znaddanz

Well, Film Fest is on us once again, and this year we're determined not to let it slip by us with too many films unwatched. That doesn't mean we're going to do what some friends are doing and take two weeks off just to watch every film on the schedule (much as we'd like to), but we will be seeing a lot of movies. I'll keep the schedule updated here- if anyone wants to join us at any of these sessions, please do so! Likewise, if you're going to any film that you think we absolutely must see, please let us know and we'll add it to our schedule. We'll be at the following films:
Saturday 26 July 2008
1:00 PM ACMI - SON OF RAMBOW
9:15 PM Capitol - DIARY OF THE DEAD

Sunday 27 July 2008
7:00 PM Cooper's Festival Lounge - IN CONVERSATION WITH GEORGE A ROMERO

Friday 1 August 2008
7:15 PM Greater Union 5 - JAR CITY
9:15 PM ACMI - GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Saturday 2 August 2008
7:15 PM ACMI - DEAD END DRIVE-IN

Sunday 3 August 2008
1:00 PM ACMI - THE WAVE
7:00 PM Greater Union 6 - LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Friday 8 August 2008
11:30 PM Greater Union 5 - JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER

Saturday 9 August 2008
1:00 PM Capitol - CARAMEL
7:00 PM Greater Union 6 - PERSEPOLIS
11:15 PM Capitol - DEAD DAUGHTERS

Sunday 10 August 2008
3:15 PM Capitol - THE CRAZIES
8:00 PM Greater Union 6 - [REC]

If you'd have sat me down, lo these thirteen years ago when I was a sweaty, excitable teen, and said to me: "Listen, you know your favourite band right now? In over a decade, you're going to be mates with two of the guys from that band, and you're going to be in a band with them, and that band is going to put out an album, and, and this is the kicker, that album is going to not only be really unique, it's also going to be really good." I'd have thought you were barmy. But I'd be eating my words right now, dear reader, because I was, and we did, and it is.

That band was Grok, and, as I may have mentioned previously, last year we spent two days in a studio making a hell of a lot of noise. This was unrehearsed, unplanned, made up on the spot, never to be played again, the way all Grok songs are. What... what's bizarre is that it works, it totally works. I am so immensely proud of this album. It's quiet, it's noisy, it's happy, it's sad, it's angry, it's ofttimes hilarious. It contains a hundred beautiful accidents that you just couldn't get from planned songs, rehearsed songs. You can listen to it over and over and hear something new every time, and it will take you somewhere differen,t every time.

And... it was released today! And you can buy it - and you should.

You can order the cd digipak album online at Amazon, Play, Zavvi and others.

The album can be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, emusic, Rhapsody and others.

More info on the album here.

The Melbourne Zombie Shuffle was a real blast. There's something about a thousand zombies moaning 'Brains!' that is simultaneously hilarious and genuinely creepy.
 
Check out the Flickr Pool for the event and see if you can find:

Shower Zombie
McDonald's Zombie
Zombie Nuns
Zombie Bride
Sweet Zombie Jesus
and of course my friend Bec as beautician Zombie.

It's somewhere between 11 and 12. We've finished reading and turned out the light and I'm kind-of-sort-of halfway asleep, when the phone rings. No-one really knows our number except for our parents, and my Granny has been sick of late so I figure I should probably get any incoming late-night calls. I stumble blearily out of bed to the lounge and pick up the phone.

"Hello?" I say.

"Guess who." It's a voice. Male. Twenties, I suppose.

"Uhm...I don't know. Who?"

"Guess."

"Why don't you tell me?"

"Guess. It's someone you know."

"Well I'm not sure that it is. Why don't you tell me who you are and I'll tell you if I know you."

"You have to guess."

"I don't want to guess, just tell me."

"I'll give you a clue."

"Who is this?"

"It's a cousin of yours."

"I have lots of cousins, I don't really remember them all. What can I do for you?" Keep in mind, I'm actually trying to remember who it is at this point, with no hope of success. I'm a little sleepy, so you can understand why I didn't immediately jump to the right conclusion.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Well, you got me out of bed, it's almost midnight."

"Have you guessed yet?"

"No! Who is this?"

"I'll give you another clue...it's a younger cousin."

"I don't know who this is. I'm not going to guess who this is. Tell me who you are!"

"It's Michael." He is sounding, I must say, immensely pleased with himself at this revelation.

"Oh. Uhm, I don't remember you. How do you know my number?"

"Wait...who is this?"

"This is Daniel, and I think you've got the wrong number."

"Oh...oh God."

"Have a good night buddy."

[click]

I go back to bed. I'm like: "It was a wrong number."

Aiden's like: "God, I thought it was a serial killer taunting you from the window."

"What, like in Scream?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah I guess I could see how it might sound like that from only one side of the conversation. But no, just a moron playing a guess who game with a complete stranger."

As mentioned previously on this very blog, last year Grok absconded to the studios for two days where we turned on the recording devices and played whatever came into our heads at the time. This raw creative output has since been mixed, remixed and edited (primarily for brevity, and I must say it cuts like a knife turning a beautiful twelve-minute epic into a three-minute pop-punch) into an album and a single! the album is coming out soon, but the three-track single is out now! You can buy it (and...you should!) from:

iTunes

eMusic

Rhapsody

So there's really no reason not to.

Also, if you're in London, join Grok to celebrate at the single release gig on Friday 23rd May at The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, Soho, W1D 5NA. (unfortunately, I can't make it).

When my family moved to Hamilton at the end of 1989, we had a housewarming party. At this party, two kittens from down the street wandered into the yard and we fed them some little bits of sausage from the barbeque. From that moment on, we could not get rid of those two little kitties. We would frequently pick them up, walk them back to their property, and by the time we got back to our house, they had somehow beaten us home and were there waiting for us, mewling for more food. We tried everything we could to dissuade them from pestering us (our own cat, Tiger, attacked them relentlessly, territorially), but they just would not give up. I think their original owners moved away and they were still just coming over to our place. I remember the exact moment when they went from being 'the annoying cats from up the road' to 'our cats'- we'd just gotten back from seeing The Hunt for Red October in the cinema (this must also have been the week I discovered I needed glasses because I remember not being able to read the subtitles and being confused), my brother walked through the door, picked up one of the cats (the black-and-white number you see above, who we later discovered was originally named 'Mittens'), looked it in the eye and said: "Your name is Ramius." and we never tried to kick him out again. The other kitty we named Asrael, and she died of a hole in the heart in 1994.

Ramius and Tiger continued to fight over food and territory every day of their lives, which we think contributed to Tiger's remarkable longevity- she was the oldest cat I've ever heard of, she must have been at least 22 when she passed on to kitty heaven a few years ago. Ramius went through some tough years once all the kids had left the house, mum continued to look after him, but didn't let him in the house or give him the sort of pampered attention that kids can, and that he was used to. But in the last few years of his life he was adopted by my mum's boarder (and member of the family, really), Michael, who pampered him and loved him more than he'd ever loved before, brushing him for hours every night, letting him sleep in the same bed, and generally treating him like cat royalty, which I suppose in some ways he was. Which just goes to show: You can go through some dark years and think nothing is ahead for you, but then something you couldn't foresee happens and you spend the rest of your life in happiness. The last few times I saw Ramius, he was a little dribbly, a little doddering, but every morning you'd hear him try to form the word 'Michael' out of meows (I am serious! He really did). Michael said he was losing his memory, but he seemed to remember me when I gave him a hug.

Yesterday the vet said that the kindest thing to do would be to put him down, and Michael held him and stroked him while they did so. Then he took Ramius' body home and laid it on his bed while he dug a grave outside, under a tree where Ramius liked to lie.

He was the last of my cats, and I'll miss him.

Went to see this at the IMAX in 3D last week (I went with some colleagues, one of whom told me that our job lets us write off going to the movie sas a tax deductable expense. Awesome.)

While the 3D technology has not yet been perfected, there were definitely a few 'wow' moments that made it worthwhile. And thank God really, because the story was a clunky, misogynstic shout-fest that was really only entertaining on the visual level (although the creepy zombie-eyes of the 'synthespians' detracted somewhat from the human characters).

See it in IMAX if you can, if not: I wouldn't bother.

Oh dear. Just saw this on Dan Harmon's blog. Tom has been covering the writer's strike with enthusiasm and aplomb and I don't have that much to say about it since it is fundamantally an American issue and hence not really much of my business, except that some of my favourite shows (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report most fundamentally- gosh I miss them!) are now MIA and that the script for the new Star Trek movie can't be 'punched up' during filming, as is often done while shooting a movie, which could seriously degrade its quality -which would suck (incidentally, it was the Writer's Strike of `88 that ruined the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well).

Apart from these, it's not something that affects me directly, but I have a few thoughts on the process that I think may provide some balance to an issue that, based on my exposure to it (mainly via the web), it isn't really getting. Most people, if they are aware of the issue at all, are under the impression, fostered by writers talking to the media, that it's about getting residuals for work posted online or to other forms of new media (like through cellphones for example). While this is true, it's just one facet of an issue that is actually much more complex yet, if you phrase it bluntly, much more simple than that.

I just want to put a disclaimer that I support the writers in the strike, and I support the strike in general. I write this not to belittle the strike, or the WGA, just to play devil's advocate and perhaps fill in the other side a little.

It's difficult to comprehend (although the strike gives you a clue) just how much clout the WGA and the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) have in Hollywood unless you have worked there and worked with these two institutions. Now I want to stress that these institutions are good things and without them writers and actors would be getting screwed out of money left right and center. The studios will take as much rope as they pay out to them so it becomes by nature a combative process between the studios and the guilds (the money and talent, basically) where each side tries to take as much as they can because if they don't, the other side will. It's important to see this strike as part of that combative process where occasionally each side has to flex some muscle. This strike, put simply, is the WGA saying: "See what we can do?"

Ya see, nothing much gets made in Hollywood without WGA and SAG approval. If you've got a script, it needs to be registered with the guild to get made. The guilds are self-supporting, so if you have a script that isn't registered, the SAG, in solidarity with the WGA, won't let you use SAG-registered actors. One of the problems with this is that it creates a very insular 'Hollywood-only' environment. A good example of this is that SAG sued each and every SAG actor who worked on The Lord of the Rings because they were working on a film with other, non-SAG actors. In other words, they were punished for working on a film outside the Hollywood system, because when you sign up with the union, you agree to support other SAG actors by only working on films made inside the confines of the system. Likewise with tradespeople- SAG only lets you come to them for actors if you can prove you're using IATSE members, and are being directed by someone registered with the DGA, and so forth- all the guilds are self-supporting. So if you don't get your script registered with the WGA you don't get the actors from SAG, and you don't get the tradespeople. You have to fill in all the slots to get your film/show made, and this can get very expensive, which is why films seem to cost 10x more when they are made inside the Hollywood system than they do when made elsewhere- the unions have set the price for their wares, and since there's little competition (because of the self-supporting nature of the unions): it's high.

I should point out that while I am using these examples in reference to their negatives, using guild-registered tradespeople, finding the right actors through SAG, and registering your script with the WGA comes with a host of advantages (for both sides) that would not exist without the strength of the unions. I'm not saying the unions are inherently bad things (in fact: they're essential), and certainly I am fans of many of the writers who are protesting. I'm just saying this isn't a valiant struggle on behalf of the poor wee writers who are being stomped by the studios. It's a struggle between two massive cogs in a bloated, corrupt studio system, and they both seem equally threatening when you're just a guy in LA trying to get a film made. The studios may not give you any money, but neither do they try to shut you down when you don't grease the wheels with money with each and every turn.

Again, I don't say this to attack the writers (or even the system itself really, it is what it has evolved to become), just to provide a little perspective on both sides.

Matt and Tom are both putting up their 20 favourite games of all time, so I thought I would throw my 2c in. In no particular order, the games that have made the biggest impression on me are:

- Doom: (PC) Who can't include Doom in their list of 'greatest ever games'? I distinctly remember the first time I saw Doom- it was in the computer science lab at my High School. My brother was playing it and I was looking over his shoulder with my jaw wide open. I just...literally...couldn't...believe it! I just kept saying, over and over: "How is this possible?" And the best part was, they gave the first chapter away for free. All class, all the time.

- Command & Conquer: Red Alert: (PC) Another watershed game for me, I must have spent a very significant portion of my university career battling friends over the `net whilst playing C&C. Prior to figuring out all the bugs (the game basically ended the day we figured out that you could move the tanks while firing, and if you did, they couldn't die), this was a very strategically rich game, as you tried to figure out how to crack each other's defences.

- Starcraft: (PC) After hooked on RTS games by C&C, Starcraft was 'the next evolution' and many LAN parties revolved around kicking each other's butts in this game. The massive amount of mods and free missions continues to make this one of the most-played games in the world today. Honourable mention must go to Dark Reign, which continued the evolution.

- Half-Life series: (PC) While not quite the quantum-leap in FPS technology that many claim it to be, there's no denying that Half-Life was incredibly immersive, and it's excellent sequels continued the trend, making this one of the greatest stories in videogame history. The gravity gun! The gravity gun!

- Grand Theft Auto 3: (PS2) The only other time my jaw dropped and I started saying: "How is this possible?" over and over again, other than Doom, was the first time I booted up GTA. You felt like you could go anywhere, do anything. While this was not ultimately true, the feeling of having an entire city to wreak havoc in was quite powerful, and the excellent story/mission structure merely helped this along. Quite simply one of the best games I've played, even to this day.

- Deus Ex: (PC) If Half-life was not the revolution in FPS gaming that it promised to be, Deus Ex was. Not a shooter, more like a novel you moved through, the ability to pick the way you played the game meant that the experience felt very unique to you. You could beef your character up and try to fight your way through every situation, or you could load up on stealth gear and sneak your way through without killing anyone (which is what I did). The moment on the plane where you have to choose between your brother and your boss, each one drastically changing the outcome of the rest of the game, was like picking the colour of your character's soul- I've yet to encounter a narrative moment in the game like it.

- Portal: The newest entry on the list, Portal has no guns, no health bar, no enemies that don't apologize to you when you drop them. All it has is the most ingenious and mind-bending device I've ever seen in a game. There were moments, playing Portal, when I literally felt my mind expanding when it came to a breakthrough. Smart, funny, amazing ending. I love this damned game.

- Battlefield 1942: (PC) This is multiplayer gaming at it's finest. I remember the first time we booted this up at a LAN party, I jumped in a plane and flew into Rob's boat. We both fell about the floor laughing, then kept playing for ten hours straight. The sequels both rock, too.

- Bust-a-move: (PS) Okay, so you both control little uhm, dragons, that fire little bubbles, and when you connect there or more coloured bubbles, they pop. That's it. Two-player bust-a-move is just about the damned funnest game on the PS2, bar none. I must have played countless hours of this game on the PS2 with my flatties in 2002.

- Wipeout: (PS) This game is fun for two reasons- firstly, it's the world's fastest racer, and when you really get some speed on, it's awesome. Secondly, when playing against another person, it's brilliantly competitive, as you try to wipe out your opponent with mines, blasters, or giant waves of energy. Probably the best racer I've played.

- Counter-strike: (PC) Best FPS, most influential FPS, best mod, best game? You can't list any of these things without talking about the phenomenon of CS. Even today, ten years after it hit the scene, you can't go into an internet cafe without seeing hordes of kids playing CS and having a ball. Honourable mention must also go to Team Fortress.

- Dawn of War: (PC) There are RTS games that are technically superior (Company of Heroes) and others that are more balanced (Starcraft), but I'll be damned if you can find one that's more out-and-out fun. The game looks great, plays great, will soon have nine playable races, each with a very distinct flavour, and a very strong modding community keeps things fresh and interesting. Extremely fun game in both single and multiplayer modes.

- The Weakest Link: (PS2) Matt gave me stick for including this, but some of the funnest gaming I've had has been after a night on the taps, all back to my place for a game of The Weakest Link. Seven players but only one controller spells lounge-room chaos as everyone throws the controller back-and-forth, and then listens as Anne Robinson tears your avatar a new one. Also lots of betrayals and backstabbings as everyone votes off the best players. This game is a party in a box.

- Time Splitters: (PS2) As loathe as I am to include a console-driven FPS (trying to move someone's head with that stupid little joystick is just painful compared to doing it with naturally a mouse), the bottom line is that Timesplitters is good old time-jumping, zombie-slaying fun. No story that I could discern, but the constant refreshing of setting, weapons, and enemies means the game is never dull. Many a happy hour spent double-teaming with my flatmate on this one.

- Shadow of the Collosus: (PS2) Like Iko before it, this game gave an incredible sense of scale and, at times, beauty. Sometimes you would go into a glade and, even though it was digital, you'd feel at peace, as though you'd just gone into a glade yourself. Sometimes even the monsters you were tasked with bringing down seemed beautiful, or perhaps sad, and you would feel sad you had to destroy them. It made a great impression on me, and figuring out how to complete each level was often quite satisfying.

- Baldur's Gate - Dark Alliance I&II: (PS2) Speaking of spending many multiplayer hours on a game, this game was so damned addictive that I remember walking out of our flat, saying to ourselves: "We have to get away from the game for a few hours." and then immediately turning around, going back inside and playing, because we just couldn't bear to be away from it. Strong plot, amazing graphics and a compulsive need to 'level up' were the drivers behind this game. See also: Diablo.

- Voyager - Elite Force: (PC) There are a lot of Star Trek games that I had a lot of fun with (Armada, Birth of the Federation and A Final Unity are all great, if flawed, games), but nothing was as immersive, well-written and just downright as cool as Elite Force. Firstly, you could tell in every second of the game that it was written by hardcore fans. It felt exactly like being in an episode of Voyager. Hell, better, since you were actually there yourself. Fantastic plot, amazing characterization, and tied intricately into the story of the show (all the voices were provided by the original actors). Even better than that, it was a bloody decent shooter as well, and came prepackaged with multiple multiplayer modes that made it better than Quake 3, the engine it was based on. Fantastic package.

- Worms: (PC, PS, Pocket PC) I was going to mention a game called Scorched Earth: The Mother of all Games, which was a really budget, super-fun 2D artillery game where you had to judge elevation and wind speed to hit your opponent's launcher before he hit yours. This concept later evolved into the equally rad Worms, where the artillery concept was strengthened by hilarious weapons and cute little worms firing them. I used to have this on my Pocket PC and it was great to pull out on the tube and play with friends to pass the time. Honourable mention must also go to the similarly 2D puzzle game Lemmings.

- Okay, Tetris: (PC) As Matt mentioned, Tetris is the ultimate game, addictive, intuitive, competitive, endless fun. I still play it today. I once wrote a 'kidding on the square' essay about how you could tell someone's personality by analyzing the way they played Tetris- I think it warrants further research.

Year Zero is good on so many levels I barely know where to begin. As an album it is solid. When With-a Teeth-ah! came out, I complained that it was a decent album, but not really a progression of the NIN sound. Year Zero sounds like nothing you've heard before. In many ways it is the anti-Downward Spiral. Where that album was the very inward-looking story of someone falling apart personally, YZ is the story of the world around us falling apart, a sci-fi epic that's set in the near future which is really just an exaggeration of how things are now, taken to their logical conclusion. It's a tremendous evolution for an artist famed for his introspective (and, at times, self-pitying) lyrics, to actually take a look around at the world as it is, and write a really powerful protest album as a response. This even comes across sonically- TDS was a very organic album, lots of analog instruments and heartbeats and insect noises. The thesis behind YZ is that it is a warning signal, sent from the future to tell us how things will be- and consequently it is a very digital album, lots of pure tones and beeps, synthesized drums and harsh, staccato noises.

I won't write a track-by-track review of the songs (for that, please check out Jammer's awesome review, which echoes my thoughts very precisely), because I don't think it's really a track-by-track album. I've had friends listen to individual tracks of the album and say they don't find it appealing. That's the equivalent of reading a random chapter in a book and then complaining that it's confusing. It's meant to be listened to end-on-end. There's a very distinct forward progression- each song is the viewpoint of a character in this future-world: first the world is set up, then it is developed, then it is destroyed. It was not designed to be put on shuffle. The death of the album has been heralded by many, but this is definitely one of the last 'story' albums, and should be respected as such.

Beyond the album, you may have heard of the Year Zero ARG. There's been some debate about what this is, exactly- a game, a marketing campaign, a website. Trent says it should not be viewed as a game, just part of the album, and I tend to agree. I see it as one of the booklets that come with an album, except it spans across twenty web-pages and is at times interactive. Basically it just deepens the story laid forth in the album, giving context to certain songs and fleshing out different characters that the songs introduced. At first I was suspicious of the idea, but once you realize it's not a marketing campaign, it really falls into place as part of the story of the album. This is a really ground-breaking an inspiring idea, and I'm so pleased that one of my favourite bands has, again, exceeded my expectations. Navigating from page-to-page, filling in the story as you go, really is a great pleasure- like reading a good book or playing a good text-based adventure. If you enjoy the album, do spend a bit of time browsing through the associated sites, it really can be fun. Feels less like an album than the start of a movement.

Not satisfied with breaking ground on YZ, the remix album goes a step further- the album (which is really, really good- it's not just a remix album (and, truth be told, NIN remix albums are always a bit disappointing), it's actually an alternate version of the original album- that is, it tells the same story, but in a different way. It's hard to explain, but even if you don't like YZ, check out the remix album, it's really dancing and different and awesome) comes with a second disc, which contains all the individual source files that make up all the songs, so you can create your own remixes. They've also set up an awesome remix site where you can upload and share your own remixes. It's a really nicely designed site and you can literally spend all day browsing through mixes, making playlists- it's great fun (especially as every 'official' NIN remix from albums past is included [and downloadable!] on the site, including the very rare Perfect Drug remixes- way cool). All the source files can be downloaded from there, as well: go and have a play.

I should take a moment to mention The Limitless Potential, the fan-made remix album that was released for free shortly before the official remix album. I've given this a listen and, basically, it's too fucking long. 21 tracks? Songs that weren't even on YZ? Learn to edit. This could have been a really good, tight remix album. Instead it is bogged down by too many unessential mixes. If it had been kept to 16 tracks it could have been awesome.

So, put it altogether, and you've got two great albums, an infinite number of fan-made songs all free on the web, plus the cool, novelesque ARG. That's a lot of good shit from one concept. Go to!

[Oh, and by the way? When you put the disc for YZ in your CD player, it is black. When it comes out again...it's white. First time this happened, it seriously freaked me out.]