This is how you do it.
Nov 20When I made a space game, we immeadiately decided that our trailers would have a rock track – all other space games seemed to thing you had to have an orchestra pushing the majesty of space, so we went another way. And while there were a satisfying handful of people who complained (“That’s NOT appropriate music for this type of game”), thus cementing our decision, there was a lot of “that’s awesome – thank god, no strings in space.”
But that was small, that was web-based. Imagine just how happy I was when I spotted the Gears of War commercial on TV.
So perfect – visually we follow the war-weary hero through the rubble of a now-dead city, and the Tears for Fears lyrics fill in the blanks.
Will the real Michael Jackson career please stand up?
Nov 16I’m neither a hater, nor a lover of Michael Jackson. Actually, I regret I said, “lover of Michael Jackson”, but it’s too late to go back. You know what I mean. I mean, I’ve never slept with Michael Jackson. Or gone all screamy girly over his music.
I will admit, Thriller was my first album purchase. Other albums would follow, mostly Wierd Al or Alan Parsons-based, but I also picked up Off the Wall. Those two were the the funk to my young ears, the proud succesors to everything git-down git-down I’d listened to on 70s AM radio. Then I bought The Jackson’s Victory album, and listened the shit out of that one. Then I stopped listening. Things got more pop and less funky from that point on and I wasn’t interested.
So, it’s with a certain bewildered sadness that I watch the seeminly insane decline of Michael (that’s Mr. Jackson, if you’re nasty.) No doubt about it, dude’s imploding. Anybody that doesn’t think fame is cancerous should have a look at this man – it’s pretty much eaten him alive, and it’s going back for a second helping of Latoya.
At the same time, I’m starting to notice a big hater push in the media – and it took the internet to help me see it. So, the word at New Music Express is that Michael’s big come-back performance at the World Music Awards (sort of like the World Series of baseball, wherein most of the world doesn’t actually get to play) was a non-starter, as he performed We Are the World instead of Thriller (a change for the thematic better, one might say, as well as topical), he couldn’t hit the high notes (this is in fact true) and he was booed off the stage…
…or not. You Tube tells a front row story, from the fan perspective. They’re screaming for him, “Michael, you rule!” is heard at one point, and after he leaves to the sounds of non-stop cheering, someone recites the mantra of “He’s coming back. He’ll come back out again.” So, the music press thinks he bombed. The masses love him. It sounds like the booing NME heard was coming from the press pit.
Don’t hate a playah! Let the man wither in peace, you bastards.
Trailer Trash
Nov 14Two interesting bits of movie trailer-related news trickling outward from the supple teat of Hollywood:
–A longer trailer for The Simpsons movie has premiered. I laughed to beat the band. Which surprises me, as I rarely laugh that hard at the actual television show anymore.
–Unless you live under a rock (or if you live WITH The Rock, and he’s actually some kind of abusive internet-phobic tyrant, in which case you need to get OUT of that relationship, girlfriend!), you have no doubt seen what the fabulous Heidi Macdonald calls the “secret Venom appearance” in that incomplete leaked Spider-Man 3 trailer.
Sony, you are morons for letting this leak, but you are even bigger morons for slapping around cease-and-desist orders on sites that host the video. Unless this is all one big underground viral scam to hypnotize us fanboys, in which case, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I SERVE YOU AND YOU ALONE O JAPANESE CORPORATE MASTER.
I'll Get Anybody Who Tries It! (Thanks, Orko)
Nov 10Gael over at Pop Culture Junk Mail always finds the best stuff. Be sure to read her commentary, too.
Big Damn Heroes
Nov 09Here’s a very good article by Entertainment Weekly‘s Jeff Jensen about Heroes and the comic book industry. Many knotty issues and questions raised, but one thing that stands out to me — because I love to think about things as they relate to me and only me, of course — is a quote from Brian K. Vaughan (who is a fan of the series) that sort of sums up why I can’t seem to fully warm up to Heroes in the crazy, googly-eyed way that I usually get over television.
”A show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a closer approximation of a comic book than Heroes,” says Vaughan. ”Buffy is like a guy who loves comic books doing a TV show, and Heroes feels like a guy who loves television doing a comic book.”
I’ve been having a hard time putting into words why I’m not all obsessed over this show, but I think he just did it for me. I mean, I like Heroes. The cliffhangers are swell, Masi Oka is great, the powers are conveyed onscreen in an interesting and cool way, Save the Cheerleader!, etc etc etc. And yet…there’s just something about the show that feels sort of condescending. Like, “Look, I’m treating this pop superhero stuff oh-so-seriously. We are serious around here!” You’re not the first to do so, Tim.
Or you know…maybe I’m just irritated that it’s cool to say you like Heroes, but still decidedly NOT COOL to say you like Battlestar Galactica.
