Month: March 2011

Splice

Here’s an under the radar movie from 2010 that I had heard some good things about but took a while to get to in my queue. Splice sounds more or less like typical horror movie fare when you look at the bulletpoints- mutant creature, immoral scientists, experiments gone wrong. However the direction the narrative moves in ends up taking unexpected, interesting, and uncomfortable turns.

The key element that sets Splice apart is the relationship the characters have with the ‘monster’. Without spoiling too much, instead of taking the easy route and having this nameless creature killing indiscriminately to show off gore, this story is a slower paced exploration into the ramifications of creating Frankenstein. Not to get too deep here- Splice has its fair share of uninspired moments and pseudo-science gibberish- but the psychology of treating an abomination as a pet and more does leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

Unfortunately, the last ten minutes of the movie carelessly forgets the subtlety that has been built up and takes a dump all over everything. If you haven’t seen this movie, I’d recommend you stop reading now and go watch it. The next paragraph spoils the ending.

Up until the end, the sequence of events was novel and unpredictable- I always had the feeling that I knew what was coming but I kept being surprised. Somehow the creature had been menacing without killing. Then the last ten minutes happened, where EVERYTHING I knew was going to happen happened, where the creature turned into a faceless monster that a hundred other movies did this year, where the internal conflict changed to an action oriented one, and even the yawn-inducing twist ending was obvious. In short, if the movie had simply ended with the creature dying, leaving the viewer to reflect on the experience, it would have been a much better overall experience.

It’s really too bad that Splice gave the audience what they expected at the end, because its strength until then was doing just the opposite.

Tween Pop

By now youtubers everywhere have heard of Rebecca Black. The general consensus is that the video for the song Friday is the worst thing ever. It is pretty bad and of course my initial reaction was the same way. However, getting too upset about this sort of thing is like making fun of the spaghetti and meatballs song. This is a song for kids.

Just because the lyrics of one line are, “Fun, fun, fun, fun,” doesn’t mean that this music is an atrocity. If Rebecca Black is 13 then her fans are probably going to be 7 or 8 and think she’s the coolest thing ever. It’s even hard to criticize the autotuning when the majority of adult pop stars overuse it.

So I’m not saying this song isn’t awful but it’s probably a decent influence on some kids and gives them something to dance to that the parents approve of (like the Jeans song). Granted, if there are jr. high kids listening to this they’d have to be partially braindead. When I was 13 I was listening to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors and I would have loudly disapproved of any of my classmates listening to garbage like this. But I tend to believe that the audience of these songs are elementary students who don’t know any better and want to be in with the cool middle school crowd.

Her parents let this thing go out to the public so the backlash is on them- I’m not really defending the girl. And we even get to enjoy funny memes like Death Metal Friday. So in the end it’s not that bad. A terrible song? Yes. An outrage? Not so much. Plus, here’s hoping that this video is the last nail in the coffin for ye olde autotuner.

Jonathan Blow

By all accounts, I want to hate this guy. This may come off as strange since I am a game developer who has long wanted the existence of an indie game scene and Jonathan Blow is an advocate of the little guy and experimental gameplay. And these are things I’ve never had a problem with. But I do begin to get irritated by the pretension that artists and their craft sometimes exude.

Here, of course, I am speaking of Braid, a simple Xbox Live Arcade platformer emulating (and parodying) Mario. An annoying art style was only the beginning. A time reversal mechanic garnered high praise and the critics lavished the indie title with near ridiculous support. Having never played Braid myself I am really just perturbed at the critical acclaim which is perhaps more an indictment of gaming media than the game itself. To point, I have to admit that I probably have been too hard on this game.

Nevertheless, when it comes time for Braid creator Jonathan Blow to speak there is always a high-minded artsy slant to the coverage that encourages me to roll my eyes. But a recent gamasutra interview changed my tune.

It’s easy for certain game advocates or “futurists” to ignore how self-important they sound and make broad statements about the industry and what it should be. While Blow definitely has his opinions on right and wrong I was surprised at his lack of absolutism. When asked pointed questions about the ethics of certain games, he prefaces with, “I don’t want to be in the business of saying that all games should be anything.” As a person who uses qualifiers for *almost* everything, this style resonates with me. It is less about being authoritative and more about personal opinion. Speaking with authority does not make one an authority.

Then there are his thoughts on so called ‘social games’ and their impact on players. This is a hot topic in the game community and everyone has there own opinion, with my thoughts already posted to this blog. He posits:

It’s not about designing something that’s going to be interesting or a positive experience in any way — it’s actually about designing something that’s a negative experience. It’s about “How do we make something that looks cute and that projects positivity” — but it actually makes people worry about it when they’re away from the computer and drains attention from their everyday life and brings them back into the game. Which previous genres of game never did. And it’s about, “How do we get players to exploit their friends in a mechanical way in order to progress?” And in that or exploiting their friends, they kind of turn them in to us and then we can monetize their relationships. And that’s all those games are, basically.

What I appreciate is that I find his insight interesting while his tone is mostly balanced. Not that you’d imagine I favor these qualities after reading this blog.