Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Sadness
Bob Denver passed on. Props to the writers for mentioning Maynard G. Krebbs along with Gilligan, I must say. Bob Denver was a fun guy... hilarious, and really memorable. R.I.P.
Screaming for Viewers
The WB is trying a truly innovative advertising campaign for one of its new Fall shows. In a bold move they will be promoting Supernatural by allowing potential viewers to watch the show one week early via the Yahoo! website, on Tuesday, September 6th. The WB, who also brought us Buffy and Charmed, is relying on the internet because of the hugely competative nature of television marketing today.
I am pretty excited about this show and the opportunity to see it early is one that I will be happy to take advantage of. It was enough to peak my interest that the show is supernatural in nature and focuses on the story of two brothers who encounter evil forces as they search for their missing father. In a way it is a kind of live action version of Full Metal Alchemist (at least in theme though not in imagery). Alchemist fans may disagree, but the hunt of the Elric brothers is indeed to search for their "missing" mother and they do struggle against the supernatural.
But more than the basic lure of supernatural narratives this show is produced by two filmmakers who have really entertained me over the past couple of years. The first is McG whose Charlies Angels film was fun (if trivial), but his O.C. is one of my favorite television shows in a long time. In fact, after watching The O.C. and seeing both its reverence for comic books and the actor McG would have cast as Superman, I almost wish that McG had stayed on as the Superman director. Almost because I am very happy with Bryan Singer. The second producer is Eric Kripke who was a screenwriter for Boogeyman (see editor note at bottom) which I thought was a very fun ghost story.
I have high hopes and a high speed internet connection, so I'll let you know what I think shortly.
[ed. note: Eric Kripke was erroneously credited with directing Boogeyman in the original post. The director of Boogeyman was Stephen T. Kay who also directed the Stallone version of Get Carter.]
"You have to scream really loud and really compel the audience to choose your show over the array of other shows being presented to them at the same time," said WB Entertainment President David Janollari. "You have to find nontraditional ways to reach the audience."
I am pretty excited about this show and the opportunity to see it early is one that I will be happy to take advantage of. It was enough to peak my interest that the show is supernatural in nature and focuses on the story of two brothers who encounter evil forces as they search for their missing father. In a way it is a kind of live action version of Full Metal Alchemist (at least in theme though not in imagery). Alchemist fans may disagree, but the hunt of the Elric brothers is indeed to search for their "missing" mother and they do struggle against the supernatural.
But more than the basic lure of supernatural narratives this show is produced by two filmmakers who have really entertained me over the past couple of years. The first is McG whose Charlies Angels film was fun (if trivial), but his O.C. is one of my favorite television shows in a long time. In fact, after watching The O.C. and seeing both its reverence for comic books and the actor McG would have cast as Superman, I almost wish that McG had stayed on as the Superman director. Almost because I am very happy with Bryan Singer. The second producer is Eric Kripke who was a screenwriter for Boogeyman (see editor note at bottom) which I thought was a very fun ghost story.
I have high hopes and a high speed internet connection, so I'll let you know what I think shortly.
[ed. note: Eric Kripke was erroneously credited with directing Boogeyman in the original post. The director of Boogeyman was Stephen T. Kay who also directed the Stallone version of Get Carter.]
Saturday, September 03, 2005
In a Horrifying Darkness, a Spark of Light
According to Unlocked Wordhoard, who is an English Professor on the campus, Troy University is accepting as students those whose academic careers have been interrupted by the catastrophic events following Hurricane Katrina.
The response to this tragedy will be a part of our culture for a large part of the forseeable future. I am sure there will be electoral impacts, but I think that it is best to highlight the noblest among us. Troy University is answering the very important question, "What can I, a small and helpless individual, do to make a difference. I can't solve everything, but I can help some."
Troy University is committed to assisting those students whose fall semesters may have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. Students who are enrolled at colleges and universities which have been closed for the fall semester due to the storm may contact the Troy University Office of Admissions at 334-670-3175 no later than September 7 about possible fall enrollments.
The response to this tragedy will be a part of our culture for a large part of the forseeable future. I am sure there will be electoral impacts, but I think that it is best to highlight the noblest among us. Troy University is answering the very important question, "What can I, a small and helpless individual, do to make a difference. I can't solve everything, but I can help some."
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Karate Kid Waxes On as Television Producer
UPDATE: Links corrected per David N. Scott's comment at 6:33pm.
Ralph Macchio, not to be confused with Ralph Macchio, has signed a development deal with the teen targetted network "The N." According to Variety he will be developing shows for a network whose average viewer age is 15.
Does this strike anyone else as odd? I mean, come on! Ralph Macchio is the Karate Kid, not to be confused with the Karate Kid (whose name was used with permission by the film)! The target audience of The NTV weren't even born when his movie came out and the last show Macchio worked on was "The Ralph Show!"
Of course, maybe I am wrong and his new "Thelma and Louise" for teenage girls show will take off. Maybe he will be as good a television producer as Shaun Cassidy (I personally thought American Gothic was genius).
One thing is for certain...if he wants to be successful he needs to make sure that he keeps his focus: "Whole body...One Inch!" and if he does it right there is "no defense."
But given that The N shows Sabrina the Teenage Witch, a show I enjoy very much but that appealed to 15 year old girls almost a decade ago, I am skeptical.
Karate Kid?
Or...
Karate Kid?
Only the Legion of Superheroes can decide!
Sigh.
Now, as I've mentioned before, I often have Really Neat ideas for posting here. In this case, I had decided to post a detailed, piece by piece review of the modern dance show my sister was just in. I was going to talk about the dances, the themes, and how the choreographer's homosexuality was such a big part of the show, in odd little ways.
But, I never got around to it. I still have the program, so maybe sometime soon. Instead, I'll talk about D+D! Now, readers of Pererro and this blog already have some awareness of the epic story... Number One posts about the new edition, I respond bitterly, he tenderly but insistently convinces me to see her, er it, again...
And then, we found some extra money we'd forgotten about, and one of our favorite local game stores went under. So, we got a bunch of books.
And...
They're really great. It seems like the writers are really pouring themselves into the product, from four cool varieties of magic weapons, all with neat stories, to every new class having sample characters with little stories and hideouts... It's really great stuff.
The class books are oriented less mechanically now, around character themes (skills, combat, arcane or divine) instead of base classes. There are gallons of neat story lines and customization ideas, including two books (Dungeon Master's Guide 2 and Unearthed Arcana) devoted to them.
Oh, and Stormwrack is a lot of fun. There are really cool Corsair and Legendary captain classes, and gorillas that fly like flying squirrels.
OK, bye.
But, I never got around to it. I still have the program, so maybe sometime soon. Instead, I'll talk about D+D! Now, readers of Pererro and this blog already have some awareness of the epic story... Number One posts about the new edition, I respond bitterly, he tenderly but insistently convinces me to see her, er it, again...
And then, we found some extra money we'd forgotten about, and one of our favorite local game stores went under. So, we got a bunch of books.
And...
They're really great. It seems like the writers are really pouring themselves into the product, from four cool varieties of magic weapons, all with neat stories, to every new class having sample characters with little stories and hideouts... It's really great stuff.
The class books are oriented less mechanically now, around character themes (skills, combat, arcane or divine) instead of base classes. There are gallons of neat story lines and customization ideas, including two books (Dungeon Master's Guide 2 and Unearthed Arcana) devoted to them.
Oh, and Stormwrack is a lot of fun. There are really cool Corsair and Legendary captain classes, and gorillas that fly like flying squirrels.
OK, bye.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Pre-Review Geeky Nit-Pickyness
Sometime next week, barring procrastination, I plan on doing a book review (similar to my Paul Feig review) of Steven Johnson's new book Everything Bad is Good for You.
But before I can do that, I have to point out how annoyed I am with his opening chapter. In this chapter, Johnson gives us a curriculum vitae of his geek credentials and begins the basis of his argument. You see, Johnson played APBA and D&D as a kid and wants to display how arcane these two pop-cultural entertainments are. In other words, he wants to show how thoughtful and complex these "simple games" are. I actually have no problem with the argument he is making, but I was irked at the "content."
Given that the above text comes from page 10 of the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook published in 2000, or page 10 of the Player's Handbook v. 3.5 published in 2003, it is unsurprising that this 10 year old who now lives in New York with his wife and two sons would write this piece. Because if it was the same ten-year old, he would be 15 now. Being an editor for Wired, married, with 2 kids by 15 is pretty remarkable.
Joking aside, here is what irritates me. Johnson is trying to share his ten-year old experience with us, but instead uses a modern reference. This is the equivelent of talking about how Star Wars influenced your life as a child (meaning the Original release) and then quoting from the re-released Special Edition and only those scenes which were added. It doesn't provide a true example of the phenomenon as encountered by Steven Johnson the ten-year old. More likely the Player's Handbook published in 1978. That's if it was a Player's Handbook at all and not a Basic Set or Original White Box.
That 1978 Player's Handbook describes character creation in the following way on page 8:
As you can see the text young Johnson read was even more arcane than the newer text, requiring some sort of hermetic discipline to decipher. The new text is complicated, to be sure, but it is "glossier" and more excessible due to years of refinement and need for explanation. It has been "translated" for a broader audience, if you will. True, it is still fairly unaccessible, but not as unaccessible as the old Player's Handbook. Does this mean that Johnson's thesis that modern Popular Culture is more complex than it was in the past has no merit? No. First, let me state for the record that the Player's Handbook though enjoyed by Johnson as a ten-year old was the Advanced version of the game. The aforementioned Basic Set was very similar to the text in the new Handbook and both are designed for the beginning player.
Sorry, but something had to be said.
But before I can do that, I have to point out how annoyed I am with his opening chapter. In this chapter, Johnson gives us a curriculum vitae of his geek credentials and begins the basis of his argument. You see, Johnson played APBA and D&D as a kid and wants to display how arcane these two pop-cultural entertainments are. In other words, he wants to show how thoughtful and complex these "simple games" are. I actually have no problem with the argument he is making, but I was irked at the "content."
from page 5 of Everything Bad is Good for You
Here's the Player's Handbook describing the process by which a sample character is made:Monte wants to create a new character. He rolls four six-sided dice (4d6) and gets 5,4,4, and 1. Ignoring the lowest die, he records the result on scratch paper, 13. He does this five more times and gets these six scores: 13, 10, 15, 12, 8, and 14. Monte decides to play a strong, tough Dwarven fighter. Now he assigns his rolls to abilities. Strength gets the highest score, 15. His character has a +2 Strength bonus that will serve him well in combat. Constitution gets the next highest score, 14. The Dwarf's +2 Constitution racial ability adjustment [see Table 2-1: Racial Ability Adjustments, pg. 12] improves his Constitution score to 16, for a +3 bonus...Monte hs two bonus-range scores left (13 and 12) plus and average score (10). Dexterity gets the 13 (+1 bonus).
...Whis gets to the ultimate question of why a ten-year-old found any of this fun
Given that the above text comes from page 10 of the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook published in 2000, or page 10 of the Player's Handbook v. 3.5 published in 2003, it is unsurprising that this 10 year old who now lives in New York with his wife and two sons would write this piece. Because if it was the same ten-year old, he would be 15 now. Being an editor for Wired, married, with 2 kids by 15 is pretty remarkable.
Joking aside, here is what irritates me. Johnson is trying to share his ten-year old experience with us, but instead uses a modern reference. This is the equivelent of talking about how Star Wars influenced your life as a child (meaning the Original release) and then quoting from the re-released Special Edition and only those scenes which were added. It doesn't provide a true example of the phenomenon as encountered by Steven Johnson the ten-year old. More likely the Player's Handbook published in 1978. That's if it was a Player's Handbook at all and not a Basic Set or Original White Box.
That 1978 Player's Handbook describes character creation in the following way on page 8:
Creating the Player Character
Each participant in the campaign created by the referee must create one or more game personas. The game persona of each participant is called the player character in order to differentiate it from personas created by the referee, called non-player characters. The Dungeon Master is advices to limit player characters to one participent at commencement of the campaign, though as play progresses, additional player characters may be added in a judicious manner. Each player develops the abilities of his or her character through random number generation (by means of dice rolling) to determine the basic characteristics of the persona, the abilities. The payer then decides what race the character is, what the characters' class is, the alignment of the character, and what the character's name is to be...
Each and every character has six principal characteristics, the character's abilities. These abilities are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma. (See also APPENDIX I, Psionic Ability). The range of these abilities is between 3 and 18. The premise of the game is that each player character is above average -- at least in some respects -- and has superior potential. Furthermore, it is usually essential to the character's survival to be exceptional (with a rating of 15 or above) in no fewer than two ability characteristics. Each ability score is determined by random number generation. The referee has several methods of how this random number generation should be accomplished suggested to him or her in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The Dungeon Master will inform you as to which method you may use to determine your character's abilities.
As you can see the text young Johnson read was even more arcane than the newer text, requiring some sort of hermetic discipline to decipher. The new text is complicated, to be sure, but it is "glossier" and more excessible due to years of refinement and need for explanation. It has been "translated" for a broader audience, if you will. True, it is still fairly unaccessible, but not as unaccessible as the old Player's Handbook. Does this mean that Johnson's thesis that modern Popular Culture is more complex than it was in the past has no merit? No. First, let me state for the record that the Player's Handbook though enjoyed by Johnson as a ten-year old was the Advanced version of the game. The aforementioned Basic Set was very similar to the text in the new Handbook and both are designed for the beginning player.
Sorry, but something had to be said.
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