attacked
Games "According to the cute little story that unfolds during attract mode, a kung-fu master named Thomas and his girlfriend, Silvia, were suddenly attacked by "several unknown guys." While Thomas bravely fought off Knife-Throwing Guy, Silvia was kidnapped! Later, Thomas found a note from "X": "Your love Silvia is in custody now. If you want to save your dear Silvia's life, come to the Devil's Temple at once. 5 Sons of the Devil will entertain you." -- Wil Wheaton on Kung Fu Master.
I'm not terribly good at computer games which is why I have an ok machine and I'm writing this instead of playing Grand Theft Auto and my Playstation generally sits gathering dust. But I've actually completed Kung Fu Master. I was fifteen and I went on holiday to a caravan site with my parents. As well as a club and a small swimming pool, the only other entertainment was a small wooden shed which contained two arcade machines. A broken Defender machine and yes, Kung Fu Master. As the only thing to do in the evenings I'd be there for hours filling up the machine with ten pences (3 credits each!) and working away. Eventually I began to learn the patterns. Eventually I began to beat the machine. This never used to happen...
I'm not terribly good at computer games which is why I have an ok machine and I'm writing this instead of playing Grand Theft Auto and my Playstation generally sits gathering dust. But I've actually completed Kung Fu Master. I was fifteen and I went on holiday to a caravan site with my parents. As well as a club and a small swimming pool, the only other entertainment was a small wooden shed which contained two arcade machines. A broken Defender machine and yes, Kung Fu Master. As the only thing to do in the evenings I'd be there for hours filling up the machine with ten pences (3 credits each!) and working away. Eventually I began to learn the patterns. Eventually I began to beat the machine. This never used to happen...
training
Work "It looks like I'm going to be having my day in court. A company I worked for is refusing to pay me for a two day 'Introduction to Dreamweaver' course because it was, in their words, 'disastrous'. Well, let's look at the facts, shall we?" -- Jonathan Baldwin on when training sessions go bad. Then worse.
hyperlink
Film Whilst I'm here, the most surprising of the three films was Thirteen Conversations About One Thing. It's an example of a genre I've loved for years which Roger Ebert apparently recently, finally, given a name to. The 'hyperlinked movie' or cinema. This is an ensemble film in which the motives or the appearance of a plotline is changed when a character interacts with another or we see the action from a different angle. He later explained that he saw the description in a Film Comment article by Alissa Quart, and also points out that this kind of film has been knocking around for years perhaps with Robert Altman. To suggest some similar films which Ebert neglects, I'd drop in Kasden's Grand Canyon, many of John Sayles' films, particularly North Star and Sunshine State, Linklater's Dazed and Confused and good grief Miranda July's You and Me and Everyone We Know. [via]
This naming of genres after the fact has its anticedents. The filmmakers behind the film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s weren't aware that this was the genre they were working within -- they just churned out gangster pictures which were finding an audience. It took critics and fans to put a label on them. Later, when the Coen Brothers and their follows began to create the neo-noir films they were aware of the genre -- they were using the influence of the earlier films and setting them within a contemporary setting.
What is interesting is whether, now that this 'hyperlink' label has been coined filmmakers will actively decide that they're making their films within this genre and say as much and how quickly it will enter the general vocabulary. Someone should write a dissertation about this. Hmmm...
This naming of genres after the fact has its anticedents. The filmmakers behind the film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s weren't aware that this was the genre they were working within -- they just churned out gangster pictures which were finding an audience. It took critics and fans to put a label on them. Later, when the Coen Brothers and their follows began to create the neo-noir films they were aware of the genre -- they were using the influence of the earlier films and setting them within a contemporary setting.
What is interesting is whether, now that this 'hyperlink' label has been coined filmmakers will actively decide that they're making their films within this genre and say as much and how quickly it will enter the general vocabulary. Someone should write a dissertation about this. Hmmm...
random
Film I spent the day in the company of movies courtesy of screen select. This week they sent ...
The Big Red One The Restoration
The Three Musketeers
13 conversation about one thing
Do you see what they did there? Random or human selection process? We'll never know.
The Big Red One The Restoration
The Three Musketeers
13 conversation about one thing
Do you see what they did there? Random or human selection process? We'll never know.
riot
Theatre "An attempt by Macready to play Macbeth at the Astor place Opera House on May 7, 1849 proved unsuccessful, as he was driven from the stage by an unruly crowd throwing, as he later cataloged, "eggs of doubtful purity, potatoes, a bottle of pungent and nauseating asafetida, old shoes, and a copper coin." -- The Astor Opera House riots. Wow. [via]
slower
Sport "Figure skating is like speed-skating, except slower. And with less people. And funny hand movements. And musi... alright, figure skating is nothing like speed-skating, apart from the fact it's on ice. And you can see the outline of quite a lot of people's penises. It is in the form of dance - which makes it easily scoffed at by men who like their sport hard, fast, bloody and with Balls, but it is also extremely difficult, technically. Apparently." -- Anna Pickard tries to deal with the Winter Olympics.
cancelled
Life I'm wandering around a theatre foyer waiting for Shakespeare to begin. There is a queue at the box office. An announcement:
"We are sorry to announce, but due to technical difficulties tonights performance has been cancelled. Please return to the box office for a refund, credit or comp ticket for future performance..."
Bugger.
This was to be Much Ado About Nothing and the first time I'd managed to get out to the theatre in about a year since a disasterous local production of A Winters Tale which was so annoying I left at the mid-section.
I'd prepared well this time. Sometimes theatre is like a sporting event. You need to be in right mood, your mind needs to be ready. I'd only done some light work this afternoon after my lunchtime lecture, getting my diary in order and deciding what a future essay topic might be. But your body must be constitutionally correct for all the sitting. I'm still on a caffeine high now from all the cups of coffee I've drunk today to stay awake. I'd eaten a hearty meal of posh chicken noodle soup at Wagamama. I'd walked around town a lot to get some air into my lungs.
Instead I'm here writing about a play I haven't seen. The photographs of the show looked good. The programmes were expensive though. One of the lead performers put his back out unfortunately and there wasn't talk of an understudy so the theatre doesn't know when the show can go on ...
"We are sorry to announce, but due to technical difficulties tonights performance has been cancelled. Please return to the box office for a refund, credit or comp ticket for future performance..."
Bugger.
This was to be Much Ado About Nothing and the first time I'd managed to get out to the theatre in about a year since a disasterous local production of A Winters Tale which was so annoying I left at the mid-section.
I'd prepared well this time. Sometimes theatre is like a sporting event. You need to be in right mood, your mind needs to be ready. I'd only done some light work this afternoon after my lunchtime lecture, getting my diary in order and deciding what a future essay topic might be. But your body must be constitutionally correct for all the sitting. I'm still on a caffeine high now from all the cups of coffee I've drunk today to stay awake. I'd eaten a hearty meal of posh chicken noodle soup at Wagamama. I'd walked around town a lot to get some air into my lungs.
Instead I'm here writing about a play I haven't seen. The photographs of the show looked good. The programmes were expensive though. One of the lead performers put his back out unfortunately and there wasn't talk of an understudy so the theatre doesn't know when the show can go on ...
telecast
Music "To begin with, "Music's Biggest Night" is actually "music's longest afternoon." They give out awards in 108 categories. Of those, only 11 are televised. The other 97 are passed out during the pre-telecast ceremony, which begins at 1:30 p.m. We left the house at noon to get there in time. The pre-telecast was held in the West Hall of the convention center, next door to Staples Center, where the main awards would be held. It was friendly and low-key. Anoushka Shankar and Michael Bublé performed (separately), and most award-recipients were quick to get on and off stage." -- John August on attending The Grammies. He was nominated for best film song.
bloginalia
Bloginalia This article from the New York Times regarding Blog Jargon fails to mention Bloginalia, a word I've been attempting to add to the vocabulary since I invented it all those years ago for my sidebar to describe all of the things like webrings and advert tags that didn't fit under any of the other catagories. Anyone? Anyone? [via]
china
TV
Stephen: Hugh, my old china serving bowl, it seems that we're pretty much in the position of having to say "Here we are again."
Hugh: Stephen, my old styrofoam cushion whose wedge-shape guarantees relief from the misery of lower back pain, you've never said a truer word.
[Somehow I missed the news that A Bit of Fry and Laurie is being released on dvd. Re-reading the scripts I'm constantly amazed by how literate and funny they are. It'll be amazing to actually see them being performed for the first time in years. [via]]
Stephen: Hugh, my old china serving bowl, it seems that we're pretty much in the position of having to say "Here we are again."
Hugh: Stephen, my old styrofoam cushion whose wedge-shape guarantees relief from the misery of lower back pain, you've never said a truer word.
[Somehow I missed the news that A Bit of Fry and Laurie is being released on dvd. Re-reading the scripts I'm constantly amazed by how literate and funny they are. It'll be amazing to actually see them being performed for the first time in years. [via]]
human
Commerce Get Human database -- fighing the telephone automated system at the grass roots ... [via]
lean
Film Didn't the Baftas feel short tonight? Without the news break it ran to two hours or so. Some would call it lean but what troubles me (other than the fact that George and Rachel were robbed) is that some very important catagories were shunted into the highlights package at the end. If you look at the academy's own page of results you'll see that actually there aren't that many more categories and with brevity everyone might have had a chance to shine in primetime. But you selected what went were, and why would the score and cinematography awards be thought seemingly less significant than editing?
club
Cinemas "Many adults avoid certain kinds of movies because they assume the theater will be filled with noisy teenagers. Let's say you're 40 and you want to go see a Dead Teenager movie like "Final Destination 3." Would you think twice? Perhaps theater chains could create movie clubs for patrons above a certain age, and advise them of screenings where reasonable audience behavior will actually be enforced by the presence of ushers. Even one usher should do it. It's the thought that counts." -- Roger Ebert offers some ideas on how to improve the cinema going experience.
take
Museums Take One Museum on BBC Four is the Russian Ark of documentaries as expert Paul Rose looks around a museum, with the help of some tour guides in one take over a thirty minute period. I caught the tail end of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum episode and he seemed like a man of great enthusiasm. Much like New York's Museum of Modern Art's podcast official and unofficial, an audio podcast version of the show is available so that a visitor to the actual museum can cover the same ground with the aid of their mp3 player. Excellently, it's the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester next week so I'll definitely be going there again in a few weeks to see what this is like.
plug-in
Firefox I've been fighting with this for a few months, but I've finally manaed to put together a Screen Select plug-in search for Firefox, since one else was in the mood. Why should Netflixers have all the fun?
ill
Life I've been quite ill. As usual, the whole family caught a cold at the same time and I've been feeling really tired and edgy these past few days. It struck early on Thursday afternoon during what's going to be my fortnightly day of seminars, and I turned into Snow from the remake of Solaris. In other words, this guy ...
... except without the beard but some of the jesticulating, unable to say anything coherent or reasonable. Probably. Whole conversations were I felt like a projection of myself rather than the real me. I managed to get my dissertation research proposal in but I'm not sure it was right or any good. But when you get to the point that you're shifting words around in sentences but not actually adding more sense or content, it's time to pass it in and hope for the best.
I'm a bit perkier today but still a bit listless with all kinds of ideas of what I want to be doing and could be doing but none of the inclination. Just watching the Olympic Curling out of the corner of my eye and Britain seem all at sea and I'm still having difficult following the scoring, though not in a cricketing sense (which seems to have been designed by elitists so that other elitests can grin smuggly because they understand).
... except without the beard but some of the jesticulating, unable to say anything coherent or reasonable. Probably. Whole conversations were I felt like a projection of myself rather than the real me. I managed to get my dissertation research proposal in but I'm not sure it was right or any good. But when you get to the point that you're shifting words around in sentences but not actually adding more sense or content, it's time to pass it in and hope for the best.
I'm a bit perkier today but still a bit listless with all kinds of ideas of what I want to be doing and could be doing but none of the inclination. Just watching the Olympic Curling out of the corner of my eye and Britain seem all at sea and I'm still having difficult following the scoring, though not in a cricketing sense (which seems to have been designed by elitists so that other elitests can grin smuggly because they understand).
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