So, when I was writing my bit on Avatar the other day, a I had a thought I hadn't had in a while. It annoys me to no end that people can't see animation as a valid and serious art form. In a way, the same problem plagues the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres regardless of medium, but part of that concern is a topic for another post.
As I understand it, the argument goes something like this: "It was only used for kid's programming in the past, it can only be used for kid's stuff now." That's just a silly point though. It's the same kind of problem that actors run into when they have one major defining role: they get typecast.
Anyway, it's something that gets under my skin. Perfectly serious stories can be told in any medium, the same goes for funny/sad/exciting/etc. stories.
May 4, 2008
This is Serious Business
May 3, 2008
The Hook
It's a good general rule of most media that your heavy-hitters are going to do something to grab your attention right away, then they're going to manage to hold you until the end.
I think Final Fantasy XII does the first well enough, but hasn't managed to do the second (and arguably more key element) all that well. It doesn't mean I won't finish the game, but I probably won't get as much out of it as I did the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th installations of the series.
As to why I think this is, I believe I have issue with the fact that Vaan is 100% pure cypher in the story. It's not that other "main" characters haven't been cyphers to some extent, but it honestly seems like he serves no other purpose in the story but to represent you, the player as the outsider. To illustrate the point further let me take a look at each of those other games.
- Final Fantasy VI - Terra. As a half-human/half-esper young woman, her history and her future were tied directly in the Empire's (and later Kefka's) plans.
- Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife. Not as integral to the back story as he thinks he (futzed up memory and all that jazz), his connections to Aeris and Sephiroth make him key to the outcome.
- Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart. His connection to SeeD and eventual love of Rinoa tie him into the story of the Sorceresses.
- Final Fantasy IX - Zidane Tribal. His history as part of Garland's plans combined with his relationship with Garnet pull him to the center of the tale of two worlds.
- Final Fantasy X - Tidus. So what if he's a bit of whiner or a girly-man, as a dream of the fayth and son of the latest Sin, he's wrapped up in this story even more than most of the above.
More Changes
So I guess I'm chickening out on writing about something more substantial yet again, but as you can see, I have been making quite a few changes here.
- Profile Picture
- Flickr Photostream (already mentioned)
- Latest Tweets (yes, I'm on twitter)
- 3 Column layout (biggest design change)
May 2, 2008
Water, Earth, Fire, Air
No, not Captain Planet. I referring to the four nations of the world in the series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Don't get fooled by the fact that it's a "Nicktoon" - this series may be focused on children, but it's written on many levels. I think that may be the reashttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifon that Nickelodeon hasn't aired it recently, actually - I think it draws the wrong demographic, which is to say: older teens and adults. Despite that, it's the finest specimen of dramatic writing in animation on American TV, in my opinion.
It follow the journey of Aang, last remaining member of Air nation (the Air Nomads), who is also the Avatar: the umpteenth reincarnation of the bridge between the material world and the spirit world. Destined to return balance to world, he and his friends journey across world so that he can learn each of the "bending" techniques - elemental manipulation crossed with martial arts - and try to bring peace to a world that's been at war for over one hundred years.
One of the coolest aspects is that each of the martial arts styles - one per nation/"bending" technique - used in the series is based on a different, real world style. And the major techniques used on the show are based on recorded footage, but not motion capture, of Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association.
Psychology
MIT is a pretty big name school, but I'm sure you all know that. What's more interesting is their Open Courseware initiative, providing resources covering more than 1800 courses in MIT's curriculum.
In particular, I've come to enjoy listening to the lectures from a Fall 2004 section of Introduction to Psychology, taught by Dr. Jeremy Wolfe. It's quite an interesting course, though I'm more fond of the later lectures. The lectures are informative and at times entertaining.
If you have the time I recommend considering listening through the course, or one of their other offerings.
May 1, 2008
Why I do this...
So, it's been a whole month and I don't think I've addressed my purpose here. First of all, I want to start a dialogue between myself and the people who choose to read this. If you know me in real life, you know that I'm pretty quiet. What you may not know is that I almost constantly have ideas and things I'd like to say running through my head. This is partly a place to air some of that too.
It serves two other purposes. I want to document some of the things I've thought about - too often, even with this blog, I think of things to talk about and manage to forget them. In the process, I'm exploring my own thoughts. Trying to nail down who I am a little better, I guess. Either that or I'm doing that for people who read here. Not really sure.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Alright, we've got a few changes happening here. First, you'll notice I finally have a profile picture. Below that, I've added in a slightly modified flickr photostream. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get a nice one (I'd prefer something smaller and horizontal). If anyone has a suggestion on that point, contact me.
Currently I have two sets of photos up on flickr: a bowling night from a few weeks ago, and last night's going away party/get-together for Sully (who's leaving, as mentioned earlier).