Posted: 4/7/2007 3:09 PM
Post subject: TEM's Random Mini-Papers!
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theenglishman
Active player (348)
Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
PSX TASer of 2013
I've decided that, to further probe intellectual discussion on this thread, every now and then I'll post my opinion on something in recent or nearly-recent news, stupid concepts or anything in general. Please feel free to add your own thoughts to what I write, or even go against me. So, here's the first in my series: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We ♥ Stupidity “This game is shit. Not even regular shit. Putrid, roughed-up road kill diarrhea shit. I’d rather slurp diarrhea up a rhinoceros’ anus-hole.” Thus sayeth James Rolfe, a director for the Internet online community CineMassacre, as his alias, the Angry Nintendo Nerd. The Nerd’s videos, ripping into old (and bad) games on old video game consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System and Sega Genesis, Rolfe pokes fun at game reviewers who take their reviews too seriously, using excessive profanity and references to feces for deliberately cheap laughs, all the while downing pint after pint of Rolling Rock beer. The point is that his stuff is so stupid it’s hilarious. His videos inspired the work of several other online reviewers on YouTube, such as Armake21, UnderCoverFilmer and the Grumpy Gamer Bitch. In a recent interview with Blogcritics.org, Rolfe admitted, “When I first created the ‘Angry Nintendo Nerd’ [now known as the AVGN] in 2004, it was just an in-joke for my friends. I had no idea that so many other people would find it so amusing. These are targeted at mature gamers, people my age who grew up in the time of NES & SNES, but I guess everyone's interested in the past. Somehow, it just spread like wildfire. I abandoned most of my other film projects for the meantime, to try and keep up with the nerd videos, since people wanted more of it.” Rolfe should know why his kinds of videos are in such high demand. Deliberately stupid humour is hot. From the AVGN to modern radio commercials, media outlets are constantly using deliberately dumb and cheap laughs to reach their audiences. For some reason, humans love stupidity in one form or another. For example, popular films like Jackass show stupid people doing stupid things. Some of the most-viewed videos on YouTube consist of bails, falls and slapstick of people trying impossible stunts. We laugh at them to make ourselves feel more secure. However, there are limits to the level of stupidity which stupid ads can achieve. A recent ad by Sony promoting the PlayStation Portable shows a white teenager trying to rap, entitled “All I Want for Christmas is a PSP.” The ad, along with a painfully obvious fake blog (the now-removed http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com/blog/default.aspx), resulted in an uproar of protest against Sony, whose reputation had already taken a hit from several untruthful promises they made about the PlayStation 3. People like the AVGN use themselves as deliberate self-deprecation magnets. We love poking fun at other people. Their pain and suffering is oddly amusing. It’s a sick side of our nature, but it’s existent nonetheless. Thanks to people like Rolfe, we can indulge in our own sickest amusement at their expense. Thanks for the laughs.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/8/2007 9:46 AM
Post subject: Re: TEM's Random Mini-Papers!
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Kyrsimys
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Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
theenglishman wrote:
Some of the most-viewed videos on YouTube consist of bails, falls and slapstick of people trying impossible stunts. We laugh at them to make ourselves feel more secure.
How did you come to this conclusion? I wouldn't say that the reason I laugh at Jackass-stunts is that it makes me feel more secure. I just enjoy watching people hurt themselves.
Posted: 4/8/2007 3:43 PM
Post subject: Re: TEM's Random Mini-Papers!
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theenglishman
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Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
PSX TASer of 2013
Congratulations to Krysimys for finally starting up some conversation!
Kyrsimys wrote:
theenglishman wrote:
Some of the most-viewed videos on YouTube consist of bails, falls and slapstick of people trying impossible stunts. We laugh at them to make ourselves feel more secure.
How did you come to this conclusion?
A quick search on YouTube under "funny stunts" shows that of the top 20 results, at least half of them have over 3,000 views. One even has over 750,000 views.
Kyrsimys wrote:
I wouldn't say that the reason I laugh at Jackass-stunts is that it makes me feel more secure. I just enjoy watching people hurt themselves.
Have you ever thought, "Wow, those people are stupid! I wouldn't do something like that..." Jackass movies are a form of escapism. The intent is to use themselves as objects for laughter so we can ignore anything stupid that we do and focus on them instead. My next paper should be up tomorrow. It will be on a more serious topic, however...
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/8/2007 5:49 PM
Post subject: Re: TEM's Random Mini-Papers!
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Kyrsimys
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Finland
theenglishman wrote:
Congratulations to Krysimys for finally starting up some conversation!
Kyrsimys wrote:
theenglishman wrote:
Some of the most-viewed videos on YouTube consist of bails, falls and slapstick of people trying impossible stunts. We laugh at them to make ourselves feel more secure.
How did you come to this conclusion?
A quick search on YouTube under "funny stunts" shows that of the top 20 results, at least half of them have over 3,000 views. One even has over 750,000 views.
You misunderstood me a bit, my point wasn't that idiotic stunts aren't popular, it was that they don't make me feel any more secure in any way. And I don't quite sign your claim about escapism, I just really enjoy watching stupid people getting hurt. Looking forward to your next article.
Posted: 4/8/2007 8:38 PM
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theenglishman
Active player (348)
Joined: 3/21/2006
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Location: Toronto, Canada
PSX TASer of 2013
A less-serious article to tide you over: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Big Headed Mode Isn’t Just a Cheat Code Anymore I don’t understand why certain people in the entertainment industry think that their names will make them more money than their products. It’s as if they want to believe that it’s only them who will make money, and not the hundreds of other people working with them on any given project. Does ego really have to be this all-consuming, that bigwigs in business will want only their status to show everyone how to make greenbacks? Take game developer American McGee, for example. When he first started out in the game business, he immediately set to work on a huge project based on the Alice in Wonderland universe. Guess what he called it? American McGee’s Alice. And guess who whipped up all of the promotional hype and pre-release interviews? American McGee himself. Not a developer, not a representative from Electronic Arts (who financed the game), none of the humongous big-shots from EA who could have generated a lot of press – American McGee himself just had to promote a game with his name on it. And who could blame him? He had a head-turning name, he was a young, up-and-coming prospect in the business, and he was putting a dark and mature twist on classic literature to boot. But just what happened after Alice was released (to critical acclaim)? He continued to put his name on his games despite the fact that his presence was no longer needed to sell them. It also became harder for him to disenfranchise himself from terrible projects like American McGee’s Bad Day L.A. when it had his name on it. Sometimes, this ego-ridden self-admiration can work. Mel Gibson directed himself as the protagonist several times, including in Braveheart, which is one of my favourite movies for entertainment value (though not for historical accuracy). The only thing that really bothered me about the movie was Gibson’s insistence that he star as the main character. Do you mean to say that he couldn’t have found anyone else to play William Wallace? I’m sure there would be at least several hundred real Scotsmen who would jump at the chance to play such an historical figure. Why Gibson himself? Because, like in the case of American McGee, his name sells, though in a different way. Gibson was already an established filmmaker by the time he made Braveheart, so he didn’t have the whole “hot young talent” cachêt on his side. It still doesn’t make sense that he would want to be Wallace. If so, why didn’t he hire someone else to direct it and make Gibson seem less self-admiring? On the flip side, Alfred Hitchcock used his name in a self-deprecating fashion. Hitchcock would always use his name as a money-generator and then slam himself. Trailers that he made (most prominently, those for Psycho and The Birds) consisted of the big man giving tours of the set while cracking witty jokes. He banked on the two things he knew would make money: his name and self-deprecating comedy. For example, in his trailer for The Birds, he makes sarcastic comments about how we have always treated birds in the nicest fashion, while showing off objects like vulture-feather hats and eating turkey. It’s the best of British humour, and if I were alive at that time, I would have seen The Birds just because of that trailer, even if I had no idea who Hitchcock was. So you see, I just can’t fathom why people use their names to make money, unless they are doing so in a humourous fashion, rather than promoting their ego. Shouldn’t a brilliant movie or game or book be enough to sell millions? It doesn’t make sense to me, and it probably never will. Bankable stars should not have to use their own names to promote a film. It’s as if a movie or game is too ordinary to promote itself. Do we really need big-headed industry gurus to slap their names on products?
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/8/2007 10:39 PM
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Dromiceius
Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332
Shouldn’t a brilliant movie or game or book be enough to sell millions?
I don't think so. It'd be nice if it worked like that, but in practice, people like to avoid crap, and aren't willing to spend a whole lot of time researching the most worthwhile games, movies, etc. Here's a hypothetical situation: A malevolent, omnipotent genie gives you 30 minutes to live, and specifies that in that time you must watch one of two TAS movies awaiting judgment on the workbench. You can choose either: JXQ's "Journey to Silius" in 30:00 or, Dromiceius' "Superterrific Action Joyride (U)" in 30:00 Assuming you've never seen either movie and never heard of either game, do you think you'd pick the familiar, well-established JXQ, or the obscure and possibly incompetent Dromiceius? I think it's justifiable to employ a little name-dropping, since it usually helps cut the chaff from the wheat.
Sometimes, this ego-ridden self-admiration can work.
As an aside, you make some of inferences in this paragraph that I didn't buy, and you didn't (and probably can't) adequately back up. That is, I have no reason to believe that you know anything in particular about the inner workings of Mel Gibson's mind.
Posted: 4/9/2007 12:30 AM
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theenglishman
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Joined: 3/21/2006
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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I doubt Mel Gibson himself knows what goes on in his head sometimes.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/9/2007 1:35 AM
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Bag_of_Magic_Food
He/Him
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Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Dromiceius wrote:
JXQ's "Journey to Silius" in 30:00 or, Dromiceius' "Superterrific Action Joyride (U)" in 30:00
Superterrific action joyride? That sounds like a fun time! JXQ loses the fun game name contest.
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Posted: 4/10/2007 12:54 AM
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pdk
Player (52)
Joined: 1/6/2007
Posts: 68
up-and-coming artists usually get nowhere precisely because they're up-and-coming, you gotta consider that the market (at least in the us) is made up mostly of average joes who buy games on payday and is not 80% anime fansubbers or whatever; plus these up-and-coming artists usually don't have the cash to throw around and get more than like 2 or 3 copies of their games in print or any decent advertising (you get the point) and on a side note i like TEM's name, it reminds me of tam-tam
Posted: 4/10/2007 3:21 AM
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theenglishman
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Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
PSX TASer of 2013
A quick note to those who slam me for lack of evidence: these papers are meant to be editorials, not solid fact. I welcome anyone who wants to oppose (or support) my opinions, but please don't say that I give no evidence to back anything up because a) I don't try to back up any of my claims AND b) I don't care.
pdk wrote:
and on a side note i like TEM's name, it reminds me of tam-tam
Thank you. My next paper will be on potential theories of why some people become so attached to fictional characters that they grieve for them when they die as much as - or more so than - a real person (yes, I know several who wept openly when Dumbledore was killed; I myself yelled at my copy of Half-Blood Prince and threw it down in disgust).
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/10/2007 3:27 AM
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Boco
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Joined: 3/30/2004
Posts: 1354
Location: Heather's imagination
So your next rant is about moe, and your current avatar is about ocarinas.
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster. I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
Posted: 4/10/2007 3:34 AM
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theenglishman
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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Boco wrote:
So your next rant is about moe, and your current avatar is about ocarinas.
Not just any ocarinas, sweet potato ocarinas!
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/10/2007 1:53 PM
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Boco
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Joined: 3/30/2004
Posts: 1354
Location: Heather's imagination
theenglishman wrote:
Boco wrote:
So your next rant is about moe, and your current avatar is about ocarinas.
Not just any ocarinas, sweet potato ocarinas!
I own a sweet potato ocarina. The single octave rage is really annoying but it has a nice sound and is easy to play.
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster. I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
Posted: 4/10/2007 6:24 PM
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mmbossman
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Joined: 11/18/2006
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GBx TAS of 2008
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
Dromiceius wrote:
JXQ's "Journey to Silius" in 30:00 or, Dromiceius' "Superterrific Action Joyride (U)" in 30:00
Superterrific action joyride? That sounds like a fun time! JXQ loses the fun game name contest.
JXQ never loses, he just lets you think you've won. If he lost, he wouldn't have an "I love JXQ" fanclub, he'd just be another mere mortal.
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Posted: 4/10/2007 7:31 PM
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pdk
Player (52)
Joined: 1/6/2007
Posts: 68
Boco wrote:
So your next rant is about moe
Posted: 4/10/2007 8:06 PM
(Edited: 4/10/2007 8:18 PM)
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VirtualAlex
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 464
Location: Minnesota
What the heck! I was just going to make a post about the first topic and we are already 10 posts into the 2nd one? I was going to comment on Kyrsimys saying it doesn't him a sense of security. I would like to challenge you about this statement. Why do you really watch people hurting themselves. To laugh? But why is it funny? Why is it fun to laugh at other people's misfortune? I think it is indeed because it makes us feel better about our lives. The thing is a person will usually not say something like that about themselves, but will attribute it to others. For example everyone thinks they are a better than average poker players, and everyone thinks everyone else is a horrible poker player ("everyone" is a general term here). In the same way I say "People watch people get hurt to make themselves feel better, but I don't watch for that reason." I feel this is what you are doing when you are saying thats not why you watch them. The reason isn't so explicit as "this is why" but deep down, that is why seeing other people fall and get hurt is amusing. In response to the seconds (very nice title by the way) Don't forget the biggest douche of them all M. Knight Shamlyyan (I don't care how it's spelled, he isn't worth that much respect) his name on the title of the movie gives the whole plot away instantly: "Nothing is as it seems, there WILL BE a plot twist in the end." But I don't think American McGee or Mel Gibson made the choices they made because they thought it would make more money. I think they where just really excited about thier products. If you watch Braveheart with commentary, you can see that Gibson was really into this project, and he wanted to play the biggest role in it he could, and he did pretty much everything and ended up winning best picture. Braveheart was an excellent film, and even though he could have found some Scott to play Wallace, why should he? He gave an excellent performance. I never played Alice so I can't comment, except to say that it was HIS vision and he wanted to put it out there. Names are a big deal though because proven names give out consistent results. Or at least are perceived to. Take Steven Spielberg for example. He has made some total garbage movies in his time. But still anytime he touches a movie it's super hyped up. Thats because he has tons of experience, and excellent movies under his belt. It's the reason corporations dominate. If you could get a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or at Dilberts Coffee Shop, most people will choose Starbucks, because they can count on it to be consistant with the coffee they drink in thier Starbucks at work.
JXQ's biggest fan.
Posted: 4/10/2007 8:10 PM
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CtrlAltDestroy
Active player (328)
Joined: 2/23/2005
Posts: 786
Sometimes, adding your name to the title of something just gives it more of a ring. I'm not quite sure why you keep referring to sarcasm as self-depreciating humor.
Posted: 4/10/2007 8:20 PM
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VirtualAlex
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 464
Location: Minnesota
I have a good topic for a mini paper like this. Although it has nothing to do with media at all. Should I start a different topic? Or should I just forget all about it? it's about salt and pepper, if that matters.
JXQ's biggest fan.
Posted: 4/10/2007 8:28 PM
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theenglishman
Active player (348)
Joined: 3/21/2006
Posts: 940
Location: Toronto, Canada
PSX TASer of 2013
Go ahead. I encourage open discussion in this topic about anything. As promised, here is my fictional-character grief editorial. This also incedentally happens to be my 300th post :). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dumbledore’s Dead! Noooooooooooooooooo! I don’t know why, but I always feel a stronger connection towards fictional characters than I do to actual people. It’s a sad trait which I have, but it’s true. I feel especially close when one of them dies. For example, in Pan’s Labyrinth, I jumped out of my seat and started yelling at the screen when the main protagonist, Ofelia, was shot and killed. There is also – I am not making this up – a grief counselling hotline which going to be set up in the UK that will help readers deal with the deaths in the newest Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, set for release in mid-July. I’m going to try and dissect why such connections can be connected between viewers/readers and people who do not actually exist. My first theory is that of perfect character development. Grief is never an easy thing to deal with. It’s even worse to deal with when someone’s death is deliberately timed and built up to garner the greatest amount of emotion from it. In literature, authors deliberately develop their characters so that readers can identify with them. Usually these characters are stereotypical exaggerations or truly deep and complex characters that one can still feel sympathy for. It’s part of how authors get their readers into their stories. The same kind of method applies to films as well, though this kind of connection is enhanced even further by the fact that you actually see your characters go through the steps. This added element of trickery, showing the character as “real” in front of you, makes it even more painful when they die. Another theory I have is that this connection is another deeper layer in the elements of escapism. We connect with fictional characters in a fictional world because we want to be further immersed in this world that the author/director has laid out for us. Understanding the characters means fully understanding the universe. Even in anti-escapist books or films, like Double Indemnity, you can still connect with characters as part of a full emersion into this alternate universe. My last theory is that of caring and sympathy. The characters are so likable that one can’t help but feel for them like one would for a real person. This would also explain why one feels hatred towards antagonists and detestable characters. Good acting helps this illusion for films, while smart dialogue helps for books. For example, Forest Whitaker’s portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland sent shivers down my spine because a) his performance was very, very good AND b) he was able to slowly make the transition between acting benevolent and evil once he had gained the trust of the protagonist, Dr. Gallagher. We want to scream out to Gallagher, warn him that the man he has just befriended will turn on him, but we cannot, because the audience has no effect on the static performances of a film. This sense of hopelessness, of desperate cries of warning to no avail, also helps create a connection. When we escape to another world, we expect the characters within it to be protected from harm. And once they die, we feel like a hole has been cut out in our hearts. We have been given a slap in the face, a reminder that nowhere is completely safe.
My current project: Something mysterious (oooooh!) My username is all lower-case letters. Please get it right :(
Posted: 4/11/2007 1:22 AM
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VirtualAlex
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 464
Location: Minnesota
OMFG SPOILER WARNING PLEASE! Just kidding but seriously some peple take that stuff ... seriously.
JXQ's biggest fan.