big book of fun

Saturday, October 01, 2005

I'm a Schizo and So Am I

As you can probably tell, I've been amazingly inactive on this blog for a while. I've been cajoled into creating a MySpace account, and I've been blogging over there. So for those of you who aren't comment spammers that have actually been semi-interested in my musings, you can read all about my latest exploits at MySpace, the Craigslist of blogging.

This doesn't mean necessarily goodbye to the Big Book of Fun though. Whenever I think of something that fits into this particular blog better, I won't just sing it, I'll bring it. Da Noize AND Da Funk.

Wow, if there was ever a way to prove that one has reached the pinnacle of whiteness when typing something, that last sentence pretty much proved it without a shadow of a doubt. Meh.


Friday, August 12, 2005

America Needs More Cowbell in 2008

I have no idea whether this is a hoax or not, but apparently Christopher Walken is throwing his hat into the ring for the 2008 presidential election. Words escape me. I assume he's running as a Democrat (although there is no indication on the site what party he is affiliated with), but I'd like to see him run as an independent, just to see how he would do.

President Walken...wow. I'd love to see Kim Jong Il try to flip this guy shit, then watch Walken snap and get medieval on his ass. "Don't fear the reaper, Kim baby!"
























Hat tip: Impacted Wisdom Truth

UPDATE (8/14): Dammit! Just verified it is indeed a hoax perpetrated by those Genmay rapscallions. I was really looking forward to his State of the Union address too.

OMG WW2!!1

Found on Strategypage: here's a RTS version of World War II. I fully expect our history books to be written this way in about five years.

OMG enjoyz L0L ^___^

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Solidarity My Union Brethren!...or not...

The National Executive Committe of the Screen Actors Guild has rejected the contract the members of SAG approved with the videogame industry regarding wage increases and benefits. For those not in the know, SAG was planning on striking over the fact that VO actors in videogames don't get residuals of the games they appear on. The union didn't get the 60% "Yes" votes it needed to strike, so they bargained and came up with a proposal that everyone seemed onboard with...except for a small faction of powerful, money-hungry motherfuckers.

As one of those people who on the rare occasion provides voices to characters in videogames, I'm appalled at the complete lack of forethought and general intelligence of my 'colleagues' who are supposed to care about making sure people like me are getting work, but have now effectively frozen us out of the market. Who in gods name is going to want to hire a SAG actor now that we've shown we're not capable of honoring an gentleman's agreement. All the VO gigs will go to AFTRA folks now - too bad I couldn't afford to join them too, especially in the light that as a voiceactor, I must be rolling in the dough with the buckets of money being poured on me for all of my work...oh yeah, that's right. I'm not getting any work anymore!

Thanks, you goddamn asshats. Good to see my dues aren't going to waste.

UPDATE: An interesting letter from someone who feels my pain. :)

UPDATEY-UPDATE: It's up for a revote! I filled out my ballot...gee, guess what I voted.

UPPITY-UPDATEY-OOH! (Aug 11): Balance to the cosmos has been restored as my fellow actors have pwn3d the jackals that feed off our hard work by voting in favor of the new interactive agreement 81% to 19%. Eat it, you bastards.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Videogame Cliches

This is an interesting read by Sam Hughes. Think back to pretty much every videogame you played growing up as a kid, or even nowadays and see if this article strikes a chord of familiarity within you.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Star Wars: Revenge of the Theater Nachos

Saw SW:ROTS this afternoon. I'm not sure exactly what to think. It may require a second viewing before I can determine how I feel about it. I can say with some certainty that the action was better than Ep 1's and the acting was better than Ep 2's. Sith was hard to watch because it's one of those movies that we ALL know how it's going to end (e.g. Titanic), but at the same time, it's painful to watch the events unfold and not be able to do anything about it. Anyways, getting to the point. Without spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it (OMG ANKAIN IS TEH VADAR!!1one), I think I've figured out what's been bothering me about all of the prequels.

  • In the original trilogy, we're shown that Darth Vader is the second-most, if not the most badass individual in the galaxy. A brilliant warrior, tactician, and all-around sumbitch. Efficient in his ways, he uses any and all methods to dispose of his enemies, and he does so quickly and ruthlessly. He's the guy you love to hate because his actions and presence demand it. The new trilogy, however, establishes Anakin Skywalker as a hot-headed, whiny, naïve wunderkind who's been told from day one that he's 'the chosen one'. I don't know whether to fault Lucas's writing or Jake Lloyd/Hayden Christensen's acting "abilities", but Anakin's absolute lack of charisma and non-existent likeability as a character completely undermines any chance we have as an audience to establish any rapport or kinship with him. By the time Anakin's turn to the Dark Side finally happens, nobody cares because his personality hasn't changed an iota since we first saw him as that talented little boy with the high midichlorian count in The Phantom Menace. I can't figure out for the life of me why Padme hooked up with such a pissant in the first place!
    We eventually find out what drives him to follow the dark path, but who can tell when his journey actually becomes irreversible since he's still the same dork he's always been. The moment of Anakin's Faustian bargain with Palpatine is so sudden, it's laughable. The proverbial "light-switch" flick from good to evil. Immediately afterwards, Anakin goes off to do unspeakable horrors as if he'd been doing it all his life, Jedi training be damned. Yeah it was foreshadowed by his slaughter of the Sand People in Clones, but c'mon. He hasn't changed one bit since then? Seriously?? And don't give me that crap about Palpatine using mind tricks to subvert him. Jedi training should shield Anakin from Palpatine's sleight of mind stuff, especially if he's as powerful as we are led to believe.
    A likeable Anakin would have made the turn so much more poignant, but alas, Lucas decided to make him the stereotypical brainless jock with a million-dollar arm and the 10-cent head - talented as all hell, but without a shred of common sense or character depth. The most powerful Force-user in the galaxy has been reduced to Ryan Leaf, and it sucks. Oh well, not everyone can be Han Solo.
  • The underlying political ideology behind Lucas' portrayal of good and evil. The Jedi, as long as we've known them (at least until the new trilogy), have been understanding, kind, and keepers of truth and wisdom (read: liberals). The Sith have been malevolent, greedy, and have raging hard-ons for power (read: conservatives). It may have been portrayed more subtly in the previous two films of the prequels, but in ROTS Lucas telegraphs his political leanings like he's the Michael Moore of Sci-Fi. Hmm...the Old Republic Jedi are a group of do-gooders who have the audacity to take on a sneaky, underhanded politician and get pwn3d in the process. Sounds like our last election, ne? Well, no shit. Some other particularly ham-handed sequences:

    * Obi-Wan: "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes." (In context, it's meant to be a zing to the neocon-esque Sith, but isn't that ironically an absolute statement in itself? Where's the Yuuzhan Vong when you need to lay down a reality-check bitchslap?)
    * Anakin 'Dubya' Skywalker: "If you're not with me, you're my enemy!" (Wow that sounds soooo familiar...)
    * The Emperor: "We shall change into the first Galactic Empire for a safe and secure society." followed by Amidala's "This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." Hmm...basically a variation of the Bush Administration's power grab through the Iraq War meme and the subsequent Patriot Act.
    *I'd say the Jedi Council was supposed to be the UN, but the Jedi actually do something other than sit around drinking champagne from the shoes of French hookers while ignoring the children being used as sex slaves and the genocide of black Muslims occurring under their watch. Maybe the Jedi are the idealized UN or something.

    Meh. I'm no Republican (especially with the direction they're headed right now), but those were painful to watch. A good filmmaker would have displayed his inclinations with a subtle touch, but no, Lucas wants to drive his point home with a sledgehammer because, you know, people are dumb and won't catch it unless you wink at the camera. It's his film so that's his perogative, and I'm sure plenty of people will eat it up with a lightsaber, but I'd prefer a little escapism with my cheesy space opera. If I wanted an allegory of today's political scene, I'd watch Team America or something.

  • The prequel Jedi (save Obi-Wan) are the most bland, passionless, and emotionally-detached group of people I've ever seen. It's like a Tax Auditor convention. The Sith, on the other hand are ruled by love, passion, and a desire for stability and order (albeit in the worst ways possible). Now I don't know about you, but I'd prefer gettin' some sweet lovin' now and then to traveling constantly to god-knows-where to solve a dispute, then go sit in a room (with a hell of a nice view!) full of stuffed-shirts when it's all said and done. Do the Jedi ever party? I hated them almost as much as I hated the Sith just because they were so goddamn boring. I wonder if they need to have a supermajority vote to allow someone to go take a shit.
The weirdest thing is that the person with the most foresight in the movie is Palpatine. When he offhandedly mentions to Anakin that in order to become truly great, one must open themselves to all aspects of the Force, that was truly prescient. Of course, the purpose of that was just to lure Anakin to the Dark Side, but that's exactly what happens with Luke Skywalker. By the end of Jedi , Luke is a staunch believer in justice and goodness (Light attributes), but tempered with the unshakeable love and emotional bonds he has for his friends and family (Dark attributes) - the embodiment of Palpatine's suggestion. I'd like to think that was Lucas' intent from the beginning, but somehow I doubt it. Knowing him, he'll eventually change Luke into a prequel Jedi using his "Greedo shot first!" editing bullshit in his next set of Star Wars original trilogy re-re-re-revisions.

Sorry that was so long - I guess this movie was good after all since it prompted me to write all this crap. Even with all the cheese, obviousness, and mediocre acting, it was still worth watching at least once, particularly for the fanboy in all of us.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

The Dark Blog of the Sith

I suppose it had to happen. Apparently Darth Vader, obviously preparing for his grand appearance in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, has his own blog. And like most blogs out there, it's a snapshot into the mind of the writer - in this particular case, an unholy hybrid of man, machine, and conduit of The Force. A snippet:

"You believe the new probe droids will be effective, then, my master?"

"I am not concerned with droids," he replied. "Rather, I have foreseen these events. The strings of the Force grow taut, and soon we shall play a tune upon them, Lord Vader. It will be a dirge for the rebellion that will initiate the second age of this New Order."

Man, that guy loves the sound of his own voice! Luckily no one can see me roll my eyes behind this masque.


Heh.

Monday, May 09, 2005

NERDS! NERDS!! NERDS!!

This is perhaps the geekiest, nerdiest thing I've ever read anywhere. Is it wrong that I know what the majority of these people are talking about? Be warned, the thread in that link is quite long and will cause immense, irreversible penis shrinkage.