Blather

On the Marriage of Facebook and Friendfeed

Posted on August 11, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets 0

Got some shocking news when I checked FriendFeed on my mini-break at work yesterday. The word circulating was that FriendFeed had been sold to Facebook. Naturally, my first reaction was to check my phone’s calendar, since April 1st could have come late or something. But then I got home and confirmed what I had read. Facebook HAD in fact bought FriendFeed and in an interview it was said that eventually the services would be assimilated. My reaction to this was as follows:

Naturally, I didn’t quit either of the services, choosing instead to adopt Johnny Worthington’s idea of “going down with the ship.” But things had definitely changed for me with the news. What was once a blossoming service with immense potential became a cancer patient with but a few months to live.

I don’t really want to spend any more time talking about this, because I still need more time to think. But I feel like I’m about to lose something big here, something that I put a lot of my life into.

Angry Gamers, GRRR

Posted on August 10, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets 0

Found this via BWANA via Game Politics:

Activision knows it has a ‘hot’ game, knows that the market will pay an additional 10 per cent, and has decided to increase price accordingly.

If you know me, you know my stance on petitions. They don’t really work. I think the boycott is a great idea, though, if enough people can actually do it. The only way you can really change things in the entertainment business is to take your business elsewhere.

A Pretty Girl is Like…

Posted on August 3, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Music 0

A pretty girl is like a minstrel show,
It makes you laugh, It makes you cry, You go
It just isn’t the same on radio.
It’s all about the makeup and the dancing and the Oh,
A pretty girl is like a violent crime,
If you do it wrong you could do time.
But if you do it right it is sublime. I’m so in love with you, girl, it’s like I’m on the moon.
I can’t really breathe, but I feel lighter.
A melody is like a pretty girl,
Who cares if it’s the dumbest in the world.
It’s all about the way that it unfurls.
A pretty girl is like a pretty girl.

– The Magenetic Fields

I find @mikenayyar interesting! #followfriday

Posted on July 3, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather 0

I don’t plan on writing too many of these as my philosophy on suggesting people to follow is “less is more.” It’s definitely an opposing viewpoint to most follow Friday tweets that spout out hundreds of random people to follow. I’ve looked through a few of these kinds of tweets and have yet to figure out what’s the big deal about these people. With that said, I figure I should explain to you why Mike Nayyar is an interesting fellow to follow!

I first met Mike ages ago when he and I became part of a podcast troika aptly named Geek Troika. But at the time it wasn’t known as Troika. We didn’t come into that brilliance much later on. At the time we were simply known as Generation Tech and we put out episodes each week for the listener’s enjoyment. I didn’t have much of an opinion of him at first except that his deep voice was sexy and that he like mobile phones a lot. Over time, I got to know him a bit better and find out that he’s a HI-larious individual who’s willing to sell his soul to Comcast for an honest wage.

What a bastard.

Anyway, I think you should follow this son-of-a-gun because he engages in “the conversation” on social sites and is quite insightful. He’s got a sense of humor too and had a really badass thread running on friendfeed where he just HAD to get the last word in. He’s also got an extensive knowledge of gundam, and is the guy I go to when I want to discuss phone stuff (which isn’t all that often). He and I are also conspiring to take over the world with a new podcast.

Not convinced yet? Well, check out this video:

Piracy From A Film Student’s Perspective

Posted on June 22, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Film Screenwriting 5

I was recently asked the question of whether or not I would offer any film I made for free via peer-to-peer or Bittorrent. It didn’t take me long to respond with a resounding “hell no,” and I’ll explain why. Back in the day, I was quite the swashbuckler. When confronted on the issue, I would defend my lecherous ways to the teeth by exclaiming such proverbs as “fuck the man” and “the MPAA are jerk-faces!” If I was feeling particularly rowdy, I would just say something along the lines of “lol butts.” However, things changed for me and I did a 180 on how I view the whole “piracy” issue. This happened as I walked onstage and accepted my fake diploma, along with the germs of the President of Columbia College.

Fuck.

My career IS film.

If you think about it, the movies you see on screen are the result of hundreds of people working their asses off to create an end product that you can enjoy at your leisure. When you get it for free and share that free-ness with others, you’re essentially punching all those people in the nuts and stealing their lunch money. Do I need to give you a worse metaphor? Fine! When you decide to download Wolverine: X-Men Harder instead of paying to see it, you’re killing babies.

The argument that films these days are just too expensive has always been strange to me. When you go out to the bar, you usually blow anywhere from $20-$40 depending on your level of alcoholism. When you go out to eat at a place that isn’t Popeyes or McDonalds, you’ll probably put away somewhere in the ballpark of $10. Sporting events of any kind usually drain you more than a movie ticket’s worth. And what about matinee prices? What about second run theaters?

As I enter into the realm of filmmaking, I can’t help but think about all the people out there who feel it’s their right to watch a movie and never compensate anyone for it. Girl’s gotta eat, folks!

Do You Force It?

Posted on June 22, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather My Life Screenwriting 0

When I have writer’s block, I try to force myself to write something whether it’s any good or not. This tends to put me at odds with myself since I don’t like writing anything unless I have something to actually write. I’ve been told countless times to just get something “on the page” no matter what and that it’s not always going to be good. Do you hold to that? Do you force it when you know you don’t have it in you? Is forcing it a good idea?

I’m definitely curious what other writers think about this…

Donning the Rant Pants

Posted on June 16, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather 6

Lately I’ve been a frustrated individual and it’s not because of the raging writer’s block I’ve been having. No, my frustrations are the result of feeling like I’ve picked the wrong gaming system. You heard me correctly. I may have picked the wrong console. All my life I’ve been a loyal customer to the Nintendo brand and have displayed my love of said brand openly, nay saying the various competitors every chance I got. I even (gasp) defended the Gamecube back in the day as a viable console in the gaming world.

But now I think I might have to rescind my love of Nintendo. Sorry, guys. I’m going to don the rant pants for a bit and just go off on a few reasons why I’m not going to be singing the Wii’s praises any time soon.

Third Party “Garbage Ware.” When you go to any electronics store and peruse the Wii aisle, you’ll find that at least 90% of the titles on the shelf are junk. These are the games that are based on films or TV shows and all lack anything resembling fun gameplay. Go into a Gamestop or Best Buy and find a compelling game for the Wii that isn’t produced by Nintendo itself. I dare you.
Stagnant Online Presence. Remember when Wii friend codes were easy to share and didn’t take a bajillion steps to add? Remember when there was a way to integrate your Wii experience with any various social networking site if you so wished? Yeah. I don’t either…because THAT’S NEVER EXISTED! If there’s one thing that could push the Wii ahead, it’s developing a social presence of some kind. I know the whole “being social” isn’t Nintendo’s aim necessarily, but when you can share your gaming experience with other people around the world automatically you find that it’s so much more fulfilling. If I had more online “social” options for my games, I’d probably play them more.
The biggest games coming out are sequels! Seriously, another Zelda game? Another Mario Galaxy? They look great, but I feel like there’s some degree of re-hash here. How about we make something new that can be franchised and beaten to death…
Wii-Ware. This is the big mamma of my irritations with the Wii console. When I first heard that there was going to be a store for independently created games for the Wii, I got insanely stoked. So much potential! In essence, indie games could thrive. Boy was I wrong. I think the only games that I’ve played from Wii-Ware worth the money can be counted on one hand. I certainly haven’t bought any more outside of Dr. Mario, Mega-man 9 and World of Goo. I might get Tetris Party, but I’m a little puzzle game’d out.

Sigh.

This isn’t a complete dismissal of the Wii as a console, especially since there’s so much that’s right about it. For example, it has one of the cutest menu interfaces in existence, and you can jump into a majority of the games and just “get it.” All first party games rock 110% and are perhaps some of the better games out there. Nintendo understands nostalgia and they can deliver that feeling in spades. They also changed the way we view controllers and have in essence shifted the paradigm of console gaming. However, the part of me that’s not a completely casual gamer is consistently left wanting more from this system.

I dunno. Does anyone else think about this shit or am I just weird?

Filed Under Moronic

Posted on June 15, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather TV 5

Jonathan Wright writes via The Guardian:

There was time when episodic science fiction television was exactly that, episodic. Though there might be a few recurring plotlines in your favourite shows, you could dip in and out of a series without being seriously inconvenienced.

Not today. In the era of the story arc, it increasingly takes serious commitment to watch sci-fi telly. The new series of Torchwood is a case in point. Torchwood: Children of Earth, to give the latest series of the Doctor Who spin-off its newly expanded moniker, is “one epic story told over five nights”.

I’m sorry, but what’s so bad about five not-so-epic-but-nevertheless-carefully-crafted-individual stories shown over five weeks –or possibly even six if you need to re-jig the schedules because of a major sporting event? How did telly get so complicated?

Excuse me? Complicated? As someone who absolutely loves serialized television, this blog post has me scratching my head. What’s got me scratching my head even more is that this guy goes on to blame Babylon 5 for the downfall of the episodic Sci-Fi. What’s even worse is that he states that these ongoing arcs are “inconvenient,” and that one cannot simply jump into a show from the 3rd season and enjoy it like all the other shows out there.

Uh-huh. Whatever. The guy doesn’t seem to understand story arcs all that well, or that story is perhaps one of the most important aspects to television and film. Would you have really stuck with BSG had there not been a mission to find Earth? Would you have enjoyed Buffy quite the same way if there hadn’t been a “Big Bad” every season? And what’s that crap about story arcs excluding episodic content? Hello? Pushing Daisies? Dead Like Me? Must I list every other television show in existence?

This ranty-pants post is brought to you via J Michael Straczynski, who rocks. :)

You’d Think They Would Know Better

Posted on May 26, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather 0

Woke up today to the news that the courts in california upheld Prop 8. I must say that I’m surprised and extremely disappointed by this turn of events. I understand that this decision doesn’t reflect the beliefs of everyone there, but it certainly reveals what the majority believes. Didn’t think I could want to live anywhere less than I do California. Seriously.

And then the other bit of newsI heard was that they might be making a new Buffy movie without Joss Whedon, you know, like the first one. You would think that they would try to get the involvement of the guy who turned a bland premise into an engaging show! Anyway, I could complain about this and California all day today, but I should really keep an eye out for my stop.

You’d think they would know better.

I find @CalamityEnsues interesting! #followfriday

Posted on May 15, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather 0

I was poking around at Stay N Alive and read a very interesting idea about Follow Friday and the ways it can adapt to the new @reply changes that Twitter has set in place. Instead of flooding the tweet-stream with a bajillion usernames no one is going to care to check out, you highlight a select few people and EXPLAIN why they are interesting to you. This is a much better idea in the long run and puts the focus where it truly belongs: on the people you’re trying to get people to follow! Anypoo, with that, I bring you my good buddy @calamityensues.

Here’s the nitty-gritty, as they say. Calamityensues is an animator based out of Chicago. He graduated from Columbia College, and has kept busy doing freelance work in his field. His real passion is with storyboarding, which is evidenced by the most excellent boards I’ve seen him do for our current project. He’s quite passionate about his work and yet will be the first to tell you that the story is one of the most important ingredients in animation and film.

Here’s a demo reel of some of his more recent work, so you can see what he’s all about!

If you haven’t figured out yet why I follow calamityensues, you might very well be the most blind person I’ve ever met. Seriously, check out his stuff and follow him as soon as you can. Link to his blog: http://tommyrobot.blogspot.com/