The Varying Quality of You Tube Content
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent". Qui-Gon Jinn
I’m sure this has happened to many of you before. You’re playing a video game and you have a particular question regarding it. How do I reach a specific location on the map? Is there an optimal build for a certain class? Where can I get a certain item? A quick Google search returns multiple results but most of them are videos rather than text-based answers, so you opt to watch one to get the answer that you seek. However, you then notice that your simple enquiry somehow merits a video that lasts twelve minutes. You then spend your precious time enduring a rambling diatribe from someone who clearly hasn’t scripted a succinct explanation. If you’re lucky you may get the answer that you seek, or you may end up wasting your time entirely. Should you perhaps watch another video? Needless to say, you eventually go back and read one of the written answers.
Classic Movie Themes: Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan
James Horner was a prolific, yet consistently good composer with a broad range of styles. Consider his score for 48 Hrs with its Jazz under currents and then compare it to his grand swashbuckling approach to Krull. They are radically different soundtracks, but both are extremely effective in embellishing their respective motion pictures. That was James Horner great talent. He knew when to be theatrical and bombastic but could also dial it back and be subtle, gentle and delicate. It made his body of work very diverse and memorable.
James Horner, although possessing a very broad and eclectic musical range, was in many respects a very traditional composer. He was certainly au fait with works of such giants as Miklós Rózsa, Korngold and Bernard Herrmann and it often manifested itself in his music through his use of the leitmotif. Perhaps the reason James Horner was so consistently good and crafted so many outstanding pieces of music, is because he never saw his profession as just a means to an end. As he said in an interview once, “I don’t look at this as just a job. I see music as art”.
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Adapted from the novel by Wilbur Smith, Shout at the Devil is the sort of big budget, sprawling, period set high adventure movie that has fallen out of vogue in recent decades. Its main attraction are its stars, location and robust action scenes. Crafted by former Bond director and long-time editor Peter Hunt, this is a full on, no nonsense character driven drama of the kind that were common place during the seventies. Sometimes the enormity of these sorts of productions meant that something suffered by omission. Be it a weak script, excessive set pieces or too many cameos by an all-star cast. Shout at the Devil broadly manages to avoid such pitfalls. There is however a notable tonal shift in the story about halfway through the film, which does take events in a different direction.
Screenshots
There is a strong social element to video games, regardless of the genre. Gamers like to share their thoughts and opinions with others via forums, blogs and videos because of their common interest. So, it is hardly surprising that video game enthusiasts like to take screenshots and preserve a record of their activities. Subsequently, the ability to capture an image from a game has now become an integral aspect of gaming culture and many titles now have a dedicated screenshot facility. This may range from a simple screenshot key to a comprehensive photo mode in which you can pause the game and pan the camera around the game environment. It’s a far cry from two decades ago when players would often have to rely on bespoke third-party programs such as FRAPS to take screenshots, or simply use the PrtScn button and then paste the image into a photo editor.
The Last Hunter (1980)
There are many films about war. There are many films about the Vietnam war. A few have transcended mere historical depiction and managed to capture the utter horror and political insanity of the situation, along with the tragic human cost. And then there are those which simply seek to use the setting as a vehicle for an exploitation movie, in the hope of making a fast buck. The Last Hunter (L'ultimo cacciatore) falls firmly into the second camp. This Italian "macaroni combat" movie (yes, I didn’t know that’s a thing either) offers a straight forward tale of an incursion behind enemy lines by an officer charged with destroying a radio transmitter, broadcasting anti-US propaganda. It is violent, action packed and surprisingly honest about what sort of film it is. You’ll find no pretentious philosophical musings here. Just explosions, rotting corpses and Viet Cong booby traps.
LOTRO: Taking Stock of Progress
On Tuesday 27th November 2018, I created a new High Elf Guardian on Laurelin server. To date I have spent 122 hours 46 minutes 32 seconds on this character and have currently reached level 60, exactly halfway through current level cap of 120 in LOTRO. It has been a busy but very enjoyable two months. Overall the experience has revitalised my interest in LOTRO and the MMO genre. I have written several blog posts recently, highlighting the changes that have been made to the base game and first expansion over the years. Let it suffice to say that both Shadows of Angmar and Mines of Moria now offer a fast path through the games main content. My current levelling experience has been radically different to that I had when I started playing LOTRO back in 2008 and 2009. I believe it took me then nine months to reach the level cap of 60 on my primary alt. I achieved this just prior to the release of Siege of Mirkwood in September 2009.
When MMOs Die
Have you ever wondered exactly what happens when an MMO shuts down? Let's not use the phrase "shuttered" as it’s a public relations term intended to mitigate and defuse the reality of the situation. It is intended to take the sting out of the notion of a game closing; evoking imagery of a well-respected family business, closing up shop for the last time and retiring to Cheshire to keep bees. No that will not do at all, so we won't use it here. "Shut down" is far more accurate. It cuts to the chase, accommodating the economic and legal reasons, which are often the primary reason that a game is closing. It also has a far more definitive ring to it, where “shuttered” leaves room for hope. After all the shutters can come back down from the closed family business, if beekeeping doesn’t work out.
The Lucas Legacy
I was perusing the net recently and came across a story about how a Star Wars fan film that had built up a head of steam online, has been slapped with a copyright strike from Disney. Nothing unusual there as the company is virtually legendary with respect to its litigious proclivities. However, someone over a Lucasfilm interceded and got the strike lifted, because the fan film creator had allegedly sought prior permission and supposedly received it. George Lucas has always maintained an equitable attitude towards fan usage of the Star Wars IP, something he tried to impress upon Disney when he sold the rights to them back in 2012. But it is very difficult to have a balanced discussion about George Lucas as the man is such a paradox. On one hand he is possibly one of the greatest contributors to twentieth century pop culture and has influenced a generation of film makers, writers and fans. On the other he is the man who single headedly has managed to queer his own pitch, with the way he has continuously tinkered with his body of work and appended it with supplemental material that many deemed substandard or to the detriment of the original. He is also still vilified in some quarters for his business arrangement with Disney.
Nightwing (1979)
The seventies saw a minor boom in creature feature films after the box office success of Jaws. Hence, we had movies such as Orca (1977), Tentacles (1977), The Pack (1977) and Piranha (1978). If an animal could eat you or potentially pose any threat to people, someone somewhere would make a movie about it. Usually a bad one. A few of these even dared to stray into other hot topics of the time such as pollution and protecting the environment. Some would even invoke mysticism and folk lore to facilitate their protagonists. Nightwing is one such curious genre hybrid which combines vampire bats, shale oil mining and Native American culture in its clumsy and unsubtle plot. It’s a somewhat odd undertaking, directed by Arthur Hiller. His previous work included Love Story (1970) and Silver Streak (1976), so he was not the first person you’d expect to see associated with such material. The film doesn’t work well as either a horror movie or an exploration of social issues, but like so many movies from this era, it is of interest mainly due to its sheer incongruity.
LOTRO: The Downside to Fast Levelling
NB. This post is a direct continuation of previous one, posted on 2nd January. As I’ve stated many times before in prior posts, there is a tangible sense of reward to be found in levelling in an MMORPG. Gaining experience and progressing from one level to another, inching further to the in-game cap, is a clear and uncomplicated goal. It’s far from a complex process. You play through content, gain loot and XP and then after a while, “ding”, you hit the next level and revel in a sense of achievement. There are naturally other goals to pursue that are more difficult to achieve, such as gaining a specific set of raid armour or obtaining maximum rep with all factions. But for many players, simply progressing by level per day (or some permutation thereof) is sufficient to keep them happy and make them feel that they are making headway within a specific game. And at present, this is exactly the approach that I take with LOTRO when playing on my new Guardian. Last night I reached level 57, while questing in Nanduhirion.
Analysing Tolkien
The scope and detail of JRR Tolkien’s body of work lends itself to a great deal of scrutiny and analysis. This ranges from the scholarly from such people as Professor Cory Olsen (AKA The Tolkien Professor) who established the Mythgard Institute in 2011, to enthusiasts on the internet exchanging ideas and sharing their thoughts. A simple Google search will offer a wealth of essays and dissertations that dissect and ponder all aspects of Tolkien’s writing. Often these focus upon religious analogies, parallels with existing mythologies and how Tolkien’s experiences in World War I shaped his world view. Then there is the exploration of the lore itself and how various characters and events within Middle-earth are interlinked and of a wider significance. The intricacy of both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion provide fans with an immense amount of history and heritage to ponder. Questions such as “who is Tom Bombadil” and “why didn’t the fellowship just fly to Mordor” remain popular talking points.
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
The horror movie genre was changing rapidly in the late sixties and seventies, with films such as the Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary’s Baby moving away from traditional gothic settings and proving to be box office successes. After the success of Count Yorga, Vampire, a movie set in 1970s Los Angeles, Warner Bros commissioned Hammer Films to make two contemporary set Dracula films. The first of these was Dracula A.D. 1972. The film was loosely inspired by the Highgate Vampire case and proved to be moderately successful at the box office. The second being The Satanic Rites of Dracula; a curious hybrid vampire movie that mixes elements of the espionage genre along with traditional Hammer horror content. Sadly, this final outing for both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Van Helsing and Dracula, was not well received by the public and has subsequently been written off in the annals of Hammer Films. Yet despite it’s flaws it does have a few points of interest to the more rigorous horror fan. The recent Blu-ray release via the Warner Archive Collection presented such an opportunity for reappraisal.
Too Much Information
While playing LOTRO recently, I helped random new player who was confused about virtue traits. I explained to them as well as I could, but the incident was a clear reminder of the complexity of the MMO genre and the perennial problem of how the can game developers effectively convey instructions to the player. If you are a long-term gamer and have tried numerous titles across multiple genres, you will often find common mechanics and systems. Hence when playing a new game, you can sometimes figure out the controls as you go. For example, WASD for movement, M for the map etc. But this is not always guaranteed. Because developers have to consider new players who may have no prior gaming experience, when designing their GUI and tutorials. So there’s scope for instructions that seem contradictory and unintuitive to veteran gamers. Porting titles to the PC that were primarily developed for consoles can also cause confusion. Simply put, teaching a player the basics of a game is a big challenge. Providing succinct information on more complex issues is even harder. Many gamer developers are still extremely bad at imparting knowledge and making viable tutorials. Here are some examples I’ve encountered.
Time Out 100 Best Horror Films - How Many Have You Seen?
I recently revisited the Time Out 100 Best Horror Films. I have a love hate relationship with movie lists of this kind, because of their binary nature and the sort of debates they generate. However, as this list is revised regularly, I thought why not go and have a look and see what has changed. Furthermore, this list is more credible than others because the one hundred titles listed have been selected by a group of contributors associated with the genre. These include Roger Corman, Guillermo del Toro, Simon Pegg, Clive Barker, Alice Cooper and Kim Newman. There is an interesting mix of titles from the traditional to the obscure as well as some interesting new additions such as A Quiet Place and Lake Mungo. I personally have seen 93 of the movies listed. However, there are a few movies that I more than likely will never see, due to my personal taste. Salò and Audition for example.
Gaming Nostalgia or Gaming Obsession?
If you frequent the Massively Overpowered website you frequently find comments and indeed posts by staff writers, lamenting the loss of those MMOs that have not survived the march of time. The site does on occasions write about Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes to name a few. They also advocate historical preservation of titles that are no longer commercially available. This sometimes segues into the thorny issue of emulators and “private servers” and often leads to debates about intellectual property versus player access and notions of the collective ownership of fandom. It’s all very interesting and the discussions are conducted in a measured and mature fashion. Today, there was a jovial post about “which dead MMO needs more coverage?”. Although it was a light-hearted question, I do have reservations regarding gaming nostalgia. Because the gaming community is not exactly known for its balanced, even-handed analysis and outlook on such subjects.
Are You a LOTRO Hoarder?
I was clearing out my vault the other day in LOTRO when I found Erebrandir's Horseshoe. This annoying item was the source of numerous theories back in September 2010 when it became available in Volume 3, Book 2 - Chapter 4: Riding South. Designed to be a “novelty” quest reward the horseshow was supposed to bring luck and many LOTRO players drove themselves crazy trying to ascertain its exact benefits. I just simply filed it in my vault at the time and haven’t given it a second thought until I came across it while doing some housekeeping. I found a lot of other crap that I’ve subsequently learned is of no value (the LOTRO Wiki is your friend) and this has got me thinking about the whole concept of hoarding loot. Because LOTRO is an old school MMORPG and very much a product of its time, the game offers a multitude of loot for players to stockpile and fret and fuss over at every opportunity. But is all of it necessary?
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
On a superficial level the 2011 Conan reboot provides two hours of blood and thunder. For those who are seeking a quick fix of such material and are not burdened by a strong affiliation to Robert E. Howard’s source material, this will prove adequate. I suspect that Marcus Nispel’s offering will find a home with a younger audience. For purists or those who have fond memories of John Milius’ 1982 version, then this is not the film you are looking for. Move along. But to be honest after watching the various trailers that preceded this release and considering the directors track record, does this really come as any surprise? For those with a longer memory, cast you mind back to Nispel’s Viking versus Indian outing from 2007. Pathfinder was a high concept movie that was chronically mishandled.
This Year’s Plan
I don’t care for new year resolutions. I just like to make credible plans that are achievable. So, after some consideration, I now have a short and manageable list of tasks that I’ll endeavour to complete this year. If I keep things simple and stick to an orderly routine, I see no reason why I can’t get all of these done. First off and perhaps the most important is to maintain a daily writing schedule. Too often the excuses we make to avoid writing are bogus. Sure, there will be occasions such as illness and family or work-related problems, but nine times out of ten, we don’t write because we cannot be bothered to do so. Why should writing get a free pass in this fashion? So, I intend to persevere during periods of lethargy and write come hell or high water. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering content. Three or four paragraphs will suffice. I can’t afford to let the writing slide as I suspect it may prove to be the thin end of the wedge for me and other activities would subsequently follow.
Pop Culture Tributes in MMOs
There are a wealth of pop culture tributes in the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. You’ll find nods, homages and quotes from movies, TV, fantasy literature and more littered throughout the game and its numerous expansions. For example, in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind, the Warlock trainers can be found in the basement of a pub called The Slaughtered Lamb which is a homage to the movie An American Werewolf in London. The fish vendor Old Man Heming in Booty Bay and the fishing achievement are references to Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea. And in Dread Wastes resides a faction called The Klaxxi, that provide a large amount buffs as enchants and augmentations. These buffs all have names referring to specific heavy metal songs from the likes of Slayer, Queensrÿche and Manowar. There are dozens of others such references and I can certainly see the appeal of discovering them as you play through content and explore the virtual world.
Alien Blackout: A Mobile Game
Alien Isolation is one of many games that I started but never finished. This was mainly because I was very bad at it and was spoilt for choice with other titles at the time. Hence when I got frustrated with its stealth mechanic and the deliberately slow pace of the gameplay I moved on, rather than persevere with it. However, I certainly recognise that it was a unique and innovative title and deserved all the praise that it received at launch. The retro-futuristic art direction, sound design, and the xenomorph’s artificial intelligence where all key factors to the games appeal and success. Developers Creative Assembly deserved further plaudits for doing so well with a game that was substantially different from their established output. The studio has a strong reputation for producing quality Real Time Strategy games. Overall, Alien Isolation was one of the stand out titles of 2014 and therefore the possibility of a sequel has been keenly anticipated by fans.