So as a guy I'm never felt fully comfortable talking about gender politics mostly because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about them, most the the time at least. I'm a guy. But I like talking about media. While depending on my mood I might make some claim as to this blog being about news that's not really its purpose.
Its purpose is to be a place where I feel emotionally safe enough to talk about whatever is on my mind without the fear of crickets or confused stares. Sure a lot of the time that's politics because I always had an interest in how things work and a lot of the stuff we take for granted is hashed out in chambers and debates or spreadsheets and emails.I get a kick out of looking at that stuff.
But I also love media. Movies, video games, television books I can't get enough of that stuff and so often "whatever is on my mind" is that movie or show I saw last week.
Often times what makes a show or movie or whatever stick on my mind are its gender politics which are often so important to the work you can't separate them from any real discussion so before I start talking feminism or gender further I thought it might be a good idea to get an idea of how this stuff got on my mind in the first place, at least via media, so let's do it.
Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne
For a long time Rin was the best piece of "serious" science fiction anime I had seen since GitS:SAC.
It's a show about the adventures of eponymous IMMORTAL (that's important think a cross between Conner MacLeod and DBZ's Cell) paranormal investigator Rin as she and her partner Mimi take on cases.
Some have accused the show of being basically porn but its raison d'etre is to talk about sex. Not just t&a though it has plenty of that but how sex affects our relationships, culture and identity. Metaphorically it's all about sexual dimorphism and by extension the difference between sex and gender. Heck by the end of the subtext just becomes text as the progtagonist and antagonist who are male and female respectively gain genitalia of both sexes. More or less his entire M.O. for six episodes was to get her in a position where he could rape her, kill her and cause the end of the world or something. The ending is kind of weird. Something about ragnorak and Rin being analogous to Freyja and/or Frigg with the villain playing the role of Loki... I think as we watch him try to off an aging despondent Odin figure in 2050. And I never got into the eddas. So let's stick to gender.
The show is all about exaggerating and then blurring the biological differences between male and female to make its point about what sex and gender means. The show also delves into what makes sex enjoyable. Two of the main characters are shameless flirts and bonk a lot. All the same there is a lot of rape imagery. What makes sex harmless or harmful is control over one's own body and the case of transsexuals that might be an eternal frustration.
Oh and shit tons of post structural feminism. And oh my god the visual references to the uterus, ovum and vagina, as Rin begins the path to become the hermaphroditic mother/father to the world. Did I say the end is weird. The end is weird. First time I saw it I pretended the last two episodes didn't happen. The end is weird. Not bad but without a sex ed class it makes no damn sense. And even then you have to be smart enough to understand that the show posits the only meaningful difference between the two sexes is or should be the biological. And for some, especially, those uncomfortable discussing that crucial difference, that might be a leap.
The entire point is blurring the line between male and female on a sexual level so you're going to see some lady parts. Not so much dude parts as the show is more concerned about what the feminine means (i.e. the womb), but you're going to see some lady parts. Especially in the end when the show decides to tell the audience what it really is about rather than laying on subtext.
As I hinted at the show is all about the body, its utility, its connection to and potential imprisonment of the mind or soul or whatever. Most of the really bad stuff happens whenever one of the villains manage to divorce Rin's soul from her body making her vulnerable without the obvious physical tool to fight back and then regenerating the flesh and trapping her within it.
And those mind body references are through out the entire thing. Does a clone retain the soul of the original? In a world of the digital what is the importance of the physical?
Interesting stuff.
Avatar the Legend of Korra
The point I'm trying to make is that these shows put me in a position where I have to talk about gender because its so important to the perception of the work as a whole. One of the most interesting things about the Legend of Korra is it's protagonist defy's gender convention and does so in a way that feels organic. She isn't going to punch a guy because she's trying to prove herself against the patriarchy. She's going to punch a guy because her default tool to solve problems is her body and ...her fists are part of her body.
"I'm not oppressing anybody you...you're oppressing yourselves". Not one for rhetoric and debate is she? "That didn't even make sense"
It's just how she operates. The show doesn't frame it as weird though sometimes it is troublesome. Not because of gender roles but because Korra is rash and has a tendency to get in over her head. Something that would happen to a guy with her personality. Subtley and restraint aren't her strong suites and punch it until it stops being a problem doesn't always work.
The show made me think about how personality traits are deemed masculine or femine and showed a character kind of divorced from that. Korra is just Korra.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
So this show is a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, which on occasion has been a guilty pleasure of mine. Hey the later seasons of Sailor Moon were pretty good, better than DBZ's filler arcs at least. Go home Garlic Jr. Nobody likes you. You literally got your ass kicked by a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum. You can NOT hold up to the god kings of this show.
(But Cell was pretty badass and lost to Gohan at 12. Shuduuuup. Cell beat every other opponent that came at him. Trunks, Vegeta, Goku, Android 17, Android 16. Android 18. He earned his rep. Gohan sucker punched him... to single bit of his name sake...twice...no wait I'm forgetting that time he came back from hell. Or the fight he lost to Pikon in hell. Damn it.)
Madoka Magica made me think about how magical girl shows work and made me that divorced from thier hypersexualized (masculine vs feminine not actual sex) nature both shonen fighting shows and magical girl shows work on basically the same rules. Crazy transformation sequences and a lot of stock animation.
Our masculine speeches about honor, friendship and fairplay could be substituted for their feminine speeches about honor, friendship and fairplay.
I say anybody who bitches about Sailor Moon can't go on a nostalgia trip about Power Rangers because they were basically the same damn show with different uniforms and minus the dinozords ...and the megazord. Okay so it didn't have giant robots. Not everything can have giant robots... Though everything should have giant robots. Magical girls with giant robots. I got to get in on that. Could be the next big thing. Maginoids.
Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
The reason why I wrote a 10-page review on this one is because as a Lupin The Third show I was going to watch it no matter but rather than being a straight revival it was a deconstruction of Fujiko Mine and women's roles in media especially legacy media. The show was trying to pose the question what the role of gender politics should be in writing.
You can't have Fujiko feel like Fujiko without at least a little fanservice. As a character she creates an interesting dilemma. And the show tackles her head on trying to find a balance between the character and the gender politics of her literally being a walking boob joke.
Thelma and Louise and Michiko and Hatchin
Again because of the director I was going to watch Michiko and Hatchin anyway but it felt wrong to talk about a Japaneses TV show based on a Brazilian movie without watching the Brazilian movie. And while I was at it I figured I might as well watch Thelma and Louise.
I still feel that Thelma and Louise misses the boat on race and class but what I failed to consider when I reviewed it is that the dynamic between the two leads is the closest the audience could expect to seeing a lesbian relationship on screen at the time at least for a mainstream film. Maybe I should cut it a little more slack than I do.
As for Michiko and Hatchin its a critique of the empowerment fantasy posed by T&L.
Soul Eater and Soul Eater Not
So like I said Shonen fighting shows shows tend to be hypermasculine. Soul Eater wasn't. The main cast featured 7 characters 4 of whom were girls. The story is arguably about the female lead's coming of age. What wierds me out about Not is that it takes the gender neutral original and goes the other way with it. I'm still trying to puzzle out how I feel about that.
Shows like Dragon Ball Z and Card Captor Sakura have gotten a rep as being pretty silly by today's standards. I tend to give Dragon Ball a pass because as a guy I seldom have to deal with gender identity issues, or at least so I keep telling myself.
But I have to ask are shows like Card Captor Sakura harmful. And if they are isn't hyper feminized Soul Eater Not harmful as well?
I don't know.
Its the same as asking if Sleeping Beauty is harmful. Eh probably. But after all the injustice in the world its hard to muster real rage at Aurora or Walt.
Look like I said at the outset I'm not a girl. But I've always dealt with that by aggregating feminism with discussions about race and as a black kid growing up in the suburbs I can tell you rap depictions of the thug life tempted me to the dark side.
Oh, now I realize I wouldn't last a day on the actual streets but 12 year old me might be too stupid to get that. The life of the gangster age of hiphop was a calculated lie. An empowerment fantasy the masses wanted to buy. But deriving what it means to be black from a 50 cent video is stupid.
I always wondered if hyperfeminzed magical girl shows and Disney princesses were the equivalent for girls. Do they derive what it means to be female from that stuff I don't know.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Anime and Gender
Okay after the princess flying on a white halberd with hearts Soul Eater Not is really flippin' girly. And I don't know how I feel about that. My instinct has always been that the distinction between male and female interests is largely cultural and the original Soul Eater played that up.
The protagonist and more than half of the cast were female and they kick just as much ass if not more than the guys. One of them is literally a sword, and a scythe chain. Hell the entire story is a female coming of age plot wrapped in a Shonen i.e. teenage male targeted show. It even has some pretty strong condemnations of male infidelity.
For most of the series Maka is pissed at her dad for ruining his marriage and "making mom cry". It was a show that tried and succeeded in bridging the gap and being inclusive to everybody.
This thing is pushing it. Whenever I see that in a show I start to worry because I start thinking of the pink isle. The idea that we have to artificially girlify everything to make it interesting to women. That's not to say don't be inclusive. There is no excuse for not having more character model customization in video games for example. But I think it's kind of stupid assuming that reason women don't like tools is because they can't find a pink hammer. That is stupid and assumptious on so many levels. For the record I disagree with that statement and did a whole other blog post on it.
I'm a dude but I just feel like literally adding hearts and pink wings to a giant SPEAR misses the point. Of course this is the original team so eh. All the same there was a lot for women to be interested in with the original (yes I know there was a lot of fan service, no need to bring up Blaire)
I had the same problem with Fam the Silver Wing but I had so many other problems with Fam: The Silver Wing I let it go. Seriously that show can go die in a fire. Alex Rowe is a sky pirate.
Now that I think about this whole thing is making me question gender in anime on a whole new level. Awhile back, when talking about Madoka Magica I said that magical girl anime was the female equivalent of shonen fight anime which are no less exaggerated but on the male spectrum. Oh I can't help it.
Both genres are hyper gendered. Since I'm a guy and grew up with them I cut shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball Z a lot of slack for their Liefelding.
My original position was that if I could have that I shouldn't make fun of magical girl anime but I'm starting to shift as I realize they're both ridiculous, but as a kid I was too stupid to see it. I just knew that Freiza blew up Namak and that made him evilllllllll. There isn't much difference between Goku and Usagi. Their pecs are about the same size. Don't get me wrong if they're having a dark tournament marathon on I'll be there in a heartbeat, but still these shows send the message of what it is to be masculine or feminine and that's worth talking about.
More over could either genre work if they were totally divorced from gender? Like I said the original Soul Eater played by DBZ rules without DBZ abs. Except with Black Star, but that's kind of the point of his character. He's overcompensating and everybody around him knows it and wishes he would just grow up.
They basically turned what was as close as you could get to a gender neutral shonen fight show into a magical girl show and that is kind of interesting, annoying but interesting.
Even though I know he's an insane sociopath there is a bit of me that wants to be like Kenpachi Zaraki despite the fact that in this day and age physical fighting capability means almost nothing.
Freaking 11th squad. Why because I've been indoctrinated to believe that physical combat strength is the zenith of masculinity even though it's generally useless and for that matter stupid. But action is action and there has to be a way of divorcing fight scenes from notions of masculinity or femininity for that matter.
Fight Club is about trying to futilely cling to notions of masculinity in a world where those notions must adapt or die. The space monkeys were a bunch a dodos and didn't know it. Still how would the framing of the narrative feel if instead of a bunch of guys they were women. How would the movie work if all of the brutality was divorced from notions of masculinity?
The protagonist and more than half of the cast were female and they kick just as much ass if not more than the guys. One of them is literally a sword, and a scythe chain. Hell the entire story is a female coming of age plot wrapped in a Shonen i.e. teenage male targeted show. It even has some pretty strong condemnations of male infidelity.
For most of the series Maka is pissed at her dad for ruining his marriage and "making mom cry". It was a show that tried and succeeded in bridging the gap and being inclusive to everybody.
This thing is pushing it. Whenever I see that in a show I start to worry because I start thinking of the pink isle. The idea that we have to artificially girlify everything to make it interesting to women. That's not to say don't be inclusive. There is no excuse for not having more character model customization in video games for example. But I think it's kind of stupid assuming that reason women don't like tools is because they can't find a pink hammer. That is stupid and assumptious on so many levels. For the record I disagree with that statement and did a whole other blog post on it.
I'm a dude but I just feel like literally adding hearts and pink wings to a giant SPEAR misses the point. Of course this is the original team so eh. All the same there was a lot for women to be interested in with the original (yes I know there was a lot of fan service, no need to bring up Blaire)
I had the same problem with Fam the Silver Wing but I had so many other problems with Fam: The Silver Wing I let it go. Seriously that show can go die in a fire. Alex Rowe is a sky pirate.
Now that I think about this whole thing is making me question gender in anime on a whole new level. Awhile back, when talking about Madoka Magica I said that magical girl anime was the female equivalent of shonen fight anime which are no less exaggerated but on the male spectrum. Oh I can't help it.
Both genres are hyper gendered. Since I'm a guy and grew up with them I cut shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball Z a lot of slack for their Liefelding.
My original position was that if I could have that I shouldn't make fun of magical girl anime but I'm starting to shift as I realize they're both ridiculous, but as a kid I was too stupid to see it. I just knew that Freiza blew up Namak and that made him evilllllllll. There isn't much difference between Goku and Usagi. Their pecs are about the same size. Don't get me wrong if they're having a dark tournament marathon on I'll be there in a heartbeat, but still these shows send the message of what it is to be masculine or feminine and that's worth talking about.
More over could either genre work if they were totally divorced from gender? Like I said the original Soul Eater played by DBZ rules without DBZ abs. Except with Black Star, but that's kind of the point of his character. He's overcompensating and everybody around him knows it and wishes he would just grow up.
They basically turned what was as close as you could get to a gender neutral shonen fight show into a magical girl show and that is kind of interesting, annoying but interesting.
Even though I know he's an insane sociopath there is a bit of me that wants to be like Kenpachi Zaraki despite the fact that in this day and age physical fighting capability means almost nothing.
Freaking 11th squad. Why because I've been indoctrinated to believe that physical combat strength is the zenith of masculinity even though it's generally useless and for that matter stupid. But action is action and there has to be a way of divorcing fight scenes from notions of masculinity or femininity for that matter.
Fight Club is about trying to futilely cling to notions of masculinity in a world where those notions must adapt or die. The space monkeys were a bunch a dodos and didn't know it. Still how would the framing of the narrative feel if instead of a bunch of guys they were women. How would the movie work if all of the brutality was divorced from notions of masculinity?
Soul Eater Not Thoughts So Far
I really really like the original Soul Eater. I always go on and on about how I prefer anime of the old Toonami era but Soul Eater is probably the anime that put me in a place where I knew things would be okay. It's not necessarily the best but it was good enough to put my mind at ease that we weren't headed into a fanservice, moe, myopia when I saw it back in 2010.
Soul Eater Not, a prequel series is not Soul Eater. Not by a long shot. Soul Eater had this whole action horror comedy thing going for it and so far Soul Eater Not barely touches its mindfuckery. The main antagonist of that show IS fear.
But Not does justify its own existence. Soul Eater had a lot working under the hood and one of the things it had going for it was that the relationship between weapon meister and weapon were tantamount to actual personal relationships many of which were romantic. Spirit and the protagonist's mother. Stein and Marie. The show uses a working partnership as a metaphor for partnership more generally.
The story used Maka's conflicted feelings towards her partner weapon Soul to tell a story about puberty and a girl's first love. All while she kicked bad guy ass six ways to Sunday. Ahh aint that cute.
The strongest justification for Soul Eater Not is that it does the same thing except for same sex-relationships and like I said that justifies its existence. I don't know if it succeeds and who am I to tell, but it takes some balls to even try that with a show so connected to the Shonen (teenaged boys) crowd. On the other hand the show does skirt the line. I feel dirty watching some of those glomps and pillow fights, and of course there is a maid cafe in Death Valley. Still though I like that it basically is telling young girls that those feelings are okay. We have a quasi-lesbian love triangle front and center. Though if you find love triangles annoying in general...
Beyond that though I'm on the edge as to whether or not it can avoid the trap of the sequel series. Both Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing, and Eureka: AO Astral Ocean were most interesting when they were featuring characters and themes from thier parent shows. In both cases there wasn't a whole lot interesting besides that. In A.O in particular the highlight of the entire 20 some odd episode series is a two part episode in which the eponymous Eureka shows up and makes you realize just how boring Ao is in comparison as a protagonist. She's fun but only so because you spent 50 episodes watching her series where she had actual honest to god character development and you feel happy that her personality shifts stuck (for the moment grrrr another time). And Fam can die in a fire. Last Exile needed a sequel but that ain't it.
Soul Eater Not has moments like that. But they too justify themselves. In the original the Thompson sisters had mostly mellowed out, their wilder days being back story and its fun to see them a little rougher than I remember. Stein went through so much in the original that he almost seems like two characters by the end of it both of which are wholly enjoyable.
It was fun seeing him again before the fissures started forming. Though the series was clear to a degree he was always like that and was just barely holding the madness at bay.
And that's him mostly sane. Mostly.
It's really early so I'm not that worried about it and there are some interesting ideas that could go places. Medusa and Arachne were really good villains and set the baseline for how witches work in this franchise and it looks like this show is going to play with that.
Arcahne's backstory is complicated but Medusa was pretty much pure evil for the hell of it. Arachne wasn't much far off. Witches are always chaotic evil. Or are they. Damn it Glinda.
P.S. When I wrote this I had just made it to episode 9 after which shit gets real.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
I Never Liked Carni Games
Well I'm bored and cranky. So let me shake my emasculated fist some.
And now because freaky carnival imagery at the wack-a-mole metaphor made my mind go there. The Extreme Ghostbusters Intro. That show freaked me out as a kid. Eh Killer Clowns is still on my list.
We're about to have a great big giant discussion about roads, on the county and local level. The state maaaaaybe. I doubt it but maybe.
In almost every discussion about roads I've seen people seem to be missing a major point. Everybody agrees that the reason why the roads are so bad the money isn't there to do much more. People are trying to get more funding out of the tax payers but nobody wants to say the thing nobody wants to hear.
FIXING BAD ROADS COSTS MORE THAN MAINTAINING GOOD ONES!
People seem to hear it but not understand it. So let me explain.
Fixing something costs less than replacing it so ideally you want to fix things as you go along rather than waiting waiting so long that you can't. On an aggregate level for our road system what this means is that fixing the mostly okay roads is going to cost less fixing the really rotten ones. Everything costs money. So if you do decide to fix the worst of the worst there is less money in the pot to maintain the alright ones and eventually they won't be so alright.
If we want long term transportation improvement. A true fix rather than a patch. Than ironically we need to put the money into patching...and resurfacing. Doing so will save money and make those desperately needed road reconstruction projects more feasible in the future as we won't be playing wack-a-mole for the next 20 years.
But people look outside their door and want Greenfield reconstructed yesterday.
We're going to have a road funding initiative. I have no idea how it will look or how things will turn out but so far the tone is that the money will fix your street. That's not how I see it. At least not completly.
In the meetings I attended I got the vibe that at current funding levels the city could barely maintain current pacer rating. Even at 4 million a year which is more the city's current levy levels the road's Pacer rating decreases over the long term.
Without more money we're hosed. Despite what people think I'm a cheap bastard. Either way this thing goes I don't like that nobody wants to hear that the most efficient way of spending the money, the way that gets us to the best place in the shortest amount of time is going to be a little painful and anything else is going to spread out the hurt over more time. So let's get it over with, sit down and take our medicine.
And now because freaky carnival imagery at the wack-a-mole metaphor made my mind go there. The Extreme Ghostbusters Intro. That show freaked me out as a kid. Eh Killer Clowns is still on my list.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Movie Review: Pain and Gain
Here's my dirty little secret. I love Micheal Bay. See I never saw the Transformer movies so my experience with him is, The Rock, Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, and the fun but kind of stupid Armageddon. Apart from speculative fiction I make it no secret that action is my favorite genre and Bay knows how to blow up shit real good. It's what he does people.
More over Bay is the type of guy who won't even pretend to try to take his his premise seriously. And divorced from pretentious melodrama and moralizing he's one of the most fun directors alive. While it can sometimes be embarrassing and insulting his movie's tendencies to not dwell on message make them fun.
Pain and Gain feels like it has something to say but would rather just sit back while everybody else makes an ass of themselves. That might be disappointing to a lot of people but it also is what makes the movie good. The movie doesn't have to work very hard to convince the audience that these guys are absolutely insane because their narration does that for it. The movie can instead focus on being ... fun. Not dramatic, not profound, but fun.
Unlike his other outings rather than action this one moves by its sardonic wit.
Our protagonist Daniel Lugo, fully buys into the American dream and makes the mistake of fully believing he's smarter than really is. That he "deserves it". I've said previously that people don't deserve anything, but this guy, this guy he deserves an epic ass beating. We get to watch as he and his buddies get "you are an idiot" pounded into them.
He concocts a crazy scheme to get rich guy to sign over his fortune to him.
What makes the movie funny is that Lugo and his buddies, in this specific aspect mostly Paul Doyle, played by The Rock have the mentality of children. I mean it. If it weren't for the torture and violence their lines sound like they could be coming out of 12 year-olds. And that's what's so hilarious.
These guys think they're criminal masterminds when they are children, no, worse than children because children have the excuse of being children.
The story progresses about how you would expect but again what makes it is how self-delusional every character is. I said that the movie feels like it has something to say and that's more or less it. "Deserve ain't got nothin' to do with it"
The American Dream is A LIE! The pursuit of it is what makes these guys the idiotas they are while we the audience get to sit back and laugh knowing that there is no way these guys, these guys, THESE GUYS are smart enough to get away with this.
At the big show down we all know ends these types of movies it's clear, the movie isn't making some big statement about morality and how crime doesn't pay, but rather pointing a finger and pulling a Nelson Muntz that they were stupid enough to think they were smart enough to make the plan work in the first place.
And well. I'm not half the nice guy I pretend to be.
I'm an evil evil man. And as long as no real harm comes from it, i.e. fiction, I love laughing at the stupid. And these guys are brilliantly stupid. It takes real brains to write characters who are this dumb and feel authentically dumb. While the movie is based on a true story Bay did what he wanted. Still it feels like somewhere down the line he was infuriated by somebody who thinks this way or by people constantly telling him, he thinks this way.
This isn't your normal heist gone wrong movie, where some unforeseeable detail causes the plan to collapse on itself, and you feel bad for the guys who are in too deep and know it.
Lugo has drunken so much of the Kool-aid he think's it's champagne and the characters around him are so stupid they wants some of the Cris too. And these aren't poor unfortunate souls duped by him sooo.
Schadenfreude biiach!
What potentially makes the movie profound his how these guys are stupid. Again there is some subtlety there because nobody goes to Bay movie for critiques on society. Get that shit outta here.
But the characters all ignore the obvious because they're overly concerned about masculinity, patriotism, and Christianity. All of which are meaningless social constructs especially, as interpreted by these dumb-asses.
What's really interesting on rewatches is the acting on Mark Wahlberg's part. Most movies like this hint that deep down the guy doesn't believe any of it and is only desperately clinging to the faith in order to keep his entire belief system afloat.
Nope not Lugo. He believes. Everything. Unshakably. You almost have to admire the little bugger... if it weren't for the upside down torture. And the car. Oh my god the car. If I read the movie wrong and there is some sort of sign that god hates these guys and wants to see them fail miserably. The car.
Wahlberg never breaks. Never falters. Lugo is Lugo and damn is he entertaining.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
TV Review: Titanic Blood and Steel
I have a weird relationship with Titanic the 1996 movie. Now a days I tend to escew overblown melodramatic movies but those are the types of movies my parents really dig. So when I was younger the "epic" is what I had on VHS. Titanic, The Ten Commandments, Gladiator.
My brain doesn't like them because the film wants to engage in the type of spectacle and storytelling that demands foreshadowing and melodrama. All the same I liked Titanic. My late music teacher really dug the movie and taught the class how to sing and for some of the kids how to play "My Heart Will Go On".
As an experience yeah it was pretty good, but as narrative it ran on the type of melodrama that I would smack down anywhere else. As much as want to give my wag of the finger the movie works. It movie was created to do that sort of thing as James Cameron's return to form and succeeds if I can get into a head space to enjoy it which yeah I can. It may not be my default head space but with a little work I can get there.
All the same it's kind of hard to take the movie seriously when you know a lot of the emotional ratcheting isn't because of narrative necessity but to grip the audience in a little deeper and put them through the ringer.
This version of the ill fated voyage makes a decision early on that separates it from the 1997 version. The thing that wows audiences in the 1997 version and most versions is the spectacle of watching the sinking ship. Nobody is watching the movie to watch Roses fiance make digs at Jack.
The series isn't really about the sinking of the Titanic, but rather the environment and people around which it was made. The boat it self if a physical symbol of the age and the hopes of the people living in that age and the knowledge of it's crash looms over the audience. No matter how hard these guys work, how much they sweat, or how good things look in the moment we know how the story ends.
And that's the overall point of it all, to show the endeavor as being more than just it's ending.
Look I am and always will be a sucker for stories about engineers. Blah blah blah, path not taken and all. I still really dig science and the application thereof to practical problems and there is a lot of science in this show as the protagonist Mark Muir who partners with real life based drafting manager Thomas Andrews to design the ship..
Look I'll be honest I failed out of engineering school but really still do get a kick out of tolerances, materials choices, and spreadsheets. God how I love a good spreadsheet. Also I like hearing the pull between "We could do this really awesome thing," "We have a duty to do this as a bare minimum" and "It would cost a fortune" articulated. What generally separates an engineer from a pure scientist is that engineers have to aware of the practicality of implementing ideas meaning they have to know when the cost doing something outweighs it's practical benefit and or the budget. The pull between the scientist, the builder and the accountant. GIVE THE ROADS MORE MONEY, DAMN IT!!!!!! And for the love of god don't patch the bad roads at the expense of maintaining the good ones, or we'll be right back here in another 3 years. If I hear that line about getting to the worst one more time my head will explode!
Sorry what was I saying. Right the Titanic is a physical manifestation of the hopes and dreams of all the characters representing all of their work. The story mostly follows Mark Muir but also other characters. To the a lot workers and foremen the ship is just as much their baby giving them an opportunity to show the managers just how necessary they are in the social order. Ship don't get built without them.
This is a show that's trying depict the environment in which the ship was made so it continuously deals with big ideas. Manufacturing, science, economics, feminism, class, law, politics and trying to show how all of those impacted the building of the ship.
And its inevitable failure.
You see the compromises and why they were made. That's mostly what Mark's role is to guide the audience into understanding the science of it all, the manufacturing process from ingots to rivets and plating while Andrews does the hemming and hawing over whether or not he can sell it all to the board sometimes succeeding sometimes not.
To that end the show has a really strong supporting cast.
But what makes it is the ending. Like I said one of Mark's role for most of the show has been explaining how the structural failure of the ship happened and sounding an alarm to anyone who would listen during it's construction. Not all of his suggestions were listened listened to but enough were that it feels like the show earned the right to rewrite history a little. This created a narrative problem. The last episode feels like it's trying a little too hard to remind the audience that yes despite everything that happened in 11 episodes prior the boat did sink as it tries to undo all the decisions made by Andrews and Muir. But the show has the sheer balls not to end on the sinking of the ship leaving it ambiguous and up to the audience. Did THIS Titanic sink? I dunno.
My brain doesn't like them because the film wants to engage in the type of spectacle and storytelling that demands foreshadowing and melodrama. All the same I liked Titanic. My late music teacher really dug the movie and taught the class how to sing and for some of the kids how to play "My Heart Will Go On".
As an experience yeah it was pretty good, but as narrative it ran on the type of melodrama that I would smack down anywhere else. As much as want to give my wag of the finger the movie works. It movie was created to do that sort of thing as James Cameron's return to form and succeeds if I can get into a head space to enjoy it which yeah I can. It may not be my default head space but with a little work I can get there.
All the same it's kind of hard to take the movie seriously when you know a lot of the emotional ratcheting isn't because of narrative necessity but to grip the audience in a little deeper and put them through the ringer.
This version of the ill fated voyage makes a decision early on that separates it from the 1997 version. The thing that wows audiences in the 1997 version and most versions is the spectacle of watching the sinking ship. Nobody is watching the movie to watch Roses fiance make digs at Jack.
The series isn't really about the sinking of the Titanic, but rather the environment and people around which it was made. The boat it self if a physical symbol of the age and the hopes of the people living in that age and the knowledge of it's crash looms over the audience. No matter how hard these guys work, how much they sweat, or how good things look in the moment we know how the story ends.
And that's the overall point of it all, to show the endeavor as being more than just it's ending.
Look I am and always will be a sucker for stories about engineers. Blah blah blah, path not taken and all. I still really dig science and the application thereof to practical problems and there is a lot of science in this show as the protagonist Mark Muir who partners with real life based drafting manager Thomas Andrews to design the ship..
Look I'll be honest I failed out of engineering school but really still do get a kick out of tolerances, materials choices, and spreadsheets. God how I love a good spreadsheet. Also I like hearing the pull between "We could do this really awesome thing," "We have a duty to do this as a bare minimum" and "It would cost a fortune" articulated. What generally separates an engineer from a pure scientist is that engineers have to aware of the practicality of implementing ideas meaning they have to know when the cost doing something outweighs it's practical benefit and or the budget. The pull between the scientist, the builder and the accountant. GIVE THE ROADS MORE MONEY, DAMN IT!!!!!! And for the love of god don't patch the bad roads at the expense of maintaining the good ones, or we'll be right back here in another 3 years. If I hear that line about getting to the worst one more time my head will explode!
Sorry what was I saying. Right the Titanic is a physical manifestation of the hopes and dreams of all the characters representing all of their work. The story mostly follows Mark Muir but also other characters. To the a lot workers and foremen the ship is just as much their baby giving them an opportunity to show the managers just how necessary they are in the social order. Ship don't get built without them.
This is a show that's trying depict the environment in which the ship was made so it continuously deals with big ideas. Manufacturing, science, economics, feminism, class, law, politics and trying to show how all of those impacted the building of the ship.
And its inevitable failure.
You see the compromises and why they were made. That's mostly what Mark's role is to guide the audience into understanding the science of it all, the manufacturing process from ingots to rivets and plating while Andrews does the hemming and hawing over whether or not he can sell it all to the board sometimes succeeding sometimes not.
To that end the show has a really strong supporting cast.
But what makes it is the ending. Like I said one of Mark's role for most of the show has been explaining how the structural failure of the ship happened and sounding an alarm to anyone who would listen during it's construction. Not all of his suggestions were listened listened to but enough were that it feels like the show earned the right to rewrite history a little. This created a narrative problem. The last episode feels like it's trying a little too hard to remind the audience that yes despite everything that happened in 11 episodes prior the boat did sink as it tries to undo all the decisions made by Andrews and Muir. But the show has the sheer balls not to end on the sinking of the ship leaving it ambiguous and up to the audience. Did THIS Titanic sink? I dunno.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Southfield City Council June 16, 2014 Regular Meeting
Southfield Regular City Council Meeting Held on June 17, 2014
Topics Include
- The Appointment of City Attorney Fred Zorn
- Approving Amendments to the Begging Ordinance
- The Conversion of Service Bays at a Gas Station to Retail Space
An agenda and related documents can be found here.
Southfield June 16, 2014 City Council Committee of the Meeting
Committee of the whole meeting of the Southfield City Council held on June 16, 2014. The meeting primarily discussed the contract and appointment of then Deputy City Administrator Fred Zorn to the City Administrator post as well as a new circular sidewalk for the municipal front lawn.
God Damn It! Don't Ruin it guys.
Right now I'm trying to process the audio for last night's city council meetings. It's pretty early I'm still kind of out of it so I decide to take a break and watch YouTube and I catch this commercial.
I HATE THIS.
I'm pretty much up for internet humor. But this, this is just stupid. The Meet The Spartans of commercials.
For those who don't know this is a "parody" of a series of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon parody segments called "The History of Rap" in which Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake sing medleys featuring some of the big hip hop hits of the last 30 years. And it "The History Rap" not the "History of Bromance" is absolutely brilliant.
When people speak in defense of the modern cut and paste culture made prevalent by the internet and digital technology. I can and do point to this and say I want a world where this is possible.
While it's hard to say that the segments are greater than the sum of their parts since "History of Rap" they go a long way in justifying their own existence and the use of someone else's work. And they do that and make that point by sampling music known for its sampling.
The performance itself is a real show probably taking real endurance on the part of Fallon and Timberlake. The songs they choose are really diverse meaning somebody had to work really hard on the transitions. The Roots are doing a lot of real instrumentation. And Fallon and Timberlake are both aware that the spirits of the songs may clash with their personas yet at the same time seem to understand and respect them and it's fun and interesting seeing them try to within seconds sometimes milliseconds get into the head space of the next song and succeeding in taking on the affectations of their performers made the more obvious in their version of Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" when Justin breaks the fourth wall and calls Jimmy on some of the lines(7:30 of the YouTube video).
The commercial on the other hand is just a reference trying to take advantage of and make money off of something popular without understanding or respecting why it's popular. And that is kind of slap to the face of not just "The History of Rap" but the history of rap.
I HATE THIS.
I'm pretty much up for internet humor. But this, this is just stupid. The Meet The Spartans of commercials.
For those who don't know this is a "parody" of a series of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon parody segments called "The History of Rap" in which Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake sing medleys featuring some of the big hip hop hits of the last 30 years. And it "The History Rap" not the "History of Bromance" is absolutely brilliant.
When people speak in defense of the modern cut and paste culture made prevalent by the internet and digital technology. I can and do point to this and say I want a world where this is possible.
While it's hard to say that the segments are greater than the sum of their parts since "History of Rap" they go a long way in justifying their own existence and the use of someone else's work. And they do that and make that point by sampling music known for its sampling.
The performance itself is a real show probably taking real endurance on the part of Fallon and Timberlake. The songs they choose are really diverse meaning somebody had to work really hard on the transitions. The Roots are doing a lot of real instrumentation. And Fallon and Timberlake are both aware that the spirits of the songs may clash with their personas yet at the same time seem to understand and respect them and it's fun and interesting seeing them try to within seconds sometimes milliseconds get into the head space of the next song and succeeding in taking on the affectations of their performers made the more obvious in their version of Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" when Justin breaks the fourth wall and calls Jimmy on some of the lines(7:30 of the YouTube video).
The commercial on the other hand is just a reference trying to take advantage of and make money off of something popular without understanding or respecting why it's popular. And that is kind of slap to the face of not just "The History of Rap" but the history of rap.
Monday, June 16, 2014
I Need to Finish This
Yep before asking people for money for this thing, i.e. bank loans and Kickstarter I would want to finish this.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Revenge of Da Biz
Soooo yeah this is what I should probably be doing. Note I did this in like 4 hours so there are no formulas and it's really rough. This is basically a list of everything I could think of the blog needs. Also it looks better in excel.
Da Biz Strikes Back: Segregating Living and Business Expenses
So I don't know if you're getting this but that thing was a pseudo-business plan. Telling people exactly what you would do with money makes it all the more likely that they'll just give you the money if they want that stuff done. That's more or less the entire point of Kickstarter. I want to make this thing. You want this thing made. Let's do lunch.
As I already hinted at one of the main reasons why I just don't do that is that segregating the business from myself would be hard for a number of reasons.
Computers
So for almost as long as I can remember I've had a computer in my work space. As a kid it was neccisary for homework so there you go. I've never had a large place to live so my computer went in whichever room I spent the most time in, causing a chicken and egg philosophy question. Do I spend the most time there because that's where my computer is or is that where my computer is because that's where I spend the most time. I dunno.
All the same "work" i.e. most productive tasks would require a computer. A pretty sizable investment, especially considering a lot of the software is the same sort of stuff I would buy no matter what. Photoshop, Microsoft Office, you get the drill.
This would be all the more trouble later in life when when I might have multiple businesses operating out of the home. Do I really buy a web development computer, a fun computer, and a studio computer, all with common apps and software.
The same could be said for tablets and cell phones and all that good stuff.
Furniture
So I've never been a laptop guy. Sure if I had the money to buy whatever I want I would get a laptop and a desktop and a tablet oh my but in order to get a laptop to work the way I want I would have to stick a bunch of stuff to it that would eventually turn it into a desktop making the mobile point moot. Mouse, keyboard, microphone, external hard drive, camera, printer, scanner, heck maybe even a larger monitor. Disconnecting all that stuff would be a nightmare and a tower is just cheaper anyway.
But you can't have a desktop without a desktop. So there's that and all the stuff that goes with it.
And while I'm at it a bookcase for technical books and a file cabinet would be nice.
A TV
Yeah I know this might be controversial, but part of what I want to do is observe and write about culture so that's necessary and even if I were doing straight reporting I would want to keep an eye on news, and be able to watch important YouTube videos and streaming events on a second... well third screen.
So with that all the stuff connected to comes into play, a set top box or two and maybe a cable hookup for C-Span (and let's be honest and Comedy Central).
Couch
It would be a place for people visiting the office to have a seat and a place for me to lay down when I want to think or am pulling an all nighter.
Food Corner
What it sounds like a minifridge maybe microwave and storage for snacks, soda, coffee and stuff like that.
Apartment
This starts getting really nutty considering I would still like to work from home. I would in essence have two rooms that are clones of each other for the sole purpose of an abstract concept and maybe a tax write-off.
By the way probably for budgetary reasons calculate the expense of the work area as a proportion of floor space of the apartment and rent.
Accountability
All the same I really would want to be able to show investors and donors an itemized spreadsheet of what exactly their money bought through the quarter and year placed publicly and prominently on any website I maintained. In my head segregating living and business expenses is just kind of what makes a business a business but damn is it wasteful.
As I already hinted at one of the main reasons why I just don't do that is that segregating the business from myself would be hard for a number of reasons.
- A lot of the accounts I use for this blog are personal. YouTube in particular would be rough to migrate meaning probably a hundred or so man hours of downloading and re-uploading videos.
- Opening up the type of bank accounts I would need to just get going would take more money than I have.
- And the one I want to talk about now is that due to the fact that my ideal work space looks a lot like my ideal living space segregating the expenses would in essence mean buying two of everything and being the broke bastard I am that's really hard to justify
Computers
So for almost as long as I can remember I've had a computer in my work space. As a kid it was neccisary for homework so there you go. I've never had a large place to live so my computer went in whichever room I spent the most time in, causing a chicken and egg philosophy question. Do I spend the most time there because that's where my computer is or is that where my computer is because that's where I spend the most time. I dunno.
All the same "work" i.e. most productive tasks would require a computer. A pretty sizable investment, especially considering a lot of the software is the same sort of stuff I would buy no matter what. Photoshop, Microsoft Office, you get the drill.
This would be all the more trouble later in life when when I might have multiple businesses operating out of the home. Do I really buy a web development computer, a fun computer, and a studio computer, all with common apps and software.
The same could be said for tablets and cell phones and all that good stuff.
Furniture
So I've never been a laptop guy. Sure if I had the money to buy whatever I want I would get a laptop and a desktop and a tablet oh my but in order to get a laptop to work the way I want I would have to stick a bunch of stuff to it that would eventually turn it into a desktop making the mobile point moot. Mouse, keyboard, microphone, external hard drive, camera, printer, scanner, heck maybe even a larger monitor. Disconnecting all that stuff would be a nightmare and a tower is just cheaper anyway.
But you can't have a desktop without a desktop. So there's that and all the stuff that goes with it.
And while I'm at it a bookcase for technical books and a file cabinet would be nice.
A TV
Yeah I know this might be controversial, but part of what I want to do is observe and write about culture so that's necessary and even if I were doing straight reporting I would want to keep an eye on news, and be able to watch important YouTube videos and streaming events on a second... well third screen.
So with that all the stuff connected to comes into play, a set top box or two and maybe a cable hookup for C-Span (and let's be honest and Comedy Central).
Couch
It would be a place for people visiting the office to have a seat and a place for me to lay down when I want to think or am pulling an all nighter.
Food Corner
What it sounds like a minifridge maybe microwave and storage for snacks, soda, coffee and stuff like that.
Apartment
This starts getting really nutty considering I would still like to work from home. I would in essence have two rooms that are clones of each other for the sole purpose of an abstract concept and maybe a tax write-off.
By the way probably for budgetary reasons calculate the expense of the work area as a proportion of floor space of the apartment and rent.
Accountability
All the same I really would want to be able to show investors and donors an itemized spreadsheet of what exactly their money bought through the quarter and year placed publicly and prominently on any website I maintained. In my head segregating living and business expenses is just kind of what makes a business a business but damn is it wasteful.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
If I Were A Rich Man: Playing With Money 2: Da Biz
So last time I just kind of said business accounts and left it at that. What I didn't say is if I had those business accounts I would do the same things I would do with my personal accounts so lets do this.
Business Income Accounts
I have a couple ideas. I would like to have one overall grouping that I'll just for now collectively call enterprises split into multiple projects. Each project would have it's own set of accounts and all of them would include an income account. Again this would help keep track of how much money is actually rolling in. And provide a broad picture of how much is running out.
As for the blog if I had some straight up capital I would try to monetize in a couple of ways. Upgrading the website would make advertising a little easier so that's the obvious. Next up having actual bank accounts would allow for Kickstarter and donations. Beyond that I could also merchandise. I actually do have a logo and branding. Slap that on a t-shirt and sell it. Free marketing baby.
Furthermore if I had the money to do things in a more polished way I could do what everybody else does. Find some endorsements. Then of course I could also try a fundraising bash at the end of the year.
Go go Gatsby.
Like the personal accounts money would flow from the income account into expenditure accounts.
Fixed Cost Expenditure Account
Right now I cut a lot of corners to do this thing on the cheap cheap. But if I were doing this professionally there would be some costs. Web hosting being the most obvious. The primary reason I stick with blogger is because it's free. But it has a ton of problems. And I'm getting sick of it. But right now hosting and designing a new page is a hypothetical so I just sit on it.
Improvement Expenditure Account
This account would be for getting getting better equipment. And things that improve the blog overall. Better computers, software, recording equipment. Maybe even a studio.
Story Expenditure Account
So right now I'm going for low hanging fruit. But man I would like to earn my name. I would like to take on bigger stories and doing that would require budgeting. Realistic sitting down and before hand and going, how much do tickets cost, would staying in a hotel be practical, would travel be necessary, would I need to pay FOIA fees. Just map that stuff out and budget a certain number of "big" stories through the year with room for a couple unexpected ones and maybe some room for overage.
While I'm at it budgeting for copyright in this spot might be good too. Since I don't make money at this I'm kind of loosey goosey about it though I do have a framework that might make a good post in its own right. Still I ought to pay people.
Payroll Expenditure Account
Name on the tin. I make so little money that when I do an odd job here or there I don't feel particularly guilty putting the money in my pocket. Give me a bag of Doritos and 20 bucks. Doing things that way is starting to annoy me. I do stuff that I know for a fact other people make a living off of but the people around me act like I don't do squat.
No. No. No. No. No. No.
Here's an invoice. Pay the account. Later I get my cut out of a salary I pay myself.
BOOM!
And if I want to pay an artist for a photo or commission some art, or pay a writer that's cool too.
Tax Account
Guess what this pays.
Legal War Chest
The days of Calvary and swords are long past. To defend what is yours in this age ... you need a lawyer. And maybe an accountant.
Segregation of Operations
One thing keep all of this from happening is that some of my blog stuff stuff connected to my personal accounts. Blogger itself is easy enough to segregate and I would want regular webhosting eventually anyway but I might need to migrate all the YouTube stuff and that would be a chore.
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