Sunday Night Video: Amazing Sand Art

An entrant (and I believe eventual winner) for a Ukrainian National talent show. I meant to post this so many times, but I would always forget.

The artist recounts the effects of the Second World War on the Ukraine through a series of emotionally-moving images.

Tags: kseniya simonov, ukraine, america's got talent, sand painting

Week 42: Pageant of the Transmundane

Now, you may have heard, but the students of Ole Miss have decided they no longer want their school's mascot to be the stodgy Southern stereotype it has been for many a year. Instead, they want their school's mascot to be Admiral Ackbar.

I would love to see that for just one game. One game. That would make my day.

Anyhow... *ahem*

This week's winning entry comes to us from the wondrous world of Electronic Cerebrectomy.

It is an interesting video directed by McG/Murakami and starring Kirsten Dunst exploring the cosplay culture of the Akihabara district of Tokyo while singing Turning Japanese.

And since this is once again an entry relating to something related to Japan that has stunned me, I have gone to the well again and drew another image from The Simpsons episode Thirty Minutes over Tokyo for this week's Transmundanity Award.



Congrats Aaron. You know the drill. Here is your badge.



The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: homer simpson, pageant of the transmundane, ole miss, admiral ackbar, mcg, murakami, kirsten dunst, turning japanese, aaron davis, electronic cerebrectomy, akihabara, cosplay, cover, blue wig

Friday Favorite: A note to the Film Distributors and Theatre owners out there

I think it is sort of cute that I actually mention VHS near the start of this entry, posted in November 2006. It is so quaint.

The message is one which I still believe in however.
--
I know there is one issue that most people agree on: they are sick of seeing straight-up advertising before movies. I am not talking about the previews here; I am addressing the placement of television ads for products and services before feature films at the theatre and on DVD/VHS recordings.

If the theatres, studios and advertisers insist on showing the movie-going and renting/buying public ads before features, they should at least compromise with us all and not show the same ads they do on television, because we all know they can do better.

I mean, look at the BMW Films series of branded content. You are telling me that the audience wouldn't respond to seeing well-crafted narrative short films featuring A and B-list celebrities and directed by accomplished directors? I am paying for that experience for an engaging narrative, and the BMW films ads do have that quality to them. Ads of this nature would be a welcome change from most of the drek we are subjected to before a movie. Considering the quality of those short films, they are probably better than most of features they would be the vignettes to.

Or how about some more of that old-time spectacle like that Honda ad... something that could be water cooler/web forum talk, ads which would be perpetually on Youtube and take on a life of their own, and while these ads may be expensive, they could probably yield better results than the ads that are currently being used and it would probably do a lot to clean up that black eye the industry is getting for how ubiquitous advertising is.

So I implore people at all levels of this problem to demand better. What's the worse that could happen?

--

In looking back at that Honda ad again, the company could totally play dirty and start playing that ad again just to stick it to Toyota.

Tags: advertising, movies, bmw films, honda, clive owen, the hire, the driver, david fincher, futurama, youtube, previews, ads, television

Someone joined Twitter... and it wasn't me!

Man, maybe I would start a twitter account too if I could get 330000 fans with just two posts.

I am of course talking about Conan O'Brien's recent foray into the world of Twitter.



His latest post was the following:

This morning I watched Remington Steele while eating Sugar Smacks out of a salad bowl. I was naked.

I am surprised that Conan couldn't avoid talking about eating on twitter until his tenth post there. But I commend him on not making the obvious choice of Coco Puffs.

I guess he really does have the Twitter state of mind after all.

I wonder what other things he will get up to during his unemployment. You know, aside from considering a tour.

Tags: twitter, conan o'brien, unemployed, sugar smacks, squirrel, coco puffs, tour, remington steele, salad bowl, audience

I'm cooking up another blog

Hi there.

I am currently in the midst of developing another pop culture-related blog, and as I am one for collaboration, I would love to have some other people on board to help.

I haven't decided on a platform yet, but I do have a title in mind, and the general style involved.

Without being too specific, what I am looking for is people who know a particular movie/book/television series etc really well and would be willing to use that knowledge in a somewhat cheeky way. It will be an intriguing experiment to say the least.

If this sounds interesting to you, leave a comment or drop me an email at campybeaver@gmail.com.

Tags: pop culture, blogging, collaboration, new project, movies, books, television, stories

Express Checkout: Harriet the Spy Remade and Gay Jesus

- Someone remade Harriet the Spy? Why? I don't like Rosie O'Donnell and all, but she doesn't wreck the original, and as it stood, the original was an entertaining little movie that transcended its age. I mean, it is still watchable today, and the problems and such are still easy to relate to, and it has aged very well. When I read that the remake changed the class paper angle to one of blogging, well, let's just say that was the icing on the cake of my disappointment.

- Elton John called Jesus a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man. This caused a furor. I will quote entire quote in context: "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel." So, basically, people are bent out of shape because god forbid someone even suggest that Jesus might be gay, despite all the other things that Elton John said, things which everyone would agree are admirable qualities. In those people's rush to judgment, they missed John's ultimate message which was be loving, forgiving and understanding. The fact that all those who are in an uproar about one word in this tells me that they aren't good Christians.

Tags: gay jesus, elton john, christians, understanding, tolerance, compassion, harriet the spy, rosie o'donnell, remake, children's book, newspaper, blog, travesty

Sunday Video: Hair of the Dog

I've had this song floating around my head for weeks now. So I thought I would spread the love as it were.

I mean the chorus would fit into a lot of action movies and/or red band trailers.

Tags: nazareth, hair of the dog, conan o'brien, action movies, rock, red band trailer

Week 41: Pageant of the Transmundane

Well, it turns out that the National Enquirer may be up for a Pulitzer. If they win it, you know we will never hear the end of this.

This week's winning entry comes to us from Overstated.

It is a double take of a single dog-related video, and the second one is an instant Transmundanity classic.

And since this week's winning entry has to do with dogs, well, a picture of Homer Simpson AS a dog seemed like it would be the most appropriate image this week.



Congrats Cameron. Here is your badge.



The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: pageant of the transmundane, homer simpson, lady and the tramp, dog video, national enquirer, pulitzer, overstated

Friday Favorite: Loving your City: A prerequisite for art?

From back in August 2006.

--

I'm feeling a little philosophical tonight, so bear with me.

Recently I heard the Beastie Boys' An Open Letter to NYC, and it has just stuck with me the past few weeks. I know it is a post-911 song and all, but there is still a lot of love doled out to the individuality and character of the city and I realized that I've never lived someplace that I enjoyed enough and was so interesting to immortalized in an love song to the seemingly inanimate yet breathing entity that is a city. I sort of envy that feeling.

Perhaps it is my own fault, as I may be closed off to some of the things that make my mildly cosmopolitan place of residence interesting, but love is probably the one thing that I don't feel. Or it could be that I indeed live someplace that has some problems. I mean, for a few years we had our art gallery at the mall to make way for a casino, which is weird in a sad way.

Now a lot of people love New York (if they didn't, they wouldn't buy the t-shirts, would they?*), Chicago (oh how I want thee), Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle... the list goes on and on, and of course a lot of laudatory work has been produced about most of them along with a fair share of derogatory works of verse, fiction and non-fiction. So I guess the more general question is this: can great art be derived from a locale that the creator is apathetic towards or outright loathes?

* I know they are for tourists. Really, I do.

Tags: beastie boys, open letter to NYC, seattle, los angeles, new york, literature, art, creation, boston, love, cosmopolitan, writing, painting, gallery

Remembering Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Back in the early 1990's was the age of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, an age before the ESRB and other such organizations, meaning that at the time, there were no clear cut delineations between games for kids and stuff that was geared towards an older audience.

It was into that environment that one of the great games of that console generation was release. I am of course talking about Zombies Ate My Neighbors.



It was a game designed by Lucasarts, who at the time was well-known for their sense of humor in their games (I certainly loved Maniac Mansion), and at the time, I hadn't realized it was one of the games that was pushing the envelope of what was allowable on consoles in those pre-ratings days.

The premise is simple. You play as either a male or female teenager who is tasked with saving the normal people in their town from not only the titular zombie horde, but from a whole host of other movie beasts and baddies.

Check out some of the gameplay.

Now I haven't played the game in quite some time, but let me rundown at least a few of the other kinds of enemies you will encounter throughout the game and you will get a sense of what the game represented. There were hockey-masked, chainsaw wielding maniacs, axe-wielding demonic dolls, giant ants, werewolves, mummies, Creatures from the Black Lagoon, Blobs, martians, Draculas, Frankenstein monsters and my personal favorite, Snakeoids. I know there are other monsters I am forgetting, but as you can tell, the people who made this game loved horror and B-movies, and the cover art work tells you this one is pure kitsch.



The fact that you battled those things in an environment that was cute and bright was also what made the whole experience so charming. The level titles were also rather cheeky and gave you a hint as to the kinds of enemies you would be facing. I remember some of the names in particular: The Day the Earth Ran Away, Seven Meals for Seven Zombies, I Was a Chainsaw Maniac, and my personal favorite, They Came to Earth for One Thing: Mars Needs Cheerleaders.

How could I not love a game that has that sense of comedic style?

The weapon choices were also interesting because for the most part, they are things that seem very improvised, and sort of kid friendly. Yes, there was a bazooka, but other things that you might find for your arsenal included a water gun, cans of soda (which were like grenades), a weed whacker, silverware, a fire extinguisher (because, you never know when you will need to fight a blob) and a few others.

It was just fun, and I didn't think too much about it at the time.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is one of those games from my youth that my older sister loved playing too, and since it was a co-op experience, well, I have very fond memories of the title. It is 55 levels long, and it did have a short password system, so it allowed us to have many hours of fun. I mean, she was a horror junkie, and I was a game junkie who had seen a lot of movies with her, so there was a lot for us to do with this title.

And I will be honest with you... this game probably gave me my first genuine scare in gaming.

You see, there is a certain level that you start and you can see the screen shaking, and as you move closer to the disturbance, you suddenly see just a giant pair of legs at the top of the screen.

And at that moment, I turned to my sister and exclaimed "What the Hell was that?!?"

As we inched closer, we discovered to our horror exactly what that thing was.



DUN DUN DUN!

I mean, when you've been killing normal sized enemies for many levels, and then you suddenly encounter something that huge. The fact that it is a baby is both surreal and daunting, because you know it isn't evil, but you are going to have to try to destroy it anyway.

After that, well, survival horror couldn't scare me after that. I survived a giant baby... I can take anything else you throw at me.

That being said, at the time, I didn't realize that all the horror elements in the game were causing Nintendo to sweat (Sega was cool with the game as it was originally designed), so there were a few minor tweaks in North America (the blood became purple) and in Europe and Australia, well, the cuts were a lot more severe, with Australia not even allowing the words "Ate My Neighbors" to appear on the game.

But now there is a second chance for people around the world to experience this gem. It was released for the Wii's Virtual Console just before last Halloween, so a new generation of gamers can play this campy cult classic.

Tags: zombies ate my neighbors, maniac mansion, lucasarts, mars needs cheerleaders, seven meals for seven zombies, super nintendo, censorship, virtual console, nintendo wii, tremors, black lagoon, australia, jason, chucky, dracula, frankenstein

OK, this "rehab" thing is going too far

Chynna Phillips has checked herself into rehab.

For Anxiety.

You know, I didn't think that anxiety was something you went to rehab for.

And I am not saying that people shouldn't get help for anxiety, because I know from first hand experience that it is a debilitating thing. What I am questioning is calling that help rehab, because really, everything can't be called rehab. As a society, we have to draw a line somewhere, and I think this is one of those points.

Chynna is getting help for anxiety issues. That's a good thing. But it is not rehab (at least from my understanding).

Calling it rehab is trying to dodge the stigma that mental health treatment has by dodging what it really is, and while it might work in this case, it isn't helping anyone.

Instead of trying to cover it with euphemisms, I wish that her publicist had been honest and just said that she was getting the mental help that she needed.

Given what she has gone through recently with her step-sister's revelations about her father, I think it would be more than understandable that Chynna might need the aid of a trained professional to come to terms with it. And in calling it what it is, she could have helped so many other people.

But again, calling it rehab is sort of minimizing what is going on here.

Tags: chynna phillips, rehab, mackenzie phillips, mental health, anxiety

Express Checkout: Blow Out, Kevin Smith, Pattinson

- You know, for a second on the weekend, I felt bad for the women on the Slovakian Hockey Team at the Olympics after taking an 18-0 shellacking from the Canadians. And then I found out that the Slovakians piled 82 goals on the Bulgarians to qualify for the Olympics to begin with. Someone calculated that was a goal every 44 seconds. The thing that really makes that horrific from a karma standpoint was it was the closing game of a qualifying tournament, so there was a point where they could have stopped scoring and they still would have made it to the next stage. It makes me wonder what Bulgaria did to the coach of that team because that is just insane. I mean, I think that is worse than the infamous Georgia Tech-Cumberland State football game of 1916 (and 82 goals isn't even the biggest blowout in international hockey history).

- Kevin Smith was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight over the weekend because he was too big to fit in a single seat after trying to get a standby flight from the San Francisco area to Burbank. He had purchased two seats on the flight up there, and admitted that he is "way fat". Now, I'm a husky dude, I admit it, but I have to side with the airline here, as much as it pains me to do so. When I am not blogging and doing all the various other things I do in my life, I watch and read a lot of things about plane crashes. I mean, a lot, so I know a thing or two about them, and the operation of aircraft and regulations as well. From reading the stories from both Smith and Southwest Airlines perspectives, this is what I think happened. Kevin Smith boarded the plane as a standby passenger, he sits down and gets settled in. The pilots in the cockpit are doing their preflight check and knowing what was in the cargo area, they do their weight calculations (based on average weights per passenger), and they discover that they are over the carrying weight limit for that plane, and they then made the decision to kick Smith off because he was the sole standby passenger, and the airline then tried to get him off the plane delicately so the other people on the plane didn't know that there was a potential issue with the flight through another pretense (because they kept saying it was a safety issue). Smith has also heard speculation that someone near the flight had him pulled because they didn't like his movies or his attitude when he boarded the flight... which also seems possible. EDIT: I just got through listening to Smith's Smodcast, and he told a tale about the flight after the one he was kicked off of, and I have to say, I was wrong. He was very much slighted, and apparently he is not alone.

- I will just present this quote I found browsing Google News with one brief comment at the end. "In a new interview with Details, Robert Pattinson reveals that he loves his dog more than any living lady, and that he's not a big fan of vaginas." Yeah, is anyone really surprised by that last revelation... at all?

Tags: olympics, southwest airlines, kevin smith, details, canada, slovakia, bulgaria, women's hockey, preflight check, weight limits, google news, vendetta

Sunday Video: Operator

Now, I've never been a fan of sappy songs of adoration, nor the bitter breakup song where the singer/songwriter proceeds to rip their former partner a new one lyrically, but there is an interesting middle ground between those two extremes.

There is the breakup song where the person singing the song starts to get over the relationship/person in question while they are singing it.

Operator by Jim Croce is just such a song.

Not a complete breakthrough mind you, but it was a start of the narrator.

Here's Where the Story Ends by The Sundays also fits in the same motif as Operator.

Tags: operator, jim croce, breakup song, here's where the story ends, valentine's day

Week 40: Pageant of the Transmundane

A Minnesota farmer made a giant half-mile wide valentine for his wife... out of manure. His wife was quite taken with the romantic gesture.

But anyway...

This week's winning entry comes to us from Eclectorama.

In this case, it is the latest installment of what looks like a long line of posts recounting the tale of a Spock action figure and its interactions with the real world.

The ubiquity of Simpsons images and merchandise made find the appropriate image for this week a little easier as well.



Congrats Chunky B. Here is your web badge.



The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: pageant of the transmundane, spock, star trek, eclectorama, homer simpson, minnesota, chunky b, kansas, pittsburg

The Twilight Sequel I Might Actually Want To See

Now I've taken a few shots at Twilight over the past year, though granted, I didn't take a hit for the team like another blogger I know.

I just read that they may be making the third and fourth films back to back, and in all honesty, I sort of want to see the latter film come to fruition.

You see, a few months back I read a really crazy summary of Breaking Dawn and if this description of the novel is in any way accurate, and the adaptation was faithful, I think I would have to see it in the theater just for the sheer cringe factor alone. That synopsis reads like a good/bad grindhouse movie from the 1970's, and I would just have to see that to believe it.

I mean, this could be the Invasion of the Blood Farmers or The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman and as a connoisseur of pop culture, I have to support that.

So yes, I am actually in support of a sparkling vampire movie. Who'd have thunk it outside of the people who noticed I posted that link on Facebook a few months ago.

Tags: twilight, werewolf, chud, breaking dawn, grindhouse, facebook, meyer, back to back, eclipse, sparkly vampire, bloodsucker, invasion of the blood farmers

Midweek Video: David Lynch's A Goofy Movie

You all know that I love trailer remixes, and this is a really stylish one.

This one takes Disney's A Goofy Movie and cuts it as if it was a David Lynch movie (which the title of this post makes clear). It was done very well, and I could almost believe that the above cut of the film would actually work.

My warning to you: I would adjust the volume to a lower level, because there are some sounds which are very loud, and they are unpleasant.

Speaking of David Lynch, I would be remiss if I didn't also link to him discussing how he was originally offered the director's chair for Return of the Jedi. That is an entertaining anecdote.

Tags: david lynch, a goofy movie, disney, return of the jedi, george lucas, mashup, trailer recut

Another Disappointing Announcement

Every time I think Hollwood has reached its lowest point creatively, somehow it manages to whip out a shovel and dig a bit further down.

The reason I say that is I've just read a report that a reboot of Mr. and Mrs. Smith is in the works.

I will say that again. Someone thinks it is a good idea to reboot a movie that is less than 5 years old that is not based on intellectual property from another medium.

Seriously, there are literally thousands of screenplays written and pitches made a year, and yet, one of the ideas they are going to bite on is essentially a prequel without the major stars of the first movie branded as a reboot.

I even take issue with the term "reboot" in this case because it isn't like James Bond or even Spiderman where there is a canon of existing films that a new version of things can play against. There is one disappointingly so-so action movie out there and they want to replicate some of the success they had with it.

Is it just me or do they not realize that the thing that sold the movie to some theatergoers was the real life narrative of the Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston triangle?

Unless there was some kind of drama like that attached to the picture, well, I don't think it will have much success.

I also say that because the reason the producers want to make different casting choices is due to the costs of securing the previous cast. If money is an issue, do you think they are prepared to spend money in other areas? I have my doubts.

I really hope this project doesn't reach fruition because there are so many other things that I would love to see that money put towards in Hollywood.

Tags: mr and mrs. smith, angelina jolie, brad pitt, jennifer aniston, reboot, remake, prequel, new casting, drama, cheap

Evaluating Video Game and Movie Grading: Two Differing Schools of Thought

My criticisms of the Empire Magazine's 50 Worst Movies Ever list made me think about a few things over the weekend, and I reread an earlier post I did about game reviewing, and I think I've come up with a few new thoughts on the matter.

Now I don't really trust singular reviews of movies or video games, but I have always appreciated sites like Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes which provide an aggregate score based on a relatively large sample size, as that generally removes the effect of outliers and gives me a sense of how good a piece of media as judged by a wide variety of perspectives.

In looking at sites like those above, I've definitely noticed something interesting between the scores that movies get and the ones that video games receive.

With movies, even if the aggregate scores are low, there is still often something worth watching in the ones that have scores down into the lower end of the scale. They aren't fantastic efforts, but often times, there may be something redeeming in them that still makes them entertaining, and not in a cult sense. For the most part, they are judged based on story and character alone, and the technical aspects don't come up unless they are brilliant or noticeably awful.

If I am being honest, there are movies that I've watched on the Metacritic's 200 Lowest Scored movies list that I thought weren't bad. I mean, I have to admit that I've seen Biodome at least 10 times in my life and that I actually liked Half Baked, and I don't care that it has a bad overall score (and I will touch on that later).

Now contrast that with the scoring of games, and an entirely different pattern emerges.

Basically, if the title's aggregate score is below 60, well, then you are entering the territory of it being an unplayable game, something which either has really noticeable and crippling technical or design flaws, or lacks anything good or original in terms of gameplay, sound, graphics etc. Such scoring makes deciding which games are worth your time a lot easier than the comparable ratings for films because in most cases, a film with the same score is a much better product.

In fact, video game ratings have strong parallels to the academic system where there is a crisp demarcation between passing and failing, with a few outliers (in my opinion) here and there. You have your A through D graded games (100-60%) and then all those games that got an F (59% and lower). Some would argue that the standard should be 50%, but even in the low 60's, games are noticeably mediocre.

I took it upon myself to breakdown the ratings for the Playstation 2 games listed at Metacritic, because it is a relatively large sample size with over 1700 titles, and they are presented in such a way that it makes this analysis much easier.



It is a standard bell curve shifted over so that the majority of games listed fall within the "pass" side of things, which means that all other factors being equal, they are technically playable and conform to the standards of that console generation.

While video game scores may seem to be artificially high when compared with the scores given to other forms of media, every individual title has to overcome the additional hurdle that the technical side of things presents. Movies generally don't stop you from experiencing them if they have bad camera work or poor production values, which means that someone can make a movie that while horrific, it can be experienced in full by billions of people in theaters, with no problems.

That brings up another interesting point. I tried and failed to find a bell graph for movie ratings at Metacritic, even for a single year, but in the midst of that search, I did discover an interesting article on Gamasutra which introduced evidence that as game scores rise, so do revenues for individual titles at the higher end of the scale, and conversely, titles with poorer ratings tend to under perform greatly as well.

All things being equal, this is exactly the kind of thing you would expect, that quality would be rewarded. However, looking at the Metacritic/Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the movies that succeed and fail at the box office, an entirely different pattern is evident. We've all seen time and again, critically panned movies making enormous profits while critically praised movies are time and time again box office failures. The fact that this disparity even extends into the realm of DVD sales and rentals shows that it isn't an issue that involves people giving a bad movie a great opening weekend before the negative reviews come in and tank it. It seems that the majority of the movie going public just doesn't care if something received bad reviews or not, and I have to say, I am guilty of this too, so in essence, I am supporting bad cinema through my spending habits. But with games, I avoid poorly rated games like the plague. I've bought a few recently at the spur of the moment out of ignorance, but usually, I seek out quality work, and 95+ percent of my collection is in that range.

I think the scary thing about that Gamasutra article was the sales figures for Wii games. The fact that casual gamers are buying a lot of shovelware for the system (as shown through the better than average sales for games in the 50's and 60's scoring range) is a distressing trend, as it is telling developers that they don't have to try as hard to make quality products, and in the end, that is bad everyone who plays games and it does little to help interactive entertainment grow as an art form.

Tags: gamasutra, video games, playstation 2, playstation 3, xbox 360, half baked, biodome, pass/fail, ratings, score, metacritic, rotten tomatoes, empire magazine, 50 worst movies ever, shovelware, dvd sales, box office, quality sells, academic grading

Sunday Video: Beat It Cover by Pomplamoose

An interesting "built" cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It.

From the description of the video:

This cover is a VideoSong, a new medium with 2 rules:
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

I thought it worked out well.

Tags: beat it, michael jackson, pomplamoose, videosong, cover, indie, samples

Week 39: Pageant of the Transmundane

A man was arrested after trying to steal 75 bottles of body lotion into his pants. What his plans were at the time is unknown, but any time someone throws body lotion into their pants, bad things are going to happen.

This week's winning entry comes to us from The Zeray Gazette.

This is really messed up. It is a dance party for Predators. Not sexual predators mind you... actual predators, a gaggle of them, or war party. I don't know what they call a grouping.

Since this award used Homer Simpson as its basis and this week's winner has to do with Predators, I thought this image I found at The Silly Addiction was indeed the most appropriate.



Congrats to John.



The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Tags: homer simpson, pageant of the transmundane, predator, body lotion, zeray gazette

Empire Magazine's 50 Worst Movies Ever: A Questionable List?

I don't see eye to eye with the readers of Empire Magazine. You see, there was a poll over at their site, and from the gathered votes, a list of the 50 Worst Movies Ever. Their consensus opinion was that Batman and Robin was the worst movie ever.

Now, I am willing to concede that Batman and Robin is a very disappointing movie, and one that was clearly ill-conceived, but to call it the worst movie ever to me indicates a profound lack of perspective on the part of the readership of Empire Magazine, or rather the vocal voting segment which voted overwhelmingly for it as the worst movie ever (it got nearly 3 times as many votes as the second place entry on the list).

But the fact that Spiderman III was number 50 on the list really tells you exactly what kind of list we are dealing with here. As one astute commenter noted, eight of the films on the list received 3 star ratings from Empire, and 22 had 2 star ratings. That to me indicates that either Empire Magazine's rating standards are remarkably lax, or the people voting on the poll have don't really have a clue as to what really constitutes a good or bad movie objectively speaking.

The whole exercise reeks of fanboyism, because I notice that there are a lot of disappointing superhero movies on the list. Yes, there are bad superhero movies, but proportionally, the most recent efforts aren't the worst movies ever made.

And that is another thing: the list really skews towards movies from the last 15 years or so. Is that an indication that movies really are a lot worse than they used to be or that the audience that Empire is polling is somewhat ignorant of film in general.

Put it this way, I really dislike Battlefield Earth, but even I am willing to concede that it isn't even in the top 5 of the worst movies ever made. Don't get me wrong, there are some really appalling movies on the list, but overall, it is a really biased list, and not merely in a way that makes me say "I disagree with that selection or placement" but rather one that makes me say "that is just wrong," which is never a great place to start.

Part of me is reminded of every list of bad video games I've ever seen which inevitably ends with E.T. at number one. It is a predictable response that lacks any editorial flair, because I am willing to bet money that in most cases, the person making the list has never played that game. I mean, the above list shows the same lack of interest... they were all convenient choices.

Now I've made quite a few lists in my time for my blog, but I have never really made a worst-of list, because I know it is far more difficult thing to do than something that recounts the things that I've enjoyed. Nevertheless, I can certainly tell a good list from a bad one, and the Empire Magazine list is really bad and sort of joyless, especially compared with some of the other lists out there.

Tags: rotten tomatoes, empire magazine, worst movies ever, spiderman 3, e.t., atari, batman and robin, showgirls, battlefield earth, superhero movies, marvel

Midweek "Video": Red Apple Falls

While technically this is a video, it is one of those audio vids that people put up with the album cover, which is something I've tried to avoid posting if I could. But I've loved this song for so long and I just wanted to post it.

I mean, I bought this album just for this song. Bill Callahan and Drag City for the win.

And before anyone asks, no I am not depressed.

Tags: bill callahan, drag city, red apple falls, smog, alt country

Celebrity Retirement: Too Much Talk, Not Enough Action

You know what I am sick of reading stories about? I am sick of reading about celebrities who claim they are retiring.

I mean, if it was a rare occurrence, I could perhaps see it being newsworthy when the subject came up, but it seems like some performer is always coming out and saying that they are quitting the business.

For instance, just today, I read that Evangeline Lilly is reportedly considering retiring to do aid work in Rwanda.

If she actually does this, I will write a very positive entry about her. I have grave doubts that she will actually do that however. It just seems like something that is calculatingly said to make her look really good... like she is going to give up this ephemeral fame thing and do something tangible to help real people with problems.

And again, I hope she makes me eat those words.

My question is, how many of these people who announce that they are done acting or singing actually follow through with that claim for any substantial length of time? I would be willing to bet it was less than 10 percent. I'm not talking about those people who claim they want to take a bit of time off either. I have no quarrel with them. I just mean the people who say they are retiring.

The bottom line is, if you are intent on leaving the entertainment business, just do it. Don't announce in an interview that you are going to do it. Just do it. If you want to get out of the limelight, or you think you've accomplished enough, you can walk away.

I mean, think about Joe Pesci. He retired, and didn't make a big deal out of it... and when he finally came back to do another role (for Robert De Niro), people talked about it. He left the industry on his terms and came back on his terms.

I am also reminded of Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson retiring and sticking with it (thanks to Jeremy Barker from Popped Culture for uncovering this recent interview).

Basically, every time a celebrity says they are thinking about retiring I remember something that used to happen at the place I used to blog at so many years ago. It was a blogging network, and at times people would get fed up or bored and they would make a huge production about how they were leaving and deleting their blog. What they were really looking for was attention or pleas for them not to leave, but it got to the point where people caught on to that game and pretty much ignored them (because they never really left... even if they deleted their blog, they just came back and started another one).

Do you know what I did when I left? I didn't do or say a thing. I just left and started this blog, so in my own microcelebrity, I still practice what I preach.

Tags: microcelebrity, retiring, evangeline lilly, lost, rwanda, joe pesci, bill watterson, jeremy barker, popped culture, calvin and hobbes, blogging, robert de niro

Express Checkout: Jersey Shore, Razzies, Milestone

- Why, oh why was Jersey Shore's Snooki at The Grammys. Seriously, I didn't know she was in the music industry or had done anything of note aside from looking like an idiot and getting hit in the jaw. To paraphrase Louis C.K. from his Shameless special, every time one of these *ahem* personalities comes up, I have to stop what I am doing because I need my whole body to fucking hate that person with, because now I have to know that they exist. They are like Freddy Krueger, if you just turn your back on them, they will disappear. So for the sake of humanity, please, please, please, turn away from this trainwreck... because you and I both know that there will be another one along shortly.

- Who here is surprised that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was one of two films nominated for the most Razzies this year (the other film is Land of the Lost, by the way). And how many of you had a feeling that it have that lovely distinction around its opening weekend? I am sort of laughing now because when I wrote that post a few weeks ago about my hypothetical Razzie speech, I had no idea that a lot of the names I would mentioned would indeed be nominated this year. I am surprised Uwe Boll escaped a nomination for worst picture of the decade dishonors truth be told.

- Over the weekend, a conversation in an recent entry to this blog, the one about Jay Leno's role in the late night mess shattered my previous blog record for comments. So my criticism of Jodie Foster's take on Sin City has been quite handily usurped. The fact that it was mostly one person counter-commenting on the Jay Leno entry makes that feat even more astonishing. I don't think that conversation is going to get any longer, but you never know. These things do tend to take on a life of their own.

Tags: jersey shore, snooki, grammys, louis c.k., freddy krueger, transformers, revenge of the fallen, land of the lost, razzies, uwe boll, jay leno, milestone, jodie foster, sin city