The big picture of Star Wars (currently playing out on the small screen)

Wired asks the world to comment on how the Clone Wars CGI TV series “does justice to the sprawling universe birthed by George Lucas a long time ago in an entertainment galaxy far, far away.”
Here is my thought (part of a larger rant on why people who hate the prequels should shut up):
Continue reading “The big picture of Star Wars (currently playing out on the small screen)”

eReaders and digital books – doomed?

Has anyone seen any good examples of digital comic books? (on eReaders or otherwise) If so, please comment.

I’ve come to think of comic books as my pulpy guilty pleasure. but I can’t stand them in any digital form I’ve seen. Whenever the-inevitable-transition-to-eBooks comes up, i think about comics. I’m sure I’ll enjoy fine literature in an eReader (potentially much easier to look up words, or references, influences, other people’s insights, etc.). But I think this is because some part of me treats reading “great literature” as a form of work. I can’t deny that eReaders offer many advantages as a tool for exploring great literature.
Continue reading “eReaders and digital books – doomed?”

Kris Straub – Jacked by One-Note Plagiarists?

I’ve been following Doctor Straub for some time now, because he’s just damned funny. And internet famous (like small indie bands of yore? It still feels exciting to be fan of his, because he deserves more fame than he has?). So I was disturbed to read that he suffers from little plagiarism indiscretions (if not monetarily, then intellectually). (edit: er. or maybe he just sees friends suffering from it, and it makes him think about it)
Continue reading “Kris Straub – Jacked by One-Note Plagiarists?”

Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)

This was initially posted as a response to Tadhg Kelly’s blog post Techthulhu [Games and Future Fantasy] [@ whatGamesAre.com].

I think lack of sleep, yesterday’s ruminations on biometrics, and a few weeks of dissecting the philosophy behind joss whedon’s entertainment efforts all came together for me just now, to make a perfectly crazy ass rant. I started to re-read this and cringed. it might seem to contradict itself from once sentence to the next? is it one of THOSE crazy-as-fuck level rants? … huh. I dunno. but some of it struck me as very interesting. So i’m recording it here in my blog. hopefully revisit later (to either rethink it, or revise it to be easier to read). woof.
:::
Continue reading “Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)”

Sucker Punch (2011): a feminist masterpiece that men hate – (9/10)

sucker punchAt the end of this movie, the dude behind me said four times “Is no one else in this theatre confused?”. Perhaps to the poor girl sitting next to him? He spaced these outbursts out, as if he’d gone blind and deaf with his idiocy, and was hoping a bro’ could throw him a lifeline. As if he hoped other redneck idjits would rise up and join torches to burn the puzzle outta this town. I turned to my girlfriend and loudly growled “I think someone in this theatre is actually confused.” (He got up and left).

Then the two dipshits in front of me whipped out their cell phones (slash: flashlights) and tried to distract me from the STILL GOING ON work of art on the screen. The film’s end credits contain an entire original dance sequence and musical number, showing you an entire epic scene that was hinted at but never shown during the main story. They are a stylized PART OF THE MOVIE. But everyone was up and walking out, or checking in with their facebook. I leaned in and read their texting over their shoulders and blew on their hair. I whipped out my phone and shined it in the sides of their faces (but this just elicited a minor confused looks). They struck me as this weird alien species, masquerading as men, who missed class the day “how to watch a movie” was explained.

This was a great movie, and a lot of people don’t deserve it. Continue reading “Sucker Punch (2011): a feminist masterpiece that men hate – (9/10)”

Review: Kirby’s Epic Yarn (stitch free)

Over at The Escapist, I dug Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s latest hate-filled Zero Punctuation review of Kirby’s Epic Yarn (just now released in Australia, apparently). This is the first game in a long time that I wished I could return for a full refund. So here is my response to his review (dumped in his forums, amidst hundreds of random pithy one liners and crap-comments): Continue reading “Review: Kirby’s Epic Yarn (stitch free)”