and women with the same air of sensual pleasure.
Cathy once told me that one of her favorite films was The Lady Vanishes. It is one of my favorites too. Cathy affected enough lives that I don't believe she, or her influence, will ever vanish.
Some have said that in a just world someone like Cathy wouldn't die so soon, but I don't think that is right. In an unjust world, I would never have met Cathy, her friends, or her lovely daughter.
Monday, March 19, 2007
300 and the Disconnect Between Critics and Viewers
Peter Bart, over at Variety, wrote a column last Thursday about how so far this has been a year where there is a large disconnect between what critics opinions of a movie are and what the viewing audience's opinion is. He bases what the audience's opinion is based on the financial success of a particular film rather than on some kind of random survey data. I imagine that his method is as accurate as a good survey would be, people do vote with their dollars. This is particularly true if a given film is successful for more than one week, which implies that word of mouth was positive rather than negative. Bart has noticed that the audience reactions to Ghost Rider, 300, Wild Hogs, and Norbit are very much out of synch with the reactions of critics.
Ben Fritz, at the same magazine, also writes about the critical reaction to 300 and focuses on how the critics often compare 300 to a video game. Fritz argues that the critics use of this comparison is "both artistically demeaning and substantively wrong." Fritz doesn't, and he likely should in a future article, articulate how the opposite is more often true. Videogames are becoming more like films, a statement that is both artistically complimentary and substantively correct. One need only watch a few of the interstitial sequences in Marvel Ultimate Alliance to discern that the Marvel video game is attempting to create an entertaining narrative while also allowing the player to beat hell out of Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil.
Which brings me back to the Bart article. Bart asks a couple of key questions in his editorial criticizing the critics. His central, and most important question, is whether "critics make a passing attempt to tune in to pop culture?" Bart begs the question, but he doesn't directly answer it. His editorial is more a discussion starter than an answer, though one could guess his answer might be a caveat laden "Yes...but..."
I would have liked to see Bart take a brave stand on this issue, which I don't believe is limited to this year's box office or critics. I think that it has been a problem for quite some time. I have often in conversation asked my friends, "Do you think that (insert favorite hated critic here) would like That Touch of Mink or Ben Hur if it came out today?" I usually get one of two reactions to this question. Sometimes my interlocutor agrees with me that the critic would hate both of these films, and might add that they would also dislike M because it ends advocating the execution of a child molester by "extra legal" means. Other times, the response might be that the person had never thought about that particular question. It often seems to me that critics are so fond of the French New Wave that they have rejected the idea that movies can be entertaining, they must have meaning!
With Bart not providing an answer to the question, one can be thankful that sci-fi writer extraordinaire Neal Stephenson decided to weigh in on the disconnect between critics and audience in yesterday's New York Times. His point was that the critics who negatively review the film won't even give the film a serious review, possibly because the subject matter is rooted in geekdom (at least in the case of 300). He also brings up some of the criticisms that have been thrown at the movie and dismisses them by saying, "such criticisms aren't really worth arguing with, because they are not serious in the first place -- and that is their whole point. Many critics dislike 300 so intensely that they refused to do it the honor of criticizing it as if it were a real movie." I agree. I also believe that any critic who feels this way is also practicing a bit of onanism. They are writing to read just how creatively they can mock a movie, and their only real audience is themselves. They "know" that audiences, lowest common denominator brutes that we are, will like the movie regardless of their review. So they decide to write witty and scathing responses so they can read just how well they can mock a movie. This is about as morally edifying as some critics have said they thought 300 was.
Stephenson provides a couple of key quotes from critics he finds to be particularly good examples of this type of criticism, but one in particular stood out to me.
As I have already pointed out, in quoting Victor Davis Hanson, "If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others." But such critics deserve more than an appeal to History as a response, as these critics exhibit one of the greatest flaws I believe a critic can have. These critics lack a love of virtue and in aesthetics this is almost unforgivable, at least in aesthetics as traditionally understood (Schiller, Kant, Hegel) and not in criticism how it is currently taught (Gramsci, Krakauer, Baudrillard). Before you flame me, it should be noted that I very much like Simulacra and Simulation and the Mirror of Production and think Benjamin's analysis in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is wonderfully insightful given YouTube etc. My point isn't that aesthetic critical discussions oughtn't include observations by the Frankfurt School and Post-Structuralists, rather that critics should also be aware of earlier aesthetic studies and their links to how aesthetics represent/affect virtue.
Nietzsche gave this kind of study a bad name, but that is because he turned the arguments on their head much like Marx did with Hegel. Of course, one should never forget the power of irony in philosophy, but that is another discussion.
These high art vs. vulgar art critics, a very Adorno-esque dichotomy, disdain both pious depictions of morality and the base comedy of films like The Wedding Crashers. Nevermind that Aristophanes has a multi-page discussion of farts and fart jokes in his play The Clouds. One word...Thunder. Just think about it. I hear that in Ancient Phrygia they used the word Phartos to describe Thunder. Most people turn off when I mention Aristophanes in a conversation, and my knowledge of his plays is much shallower than Fritz's (cinerati Fritz not Variety Fritz). Most people think I am making a high art vs. vulgar art distinction and trying to talk down to them when I am doing just the opposite. I am trying to demonstrate how even "high art" has abundant fart jokes. Don't even get me started on Shakespeare.
Back to the virtue discussion and whether 300 should be ironic. One of the classical virtues is that of thumos a kind of spritedness which combines patriotism and courage. It is the virtue that is central to the Spartan society. In fact, Spartan society might be said to value thumos over almost any other part of virtue as we understand it. Spiritedness is a powerful force in people, we like to take pride in our society and we value those who fight to defend it. That is thumos in a nutshell and that is what 300 is about. The film doesn't spend time showing us the ways that Sparta was unjust, and they were in many ways, because then the film -- and comic -- would be about Sparta. This film isn't about Sparta, it is about thumos.
Those critics who fear that the film is fascistic because of its overemphasis of thumos do have a point, but not as large a point as they believe. If the film were merely about thumos it would be true, but the films is also about freedom, equality under the law, and the need for just rulers. There is a reason that Plato devoted two dialogues toward critiquing Spartan culture. Both his Republic and The Laws present critiques of societies based solely on thumos. The "republic" of the Republic everyone tells you Plato thought was the "Just" society (though they forget to tell you how easily Plato has this society decay)? That could easily be read as a description of Sparta. And one of the key interlocutors in The Laws is a great Spartan who comes to understand that thumos and courage are only a part of Justice, the Stranger argues that Wisdom is the central component of Justice. These are not talked about in the film, but those would be the discussions to have if you wanted to criticize the film.
Instead a critic talked about how the film wasn't sufficiently ironic, as if the virtues the film advances ought not be taken seriously at all. Or that if you want them to be taken seriously you must use them ironically. This is the mentality that Roger Scruton argues against in his book on Modern Culture when he writes,
This is how critics are reacting to Miller's 300, they have disdain for its open admiration of nobility. That disdain must naturally result in mockery. Ironically, I have argued that Frank Miller himself helped contribute to the crisis in modern comics where the hero is eternally deconstructed when the "constructed" hero is so badly needed.
What do we need more in a world where our choices are so often gray, than a hero who has a clear and consistent morality?
Ben Fritz, at the same magazine, also writes about the critical reaction to 300 and focuses on how the critics often compare 300 to a video game. Fritz argues that the critics use of this comparison is "both artistically demeaning and substantively wrong." Fritz doesn't, and he likely should in a future article, articulate how the opposite is more often true. Videogames are becoming more like films, a statement that is both artistically complimentary and substantively correct. One need only watch a few of the interstitial sequences in Marvel Ultimate Alliance to discern that the Marvel video game is attempting to create an entertaining narrative while also allowing the player to beat hell out of Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil.
Which brings me back to the Bart article. Bart asks a couple of key questions in his editorial criticizing the critics. His central, and most important question, is whether "critics make a passing attempt to tune in to pop culture?" Bart begs the question, but he doesn't directly answer it. His editorial is more a discussion starter than an answer, though one could guess his answer might be a caveat laden "Yes...but..."
I would have liked to see Bart take a brave stand on this issue, which I don't believe is limited to this year's box office or critics. I think that it has been a problem for quite some time. I have often in conversation asked my friends, "Do you think that (insert favorite hated critic here) would like That Touch of Mink or Ben Hur if it came out today?" I usually get one of two reactions to this question. Sometimes my interlocutor agrees with me that the critic would hate both of these films, and might add that they would also dislike M because it ends advocating the execution of a child molester by "extra legal" means. Other times, the response might be that the person had never thought about that particular question. It often seems to me that critics are so fond of the French New Wave that they have rejected the idea that movies can be entertaining, they must have meaning!
With Bart not providing an answer to the question, one can be thankful that sci-fi writer extraordinaire Neal Stephenson decided to weigh in on the disconnect between critics and audience in yesterday's New York Times. His point was that the critics who negatively review the film won't even give the film a serious review, possibly because the subject matter is rooted in geekdom (at least in the case of 300). He also brings up some of the criticisms that have been thrown at the movie and dismisses them by saying, "such criticisms aren't really worth arguing with, because they are not serious in the first place -- and that is their whole point. Many critics dislike 300 so intensely that they refused to do it the honor of criticizing it as if it were a real movie." I agree. I also believe that any critic who feels this way is also practicing a bit of onanism. They are writing to read just how creatively they can mock a movie, and their only real audience is themselves. They "know" that audiences, lowest common denominator brutes that we are, will like the movie regardless of their review. So they decide to write witty and scathing responses so they can read just how well they can mock a movie. This is about as morally edifying as some critics have said they thought 300 was.
Stephenson provides a couple of key quotes from critics he finds to be particularly good examples of this type of criticism, but one in particular stood out to me.
300 is not sufficiently ironic. It takes themes (duty, loyalty, sacrifice, the preservation of Western civilization against enormous odds) too seriously to, well, be taken seriously.
As I have already pointed out, in quoting Victor Davis Hanson, "If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others." But such critics deserve more than an appeal to History as a response, as these critics exhibit one of the greatest flaws I believe a critic can have. These critics lack a love of virtue and in aesthetics this is almost unforgivable, at least in aesthetics as traditionally understood (Schiller, Kant, Hegel) and not in criticism how it is currently taught (Gramsci, Krakauer, Baudrillard). Before you flame me, it should be noted that I very much like Simulacra and Simulation and the Mirror of Production and think Benjamin's analysis in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is wonderfully insightful given YouTube etc. My point isn't that aesthetic critical discussions oughtn't include observations by the Frankfurt School and Post-Structuralists, rather that critics should also be aware of earlier aesthetic studies and their links to how aesthetics represent/affect virtue.
Nietzsche gave this kind of study a bad name, but that is because he turned the arguments on their head much like Marx did with Hegel. Of course, one should never forget the power of irony in philosophy, but that is another discussion.
These high art vs. vulgar art critics, a very Adorno-esque dichotomy, disdain both pious depictions of morality and the base comedy of films like The Wedding Crashers. Nevermind that Aristophanes has a multi-page discussion of farts and fart jokes in his play The Clouds. One word...Thunder. Just think about it. I hear that in Ancient Phrygia they used the word Phartos to describe Thunder. Most people turn off when I mention Aristophanes in a conversation, and my knowledge of his plays is much shallower than Fritz's (cinerati Fritz not Variety Fritz). Most people think I am making a high art vs. vulgar art distinction and trying to talk down to them when I am doing just the opposite. I am trying to demonstrate how even "high art" has abundant fart jokes. Don't even get me started on Shakespeare.
Back to the virtue discussion and whether 300 should be ironic. One of the classical virtues is that of thumos a kind of spritedness which combines patriotism and courage. It is the virtue that is central to the Spartan society. In fact, Spartan society might be said to value thumos over almost any other part of virtue as we understand it. Spiritedness is a powerful force in people, we like to take pride in our society and we value those who fight to defend it. That is thumos in a nutshell and that is what 300 is about. The film doesn't spend time showing us the ways that Sparta was unjust, and they were in many ways, because then the film -- and comic -- would be about Sparta. This film isn't about Sparta, it is about thumos.
Those critics who fear that the film is fascistic because of its overemphasis of thumos do have a point, but not as large a point as they believe. If the film were merely about thumos it would be true, but the films is also about freedom, equality under the law, and the need for just rulers. There is a reason that Plato devoted two dialogues toward critiquing Spartan culture. Both his Republic and The Laws present critiques of societies based solely on thumos. The "republic" of the Republic everyone tells you Plato thought was the "Just" society (though they forget to tell you how easily Plato has this society decay)? That could easily be read as a description of Sparta. And one of the key interlocutors in The Laws is a great Spartan who comes to understand that thumos and courage are only a part of Justice, the Stranger argues that Wisdom is the central component of Justice. These are not talked about in the film, but those would be the discussions to have if you wanted to criticize the film.
Instead a critic talked about how the film wasn't sufficiently ironic, as if the virtues the film advances ought not be taken seriously at all. Or that if you want them to be taken seriously you must use them ironically. This is the mentality that Roger Scruton argues against in his book on Modern Culture when he writes,
"modern producers, embarrassed by dramas that make a mockery of their way of life, decide in their turn to make a mockery of the dramas. Of course, even today, musicians and singers, responding as they must to the urgency and sincerity of the music, do their best to produce the sounds...intended. But the action is invariably caricatured, wrapped in inverted commas, and reduced to the dimensions of a television sitcom. Sarcasm and satire run riot on the stage, not because they have anything to prove or say in the shadow of this unsurpassably noble music, but because nobility has become intolerable. The producer tries to distract the audience from [the] message, and to mock every heroic gesture, lest the point of the drama should finally come home."
This is how critics are reacting to Miller's 300, they have disdain for its open admiration of nobility. That disdain must naturally result in mockery. Ironically, I have argued that Frank Miller himself helped contribute to the crisis in modern comics where the hero is eternally deconstructed when the "constructed" hero is so badly needed.
What do we need more in a world where our choices are so often gray, than a hero who has a clear and consistent morality?
Friday, March 16, 2007
If You Missed Captain America #25...Make Sure You Buy "Punisher War Journal #7"
Those of us who read the Civil War year-long event where not too shocked at the revelation of Captain America's assassination by Red Skull and Crossbones. We had read as Skull made his plans and as Fury and Cap seemed to "know" something was up.
We also noticed something else, and I'm not talking about how Winter Soldier (aka Bucky/Nomad/Cap's Sidekick) is once again on the side of the angels. In Civil War #6, and the corresponding Punisher title, Cap beats the bejeezus crap out of good ol' Frank Castle (that's the Punisher for you non-marvelites out there) and Frank never raises a finger. Cap's his icon and if his icon wants to beat the bejeezus out of him, Frank will let him.
After this sound thrashing a comment is made to Cap that the Punisher is "the same man" as Cap, but from a "different war." Hmm...what could be going on here? Cap has gone rogue (committing treason)in order to favor the FREEDOM of individuals to be vigilantes over the SAFETY of the communities they live in, but he thinks that Punisher's type of vigilantism goes to far. Yet the Punisher idolizes Cap. Something is being said here.
Cap takes off his mask and discards it as he turns himself into the authorities. Who should pick up the discarded mask? You guessed it... the Punisher! So now in issue 7 of Punisher War Journal we will get to see Frank Castle as never before.
Will Frank Castle be the new Captain America?
Sounds like a What If?! doesn't it?
We also noticed something else, and I'm not talking about how Winter Soldier (aka Bucky/Nomad/Cap's Sidekick) is once again on the side of the angels. In Civil War #6, and the corresponding Punisher title, Cap beats the bejeezus crap out of good ol' Frank Castle (that's the Punisher for you non-marvelites out there) and Frank never raises a finger. Cap's his icon and if his icon wants to beat the bejeezus out of him, Frank will let him.
After this sound thrashing a comment is made to Cap that the Punisher is "the same man" as Cap, but from a "different war." Hmm...what could be going on here? Cap has gone rogue (committing treason)in order to favor the FREEDOM of individuals to be vigilantes over the SAFETY of the communities they live in, but he thinks that Punisher's type of vigilantism goes to far. Yet the Punisher idolizes Cap. Something is being said here.
For those of you who think I am being unfair to Cap in my description that he's being some bizarre Objectivist who favors FREEDOM over SAFETY. Take a look at the following images from Civil War #7.
This first image shows Cap being tackled by FIREMEN, POLICE OFFICERS, and PARAMEDICS just as he's about to brain Iron Man. That's right, Captain America (a superhero) is being stopped from committing murder by the real heroes of 9/11, a parallel being intentionally made in the panel.
Cap then threatens to harm these real heroes, who tell him he has to be kidding if he thinks his rejection of the Superhero Registration Act is anything other than treason. His little Civil War has caused a great deal of damage.
We then see a destroyed Manhattan, who only Iron Man thought to evacuate in order to protect innocents.
Finally Cap gets it, he understands what his Civil War has done. He has become more like the Punisher than the iconic hero who has worked FOR THE GOVERNMENT (Except for the time when he quit in the Post-Watergate era, and when he was fired by George H. W. Bush. What is it with Cap quitting, getting fired, and getting murdered and Republican Presidents?). Cap realizes that he has valued FREEDOM so highly that he has nearly destroyed that which he seeks to defend.
Cap takes off his mask and discards it as he turns himself into the authorities. Who should pick up the discarded mask? You guessed it... the Punisher! So now in issue 7 of Punisher War Journal we will get to see Frank Castle as never before.
Will Frank Castle be the new Captain America?
Sounds like a What If?! doesn't it?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
New Pulp Compilation to Be Released by Hero Games
Fans of PULP ACTION have had much to celebrate in the past few years. There have been the very entertaining Shadowmen pastiches to French Pulp characters, which included DISContent's own Bill Cunningham as an author. There are the new Nostalgia Ventures editions of Doc Savage and The Shadow stories. Last year we were able to read The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. And let us not forget the pulp inspired work of young Science Fiction authors like Chris Roberson whose Adventure compilation and Paragaea novel embodied the pulp spirit.
This year looks to continue the trend, giving pulp addicts more of what they desire. Even game publishers are jumping into the mix, and no I'm not talking about Tannhäuser (though it certainly deserves mentioning). According to gamingreport, HERO GAMES is releasing a compilation of pulp adventure stories in early April. In the press release below, you may notice three things. First, it contains a previously unpublished story by Doc Savage's own Lester Dent. Second, it contains an original story by Hugh B. Cave. But third, and most importantly, it features a story by William Messner-Loebs.
Why is Bill Messner-Loebs' inclusion the most important feature of the book? Thanks for asking. As you may or may not know, William Messner-Loebs is a pretty acclaimed comic book writer who for inexplicable reasons found himself without employment in the industry (and pretty much at all) from 2000 to 2005. During his period of unemployment, he lost his house and was forced to spend the next four years alternating between shelters and hotels for shelter. Please read the hyperlink above, it's a very moving story. Next time you think comic book creators are drinking mojitos in the Caribbean mocking fanboys, read this very sobering tale of how close some freelancers are to poverty.
Oh, and buy Bill Messner-Loeb books, he really is one of the better writers in the business. I loved what he did on The Flash and unlike Greg Rucka...Loeb's Wonder Woman was actually fun to read.
This year looks to continue the trend, giving pulp addicts more of what they desire. Even game publishers are jumping into the mix, and no I'm not talking about Tannhäuser (though it certainly deserves mentioning). According to gamingreport, HERO GAMES is releasing a compilation of pulp adventure stories in early April. In the press release below, you may notice three things. First, it contains a previously unpublished story by Doc Savage's own Lester Dent. Second, it contains an original story by Hugh B. Cave. But third, and most importantly, it features a story by William Messner-Loebs.
Why is Bill Messner-Loebs' inclusion the most important feature of the book? Thanks for asking. As you may or may not know, William Messner-Loebs is a pretty acclaimed comic book writer who for inexplicable reasons found himself without employment in the industry (and pretty much at all) from 2000 to 2005. During his period of unemployment, he lost his house and was forced to spend the next four years alternating between shelters and hotels for shelter. Please read the hyperlink above, it's a very moving story. Next time you think comic book creators are drinking mojitos in the Caribbean mocking fanboys, read this very sobering tale of how close some freelancers are to poverty.
Oh, and buy Bill Messner-Loeb books, he really is one of the better writers in the business. I loved what he did on The Flash and unlike Greg Rucka...Loeb's Wonder Woman was actually fun to read.
Hero Games' first foray into fiction will finally hit stores in early April. Lost jungle temples, mysterious crime-busters, gallant air aces, and unspeakable cosmic horrors share the spotlight in this anthology of all-original adventure, suspense, and horror tales by such masters of the fantastic as Robert Weinberg, Ed Greenwood, Robin D. Laws, Richard Dansky, and David Niall Wilson. Astounding Hero Tales also boasts a previously unpublished weird mystery by Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage, and a foreword and original dark crime yarn by legendary pulp veteran Hugh B. Cave.
ASTOUNDING HERO TALES
Edited by James Lowder
Hero Games
320 page trade paperback; $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-58366-060-7
Hugh B. Cave — Foreword
Lester Dent — “Death was Silent"
Will Murray — “The Mask of Kukulcan”
Steve Melisi — “Two-Fisted Crookback”
William Messner-Loebs — “Wolf Train West”
Steve Eller — “Godmother”
Richard Dansky — “Missing Pages”
John Helfers — “Running Thunder”
Patricia Lee Macomber — “Playback”
Darrell Schweitzer — “A Lost City of the Jungle”
Ed Greenwood — “It Came From the Swamp”
David Niall Wilson — “Slide Home”
John Pelan — “Out West”
Thomas M. Reid — “Bandit Gold”
Robert Weinberg — “Kiss Me Deadly”
Robin D. Laws — “The Forgotten Man”
Hugh B. Cave — “House of Shadows”
Award-winning author and editor James Lowder has helmed original fiction anthologies for TSR (Realms of Valor), Green Knight Publishing (The Doom of Camelot), Eden Studios (The Book of All Flesh), and Guardians of Order (Path of the Bold).
Monday, March 12, 2007
300: An Inspiring Orator's Tale
Imagine if you will the windswept plain of Plataea in 479 BC. Standing beside you are 5,000 of your fellow Spartiates, with accompanying perioeci and helots providing logistical support. You, along with the survivors of a sacked and burned Athens and soldiers from across Greece, a total force of 110,000 troops. 38,000 of these troops are the famous Greek hoplites named for the heavy bronze coated shield they wield in battle, the heavily armored hoplite is the ancient world's equivalent of a tank. Your army is led by Pausanias, regent of Sparta whose uncle died almost a year ago at the famous battle of Thermopylae. You face a force of 300,000 Persians. Your hoplites and the phalanx they fight in, even its pre-Epaminondas design, is the most efficient "heavy armor" strategy yet invented and a huge technological advantage against the Persians. This force, the largest organized Spartan army to date, has come to finally remove Xerxes from the lands of Greece and make it so that Persia will never again wage war on the West.
Two things weigh heavy upon your mind. First, you are outnumbered and your elite forces (which include Thespians) are few in number. Second, while Athens has burned to the ground, your 8,000 Athenian allies brag about their victory at Salamis where their oarsmen were responsible for the annihilation of Xerxes' fleet. They are the reason so "few" Persians stand on the field of battle to date. Sparta's only role in this Persian war so far has been defeat. You wonder if even you and your noble Spartiates can win the day.
A man steps forward, Dilios (historically Aristodemos), a survivor of Thermopylae. Dilios, a man who some say fled Thermopylae and others say was sent as a messenger by Leonidas, begins to weave his tale of the Battle of Thermopylae, a tale meant to inspire the demoralized Spartans. Spartans who have lost a king and witnessed their Greek rival achieve a huge victory. Spartans who need a legend to inspire them.
Thus begins Frank Miller's, and Zack Snyder's, 300, a graphic novel and movie portraying the fantastic tale that Dilios weaves for his fellow Spartiates as they prepare to battle at Plataea.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in reviewing 300, criticizes both the look and the accuracy of the film, especially its dialogue.
About the costuming, which is very different than the bronze armored hoplites of history, he says that "'the fiercest soldiers the world has ever known' look like an especially fit group of Santa Monica lifeguards taking part in the Doo-Dah parade." In doing so, Turan demonstrates an ignorance of the inspiration for the look of the Spartans. Frank Miller, and Zack Snyder, based the appearance of the Spartan warriors on Jacques Louis David's portrait of Leonidas and not on Herodotus.
This was an intentional choice. It makes for a more cinematic tale, both for the viewing audience and Dilios' listening audience as Plataea. The figures move from the historical into the mythical.
The dialogue and portrayal of the combat are motivated by similar desires. The dialogue comes mostly from Plutarch, Herodotus, and Aeschylus. It may sound trite to a person who lacks thumos, as Turan most certainly does, to hear that Freedom "must be bought by blood." But to a culture based on Thumos, almost to the exclusion of other aspects of virtue, the words would be received naturally. As Victor Davis Hanson, classicist and author of The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece
wrote, "If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others."
It is important to remember that this most recent telling of the Battle of Thermopylae is presented as a rallying speech by Dilios, and thus is a legendary representation of the battle. Gone are accurate depictions of the phalanx, which would be far more gruesome to watch than Snyder's cartoon version of the violence. In the film, it at least appears that the Persians' tactics had some effect against the Greek hoplite. The reality is far grimmer. Before Ephialtes revealed the goat track to the Persians and allowed them to surround the Greeks, the Persians were technologically outclassed. Especially when you consider the historic helot and perioeci support, with requisite bows and javelins, the phalanx would have behind them. Rooting for the Spartans represented realistically is like rooting for the Turkish machine gunners in the movie Gallipoli. There may be patriotic reasons to do so, but watching that kind of slaughter wouldn't be very satisfying.
One must also ask oneself when viewing the film, "what interest does Dilios have in discussing the Thebans and Thespians who supported the Spartans in defending Thermopylae?" Most certainly, he wants to mention the Arcadians who fled the battle. But the Thespians stayed for glory, and the Thebans might have been forced by Leonidas to stay. Discussing either the Thespians or the Thebans takes kudos away from the Spartiate warriors who died and thus makes for a less inspirational speech at Plataea, which is what the film narrative represents.
As a depiction of an inspirational speech preparing soldiers for battle, 300 is a wonderful film. It is filled with mythic beasts, unbeatable foes, and a 10 foot tall godlike enemy. As a representation of history, it is correct in tone but lacks verisimilitude. To once again quote Hanson, "purists must remember that 300 seeks to bring a comic book, not Herodotus, to the screen. Yet, despite the need to adhere to the conventions of Frank Miller’s graphics and plot — every bit as formalized as the protocols of classical Athenian drama or Japanese Kabuki theater — the main story from our ancient Greek historians is still there." The audience is meant to watch a myth and not a history.
Besides, as I mentioned above, a historical representation would be off putting to all but the most bloodthirsty among us. It is one thing to feed the primal spiritedness, thumos, of the everyman. It is quite another to revel in slaughter, and what the Spartans (and then the Persians) did was slaughter for as long as they could. Like the idea of watching a realistic depiction of Roman warfare, I'll leave realistic depictions of the phalanx to films that wish to discourage war rather than one meant to praise courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
Two things weigh heavy upon your mind. First, you are outnumbered and your elite forces (which include Thespians) are few in number. Second, while Athens has burned to the ground, your 8,000 Athenian allies brag about their victory at Salamis where their oarsmen were responsible for the annihilation of Xerxes' fleet. They are the reason so "few" Persians stand on the field of battle to date. Sparta's only role in this Persian war so far has been defeat. You wonder if even you and your noble Spartiates can win the day.
A man steps forward, Dilios (historically Aristodemos), a survivor of Thermopylae. Dilios, a man who some say fled Thermopylae and others say was sent as a messenger by Leonidas, begins to weave his tale of the Battle of Thermopylae, a tale meant to inspire the demoralized Spartans. Spartans who have lost a king and witnessed their Greek rival achieve a huge victory. Spartans who need a legend to inspire them.
Thus begins Frank Miller's, and Zack Snyder's, 300, a graphic novel and movie portraying the fantastic tale that Dilios weaves for his fellow Spartiates as they prepare to battle at Plataea.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in reviewing 300, criticizes both the look and the accuracy of the film, especially its dialogue.
About the costuming, which is very different than the bronze armored hoplites of history, he says that "'the fiercest soldiers the world has ever known' look like an especially fit group of Santa Monica lifeguards taking part in the Doo-Dah parade." In doing so, Turan demonstrates an ignorance of the inspiration for the look of the Spartans. Frank Miller, and Zack Snyder, based the appearance of the Spartan warriors on Jacques Louis David's portrait of Leonidas and not on Herodotus.
This was an intentional choice. It makes for a more cinematic tale, both for the viewing audience and Dilios' listening audience as Plataea. The figures move from the historical into the mythical.
The dialogue and portrayal of the combat are motivated by similar desires. The dialogue comes mostly from Plutarch, Herodotus, and Aeschylus. It may sound trite to a person who lacks thumos, as Turan most certainly does, to hear that Freedom "must be bought by blood." But to a culture based on Thumos, almost to the exclusion of other aspects of virtue, the words would be received naturally. As Victor Davis Hanson, classicist and author of The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece
wrote, "If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others."It is important to remember that this most recent telling of the Battle of Thermopylae is presented as a rallying speech by Dilios, and thus is a legendary representation of the battle. Gone are accurate depictions of the phalanx, which would be far more gruesome to watch than Snyder's cartoon version of the violence. In the film, it at least appears that the Persians' tactics had some effect against the Greek hoplite. The reality is far grimmer. Before Ephialtes revealed the goat track to the Persians and allowed them to surround the Greeks, the Persians were technologically outclassed. Especially when you consider the historic helot and perioeci support, with requisite bows and javelins, the phalanx would have behind them. Rooting for the Spartans represented realistically is like rooting for the Turkish machine gunners in the movie Gallipoli. There may be patriotic reasons to do so, but watching that kind of slaughter wouldn't be very satisfying.
One must also ask oneself when viewing the film, "what interest does Dilios have in discussing the Thebans and Thespians who supported the Spartans in defending Thermopylae?" Most certainly, he wants to mention the Arcadians who fled the battle. But the Thespians stayed for glory, and the Thebans might have been forced by Leonidas to stay. Discussing either the Thespians or the Thebans takes kudos away from the Spartiate warriors who died and thus makes for a less inspirational speech at Plataea, which is what the film narrative represents.
As a depiction of an inspirational speech preparing soldiers for battle, 300 is a wonderful film. It is filled with mythic beasts, unbeatable foes, and a 10 foot tall godlike enemy. As a representation of history, it is correct in tone but lacks verisimilitude. To once again quote Hanson, "purists must remember that 300 seeks to bring a comic book, not Herodotus, to the screen. Yet, despite the need to adhere to the conventions of Frank Miller’s graphics and plot — every bit as formalized as the protocols of classical Athenian drama or Japanese Kabuki theater — the main story from our ancient Greek historians is still there." The audience is meant to watch a myth and not a history.
Besides, as I mentioned above, a historical representation would be off putting to all but the most bloodthirsty among us. It is one thing to feed the primal spiritedness, thumos, of the everyman. It is quite another to revel in slaughter, and what the Spartans (and then the Persians) did was slaughter for as long as they could. Like the idea of watching a realistic depiction of Roman warfare, I'll leave realistic depictions of the phalanx to films that wish to discourage war rather than one meant to praise courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
300
I went to see 300 on opening night. It is a testosterone fest to be sure. Lots of action; however, if you are looking for historical accuracy look elsewhere. I did not read the graphic novel by Frank Miller of the same title and I am sure it is just as exciting and visually thrilling as the movie, but a lot of liberties are taken with the story. To be sure, I do not think the greek phalanx functioned in the way depicted in the movie - that being line up defensively until you engage the enemy and then spin and trash in circles. The Spartans wore a good deal of bronze armor and were not the naked guys with cloaks depicted in the movie. Also, the combined force was somewhere in around 3 to 4 thousand (300 were spartans). It was visually stimulating but probably not the way it happened.
That is really my only real complaint. If there was no real battle at Thermoplae in 480 B.C.E., I would have no complaints at all. It was a fun movie, lots of interesting soldiers, a goat smoking a pipe, body piercing Xerxes who was a bit of giant, archers that did in fact blot out the sun (a nice visual). It is a great underdog story, they are all killed to a man but it was the price of duty and honor. I still say see it, just forgive the historical short comings.
At the theatre I went to some folks were upset that Leonidas did not kill Xerxes in the end. I think that would have stretched history a bit too far.
That is really my only real complaint. If there was no real battle at Thermoplae in 480 B.C.E., I would have no complaints at all. It was a fun movie, lots of interesting soldiers, a goat smoking a pipe, body piercing Xerxes who was a bit of giant, archers that did in fact blot out the sun (a nice visual). It is a great underdog story, they are all killed to a man but it was the price of duty and honor. I still say see it, just forgive the historical short comings.
At the theatre I went to some folks were upset that Leonidas did not kill Xerxes in the end. I think that would have stretched history a bit too far.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Save the Cheerleader, Save Cinderella?
Okay, I admit it...I have recently acquired a huge crush on Hayden Panettiere. I had seen her in a couple of movies, Raising Helen and Remember the Titans, but she never really jumped off the screen at me. This is probably because she was pretty much an infant, in my eyes, in these films. But ever since I saw her on Heroes, I have been watching a lot of movies that I would otherwise avoid just to see her cute and quirky smile. I am not alone in my willingness to pursue Panettiere movies, my wife is more than happy to watch these odd pieces of entertainment. She likes Hayden in Heroes as well.
A couple of the movies have been surprisingly entertaining. I found out that I actually liked Ice Princess, I mean I liked it a lot. It pulled my heart strings. It's right up there with The Cutting Edge as an "ice skating movie I am willing to watch." I won't watch ice skating with you, but if you are in the mood for either of these movies and I am in. I won't watch NASCAR either, but will watch The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Racing Stripes wasn't that bad, and I already love the Seven Samurai-esque A Bug's Life.
Not all of the films have been fun though. Bring It On: All or Nothing was hard to slog through. I don't even know what I was watching. It was like watching three movies at the same time, jumbled together at random. It just freaked me out.
A couple of the movies have been surprisingly entertaining. I found out that I actually liked Ice Princess, I mean I liked it a lot. It pulled my heart strings. It's right up there with The Cutting Edge as an "ice skating movie I am willing to watch." I won't watch ice skating with you, but if you are in the mood for either of these movies and I am in. I won't watch NASCAR either, but will watch The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Racing Stripes wasn't that bad, and I already love the Seven Samurai-esque A Bug's Life.
Not all of the films have been fun though. Bring It On: All or Nothing was hard to slog through. I don't even know what I was watching. It was like watching three movies at the same time, jumbled together at random. It just freaked me out.
That said, I cannot believe just how much this young almost-woman (she is still 17) works. Now I find a Cinderella III video where she is singing! What is a poor boy to do?
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
John Lasseter, 2D, and Glendalienism
Anne Thompson at the Hollywood Reporter, until tomorrow when she takes over Variety.com, has a link to a very good New York Times story about the future of Disney animation. The Times story is simultaneously informative about the "business" while highlighting the narrow-sighted ignorance of East Coast bias. As Kate at Fishbowl LA points out, New Yorkers don't often have the familiarity one would expect. Sometimes I think New Yorkers shouldn't be allowed to write about Los Angeles.
Below is the comment I wrote about the article, which mentions that Disney Animation is going to have offices in Glendale.
Below is the comment I wrote about the article, which mentions that Disney Animation is going to have offices in Glendale.
Overall, this is a very good article, which gives me yet another reason to love living in Glendale. It's great being a Glendalien.
On a side note though, it continually amazes me how articles point to 2002's Treasure Planet and its failure as a symptom of how audiences lost interest in 2D animation. Rarely is it mentioned that 2002's Lilo and Stitch was a significant success for the studio. It cost less to make ($80 million to over $120 million) and made considerably more in the box office ($145 million domestic to $38.1 domestic). Lilo and Stitch was not only 2D, but it featured beautiful watercolor background paintings. It was a true 2D experience, where Treasure Planet was more 2-1/2D with more computer modeling etc.
What is often lost in analysis is how Treasure Planet suffers from what I call, Titan A.E. syndrome (a 2000 box office flop). This syndrome is a combination of two things. First, forgetting just who the audience is for a typical (i.e. non-ultra-vi film as Alex might say) American animated film. Second, is the lack of a well written/conveyed narrative. Pixar films work because they are well written. Treasure Planet may have been Treasure Island, but it made the protagonist a whiner and added "extreme" sports elements in an attempt to attract 12-14 year old boys.
Rule #1 in animation/comics/entertainment is "if you want 12-14 year old boys to desire your product, make it for 18 year olds." Atlantis, which featured awe-inspiring designs by Mike Mignola, was a flop for the same reason. 12-14 year old boys want to watch Full Metal Alchemist, Heavy Metal, and Samurai Champloo, they don't want Treasure Planet or its ilk.
Pixar's movies tried to appeal to all audiences, either through humor, nostalgia, or pathos. The nostalgia of the collector (and its dark side) are a wonderful part of Toy Story 2. The pathos of "Kitty!" at the end of Monsters Inc. is heartbreaking, and the humorous adaptation of The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai that is A Bug's Life is wonderful.
It is the writing and quality that bring people to the theater again and again. I can only think of one well written animated film that failed and that was released with almost no fanfare, Iron Giant.
Friday, February 23, 2007
A Quick Glance Around the Geek-o-Sphere
According to Board Game News, Twilight Creations' Zombie Town has cleared customs and is ready to ship.
Steve Meretzky has an article up on what we can learn from board games.
Variety's Tom McLean gets ready for New York Comic Con. He also points out that "Graphic Novels" are the most popular format in the medium.
SciFiChick has a list of SciFI "One Hit Wonders."
In Tanzania a Bat Demon is blamed for sexual assaults.
Twilight Creations is a company with a seemingly singular obsession with Zombies. I own quite a few of their games and am especially fond of When Darkness Comes which combines Board game quickness with some Roleplaying elements.
Steve Meretzky has an article up on what we can learn from board games.
The article is reminiscent of some of the comments in Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for Youand John Derbyshire's surprised comments regarding Age of Empires. I love it when curmudgeons find value in "pop" things.
Variety's Tom McLean gets ready for New York Comic Con. He also points out that "Graphic Novels" are the most popular format in the medium.
I don't always like the use of the term "graphic novel" to describe collections of the periodicals. To me Blanketswas a graphic novel, Identity Crisis (DC Comics)
is a collection of periodicals (a "trade" if you will), so is Watchmen
for that matter.
SciFiChick has a list of SciFI "One Hit Wonders."
I may not agree that all of these are wonders, but it is a good list of thirteen shows that never got past season one.
In Tanzania a Bat Demon is blamed for sexual assaults.
Can I really add anything to that? Go Zotzilaha!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Robocop vs. Terminator
Buck, over at No Blasters, has embedded an awesome Robocop vs. Terminator video and provided links to two follow up vids.
Oprah: Huckster or Dupe?
Brian Lowry, television critic over at Variety, discusses Oprah Winfrey's inclusion of psychics, self-help gurus, and other snake oil salesmen in today's column. Mr. Lowry attacks the soft, approving, and non-critical way that Oprah treats theses guests. He is essentially arguing that, given the high esteem with which people view her, she should be skeptical of those who offer her audience "pat answers" to potentially difficult problems.
No argument from me, but Lowry doesn't discuss Larry King's obsession with both psychics and space aliens. No one can deny Larry King's influence, he dominates his particular niche, yet Lowry doesn't use his interviews as a comparison. King, too, presents people like Sylvia Brown with little to no critical analysis. When King did have James Randi on in 2001, Randi challenged Brown to prove her abilities. Since 2001, Brown has been back on Larry King Live. To my knowledge, James Randi has not. Even though Sylvia Brown has never followed through on her promise to prove her abilities.
Why do those who are in trusted media positions so readily embrace people who are taking advantage of other peoples sorrow? Is Oprah, or for that matter Larry King, a huckster or a dupe?
No argument from me, but Lowry doesn't discuss Larry King's obsession with both psychics and space aliens. No one can deny Larry King's influence, he dominates his particular niche, yet Lowry doesn't use his interviews as a comparison. King, too, presents people like Sylvia Brown with little to no critical analysis. When King did have James Randi on in 2001, Randi challenged Brown to prove her abilities. Since 2001, Brown has been back on Larry King Live. To my knowledge, James Randi has not. Even though Sylvia Brown has never followed through on her promise to prove her abilities.
Why do those who are in trusted media positions so readily embrace people who are taking advantage of other peoples sorrow? Is Oprah, or for that matter Larry King, a huckster or a dupe?
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Preparing for 300
When it comes to historical dramas, one often wonders what the thoughts of scholars of a particular subject think about films depicting that subject. When watching a film about the Crusades, one wants to know what medieval scholars think about the film as a whole product.
No one expects historical dramas to be perfectly accurate, but one does expect them to capture the feel of the times and to be compelling stories. There are exceptions to the above statement, especially with regard to biblical films where some people do expect perfect accuracy, but by and large the audience wants to know that a film is entertaining and not a mockery of the era it is representing. Let me give what I think are two good examples. Kingdom of Heaven has many historical inaccuracies, but the more I watch the film, the more I am drawn in by the sense of the film and its imagery. The film genuinely transports me away from the present and into a faux version of the Crusades. Timeline has an almost opposite effect. As much as I enjoyed Crichton's book which provided the foundation for the movie version, I dislike the movie more each time I view it. Sadly, I have seen this film around six times because I have friends who enjoy the movie, and friendship is more important than agreeing whether a film is good or not. For me, Timeline's problem is that the film completely ignores the underlying argument of the book, chiefly that the "Dark Ages" weren't anywhere near as dark as the Renaissance claimed it to be. Every time I see Timeline, I keep asking myself, "Where did the $80 million go?"
Next month sees the opening of Frank Miller's 300 on the big screen. The Battle of Thermopylae has been one of my favorite subjects to read about/watch for a long time. My first exposure to the famous battle was Rudolph Maté's 1962 classic, The 300 Spartans. I saw it at a tender young age when I was cutting my teeth on all kinds of Sword and Sandal films, most of which had some kind of supernatural element. The 300 Spartans was different. The heroes didn't win the day, they died heroically. I have watched the film numerous times since and, while it does seem dated, it inspires me every time. I guess you can't go too wrong as long as you include the "big lines" from Herodotus.
I am excited about Frank Miller's version. The graphic novel was good, though there was significant artistic license. The previews look beautiful and Gerard Butler, who was the best thing about Timeline, looks to be a very good Leonidas. Being excited, I did what I usually do and surfed the internet searching for speculation by scholars familiar with the subject. I was pleasantly surprised to find more than mere speculation. Frank Miller, and film director Zack Snyder, gave classical scholar Victor Davis Hanson a preview screening. Both claim to be big fans of VDH, a fandom which includes me.
In an interview with Rebecca Murray, Zack and Frank were quoted as saying:
Zack Snyder: He’s a frickin genius. He’s a Greek historian and we showed him the movie because I wanted him to write a forward to the Making Of book. I was a little nervous to be honest, because I wasn’t sure how he’d react. And Kurt Johnstad who he and I worked on the screenplay together, he actually also is a huge fan of Victor Davis Hanson. He went up to show him the movie at his house.
Frank Miller: I mean, jumping back to Victor Davis Hanson, it was right in the middle of maybe our first conversation that Zack brought his name up, not realizing that he was citing my favorite non-fiction writer in the whole universe.
When I read these words, my excitement increased. But it was upon reading Victor Davis Hanson's review of 300 that the film went from "must see" to "will murder to see." VDH gives the film a glowing review over at his site (though it should be noted that the graphic novel is being released by Dark Horse and not Black Horse). He states in the summary of his review, "most importantly, 300 preserves the spirit of the Thermopylae story. The Spartans, quoting lines known from Herodotus and themes from the lyric poets, profess unswerving loyalty to a free Greece. They will never kow-tow to the Persians, preferring to die on their feet than live on their knees."
I can't wait.
Jet Li to Play Mummy in Mummy 3
Prepare to witness the wrath of Jet Li and a terracotta when the son of Rick and Evelyn O'Connell unearths more than he bargained for in The Mummy 3. According to Stax at IGN, Jet Li will star in the upcoming Mummy sequel which will focus on the child of the adventurers from the first film.
When I first read there was going to be a new Mummy movie, I was a little concerned. I didn't like the second one as much as the first. In fact, I was becoming wary of all the Universal horror remakes after Van Helsing, but getting Jet Li to star in a movie directed by the director of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is enough geek-nip to overcome any fears I might have.
We're talking Jet Li here!! And Mummies!! And terracotta warriors!! And the Forbidden City!!
Hat tip to Anne Thompson of the Hollywood Reporter.
All we need are Ninjas, Pirates, Dinosaurs, and Giant Robots to make a film completely invincible to any criticism. Ooh, ooh, and cowboys...zombies...
Just so long as there are no mummy-pygmies...
When I first read there was going to be a new Mummy movie, I was a little concerned. I didn't like the second one as much as the first. In fact, I was becoming wary of all the Universal horror remakes after Van Helsing, but getting Jet Li to star in a movie directed by the director of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is enough geek-nip to overcome any fears I might have.
We're talking Jet Li here!! And Mummies!! And terracotta warriors!! And the Forbidden City!!
Hat tip to Anne Thompson of the Hollywood Reporter.
All we need are Ninjas, Pirates, Dinosaurs, and Giant Robots to make a film completely invincible to any criticism. Ooh, ooh, and cowboys...zombies...
Just so long as there are no mummy-pygmies...
Friday, February 16, 2007
Piracy and the Los Angeles Economy
According to the Los Angeles Times, there are about 100,000 people in the Los Angeles area who might like to have words with Cory Doctorow if they knew where to find him.
According to a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp, piracy costs 100,000 people across 9 industries there jobs because of lost sales in 2005. I know that Mr. Doctorow thinks that DRM and other measures to protect that antiquated idea known as copyright are evil. God forbid you actually claim ownership of something you create. You see once you make something it belongs to the collective interwebconsciousness and not to you. You are merely a part of the Species Being and once you accept that your concepts of individual rights are mere selfishness made manifest you will be as free from slavery as your pirated creations are from cost.
If only all 100,000 of these people knew that Cory was a visiting professor at USC. They could just march to campus to protest his opinions. Of course, his employment at the University (and as editor of Boing Boing) means that piracy only costs 99,999 jobs. He is, after all, employed to advocate piracy.
I doubt that any of the 100,000 people who are unemployed because "information wants to be free yo" will bother to march to USC in protest. That would require them to know who he is.
According to a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp, piracy costs 100,000 people across 9 industries there jobs because of lost sales in 2005. I know that Mr. Doctorow thinks that DRM and other measures to protect that antiquated idea known as copyright are evil. God forbid you actually claim ownership of something you create. You see once you make something it belongs to the collective interwebconsciousness and not to you. You are merely a part of the Species Being and once you accept that your concepts of individual rights are mere selfishness made manifest you will be as free from slavery as your pirated creations are from cost.
If only all 100,000 of these people knew that Cory was a visiting professor at USC. They could just march to campus to protest his opinions. Of course, his employment at the University (and as editor of Boing Boing) means that piracy only costs 99,999 jobs. He is, after all, employed to advocate piracy.
I doubt that any of the 100,000 people who are unemployed because "information wants to be free yo" will bother to march to USC in protest. That would require them to know who he is.
Lichtenstein Revisted
When it comes to the Pop Art of Roy Lichtenstein, I am of two minds. One the one hand, I like the fact that he demonstrated that the draftsmanship of comic books was worthy of being considered Art. On the other hand, his demonstrations pretty much had the exact opposite effect when it comes to how the art world looked at comics. Most people look at a Lichtenstein and they thing that he elevated the image by making the common into the grand, the low into the high. Personally, I think those people are absolutely nuts.
I like the Lichtenstein comic series, but his artwork is actually inferior in craft to the ones that he lifted whole cloth from the pages of the "funny mags." Alex Beam of the Boston Globe has an article discussing whether or not Lichtenstein was a Creator or a Copycat that was written last October. It's a good read, and it direct you to David Barsalou's enlightening site "Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein." At the deconstructing site, Barsalou displays many of Lichtenstein's most famous pieces next to the comic pages they are "inspired" by. I'll leave it to you to decide whether the images are copycats or not, but I will say that the original version of "Kiss II" with the weird "emanation" lines is far more moving aesthetically than the "explosion" that Lichtenstein gives it and that the different backgrounds (in that one particular image) changes the meaning significantly. The Lichtenstein Foundation adamantly asserts that Lichtenstein added considerable value and alterations to the images that inspired him, but that's their job.
I am reminded of a conversation in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol where Andy is discussing Art with "Damian."
I just love the fact that he says that "artists" don't take risks, Evel Knievel takes risks. Though I imagine, if you pressed him, Warhol might say that Knievel also made art. But that is another discussion. I just wanted to highlight the Evel Knievel quote because I am going to see Ghost Rider this evening and Johnny Blaze is nothing if not inspired by Evel Knievel...but with a flaming head.
I like the Lichtenstein comic series, but his artwork is actually inferior in craft to the ones that he lifted whole cloth from the pages of the "funny mags." Alex Beam of the Boston Globe has an article discussing whether or not Lichtenstein was a Creator or a Copycat that was written last October. It's a good read, and it direct you to David Barsalou's enlightening site "Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein." At the deconstructing site, Barsalou displays many of Lichtenstein's most famous pieces next to the comic pages they are "inspired" by. I'll leave it to you to decide whether the images are copycats or not, but I will say that the original version of "Kiss II" with the weird "emanation" lines is far more moving aesthetically than the "explosion" that Lichtenstein gives it and that the different backgrounds (in that one particular image) changes the meaning significantly. The Lichtenstein Foundation adamantly asserts that Lichtenstein added considerable value and alterations to the images that inspired him, but that's their job.
I am reminded of a conversation in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol where Andy is discussing Art with "Damian."
Damian: "I guess you have to take a lot of risks to be famous in any field...For instance, to be an artist."
Andy: "Any time you slice a salami, you take a risk."
Damian: "No, but I mean for an artist--"
Andy: "An artist!!...What do you mean, an 'artist'? An artist can slice a salami, too! Why do people think artists are special? It's just another job."
Damian: "But to become a famous artist you had to do something that was 'different.' And if it was 'different,' then it means you took a risk, because the critics could have said it was bad instead of good."
Andy: "In the first place,...they usually did say it was bad. And in the second place, if you say that artists take 'risks,' it's insulting to the men who landed on D-Day, to stunt men, to baby-sitters, to Evel Knievel, to stepdaughters, to coal miners, and to hitch-hikers, because they're the ones who really know what 'risks' are."
I just love the fact that he says that "artists" don't take risks, Evel Knievel takes risks. Though I imagine, if you pressed him, Warhol might say that Knievel also made art. But that is another discussion. I just wanted to highlight the Evel Knievel quote because I am going to see Ghost Rider this evening and Johnny Blaze is nothing if not inspired by Evel Knievel...but with a flaming head.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Spend Some Quick Quality Time with "The Dude"
Guy With the Glasses has put together quite a few "5 Second Movies," including one of my favorite comic riffs on noir The Big Lebowski. Without further ado, here's the dude's tale in 5 seconds. Okay, it's really around 20 seconds, but the title claims 5. Sadly, the abridged version lacks the nihilists.
You can watch more of Guy With the Glasses' 5 second mania over at his site on You Tube.
You can watch more of Guy With the Glasses' 5 second mania over at his site on You Tube.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
An Edgy Argument for Aesthetics
After reading Hal Duncan's recent apology for aesthetics I am reminded that two of the major writers in the field were moral philosophers as well. Both Kant and Hegel wrote about and discussed aesthetics, Kant made deep connections between aesthetics and the moral imperative. One might even notice that Edmund Burke was a dabbler in this particular field.
Conservatism and Anna Nicole Smith
When one thinks of how conservatives might react to the recent death of pop culture figure Anna Nicole Smith, one imagines many different reactions. The first that jumps to mind is a Thomas Hibbs-ian commentary on how Anna Nicole's life was a perfect example of how nihilism manifests in popular culture and how any obsession with Anna Nicole is an obsession with the void. One might also imagine what Rod Dreher of National Review might write given the less than kind things he has had to say about her in the past.
What one might not expect is that they might find a heart-felt eulogy in the pages of the Weekly Standard. This is especially true given the way that the media writ large has been treating her recent death. It is an odd thing to see what is often private sorrow, turned into public spectacle.
My favorite line from the piece, written by comedian Larry Miller, "We all have a lot to be forgiven, because, you see, like it or not, we're all part of the mob. No: We are the mob."
His description reminds me of other portrayals of the media consuming mob. One can only wonder where Homer Simpson and his large hands are. That's not a cartoon reference for those wondering.
What one might not expect is that they might find a heart-felt eulogy in the pages of the Weekly Standard. This is especially true given the way that the media writ large has been treating her recent death. It is an odd thing to see what is often private sorrow, turned into public spectacle.
My favorite line from the piece, written by comedian Larry Miller, "We all have a lot to be forgiven, because, you see, like it or not, we're all part of the mob. No: We are the mob."
His description reminds me of other portrayals of the media consuming mob. One can only wonder where Homer Simpson and his large hands are. That's not a cartoon reference for those wondering.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Movie Lists for Geeks
The Houston Star Chronicle has a list of 15 "geek movies to see before you die." I can't really disagree with any of his choices. I'm a geek, I've seen all the movies listed, and some multiple times. It has some of the true geek classics, and even has two Shatner films (both Star Trek), so kudos for that.
He also links to another list called "81 movies for geeks that do not suck," which has the added bonus of being cataloged by the particular geekdom to which the film would most appeal. I've seen all of those as well, but I wouldn't agree that they all don't suck. Swordfish is pretty bad. It features both "fast typing" as a substitute for activating algorithms when hacking and has an over the top John Travolta. Top Secret and Real Genius are also stinkers. I might like them, but there is no way I think that Real Genius doesn't suck. It just sucks in a lovable 80s comedy kind of way.
I thought I'd add to the mix by including some films that every "Gamer Geek" should watch. Beware, some of these are really bad.
Have any more gamer geek movies? Other than The Gamers that is.
He also links to another list called "81 movies for geeks that do not suck," which has the added bonus of being cataloged by the particular geekdom to which the film would most appeal. I've seen all of those as well, but I wouldn't agree that they all don't suck. Swordfish is pretty bad. It features both "fast typing" as a substitute for activating algorithms when hacking and has an over the top John Travolta. Top Secret and Real Genius are also stinkers. I might like them, but there is no way I think that Real Genius doesn't suck. It just sucks in a lovable 80s comedy kind of way.
I thought I'd add to the mix by including some films that every "Gamer Geek" should watch. Beware, some of these are really bad.
- Beastmaster: This movie used to be on the TV so much at my house that we started calling HBO "Hey Beastmaster's On."
- Cloak and Dagger: You knew this would be on the list, it has to be. Come on. A kid stops an evil spy ring with the help of his Super Spy roleplaying game character? How much more gamer geek can you get?
- Hawk the Slayer: The Lord of the Rings books might have inspired the creators of roleplaying games, but this film is an accurate portrayal of what the "shared experience" of any gaming session would look like if it were a movie.
- E.T. the Extra Terrestrial: They are playing D&D in the opening sequence, no more reason needed
- TAG: The Assassination Game: Linda Hamilton stars in this film where a first generation live action rpg game based on Steve Jackson Games' Killer goes wrong. One of the players goes crazy and stars really killing all the other players. Good stuff.
- Gotcha: It's TAG: The Assassination Game meets Cloak and Dagger. It's fun, funny, and Anthony Edwards has a big yellow pencil.
- The 300 Spartans: Classic sword and sandals film, with ample quotes from Herodotus.
- Jason and the Argonauts: Remember when your high level PCs almost suffered a TPK fighting a small group of skeletons? Me either, but this movie makes me believe it could happen. One of the best parts of the film is the gathering of the Argonauts. A Harryhausen classic.
- The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad: Kerwin Matthews proves that Sinbad doesn't need to be "beefy" to be a compelling hero. The movie features both "Dungeons" and "Dragons."
- The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: A great "quest" movie starring Tom Baker of Dr. Who and Dungeons and Dragons fame.
- Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger: It's all about Minoton.
- The Valley of Gwangi: This film has almost everything. Gypsies? Check. Dinosaurs? Check. Cowboys? Check. What more could you want? An rpg based on this movie, that's what. Well, you could just buy Deadlands, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, or Broncosaurus Rex
Have any more gamer geek movies? Other than The Gamers that is.
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