My New Experiment: A Novel Told in Blog Form
Posted on
Thursday, January 31, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
The time has come to unveil something I've been working on for a few months. Those who have followed my writing over the years may know that I've written a novel and have been trying to get it published, without much success. As a means to promote myself as a fiction author as opposed to some loudmouth blogging asshole, I've decided to publish a novel on the web, using the blog format. That novel's first chapter and introduction have been posted at my new novel blog, Under the Amoral Bridge.
This blog will still be updated, with as much regularity as it has been in the past. That means there will be more sporadic posts, depending on what I've got my dander up about on a particular day. I will keep this blog updated on the additions to the novel. This most likely will mean that The Stalin Monologues won't be updated with a new episode anytime soon, but since it hasn't been updated in a while anyway, that won't be much of a change. The plan is to update with a new chapter every two weeks, with some supplemental material released in the off weeks.
The novel is a cyberpunk science-fiction novel, but it isn't the novel I've been trying to get published. The introduction will explain more fully, but Bridge is a prequel novel in the same setting as the unpublished novel. Both are part of a planned series of sci-fi novels. Keep checking back here for new opinion pieces from me, and read my novel. I welcome comments on all my work, from all five of you that regularly read it.
For those who do regularly read my work, thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy it.
This blog will still be updated, with as much regularity as it has been in the past. That means there will be more sporadic posts, depending on what I've got my dander up about on a particular day. I will keep this blog updated on the additions to the novel. This most likely will mean that The Stalin Monologues won't be updated with a new episode anytime soon, but since it hasn't been updated in a while anyway, that won't be much of a change. The plan is to update with a new chapter every two weeks, with some supplemental material released in the off weeks.
The novel is a cyberpunk science-fiction novel, but it isn't the novel I've been trying to get published. The introduction will explain more fully, but Bridge is a prequel novel in the same setting as the unpublished novel. Both are part of a planned series of sci-fi novels. Keep checking back here for new opinion pieces from me, and read my novel. I welcome comments on all my work, from all five of you that regularly read it.
For those who do regularly read my work, thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy it.
Labels: Cyberpunk, Entertainment, Literature, Science-Fiction
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:33 AM
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A Field of OMG!!!! Cloverfield (Movie) Review
Posted on
Sunday, January 20, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
Cloverfield is not a film. Sure, it's being shown in a theater, and you have to pay movie prices for it. It's filmed like a movie, and you can even get popcorn. But it's not a film. Cloverfield is an experience, a theme-park ride on the big-screen and I loved just about every minute of it.
First off, let's dispense with the caveats. This is not something one should expect to watch for plot, character development or any of the things one normally sees in a movie. The plot is paper-thin. J.J. Abrams, the producer, describes the movie as "Godzilla meets the Blair Witch Project" and it is vital that this is taken into account when experiencing the movie. I'm not spoiling anything by explaining that the plot is as simple as simple can be. Gigantic, unexplained monster beats the ever-living monkey fuck out of New York. Said city-beating is filmed by a bunch of impossibly beautiful, extremely lucky twenty-somethings with questionable logical faculties and a handheld camera. That's it. There's nothing more to it. There are no grandiose explanations about the origins of the monster, no Braveheart-esque jingoist proclamations exhorting hordes of red-shirts to victory, just lots of "OMFGIT'SCOMINGRIGHTTOWARDSUS" broken up by lots of "BOOMSMASHRAAARRRRGURGLESQUISH." There will likely be cult movements built up around trying to explain all the unexplained things in the film, but none of it will be necessary.
Cloverfield isn't about story. It's about the visceral reactions to impossible situations. The audience is invited to experience insanity alongside the characters by way of the very immediate stylistic viewpoint of the handheld camera. The audience almost becomes a fifth main character, so immersive is the atmosphere afforded by this choice of cinematography. That's why I term the movie a theme-park ride. It's not a movie to be analyzed, it's a movie to be experienced. Were this movie filmed any other way, it'd fall flat on its face. The characters are either irritating, such as the camera man, Hud, or at best, archetypal automatons in service of limited motivations. They could be any man or woman on the street fleeing from a gigantic monster eating the city. Filmed in typical style, they just wouldn't be that interesting. But in handycam world, the audience is running right alongside them, ducking their heads as tank shells and tracer fire goes overhead. It's one of the few movies that actually made me move around in my seat, straining to find a better angle to see the monster, or reacting to something that happened to the side of the camera. The digital work done on the movie's effects is something extraordinary, probably aided by the low-quality of the handheld camera. Everything meshed seamlessly, from ruined buildings in New York to giant monster standing directly over the cameraman.
The movie will sadly lose something significant in the translation to DVD. The combination of an excellent surround sound design and the gigantic film screen make the movie immersive. On a smaller television screen, even with the best surround sound system, I think the movie will lose a huge amount of impact. In that sense, it fails as a movie. But it is worth watching in the theater. Just don't expect loose narrative ends to be tied up, or to have any idea of what exactly happened once it's over. Just sit back and soak in the atmosphere, let yourself react on instinct instead of thinking on it too much, just like you would on a rollercoaster.
I'd give the movie 3.5 stars out of 4, but only if viewed in the theater. Outside of that venue, it would probably rate 3 stars. It's still an impressive achievement, especially the CGI/real person mesh and sound design, but lacking the in-your-face immersion of the big screen and being thin on narrative.
First off, let's dispense with the caveats. This is not something one should expect to watch for plot, character development or any of the things one normally sees in a movie. The plot is paper-thin. J.J. Abrams, the producer, describes the movie as "Godzilla meets the Blair Witch Project" and it is vital that this is taken into account when experiencing the movie. I'm not spoiling anything by explaining that the plot is as simple as simple can be. Gigantic, unexplained monster beats the ever-living monkey fuck out of New York. Said city-beating is filmed by a bunch of impossibly beautiful, extremely lucky twenty-somethings with questionable logical faculties and a handheld camera. That's it. There's nothing more to it. There are no grandiose explanations about the origins of the monster, no Braveheart-esque jingoist proclamations exhorting hordes of red-shirts to victory, just lots of "OMFGIT'SCOMINGRIGHTTOWARDSUS" broken up by lots of "BOOMSMASHRAAARRRRGURGLESQUISH." There will likely be cult movements built up around trying to explain all the unexplained things in the film, but none of it will be necessary.
Cloverfield isn't about story. It's about the visceral reactions to impossible situations. The audience is invited to experience insanity alongside the characters by way of the very immediate stylistic viewpoint of the handheld camera. The audience almost becomes a fifth main character, so immersive is the atmosphere afforded by this choice of cinematography. That's why I term the movie a theme-park ride. It's not a movie to be analyzed, it's a movie to be experienced. Were this movie filmed any other way, it'd fall flat on its face. The characters are either irritating, such as the camera man, Hud, or at best, archetypal automatons in service of limited motivations. They could be any man or woman on the street fleeing from a gigantic monster eating the city. Filmed in typical style, they just wouldn't be that interesting. But in handycam world, the audience is running right alongside them, ducking their heads as tank shells and tracer fire goes overhead. It's one of the few movies that actually made me move around in my seat, straining to find a better angle to see the monster, or reacting to something that happened to the side of the camera. The digital work done on the movie's effects is something extraordinary, probably aided by the low-quality of the handheld camera. Everything meshed seamlessly, from ruined buildings in New York to giant monster standing directly over the cameraman.
The movie will sadly lose something significant in the translation to DVD. The combination of an excellent surround sound design and the gigantic film screen make the movie immersive. On a smaller television screen, even with the best surround sound system, I think the movie will lose a huge amount of impact. In that sense, it fails as a movie. But it is worth watching in the theater. Just don't expect loose narrative ends to be tied up, or to have any idea of what exactly happened once it's over. Just sit back and soak in the atmosphere, let yourself react on instinct instead of thinking on it too much, just like you would on a rollercoaster.
I'd give the movie 3.5 stars out of 4, but only if viewed in the theater. Outside of that venue, it would probably rate 3 stars. It's still an impressive achievement, especially the CGI/real person mesh and sound design, but lacking the in-your-face immersion of the big screen and being thin on narrative.
Labels: Movies
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:39 AM
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Beautiful Puzzles: Metroid Prime Corruption (Wii) Review
Posted on
Friday, January 18, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
Having never played the Metroid Prime series on the GameCube, or any Metroid games at all, I came into Metroid Prime Corruption for the Nintendo Wii with a completely blank slate. The only preconceived notions I had going in were that the game was a pretty, neon-infested first-person shooter sequel which had garnered rave reviews in previous incarnations. Those notions were somewhat incorrect. While the game appears on the surface to be a first-person shooter, it is really much more.
At heart, Corruption is a puzzle game, masquerading as an action-adventure shooter. The game does look and play like a shooter, but the shooting is secondary to the real fun in the game, the various puzzles embedded into the landscape surrounding the main character. Dressed up by a story involving an alien race called space pirates and their attacks on the Galactic Federation, the story is a thin context for the conflict that drives the player forward. While the story is good, it's certainly not deep, reminiscent of many anime movies. There are parts of the story that do not resolve to any coherent conclusion such as the origin of Dark Samus, the player's evil counterpart, but overall the story is satisfactory. The voice acting is solid throughout, and the visual effects and cutscenes are well-done. The game itself is gorgeous, with a distinctive style that leans heavily on the neon. It is easily on par with the best-looking games on the system, like Zelda: Twilight Princess.
The gameplay itself is spectacular. As I mentioned above, the shooting is secondary to the main gameplay element. Using the Wii Remote as an aiming device, the aiming is precise and can be augmented with a target lock (though the player must still aim at the enemies). Beyond the aiming, there isn't a lot of "waggle" gameplay. The only other use of the motion controls is the use of the electro-grapple, which uses the nunchuk to control an electromagnetic whip, but it's used well. The game's puzzles are fantastic. Most are decipherable with the visual context given, but there were a number of puzzles that caused me to go to Gamefaqs to solve. The puzzles are fun, though I wonder about a world that builds structures that require a person to roll themselves into an armored spheroid in order to power gigantic machines. In the context of the game, it all makes a weird sort of sense, and the armorball gameplay is an interesting mechanic, though I certainly prefer the upright gameplay over the marble madness.
The exclusion of an online multiplayer function, which had been rumored as a feature months before release, is a damn shame. The dynamics of the electro-grapple and armor ball would likely make for some incredibly interesting multiplayer combinations, both in team-based and deathmatch-style games. Hopefully the design team will consider that and come back with a less expensive online-only Metroid game in the future (but I won't hold my breath for that). As it is, the game has between 15-20 hours of gameplay and a low replay value. Finishing the main story opens up a "Hypermode" difficulty, giving those who enjoy replaying the same game on a higher difficulty some replay value.
Overall, the game serves as a great reason to own a Wii. While certainly not a perfect game, Corruption proves that the system can combine gorgeous graphics with solid gameplay and subtle yet appropriate uses of the motion controls. I would rate the game an 8.5 out of 10, certainly worth a purchase or a very long rental.
At heart, Corruption is a puzzle game, masquerading as an action-adventure shooter. The game does look and play like a shooter, but the shooting is secondary to the real fun in the game, the various puzzles embedded into the landscape surrounding the main character. Dressed up by a story involving an alien race called space pirates and their attacks on the Galactic Federation, the story is a thin context for the conflict that drives the player forward. While the story is good, it's certainly not deep, reminiscent of many anime movies. There are parts of the story that do not resolve to any coherent conclusion such as the origin of Dark Samus, the player's evil counterpart, but overall the story is satisfactory. The voice acting is solid throughout, and the visual effects and cutscenes are well-done. The game itself is gorgeous, with a distinctive style that leans heavily on the neon. It is easily on par with the best-looking games on the system, like Zelda: Twilight Princess.
The gameplay itself is spectacular. As I mentioned above, the shooting is secondary to the main gameplay element. Using the Wii Remote as an aiming device, the aiming is precise and can be augmented with a target lock (though the player must still aim at the enemies). Beyond the aiming, there isn't a lot of "waggle" gameplay. The only other use of the motion controls is the use of the electro-grapple, which uses the nunchuk to control an electromagnetic whip, but it's used well. The game's puzzles are fantastic. Most are decipherable with the visual context given, but there were a number of puzzles that caused me to go to Gamefaqs to solve. The puzzles are fun, though I wonder about a world that builds structures that require a person to roll themselves into an armored spheroid in order to power gigantic machines. In the context of the game, it all makes a weird sort of sense, and the armorball gameplay is an interesting mechanic, though I certainly prefer the upright gameplay over the marble madness.
The exclusion of an online multiplayer function, which had been rumored as a feature months before release, is a damn shame. The dynamics of the electro-grapple and armor ball would likely make for some incredibly interesting multiplayer combinations, both in team-based and deathmatch-style games. Hopefully the design team will consider that and come back with a less expensive online-only Metroid game in the future (but I won't hold my breath for that). As it is, the game has between 15-20 hours of gameplay and a low replay value. Finishing the main story opens up a "Hypermode" difficulty, giving those who enjoy replaying the same game on a higher difficulty some replay value.
Overall, the game serves as a great reason to own a Wii. While certainly not a perfect game, Corruption proves that the system can combine gorgeous graphics with solid gameplay and subtle yet appropriate uses of the motion controls. I would rate the game an 8.5 out of 10, certainly worth a purchase or a very long rental.
Labels: Nintendo, Video Games, Wii
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 8:51 AM
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The Surge of Success! Or Yet Another Carefully Crafted Iraq Lie
Posted on
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
We've been told for over a year now that the surge of troops would be a rousing success. That in a year's time, the extra bodes thrown at the problem of Iraq would cut down on the violence, giving the Iraqi government time to make political headway on the most pressing issues the country faces. Those issues include things like regular electricity, potable running water and really, any of the things you expect a government to be able to provide. Thankfully, the violence in Iraq HAS gone down. Unfortunately, the Iraqi government's various ethnic and sectarian factions have done absolutely nothing in the way of providing anything close to a working government. Yet, despite that lack of important political progress, advocates for the surge have all been gleeful because the violence is down. The surge has worked! Success. The only problem with that success is that it's a carefully constructed lie.
Yes, it is true that the violence has gone down in Iraq. That's something I should be ecstatic about, but I can't help but feel sickened by the flim-flam with which such a positive result was achieved. In order to more effectively fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group that did not exist prior to our invasion, by the way, the military began supplying Sunni insurgents with weapons and cash. That's right, those same Sunni insurgents who used to blow up American convoys with IED's are now aiding the American occupation in rooting out Al-Qaeda. This tactic is incredibly brilliant, in that the best way to actually defeat a guerrilla insurgency is to involve them in the positive future of their country. Defeating a bunch of foreign fighters intent on sowing sectarian discord in Iraq is most certainly something that all Iraqis, Sunni or Shia should be cheering.
But from the American perspective, it should be seen with the proper context. First, the Sunni insurgents are terrorists, at least in the eyes of the administration. So that administration, by allowing payments to the Sunni insurgents have now "negotiated with terrorists," which is something they claimed they would not do. This shows how hypocritical the administration is, but at least they finally acknowledged that just being bull-headed "kill 'em all" psychopaths was not a tenable long-term solution. This deal with the Sunnis also has nothing whatsoever to do with the tactic of putting more troops in country. Whether you had 100,000 or 100 troops in Iraq, this tactic would have likely born fruit. The Sunni insurgency's main beef has always been that America is an occupying force. If they don't want Americans occupying their country, they won't want Saudi or Jordanian or Lebanese terrorists doing the same thing, especially when those terrorists start bombing centuries-old mosques. Their other aim has been to ensure that the newly-empowered Shia majority, with the aid of the U.S. military, is attempting to oppress them in the same way their minority oppressed the Shia under Saddam Hussein's reign. Attempts at communication, even funding the Sunni militias, make them feel a part of the process instead of an oppressed minority.
But the real kicker to the entire "surge is succeeding" lie is that it's an accurate lie. The violence has gone down, but it isn't just because we tossed 20,000 more troops into the mix. The Sunni insurgency's main weapon has been the IED, the improvised explosive device, otherwise known in not-doublespeak as the roadside bomb. Now that the Sunni insurgency isn't targeting Americans and Shia anymore, focusing instead on Al-Qaeda in Iraq, those IED's aren't being seen as much. Isn't that a coincidence? No, but you won't hear anything about that particular connection from the proponents of the surge. All you will hear is "THE SURGE HAS WORKED!!!!" Never mind that it was a political solution and not a military one that caused much of the drop in violence. It's all about the military.
Don't believe it. The military has done an impossible job as best they can, but Iraq is the kind of problem that can never be solved with purely military solutions. Insurgencies do not get defeated by anything less than sustained genocidal insanity, something I hope our government doesn't consider a viable final solution. The violence has dropped, because we bought off some of the insurgents. Saying it as anything else is a flim-flam job meant to win elections.
Yes, it is true that the violence has gone down in Iraq. That's something I should be ecstatic about, but I can't help but feel sickened by the flim-flam with which such a positive result was achieved. In order to more effectively fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group that did not exist prior to our invasion, by the way, the military began supplying Sunni insurgents with weapons and cash. That's right, those same Sunni insurgents who used to blow up American convoys with IED's are now aiding the American occupation in rooting out Al-Qaeda. This tactic is incredibly brilliant, in that the best way to actually defeat a guerrilla insurgency is to involve them in the positive future of their country. Defeating a bunch of foreign fighters intent on sowing sectarian discord in Iraq is most certainly something that all Iraqis, Sunni or Shia should be cheering.
But from the American perspective, it should be seen with the proper context. First, the Sunni insurgents are terrorists, at least in the eyes of the administration. So that administration, by allowing payments to the Sunni insurgents have now "negotiated with terrorists," which is something they claimed they would not do. This shows how hypocritical the administration is, but at least they finally acknowledged that just being bull-headed "kill 'em all" psychopaths was not a tenable long-term solution. This deal with the Sunnis also has nothing whatsoever to do with the tactic of putting more troops in country. Whether you had 100,000 or 100 troops in Iraq, this tactic would have likely born fruit. The Sunni insurgency's main beef has always been that America is an occupying force. If they don't want Americans occupying their country, they won't want Saudi or Jordanian or Lebanese terrorists doing the same thing, especially when those terrorists start bombing centuries-old mosques. Their other aim has been to ensure that the newly-empowered Shia majority, with the aid of the U.S. military, is attempting to oppress them in the same way their minority oppressed the Shia under Saddam Hussein's reign. Attempts at communication, even funding the Sunni militias, make them feel a part of the process instead of an oppressed minority.
But the real kicker to the entire "surge is succeeding" lie is that it's an accurate lie. The violence has gone down, but it isn't just because we tossed 20,000 more troops into the mix. The Sunni insurgency's main weapon has been the IED, the improvised explosive device, otherwise known in not-doublespeak as the roadside bomb. Now that the Sunni insurgency isn't targeting Americans and Shia anymore, focusing instead on Al-Qaeda in Iraq, those IED's aren't being seen as much. Isn't that a coincidence? No, but you won't hear anything about that particular connection from the proponents of the surge. All you will hear is "THE SURGE HAS WORKED!!!!" Never mind that it was a political solution and not a military one that caused much of the drop in violence. It's all about the military.
Don't believe it. The military has done an impossible job as best they can, but Iraq is the kind of problem that can never be solved with purely military solutions. Insurgencies do not get defeated by anything less than sustained genocidal insanity, something I hope our government doesn't consider a viable final solution. The violence has dropped, because we bought off some of the insurgents. Saying it as anything else is a flim-flam job meant to win elections.
Labels: Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, Fascism, Government Corruption, Iraq, Politics, Presidential Campaign 2008
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 3:24 PM
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