Update
As a digression from my posting of random crap from the far reaches of the internet, I thought I'd post an update on things currently happening in my life.
- I'll be spending the Xmas/New Year period up North, firstly in Gisborne staying with my parents and going to Rhythm and Vines, then up to Auckland where I'll hopefully see Metronomy early in January, followed by the Arctic Monkeys solo show and then the Big Day Out. Later, I'll return to Auckland for NIN in February. This means that over the next couple of months, I will see:
Franz Ferdinand
The Kooks
Public Enemy
Cut Copy
Ladyhawke
Late of the Pier
Digitalism
Arctic Monkeys (twice!)
The Prodigy
Sneaky Sound System
Pendulum
TV On the Radio
Simian Mobile Disco
The Ting Tings
Hot Chip
Headless Chickens
Mint Chicks
Nine Inch Nails
And, hopefully, Morrissey (who still hasn't announced dates, GRR!)
Any of which I'd happily pay to see individually. There are a shitload more that I'm also keen to see. I could bemoan the fact that I don't get to see Leonard Cohen or The Who but people would probably kick me for being a whiny bitch.
It's not humanly possible to be as excited as I ought to be. But this is going to be an overwhelming new year. :D
- Just following the BDO I'll be attending the annual NZLP Summer School, which will basically consist of us sitting around and trying to figure out how you, the general public, could be so goddamn stupid.
I'm kidding. Mostly. ;P
- I'll then be coming back, working for a few more weeks, then starting study at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (aka MAINZ) towards a Certificate in Audio Engineering, with a view to a Diploma. Once I've done that I might travel a bit, do some work, get some money, and eventually go back to Uni and finish my Music degree (and perhaps pick up another Major in Anthropology if I'm still feeling so inclined, but hell, that's ages away).
- I'm singing and playing guitar and occasionally fumbling about on keys for a Joy Division cover band. I can't express how awesome it is to be actually doing something musically productive again. If I do say so myself, we're sounding good, damn good. My voice isn't perfectly suited for Ian Curtis's baritone droning but I'm pulling it off, I think - it's quite interesting playing around with my lower registers as I'm usually more comfortable in the high end; the difficult part is getting the necessary volume. And the music is surprisingly fun to play, despite its dreariness. Also quite challenging - while JD is musically fairly simple there's a lot of subtlety in the dynamics and capturing that is essential, otherwise it sounds like you're just going through the motions.
Once we've got a good set of JD stuff down we might have a look at some other post-punk stuff as well. The immediate plan is to get a decent enough set together to play at the next Sanctuary which will likely be sometime early next year.
- I've just completed Bioshock. I can't say that I didn't enjoy it, but I found the experience left something to be desired. The developers spent a lot of time with focus groups and didn't actually write the story until very late in the development cycle, and it does show. The gameplay, while mechanically perfect, is extremely repetitive, there's not enough variation in level design, the so-called 'moral dilemma' of whether or not to rescue the little sisters is absolute trite considering that there's next to no difference in payoff in the longterm (and it's very hard to empathize when they're all exactly the same - had they included some variation in the models, hell, even made some of the little sisters characters in their own right, it might have worked better), and the storyline doesn't really reach its potential. There are some fascinating themes presented but it spends very little time exploring them in any real depth.
A lot of people have complained about the fact that they moved from an RPG to an FPS mechanic as development progressed. I don't really have a problem with that; I think that the gameplay mechanic works very well and there's plenty of opportunity for character development. Sure, they could have made it as an RPG, and I'm sure it would've worked very well, but they didn't, they made it as an FPS, and that also works well.
None of this will stop me from buying Bioshock 2, though, as the benefit of hindsight will hopefully help the developers fix a lot of these faults.
- I'm now playing Sins of a Solar Empire - an absolutely brilliant 4X/RTS hybrid which successfully places the scale and depth of MOO2 in a real-time setting, adding adrenaline to the experience, but without becoming a click-fest. I highly recommend it.
I'm also playing Mass Effect, which is equally amazing - it's like KOTOR without the suck. The combat is awesome, and the writing and voice acting is absolutely fecking brilliant. They've put a HUGE amount of effort into backstory and setting - look at a chair, and you'll get a big narrated entry added to your codex about the history of chairs on the planet Xoodong and the company that constructed it. Well not quite, but you get the picture. And damn, do I love being able to rudely interrupt people in the middle of a long-winded speech.
- I've just watched the entirety of Twin Peaks and I'm incredibly annoyed at the lack of a third season. Apparently they were going to do a graphic novel but Lynch vetoed it. Bastard. A genius, but a bastard nevertheless.
Yeah, I really do adore David Lynch. A lot of people don't, and I can understand that, and I agree with many of the common criticisms. I still love it (with a few exceptions). Twin Peaks I think is my favourite of his works that I've seen so far; it's a complete and utter mindfuck but it still manages to maintain some semblance of a coherent narrative.
OK, that's more than enough for now. I have pent up political, philosophical, and musical rants that I'll let out at some point in the near future.
- I'll be spending the Xmas/New Year period up North, firstly in Gisborne staying with my parents and going to Rhythm and Vines, then up to Auckland where I'll hopefully see Metronomy early in January, followed by the Arctic Monkeys solo show and then the Big Day Out. Later, I'll return to Auckland for NIN in February. This means that over the next couple of months, I will see:
Franz Ferdinand
The Kooks
Public Enemy
Cut Copy
Ladyhawke
Late of the Pier
Digitalism
Arctic Monkeys (twice!)
The Prodigy
Sneaky Sound System
Pendulum
TV On the Radio
Simian Mobile Disco
The Ting Tings
Hot Chip
Headless Chickens
Mint Chicks
Nine Inch Nails
And, hopefully, Morrissey (who still hasn't announced dates, GRR!)
Any of which I'd happily pay to see individually. There are a shitload more that I'm also keen to see. I could bemoan the fact that I don't get to see Leonard Cohen or The Who but people would probably kick me for being a whiny bitch.
It's not humanly possible to be as excited as I ought to be. But this is going to be an overwhelming new year. :D
- Just following the BDO I'll be attending the annual NZLP Summer School, which will basically consist of us sitting around and trying to figure out how you, the general public, could be so goddamn stupid.
I'm kidding. Mostly. ;P
- I'll then be coming back, working for a few more weeks, then starting study at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (aka MAINZ) towards a Certificate in Audio Engineering, with a view to a Diploma. Once I've done that I might travel a bit, do some work, get some money, and eventually go back to Uni and finish my Music degree (and perhaps pick up another Major in Anthropology if I'm still feeling so inclined, but hell, that's ages away).
- I'm singing and playing guitar and occasionally fumbling about on keys for a Joy Division cover band. I can't express how awesome it is to be actually doing something musically productive again. If I do say so myself, we're sounding good, damn good. My voice isn't perfectly suited for Ian Curtis's baritone droning but I'm pulling it off, I think - it's quite interesting playing around with my lower registers as I'm usually more comfortable in the high end; the difficult part is getting the necessary volume. And the music is surprisingly fun to play, despite its dreariness. Also quite challenging - while JD is musically fairly simple there's a lot of subtlety in the dynamics and capturing that is essential, otherwise it sounds like you're just going through the motions.
Once we've got a good set of JD stuff down we might have a look at some other post-punk stuff as well. The immediate plan is to get a decent enough set together to play at the next Sanctuary which will likely be sometime early next year.
- I've just completed Bioshock. I can't say that I didn't enjoy it, but I found the experience left something to be desired. The developers spent a lot of time with focus groups and didn't actually write the story until very late in the development cycle, and it does show. The gameplay, while mechanically perfect, is extremely repetitive, there's not enough variation in level design, the so-called 'moral dilemma' of whether or not to rescue the little sisters is absolute trite considering that there's next to no difference in payoff in the longterm (and it's very hard to empathize when they're all exactly the same - had they included some variation in the models, hell, even made some of the little sisters characters in their own right, it might have worked better), and the storyline doesn't really reach its potential. There are some fascinating themes presented but it spends very little time exploring them in any real depth.
A lot of people have complained about the fact that they moved from an RPG to an FPS mechanic as development progressed. I don't really have a problem with that; I think that the gameplay mechanic works very well and there's plenty of opportunity for character development. Sure, they could have made it as an RPG, and I'm sure it would've worked very well, but they didn't, they made it as an FPS, and that also works well.
None of this will stop me from buying Bioshock 2, though, as the benefit of hindsight will hopefully help the developers fix a lot of these faults.
- I'm now playing Sins of a Solar Empire - an absolutely brilliant 4X/RTS hybrid which successfully places the scale and depth of MOO2 in a real-time setting, adding adrenaline to the experience, but without becoming a click-fest. I highly recommend it.
I'm also playing Mass Effect, which is equally amazing - it's like KOTOR without the suck. The combat is awesome, and the writing and voice acting is absolutely fecking brilliant. They've put a HUGE amount of effort into backstory and setting - look at a chair, and you'll get a big narrated entry added to your codex about the history of chairs on the planet Xoodong and the company that constructed it. Well not quite, but you get the picture. And damn, do I love being able to rudely interrupt people in the middle of a long-winded speech.
- I've just watched the entirety of Twin Peaks and I'm incredibly annoyed at the lack of a third season. Apparently they were going to do a graphic novel but Lynch vetoed it. Bastard. A genius, but a bastard nevertheless.
Yeah, I really do adore David Lynch. A lot of people don't, and I can understand that, and I agree with many of the common criticisms. I still love it (with a few exceptions). Twin Peaks I think is my favourite of his works that I've seen so far; it's a complete and utter mindfuck but it still manages to maintain some semblance of a coherent narrative.
OK, that's more than enough for now. I have pent up political, philosophical, and musical rants that I'll let out at some point in the near future.