Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Have we died yet?
Swine flu eh? Bloody swine flu.
I must say I learned alot about news reporting from the "pandemic". The look on people's faces when you tell them the death toll is in fact 20.
That is all. All this panic, all this scaremongering, over exactly 20 deaths. People will say "150, 150!" However, this is the amount of people who have died of flu like symptoms in Mexico this year, not a country known widely for it's sterling healthcare (the fact that so many can die of the flu is probably in fact the real story here). The reporting of the swine flu was in such a way you needed to dig down pretty deep to find the actual figures, as opposed to speculative amounts.
There was never any evidence to say this flu was more virulent than any other.
Seasonal flu will kill many, many more than the swine flu this year.
There's two different anti virals known to be helpful with swine flu.
There are reported cases of people simply sleeping it off over a couple of weeks.
So why all this hullaballo?
(On an aside, that is one of my favourite words. I should use it more.)
Without acting all conspiracy theorist, there simply has to be someone benefitting from this.
Is it the news channels? Recession getting on peoples nerves?
Perhaps it is the large pharmas. the company which makes Tamiflu has certainly seen large increases in their share price over the last few weeks.
Regardless, I think this 2-3 year cycle of BSE, SARS, Avian flu et al is really very dangerous. Sooner or later a disease will emerge that we really do have to worry about, and we'll be so used to the warnings we'll just go "meh".
I fear the Armehgeddon more than the Aporkalypse.
I must say I learned alot about news reporting from the "pandemic". The look on people's faces when you tell them the death toll is in fact 20.
That is all. All this panic, all this scaremongering, over exactly 20 deaths. People will say "150, 150!" However, this is the amount of people who have died of flu like symptoms in Mexico this year, not a country known widely for it's sterling healthcare (the fact that so many can die of the flu is probably in fact the real story here). The reporting of the swine flu was in such a way you needed to dig down pretty deep to find the actual figures, as opposed to speculative amounts.
There was never any evidence to say this flu was more virulent than any other.
Seasonal flu will kill many, many more than the swine flu this year.
There's two different anti virals known to be helpful with swine flu.
There are reported cases of people simply sleeping it off over a couple of weeks.
So why all this hullaballo?
(On an aside, that is one of my favourite words. I should use it more.)
Without acting all conspiracy theorist, there simply has to be someone benefitting from this.
Is it the news channels? Recession getting on peoples nerves?
Perhaps it is the large pharmas. the company which makes Tamiflu has certainly seen large increases in their share price over the last few weeks.
Regardless, I think this 2-3 year cycle of BSE, SARS, Avian flu et al is really very dangerous. Sooner or later a disease will emerge that we really do have to worry about, and we'll be so used to the warnings we'll just go "meh".
I fear the Armehgeddon more than the Aporkalypse.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Advice for Business Trips...
As I prepare to return to Ireland for a short time (yay!) I thought I would share some musings which first came to light on my favourite forum, boards.ie.
These are my findings on how to travel with your job. Bear in mind it is a different experience to a holiday. You will find you are often too tired or have too little time to get to know any of the language or culture. I've found the following helps.
1) There are a small number of phrases which you can survive on a business trip to any country with. They are:
Hello
Goodbye!
Please
Thank you
Beer?
Chicken
Chips
Steak
(Whatever name of a drink you like which is not alcoholic)
Try not to get too good at pronouncing these words as it may prompt an embarrassing silence when the waitress/ barman/ whatever asks you something outside of these ten words in the local tongue. It is best to appear endearingly poor at the native language, so the other party will want to help you!
If you're someone who doesn't like to experiment with the ol' outdoors, this here is enough to survive indefinitely on a companies expenses sheet in a hotel.
Seriously though dude, get out more.
2) You will no doubt have both CNN and BBC world service in your hotel room. Do not watch these on the first day as you will need them later when you're bored to tears and they have a short shelf life. Especially CNN, swishy graphics can make your head hurt.
3) MP3 players are your friend. Load up on podcasts you like before you go. The doomPod and my little travel speaker system are pretty worn out by this stage. Large gig music players might seem expensive but if you're going to be away on your own alot, they're a deity send. Believe it or not, other countries radio stations are just as crap as your own.
There's actually something kind of reassuring about that.
4) Try and find a pub which is nice and quiet but not touristy, and get on with the bar staff quick. It is a known fact that hotel rooms get smaller the longer you spend in them and you will need a home away from home. There's a significant chance it will be dark when you get home so wandering round may not be the best option if you are in unfamiliar territory.
(Who am I kidding, I've had the most fun of the whole trip doing this!)
5) DVD boxsets have hours of entertainment in a small container. Good option. I myself have endeavoured to become an expert in Japanese Transformers cartoons. Mastaaaah- Force!
6) No where is perfect. Try to remember that when the grass seems greener. Stay anywhere too long and you'll start seeing the nasty side to it. For example, Germany has many awesome things going for it, but I am beginning to miss people smiling instead of looking away when you catch their eye (which I am sure is where this "Germans are humourless" rubbish comes from).
7) Do something with your weekends. Explore. Find an outlet. Whatever you do, don't get so drunk you waste the day. Otherwise the entire trip will become an exhausting, grey, endless sludge (I am not saying don't drink though. There's no alcohol like foreign alcohol).
8) Resist the natural urge to become ridiculously patriotic. To be sure, begorrah. I'm told I am not the only one who suddenly feels very Irish when abroad. I think it's a form of homesickness.
9) The more English in the menu, the worse the quality of the food. Unfortunately. If there's not many people but tourists in your establishment there's generally a reason the locals are not using it.
10) If your trip is over 1 month, either insist on a flat while you are abroad or a weekend home. Most cities are done in a month.
...I hope this is of help to some of you!
These are my findings on how to travel with your job. Bear in mind it is a different experience to a holiday. You will find you are often too tired or have too little time to get to know any of the language or culture. I've found the following helps.
1) There are a small number of phrases which you can survive on a business trip to any country with. They are:
Hello
Goodbye!
Please
Thank you
Beer?
Chicken
Chips
Steak
(Whatever name of a drink you like which is not alcoholic)
Try not to get too good at pronouncing these words as it may prompt an embarrassing silence when the waitress/ barman/ whatever asks you something outside of these ten words in the local tongue. It is best to appear endearingly poor at the native language, so the other party will want to help you!
If you're someone who doesn't like to experiment with the ol' outdoors, this here is enough to survive indefinitely on a companies expenses sheet in a hotel.
Seriously though dude, get out more.
2) You will no doubt have both CNN and BBC world service in your hotel room. Do not watch these on the first day as you will need them later when you're bored to tears and they have a short shelf life. Especially CNN, swishy graphics can make your head hurt.
3) MP3 players are your friend. Load up on podcasts you like before you go. The doomPod and my little travel speaker system are pretty worn out by this stage. Large gig music players might seem expensive but if you're going to be away on your own alot, they're a deity send. Believe it or not, other countries radio stations are just as crap as your own.
There's actually something kind of reassuring about that.
4) Try and find a pub which is nice and quiet but not touristy, and get on with the bar staff quick. It is a known fact that hotel rooms get smaller the longer you spend in them and you will need a home away from home. There's a significant chance it will be dark when you get home so wandering round may not be the best option if you are in unfamiliar territory.
(Who am I kidding, I've had the most fun of the whole trip doing this!)
5) DVD boxsets have hours of entertainment in a small container. Good option. I myself have endeavoured to become an expert in Japanese Transformers cartoons. Mastaaaah- Force!
6) No where is perfect. Try to remember that when the grass seems greener. Stay anywhere too long and you'll start seeing the nasty side to it. For example, Germany has many awesome things going for it, but I am beginning to miss people smiling instead of looking away when you catch their eye (which I am sure is where this "Germans are humourless" rubbish comes from).
7) Do something with your weekends. Explore. Find an outlet. Whatever you do, don't get so drunk you waste the day. Otherwise the entire trip will become an exhausting, grey, endless sludge (I am not saying don't drink though. There's no alcohol like foreign alcohol).
8) Resist the natural urge to become ridiculously patriotic. To be sure, begorrah. I'm told I am not the only one who suddenly feels very Irish when abroad. I think it's a form of homesickness.
9) The more English in the menu, the worse the quality of the food. Unfortunately. If there's not many people but tourists in your establishment there's generally a reason the locals are not using it.
10) If your trip is over 1 month, either insist on a flat while you are abroad or a weekend home. Most cities are done in a month.
...I hope this is of help to some of you!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Now is the time to strike!
In a piece of stunning synchronicity with my last post about music and copyright in Ireland, a small war has broken out accross the waves in Eng-er-land.
Youtube, who have been making several poor choices lately (their ranking mechanism they have introduced recently smacks of censorship according to some of their more militant free speech advocating users), have failed to come to an agrement with the PRC and have started taking down all the professional official music videos from their site.
In the parlance of the interwebnetz, oh noes!
It is wildy held opinion that this situation is helping no one. Youtube is losing up to 50% of their most popular British videos, and the recording artists are losing their ads.
I'm sorry, I mean videos.
Full story here.
Anyway, the way I look at it is- this is a good thing for some people, and they're the people we all should care for more than the like of musical sock puppets like Leona Lewis.
There are many, many talented musicians who do not have huge backing from corporations, who, once again, don't care a fig for music but only for profit.
The music industry has been a conveyor belt for decades, but it seems to be getting worse and worse.
The "reality" era confuses me. The music is fake, produced pop. They show you how fake and produced it is. The music's awful. Yet, year after year people buy the X Factor winners single, only to tear them down when it's time for the next big thing. They laugh at these "winners", who are really nought more than pawns, and sometimes I think these people need to look at their own behaviour if they want to see something sad.
Why? What does anyone gain from this, save for perhaps Simon Cowell? X Factor is the same programme, year after year, with different people filling the same slots every mind numbing cycle (slightly edgy RAWK contestant, singer with a sad story from the past, singer who is overweight etc.). The conveyor belt is now visible, yet few seem to care. The editing is along the same lines as pro wrestling. It's actually blatant to a PW fan.
Even more insidious than this is the appropriation of rock music into the worst of pop stereotypes.
In case you wonder, "alt" and "indie" have actual meanings.
You are not "alternative" if you are in the charts. You are that which the alternative rails against. You are not "independant" if you are signed up to a major record label.
So here's my idea about Googtube not showcasing the big boys. Why don't you dig out a few actual alt and indie bands off of youtube, and give them a shout?
If you really want to be edgy, why don't you find some band who is young, and hungry, and deserves and needs your help.
You never know, you might even stop caring if the plastic music comes back.
Youtube, who have been making several poor choices lately (their ranking mechanism they have introduced recently smacks of censorship according to some of their more militant free speech advocating users), have failed to come to an agrement with the PRC and have started taking down all the professional official music videos from their site.
In the parlance of the interwebnetz, oh noes!
It is wildy held opinion that this situation is helping no one. Youtube is losing up to 50% of their most popular British videos, and the recording artists are losing their ads.
I'm sorry, I mean videos.
Full story here.
Anyway, the way I look at it is- this is a good thing for some people, and they're the people we all should care for more than the like of musical sock puppets like Leona Lewis.
There are many, many talented musicians who do not have huge backing from corporations, who, once again, don't care a fig for music but only for profit.
The music industry has been a conveyor belt for decades, but it seems to be getting worse and worse.
The "reality" era confuses me. The music is fake, produced pop. They show you how fake and produced it is. The music's awful. Yet, year after year people buy the X Factor winners single, only to tear them down when it's time for the next big thing. They laugh at these "winners", who are really nought more than pawns, and sometimes I think these people need to look at their own behaviour if they want to see something sad.
Why? What does anyone gain from this, save for perhaps Simon Cowell? X Factor is the same programme, year after year, with different people filling the same slots every mind numbing cycle (slightly edgy RAWK contestant, singer with a sad story from the past, singer who is overweight etc.). The conveyor belt is now visible, yet few seem to care. The editing is along the same lines as pro wrestling. It's actually blatant to a PW fan.
Even more insidious than this is the appropriation of rock music into the worst of pop stereotypes.
In case you wonder, "alt" and "indie" have actual meanings.
You are not "alternative" if you are in the charts. You are that which the alternative rails against. You are not "independant" if you are signed up to a major record label.
So here's my idea about Googtube not showcasing the big boys. Why don't you dig out a few actual alt and indie bands off of youtube, and give them a shout?
If you really want to be edgy, why don't you find some band who is young, and hungry, and deserves and needs your help.
You never know, you might even stop caring if the plastic music comes back.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
IRMA- Stealing our innernetz
I am one of those failed musician types.
I am sure you know a few, Recorded a few demoes back in the day, started in school with their band, eventually real life caught up, and music was religated by necessity.
(This isn't strictly true in my case, as I am persistent when it comes to things like music. My first album will be self released on iTunes shortly. So there).
IRMA doesn't represent the vast majority of musicians. The vast majority of musicians, lets be honest, are the people mentioned above. IRMA exist to look after the rights of the lucky few. They make a big show of putting on showcases for "young talent" alright, but really they do virtually nothing for the next generation of musicians. They often seem to exist purely to maintain the status quo.
I cannot stress enough how little IRMA have done for any musical colleague of mine. I cannot think of one they have helped in a significant way (Admittedly this might say more about the quality of our music. But that is beside the point, and I frown in your direction for trying to distract me while I am trying to make a serious post).
Eircom may shortly be restricting access to torrent sites in the Republic of Ireland on the behalf of IRMA, an organistation who has nothing to do with governing our country, who only represent a tiny proportion of the population in any way.
I am not going to discuss the rights and wrong of torrenting. That is not what this post is about. This post is about a dangerous precident in Ireland where an organisation which exists for the most part to generate money (and in a country so very rich with musical talent, they really could be doing a whole lot more) should not be allowed restrict the ability of people to access information over the internet. It is censorship for profit, plain and simple.
You may think this is not important, but if you check here for example, you will find this is a live, and dangerous issue.
There is an organisation in Ireland fighting this. I am supporting them and I think every sane person should. Information should be free, and if restrictions must be placed on it, I would rather it not be a profit making organisation like IRMA.
Thank you for your time. I shall put away my soapbox.
I am sure you know a few, Recorded a few demoes back in the day, started in school with their band, eventually real life caught up, and music was religated by necessity.
(This isn't strictly true in my case, as I am persistent when it comes to things like music. My first album will be self released on iTunes shortly. So there).
IRMA doesn't represent the vast majority of musicians. The vast majority of musicians, lets be honest, are the people mentioned above. IRMA exist to look after the rights of the lucky few. They make a big show of putting on showcases for "young talent" alright, but really they do virtually nothing for the next generation of musicians. They often seem to exist purely to maintain the status quo.
I cannot stress enough how little IRMA have done for any musical colleague of mine. I cannot think of one they have helped in a significant way (Admittedly this might say more about the quality of our music. But that is beside the point, and I frown in your direction for trying to distract me while I am trying to make a serious post).
Eircom may shortly be restricting access to torrent sites in the Republic of Ireland on the behalf of IRMA, an organistation who has nothing to do with governing our country, who only represent a tiny proportion of the population in any way.
I am not going to discuss the rights and wrong of torrenting. That is not what this post is about. This post is about a dangerous precident in Ireland where an organisation which exists for the most part to generate money (and in a country so very rich with musical talent, they really could be doing a whole lot more) should not be allowed restrict the ability of people to access information over the internet. It is censorship for profit, plain and simple.
You may think this is not important, but if you check here for example, you will find this is a live, and dangerous issue.
There is an organisation in Ireland fighting this. I am supporting them and I think every sane person should. Information should be free, and if restrictions must be placed on it, I would rather it not be a profit making organisation like IRMA.
Thank you for your time. I shall put away my soapbox.
Friday, March 13, 2009
WAR!
Remember I was talking about how kids entertainment should be mature, and deal with relevant issues?
I found one of these programmes yesterday. You will never guess what it is.
Go on, guess.
Yeah so it's the new Transformers. But I promise you, this is not just me promoting something I love for the sake of it. Transformers Animated: Transwarped shows the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons in such shades of grey as never seen before. It's more mature than the live movie by miles. (Like that would be hard, but shush).
I will not go into too much detail about the plot as I do not wish to ruin it for anyone but there is an extremely personal tale about the horrors of war there, and some extremely dubious moral choices made by the previously pure as snow leaders of the Autobots.
They make the choice in this episode to create a huge Autobot, and refer directly to him as a WMD. Furthermore they make the decision to retard his mental capacities so he doesn't question the death and destruction he will wreak upon his own race.
Secondly they took the annoying teenage character (there is at least one in virtually every single version of the Transformers- don't know why, as even as a child I had no urge to see puny fleshlings in my giant robot space opera) and made her pretty cool.
Transformers Animated: Transwarped is amazing. Check it out if you get the chance.
I found one of these programmes yesterday. You will never guess what it is.
Go on, guess.
Yeah so it's the new Transformers. But I promise you, this is not just me promoting something I love for the sake of it. Transformers Animated: Transwarped shows the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons in such shades of grey as never seen before. It's more mature than the live movie by miles. (Like that would be hard, but shush).
I will not go into too much detail about the plot as I do not wish to ruin it for anyone but there is an extremely personal tale about the horrors of war there, and some extremely dubious moral choices made by the previously pure as snow leaders of the Autobots.
They make the choice in this episode to create a huge Autobot, and refer directly to him as a WMD. Furthermore they make the decision to retard his mental capacities so he doesn't question the death and destruction he will wreak upon his own race.
Secondly they took the annoying teenage character (there is at least one in virtually every single version of the Transformers- don't know why, as even as a child I had no urge to see puny fleshlings in my giant robot space opera) and made her pretty cool.
Transformers Animated: Transwarped is amazing. Check it out if you get the chance.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Anna Manahan, RIP
It is with great sadness I learn of the death of Anna Manahan, surely a national treasure of Ireland.
I have seen her on stage several times, and she was always a pleasure to behold. The imperiousness of Big Maggie (and the sadness, too) was a world apart from The Match Maker, one of several plays with which she toured the world. Her comic timing was amazing. Seeing the Irish premiere of one if it's many runs in what was at one time known as Spirit is one of my fondest memories. I know for a fact she was an inspiration to a vitual generation of young actors.
My heart goes out to her friends and family at this time.
I have seen her on stage several times, and she was always a pleasure to behold. The imperiousness of Big Maggie (and the sadness, too) was a world apart from The Match Maker, one of several plays with which she toured the world. Her comic timing was amazing. Seeing the Irish premiere of one if it's many runs in what was at one time known as Spirit is one of my fondest memories. I know for a fact she was an inspiration to a vitual generation of young actors.
My heart goes out to her friends and family at this time.
Prime Time
Ok, Optimus Prime.
Someone who knows me personally and likes the blog asked me to write something explaining why I love Optimus Prime so much. It's probably a good thing as I will no doubt be making jokes about him as I go along (I believe I have already snuck one in, although that was fairly subtle.)
I'm sorry if this is going to be another long one but it's kinda complicated but I promise, there's a point to it all.
Secondly, I am aware every choice ever made with Transformers was effectively a decision made to sell toys. I realise that fully, but it doesn't change the impact of what happened.
Optimus Prime was my childhood hero and is the custodian of an incredible amount of nostalgia for me. Some people I talk to seem to think it weird that my hero was not a football player or the like; I often wonder why this is so, as Optimus was a character who stood for literal universal tolerance and respect, with a dash of John Wayne style twofistedness.
Optimus actualy represents an archetype for heroes in childrens entertainment of that time. They tended to be father or uncle figures, physically massive, strong, they always knew exactly what to do, always had sage advice. This trend's changed totally now, the main characters in kids television tend to be younger, "fresh out of the acadamy" types who learn with the viewers. It's probably for the best, really.
There's an actual reason for this which I will get into. There's a reason I am not here discussing Matt Tracker from M.A.S.K, nor He-Man, nor Jayce or his wheel centric warriors, nor She-Ra. There's a reason the Transformers are the first 80's toy to get a successful noughties film, and a reason Michael "lets change everything cos I have da mad directorial skillz" Bay was effectively forced to allow Peter Cullen to return and bring the big red truck back to life with his gravelly tones once more.
Back in the early 80's, Hasbro, who had had several successes importing and exporting toys to and from Japan with their partner Takara, got a hold of several lines of Nipponese figures which transformed from a robot to- well- nearly everything, really.
Hasbro made a very fateful move at this point. They realised they needed characters for these robots in disguise, but instead of just lashing a few stereotypes together, as most toy manufacturers were doing, they hired Marvel comics to do it.
(An intersting aside at this point is one of the people who was involved in this process was Denny O Neill, a man who also made the decision at an editorial level to turn Batman dark again. We nerds owe that dude alot.)
Marvel created all the characters behind the toys, making sure they all had a place in the story, and all had a role to fill. They flushed the characters out, in both cartoon and comics, to a degree which other franchises couldn't- or simply didn't bother to- do.
So we're at season 1 of transformers now. Awesome toys, awesome characters. But I don't believe the magic had happened yet. It was enough to captivate me. Alright- I loved it from the start- but the really brilliant stuff was yet to come. It was simply a slightly more complex space opera than you would see on other childrens programs.
The fates then basically alligned for Transformers fans.
The decision was made in series 2 of the television series that all the episodes would be character driven. This decision was made to sell toys, yes, but it meant you began to care about the individuals, and they developed. Poor Seaspray, who knew a transfomrer could love?
Also, a man named Simon Furman became more and more prominent in the comic book side of things. He was able to take the time to go extremely in depth with all the characters, showing their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities. He showed a weary, at times spiritual, side to Optimus, made him an old warrior who wished desperately for peace but stood resolute in his battle to achieve it.
So we had all this character development going on, and fleshing out, and more and more mythos. In actual fact, the Transformers was in a small way treating children like adults, giving them a story with more vitality, meaning, and originality than any other childrens media readily available.
Then came the one facet which I think transformed Transformers into the subject of massive fan dedication it is today.
They killed characters. Including the good guys.
Transformers got away with alot of violence because they were robots. They were killed, sacrificed themselves, and in some cases were even massacared.
The most well known death of course, was that of Optimus Prime in the animated movie.
Stupid Hot Rod.
Sorry, I need a moment.
...
In retrospect some of the more highbrow aspects of the Transformers mythos deal with things which are traditionally viewed as part of the voyage of childhood to adulthood: There was religion and afterlife with the Matrix and Unicron: there was the horror and futility of total war (a recurring theme- the death toll for the autobots in the animated movie is, frankly, astounding for a childs film). There was even a few stories touching ever so lightly on assisted suicide (one with Optimus refusing to put his friend Ratchet out of his misery, another with a creature called Death Bringer who existed solely to end the suffering of others). Of course these would be the shining moments in the transformers history- there was alot of drekk, but these moments were there, and they're what people remember. They say your voyage to adulthood begins when you first understand the concept of mortality. Transformers, in it's own unique way, didn't shy away from this.
Transformers didn't succeed and stick in the memory because the toys were better, or anything like that. It survived in our minds because as children it was a bit more challenging than others kids shows. Childrens entertainment doesn't need to be dumbed down, it can deal with the deep stuff.
I don't think children get enough credit. Hasbro are Simon Furman are reaping the reward for that credit to this very day, Prime sticks out in peoples minds because he was a tired old warrior who could and did sacrifice himself to stop a war which had claimed hundreds of his friends. I fully understood that and enjoyed the complexities of it as a kid. Clearly, with the second live action Transformers film on its way to us, so did a hell of alot of other people.
I don't really watch kids programmes now, but I wonder if there an equivalent, something a little shining which is making kids think. I hear the Sarah Jane Adventures is one such series. If there is, I hope they get the kudos they deserve.
Of course I could be wrong, most people might just like giant feck off robots.
Someone who knows me personally and likes the blog asked me to write something explaining why I love Optimus Prime so much. It's probably a good thing as I will no doubt be making jokes about him as I go along (I believe I have already snuck one in, although that was fairly subtle.)
I'm sorry if this is going to be another long one but it's kinda complicated but I promise, there's a point to it all.
Secondly, I am aware every choice ever made with Transformers was effectively a decision made to sell toys. I realise that fully, but it doesn't change the impact of what happened.
Optimus Prime was my childhood hero and is the custodian of an incredible amount of nostalgia for me. Some people I talk to seem to think it weird that my hero was not a football player or the like; I often wonder why this is so, as Optimus was a character who stood for literal universal tolerance and respect, with a dash of John Wayne style twofistedness.
Optimus actualy represents an archetype for heroes in childrens entertainment of that time. They tended to be father or uncle figures, physically massive, strong, they always knew exactly what to do, always had sage advice. This trend's changed totally now, the main characters in kids television tend to be younger, "fresh out of the acadamy" types who learn with the viewers. It's probably for the best, really.
There's an actual reason for this which I will get into. There's a reason I am not here discussing Matt Tracker from M.A.S.K, nor He-Man, nor Jayce or his wheel centric warriors, nor She-Ra. There's a reason the Transformers are the first 80's toy to get a successful noughties film, and a reason Michael "lets change everything cos I have da mad directorial skillz" Bay was effectively forced to allow Peter Cullen to return and bring the big red truck back to life with his gravelly tones once more.
Back in the early 80's, Hasbro, who had had several successes importing and exporting toys to and from Japan with their partner Takara, got a hold of several lines of Nipponese figures which transformed from a robot to- well- nearly everything, really.
Hasbro made a very fateful move at this point. They realised they needed characters for these robots in disguise, but instead of just lashing a few stereotypes together, as most toy manufacturers were doing, they hired Marvel comics to do it.
(An intersting aside at this point is one of the people who was involved in this process was Denny O Neill, a man who also made the decision at an editorial level to turn Batman dark again. We nerds owe that dude alot.)
Marvel created all the characters behind the toys, making sure they all had a place in the story, and all had a role to fill. They flushed the characters out, in both cartoon and comics, to a degree which other franchises couldn't- or simply didn't bother to- do.
So we're at season 1 of transformers now. Awesome toys, awesome characters. But I don't believe the magic had happened yet. It was enough to captivate me. Alright- I loved it from the start- but the really brilliant stuff was yet to come. It was simply a slightly more complex space opera than you would see on other childrens programs.
The fates then basically alligned for Transformers fans.
The decision was made in series 2 of the television series that all the episodes would be character driven. This decision was made to sell toys, yes, but it meant you began to care about the individuals, and they developed. Poor Seaspray, who knew a transfomrer could love?
Also, a man named Simon Furman became more and more prominent in the comic book side of things. He was able to take the time to go extremely in depth with all the characters, showing their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities. He showed a weary, at times spiritual, side to Optimus, made him an old warrior who wished desperately for peace but stood resolute in his battle to achieve it.
So we had all this character development going on, and fleshing out, and more and more mythos. In actual fact, the Transformers was in a small way treating children like adults, giving them a story with more vitality, meaning, and originality than any other childrens media readily available.
Then came the one facet which I think transformed Transformers into the subject of massive fan dedication it is today.
They killed characters. Including the good guys.
Transformers got away with alot of violence because they were robots. They were killed, sacrificed themselves, and in some cases were even massacared.
The most well known death of course, was that of Optimus Prime in the animated movie.
Stupid Hot Rod.
Sorry, I need a moment.
...
In retrospect some of the more highbrow aspects of the Transformers mythos deal with things which are traditionally viewed as part of the voyage of childhood to adulthood: There was religion and afterlife with the Matrix and Unicron: there was the horror and futility of total war (a recurring theme- the death toll for the autobots in the animated movie is, frankly, astounding for a childs film). There was even a few stories touching ever so lightly on assisted suicide (one with Optimus refusing to put his friend Ratchet out of his misery, another with a creature called Death Bringer who existed solely to end the suffering of others). Of course these would be the shining moments in the transformers history- there was alot of drekk, but these moments were there, and they're what people remember. They say your voyage to adulthood begins when you first understand the concept of mortality. Transformers, in it's own unique way, didn't shy away from this.
Transformers didn't succeed and stick in the memory because the toys were better, or anything like that. It survived in our minds because as children it was a bit more challenging than others kids shows. Childrens entertainment doesn't need to be dumbed down, it can deal with the deep stuff.
I don't think children get enough credit. Hasbro are Simon Furman are reaping the reward for that credit to this very day, Prime sticks out in peoples minds because he was a tired old warrior who could and did sacrifice himself to stop a war which had claimed hundreds of his friends. I fully understood that and enjoyed the complexities of it as a kid. Clearly, with the second live action Transformers film on its way to us, so did a hell of alot of other people.
I don't really watch kids programmes now, but I wonder if there an equivalent, something a little shining which is making kids think. I hear the Sarah Jane Adventures is one such series. If there is, I hope they get the kudos they deserve.
Of course I could be wrong, most people might just like giant feck off robots.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Violence in the video game family
It seems the recession has finally hit the video game industry. The once mighty Midway has been forced to open its historically ridiculously successful intellectual property, Mortal Kombat, to the highest bidder.
While the slow self destruction of any business in the world is not a good thing, and I genuinely feel pity for the employees of Midway (I work in a not dissimilar field and empathy is magnified when reflected through your own eyes) the final, absolute trouncing of Mortal Kombat (which was always so very ninties with its klever use of Xtreme spelling)is quite a life affirming one for me.
Let me put my explaining hat on.
I would be well known in certain circles as an afficianado of the Street Fighter series by Capcom. That doesn't mean I am very good at it- I just really, really appreciate the ebb and flow of the combat, the complexities of the counters and the huge differences all the subtle changes in move sets create between the different releases in the series. More so than any other game I have seen being played, watching two good SF gamers go at is like visual poetry in motion. From a programmatical point of view, I love how they have managed to make 12 + characters which can all reasonably stand a chance of defeating each other in the hands of a master. That amount of balancing can't be easy.
Basically SF2 was probably the biggest game of the ninties and it bloody well deserved to be. It was nearly a perfect storm of a game, ripping up the industry in its wake and giving birth to millions of lazy, uninspired clones...
Like Mortal Kombat. Much like Hollywood does in the modern era, American video game producers looked to Japan and made an inferior kwality produkt which missed the entire point of the original.
Lets be honest. The moveset in Mortal Kombat was tiny. All the characters played the same. It was slow, unwieldy, and the hit detection was AWFUL for a fighter. It's krap.
Yet it nearly stole the throne from Street Fighter. How? Why?
Because it had blood and violence. Lots and lots of blood and violence.
Mortal Kombat featured Fatalities*, finishing moves in which the opponent was physically torn limb from limb. The graphics were real digitised people, so of course this kicked up a storm.
This level of "real violence" was not seen in a game before. People flocked to the arcades and spent millions on the megadrive and SNES home versions.
It was disheartening to see for me, I was young, still angry with the flush of that youth and was experiencing my first taste of art vs. crash culture. People were ruining something I cared about. Why would they choose graphics over gameplay? It was incomprehensible to MiniDooM. I'd just shrug, now.
Time marched on and right wing politicians with nothing to be outraged about started picking on games. This is a fight the game industry was always going to have; any industry which is built up through yoof culture (videos, rock and roll, comic books, the interwebnetz itself) always hears cries of "ban this filth now"! I am not blaming Mortal Kombat for this, although it was a shining example for busy bodies to use.
Fast forward to the here and now. Street Fighter 4 has just come out and it is as awesome as ever. Theres a new counter system, and new balance of play, and its one of the most fun games I have ever had the pleasure to play. It's selling in the millions.
There was a new Mortal Kombat game released recently. Not that you'd know, it was received with such a whimper. It's got nothing new- even its gimmick (Mortal Kombat vs DC) was done by capcom years ago and better (X-Men vs Streetfighter, Marvel Vs Streetfighter et al).
Lets put it in perspective. People would ignore Batman and Superman in a beat em up for one last fight with Ryu and Ken (His name actually starts with a K, thats not me being smart).
People remembered! Nostalgia fell on the right side of the coin. The gaming public has gone beyond violence for violence sake. We've grown up.
And THAT is the great thing about the failure of Mortal Kombat.
* I will now give Mortal Kombat the respect it is due, for something no one else seems to think about. There would be no finishers, no specials, no supers, no ultras, or any other "desperation" moves, if Mortal Kombat didn't kick that off.
While the slow self destruction of any business in the world is not a good thing, and I genuinely feel pity for the employees of Midway (I work in a not dissimilar field and empathy is magnified when reflected through your own eyes) the final, absolute trouncing of Mortal Kombat (which was always so very ninties with its klever use of Xtreme spelling)is quite a life affirming one for me.
Let me put my explaining hat on.
I would be well known in certain circles as an afficianado of the Street Fighter series by Capcom. That doesn't mean I am very good at it- I just really, really appreciate the ebb and flow of the combat, the complexities of the counters and the huge differences all the subtle changes in move sets create between the different releases in the series. More so than any other game I have seen being played, watching two good SF gamers go at is like visual poetry in motion. From a programmatical point of view, I love how they have managed to make 12 + characters which can all reasonably stand a chance of defeating each other in the hands of a master. That amount of balancing can't be easy.
Basically SF2 was probably the biggest game of the ninties and it bloody well deserved to be. It was nearly a perfect storm of a game, ripping up the industry in its wake and giving birth to millions of lazy, uninspired clones...
Like Mortal Kombat. Much like Hollywood does in the modern era, American video game producers looked to Japan and made an inferior kwality produkt which missed the entire point of the original.
Lets be honest. The moveset in Mortal Kombat was tiny. All the characters played the same. It was slow, unwieldy, and the hit detection was AWFUL for a fighter. It's krap.
Yet it nearly stole the throne from Street Fighter. How? Why?
Because it had blood and violence. Lots and lots of blood and violence.
Mortal Kombat featured Fatalities*, finishing moves in which the opponent was physically torn limb from limb. The graphics were real digitised people, so of course this kicked up a storm.
This level of "real violence" was not seen in a game before. People flocked to the arcades and spent millions on the megadrive and SNES home versions.
It was disheartening to see for me, I was young, still angry with the flush of that youth and was experiencing my first taste of art vs. crash culture. People were ruining something I cared about. Why would they choose graphics over gameplay? It was incomprehensible to MiniDooM. I'd just shrug, now.
Time marched on and right wing politicians with nothing to be outraged about started picking on games. This is a fight the game industry was always going to have; any industry which is built up through yoof culture (videos, rock and roll, comic books, the interwebnetz itself) always hears cries of "ban this filth now"! I am not blaming Mortal Kombat for this, although it was a shining example for busy bodies to use.
Fast forward to the here and now. Street Fighter 4 has just come out and it is as awesome as ever. Theres a new counter system, and new balance of play, and its one of the most fun games I have ever had the pleasure to play. It's selling in the millions.
There was a new Mortal Kombat game released recently. Not that you'd know, it was received with such a whimper. It's got nothing new- even its gimmick (Mortal Kombat vs DC) was done by capcom years ago and better (X-Men vs Streetfighter, Marvel Vs Streetfighter et al).
Lets put it in perspective. People would ignore Batman and Superman in a beat em up for one last fight with Ryu and Ken (His name actually starts with a K, thats not me being smart).
People remembered! Nostalgia fell on the right side of the coin. The gaming public has gone beyond violence for violence sake. We've grown up.
And THAT is the great thing about the failure of Mortal Kombat.
* I will now give Mortal Kombat the respect it is due, for something no one else seems to think about. There would be no finishers, no specials, no supers, no ultras, or any other "desperation" moves, if Mortal Kombat didn't kick that off.
Artificial Intelligence for Drunks
I'm doing a bit of work on my thesis while over in Germany. It's only fitting, seeing as I am in the land of efficieny, after all.
Being a nerd prime, (which I handily prove right there by inverting the words "nerd" and "prime") I have decided that I'd give this artificial intelligence thing a shot. It was good enough for Spielberg, and that dude brought dinosaurs back to life.
I wouldn't consider myself a particularly intelligent man so my research is firing all kinds of questions which no doubt have come to other people much quicker and have been answered with ease.
We don't understand what makes up sentience in what would be described in computer science terms as, I would guess, a "logical" structure- the virtual design- but scarily enough the "physical " design of what makes you and I tick HAS been mapped, and it seems in and of itself, like most things in natures, to be both infinitely complex and beautifully simple at the same time.
(There's a joke which you can use to describe whichever friend you wish right there. I will let you have it for free. I'm good like that.)
It would seem that the best way to model the nervous system and its rather robust operating system (that would be the mind for those who are struggling with this analogy, don't worry it's not your fault, it's a bit pants) is through creating a thing called a nueral net.
Basically, humans run on thousands of millions of tiny, tiny processors with a single bite of memory. They're what we call nerves. If you really want to know how they work you could do worse than start here, but the important thing is that a nerve when stimulated over a certain threshold will return a postivie electrical signal, or a '1' in binary, to the neural processor, or brain, which will have a threshold (a calculated number of positive signals) which will stir us to response.
The work in creating an artificial brain is "training" a nueral network is in weighting- deciding which of these binary ones and zeroes have the most import. The algorithm will multiply the returned ones by an amount related to the importance of that nueron in particular firing. This replicates the strengthening of the neural pathways in our own brains. People have been working on real life examples of these for decades and they have shown capabilities traditionally thought of as difficult to impossible for normal computing devices, such as interpreting wildly divergant handwriting. That's correct, computers are slowly learning our brand of fuzzy logic. Or confused logic, in my case. Of course, unlike us, computers cannot do this on their own yet, they need us to help out and tell them when their right. Take that, Hal.
So in the above I have described the basics of how our brains work. I cannot stress the matter of scale here though.
Artificial neural networks are like cigarette lighters. Human brains would be on a par, if you will pardon the crude analogy, to F1 cars. Both run on the same raw technology but like the car our brains really are the peak evolution- Somewhere in time complexity multiplied exponentially and we got cars that can top 200 mph.
Our brains are stunningly, stunningly complex. There is literally billions of these nerve responses and weight changes going on right now as you observe the world around you and absorb knowledge like a sponge. Automatically and usually seamlessly.
I'm getting to the point now. The thing is... is this all we are? It would seem this mechanism, in the hugely complicated degree that is used inside us, could indeed account for all we all, with an unfathomably complex gaggle of algorithms deciding what we like, dislike, love, hate, feel, and creating output. Many times have I heard atheists being talked of in a desultory way but you have to respect them for one thing at least: They have no fear to state what they believe in, no matter how unsightly the ultimate extension of their beliefs are- we are just extremely complex machines, although that make us no less wondrous, that is all we are.
Basically, science (as much as science can "think" anything, yes, sorry for anthropomorphising it) thinks this:
So is that all we are? Are we effectively automatons, working off algorithms that our analogue brains can't catch but are there under the surface none the less? Can beauty be reduced to a group of quantifiable variables (perhaps constants)? Are the lsd inspired works of the sixties simply due to the inhibitory effect of drugs on certain nuerons creating a form of inversion of normal thought processes which is interpreted as genius?
I find it hard to believe. Mainly because no one is calling my precious beer a service pack.
Although it is responsible for some leaky memory.
Being a nerd prime, (which I handily prove right there by inverting the words "nerd" and "prime") I have decided that I'd give this artificial intelligence thing a shot. It was good enough for Spielberg, and that dude brought dinosaurs back to life.
I wouldn't consider myself a particularly intelligent man so my research is firing all kinds of questions which no doubt have come to other people much quicker and have been answered with ease.
We don't understand what makes up sentience in what would be described in computer science terms as, I would guess, a "logical" structure- the virtual design- but scarily enough the "physical " design of what makes you and I tick HAS been mapped, and it seems in and of itself, like most things in natures, to be both infinitely complex and beautifully simple at the same time.
(There's a joke which you can use to describe whichever friend you wish right there. I will let you have it for free. I'm good like that.)
It would seem that the best way to model the nervous system and its rather robust operating system (that would be the mind for those who are struggling with this analogy, don't worry it's not your fault, it's a bit pants) is through creating a thing called a nueral net.
Basically, humans run on thousands of millions of tiny, tiny processors with a single bite of memory. They're what we call nerves. If you really want to know how they work you could do worse than start here, but the important thing is that a nerve when stimulated over a certain threshold will return a postivie electrical signal, or a '1' in binary, to the neural processor, or brain, which will have a threshold (a calculated number of positive signals) which will stir us to response.
The work in creating an artificial brain is "training" a nueral network is in weighting- deciding which of these binary ones and zeroes have the most import. The algorithm will multiply the returned ones by an amount related to the importance of that nueron in particular firing. This replicates the strengthening of the neural pathways in our own brains. People have been working on real life examples of these for decades and they have shown capabilities traditionally thought of as difficult to impossible for normal computing devices, such as interpreting wildly divergant handwriting. That's correct, computers are slowly learning our brand of fuzzy logic. Or confused logic, in my case. Of course, unlike us, computers cannot do this on their own yet, they need us to help out and tell them when their right. Take that, Hal.
So in the above I have described the basics of how our brains work. I cannot stress the matter of scale here though.
Artificial neural networks are like cigarette lighters. Human brains would be on a par, if you will pardon the crude analogy, to F1 cars. Both run on the same raw technology but like the car our brains really are the peak evolution- Somewhere in time complexity multiplied exponentially and we got cars that can top 200 mph.
Our brains are stunningly, stunningly complex. There is literally billions of these nerve responses and weight changes going on right now as you observe the world around you and absorb knowledge like a sponge. Automatically and usually seamlessly.
I'm getting to the point now. The thing is... is this all we are? It would seem this mechanism, in the hugely complicated degree that is used inside us, could indeed account for all we all, with an unfathomably complex gaggle of algorithms deciding what we like, dislike, love, hate, feel, and creating output. Many times have I heard atheists being talked of in a desultory way but you have to respect them for one thing at least: They have no fear to state what they believe in, no matter how unsightly the ultimate extension of their beliefs are- we are just extremely complex machines, although that make us no less wondrous, that is all we are.
Basically, science (as much as science can "think" anything, yes, sorry for anthropomorphising it) thinks this:
So is that all we are? Are we effectively automatons, working off algorithms that our analogue brains can't catch but are there under the surface none the less? Can beauty be reduced to a group of quantifiable variables (perhaps constants)? Are the lsd inspired works of the sixties simply due to the inhibitory effect of drugs on certain nuerons creating a form of inversion of normal thought processes which is interpreted as genius?
I find it hard to believe. Mainly because no one is calling my precious beer a service pack.
Although it is responsible for some leaky memory.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The World Grows Smaller...
I am a very priviledged person. I am well aware of this. As with everyone else I am not immune to moaning about my job, but deep down I am often thankful for the perks my place of birth and my choosen career have given me.
Take, for example, two years ago. My first trip abroad with my job and it was to Bulgaria.
If you don't know much about Bulgaria, it is a land of stunning contradictions. It has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, and some of the most decrepit buildings too. The people can be lovely but corruption is endemic in politics.
My trip over there was more or less made successful by one man. He worked as a developer for the company that had sent me. Out of the goodness of his heart and a certain amount of national pride, he took myself and my colleagues out nearly every night for two weeks, showing us the real Bulgaria and educating us about it.
Learning of the history of Bulgaria I found it nearly impossible not to draw paralells between his country and my own. Ireland has long been famous for it's struggle against the "evil oppressor" that was Britain, and Bulgaria had battled for nearly it's entire life time against larger countries (although there's a matter of scale there); both cultures seem to have the same cynical, almost dour humour; and both countries had economies that roared to life in the late nineties.
Now the interesting thing was I was not the one drawing these paralells, it seemed at several times that Ireland was viewed in Bulgaria as a country "living the dream" of freedom- it seemed they wanted their motherland to emulate the fantasy of what Ireland was (of course the reality is quite different, but I didn't feel the urge to rob him of it).
Right now, I am in Germany and by nought but pure coincidence it turned out this man was on a business trip to the same campus. Our paths crossed for a couple of days. Naturally, as Irish and Bulgarians are wont to do, especially in Germany, we ended up in the pub in short order. He keeps calling me a crazy Irishman, and again I feel no urge to tell him I'm actually quite a mild Irishman who'd rather play StreetFighter 2 than go out on a 2 night bender.
I was amazed how two people from the literal far edges of Europe ended up friends like this, and we had alot to catch up on. So I asked him how things were.
Again this man has put my world in perspective. Things are bad in Ireland, yes, but Bulgaria has had less time basking in the ecomonic good times; they are facing a situation where, far more so than us, inflation is crippling their jobs; and there are less and less jobs going round.
I got the genuine impressions from him he thought his country was on the verge of collapse, and this saddened me.
Bulgaria was a deeply troubled place but a place of great beauty and integrity. They deserve better than the world's ever given them.
Tonight was the last night we'll be seeing each other. We specialise in the same area so there's a significant chance we may meet again, as long as both of us stay in the same company. I wonder if we meet again in two years, will we have happier news to talk about over the beers.
Take, for example, two years ago. My first trip abroad with my job and it was to Bulgaria.
If you don't know much about Bulgaria, it is a land of stunning contradictions. It has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, and some of the most decrepit buildings too. The people can be lovely but corruption is endemic in politics.
My trip over there was more or less made successful by one man. He worked as a developer for the company that had sent me. Out of the goodness of his heart and a certain amount of national pride, he took myself and my colleagues out nearly every night for two weeks, showing us the real Bulgaria and educating us about it.
Learning of the history of Bulgaria I found it nearly impossible not to draw paralells between his country and my own. Ireland has long been famous for it's struggle against the "evil oppressor" that was Britain, and Bulgaria had battled for nearly it's entire life time against larger countries (although there's a matter of scale there); both cultures seem to have the same cynical, almost dour humour; and both countries had economies that roared to life in the late nineties.
Now the interesting thing was I was not the one drawing these paralells, it seemed at several times that Ireland was viewed in Bulgaria as a country "living the dream" of freedom- it seemed they wanted their motherland to emulate the fantasy of what Ireland was (of course the reality is quite different, but I didn't feel the urge to rob him of it).
Right now, I am in Germany and by nought but pure coincidence it turned out this man was on a business trip to the same campus. Our paths crossed for a couple of days. Naturally, as Irish and Bulgarians are wont to do, especially in Germany, we ended up in the pub in short order. He keeps calling me a crazy Irishman, and again I feel no urge to tell him I'm actually quite a mild Irishman who'd rather play StreetFighter 2 than go out on a 2 night bender.
I was amazed how two people from the literal far edges of Europe ended up friends like this, and we had alot to catch up on. So I asked him how things were.
Again this man has put my world in perspective. Things are bad in Ireland, yes, but Bulgaria has had less time basking in the ecomonic good times; they are facing a situation where, far more so than us, inflation is crippling their jobs; and there are less and less jobs going round.
I got the genuine impressions from him he thought his country was on the verge of collapse, and this saddened me.
Bulgaria was a deeply troubled place but a place of great beauty and integrity. They deserve better than the world's ever given them.
Tonight was the last night we'll be seeing each other. We specialise in the same area so there's a significant chance we may meet again, as long as both of us stay in the same company. I wonder if we meet again in two years, will we have happier news to talk about over the beers.
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