Media Update post
Why am I doing a Media Update? Well, because there's some things I'd like to react to, that's why.
~:~:~:~:~:~
March 7 - April 5
Books (& Comics)
Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
---- finished
---- Oh, Terry Pratchett. You never cease to amaze and amuse.
Met at Arms, Terry Pratchett
* Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
---- reread
---- current
---- I love rereading Vimes, especially when I'm in a Mood. Vimes just manages so wonderfully to be a moving ball of productive anger. And in such a wonderful way: he doesn't give the finger to the world, he fixes it and then lets them stew on that. :D
The VR Story, Brent Newhall
---- half-reread, half new-read. by a friend I knew when I was younger. Very short - started last night, finished today. rather abrupt - I would have wished for more filling-out, as well as more tech and more looking around at the world - but it was written & finished years ago so I figure it's a done deal.
* Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
---- reread
---- current
---- I'll write my reactions to it when I've finished it.
Nanquest, Weaver
---- Threads 1-7
---- Nanquest was awesome fun; it is a good embodiment of what I like in interactive fiction: not gimmicky and not acquiescing to every readers' request. It's also minimalist, which is good - no dislikeable art - and very well-paced. Readable here.
Spera, Josh Tierney et al.
---- see Note #1
Movies
Rise of the Guardians
---- See Note #2
Life of Pi
---- See Note #3
Shows
Fullmetal Alchemist
---- eps 18-29
---- rewatch
---- TRAUMATIC PASTS FOR EVERYONE
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Note #1 - Spera
Spera is a collaborative webcomic. The premise: one guy (Josh Tierney) collaborated with forty different artists in order to create a whole-sized story, and put it up online. I started it a while ago, read a bit, hung it up. Reread it finally beginning-to-end a couple days ago. Despite absolutely gorgeous, jaw-droppingly pretty art, it ultimately disappointed me. Why? several reasons:
1) the Plot. Two princesses go a-traveling to escape a war and find a place. This, unfortunately, is all they do; we are given only meagerest detail of why they are going and why they flee from; we are given none at all about what they do when they get there. The plot is threadbare, and only the littlest details are given about the whys and wherefores. Why's this child suddenly a demon? Why are they running, without a thought to their duties or people? Why are they suddenly bonding, after two days of travel? How do they even know each other? What the hell was that kiss for when they end up as sisters? I'm bewildered the whole way through.
2) the Art Jumps. The art, for the most part, is goergeous, beautiful, pretty, and wonderful. Unfortunately, it only lasts, for the most part, for two or three pages per person. A few lucky souls get five pages. A few unlucky get 1. A lot of the styles are beautiful, but a few of them are visually painful to me, or straight-up Not My Thing, or just so modernist as to be ununderstandable. And it's disorienting, after a couple pages, to be tossed into a completely new artist who concieves of the characters a completely different way than the previous one, the one you were just reading, did.
3) the Disconnectedness. This is, I think, the ultimate problem - the problem driven into by all the previous problems. By giving each artist a paragraph-outline and 1-5 pages to draw it in, you get a wide panopoly of different styles and tastes - and unfortunately, you get some people who Didn't Understand The Assignment, and only drew pictures, or you get people who hog space, or you get people coming up with things that don't have to do with the plot at all. There was one particularly disappointing instance when they were supposed to fight a monstrous hill that spewed earth all over - didn't happen, because the artist skipped the scene. The very first scene - you only know what's happening because the narration tells you; the pictures sure as hell don't (they're three random portraits (???)).
All in all, I view Spera as a beautiful disappointment. I think it could have gone better if each artist had gotten more pages to work with - ten, twenty, or more - and been given bigger chunks of plot, or maybe less specificity and more storywork-detail, so's they al jived with each other. I think they definitely could have done more collaborative efforts, focusing more on making the story hang together. After all, a comic is not just about pictures (if it were, it wouldn't be a comic, it'd be an illustration-book) - it is about sequencing the pictures, and framing them in a manner appropriate to the story.
Spera, as it stands, is beautiful. But it could've been a contender, and right now, I don't think it has what it takes to be anything more than a curiosity.
Viewable here.
Note #2 - Return of the Guardians
Note #3 - Life of Pi
Note: I ended up having SO MUCH to say about these two movies, in conjuction and separately, that I'mma jsut make a new post about them two. The reason I'm not addending it below is because I'd like to rewatch RotG and get my critiquing cap on for my noticements - I have certin thing I'd like to check up on, and re-notice, to see exactly what I think of them.
also, it's late, and I feel like chilling.
So - look for that post soonlater! Coming to a pico near you!
~:~:~:~:~:~
March 7 - April 5
Books (& Comics)
Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
---- finished
---- Oh, Terry Pratchett. You never cease to amaze and amuse.
Met at Arms, Terry Pratchett
* Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
---- reread
---- current
---- I love rereading Vimes, especially when I'm in a Mood. Vimes just manages so wonderfully to be a moving ball of productive anger. And in such a wonderful way: he doesn't give the finger to the world, he fixes it and then lets them stew on that. :D
The VR Story, Brent Newhall
---- half-reread, half new-read. by a friend I knew when I was younger. Very short - started last night, finished today. rather abrupt - I would have wished for more filling-out, as well as more tech and more looking around at the world - but it was written & finished years ago so I figure it's a done deal.
* Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
---- reread
---- current
---- I'll write my reactions to it when I've finished it.
Nanquest, Weaver
---- Threads 1-7
---- Nanquest was awesome fun; it is a good embodiment of what I like in interactive fiction: not gimmicky and not acquiescing to every readers' request. It's also minimalist, which is good - no dislikeable art - and very well-paced. Readable here.
Spera, Josh Tierney et al.
---- see Note #1
Movies
Rise of the Guardians
---- See Note #2
Life of Pi
---- See Note #3
Shows
Fullmetal Alchemist
---- eps 18-29
---- rewatch
---- TRAUMATIC PASTS FOR EVERYONE
~:~:~:~:~:~::~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Note #1 - Spera
Spera is a collaborative webcomic. The premise: one guy (Josh Tierney) collaborated with forty different artists in order to create a whole-sized story, and put it up online. I started it a while ago, read a bit, hung it up. Reread it finally beginning-to-end a couple days ago. Despite absolutely gorgeous, jaw-droppingly pretty art, it ultimately disappointed me. Why? several reasons:
1) the Plot. Two princesses go a-traveling to escape a war and find a place. This, unfortunately, is all they do; we are given only meagerest detail of why they are going and why they flee from; we are given none at all about what they do when they get there. The plot is threadbare, and only the littlest details are given about the whys and wherefores. Why's this child suddenly a demon? Why are they running, without a thought to their duties or people? Why are they suddenly bonding, after two days of travel? How do they even know each other? What the hell was that kiss for when they end up as sisters? I'm bewildered the whole way through.
2) the Art Jumps. The art, for the most part, is goergeous, beautiful, pretty, and wonderful. Unfortunately, it only lasts, for the most part, for two or three pages per person. A few lucky souls get five pages. A few unlucky get 1. A lot of the styles are beautiful, but a few of them are visually painful to me, or straight-up Not My Thing, or just so modernist as to be ununderstandable. And it's disorienting, after a couple pages, to be tossed into a completely new artist who concieves of the characters a completely different way than the previous one, the one you were just reading, did.
3) the Disconnectedness. This is, I think, the ultimate problem - the problem driven into by all the previous problems. By giving each artist a paragraph-outline and 1-5 pages to draw it in, you get a wide panopoly of different styles and tastes - and unfortunately, you get some people who Didn't Understand The Assignment, and only drew pictures, or you get people who hog space, or you get people coming up with things that don't have to do with the plot at all. There was one particularly disappointing instance when they were supposed to fight a monstrous hill that spewed earth all over - didn't happen, because the artist skipped the scene. The very first scene - you only know what's happening because the narration tells you; the pictures sure as hell don't (they're three random portraits (???)).
All in all, I view Spera as a beautiful disappointment. I think it could have gone better if each artist had gotten more pages to work with - ten, twenty, or more - and been given bigger chunks of plot, or maybe less specificity and more storywork-detail, so's they al jived with each other. I think they definitely could have done more collaborative efforts, focusing more on making the story hang together. After all, a comic is not just about pictures (if it were, it wouldn't be a comic, it'd be an illustration-book) - it is about sequencing the pictures, and framing them in a manner appropriate to the story.
Spera, as it stands, is beautiful. But it could've been a contender, and right now, I don't think it has what it takes to be anything more than a curiosity.
Viewable here.
Note #2 - Return of the Guardians
Note #3 - Life of Pi
Note: I ended up having SO MUCH to say about these two movies, in conjuction and separately, that I'mma jsut make a new post about them two. The reason I'm not addending it below is because I'd like to rewatch RotG and get my critiquing cap on for my noticements - I have certin thing I'd like to check up on, and re-notice, to see exactly what I think of them.
also, it's late, and I feel like chilling.
So - look for that post soonlater! Coming to a pico near you!