playing

Tim Schafer may be the funniest guy in video games. His resumé of classic adventures like The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and the later cult favorite Psychonauts have put him on the short list of designers whose name alone can draw an audience. He’s also one of the few people to put as much thought into game writing as level designing, penning dialogue as memorable as the strange worlds his characters inhabit.

So the potential of a heavy metal fantasy epic with a script by Schafer and Jack Black as the lead character — a match made in metal heaven — rightfully put Brütal Legend among this year’s most anticipated releases. But sadly, though there are moments of brilliance, the final result is more of a charming jumble than the instant classic it could have been. The biggest problem being that the game has too many ideas, with individual elements fighting against each other and preventing it from coalescing into a satisfying whole.

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watching

A few weeks ago now, I decided to start a little experiment: a simple regimen to combat the twin menaces of backlog and beer gut. Hop on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes every single day, and watch a movie every single night (see first post here for further explanation).

Week four is now complete. As I write this, since the posts do have a few days lag time, I’ve officially completed the full month I set out to do. And surprisingly, it’s been a lot easier than expected. Aside from the occasional night of starting too late and fighting not to doze off, or the occasional sore calf muscle in the morning, it’s a totally manageable commitment.

In fact, I feel like I’m just getting started. The progress on my fitness is only now starting to show a bit in that morning mirror assessment; the Netflix queue that started around 250 is inching a lot closer to 200. Sure, it might be nice to have an extra couple hours a night to divert to video games or comic books or catching up on the DVR I’ve been neglecting, but it also seems too soon to give up. For now, I’m contemplating making it a 50-day drive instead of just the 30 I’ve already got behind me. Or maybe Modern Warfare 2 will arrive next week and both fitness and films will take a backseat.

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watching

Each year, one of my favorite traditions is to watch the media’s excitement when Saturday Night Live picks its new cast members. They link to grainy footage of them on YouTube, shot at college talent shows and small nightclubs, where they demonstrate the four celebrity impersonations they’re going to wear into the ground over their televised careers. We hear how they’re all double-threats, because they’re also incredible writers. Then the actual season starts, we see them in action, and 9 out of 10 times, their contributions to the show totally suck.

I recently was over at a friend’s apartment and was surprised to find that he’d taped that week’s episode. Whether it was the twelve-pack each, or the suburban ennui, we said what the hell and decided to watch it. What followed was such a grim, humorless atrocity I could hardly believe it was televised under the label of entertainment; it was as ABC’s genial TGIF lineup had been preempted to show documentary footage of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The problem was the weakness of the writing. The episode I saw veered from the dull recitation of current events in what was billed as an impression but delivered in the actor’s natural voice, to the old favorite of combining two disparate pop cultural references and then stuffing them full of admittedly accurate but not particularly insightful celebrity impressions, to a fake news component that took an entire week to create yet was less funny than any given night of The Daily Show or Colbert Report. Hell, there were TWO fake game shows: it was lazy, lazy, lazy.

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watching

A few weeks ago now, I decided to start a little experiment: a simple regimen to combat the twin menaces of backlog and beer gut. Hop on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes every single day, and watch a movie every single night (see first post here for further explanation).

By week three, there have been some noticeable effects. To work up the same sweat on the treadmill, I had to bump up the incline a couple notches. Similarly, I’ve raised my selection standards a bit, trying harder to seek out movies I’ll really enjoy or at least have a strong enough opinion to make them worth discussing here. When making a time commitment equal to two work days per week, there really isn’t room for many Hancocks.

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watching

Two weeks ago, I decided to start a little experiment: a simple regimen to combat the twin menaces of backlog and beer gut. Hop on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes every single day, and watch a movie every single night (see first post here for further explanation).

The first week went swimmingly. I saw several great movies and was feeling energized physically. But of course, as with any attempt at a new routine, things get off to a strong start, and then you run into hurdles after the initial burst of enthusiasm. It’s easy to fit in a movie every night when you’re having a slow week. You’re certainly more in the mood to sit down for a movie when you haven’t been watching many lately. Just like it’s easy to motivate yourself to head to the gym when you’re well rested and itching for some activity.

But week two required a bit more will power. As an on-again, off-again gym-goer my form is far from perfect, my stretching probably inadequate, and so my legs began feeling the effects in terms of soreness and fatigue. At the same time, a delay in disc turnaround blocked me from seeing the films I wanted, possibly thanks to the infamous account throttling due to my rapid increase in Netflix activity, and I was forced to make due with the reduced choices on their Watch Instantly list.

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watching

First, a little background on this whole ‘Mile and a Movie’ project.

As an experiment, I’ve decided on a simple regimen to combat the twin menaces of backlog and beer gut. Hop on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes every single day, and watch a movie every single night. Go for at least a month — assuming I can last that long — and see where I stand.

With such a rigorous schedule, there’s naturally a lot to talk about, so I started with a few short thoughts on individual films (see that post here). But watching so many in succession, I was also struck with some higher-level observations that go a bit deeper into trends, patterns and implications, which I opted to separate into its own post here.

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watching

As we get older, with more responsibilities and less leisure time, we may notice little things starting to slip. Two prime examples: an ever-lengthening Netflix queue and a slowly expanding waistline. Where our younger selves had the diligence and freedom to stay on top of gym schedules and movie rentals, both pursuits get harder to maintain as careers and relationships grow more demanding.

So as an experiment, I decided on a simple regimen to combat the twin menaces of backlog and beer gut. Hop on the treadmill for at least 20 minutes every single day, and watch a movie every single night. Then after a month — assuming I can last that long — see what kind of progress has been made, whether it’s worth keeping up, or if I never want to see a pair of running shoes or red envelopes again.

The plan is also to check in every week with some observations and reviews. So far, without the benefit of a bathroom scale — they’ve always seemed like tools of the devil — it’s hard to sense much physical change. Though surprisingly, the routine hasn’t been as painful as a reluctant gym-goer might imagine. No fatigue or soreness, just more sweaty laundry to take care of. However, a surprise side-effect of seeing a lot of movies in a row has emerged: it’s much easier to notice patterns and make interesting comparisons.

With such a rigorous schedule, there’s sure to be lots to say, so I’ll start with a few short thoughts on individual films, and follow up shortly with some higher-level observations that go a bit deeper (see that post here).

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podcasts

Here we are, back on a fairly regular schedule. I knew we could do it. A few quick things before the show notes though.

First, we’re still not rated in iTunes. That means not enough listeners have gone to the enormous trouble of clicking on the appropriate number of stars. So please, if you have a split second, give us a grade on how you think we’re doing. If you have more than a split second, maybe even write a review?

We also came up with a great idea on the fly while recording this episode. Instead of us being the only ones talking, if we let you know some of the things we might discuss on the next episode, people would have a chance to check out them out ahead of time and write in thoughts or questions for us to discuss. So if you want to play along for episode 7, potential topics include :

The Beatles: Rock Band

Big Fan

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

If you’d like to join the conversation, you can always leave comments here, or email brian@under-culture.com with questions, opinions, etc. This week was our first listener email and it made for some fun conversation, so we’d love to have a few more.

We hope you enjoy this week’s episode…

Download The Under Culture Podcast: #6 - I Would Cross a Clown

Subscribe in iTunes for automatic updates.

(Show notes below…)

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side notes

We here at Under Culture are all in favor of new technology. We’re on the Twitter. We dig the DVR. We play online games. Have you heard our podcast? New media is fun. It expands on what’s possible, and for art, that’s a good thing.

Someone still needs to explain the idea of motion comics though, mostly because it doesn’t seem to create new possibilities for art as much as it does for commerce. Sure, it’s one more place to sell a book — I can hear the marketing department now, saying, “We gotta get ‘em on the iPhone! The iTunes! The HuluTube!” — but in all honesty, how does this serve anyone but their accountants?

I mention this because one of my favorite series of the past few years, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men, is getting the motion comic treatment next month. And I have to say I’m less than thrilled.

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watching

Robert Siegel made a name for himself by writing last year’s low-budget powerhouse, The Wrestler. Helped by Darren Aronofsky’s skillful direction and an outstanding performance by Mickey Rourke, that film movingly portrayed how someone might continue to love something even as it slowly destroys him. For washed-up wrestler Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, the high of performing is akin to a drug. Despite the pain, the scars, and the shitty pay, we can almost see why he does it; it’s the only thing he truly loves, has ever been good at, and which makes him feel like he’s worth a damn. His passion for wrestling may have turned him into “a broken down piece of meat”, but it’s also what’s sustained him for this long, and he’d rather burn out in the spotlight than fade away in the shadows.

Though the story of a crumbling sports star is both heartbreaking and powerful, it’s not something everyday sports fans can relate to on a personal level. Same for fans of film, music, competitive Donkey Kong playing, or anything else. Stories like The Wrestler fascinate us precisely because most of us will never feel the high of performing for a roaring crowd. We’ll never know what it’s like to be adored for our talent. Most of us are at the other end of the equation, among the throngs that pledge that love to our favorite entertainers.

By focusing on the outsiders’ perspective, Big Fan is like the flip side to The Wrestler: a story of what it means to unconditionally love something bigger than ourselves. Where The Ram’s story is about an addiction to life in the spotlight, Paul Aufiero’s is about a working class brand of loyalty that looks an awful lot like religion, and all the contradictions that entails.

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