Resetting The Clock

Waking up and going to bed at bizarre hours continues. This is largely due to the fact that the In-Laws will be making their first visit to Toronto in a week or so, and it would be inconvenient at best if we were conked out and unable to show them around during the majority of the day. As a result, rather than simply try to endure an all-nighter to crash back into more acceptable hours, we’ve been going to bed a few hours later every day. This particular day, that meant getting up at some point in the early evening, having coffee, only to be invited down for a talk in the backyard with the neighbors, who were having their after dinner wine. Weird, but it works.

I still haven’t finished that script for the second Liquid City story, but it’s getting there. Definitely 3/4 done at least.

Boring Post

Woke up at obscenely late hour. Played Rogue Galaxy.

Gamerz Rite The Guudest!11 ZOMG LOLZ!11

Today I got my free copy–or should I say login name and password for a PDF download–of The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual. It is supposed to be a reference book for aspiring game journalists that provides the same kind of definitive rules as Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, but specific to the needs of game journalism, which, unlike its much older ancestors has little in the way of standardization, or public respect.

It’s an interesting read, although I think that anyone who’s already established in the industry will find the majority of the content not that useful. The bulk of the book consists of a glossary that explains most of the terms commonly used in gaming, such as “1-up” and the merits of using the word “console” versus “system.” Just about the only thing that I walked away with from that particular section was the fact that all these years, I should have been writing PlayStation, not Playstation. The other, more arbitrary decision is the guide’s stance on using “videogame” versus “video game.” I think that for the most part, this book will be most useful to two kinds of readers; those who are new to writing in general, and writing about games in particular, and those who broke into game journalism with a profound belief that neither grammar nor structure are necessary for game journalism because that kind of stuff is for nerds. Since game journalism tends to be far more lenient about people that “break in” than counterparts in news journalism, film journalism and music journalism, I suspect there are far, far more of this second type of reader than the game industry would like to admit.

But one part in particular that I found interesting was the theoretical bit towards the end. Here they make a stand on “reviews” versus “criticism” and they break it down into a fairly simple line of division. Reviews are pieces that talk about what something IS. Criticisms are pieces that explore what something MEANS. The book goes on to state that most reviewers tend to fall somewhere in the middle, leaning heavily towards the review aspect and throwing in another element, which is personal taste. The guide believes that while having a personal opinion is obviously something is important, it should not be the final destination of a really good piece, as, at least in film, it is the critical aspect that separates a thoughtful exploration of a game from a merely gushing/acerbic holler. It likens this difference to what readers see when they read a review by Harry Knowles (“That scene was awesome! THIS MOVIE IS AWESOME!”) versus Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael (“That scene was an interesting play on both societal concerns and anxieties, as well as a reference to cinematography of the German Expressionist era, working on two levels to engage the audience.”). Obviously the feel that game journalists are too much of the former and there aren’t anywhere near enough of the latter.

Of course that brings up an interesting question, which is, “Do we need that kind of reviewer yet?” I’m firmly in the camp that games are an art form, albeit a new and still emerging one. For the moment, games are still viewed as a shallow, vacuous (and dangerously influential) entertainment for the masses, with no social, cultural or artistic value. That should be a familiar line to anyone who was there at the birth of film, comics or rock and roll, and as time has proven, that perception eventually ends up being discarded as the form matures. I think games too, will have to start being taken very, VERY seriously when two inevitable factors kick in. 1) The academics get into it, something that is already happening, and 2) The people who grew up playing videogames are entrenched in every level of society, including political policy making. Perhaps, for example, Fredic Wertham and his anti-comic study Seduction of the Innocent held sway in the 50′s when comics were still perceived as new and threatening, but try telling any psychiatrist today that comics are responsible for the evils of the world and they’ll say you’re wrong and tout videogames as far more dangerous. However, give it another 30 years, when every decision maker has grown up exposed to–if not playing–games, and you’ll see them saying games are harmless and the real danger is all that crazy Neural Simulated Reality the kids are plugging into.

By the time it gets to that stage, hopefully there will be less superstition surrounding games and more critical thinking. But the thing I’m wondering is, how do we move NOW into that transition where game journalists are sort of third party advertisers, and into a position where they are regarded as thinkers that contribute insights to games and their impact on society? What’s it gonna’ take before we get that Lester Bangs or Pauline Kael that this style guide holds up as the paragon that we should be shooting for? Do we need some gonzo journalist to start writing for Wired in the same way that bangs did for Rolling Stone Magazine?

More Stories

A typical Monday in the Annex with some perfect weather (that is to say, warm enough to walk around with a jacket, but not warm enough to actually break a sweat). All the usual stops were made, Beguiling, Suspect Video, a resupply of coffee and some groceries. I still haven’t finished that second story for the Liquid City anthology, but soon, dammit, SOON…

The Wife herself is also going to be very busy. She made the mistake one day of saying, “I have no stories to tell,” and immediately had a big one she wanted to do before the day was out. I won’t say much about it here, ’cause it’s her story and all, after all, but between Nowhere, Liquid City the Other Anthology, a couple of stories she’d previously forgotten about, and this new one, she’s got a lot on her plate.

And on my list of reccomends for this week comes yet another anime series courtesy of Suspect:

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

This one is completely random. I’d heard absolutely nothing about it, didn’t know a thing in advance, and hadn’t even heard about it. The only reason we ended up watching it was because the cover of the DVD case caught the Wife’s eye and I figured, “What the hell, could be fun.”

It’s a weird amalgamation of Coming of Age and Sliders. The story starts out with two 12 year old kids, Arumi (the adorable one in the white dress in the foreground) and her childhood friend, Sasshi (the one with the hat) as they face their last summer together. Both of them have spent their entire lives living in shophouses on the north and south end of a large complex called the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. Arumi’s family runs the Pelican French restaurant on the north side–adorned with a big pelican on the roof–and Sasshi’s family runs Turtle baths–similarly adorned with a big turtle on the roof–but the years have not been kind to the arcade. Now, plots of land are being sold off, and the old place is gradually being dismantled. Arumi’s family will be moving away and Sasshi’s not looking forward to it.

What starts out as seemingly charming young love/coming of age story quickly takes a turn for the strange when the kids end up getting caught in a kind of spatial warp that constantly moves them from one bizarre, fantastical version of their shopping arcade to another. They go from Japanese fantasy role-playing game styled arcades to giant robot science fiction ones, and even film noir. It is just downright hilarious, and while it’s only 13 episodes in total length, this is another one of those little treasures that I need to add to the list of things for the collection

And, on a totally random note, here’s a baby panda:

Quiet Sunday

Not much happening today, aside from some minor insomnia that resulted in bedtime at a very odd hour, and a little bit of work. Some of the script for the second Liquid City story was written, a little bit of Hanger 18 was played (and failed. Repeatedly. MAN, those final solos are tough…) and a lot of Rogue Galaxy was grinded out in the evening. It was a bit of a shock popping it in and realizing that despite the fact that this was the first Canadian game I’d bought since I arrived, I hadn’t actually played it in a few months…

Red Octane Should Pay Me

Considering how much advertising I do for them, but MAN… with this latest news… Just… can’t… stop… GETTING EXCITED!

There’s an official promotional video out for the game now, and once again, it reveals a song that hadn’t appeared on any lists. Considering what one Guitar Hero I know has said in past comments, this new song alone completely annihilates any “waning enthusiasm” he may have had for the game, and puts him squarely in the “OH MY GOD I HAVE TO HAVE THIS GAME! NOW!!” department. Although it looks like “The Warrior” by Scandal already did that. Here’s the current list so far, with “???” indicating it’s still unknown whether it’ll be a cover or a master track:

• “I Wanna Rock” (by Twisted Sister)
• “I Ran” (by Flock of Seagulls)
• “Round and Round” (as made famous by Ratt)
• “I Want Candy” (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
• “Metal Health” (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
• “Holy Diver” (as made famous by Dio)
• “Heat of the Moment” (as made famous by Asia)
• “18 and Life” (as made famous by Skid Row)
• “Bathroom Wall” (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
• “Lonely is the Night” (as made famous by Billy Squier)
• “Nothing But a Good Time” (as made famous by Poison)
• “Play With Me” (as made famous by Extreme)
• “Shaken” (as made famous by Eddie Money)
• “Synchronicity II” (as made famous by Police)
• “The Warrior” (??? by Scandal) (I’m betting this is a master track myself, it sounds dead on)
• “Only A Lad” (??? by Oingo Boingo)
• “Balls To The Wall” (??? by famous by Accept)
• “We Got the Beat” (??? by the Go Gos)

And here’s the video that confirms it:

Only 12 songs left on the list that haven’t been revealed, and these are likely The Big Guns if the past two releases were anything to go by. Must… Finish… Hanger 18…

How Did THAT Happen?

Last night–which would technically be this morning for most people–we had one hell of a time actually falling asleep due to something which I thought I would never have to worry about here in Canada. It was too damn hot. The temperature outside during the day stayed at a steady 30 degrees Celsius, and then dropped to 26 degrees and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the night. While it was nowhere near as humid as what you get in the tropics, it was still enough to make for a fitful sleep. On the other hand, at least geek-wise, this may have been a blessing in disguise. The sleep deprivation, however light it was, may have contributed to shutting my brain down enough that my fingers could actually take over without any of that annoying concentration a conscious mind insists on, and when I took on Guitar Hero II today, it was a day of surprises. First up:

Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies.

Since this was my first time on the final tier of Expert, I did what I did for the previous Guitar Hero game, I went after my least favorite song first so I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. Much to my surprise, I actually managed to finish this off on my first try. I’m strongly beginning to suspect that Psychobilly Freakout is kind of the “Pre-Requisite Mini-boss” song of Guitar Hero II, in that it acts as an artificial barrier that forces the player to hit a minimum level of proficiency that will make it possible to complete the rest to of the game. RPGs tend to do this a lot, but it seems like the same tactic has been employed here.

The Beast & The Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold

Having completely surprised myself by actually finishing the previous song and happy about the fact that it would not trouble me again (except in that nagging, “you really should 5-star this song” sort of way) I took on a song which initially pissed me off to no end, but, somehow, actually grew on me as I played it more and more. It was an easy 5-star on the Hard level for me, so I was expecting it be challenging but manageable. It turned out I was right. A couple of expectedly tricky bits shut me out on my first two attempts, but third time’s a charm, and the song was finished. Which now brings me to…

Misirlou as covered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.

This song really surprised me when I found out it actually has Greek folk music roots, rather than the Hispanic/Mariachi style roots I’d originally thought were its influences. What didn’t surprise me was the fact that it shut me out within 30 seconds of me starting the song. However, after getting lucky with the previous two songs, and feeling that burning pain in my left wrist that tells me I’ve been holding onto the guitar too hard, I decided it was time to give it Yet Another Shot and got lucky with getting just enough star power to cruise me through one Insanely Repetitive Passage, and after that, the rest of the song was actually just barely manageable. Now there’s only one song left on the main list.

Hanger 18 by Megadeth.

I’ve already tried it a few times on Expert, and each time, I inched a little bit closer to finishing it. It’s one of those songs that’s actually pretty doable for the most part, until Mustaine and Friedman kick into those ELEVEN FREAKIN’ GUITAR SOLOS right at the very end, which, of course, is where there’s just not enough star power to carry you through and you just have to be good enough to survive it. I suspect a few more dedicated attempts will get me through this and then there will be the ultimate challenge, Freebird. And man… am I ever not looking forward to that…

And, just to keep the news going, the Guitar Hero Encore Rocks The 80′s website is now live. It has a few surprises too. As with previous Guitar Hero websites, it features some of the songs that are on the game, and there were a few tunes there that haven’t made it onto any “official” release lists. The new ones I noticed were:

The Warrior by Scandal, 1984.
Only A Lad, by Oingo Boingo, 1981
Balls To The Wal
l, by Accept, 1983.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!

SCREW YOU, REVEREND, YOU ARE DONE.

And then, in a fit of Perfect Irony, I went straight into the encore, riding the high of Finally Finishing That God Damn Song, and played YYZ.

It must be some kind of sign that I finished it on my first try. It’s horribly appropriate anyway, since this the first “new” song that I play in Toronto and YYZ just happens to be the airport designation for… Toronto.

I may just finish this game in time for Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80′s yet…

Middle Of The Week Pleasantness

It’s not like anything particularly good happened today, it just played as most days have since we arrived in Toronto; quiet, relaxed and generally enjoyable. Living in Toronto–especially now, with the tree lined streets actually being lined with green, leafy trees–feels almost like a permanent vacation in some respects. The culture also has something to do with that, I suspect, since walking out into the Annex on any given day shows people sitting at benches in parks, reading books, neighbors sitting on the porch talking to each other, and cafes lined with students and other non-rich people, animatedly having conversations and laughing and smiling a lot. It’s quite a contrast from Singapore were neighbors do not interact, parks are hothouses thanks to the equatorial heat, and cafes are where people go to preen and laugh amongst each other in a cruel, arrogant manner as they wonder what the poor people are doing, and hate or pity anyone that doesn’t have at least a six figure income.

Or it could simply be that the Wife and I spend far too much time at home writing and drawing, or wandering the Annex, which is a haven for student/scholarly life anyway.

I am also, at some point going to owe a huge debt of thanks to Suspect Video for finally allowing me to do the one thing I couldn’t do in Singapore; reasonably keep up with the anime scene. When I first discovered anime, it was the same way most kids did who were born in the 70′s and grew up in the 80′s. I saw a few Japanese animated shows which had been redubbed for English consumption. It started in fits and starts with things like Battle of the Planets and then finally really took off with Robotech, and by then I was hooked, but I wanted REAL anime, not the watered down stuff we were getting as dubbed episodes. In that pre-internet era, that really meant only one thing; watching VHS bootlegs of Japanese anime that were horrible in image quality because they were usually 8th or 9th generation copies with no subtitling.

It was in this way that I first got a taste of “pure anime” in the form of titles like Gunbuster, Fight! Iczer One!, Megazone 23 and, of course, giants like Akira. Eventually, these titles would start being released on VHS, and it was just as I left Canada that I was starting to see North America begin to embrace in the mainstream what I had been forced to hunt down and watch–usually without understanding the plot at all–back in the 80′s.

Now, I’m back home, and what a change has been wrought in the geek landscape. Manga on sale in bookstores, anime freely available in every comic store, video store and available for rent even in places like Blockbuster.

All of which is to say that when I make my weekly pilgrimage down to Bloor & Bathurst to bathe in the geek sunshine that is Suspect Video and The Beguiling next door to each other, I’m a happy, happy little boy. Suspect may look like an obsessive/compulsive’s bedroom, with DVDs stored in the front and their box-art stuck in filecases that you must rifle through–comic book hunting style, yo…–but this merely reinforces the idea that you are in a place where they understand what a sick, deprived schmuck you are and reinforce these unhealthy tendencies.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Now that I have regular access to anime, I am now raving with unabashed love, about these two shows:

Excel Saga

Pure, unadulterated, nonlinear, random, utterly hilarious insanity. ESPECIALLY if you’re familiar with the tropes and conventions of anime, manga and Japanese culture.

The simplest, shortest way to describe this 26 episode television series is, “This is what would have happened if the Monty Python crew had grown up in Japan and been given an animation studio.”

The plot–such as it is–centers on a super-secret conspiracy group named ACROSS, run by a stereotypical tall, dark, mysterious, deep voiced, effeminate anime pretty boy by the name of Ilpalazzo. He spends most of his time in a subterranean lair giving orders and playing girlfriend/dating video games. ACROSS is bent on world domination, but is deciding to start with the one city the underground HQ occupies first. The principle executor of Ilpalazzo’s orders is the girl Excel Saga. Cheerful to psychotic levels and dumb as a sack of hammers, her adoration for Ilpalazzo sends her off on missions which are half designed to bring the world to its knees and half designed to kill her since her chief actually finds her supremely annoying. Her subordinate is a beautiful, anemic girl by the name of Hyatt who has a tendency to fall over dead as a result of the tuberculosis that makes her so pale, ethereal and delicate. They are frequently aided in their hopeless endeavors by the Great Will of the Macrocosm, which presents itself as a collection of spinning galaxies in the Great Void, and has women’s arms attached to this. The Great Will frequently resets the universe to more convenient points, such as just before Excel blows herself up, gets hit by a truck, or brings an entire building tumbling down on herself an Hyatt.

There are so many moments of random insanity in the series that you’re bound to keel over laughing at something. What’s really great about the series is how each episode seeks to subvert certain conventions or cliches, such as the 80′s Jungle Action picture, or the Japanese Dating Simulation genre of games. Not since the lunacy of Project A-Ko in 1986 has an anime production made my stomach hurt so badly from the laughter.

And on a completely different tack, I bring you:

Paranoia Agent

I knew I was in for a weird trip as soon as I heard the name Satoshi Kon, and his involvement with this series. The man is probably one of the single most interesting, exciting and “critically” accessible storytellers in the animation industry of Japan, and not in that warm, friendly Hayao Miyazaki way either. If Miyazaki is the Walt Disney of Japan, Kon is its Frederico Fellini. His films are beautiful to look at, wonderfully composed, full of characterization and frequently swerves into layers of dream and surreality without so much as a wink at the audience. His first feature, Perfect Blue, was an exercise in almost Hitchcock style psychological torture of its main character, but with a dose of Dali thrown in at the most unexpected moments. His next feature, Millennium Actress was a bittersweet reminiscence of love, growing older, and the march of both culture and film. After that came Tokyo Godfathers about a trio of Japanese homeless who find a baby and attempt to raise it. In each case, Satoshi has shown an enormous amount of care in building his characters, a fairly scathing amount of social commentary on the ills of Japanese society, and that dreamlike quality of playing with time, space, reality and imagination.

It was only because of Suspect Video that I finally realized he’d done a 13 episode series, I HAD to watch it.

And so far, I am not disappointed. Kon opens this series with a story about seemingly random attacks on diverse people in Tokyo, sweeping through streets with his inline skates and his bent aluminum baseball bat. But what starts as a case of trying to track down a violent delinquent quickly becomes far more mysterious as the show looks at the social ills of urban life; everything from jealousy at the office to a precocious (and unhealthy) drive to succeed and be popular in elementary school, seemingly cured through an good, swift, whack with a baseball bat to the head.

This is one of the few times where I’ve watched something, regardless of it being a live action or animated work, and simply did not know what was going to happen next. It’s a show that’s almost impossible to predict, and I’m enjoying the ride to no end. This is making me even more excited about the fact that Kon’s next film, Paprika, is actually going to be screening here next month.

It is good to have anime back in my life on a regular basis. Especially since the subtitling is of high caliber and is grammatically correct, as opposed to the bizarrely random choices made by Singapore translation houses, who would regularly substitute what should have been an obvious “God DAMN you!” moment with… “THIS FELLOW!”

Yeah, I know. I don’t get that either…

Oh, and more Guitar Hero news, new info has been released about Guitar Hero III, which will be going on sale in “Fall of 2007″ for all the usual systems. One of the things that raised my eyebrow is that the new developers, Neversoft, will be including Boss Battles. I have no idea how this will work in practice, and my gut tells me that this may simply be a way of making change just to say “We’re in charge, so screw you, Harmonix, we own this franchise now and we’ll piss on it somehow to mark it as our territory.” However, to their credit, the newly released playlist is definitely more mainstream friendly than the increasingly more technical selections of GHII and the upcoming Rocks The 80′s, so I can see a lot of happy Guitar Heroes getting a big smile on their face from these more “radio” selections:

• Paint It Black (by The Rolling Stones)
• Cherub Rock (by Smashing Pumpkins)
• Sabotage (by Beastie Boys)
• The Metal (by Tenacious D)
• My Name is Jonas (by Weezer)
• Knights of Cydonia (by Muse)
• Rock And Roll All Nite (as made famous by Kiss)
• School’s Out (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
• Slow Ride (as made famous by Fog Hat)
• Cult of Personality (by Living Colour)
• Barracuda (as made famous by Heart)

I gotta’ admit… Tenacious D? LIVING COLOR?! FREAKIN’ PAINT IT BLACK?!? YOWZA!

Oh YEAH.

And here’s the list of songs officially on the game so far, with the newest additions highlighted:

• “I Wanna Rock” (by Twisted Sister)
• “I Ran” (by Flock of Seagulls)
• “Round and Round” (as made famous by Ratt)
• “I Want Candy” (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
• “Metal Health” (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
• “Holy Diver” (as made famous by Dio)
• “Heat of the Moment” (as made famous by Asia)
• “18 and Life” (as made famous by Skid Row)
• “Bathroom Wall” (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
• “Lonely is the Night” (as made famous by Billy Squier)
• “Nothing But a Good Time” (as made famous by Poison)
• “Play With Me” (as made famous by Extreme)
• “Shaken” (as made famous by Eddie Money)
• “Synchronicity II” (as made famous by Police)

The one in particular that made my jaw drop from the latest additions is “Play With Me.” That one has Final Tier song written all over it. If you don’t recall the song, it was probably made most famous when a bunch of Great Figures From History were brought to San Dimas, California, to experience the wonders of 20th century shopping malls, and one of those great figures started playing the keyboard, at which point, the song kicked in. Or you could just watch it below:

Holy crap, that song is gonna’ kill me.

Must… finish… Psychobilly… Freakout… But… so… damn… hard…