Arts – Page 9 – Letter Never Sent

Consumption Junction

Friday night I went to see Keanu’s new movie, Constantine, which is based on a comic book by Alan Moore, the creator of The Watchmen and From Hell. It was enjoyable, although you shouldn’t expect to leave feeling overwhelmed by it. The religious dimension to the film was interesting. I liked the idea that heaven and hell exist as parallel realities behind our everyday reality, and that some people are part angel or demon.

Afterwards, we walked over to Borders and I purchased the Baltazar Gracian (pronounced gray-thian) book of aphorisms, The Art of Worldly Wisdom. As a compilation of experience and advice it will make a nice companion to other similar books in my library like the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Michel de Montaigne’s Essays, and Nietzsche.

Literature — 2 Comments
16
Feb 05

Info dump

To the detriment of my own posting regularity I have ended up posting a lot more to my del.icio.us account than anywhere else. In the six months since September I have posted to it 432 times. Compare that with the 1561 entries I have posted to the blog over the past four years. That’s more than twice the frequency. Granted, the posts to del.icio.us are less substantial, but it is obvious that it is seeing a lot more activity from yours truly. With the del.icio.us Firefox extension you just have to right click a link or page to send it to del.icio.us. I dump much of the information I sift through directly into there. Since anything goes you can gather a good idea of the kind of stuff I’ve been reading about. Del.icio.us is a godsend for people who like to sift through massive amounts of varied information.
I finally finished reading Pat Conroy’s novel “Beach Music“, which I’ve been nursing for a few months. Like most of his other books I’ve read (The Prince of Tides, The Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini) I could really relate to the story and the characters. Conroy also has an effusive, bittersweet style that I enjoy.

Now that I have read a few of his books I am starting to see a number of similarities among them all. Most of the characters possess a lot of the same personality traits, and the family circumstances are often strikingly similar. There is usually a harsh military father, a sibling with schizophrenia or mental illness, eccentric grandparents, and an overwhelmingly dominant yet fiercely loving mother figure. I’ve also noticed that several of Conroy’s female love interests are emotionally remote, and troubled. Usually his protagonists are in love with someone who is either unwilling or unable to love them back. His protagonists find some way to come to the rescue while also ultimately failing to achieve the love they want. Loss seems to be a common theme. It is interesting how Conroy resolves certain relationships. It’s hints at an actual lack of resolution the author might have felt when writing.

At times, I feel amibivalent about his work. Much of what he writes is only thinly disguised as fiction and you feel like you become a part of his very real and palpable family suffering and drama. There is so much of his raw emotional reality dripping from the writing. It makes me wonder what drives him to tell his story as fiction. Is it a desire to express something that still causes pain thereby creating distance from it? Does he want to confess to his readers but hide from their scrutiny? I can’t help but feel that there is something sadly narcissistic about turning important life experiences into novels. The pain is very real, but he wants to draw attention to it as well.

All that being said, I’ll probably check out the non-fiction work, “My Losing Season” next. Here are a couple related links:
1. Pat Conroy interview on “Beach Music”
2. Pat Conroy audio interview on Fresh Air

Media / Software / Internet — 1 Comment
20
Jan 05

Unabashed praise

I work for a company that publishes video games. It’s just expected that you spend some amount of time playing games and staying current, otherwise when everyone is talking about the latest thing they’re playing you won’t know what they’re talking about. You have to stay in context.

The biggest thing to happen in a long time is Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (wikipedia entry). Everyone I know is playing it and new people get sucked in all the time. It is that good. I don’t even play subscription games and I’m playing it. Even people who have never played an online game before have caught the WoW bug. It’s a phenomenon.

They have sold somewhere around 500,000 copies of the game and their current active subscribers are estimated at 350,000. That’s in just two months. Each one of those 350,000 people pays $14.95 a month to play. It’s no wonder traditional media giants like Fox and Viacom are itching to get a piece of online gaming action. When you compare it to the time you spend watching cable television it is not difficult to justify the expense. It is bigger than Everquest 2 and it is scaring the crap out of anyone who is expecting to compete with it in the MMO genre (Massively Multiplayer Online games, as they say in the biz). The game is just that good. It is not revolutionary, but it takes ideas from everywhere and does everything well. Quality speaks for itself. WoW removes any arguments for producing a bad game. A game can be done of the highest calibre.

If you’re looking for a new experience, World of Warcraft is a game that’s fun, accessible, flexible and deep. Check out their website and let me know what you think. I’m the warlock “Sivori” on Sargeras server. Send me a message and we’ll go fishing.

Media / Software / Internet — 1 Comment
18
Jan 05

More on Wired / Gawker media: Wired Conflicts of Interest

Today I had to laugh when I saw the following press release from Wired Magazine: “WIRED Magazine Announces Nominees for Sixth Annual Wired Rave Awards“. The most cursory investigation reveals evidence of Wired’s continued conflicts of interest passed off as journalistic appreciation, this time in the way it promotes its business / advertising partners for their apparently meaningless Rave awards.

I’d love a little info on the nomination process as at least two of the five nominated blogs, Kevin Sites Blog and Wonkette (owned by Gawker Media Corp.), have direct business relationships to Wired Media. It should be no surprise that nominees for the Rave Awards are selected and judged by the editors of Wired Magazine. If you continue down the list of nominees you might discover similar relationships, but these were the most obvious.

I detailed this sort of cross-promotion previously. In this case, it is glaring. For example, Wired Media’s resident journalist-bloggeur Xeni Jardin is credited on Kevin Sites Blog as the site producer and creator. Xeni Jardin also lists Kevin Sites Blog on her personal website as one of her projects, yet this somehow does not disqualify the site from competing for “Rave” awards promoted by her employer in the Blogger category.

Furthermore, the aforementioned Wonkette is wholly owned by Nick Denton’s corporate alter-ego, Gawker Media Corp., and staffed by paid blogger Ana Marie Cox. The fact that Ms. Cox is a paid blogging employee should be disqualifying enough, but let’s not forget that Wonkette’s parent company and Wired Media have an open business partnership involving another of Gawker Media’s hot “blogging” properties, Gizmodo. On Gizmodo’s front page they promote Wired’s Gadget Lab newsletter and have done so for many months. An exchange of lucrative advertising space and who knows what else. Gizmodo’s promotion of Gadget Lab almost certainly has more to do with promoting Wired’s own magazine subscriptions (why else would you join an email newsletter?) and advertisers than it has to do with an appreciation of gadgets.

This is exactly the sort of thing most people hate about the “blogging” world. The pretense is that these individuals craft an image of a reality that does not exist and they have that power because of their credibility as journalists and media experts. These nominated blogs and individuals are important because Wired and its editors say they are. But what if the editors / judges are friends or business partners with their subjects? Where is the line between journalistic appreciation and conflict of interest? Or, the line between blogging and advertising-driven hackery? At the very least, if you have a direct relationship with the organization in charge of the nomination and award process you should be disqualified.

Film and motion pictures — 4 Comments
01
Jan 05

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I saw Wes Anderson’s newest movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou a few days ago at Westgate where I normally end up going.

One thing worth mentioning is that I think I spotted someone camming the movie. When I was coming out of the bathroom before the movie started I passed a guy with a camera bag entering the bathroom. He was in his late twenties with a pony-tail and goatee. I only took note of him because of the camera bag, which I found a little conspicuous, although I have no idea what he had in it. I went back to my seat in the last row, right in the middle until the lights dimmed and the previews finally started. About half way through the coming attractions the pony-tail guy comes back and sits three seats to my left and places his camera bag lengthwise across the top of the folded up seat cushion. He spent a couple seconds adjusting it then I guess he noticed me eyeballing him because then he traded seats with the camera bag and moved it to the left of him.

Anyway, about the movie. Even though I was excited about seeing it, I became disappointed and bored pretty quickly. It has the same nostalgic-for-the-mid-1970’s style that I liked in The Royal Tenenbaum’s and Rushmore, but even that seemed more affected than earnestly sentimental. The story was bland and confusing. There was nothing interesting about the characters. I got the feeling that Wes Anderson made the movie as an excuse to hang out with all his friends. I’ve had enough Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston to last me another few years. I want to see a more manic and smartass Bill Murray for a change, not the run-down schlepp he’s been playing. The Life Aquatic is unfortunately a pretentious movie that’s light on substance. Why is Cate Blanchett even in this?

Film and motion pictures — 1 Comment
17
Dec 04

Street-smarts versus book-smarts

Admittedly, I have been hooked on watching The Apprentice. I didn’t watch it the first season, but I got into it this year. It’s gotten to the point where I will watch almost any reality TV show if it’s on while I’m sitting and eating dinner: Nanny 911, Wife Swap, Trading Spouses, the Biggest Loser, etc. I don’t watch a lot of television and I don’t have cable, so besides Will & Grace, it’s the only type of thing I have occasion to see. If anything else comes along I usually just download it from one of the tv torrent sites.

The 3 hour season finale of The Apprentice was on last night and that was a pretty huge television committment. The best part was the announcement that season 3 will consist of the so-called booksmarts against the so-called streetsmarts, which is enticing. We will be sure to see heated moments of class warfare. I predict the streetsmarts will have an early edge given that they are certain to have a more practical and pragmatic intelligence. In the video preview, they looked a lot harder. There will be a few cutthroat booksmarts who will pass muster.

Comics / Film and motion pictures — Comments Off
15
Dec 04

Must See TV: ‘Peanuts’

Christmas would not be complete without ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’. ABC is showing it this Thursday along with a behind the scenes documentary:

The classic half-hour animated Christmas-themed PEANUTS special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, will air for the first time on the ABC Television Network on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). In addition to the original Emmy Award-winning special, a behind-the-scenes story of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, will air immediately following the special.

On a related note, Jonathan Franzen wrote a nostalgic homage on ‘Peanuts’ in the New Yorker recently.

By the way I hope this neverending animated gif is not making your eyeballs bleed.

Personal / Quotations — 1 Comment
14
Dec 04

Best advice of 2004

Here are some things I’ve learned from others over the course of the year and have added to my mental arsenal. Where possible I have included the original statement as it was given. Many of things may not resonate with you, but you may find ideas worth consideration:

“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.” (source) Maintain high standards for the people you surround yourself with and you will start holding yourself to a higher standard. You can learn a lot of good strategies for life from other people. Listen closely to what people say and watch what they do, especially if you see them doing something you would like to do.
“Think in terms of opportunities.” I don’t remember where I first heard this. It was either in some mass-market self-help book or a book on investing. I don’t really remember. All I know is, it works. Granted, I’m not much better off financially or career-wise than I was 5 or 6 years ago, but if I ever get discouraged it helps me get back out there and fighting. Your own worst enemy is yourself, more specifically, your “self”. Little mental tricks can help you keep going in a positive direction. For example, instead of saying “I can’t afford this.” think “How can I afford this?” The first statement kills action and will. The second statement spurs creative thought and action. Be positive. Keep moving forward. Your attitude is one of the most important things you can actually change.
“Deciding not to act is still a decision.” I have this problem where I defer decision-making in the hopes that difficult problems will take care of themselves. I don’t like the responsibility of making decisions that will result in pain or discomfort. I ignore them. I delay acting. I let other people decide things and then I just adapt to whatever the eventual result is. You finally reach a point where you know this is exactly what you’re doing. That doesn’t mean I don’t procrastinate anymore, but I do realize that I am just delaying what will still be something difficult. Sometimes that helps me put everything aside and take care of those difficult responsibilities.
“Keep it simple, stupid.” My friend Oliver said this one day in AIM. What he actually said was “KISS” and I had no idea what he was talking about until he de-abbreviated it for me. It stuck in my mind and got rolled up into a lot of other ideas I was having on the problem with too much of the wrong kind of self-consciousness. “Keep it simple” can apply to almost any situation. Many times people just over-think things and this leads to paralysis and indecision. Thoughts can spiral out of control and you can lose sight of your goals and objectives. In other situations, you can start a project and try to do too much at once. Keeping KISS in mind helps you retain focus on what’s vital and important.
“Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” This is a quotation by Voltaire that has been on my Metafilter member page. This one can mean many things. For one, don’t be afraid to ask questions and admit when you don’t know something. Secondly, there are few definite answers. Beware of anyone who thinks they have all the answers or who speaks too stridently. Facts and knowledge can block understanding. Think in terms of questions and hold your own counsel since no one can read your mind or see things completely from your point of view. Asking questions is also a great thing to do in the midst of a debate. Focus on the inconsistencies of the opposing argument. Ask who, what when, where and how? This can go a long way.

Literature — Comments Off
09
Dec 04

Caught with my book pants down

Damn. Damn. Damn. I’m devouring this book, A Storm of Swords, and I’m quickly starting to realize that there’s no way in hell the sequel is going to be out in time for me to read when I finish this installment.

This series is very good as I mentioned earlier. In thinking about it today, I realized a few things that make it exceptional:

It is character and plot driven. Fantasy novels often get caught up rhapsodizing over the setting, the history, the culture, and fantastic elements of the story and forget about the story itself. In this series the details support and help move the plot forward. Sure, there are swords, dragons, giants, and the other fantastic trappings you would expect, but it is in service to the narrative. The characters make the story come alive and the plot gets you involved as a reader.
On a related note, the details provide richness. This richness fleshes out the world, it doesn’t distract.
The world is fantastic but realistic. The characters are complex. Some “bad guys” do good things, some “good guys” do bad things. There are few overt judgments and no priggish morality. If I may be heretical, The Lord of the Rings was often tedious in its simplistic view of good and evil.
The entire series is wall to wall with action, intrigue, sex, violence, and good dialogue. It is unpredictable. Anything can happen to anyone and any character can die at any time even if he or she seems essential.
The story is told from several different points of view and these points of view are often conflicting. The reader is given an opportunity to think about what’s actually going on, which is rare.

Let’s just say I’m glad to find a good series to enjoy. It’s not heavy reading, but I think you might like it.

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