Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

I had meant to post about this a couple of days ago, but for some reason it slipped my mind...

Anyway, a friend and co-worker of mine, by the name of Joe Mall, has got a band called "paYne".

They're really pretty good in a hard rock kind of way and they're actually getting some attention. With the help of a friend at a major record label, they've got a demo CD put together that they'll be sending out, and they're getting gigs too! It's pretty exciting.

Check out their site right here: paYne



They've got a blog, and MP3 clips of some of their songs. Check it out!

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I haven't commented publicly on Tom Cruise and his recent wackiness here, so let me just state briefly that, as an actor, I like him a lot. I think he's great, and the key is that he is extremely charming and charismatic.

That said, Scientology, more specifically, the Church of Scientology is an extremely scary organization. Read all about it at Operation Clambake.

Further, Tom Cruise apparently fired his old long-time publicist and replaced her with his sister.

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Bad move, Tom. At least in the sense that your old publicist kept you seeming like an appealing movie star and not so much like a crazy person.

That said, this video is something you all really need to watch. It is not the clip from the Matt Lauer show, it's... well, you just need to watch.

Click here to watch it.
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Neal Stephanson has an interesting Op-Ed in the NYTimes Online today.

He discusses changing culture using the Star Wars films as an example. He defines "Geeking Out" and "Vegging Out" as follows:

Modern English has given us two terms we need to explain this phenomenon: "geeking out" and "vegging out." To geek out on something means to immerse yourself in its details to an extent that is distinctly abnormal - and to have a good time doing it. To veg out, by contrast, means to enter a passive state and allow sounds and images to wash over you without troubling yourself too much about what it all means.

He observes that the recent Star Wars Episode III contains a number of plot points that do not make much sense unless the viewer has seen a number of other supplemental materials. (The novelization, or the Clone Wars cartoon, for example.) Yet people who have not seen these supplemental materials don't sit and scratch their heads about who owns the ship that Anakin and Obi-Wan infiltrate in the opening sequence. Instead, they just "Veg Out" and enjoy the action.

From this observation, he suggests that whereas movies used to contain both "geek out" and "veg out" content, the recent movies have had all their "geek out" content outsourced to supplemental areas, so that the films themselves are left with nothing but "veg out" content.

I certainly agree with his initial observation, but I dispute his conclusion that this is driven by the public's desire to veg out and not have to think during their entertainment. While this may be the desire of some, I think that the real driving force for this is not one of increasing simplicity, but rather one of increasing complexity.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding his intention with the essay, but if he wants to claim that the original trilogy contains more intellectual content than the prequels, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. Whatever criticisms one might want to make about the prequels, overly simplistic is not one of them.

He seems to suggest that the intent is to please both the main-stream and the geeks by moving the "geek" content out of the film itself so that the geek contingent can still find it, but so that the mass public doesn't have to be burdened by it. While there may be some truth to that, I think that the larger phenomenon is that, with the advent of DVD, (Hollywood makes WAY more money on DVD sales than ticket sales, btw,) movie studios now have a financial incentive to make stories that invite repeated viewings.

The intent then, is not to "dumb down" the viewing experience for the mass public, but rather to make a film that, while it can be enjoyed on a single viewing, actually rewards the viewer who watches it more than once, and buys the Clone Wars DVD and "Art of..." books. This holds true for non-Star Wars media too.

Check out my earlier post on Stephen Johnson's book, Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today's Pop Culture is Making Us Smarter. In that book, he makes the case, (pretty persuasively, I might add,) that pop culture is being driven toward increasing complexity by market forces. A TV show that is more complex and with a richer texture will inspire more repeated viewings and more purchases on DVD. A simple "easy" show where you just "veg out" while watching may be entertaining for an evening, but how likely are you to buy it on DVD?

Same goes for the Star Wars prequels. Now, whether or not you feel they were successful in this attempt, I think that the intent is clear. The prevalence of supplemental materials is not to outsource the geek content and make the viewing experience easier for the masses, in order to simply increase ticket sales. It is to make the entire Star Wars experience a richer one. If the story is complex enough that it rewards further study, (i.e. purchasing supplemental books and DVDs) then the studio makes more money that way.

That's what I think anyway.

The New York Times Online has a good article up about Hayao Miyazaki.

If you don't already know, he's basically the best animation director working today. (I might even suggest that he's the best ever.) His films are consistently wonderful, and I don't use that word lightly.

Of his eight feature films that I've seen, (I haven't seen his newest, Howl's Moving Castle, because it is only in limited release with a wider release scheduled for this Friday,) each and every one of them is simply breathtaking.

Even my least favorite (Princess Mononoke,) is fantastic. It is only the least due to issues of personal taste, rather than any deficit in quality. It's a brilliantly created film, it just doesn't mesh as well with my own likes and dislikes as his other films. It's a story set in feudal Japan, about a young man who seeks to find the source of a curse that is driving the animal spirits mad. His journey leads him to two women, one a leader who strives to serve her people with compassion, even at the cost of the environment, and another who is so in touch with nature that she has rejected her very humanity.

The next four:

(Castle of Cagliostro is a wild, joyful adventure movie about Lupin III, a world-renowned (and infamous) thief. Check out my review.

Castle in the Sky, follows a young boy as he tries to solve the mystery of a girl who simply floats down to him out of the sky. Features tremendous action (Robots! Giant airships! A chase on elevated train tracks!), plenty of slapstick and some really amazing sights.

Porco Rosso is about a dashing Seaplane pilot who is torn between his love for a beautiful woman and the feelings of isolation that come from being the last surviving member of his unit. And oh yeah, he has the head of a pig. Check out my review.

Kiki's Delivery Service) a charming coming-of-age story about a young witch who must move to a new town and make a name for herself, so she decides to start a business delivering packages on her broom.

I absolutely love each of these and would strongly recommend them to anyone.

The remaining three...

To say I love them would be an understatement, because we sometimes use that word cheaply, as in, "I love that Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwich!"

Those three films, well, I treasure them. Not only do I love watching them, but they continue to live in my head and my heart long after I've last seen them. I could sit and watch them over and over again in one sitting and never get bored.

My Neighbor Totoro is a simple story about two girls moving to a new house with their father, so they can be closer to the hospital where their mother is staying. The reasons for the move are sad, but they are determined to make the best of things, and things become magical when the younger sister discovers that the nearby woods are inhabited by a family of "Totoro", magical creatures that ride the wind and make things grow. Equally suitable for small children or adults, it's a wonderful fable about the importance of a sense of wonder.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a far-future sci-fantasy about striving to protect the important things while surrounded by a storm of adversity. Check out my review.

Spirited Away is the story of a spoiled crybaby of a girl who discovers more strength and courage within herself than she ever could have imagined when her family stumbles upon a bath house for spirits and her parents are turned into pigs. Check out my review...

Anyone who likes movies should make a strong effort to see at least those three. You may not love them like I do, but I doubt you'll regret seeing them. For that matter, you wouldn't regret seeing the others either.

Anyway, one of the things I really enjoy about his films is the moral complexity. Even when someone is in the wrong, that doesn't make them a "bad guy". Many of his films don't even include any sort of antagonist at all.

The NY Times article has a great section:

His power to enchant can seem unlimited - the wizards, witches and sorcerers who bedevil, beguile and befriend his heroes are less his alter egos than his kinfolk - but it arises from and communicates an equally powerful sense of disenchantment.

It is not that Mr. Miyazaki's films are pessimistic, exactly; being fairy tales, they do arrive at happy endings. ("I'm not going to make movies that tell children, 'You should despair and run away,' " he said.) But the route he chooses toward happiness can be troubling, perhaps especially to an American audience that expects sentimental affirmations based on clear demarcations between good and evil. The division of the world into heroes and villains is a habit Mr. Miyazaki regards with suspicion. "The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it - I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it's rotten," he said. "This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics, it's hopeless."

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But it may just be that he reveals, in his quiet, moving, haunted pictures, the hidden senses of the word "animation," which after all means not only to set things in motion, but also, more profoundly, to bring them to life.

His films are about people learning the values of courage, compassion, and wisdom. They are uplifting and a little sad, all at the same time. And he does it all with a true sense of wonder.

So I'm really looking forward to Howl's Moving Castle. I'd encourage all of you to seek that one out, as well as picking up a few of his other films on DVD. They're really quite wonderful.

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Are you aware of the 30-Second Bunny Theater?

They do famous movies in just 30 seconds. Re-enacted by bunnies.

They've got a new one up: Pulp Fiction

Also, if you haven't already, check out their others. They are Hi-larious.

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