Marvel

This is what the avengers movie should look like (yes, spider man should definitely make a guest appearance)



Unfortunately I expect it to want to take itself seriously and thus to suck. At the same time, I really hope I am wrong, and there are reasons to feel optimistic. Let's look at what has come out of the Marvel Universe "lately":

• Hulk - there have been two movies and none of them very good, basically they don't deserve your attention
• Spider Man - the first one was very fun to watch in the cinema and make fun of, when you find yourself rooting for and pretty much agreeing with the bad guy you might have stumbled unto something valuable, but this is not the case here, however it may just be the case for the sequel, which is considered among the best comic book movies. And then there is the third, which had the most potential and thus failed hardest. Let's not go back to unpleasant memories, I just want to say Venom is probably one of my favorite characters, conceptually. People seem to think it is about making spider man gritty and thus more relevant at the time, while in fact I think it is more about the feelings and possibilities. It embodies a story of achieving your goals easily, betraying your ideals (yourself) and disappointing the ones around you, it is also a story of jealousy and petty revenge and how that can destroy you as well. They only did a worse job at this with...
• The Fantastic Four - again I would really have loved to see the amoral being (not immoral, but above morality) of the Silver Surfer get a better part than flying around; his role would have been to engage the audience in thought. But the movies are better forgotten.
• Iron Man - now this is clearly an overrated franchise. The first was a movie with good parts and that's it, good parts, I certainly wouldn't say it was a good movie, which has led me to ignore the sequel. Which I am guessing just relies on the character of Tony Stark to have a few good parts far in between
• Thor - This was pretty enjoyable. If it would have focused a lot less on the "space opera" parts and more on making some sort of Bildungsroman out of a god stuck in present day America, a great movie could have come out of it. As it was, just the middle part was pretty good.There is one more thing of note here, namely the casting of a black man as a norse god. I really didn't see the point, and if it would have been an epic like Lord of the Rings it would have definitely destroyed immersion. As it is it is just a comic book, so his acting as both impassive and menacingly badass was pretty much spot on. I've seen a parallel with casting a white actor as Goku (in one of the worst movies of all time), and that comparison is just plain wrong; they probably just couldn't find a Saiyan (you know, complete with tail and all that) that could act. 
• X-Men - This is probably the one I care most about after Spider Man because of my childhood preferences. And I am pretty satisfied with what has been done as of yet. The thing is of course it was more seeing a reinterpretation and some interesting ways to tell of a character rather than actually creating a solid universe or some good stories. I think the first one was pretty good, except Rogue being miscast. The second movie is entirely a dud except the best two scenes the franchise has seen, namely Nightcrawler in the white house and Magneto escaping from jail. Then there is the third which of course had the most potential, the story arc of Phoenix being one of the most interesting, and which therefore failed most spectacularly. The exaggerated focus on Wolverine has been turned into a downright obsession with making a completely unnecessary origins story. And talking about origin stories we get the reboot, which is pretty interesting from my point of view (giving backgrounds to known characters, even reimagined ones) but again fails to give shape to their world or present an interesting story. Also a little bit more could have been invested, I mean the Magneto and Beast costumes were downright bad (Shaw's was completely missing) and art direction could have been a nice thing to have, but it even managed to squeeze in an emotional moment (even though brief and out of the blue). Oh, did I mention that if you want to do German (and a few other languages) in a movie you should hire actors who speak German (I mean well, not in a ridiculous way). Next time get Cristoph Waltz.

And now back to Avengers: as the Iron Man and Thor movies have not been messed up there is hope for it yet, but the track record is not the most impressive. I'm really not holding my breath for Captain America, but maybe the man who did Agent Smith, Elrond and V could go and make a memorable character again.

Best Short film ever

Just WOW! Watch in 1080p!

Spring, Spring Never Changes...

Last time I wrote about the impression Stravinsky's Rite of Spring made on people and how they got to like it. Today it's your turn, I'm sure you were at least a little bit curious how classical music could cause a riot. Well here is a recreation of the original:

And if pagan rituals are just not your thing here is the same music telling the story of the creation of the universe, evolution and extinction of dinosaurs:







Spring is here... it is the mark of new beginnings and each year it is here to teach us that the only constant is change. Spring never changes...

Katanagatari

A girl comes to a deserted place where she finds a boy, slightly younger than her who has spent his whole life training in martial arts with his grandfather. The boy knows absolutely nothing about the world but joins the girl in her quest to gather the 7 12 Dragonballs Deviant Blades. Of course, although he loses some fights along the way, the boy turns out to be the strongest warrior possible.

This is the latest and probably one of the last anime I watch. Initially I wanted to lump it together with the Lost post, but they have nothing in common except the fact that the ending is disappointing (and this would be the place I mention that I watch anime because they have endings). But I am getting ahead of myself.

The first impression you get of this anime is the unfamiliar artwork. It's strange and it's crude, so it had better compensate by content. And to some degree it succeeds. The introduction may suggest that I consider it a rip-off of Dragonball, not so. This series is remarkable in that it pretends to be an action series, but is instead a dialog driven journey. The fights are usually less than 5 minutes of the unusually 50 minutes long episodes. Being dialog-driven it reminded me of Bakemonogatari, but the similarity in content and title is no coincidence as they were written and animated by the same people.

While the former excels at what it does, this 'sword story' (rough title translation) could have been better. Not by much as each episode is pretty good in its own right (except the one where we don't even see the fight for the sword; instead it is just summed up by a 2 min. dialog), but they don't seem to be linked in the best way. The pacing is all wrong. I mean he faces of against the strongest enemy, which happens to be his sister, half-way through. What was the logic in that?

Ultimately, it is the ending that stands out. It's appropriate (the feeling that nothing good will come of their quest is pretty much established from the first episodes), but not satisfying in the least. <SPOILER> What is remarkable is how the Japanese don't seem to have any problems killing of main characters, even where there are as little as 2 of them. See Gurren Lagann for a much better example. There, an unexpected death is the only good part I saw in the series. Here, although it is well executed, it prevents the ending from giving a sense of fulfillment </SPOILER> Speaking of lack of fulfillment, although we get to see the Completed Deviant Blade and the power of Kyotouryuu when he is actually unleashed, no longer ordered to protect the swords or himself, it is all for naught. Not even the philosophical twist of Kiki not being a sword smith, but soothsayer which attempted to change history through his Completed Deviant Blade, made any impact as it was offhandedly dismissed as a failure in the epilogue. <SPOILER> And I can't even begin to imagine what they were thinking when they had him end up travelling the country with the wrong princess. I understand to have a non-hollywood happy ending, but this seemed just plain wrong creepy </SPOILER> I guess that's just how the Japanese are... can't understand them, that's what makes their shows special.

So all in all, was it worth the time? Probably.

The Story That Should Have Ended

Last time, I had a short look at Lost which, despite its flaws, still is probably my favorite series of recent times (Just in case you were wondering I would say Twin Peaks and M*A*S*H from the old guard). So now I propose to take a look at the context, and why it sucks less than others. The answer to me seems pretty much straightforward: American TV shows are always a neverending story. You have a story to tell (or not even that) and after you are done you attach a new season, and a new one and a new one, just because it had the misfortune of attracting an audience (Luckily Firefly suffered no such problems, that's why it is pretty much perfect).

So, first category of stories gone bad: the ones with good intentions. They had a story to tell, they told it well, but they just couldn't stop. The most famous examples of this category would be Prison Break and Heroes. Heroes has a pretty light tagline: Save the cheerleader, save the world. It tells a story about impeding doom, while crafting a pretty good apocalyptic atmosphere, and some pretty solid character backgrounds, while leading them to a fulminating conclusion where they all meet and we find out how each of them was relevant to the story. The detonation sort of happens, the good guys sort of win, ok everything is the way it should be. So why did they have to end on what I can only call a fake cliffhanger? To milk the cash cow of course. Not that it was immediately bad. No, season 2 was pretty good, while exploring some more of the character backgrounds and telling the best story of all: Hiro's childhood hero. It also features probably the darkest ending I have seen in a TV series and it would have made an awesome season finale, but no... they had to make more. And now jumping on to the second even more relevant example: Prison Break. The whole pith of the show is that you have a genius who has a brilliant plan covering all the details and craftily disguised as a whole-body tattoo to get into jail and break out with his brother. Because of this idea that everything is planned for ahead it is the best action series I have seen and that's why it attracted such a big following. However at the end of the first season the plan is fulfilled, it is done with and the 'Prison Break' is over with. Why drag on? Again, not that it immediately seems like a bad idea, the plan seems to have been crafted for situations on the outside as well but it quickly crumbles and I had to abandon it after just a few episodes because of how worthless it had gotten. And that's just sad. I think it is way better to leave people thinking 'just a little bit more would have been perfect' than 'this should have died a long time ago'.

On to the next category. About this one I am not really sure what to say. The formula is episodic so it doesn't really feel it drags on, and it has some links between episodes but those are mainly character back-stories, or a background for the action of each episode. For this I will chose as prime example House M. D. Of course every programmer (or other profession that is paid for intellectual work, but it's just speculation to generalize) on the face of the Earth idolizes Doctor House. Because of his brilliance and competence. The personality, although not to be envied we have to admit makes for a great comedy show, and if you put that on top of a serious drama show you got a great winner. Sadly, I got tired of the formula, and the writers seemed to have lost inspiration of great jokes after the first two seasons. When you add to the mix that it pretty much had an ending with season 3 when his team leaves him, you can add it to the list of shows that should have ended. But arguably this is still good (I don't see how they could have messed it up), and watchable ad infinitum.

And we get to the final category: shows that have a story arc spanning one season. This may or may not be combined with each episode having some stand-alone story (e.g. Veronica Mars). My favorite example is America's favorite serial killer Dexter. Like House, this show can pretty much work forever because it is mainly not story driven. It is driven by a very strong lead character, and as long as the actor's performance doesn't disappoint you have a recipe for success. The question is how long should you keep going? I already feel the show's strength has been diluted over too many seasons. 1,2 and 4 were great (it's such a pity, this show comes really close to being genius, but always shys away from the last step) but the other two were pretty much useless. Especially the last one: how can you give such an unsatisfying ending to a story? Man finds the closest thing he can have to a soul-mate (and there is reciprocity) and she leaves because... ah, just no reason. I'm glad it is still going on just because it deserves a better end than this. How would it have been if it had ended after season 4? I think it would have been brilliant, the story would have come full circle and also left and open end. How can they even think they can improve on that? We'll just have to wait and see, and analyze the blood patterns.

The Story That Ended

I was writing about JJ Abrams and Star Wars, but let's take a look at the series that made Mr. Abrams famous: Lost.

As a new entry to the series 'not following your own advice', we have to ask Abrams: are you stupid or something? What do you think? Do people want to see that 'something' (and we are never shown what) rips trees out of the ground, like in season 1, or that that something is some kind of black smoke, like in season 3, or that that black smoke is actually a man who became like that because he was throw in a pool with lighting, like in season 6 ? What's wrong with you? Sure people demanded answers, but people don't know what they want. What they wanted was a sense of meaning to the mysteries not a straight out (stupid) revelation. I mean here you are talking about how the technology allows you to do things you wouldn't even have conceived and the final revelation, the climax of the whole show is some guy pulling up a giant cork? and then putting it back in because what he did was 'bad'? I felt like watching Looney Tunes, and it didn't make me laugh. It made me want to swear.

With a poster like this hopes for season 6 were beyond the roof. It suggest a great work of art, inspired by something holy, but instead it goes down the hill, waaaay down. Instead of resolving the existing problems in an elegant manner, it introduces a new, deeply unneeded one, of Jacob and the Man in Black/ Locke, and it resolves it in a pretty shameful manner. What do you think which is better? The 'island' brought the people together or some immortal idiot who doesn't intervene when the script says so and scribbled their names on a cave (at least self-irony is not lost as Jacob tells Kate: they are just some names in a cave). What is to be appreciated though is that they knew from the very beginning that they would offer an ending and approximately when that will come. Unfortunately it came about one season too late.

With all its flaws, the show was pretty much perfect until the end of season 5, so that's where the show ends for me. It's an open ending, sure, but somehow it's better than a reunion in Purgatory. Season 5 had a pretty much perfect treating of the subject of time travel, it really wasn't necessary to follow up by turning it up a notch with parallel worlds. But instead, to give a sense of accomplishment (even if everyone is to die, like Desmond after Ben shot him, thus ruining the 'greater plan' for which Desmond was so special), of closure. The show is definitely worth watching, even if only to see season 5. It gave a good feeling of rounding up and saved what seemed like a wrong decision to make the Others just normal people (back in season 3) going about their day to day lives and conspiracies without a point and with no mastermind. The blank canvas when the bomb does/doesn't detonate makes for a much better ending to the series. And though the ending with Jack just as the show started was pretty well done, you got the feeling of closing the circle after season 5 too and just by a change in logo (intro vs outro):

Star Wars Revisited

One thing that I gracefully skipped in the previous Star Wars post was the central question: Why do we care? The answer should be obvious: The initial trilogy was good and we want more of where that came from.

Like any story worth following it has 2 essential ingredients: a strong main storyline and powerful/interesting/well-rounded characters. While it is a traditional good vs evil story it adds a whole lot more to the mix, especially a small dose of spirituality in form of the Force, to make things interesting or seemingly deep.

The review above tells us what the story is about and that it doesn't matter what changes Lucas did over time because characters and the story stay the same. While this is true in all cases it did spawn the probably most heated debate of Star Wars fans: Who shot first?

This, of course, refers to the scene with Han and Greedo, and Han shot first. This was later changed and people felt betrayed because they think that somehow it matters. While I do think the original version is better and makes more sense, I can't really say I care.
Another 'important' change was replacing the emperor in Empire with Ian McDiarmid, and as a final example one that actually sucks (because it makes no sense whatsoever) replacing the ghost of Anakin in Jedi with Hayden Christensen.

So, are the characters why we love Star Wars, or maybe the story? I think there's a secret ingredient that makes this saga timeless and not instantly forgettable, and that secret is in the storytelling and it's mystery. It's that mystery that allows us to feel what we see is a part of something bigger. Here's JJ Abrams explaining it (the bit about Star Wars starts around 8:50, but the context of the mystery box is what's important):

I mean take it from this guy, he is a huge fan. You just need to see how he rips it off pays homage to Star Wars in the 2009 Star Trek film to tell.

After all of this, there is only one conclusion to be drawn: what you don't see is what you like most and what makes something memorable. In cased you missed it in the last part you should read this http://www.rilstone.talktalk.net/viewpoint.htm. It takes a look at all the things that are explained better by mystery. The midichlorians have to be the biggest flaw of the prequel trilogy, a lot worse than the acting for example, because their very existence saps the magic out of the world itself, but the Force:
The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living beings. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi were the Guardians of peace and justice in the old republic. Before the dark times, before the empire.

Star Wars Surge

Lately it seems to me that Lucas is trying to milk the cash cow bring renewed interest in the Star Wars franchise, adapting it to new trends and audiences (read: ruining it). The prequels will be remade as 3D (can nothing good come out of this technology at all?), the Phantom Menace being scheduled for release in 2012. If you are not familiar with the prequel trilogy this is the most awesome summary anyone has ever done for anything:



The trend of making lots of Star Wars fan videos strikes again. Another example would be a mash-up with Tron which is pretty interesting and just goes to show you can put anything over anything else and if it has enough geek momentum (or fanboyism) it is a win. However in the series of amusing remixes I would say my favorite is the most old school:




If you are in the mood for some looong video reviews here are some I gave a look-over.

• http://www.confusedmatthew.com/Star-Wars-Episode-I:-The-Phantom-Menace.php
• http://www.confusedmatthew.com/Star-Wars-Episode-II:-Attack-of-the-Clones.php
• http://www.confusedmatthew.com/Star-Wars-Episode-III:-Revenge-of-the-Sith.php

And some really, really long ones:

• http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html
• http://www.redlettermedia.com/clones.html
• http://www.redlettermedia.com/sith.html

Actually the only one I found quite amusing, because let's be honest that's what they are for (none of them will exactly help you develop yourself as a human being) is this one

There are also some interesting points I noted about the prequel trilogy I wasn't aware of on first look. Like the part about Anakin's name, picked up from here http://reprog.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/luke-skywalker-a-new-hope/, I reproduce it in its entirety and original form because I am lazy it is the most interesting piece of insight on the Star Wars universe I have ever come across.

By the way, I assume the significance of the name Anakin has not escaped you?  ”Ana” is the Greek prefix for “again”, as in “anastasis” (“again life”) for resurrection, and the so-called “Anabaptist” church, which baptised adults who had already been Christened as children.  ”Kin” of course means “family”.  So Anakin is one who one again becomes family. Having explicitly abdicated his role within the family of the Jedi, and even repudiated his love for Padme and, by implication, for his unborn child(ren), he finally returns to become both reunited with his son and, again, part of the Jedi family. Can that be accidental?  If so, if “Anakin” is just a nonsense name like “Boba Fett”, then it is the most absurd piece of good luck of Lucas’s part.

If you are interested on how the new trilogy is a rewrite of the old one and how Anakin (or was it R2D2) is the real hero of the whole 6 movies take a look here http://www.rilstone.talktalk.net/mask-of-god.htm. The numbers indicate the order of the films but each of the posts is a jumbled mess of a point and you need an overview at least to know what he is talking about.

Ok, so enough talk about the prequels. They were pretty crappy but also fun. And I'm not going to talk about the new Clone Wars cartoons because I haven't watched them and honestly doubt that I could find something of interest in them (also note the less than brilliant design).

No, instead let's focus on a good thing to come (hopefully). This year will see the launch of the MMORPG The Old Republic, which is probably the only thing that could put a dent in the World of Warcraft domination of the genre.



Yeah, this baby is made by Bioware the ones that din Knights of the Old Republic (in the screenshot you see Darth Raven and Darth Malak), so we can hope for a good storyline based game. KotOR and KotOR II are some of the best RPGs and definitely some of the best releases of the Star Wars franchise, the first featuring one of the most memorable twists in gaming history, the second some of the more interesting and memorable Sith: Darth Sion, Darth Traya and (although the actual fight and conclusion of his destiny is pretty disappointing and underdeveloped) the best of all Darth Nihilus. And we all know the Sith are the driving force behind any Star Wars story. Or was it the robots? Anyway HK-47 is probably the most brilliant character created in the Star Wars universe (read: comedy relief bomb, so not like Jar Jar).

So let's start summing up, by saying what is good about the Star Wars franchise. Skeptics mention the first two movies and KotOr. I would add to this list just their direct sequels: Return of the Jedi and the Sith Lords respectively. I actually realized episode 6 is better than I remember by watching the Family Guy parody (which is follows the storyline closely, just in an original manner). If you like them you might also like the bunch of sketches they did on Robot Chicken. Although all are stupid and silly, some are really funny and well done http://www.adultswim.co.uk/robot-chicken-star-wars.

All in all we should be grateful to Lucas, wanting to make money is not in itself a bad thing and how can we blame the owners of the product when others are exploiting it as well (although with a lot of style and by creating content of value):



I want to leave you with something inspirational, so in the vein of being grateful to Lucas for making these movies at all here is a video about how he facilitated the fulfillment of childhood dreams (there is a Star Wars bit that starts at 30:50, so squeezing this video in is not cheating :P ).

Back in Black Ice

The title is of course a portmanteau of two ACDC albums Back in Black and Black Ice. It is inspiring if you want to look at comebacks. They released Back in Black after the vocalist died and they wanted to call it quits, luckily for us they stuck around a bit longer and the immediate result was one of the most appreciated and the best selling record of any band, ever. Black Ice is their latest (already some years old now) but it stuck with me because of a very simple reason: they did an awesome comeback. I mean, I was listening to this album and here they were sounding like 20 years before and that was just mindblowing that they managed to pull it off. Especially as we know others who finally managed to reach number one in the charts with their comeback (St Anger) and it sucked. The only thing that came close to leaving the impression of a great comeback on me was Slayer's World Painted Blood, but the title wouldn't have been as good. I take that back, Reign in World Painted Blood is pretty good for some aggressive metal, but I'm about to talk about something else...

I started with this talk of comebacks because the first album of the year of interest to me is supposed to show that my old favorites Stratovarius still have it in them to make some epic music.

And I'm happy to say they succeed quite well. After the not so great Polaris, here they are reverting to their old style. I've included the covers of albums so that you can see where they are going, putting an animal on the cover has to be a good sign. Actually they went even further back to their roots (when Kotipelto joined), the sound being closer to Episode or Visions. Although, I would have preferred it to have something in the vein of Destiny and the long closing track, Elysium, which is the same as the album name, was hinting just at that. Even if all in all I don't feel it is as well crafted or have the same melodious yet energetic feel like their early releases it is still a solid delivery with lots to offer for some nostalgic people who remember Stratovarius.

I'm not going to do a track by track analysis, you can find that in some reviews. However, I will comment on the fact that I feel Tolkki's writing was better, both in lyrics and guitarwork. Hell, even the keyboards seem to have been better inspired and to blend into the song better, although Johansson still has some aces up his sleeves. Too bad he just hints at them throughout this record. Overall I am satisfied and it fills me with optimism regarding this year, the albums to be released and my favorites not letting me down.

Speaking of which, the following bands will release albums I'm looking forward to (in order of descending importance):

• Devin Townsend (Ghost, Deconstruction and Z2)
• Blackfield (Welcome to my DNA)
• Pain Of Salvation (Road Salt Two)
• Symphony X
• Opeth
• Demons and Wizards
• Rhapsody of Fire
• Pagan's Mind
• Wintersun
• Ark

I will also probably want to check out the new Within Temptation and Nightwish albums, the Grave Digger EP (it would be high time for a good release), a new weird idea (?) from Dredg yet another run of the mill (but hopefully I will be surprised) power metal output from Hammerfall and, of course, the Avantasia DVD.

There are also a number of new albums which I think are just rumors for now but which would fill me with excitement or curiosity. So what are these guys doing: Dream Theater (they promised something without Mike Portnoy, hopefully they can deliver), Cynic (they are really building up speed between releases),  Amorphis (after their best album they'd better keep it up), Dragonforce and Riverside? Oh yeah, old timers Uriah Heep and Deep Purple are preparing something too.

Edit: Speaking of old timers, 16 years after releasing their magnum opus, Magnum return with a surprise delivery, which might well become their best record yet. Here you can give their single from the new album, The Visitation, a shot. The record starts slow but is brilliant in its second half (yes that would mean the single is not as good as it gets, so find it and try it).

Great Expectations 2011

First there are series, just one actually: Game of Thrones. Didn't read the book so I hope HBO gets me interested. They seem to be able to pull something epic off.

Then there are some interesting movies this year too, but of course it is already looking like a crappy year with both Transformers and Twilight continuing to sell tickets. However what looks like the worst movie next year is Your Highness. Fooled you, didn't I? There is a Justin Bieber movie coming... I think that says it all.

As a bonus there are also some movies I am looking forward to in increasing order: 

• Thor (info and trailer)
• Harry Potter (info and trailer would be the first whole movie Deathly Hallows part1)
• Sucker Punch (info and trailer)

Thor seems to be the only superhero movie that has a chance of not sucking, Harry Potter is preparing for the grad finale and the reasons for Sucker Punch are... well:

Oh, you want more details? Sure. Here you go:

Best Movie Ever

If you were looking for Oscars go away this is something of much higher entertainment value.
I am glad and at the same time very sad that the best SF/action movie and (unintentionally ?) comedy has been made. Here is the short form.

A moral choice: Part 3, the Entertainment

Although choices are hard we seem to be liking them a great deal. Especially in interactive mediums (games), but by themselves too. This time I'll do it a little less wordy and instead give some cool examples. Oh, and here are links to part 1 and 2.

When moral choice would be connected to movies I would immediately think of The Dark Knight. There were two interesting scenes there (sadly, that involved video editing, which you will see is not my main skill):

What will the people on the 2 boats who have to destroy each other do?

That outcome by itself warrants a future entry on optimal group decisions. And the now for less important stuff: who will Batman save? The man who could stop crime in the city or the woman he loves?

That seemed to turn out badly... and it was brilliant. But of course these situations don't let you decide, you just get to watch the outcome. However, you do have these choices in games, especially RPG's. Here is a discussion of exterminating or reprogramming (thus taking away their free will) a race of robots:

However, I reached a different conclusion: reprogram them of course. I mean they had their will already taken from them so I don't feel it's wrong, plus I think it will make Mass Effect 3 more interesting.

However this example just proves my idea that games are dumbed down nowadays. Consider the choices Fallout (and I mean the good old games, not this piece of crap 3 that gets praised nowadays) was modeled on instead:

"You go looking for an orphan’s puppy, only to find that it’s gone rabid and you have to put it down. Then when you try to explain it to the boy, he attacks you. What do you do in that situation? Fight? Run? Disable the boy somehow? That kind of moral ambiguity was the inspiration for many of Fallout’s quests."


This was said by Tim Cain about a quest from Wasteland in an interview. And here you have more. Do yourself a favor and play these games, they are the best I know of at creating a morally ambiguous world, like, you know, the one we live in. I think such a dilemma showcases a lot more than the one from Mass Effect 2, which is grand in scale but not very emotionally involving. Moreover there seem to be no shades of grey.

I am still waiting for a game to successfully implement a 2D system like the alignment in AD&D for example (did I mentioned they dumbed it down in 2008?). In Mass Effect getting Paragon or Renegade points basically doesn't change much and it is random at times anyway (see the example above, both outcomes should give you Renegade points), while in the Knights of the Old Republic games going dark-side meant you would have to be a mindless, violent brute. Their combination however would turn up interesting results. I wish for the creation of characters like the Emperor from Star Wars, who would be Lawful Evil. That would add some depth to behavioral and moral choices in games. That would be awesome!

Metal of 2010

As a new year begins, I'm making a list to remember my favorites and not-so-favorites of the last one. So here is a top-n in music:

1. Avantasia - The Wicked Symphony & Angel of Babylon
Following his worst release yet (Edguy - Tinnitus Sanctus) Tobias Sammet returns with a great offering. These two are great albums that maintain the new hard-rock style of The Scarecrow, and if he would have put a tremendous amount of extra effort and condensed them into one album I think one of the best albums of metal history could have resulted.
2. Star One - Victims of the Modern Age
Although I didn't get into it immediately I find myself listening to it time and time again. I guess it helps that songs are inspired by SF cult classic movies.
3. Rhapsody of Fire - The Frozen Tears of Angels
This is the best Rhapsody album I have listened too, even better than the ones which made them famous and overall a power metal masterpiece.
4. Vanden Plas - The Seraphic Clockwork
A new band for me and this, their best album, got my attention and I loved it.
5. Cynic - Re-Traced
A curious, new, less metal mixing of Traced in Air. Couldn't be as good as that one though.
6. Orpahned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Not as good as Mabool. but one of the best pieces of strange folkish metal.
7. Allen/Lande - The Showdown
Not as good as the previous 2 albums, but still pretty solid.
8. Nachtgeschrei - Ardeo
Not their best, but a folk metal album I enjoyed very much. Fejd's debut Eifur seems ok too, but Swedish just doesn't do anything for me. Heljareyga also are worth mentioning for the same considerations.
9. Alter Bridge - AB III
Liking this one makes me feel like a poser.
10. Tarja Turunen - What Lies Beneath
The style didn't change but this was surprisingly likeable.
11. Therion - Sitra Ahra
Strangely, I don't really like the band but this seemed like their best album to date.
12. Joe Satriani - Black Holes and Wormhole Wizards
Don't really like Satriani either, or any solo guitarists for that matter, but again this seemed his best album to date.

Albums which, surprisingly, didn't do much for me although I had high hopes:

• Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (still expecting another Number of the Beast)
• Apocalyptica - 7th Symphony 
• Masterplan - Time to be King (Jorn Lande is back but Masterplan isn't)
• Scorpions - Sting in the Tail
• Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (it's supposed to be a big deal but I don't see it, yet)
• Pain of Salvation - Road Salt One
• Anathema - We're here because we're here (maybe I'll give it another go)
• Sabaton - Coat of Arms (they raised the bar a lot with the Art of War, well they lowered it again)
• Rhapsody of Fire - The Cold Embrace of Fear (not a great follow-up to their other album of the year)
• James LaBrie - Static Impulse (how does he go with death growls? sad year for Dream Theater)
• Grave Digger - The Clans Will Rise Again (I think this is their cheesiest stuff)

Special award for live album goes to Opeth - Live at the Royal Albert Hall. I don't generally like live albums but this one was great.

Another special award is going to bands who give out their stuff for free. These would be Iron Thrones, Torture Division and Ironwood (from worst to best), although they are all in the black-death area which I don't find quite enjoyable. A special award goes to How to Destroy Angels for most disturbing video I have ever seen:

If you like this kind of music I would also recommend Ice Ages - Buried Silence which I discovered this year. But I don't think that it can stir any healthy emotions.

Conclusion? more disappointing than not, with a lot of delays (lots for next year), so let's hope for a better new year :)

Gulliver's travels

With the new movie of resonant title but little promise I would like to discuss the loss of values. Why is it that people even consider making a crappy movie and dragging a good name in the mud? You know like they did for the Time Machine, and to a lesser extent once before. That was a brilliant book. Anyway, now: Gulliver's travels.

There's really nothing more to say as the original book was filled with political thoughts while satirizing the then popular travel novels. A movie filled with political insight and satirizing today's 3D movies would have been more appropriate. So that you can get a proper taste of Jonathan Swift take a look here. Disclaimer: this article is not for the faint of heart, but you should at least read the introduction and the end. The depiction kind of makes me sad as nothing seems to have changed considerably... To get an idea this is how I found out about the essay, starting from this demotivational poster:

How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children

How this book could ever get written and published is beyond me... am I the only one who thinks there are retarded people out there who might take it literally? Like the ones making these crappy movies.

To end on a happier note: For a brilliant film inspired by the book, but having little to do with it, I recommend Laputa. While it does have some touching and almost deep moments it is clearly an action movie, much better than almost anything Hollywood put out lately.

PS. Should you be looking for the book, I found it here.

Memories

 Today a more scientific approach, I hope, to viewing the world. But, I promised a movie so here goes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I just read the summary on imdb and a comment and I think it is the most spoiler-tastic thing I have ever seen there. Of course I don't remember the thing very accurately, maybe that's why my memories of it are so fond.

The story is a romance pure and simple. Boy meets girl, they fall for each other and have some romantic moments together. The remarkable thing about it is that it puts a pin on it: everything has happened before and when their relationship failed they erased each other from their memories. Wow, an interesting idea in a romance who would have thought?

And then, a couple of years later for me, comes the mind-blowing part: this movie is not SF. At least not in its entirety. Specific memories can be erased... Come again?

Due to the subjective nature of memories (I'm sure this hasn't gone by unnoticed, memories tend to be slightly different depending on your frame of mind, on new connections you are now able to make etc) we may have thought they are something inexplainable happening at a higher level due to the interaction of neurons in the brain. At least those were my thoughts... thinking that you just store information and then retrieve it just seems plain wrong, and it is. Though it does have a grain of truth in it in the sense that memories are physical things and not some intellectual abstractions.

This was found out by giving a drug to mice and realizing that they are unable to form new memories. While the drug is in their system, they are physically unable to form memories. Turns out the drug was inhibiting synthesis of proteins, meaning memories are some proteins or their constituents: amino acids (you know that word they abuse in shampoo commercials). Ok, now get ready for the mind-blowing part: when injected with this drug during the act of remembering something, the initial memory disappears as well.

What does this mean? It means that when we remember something we are actually creating the memory anew. It is more of a creative than a retrieval process. It seems to involve three steps, at least this is how I understand it: Find the physical memory, that protein somewhere in your brain, interpret it by reading and triggering a series of electric impulses which form your thoughts on the matter and the actual memory you experience and as you are going write it back in the form of a protein. As the last step is inhibited by the drug the whole memory will be lost afterwards. The changes in memory seem to be on a physical level due to a rearrangement of the connections between neurons, but on a more practical level we can very easily be influenced. For example by someone sharing an experience with us and having very strong views about what they saw. That confidence seems to shake our own and in the process of remembering alter the initial memory so that we think we saw stuff we did not see.

What it also means is that "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" may not be just cool but a glimpse into the future. Although people do seem to use these discoveries in more useful things like curing people of severe traumas instead of love sickness. But, as seen in my previous post that can lead to severe trauma. At least in Japanese minds. My conclusion on the matter is that I have to see Charlie Kaufman's other stories too, I already love this and Adaptation. Especially Adaptation :)

Reminded of my favorite music album: The Human Equation, by Ayreon. Got me thinking about lyrics from Day Fifteen: Betrayal.

Reason: This memory burns inside
You can't forget, you cannot fight or erase it.
You'll have to tell and set it right
You cannot run, you cannot hide, so face it!

PS. Actually, what I did in this post is hardly more than to sum up a show I heard on Radiolab. They have a lot of cool anecdotes which make these things more interesting and more understandable. I tried to be as short as possible, but give it a listen. It will be worth it.



I think this is the beginning of a section: "What I learned today".

Not the feel good movie of the year

To continue on the series of "practice what you preach" and how movies fail miserably at it, here's Never let me go. At the beginning of the movie in the orphanage, or whatever it was called, one of the girls asks: "Who would make up such a horrible story"?  Who indeed? Instead of the poster I'll use a still from the film which pretty much sums it up: bleak.

It may be my own fault, but I set out to watch this movie because I thought it sets a good melancholic mood, you know the kind that makes you feel small and insignificant through showing you something great or leaving you crying your eyes out but with a good feeling inside. This is not like that, it is just demoralizing and sad. Oh, and lifeless.

First up under scrutiny is the SF theme: growing children to be organ donors. This doesn't spoil the movie: they find it out soon enough too. And you kind of do in the first sequence of the movie. Now why was this necessary? Is it supposed to be a metaphor on the brevity of life? Is calling the sun a ball of fire a metaphor or just stupidity in writing? I mean the movie is about relations and the search for love and how ultimately we are alone... That's it, just human relations in a rural environment.

The only part which was any good at all was the one with them teenagers with the touching of issues like sexuality, but then it looses its focus and goes on a wild goose chase. Too bad, it was actually starting to get interesting and intense for a moment.

<SPOILER> As for the ending, well it's similar to Pan's Labyrinth or the Sixth Sense. I mention those movies because they have the same idea of showing you what the end will be at the beginning, bu they do it with style and at the end you are full of emotions that burst and awe while remembering the intro. Here not at all, because nothing in it was interesting enough to make me forget the beginning, when the narration starts. I'll sum up: Tommy and Ruth die and Kathy is left alone. And you know this is going to happen, which is why I don't know why the whole 3rd act wasted my time with the characters trying to get a delay? How am I supposed to give a shit? We just jumped 10 years into the future, do I care if you jump 3 more to the part where they actually die? </SPOILER>

In the final act I already started doing a review in my head as it was too boring to pay attention to and I inevitably compared it to Remains of the Day. You know with the difference that that movie is actually good, probably because Anthony Hopkins can act. But the feeling it conveys is still not that of a cartoon happy bunny family having a pick-nick in a field full of flowers. Imagine my surprise when I found out the books they are based on were written by the same author.

But there is a far better parallel out there (and also Japanese at its core): 5 centimeters per second. From the first line of that movie you find out that that is the speed at which cherry blossoms fall.

This anime succeeds at everything the other movie fails at. It is almost the same with 3 episode of children, teenagers and young adults, but each of them is a masterpiece. The first episode alone has more feeling, more memorable moments, more tension and expectation and more love in 20 minutes than "Never let me go" in its full length. The melancholic part is the second one with touching on shyness and unrequited love in a much more heartfelt manner, while also containing the loneliest moment I can ever remember seeing in a movie. It's all due to the great atmosphere and the stunning visuals. The final episode is about chance and distance and loss and contains a full length music video which is pretty annoying :P

The end has got to be the most depressing I have ever seen. Basically the conclusion is that it doesn't matter if you find love, or are a good person, or do your duty, you will end up alone and an emotional wreck anyway, so you might as well just give up or kill yourself now. And don't consider people who share a great love happy. About how a too great love can destroy your life and what to do about it more in the next post (also about a movie).

The Prestige

The theme of today is not following your own advice. To best illustrate it I chose the movie The Prestige which I've recently seen and which had some critical acclaim and a high rating on imdb. Btw. everything following is kind of spoilerish.

Last time with Black Swan we looked at how things are supposed to be made. Now the other side of the coin: this movie fails miserably at everything it sets out to do. The title only leads you on in expecting a great Prestige, the final revelation of a magic act that makes you go "Ahhhh!!!". In fact it is a little more than just another step in the conflict between the 2 magicians of creating an ever greater trick and outsmarting the other, although it is well played and creates some dramatic effect. However the writer himself got outsmarted when creating the "Teleported man" trick because while it does seem amazing the explanation is downright stupid. It is a simple Deus Ex Machina, to be used only by the most lacking of writers. SF really had nothing to do in this story, it would have been much better to just leave an explanation out and keep the people wondering (instead of having them frustrated when badly executed) than just disappointing them. Which brings us to the actual hard point of the discussion. Michael Caine's character if I'm not mistaken explains how you must never let them know how you did it. The moment they find out all magic is gone. This movie explains every... single... fucking... trick (yes, I do mean them in the prostitute sense), the little ones too, the insignificant one with the doves and the other one with doves and so on, with the last explanations being more of a "Get out of jail free" card than an explanation. Which makes me believe that the author is retarded. The movie is well executed, as I can only guess was the book, but at a higher level it fails profoundly. It has just one layer and that one lacks in story, so where is the greatness? Wouldn't it have been better to just let the people enjoy the illusions than to ruin them? Showing pigeons die is gross, not atmosphere building.
Oh did I mention the entire conflict of the movie is based on sheer stupidity? Why did he have to tie a knot that was hard to untie? You have a magic trick, an illusion, make believe... and you have a knot that looks complicated but is fairly simple to untie. So why in God's great name would you actually tie a hard one? Moreover why would the person actually risking to die encourage and tease you? You guessed it, a stupid bitch dies... and the whole story is an ever-growing series of revenges.
The only good thing about this movie is the characterization of the 2 magicians and the acting, with the fact that you don't know which of them is actually going to win being a big plus.

A much better movie, although still kind of stupid, meaning the story is supposed to be a mystery and it is clear what is going to happen about ten minutes in, is the Illusionist.

Don't get me wrong this movie fails too, which is quite unexpected from Edward Norton, but at least it has some magic atmosphere in it (yes this one kind of explains illusions too), which is more appropriate than a SF twist belonging in a simple minded comedy.
For more on failing at what you profess, stay tuned.

Black Swan

I have concluded that I don't want to write a blog :)
But I'll put here some random thoughts I'm having on movies I've seen, books I've read and things I've learned.

So on to the subject of the day. What had stricken me as the most interesting movie of the year: Black swan.

This movie has 2 outstanding, almost perfect elements: the poster (it has a bit of "hauntingly beautiful" to it) and the idea. And while the storytelling is not perfect it does deliver and near the ending all it has been builing up bursts in a crescendo of action and emotion. While most of the movie Natalie Portman acts like she is made of wood, you know like in Star Wars, this time it actually fits as she is supposed to be somewhat stiff and just mimicking emotions. However her transformation into the black swan at the end really surprised me and leads me to think she can actually act. And pretty well too.
Now jumping on to the supernatural elements some of them seem very well in place like an unexplained rash and bleeding of fingers, through impressions of seeing a familiar face on the street, to hallucinations while on drugs and an actual transformation into a black swan on stage, some others like hallucinations in the hospital and before the show could have been handled subtler or more masterfully. For example in the cabin as I didn't understand what exactly was happening it ruined immersion and made me not care anymore. Fortunately the beautiful performance follows that rescues and finally manages to create a nearly perfect ending.
However, there is one fault I find in it... the fact that watching the trailer or reading a two-line review basically renders the first hour of the movie useless, it adds surprisingly little:

As the ballet company is ditching their has-been lead ballerina (Winona Ryder, wink) they are looking for a replacement. For the opening show of Swan Lake Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) would make an ideal virginal  white swan, but she lacks the passion of her twin sister, the black swan. Enter Lily, who is a natural but kind of lacks discipline, and the stage is set. Will Nina have what it takes or will getting "friendly" with Lily have other consequences?

Fortunately it didn't get actually boring. Here's the trailer:

<SPOILER> And now for the conclusion. What is really awesome about this movie is how it is a metastory, a Swan Lake itself just transported to modern times. Even the credits at the end credit all the main actors in double roles, and I thought it was wonderful and was really amazed how imdb didn't spoil this one... When you look at the movie it wasn't really the only option for the final act, that's what makes it special </SPOILER>

And giving credit where it's due, below is the review which got me to watch it, and while it does contain some nonsense it is one of his better recommendations, not like the ones involving superhero movies.