I can't recall if I've blogged about italo disco in the past or not. I'm a fan of the stuff; but let's face it, in most of the Anglophone world, nobody even recognizes what it is. I only discovered its existance when I lived in Argentina for a couple of years (1991-1993) and by that time, honestly, it was already old news.
Italo disco is basically a linear descendent of actual disco music. By the mid-80s it had developed into something that can be distinguishable as a seperate subgenre all its own. Italo disco is characterized, usually, by having a steady, danceable beat (usually performed by a drum machine), and rather spacey, overtly analog synthesizer based sounds. Its almost all continental European; Italians (not surprisingly) and Spaniards making up a fairly large number of the artists. Although native English speakers rarely dabbled in the genre, most of it features English lyrics, often performed by singers who are clearly barely (if that) proficient in the language. Although some have a bit of a darker sound, mostly the genre is upbeat, peppy and poppy. The best way to describe it is simply that it's fairly cheesy synthpop of mid-80s vintage from non-Anglophone countries.
Only one true italo disco song is well-known to Americans and the British, and that's Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" although some few sources also list Laura Branigan (of "Gloria" fame) as either italo disco or Hi-NRG, and Taffy's "I Love My Radio" was also popular in the UK, if still unknown in the US. Hi-NRG is a linear descendant of italo disco and it is often difficult to make a meaningful distinction between the two save that Hi-NRG (also known as Eurobeat) usually hasa higher BPM (Beat Per Minute). Hi-NRG has at least one band that was a genuine hit in the US: Dead or Alive of "Brand New Lover" (and others) fame.
I'm certainly not a fan of italo disco because it's serious music, with impressive claims to musicallity and artistic merit; I just think the stuff is fun. Like I said, I encountered it in Argentina, a few years after its heyday, when I found some old cassette tapes by mix artists Gapul, who created a series of "megamixes"—songs that contained fragments of numerous other songs strung together. After trying (with quite a bit of difficulty until recently, when the global internet made such things a little bit easier) to track down the tracks singly, I've managed—slowly—to build up a modest collection of some of the best that the genre has to offer.
To hear some cool italo tracks without going to all the trouble that I did, you could check out Youtube.
Here's Brian Ice's "Talking to the Night"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtQeFshXAxs
Here's Ken Lazlo's "Tonight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFwjTefo_bg
Here's Den Harrow's "Future Brain"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiABmaH6LLE
Here's Sandy Marton's "People From Ibiza"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrdShjy53Y8
While this can't possibly be the original video, here's Hot Cold's "Love Is Like a Game." Mistitled in this video, sadly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XGhO-jVYmI
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Classics
Over the last few days, Julie and I have been watching a bunch of older movies. Classics, really. Stuff that everybody knows of, most people have seen, yet which we haven't seen in so long that our memories of the movies are hazy, or movies that we inexplicably missed over the years.
So far, I watched Casablanca and The Philadelphia Story with Julie, and then I watched High Society on my own. I'm not actually sure that High Society is a classic in the same sense; I don't know if it's well remembered or well-known today. I also don't know how I missed it; it was clearly one of my father's favorite movies ever; he watched it frequently as we grew up, and played the soundtrack (on vinyl!) all the time as well. So I knew all the songs, even though I hadn't ever seen the movie.
For those of you who don't know, it was a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story; which was itself a pretty famous movie starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart—in fact, it's Jimmy Stewart's only Best Actor Oscar.
That it's a musical isn't surprising when you notice that they cast Bing Crosby in the Cary Grant role and Frank Sinatra in the Jimmy Stewart role. In fact, it was the first (and one of the very few) times that the two of them were on screen together, singing together. Frank Sinatra was purportedly wooed to the part for the opportunity just to sing that duet ("Well Did You Evah?" being the duet in question.)
It's disappointing to me that neither The Philadelphia Story nor High Society is really the definitive take on the story, though. High Society is more modern, in color, and features that absolutely superb Grace Kelly in the lead femme role—in her last role, as it turns out; she was already married and was Princess Grace of Monaco by the time the movie hit theaters, and the engagement ring "prop" she used in the movie was her actual engagement ring—(Grace Kelly is probably my favorite star of the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, and probably my favorite actress ever; although Ingrid Bergman and Olivia de Havilland give her some stiff competition) and the songs are top-notch, giving this movie an edge over its predecessor in that regard. I did enjoy the cast and chemistry between them more too; particularly between Crosby and Kelly, where I thought Grant and Hepburn strangely enough didn't hit a good chemistry. Considering all the times they played opposite each other, that was kinda bizarre, but maybe I'm biased—I've never really liked Katherine Hepburn that much.
However, the plot and character development is severely truncated (maybe in the interest of adding all the songs without dramatically increasing the running time? Actually the run times are within a minute of each other, which is kinda funny.) Be that as it may, the movie felt rushed and without sufficient motivation and character development, some of the plot developments would have seemed inexplicably dense if I hadn't just seen The Philadelphia Story a few nights earlier so I could fill in the gaps.
So far, I watched Casablanca and The Philadelphia Story with Julie, and then I watched High Society on my own. I'm not actually sure that High Society is a classic in the same sense; I don't know if it's well remembered or well-known today. I also don't know how I missed it; it was clearly one of my father's favorite movies ever; he watched it frequently as we grew up, and played the soundtrack (on vinyl!) all the time as well. So I knew all the songs, even though I hadn't ever seen the movie.
For those of you who don't know, it was a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story; which was itself a pretty famous movie starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart—in fact, it's Jimmy Stewart's only Best Actor Oscar.
That it's a musical isn't surprising when you notice that they cast Bing Crosby in the Cary Grant role and Frank Sinatra in the Jimmy Stewart role. In fact, it was the first (and one of the very few) times that the two of them were on screen together, singing together. Frank Sinatra was purportedly wooed to the part for the opportunity just to sing that duet ("Well Did You Evah?" being the duet in question.)
It's disappointing to me that neither The Philadelphia Story nor High Society is really the definitive take on the story, though. High Society is more modern, in color, and features that absolutely superb Grace Kelly in the lead femme role—in her last role, as it turns out; she was already married and was Princess Grace of Monaco by the time the movie hit theaters, and the engagement ring "prop" she used in the movie was her actual engagement ring—(Grace Kelly is probably my favorite star of the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, and probably my favorite actress ever; although Ingrid Bergman and Olivia de Havilland give her some stiff competition) and the songs are top-notch, giving this movie an edge over its predecessor in that regard. I did enjoy the cast and chemistry between them more too; particularly between Crosby and Kelly, where I thought Grant and Hepburn strangely enough didn't hit a good chemistry. Considering all the times they played opposite each other, that was kinda bizarre, but maybe I'm biased—I've never really liked Katherine Hepburn that much.
However, the plot and character development is severely truncated (maybe in the interest of adding all the songs without dramatically increasing the running time? Actually the run times are within a minute of each other, which is kinda funny.) Be that as it may, the movie felt rushed and without sufficient motivation and character development, some of the plot developments would have seemed inexplicably dense if I hadn't just seen The Philadelphia Story a few nights earlier so I could fill in the gaps.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Imaro
I've recently got my hands (via Interlibrary Loan) on the reprinted Imaro "novel"; really a collection of short-stories laced together as a pseudo-narrative. This was initially published some twenty-five odd years ago and failed for a variety of reasons (some of them coincidental, some of them due to the poor marketing strategy of the publisher, DAW books—for some reason nobody wants to say that the quality of the books themselves might be a factor.) They've recently been republished in trade paperback form by a small-press company, Night Shade books. http://www.nightshadebooks.com/
Anyway, I'm somewhat amused by the writer, publisher, and friend who wrote the introduction (none other than Charles De Lint) making the claims that Imaro was something really unique and extraordinary, that it specifically was not Tarzan and Conan, but black, because... honestly, that's exactly what it is.
Charles Saunders (the author) does for Africa what Robert E. Howard did for Europe and the Near East with the Hyborian Age, and for pretty much the same reason; so he can get the benefit of alluding (wink, wink) to real life cultures without feeling constrained to get every little detail right, as well as allowing him to freely mix and match cultures that in reality did not coexist at the same time. Sadly, Saunders, convinced he was doing something really unique in doing it for Africa, goes too far; he rather "cleverly" explains that cows are called ngombe, lions are called nganeh, etc. and then proceeds to use the Swahili words throughout. The only thing he's doing that's different from Howard, is that he's showing off the setting he's so proud of, the source material behind it that he's so proud of, and his knowledge of that source material, which he's also so proud of. Imaro reads like a rather self-congratulatory work of fiction. Although I'm sure some fans enjoy being exposed to African tradition (and are unwilling to go directly to the source material themselves for whatever reason) and that interests them, but it really bogs down the narrative and hurts the storytelling badly, in my opinion. Fiction—especially pulp, Sword & Sorcery, which needs to be fast-moving and exciting—is a poor vehicle for the rather ham-fisted polemic and social agenda that Imaro represents.
As well, if one can be allowed to make a genuine complaint about Howard's Conan, it's that he's often portrayed as a rather unflattering Mary Sue; he's too competent, overly idealized, lacks any noticable flaws, and rather obviously stands in for Howard's own wish-fulfilment fantasies of himself. Imaro takes these same flaws and amplifies them; Saunders makes no secret that if somehow Tarzan and Conan (to whom Imaro is often compared) were to appear suddenly in the same story with Imaro, Imaro would outclass them both.
That said, if you can get past these rather tedious flaws, the setting is imaginitive, and worth a read for that alone. But honestly, reading it, it felt constantly like I was being preached to, and that the author was showing off his research into African folklore rather than simply concentrating on telling good, interesting stories. I suspect that the claim that the one-month printing delay on the original printing of the novel (to avert a lawsuit from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs over a poorly chosen tagline on the original cover) being the main factor in Imaro's less than impressive sales is as much wishful thinking as is Imaro's own super-competence.
Anyway, I'm somewhat amused by the writer, publisher, and friend who wrote the introduction (none other than Charles De Lint) making the claims that Imaro was something really unique and extraordinary, that it specifically was not Tarzan and Conan, but black, because... honestly, that's exactly what it is.
Charles Saunders (the author) does for Africa what Robert E. Howard did for Europe and the Near East with the Hyborian Age, and for pretty much the same reason; so he can get the benefit of alluding (wink, wink) to real life cultures without feeling constrained to get every little detail right, as well as allowing him to freely mix and match cultures that in reality did not coexist at the same time. Sadly, Saunders, convinced he was doing something really unique in doing it for Africa, goes too far; he rather "cleverly" explains that cows are called ngombe, lions are called nganeh, etc. and then proceeds to use the Swahili words throughout. The only thing he's doing that's different from Howard, is that he's showing off the setting he's so proud of, the source material behind it that he's so proud of, and his knowledge of that source material, which he's also so proud of. Imaro reads like a rather self-congratulatory work of fiction. Although I'm sure some fans enjoy being exposed to African tradition (and are unwilling to go directly to the source material themselves for whatever reason) and that interests them, but it really bogs down the narrative and hurts the storytelling badly, in my opinion. Fiction—especially pulp, Sword & Sorcery, which needs to be fast-moving and exciting—is a poor vehicle for the rather ham-fisted polemic and social agenda that Imaro represents.
As well, if one can be allowed to make a genuine complaint about Howard's Conan, it's that he's often portrayed as a rather unflattering Mary Sue; he's too competent, overly idealized, lacks any noticable flaws, and rather obviously stands in for Howard's own wish-fulfilment fantasies of himself. Imaro takes these same flaws and amplifies them; Saunders makes no secret that if somehow Tarzan and Conan (to whom Imaro is often compared) were to appear suddenly in the same story with Imaro, Imaro would outclass them both.
That said, if you can get past these rather tedious flaws, the setting is imaginitive, and worth a read for that alone. But honestly, reading it, it felt constantly like I was being preached to, and that the author was showing off his research into African folklore rather than simply concentrating on telling good, interesting stories. I suspect that the claim that the one-month printing delay on the original printing of the novel (to avert a lawsuit from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs over a poorly chosen tagline on the original cover) being the main factor in Imaro's less than impressive sales is as much wishful thinking as is Imaro's own super-competence.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Musicality
Well, according to my definitions, anyway, there are about six bands "of some consequence" that count as Depeche Mode imitators. Of course, there's lots more than that, but I'm talking about bands "of some consequence"---meaning bands that either had a few minor hits during the late 80s or early 90s, or went on to become prolific leaders of the synthpop scene after it's nosedive to the underground. Cause & Effect, Camouflage, Red Flag and Seven Red Seven count as the former, and Mesh, De/Vision and also Camouflage and Red Flag count as the latter.
I've got the first CD's of each of those six on my mp3 player right now, and I've gone through them a few times now whilst commuting. Here's a few observations:
I've got the first CD's of each of those six on my mp3 player right now, and I've gone through them a few times now whilst commuting. Here's a few observations:
- Cause & Effect is the weakest of the bunch. While they have some great songs ("The Echoing Green," "Another Minute," and "You Think You Know Her") the rest of the songs feel like filler, and the schtick of being "the Depeche Mode imitators who were English majors in college and make literary references here and there" is a weak schtick.
- Camouflage and Seven Red Seven both have songs ("They Catch Secrets" and "Everybody Lies" respectively) that sound like they're trying to be their answer to Depeche Mode's "Blasphemous Rumours." They're not as good, of course, but they do well enough at capturing some of the same morose atmosphere.
- Red Flag and Mesh both seem to be more dance oriented than the others. Oh; I didn't use Mesh's actual first CD, which would have been Fragile; I used Original '91-'93 which was released later but which were the first recorded songs. In general, where the groups do straight up club songs, they seem more successful; they're slower songs are not as good. With some few exceptions.
- Camouflage and De/Vision both have pretty thick German accents and occasional bad grammer. Camouflage cleaned that up fairly well in more recent releases, but De/Vision still suffers from that today.
- They all have slightly different twists on the "I sound like Depeche Mode" theme; Red Flag is more hardcore club oriented, Camouflage (at least on their first CD) gets a nice melancholy, dreamlike quality to most of their songs, Seven Red Seven has a trance and house mixture with a lot of vocal samples, etc.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Firstborn
My wife just wrote this tribute to our oldest son, Spencer. Check it out! I like it.
I happened to have "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds (formerly of Ben Folds Five.) Made me cry.
http://juliedyal.blogspot.com/2008/03/tribute-to-my-children-and-my-firstborn.html#links
I happened to have "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds (formerly of Ben Folds Five.) Made me cry.
http://juliedyal.blogspot.com/2008/03/tribute-to-my-children-and-my-firstborn.html#links
Lists
Here's a few lists. First, "official" third edition (including 3.5) Dungeons & Dragons products that I own.
Third Edition
Third Edition
- Player's Handbook
- Dungeonmaster's Guide
- Monster Manual
- Monster Manual II
- Fiend Folio
- Tome and Blood
- Sword and Fist
- Defenders of the Faith
- Races of Destiny
- Frostburn
- Draconomicon
- Lords of Madness
- Fiendish Codex I
- Fiendish Codex II
- Elder Evils
- Manual of the Planes
- Deities & Demigods
- Epic Level Handbook
- Book of Vile Darkness
- Savage Species
- Unearthed Arcana
- Dungeonmaster's Guide II
- Psionic Handbook
- Eberron
- Sharn: City of Towers
- Races of Eberron
- Monster Manual 3.5
Wizards of the Coast non-D&D RPG Products
- Star Wars
- Star Wars Revised
- Alien Anthology
- Call of Cthulhu
- d20 Modern
- d20 Past
- Urban Arcana
D&D Products to Buy:
- Complete Warrior
- Complete Arcane
- Complete Divine
- Complete Adventurer
- Complete Psionic
- Complete Mage
- Complete Scoundrel
- Complete Champion
- Races of Stone
- Races of the Wild
- Races of the Dragon
- Sandstorm
- Stormwrack
- Cityscape
- Dungeonscape
- Monster Manual III
- Monster Manual IV
- Monster Manual V
- Libris Mortis
- Drow of the Underdark
- Fane of the Drow
- Hellspike Prison
- Fields of Ruin
- Dragondown Grotto
- The Frostfell Rift
- City of Peril
- Ghostwalk
- Miniatures Handbook
- Book of Exalted Deeds
- Expanded Psionics Handbook
- Planar Handbook
- Heroes of Battle
- Heroes of Horror
- Magic of Incarnum
- Spell Compendium
- Weapons of Legacy
- Tome of Magic
- Player's Handbook II
- Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords
- Dragon Magic
- Magic Item Compenium
- Player's Handbook 3.5
- Dungeonmaster's Guide 3.5
Note: this includes a lot of products which I've prioritized very low.
Forgotten Realms Products to buy:
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
- Player's Guide to Faerûn
- Races of Faerûn
- Power of Faerûn
- Faiths and Pantheons
- City of Splendors: Waterdeep
- Lost Empires of Faerûn
- Mysteries of the Moonsea
- Serpent Kingdoms
- Shining South
- Silver Marches
- Unapproachable East
- Underdark
- Lords of Darkness
- Champions of Valor
- Champions of Ruin
- Magic of Faerûn
- Dragons of Faerûn
Eberron Products to Buy:
- Five Nations
- Explorer's Handbook
- Magic of Eberron
- Player's Guide to Eberron
- Secrets of Xen'drik
- Faiths of Eberron
- Dragonmarked
- The Forge of War
- Secrets of Sarlona
- Dragons of Eberron
- City of Stormreach
Non-D&D WotC products to Buy:
- Star Wars SAGA edition
- d20 Future
- d20 Apocalypse
- d20 Cyberscape
- d20 Menace Manual
- d20 Dark•Matter
- d20 Future Tech
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Music and Fantasy
I replaced most of the Depeche Mode that I've had on my mp3 player for the last month or two with some late 80s rather blatant Depeche Mode imitators. Specifically I put the first CD's of Camouflage, Cause & Effect, Red Flag and Seven Red Seven. For Cause & Effect, I even have the older, indie-release original version, not the repackaged and rereleased version that is more common. Woot! Bought that years and years ago at a used CD store in my old college town.
I also left DM's Music for the Masses on my mp3 player, because its interesting to hear it interspersed with the obvious imitators. None of them are as good, which isn't terribly surprising, but they all have their strengths and charms. Camouflage in particular needed some help with their enunciation and English translations, but I like the kinda of slower, wistful dream-like melancholy of the album as a whole (even with dance hit "The Great Commandment" this overall mood isn't broken.) Cause & Effect had a similar mood, although slightly less pervasive. In retrospect, they strike me as the least polished of the bunch. Red Flag cares less for mood and concentrates more on making straight-up club tracks, although they do have a couple of strikingly beautiful piano tracks, including one piano only instrumental. Seven Red Seven phases in some techno influences and has more overt samples.
Once I get past this run, I'll probably pick up my long-deferred De/Vision and Mesh retrospectives, listening to their entire collections. Mesh and De/Vision are interesting in relation to the earlier Depeche Mode imitators as they formed (or at least broke into the industry) just a little bit too late to actually achieve any significant mainstream commercial success with their work, but went on to become long-running stars of the 90s and beyond indie-synthpop movement. Qualitatively, other than their timing, there's not much to distinguish early Mesh and De/Vision from early Red Flag, Cause & Effect, Seven Red Seven or Camouflage; all six groups were more or less successful by imitating the "classic" Depeche Mode sound, with a twist or two of their own.
Now; fantasy. Recently (maybe because of seeing 10,000 B.C.) I've become interested in Sword & Sandal epics and some Greek historical documentaries (including Michael Wood's Trojan War and Alexander the Great themed programmes) and that naturally leads me to Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age. I really like the idea of there being a "lost" age in the prehistory of the world; Howard actually posited two: the Hyborian Age of Conan and the earlier Thurian Age of Kull. Of course, it becomes much more difficult to explain how any such lost age could exist within the parameters of today's science, but you've got to remember that when Howard wrote, the theory of Plate Tectonics was still thirty years or so from being formulated, and Howard blithely speaking of antediluvian ages and cataclysmic re-arranging of the earth's surface. Sadly, in order to do so now, you have to pretend you don't know anything about actual science and utilize some pseudo-science ideas, like Graham Hancock's theories of ice age high civilization, a 12,500 year old sphinx at Giza, and creationist ideas like catastrophic plate tectonics, which are apologia intended to reconcile science with Genesis.
Not that I have any problem with doing so, if I ever want to create such a setting, and honestly, I'm really feeling the attraction of it. Although 10,000 B.C. was otherwise a pretty mediocre movie, I've gotta give it credit for bringing out the desire for some very classic sword & sorcery in me.
I also left DM's Music for the Masses on my mp3 player, because its interesting to hear it interspersed with the obvious imitators. None of them are as good, which isn't terribly surprising, but they all have their strengths and charms. Camouflage in particular needed some help with their enunciation and English translations, but I like the kinda of slower, wistful dream-like melancholy of the album as a whole (even with dance hit "The Great Commandment" this overall mood isn't broken.) Cause & Effect had a similar mood, although slightly less pervasive. In retrospect, they strike me as the least polished of the bunch. Red Flag cares less for mood and concentrates more on making straight-up club tracks, although they do have a couple of strikingly beautiful piano tracks, including one piano only instrumental. Seven Red Seven phases in some techno influences and has more overt samples.
Once I get past this run, I'll probably pick up my long-deferred De/Vision and Mesh retrospectives, listening to their entire collections. Mesh and De/Vision are interesting in relation to the earlier Depeche Mode imitators as they formed (or at least broke into the industry) just a little bit too late to actually achieve any significant mainstream commercial success with their work, but went on to become long-running stars of the 90s and beyond indie-synthpop movement. Qualitatively, other than their timing, there's not much to distinguish early Mesh and De/Vision from early Red Flag, Cause & Effect, Seven Red Seven or Camouflage; all six groups were more or less successful by imitating the "classic" Depeche Mode sound, with a twist or two of their own.
Now; fantasy. Recently (maybe because of seeing 10,000 B.C.) I've become interested in Sword & Sandal epics and some Greek historical documentaries (including Michael Wood's Trojan War and Alexander the Great themed programmes) and that naturally leads me to Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age. I really like the idea of there being a "lost" age in the prehistory of the world; Howard actually posited two: the Hyborian Age of Conan and the earlier Thurian Age of Kull. Of course, it becomes much more difficult to explain how any such lost age could exist within the parameters of today's science, but you've got to remember that when Howard wrote, the theory of Plate Tectonics was still thirty years or so from being formulated, and Howard blithely speaking of antediluvian ages and cataclysmic re-arranging of the earth's surface. Sadly, in order to do so now, you have to pretend you don't know anything about actual science and utilize some pseudo-science ideas, like Graham Hancock's theories of ice age high civilization, a 12,500 year old sphinx at Giza, and creationist ideas like catastrophic plate tectonics, which are apologia intended to reconcile science with Genesis.
Not that I have any problem with doing so, if I ever want to create such a setting, and honestly, I'm really feeling the attraction of it. Although 10,000 B.C. was otherwise a pretty mediocre movie, I've gotta give it credit for bringing out the desire for some very classic sword & sorcery in me.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
RIP EGG
Ernest Gary Gygax, the person most responsible for the creation and disemination of the Dungeons & Dragons game passed away yesterday. He was just shy of 70 years old, had been in poor health for the last few years (especially after suffering a stroke) and is survived by several children and grandchildren.
Although I do take the odd moment to bash the conventions of D&D itself, and I strongly dislike the "Gygaxian" paradigm of how a game should be run, without Gary, there wouldn't even be a hobby at all. I can't fault him for coming up with a game that isn't exactly to my tastes; he came from a wargaming background, and the game did too, and his love of early pulp writers of science fiction and fantasy is very obviously an influence on the game. Gaming as a hobby has evolved---often in many competing directions at once---so that D&D and the D&D ingrained paradigm is never my first choice anymore.
That said, everything I've ever heard about Gary paints him in a good light. He was a nice guy, patient and attentive, well-read and literate, pious and devout, firm and unmoving in his opinions while still respecting those who differed with him... all in all a true gentleman in every sense of the word.
While I did not know him or interact with him personally, I know plenty of people who did and I feel saddened by his passing.
Although I do take the odd moment to bash the conventions of D&D itself, and I strongly dislike the "Gygaxian" paradigm of how a game should be run, without Gary, there wouldn't even be a hobby at all. I can't fault him for coming up with a game that isn't exactly to my tastes; he came from a wargaming background, and the game did too, and his love of early pulp writers of science fiction and fantasy is very obviously an influence on the game. Gaming as a hobby has evolved---often in many competing directions at once---so that D&D and the D&D ingrained paradigm is never my first choice anymore.
That said, everything I've ever heard about Gary paints him in a good light. He was a nice guy, patient and attentive, well-read and literate, pious and devout, firm and unmoving in his opinions while still respecting those who differed with him... all in all a true gentleman in every sense of the word.
While I did not know him or interact with him personally, I know plenty of people who did and I feel saddened by his passing.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Germany
I just watched Where Eagles Dare in preparation for bringing it up to a friend here at work so he could borrow it. I had the strange thought while watching it that in some ways, I miss that Germany. I mean, in no way am I disputing that the Third Reich was evil, terrible and otherwise extremely undesireable, or that we weren't right to bring the war to them. But since then, Germany has been completely... I mean, it's hard to even respect Germany these days.
So, I went and looked up some Harry Turtledove and other alternate history stuff. One of my favorite alternate history conceits is that there's still a Nazi Reich in Europe in the present day. Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series may have had an even better idea; in that one, since the CSA managed to not be defeated in the American Civil War, and was traditionally allied with Britain and France, the USA was allied with the "Second Reich", i.e. the Prussian based Kaiser-helmed Germany that fought in WWI. Without the US support, the Etente powers actually didn't defeat Germany in this scenario. The series goes too far, in my opinion, with recreating the Nazi ideology and experience very specifically on CSA soil. That strains credibility. But the idea of Kaiserreich surviving to the present day is intriguing.
The board game Tannhäuser, which I've discussed here before, also has a Reich that is an extension of the Kaiserreich, not a Nazi Third Reich (although the imagery is very Nazi themed regardless.)
One of these days, I'd really like to do something with some of this alternate history. I remember posting a fairly detailed alternate history setting that I had come up with several months ago here, but honestly, I think I now like the idea of an extended Kaiserreich better than an extended Third Reich. It opens up at least a little ambiguity. Nazis are so obviously and culturally ingrained in our culture as evil that it makes the setting simplistic; but if it's the Kaiser's troops... are they the bad guys? Suddenly it's not so clear.
So, I went and looked up some Harry Turtledove and other alternate history stuff. One of my favorite alternate history conceits is that there's still a Nazi Reich in Europe in the present day. Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series may have had an even better idea; in that one, since the CSA managed to not be defeated in the American Civil War, and was traditionally allied with Britain and France, the USA was allied with the "Second Reich", i.e. the Prussian based Kaiser-helmed Germany that fought in WWI. Without the US support, the Etente powers actually didn't defeat Germany in this scenario. The series goes too far, in my opinion, with recreating the Nazi ideology and experience very specifically on CSA soil. That strains credibility. But the idea of Kaiserreich surviving to the present day is intriguing.
The board game Tannhäuser, which I've discussed here before, also has a Reich that is an extension of the Kaiserreich, not a Nazi Third Reich (although the imagery is very Nazi themed regardless.)
One of these days, I'd really like to do something with some of this alternate history. I remember posting a fairly detailed alternate history setting that I had come up with several months ago here, but honestly, I think I now like the idea of an extended Kaiserreich better than an extended Third Reich. It opens up at least a little ambiguity. Nazis are so obviously and culturally ingrained in our culture as evil that it makes the setting simplistic; but if it's the Kaiser's troops... are they the bad guys? Suddenly it's not so clear.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Depeche Mode and Me
For quite a long time, I was content to listen to whatever came on the radio. In the middle to late 1980s, that started changing when I first had a job and it occurred to me that I might want to buy music. I stuck with stuff that was fairly New Romantic/Synthpop sounding stuff---after buying U2's The Joshua Tree and Def Leppard's Hysteria, I quickly found my way to slightly older Duran Duran and a-ha stuff, and I loved it.
We did have one radio station out of Houston that actually played some fairly progressive, New Wave stuff, and I think that's where I first heard "Strangelove" back in 1987. It didn't take me long to track down Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses, "Strangelove"'s home, and pick it up.
That started what has been at times an almost obsessive musical appreciation. I quickly tracked down their backcatalog (which in 1987 wasn't yet that extensive, but which still had five other full CDs as well as two collections), maxi-singles, t-shirts and posters. For a long time, if anyone asked me what my favorite music was, I'd say Depeche Mode (honestly, I might still) with a nod towards their obvious imitators, who were popping up at a dime a dozen (Red Flag, Camouflage, Seven Red Seven, Cause & Effect, etc. to say nothing of later imitators Mesh and De/Vision who sometimes out-Depeche Mode Depeche Mode themselves these days.) The evolution from the Vince Clark-penned days of Speak & Spell to the darker and harsher sounds of songs of Music For the Masses was fascinating to me.
In late 1989 when the first preview hints of Violator started coming out (notably, the "Personal Jesus" CD Single) I was again captivated, although the hoaky guitar sounds surprised me. I didn't expect "Pleasure, Little Treasure" to have been the preview of things to come. When the full CD came out, I was initially quite disappointed; I thought "Enjoy the Silence" was the only truly excellent song on it, and there were better versions on the CD single than on the album! Despite this disappointment, I still didn't hate it, by any means, and I continued as a slightly warier DM fan. Songs of Faith and Devotion further emphasized the things that I didn't like about Violator, and added yet more elements that I didn't like (although it still has a number of very excellent songs) and my regard slipped even more.
When Ultra was poised to come out, I warily picked up the "Barrel of a Gun" single… and didn't like it.
It took me years to buy Ultra. In fact, I didn't get it until after Playing the Angel was out, and after I got it, I still didn't really listen to it for a long time either. I've changed; I don't have time to sit around listening to music, and even when I do, I don't concentrate on it; I'm usually doing something else at the same time.
Now, I've got all the DM albums, and although I'm still not as familiar with Ultra, Exciter or Playing the Angel as I am with the older ones, I can recognize some value in all of them. Ultra in particular I judged unfairly for a long time; I don't think it's any worse than Songs of Faith and Devotion, at least, and my disappointment with that album (and Violator) are much softened by the passing of the years. They've grown on me, perhaps. Exciter is still spectacularly misnamed, as I don't much like it at all---I can tolerate it, and a few songs aren't bad at all---"Shine", "The Dead of Night", "Freelove" and even "Goodnight Lovers" all aren't bad.
I also have an mp3 player; have had for some time now. Granted, mine's old, cheap and small---it barely holds half a gig of songs, which is a little over half Depeche Mode's collection. But, I listen to it pretty extensively while I commute, which means at least a solid hour a day; longer if I take a break during the day out in my car, or if I pull the mp3 player inside to listen to while I'm working or reading or whatever. To revisit some of my CDs, which I was finding I didn't have the opportunity to listen to anymore, I loaded up my favorite era of DM first---Some Great Reward, Black Celebration and Music For the Masses, and listened to them over an over again for several weeks. Because I still had room, I ended up adding the first three CDs as well; Speak & Spell, A Broken Frame and Construction Time Again. I passed on Catching Up With Depeche Mode and People are People because of the high preponderance of repeat tracks. I still had a bit more room, so I added Violator to the tail end of that.
It was particularly interesting to hear all those CDs in order and watch their evolution. It was also particularly interesting to finish Violator and start over with Speak & Spell and hear the rather remarkable contrast between those two CDs which were less than 10 years apart.
After doing that for some time, I wanted to load up the more recent CDs, especially since I honestly wasn't all that familiar with the last three, not having listened to them very often. I had to take albums off to fit, but I currently have Music For the Masses (which, due to it being the first DM album that I "discovered" as well as it's position musically makes a nice hinge-point between "old" and "new" Depeche Mode) through Playing the Angel, with the single version of "Martyr" thrown on at the end for good measure.
There's not as much evolution, in some ways (Playing the Angel kinda brings DM back to where they were in the early 90s after wandering "lost" for a time after Alan Wilder's departure. I still don't think this era is Depeche Mode's strongest, although some darn good songs came out of it, and I've discovered that Ultra and Exciter (particularly Ultra) are actually quite a bit better than I gave them credit for.
Word on the street is that Depeche Mode are returning to the studio in 2008 for a new album. Which means that they'll probably tour again.
Which means I'll be there, wearing my Touring the Angel t-shirt (and no doubt buying another one while I'm at it) and cheering happily away, especially to whatever older songs they throw our way.
We did have one radio station out of Houston that actually played some fairly progressive, New Wave stuff, and I think that's where I first heard "Strangelove" back in 1987. It didn't take me long to track down Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses, "Strangelove"'s home, and pick it up.
That started what has been at times an almost obsessive musical appreciation. I quickly tracked down their backcatalog (which in 1987 wasn't yet that extensive, but which still had five other full CDs as well as two collections), maxi-singles, t-shirts and posters. For a long time, if anyone asked me what my favorite music was, I'd say Depeche Mode (honestly, I might still) with a nod towards their obvious imitators, who were popping up at a dime a dozen (Red Flag, Camouflage, Seven Red Seven, Cause & Effect, etc. to say nothing of later imitators Mesh and De/Vision who sometimes out-Depeche Mode Depeche Mode themselves these days.) The evolution from the Vince Clark-penned days of Speak & Spell to the darker and harsher sounds of songs of Music For the Masses was fascinating to me.
In late 1989 when the first preview hints of Violator started coming out (notably, the "Personal Jesus" CD Single) I was again captivated, although the hoaky guitar sounds surprised me. I didn't expect "Pleasure, Little Treasure" to have been the preview of things to come. When the full CD came out, I was initially quite disappointed; I thought "Enjoy the Silence" was the only truly excellent song on it, and there were better versions on the CD single than on the album! Despite this disappointment, I still didn't hate it, by any means, and I continued as a slightly warier DM fan. Songs of Faith and Devotion further emphasized the things that I didn't like about Violator, and added yet more elements that I didn't like (although it still has a number of very excellent songs) and my regard slipped even more.
When Ultra was poised to come out, I warily picked up the "Barrel of a Gun" single… and didn't like it.
It took me years to buy Ultra. In fact, I didn't get it until after Playing the Angel was out, and after I got it, I still didn't really listen to it for a long time either. I've changed; I don't have time to sit around listening to music, and even when I do, I don't concentrate on it; I'm usually doing something else at the same time.
Now, I've got all the DM albums, and although I'm still not as familiar with Ultra, Exciter or Playing the Angel as I am with the older ones, I can recognize some value in all of them. Ultra in particular I judged unfairly for a long time; I don't think it's any worse than Songs of Faith and Devotion, at least, and my disappointment with that album (and Violator) are much softened by the passing of the years. They've grown on me, perhaps. Exciter is still spectacularly misnamed, as I don't much like it at all---I can tolerate it, and a few songs aren't bad at all---"Shine", "The Dead of Night", "Freelove" and even "Goodnight Lovers" all aren't bad.
I also have an mp3 player; have had for some time now. Granted, mine's old, cheap and small---it barely holds half a gig of songs, which is a little over half Depeche Mode's collection. But, I listen to it pretty extensively while I commute, which means at least a solid hour a day; longer if I take a break during the day out in my car, or if I pull the mp3 player inside to listen to while I'm working or reading or whatever. To revisit some of my CDs, which I was finding I didn't have the opportunity to listen to anymore, I loaded up my favorite era of DM first---Some Great Reward, Black Celebration and Music For the Masses, and listened to them over an over again for several weeks. Because I still had room, I ended up adding the first three CDs as well; Speak & Spell, A Broken Frame and Construction Time Again. I passed on Catching Up With Depeche Mode and People are People because of the high preponderance of repeat tracks. I still had a bit more room, so I added Violator to the tail end of that.
It was particularly interesting to hear all those CDs in order and watch their evolution. It was also particularly interesting to finish Violator and start over with Speak & Spell and hear the rather remarkable contrast between those two CDs which were less than 10 years apart.
After doing that for some time, I wanted to load up the more recent CDs, especially since I honestly wasn't all that familiar with the last three, not having listened to them very often. I had to take albums off to fit, but I currently have Music For the Masses (which, due to it being the first DM album that I "discovered" as well as it's position musically makes a nice hinge-point between "old" and "new" Depeche Mode) through Playing the Angel, with the single version of "Martyr" thrown on at the end for good measure.
There's not as much evolution, in some ways (Playing the Angel kinda brings DM back to where they were in the early 90s after wandering "lost" for a time after Alan Wilder's departure. I still don't think this era is Depeche Mode's strongest, although some darn good songs came out of it, and I've discovered that Ultra and Exciter (particularly Ultra) are actually quite a bit better than I gave them credit for.
Word on the street is that Depeche Mode are returning to the studio in 2008 for a new album. Which means that they'll probably tour again.
Which means I'll be there, wearing my Touring the Angel t-shirt (and no doubt buying another one while I'm at it) and cheering happily away, especially to whatever older songs they throw our way.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Freeport vs Five Fingers
Although Five Fingers: Port of Deceit has been out longer---by quite a long shot---I just got it, while I've had The Pirate's Guide to Freeport for over six months now.
The two books are obviously very similar and cover very similar ground, but do it in different ways. The attributes of one that are both a strength and a weakness are reversed in the other, for the most part. Let me be more specific.
Both are setting books, based around an urban environment that was founded by---and still largely accomodating to---pirates. Both are like Tortuga in the Caribbean during the late 1600s---tolerant, relatively lawless, and neutral to the pirates prowling the waters around them. Both are based on Dungeons & Dragons. Both feature the same three themes for games set there: 1) organized crime, 2) political intrigue, and 3) dark cults and horror. Both are well written, fun to read, cover the same kinds of ground, have many similar attributes to the settings themselves, etc. Where they differ is where it gets interesting.
Freeport, for instance, has a very different history. It initially started out as the implicit setting in some of the very first 3e third party adventure modules published, and developed from there into a "plug and play" mini-setting that was designed to be easily integrated into any existing D&D campaign setting. This means that few aspects of Freeport are intrusive or difficult to work in, and the game can easily be played with standard D&D (which is a little bit ironic, since this newest version of Freeport is systemless, and in theory is designed as much to be used with True20, or any system for that matter as it is with D&D.) However, his also means a lack of strong ties to the setting as a whole, and an inability to leverage the rest of the setting to drive Freeport adventure. The new book actually had the barest sketch of a greater setting as an optional chapter near the end, although it really wasn't a very clever, unique, unusual or interesting one.
Five Fingers, on the other hand, has the opposite strengths and weaknesses. It's part of the Iron Kingdoms setting, and it manages to use Iron Kingdoms stuff to really make Five Fingers come alive. As a neutral city between Cygnar and Khador, it has this kind of espionage between rival superpowers vibe. Cryx features prominently in a number of plots, as does the Llaelese Résistance movement. However, it's much more difficult to use outside the Iron Kingdoms setting without making a numbe of changes to accommodate.
I still have a chapter or two of Five Fingers left to read, but at the moment, I'm undecided which of the two pirate cities I like better.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Hungry!
I went to Benihana's for lunch today and ate in the sushi bar. They got rid of their hibachi lunches (they now only serve them for dinner) so I had to get a sushi platter. Now, three hours later, I feel extremely snacky. And sad. What a waste of a good lunch opportunity. I should have held out for the Longhorn steakhouse or something.
I also watched the Jet Li and Jason Statham action movie War over the weekend. It's actually a pretty good flick; what seems like a typical revenge flick with gangsters in San Francisco (Yakuza and Triads for some variety) has an interesting twist. I'm not sure how I missed it in theaters, but I've been somewhat less aware of movies in general the last several months to a year or so.
I also watched the Jet Li and Jason Statham action movie War over the weekend. It's actually a pretty good flick; what seems like a typical revenge flick with gangsters in San Francisco (Yakuza and Triads for some variety) has an interesting twist. I'm not sure how I missed it in theaters, but I've been somewhat less aware of movies in general the last several months to a year or so.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Orders
There are few things more satisfying to me personally than getting new books. I recently found myself in possession of $50 burning a hole in my pocket, and on Amazon that turned into an order for Five Fingers, Frostburn and the DMG2, as well as Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon which I've decided that unless I own my own copy, I'll never get around to reading. Sadly.
Frostburn I picked up because it was cheap; I was actually rather more looking forward to Stormwrack or Sandstorm, but there's always time to get those later. Five Fingers on the other hand, I've wanted for a really long time and just haven't quite managed to pick up yet. I'm hoping that there's plenty of stuff in there that's stealable for my upcoming campaign, but even if there wasn't, I wanted it anyway.
I hear it's a great read, too.
Frostburn I picked up because it was cheap; I was actually rather more looking forward to Stormwrack or Sandstorm, but there's always time to get those later. Five Fingers on the other hand, I've wanted for a really long time and just haven't quite managed to pick up yet. I'm hoping that there's plenty of stuff in there that's stealable for my upcoming campaign, but even if there wasn't, I wanted it anyway.
I hear it's a great read, too.
Friday, February 08, 2008
More Indo-European discussions
Although the Balkan-Danubian linguistic situation is sticky, the Italian peninsula of pre-history and early history is even worse.
Here's the obvious ones: Latin is an "Italic" language. The Italic family comes in two varieties, the Latino-Faliscan and Osco-Umbrian. Latin, obviously, belongs to the Latino-Faliscan family and eventually pretty much swamped all the other languages on the peninsula and beyond. But before that happened, Latin was isolated to Rome and the surrounding countryside and tons of other languages competed for supremacy.
Etruscan and the related Rhaetic held forth up north. These were non-Indo-European languages belonging to the Tyrsenian or Aegean language family, which is sadly lacking in sufficient evidence to really be more than a hypothesis. North Picene is another non-Indo-European language (in contrast to South Picene, which belongs to the Osco-Umbrian group). Camunic, Sicel, Elymian and Siconian are all of dubious classification; maybe Indo-European (of an undetermined branch) or possibly not even that.
Messapic is actually thought to be an Illyrian language (or close relative) that crossed the Adriatic. Lepontic is believed to be a Celtic language and Ligurian is believed---possibly---to be one as well. Vestinian is believed to be Indo-European, and Venetic is definately Indo-European, although it's affinities are unclear (correspondances with other Italic languages, Illyrian languages and even Germanic languages have all been remarked upon.) Of course, Greek is also attested, since before the rise of the Romans, Greek settlers and colonists on the Italian peninsula are also known.
All this discussion about the diversity and complexity of the linguistic picture in the Balkans and the Italian peninsula on the very early days of writing in Europe lead me to believe that our picture of linguistics in other areas is probably over-simplistic. Why would these areas be so linguistically diverse while to the north, northwest and northeast only a few languages developed (Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic)?
The answer is; they were probably just as diverse too, at one point, but one language achieved some kind of dominance and gradually drove the others to extinction. That's exactly what happened in Italy; it took a few centuries, but gradually Latin and it's descendents and dialects wiped out all of its competitors. Because Italy was literate earlier than, say, Germania or Gaul, who's to say that those territories weren't just as linguistically diverse before proto-Celtic or proto-Germanic swamped them? In fact, some linguists have proposed that there is some circumstantial evidence of a culturo-linguistic entity dubbed "Nordwestblock" that existed between the Celts and the Germans, mostly occupying what are today the Low Countries.
Historically, we also saw the same thing happen in the Balkans; Greece, Phrygian and Armenian left the area to go on to survive (and Anatolian, if that's where that language came from) and although Illyrian, Thracian and Dacian are not well known languages to linguists today, we at least know they existed. Today, the advent of various Slavic languages has almost completely swamped that prior diversity, with the exception of Albanian and the unrelated interloper Hungarian, which also arrived in historical times.
If you look at the Caucasus, we see a similar degree of diversity in a small area, with multiple language families and a few language isolates. Ancient Anatolia also had similar linguistic diversity with several Anatolian Indo-Hittite languages competing with Semitic, Hattic and Hurrian languages, as well as the linguistically obscure Kassites. The Tarim basin at the start of the common era was similarly diverse; two varieties of Iranian language were common (Khotanese Saka and Sogdian) probably three Tocharian languages, Chinese, several Indic languages (Prakrits, and Sanskrit as a religious liturgical language) as well as various other Turkic and/or Siberian languages making inroads from time to time (all of the above were swamped by Uyghur later, and modern Chinese is making serious inroads even into that.) For much of that time, people in the area were multilingual and used different languages every day depending on what social domain they were interacting.
The point is, without the impetus of some kind of linguistic spread (conquest by outsiders, trade pre-eminence, frequent travel contacts, etc.) linguistic diversity is normal. As people settle into their little areas and tend not to leave, they rather quickly "speciate" into a bewildering variety of dialects, which go on to splinter into different languages. Even cultural dominance, as by an empire or something, doesn't last forever. Latin was already breaking up into regional dialects before the Western Roman Empire finished falling; the Eastern Roman Empire adopted Greek, and the vulgar Latin broke down into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Galician, Aragonese, Catalan, Provençal, Romanian, Moldavan, Occitan, and more in fairly short order, and even today with the advent of more powerful nations and nationwide media, much of that diversity still exists in Europe. Similar linguistic diversity can be seen in the remnants of the old Persian Empire as well. Or China. Or India.
As a person who enjoys developing fantasy settings for writing and for gaming, this is an interesting phenomena. Few such setting creators go for linguistic diversity. It's difficult, for one thing. It creates problems. It's not fun for gamers or readers to have characters unable to communicate. A common solution (if you'll pardon the pun) is the adoption of a "Common" tongue. Tolkien can probably be credited with this idea; his Westron (more commonly known as "Common) was the language du jour for almost the entire region in which Lord of the Rings takes place. Even in places where relict languages still existed, enough bilingual people existed to facilitate communication, i.e. with the dwarves or the elves. D&D has a similar conceit; Common also being the name of their lingua franca, which is the native tongue of all humans in most settings.
Despite its ease, it's also unrealistic and unsatisfying to someone like me to whom linguistics is a bit of a hobby. I'm not sure I understand or have decided exactly where the dividing line is between "enough" and "too much" linguistics in my fantasy, though.
Any comments from the peanut gallery?
Here's the obvious ones: Latin is an "Italic" language. The Italic family comes in two varieties, the Latino-Faliscan and Osco-Umbrian. Latin, obviously, belongs to the Latino-Faliscan family and eventually pretty much swamped all the other languages on the peninsula and beyond. But before that happened, Latin was isolated to Rome and the surrounding countryside and tons of other languages competed for supremacy.
Etruscan and the related Rhaetic held forth up north. These were non-Indo-European languages belonging to the Tyrsenian or Aegean language family, which is sadly lacking in sufficient evidence to really be more than a hypothesis. North Picene is another non-Indo-European language (in contrast to South Picene, which belongs to the Osco-Umbrian group). Camunic, Sicel, Elymian and Siconian are all of dubious classification; maybe Indo-European (of an undetermined branch) or possibly not even that.
Messapic is actually thought to be an Illyrian language (or close relative) that crossed the Adriatic. Lepontic is believed to be a Celtic language and Ligurian is believed---possibly---to be one as well. Vestinian is believed to be Indo-European, and Venetic is definately Indo-European, although it's affinities are unclear (correspondances with other Italic languages, Illyrian languages and even Germanic languages have all been remarked upon.) Of course, Greek is also attested, since before the rise of the Romans, Greek settlers and colonists on the Italian peninsula are also known.
All this discussion about the diversity and complexity of the linguistic picture in the Balkans and the Italian peninsula on the very early days of writing in Europe lead me to believe that our picture of linguistics in other areas is probably over-simplistic. Why would these areas be so linguistically diverse while to the north, northwest and northeast only a few languages developed (Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic)?
The answer is; they were probably just as diverse too, at one point, but one language achieved some kind of dominance and gradually drove the others to extinction. That's exactly what happened in Italy; it took a few centuries, but gradually Latin and it's descendents and dialects wiped out all of its competitors. Because Italy was literate earlier than, say, Germania or Gaul, who's to say that those territories weren't just as linguistically diverse before proto-Celtic or proto-Germanic swamped them? In fact, some linguists have proposed that there is some circumstantial evidence of a culturo-linguistic entity dubbed "Nordwestblock" that existed between the Celts and the Germans, mostly occupying what are today the Low Countries.
Historically, we also saw the same thing happen in the Balkans; Greece, Phrygian and Armenian left the area to go on to survive (and Anatolian, if that's where that language came from) and although Illyrian, Thracian and Dacian are not well known languages to linguists today, we at least know they existed. Today, the advent of various Slavic languages has almost completely swamped that prior diversity, with the exception of Albanian and the unrelated interloper Hungarian, which also arrived in historical times.
If you look at the Caucasus, we see a similar degree of diversity in a small area, with multiple language families and a few language isolates. Ancient Anatolia also had similar linguistic diversity with several Anatolian Indo-Hittite languages competing with Semitic, Hattic and Hurrian languages, as well as the linguistically obscure Kassites. The Tarim basin at the start of the common era was similarly diverse; two varieties of Iranian language were common (Khotanese Saka and Sogdian) probably three Tocharian languages, Chinese, several Indic languages (Prakrits, and Sanskrit as a religious liturgical language) as well as various other Turkic and/or Siberian languages making inroads from time to time (all of the above were swamped by Uyghur later, and modern Chinese is making serious inroads even into that.) For much of that time, people in the area were multilingual and used different languages every day depending on what social domain they were interacting.
The point is, without the impetus of some kind of linguistic spread (conquest by outsiders, trade pre-eminence, frequent travel contacts, etc.) linguistic diversity is normal. As people settle into their little areas and tend not to leave, they rather quickly "speciate" into a bewildering variety of dialects, which go on to splinter into different languages. Even cultural dominance, as by an empire or something, doesn't last forever. Latin was already breaking up into regional dialects before the Western Roman Empire finished falling; the Eastern Roman Empire adopted Greek, and the vulgar Latin broke down into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Galician, Aragonese, Catalan, Provençal, Romanian, Moldavan, Occitan, and more in fairly short order, and even today with the advent of more powerful nations and nationwide media, much of that diversity still exists in Europe. Similar linguistic diversity can be seen in the remnants of the old Persian Empire as well. Or China. Or India.
As a person who enjoys developing fantasy settings for writing and for gaming, this is an interesting phenomena. Few such setting creators go for linguistic diversity. It's difficult, for one thing. It creates problems. It's not fun for gamers or readers to have characters unable to communicate. A common solution (if you'll pardon the pun) is the adoption of a "Common" tongue. Tolkien can probably be credited with this idea; his Westron (more commonly known as "Common) was the language du jour for almost the entire region in which Lord of the Rings takes place. Even in places where relict languages still existed, enough bilingual people existed to facilitate communication, i.e. with the dwarves or the elves. D&D has a similar conceit; Common also being the name of their lingua franca, which is the native tongue of all humans in most settings.
Despite its ease, it's also unrealistic and unsatisfying to someone like me to whom linguistics is a bit of a hobby. I'm not sure I understand or have decided exactly where the dividing line is between "enough" and "too much" linguistics in my fantasy, though.
Any comments from the peanut gallery?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Southern European Indo-European languages
I've been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding the spread and relationship of various Indo-European languages, particularly those that seem to have sprung from the Balkans. The topic is not helped by the extreme paucity of linguistic data on which to draw conclusions, but that has rarely stopped linguists from speculating anyway.
The situation is fairly complex. A number of languages clearly were in the Balkans at one point or another, and a number of other languages probably originated there as well. Here's what we know.
Greek moved into Greece from the north. It therefore must have originally been a Balkan language. Greek seems to be most closely related (although that's relative) to Armenian. According to early historians (Herodotus, mostly) the Armenians did come from the Balkans and migrated across the face of Asia minor. Herodotus also called them "a tribe of Phrygians." Phrygian is another language that is poorly known, but which is attested in Asia minor a few hundred years after the fall of the Hittites. If Phrygian was a sister language to ancient Armenian, then Phrygian was also probably related to Greek and part of the same Balkan complex of languages.
We also know that Albanian is a Balkan language today, and stands alone as a separate branch of Indo-european. It was almost certainly related to languages coming out of the Balkan complex, but close relationships with Greek and/or Armenian are not to be found. Some linguists say Albanian must have been an Illyrian language, since the Illyrian tribes were found in modern day Albania. Others say that they were a Thracian or a Dacian people. Some linguists say that Thracian and Dacian were closely related languages, others that they were not. Some link Illyrian with Thracian, Dacian or both; others with neither.
Some say that Thracian was the language of the Kimmerians, up north of the Black Sea and was therefore broader in scope that simply the Balkans, where they were intrusive. This group also posits a Thracian/Iranian link of some kind---but whether a contact relationship or genetic relationship is impossible to tell given the lack of good Thracian texts of any kind.
To further complicate things, several languages of Italy, particularly the east coast of Italy, are not closely related to the Italic branch that gave us Latin, and are proposed to have come from across the Adriatic. Messapic and Venetic in particular occupy our attention, and both have been claimed by some to be Illyrian in nature.
Cutting across all of this complicated Balkan linguistic picture is the original Anatolian language family, which---by all accounts---came out of the Balkans into Asia minor before any of the languages referenced so far came about. The Anatolian languages are not believed by anyone to be closely related to later Indo-European languages; in fact, the Indo-Hittite hypothesis posits that technically the Anatolian languages aren't even Indo-European; they're a closely related sister group to Indo-European, not Indo-European itself, since Indo-European went subsequent further development before dispersing after the Anatolian languages split off.
This is somewhat consistent with Marija Gimbutas' wave model, where "kurgan" tribes moved out from the Pontic-Caspian steppes (the IE homeland) in a series of waves; Anatolian being the first to come through, and the languages that developed into the Balkan-Danubian complex being a subsequent wave or waves.
Some things to keep in mind; we don't know enough about any of these early Balkan-Danubian languages to clearly propose genetic linkages between them, except to say that Anatolian was not related to the rest of them and Greek and Armenian seem to have split from each other at some point subsequent to their dispersal from Proto-Indo-European as a whole. However, it's also not stricly necessary for any of these languages to be closely genetically related to still maintain a fair amount of similarity. The concept of a Sprachbund comes to mind; where languages in close geographical proximity for a long time gradually converge towards each other could be operating in the Balkan-Danubian region.
My personal uneducated speculative model calls for a Balkan complex that includes proto-Greek, proto-Armenian (which was a dialect or branch of proto-Phrygian) as well as proto-Illyrian as being genetically related, and overlaid on a substrate that may have included elements of proto-Anatolian. This group gradually spread out, into Greece, into Anatolia, and across the Adriatic into what is today Italy. I believe that they construed a spectrum of dialects and languages of increasingly distant similarity all the way across the steppes, gradually turning into very primitive proto-Indo-Iranian. Some of these languages on the western fringe of the spectrum could today be part of the Thracian-Dacian complex, and although they were not as closely related to the original Balkan-Danubian complex, close and prolonged contacts gradually churned all of these languages together to a certain extent.
The mysterious Sea Peoples, of the famous Great Karnak inscription probably are one example of unrest amongst this Balkan-Danubian complex, and the destruction of Mycenean greek palace society and the Hittite Empire probably have something to do with their migrations. The Dorians, who later populate Greece, appear to have come from the north bringing with them their own languages (or at least different Greek dialects than the prior Myceneans spoke) and the Phrygians and Armenian migrations into and across Asia Minor were probably also part of this same mass folk migration. This of course further entangled the various branches of languages, exposing people to other language groups and contact relationships that shaped their languages. Perhaps even pressure from the steppes themselves related to the advent of Thracians and/or Dacians into the area prompted the Sea Peoples' migrations.
Anyway... just noodling around with ideas. The probably permanent tangle of these languages is unlikely to be resolved any time soon unless some prior unknown archive with texts in these various languages comes to light. But I've always loved a good mystery.
The situation is fairly complex. A number of languages clearly were in the Balkans at one point or another, and a number of other languages probably originated there as well. Here's what we know.
Greek moved into Greece from the north. It therefore must have originally been a Balkan language. Greek seems to be most closely related (although that's relative) to Armenian. According to early historians (Herodotus, mostly) the Armenians did come from the Balkans and migrated across the face of Asia minor. Herodotus also called them "a tribe of Phrygians." Phrygian is another language that is poorly known, but which is attested in Asia minor a few hundred years after the fall of the Hittites. If Phrygian was a sister language to ancient Armenian, then Phrygian was also probably related to Greek and part of the same Balkan complex of languages.
We also know that Albanian is a Balkan language today, and stands alone as a separate branch of Indo-european. It was almost certainly related to languages coming out of the Balkan complex, but close relationships with Greek and/or Armenian are not to be found. Some linguists say Albanian must have been an Illyrian language, since the Illyrian tribes were found in modern day Albania. Others say that they were a Thracian or a Dacian people. Some linguists say that Thracian and Dacian were closely related languages, others that they were not. Some link Illyrian with Thracian, Dacian or both; others with neither.
Some say that Thracian was the language of the Kimmerians, up north of the Black Sea and was therefore broader in scope that simply the Balkans, where they were intrusive. This group also posits a Thracian/Iranian link of some kind---but whether a contact relationship or genetic relationship is impossible to tell given the lack of good Thracian texts of any kind.
To further complicate things, several languages of Italy, particularly the east coast of Italy, are not closely related to the Italic branch that gave us Latin, and are proposed to have come from across the Adriatic. Messapic and Venetic in particular occupy our attention, and both have been claimed by some to be Illyrian in nature.
Cutting across all of this complicated Balkan linguistic picture is the original Anatolian language family, which---by all accounts---came out of the Balkans into Asia minor before any of the languages referenced so far came about. The Anatolian languages are not believed by anyone to be closely related to later Indo-European languages; in fact, the Indo-Hittite hypothesis posits that technically the Anatolian languages aren't even Indo-European; they're a closely related sister group to Indo-European, not Indo-European itself, since Indo-European went subsequent further development before dispersing after the Anatolian languages split off.
This is somewhat consistent with Marija Gimbutas' wave model, where "kurgan" tribes moved out from the Pontic-Caspian steppes (the IE homeland) in a series of waves; Anatolian being the first to come through, and the languages that developed into the Balkan-Danubian complex being a subsequent wave or waves.
Some things to keep in mind; we don't know enough about any of these early Balkan-Danubian languages to clearly propose genetic linkages between them, except to say that Anatolian was not related to the rest of them and Greek and Armenian seem to have split from each other at some point subsequent to their dispersal from Proto-Indo-European as a whole. However, it's also not stricly necessary for any of these languages to be closely genetically related to still maintain a fair amount of similarity. The concept of a Sprachbund comes to mind; where languages in close geographical proximity for a long time gradually converge towards each other could be operating in the Balkan-Danubian region.
My personal uneducated speculative model calls for a Balkan complex that includes proto-Greek, proto-Armenian (which was a dialect or branch of proto-Phrygian) as well as proto-Illyrian as being genetically related, and overlaid on a substrate that may have included elements of proto-Anatolian. This group gradually spread out, into Greece, into Anatolia, and across the Adriatic into what is today Italy. I believe that they construed a spectrum of dialects and languages of increasingly distant similarity all the way across the steppes, gradually turning into very primitive proto-Indo-Iranian. Some of these languages on the western fringe of the spectrum could today be part of the Thracian-Dacian complex, and although they were not as closely related to the original Balkan-Danubian complex, close and prolonged contacts gradually churned all of these languages together to a certain extent.
The mysterious Sea Peoples, of the famous Great Karnak inscription probably are one example of unrest amongst this Balkan-Danubian complex, and the destruction of Mycenean greek palace society and the Hittite Empire probably have something to do with their migrations. The Dorians, who later populate Greece, appear to have come from the north bringing with them their own languages (or at least different Greek dialects than the prior Myceneans spoke) and the Phrygians and Armenian migrations into and across Asia Minor were probably also part of this same mass folk migration. This of course further entangled the various branches of languages, exposing people to other language groups and contact relationships that shaped their languages. Perhaps even pressure from the steppes themselves related to the advent of Thracians and/or Dacians into the area prompted the Sea Peoples' migrations.
Anyway... just noodling around with ideas. The probably permanent tangle of these languages is unlikely to be resolved any time soon unless some prior unknown archive with texts in these various languages comes to light. But I've always loved a good mystery.
Toolz that rool
Maybe I took Wizards of the Coast more at their word than many back in the halcyon days of early third edition, when they said that the design goals for D&D were "tools, not rules."
It's always been my style to turn rules into tools anyway. I'm a bit of a free-wheeling type of GM; I like a robust system, but I refuse to allow myself to get bogged down my minutiae. In addition, I recognize two types of robustness; robust character definition and robust action resolution.
I actually prefer the former to the latter. I like having clearly defined rules defining my characters, including things like feats, skill points, etc. that help me get a handle on what my character is like and what he's good at, poor at, and generally capable of.
I don't mind a robust action resolution system, but d20 goes too far with detail, IMO. I tend to ignore a lot of the detail about how to, say, figure a DC for an activity and just wing a DC that seems appropriate for the challenge at hand. I don't worry too much about what the skill descriptions say so much as what makes sense. I worry about keeping people inside the box on actions, and rather wish my players would describe what they want to do (preferably something much cooler than "I move up and attack with my sword!") and I like to adjudicate what kinds of checks would be necessary to accomplish that.
Maybe that's a hallmark of "old skool" gaming, where DM adjudication was an expected part of the game, but that's still my expectation. I like a game that gives me robust tools to accomplish that, not necessary rules that imply that I have to do things a certain way. d20 works that way, but honestly, the books seem to imply (contrary to the statement circulated around back in the day) that they are in fact full of rules not tools and the books that say otherwise are few and far between. This has fostered a culture amongst players that these are rules not tools when I think the opposite is a very desirable situation.
What sparked this line of thought in me was my review of the Hot Pursuit! rules by Corey Reid. These most definately are tools---a modular add-on that enables classic chase scenes to be modeled pretty well in d20 (in my opinion, a rather egregious gaping hole in the current ruleset.) Corey is an online friend of mine from way back, and I actually looked at an early review copy of the rules and gave some minor feedback before they were officially published, so I feel at least some sense of (misplaced, no doubt) ownership over the way they work, and I've been anxious to implement them for some time, but haven't been running in quite a while either.
In my review of the rules, I noticed that they---like d20 in general---is a bit more robust than I need them to be. The basic concept of how chases work is brilliant. I really like it. The list of specific actions I don't need, and in fact I think actively detracts from the fast-and-loose way that I prefer running the game. Rather than utilize them (other than as examples to get my imagination working) I'm going to integrate the basic concept of the chase scene and it's basic mechanic, and then just... again... adjudicate the actions the PCs describe to me using existing skill checks and other tools in the d20 system.
In any case, if you like action-oriented games at all, I highly recommend you pick up the Hot Pursuit! pdf from whatever rpg-related pdf vendor you prefer; I know rpgnow.com has it, as well as the correllary Hot Pursuit: On Foot. Not only does it support a writer who I like and think is quite talented, but it's a nice little modular subsystem that really does plug a gaping hole in the rules and allows for chase scenes; one of the most iconic of action set-pieces in the fiction that d20 is supposedly designed to emulate.
It's always been my style to turn rules into tools anyway. I'm a bit of a free-wheeling type of GM; I like a robust system, but I refuse to allow myself to get bogged down my minutiae. In addition, I recognize two types of robustness; robust character definition and robust action resolution.
I actually prefer the former to the latter. I like having clearly defined rules defining my characters, including things like feats, skill points, etc. that help me get a handle on what my character is like and what he's good at, poor at, and generally capable of.
I don't mind a robust action resolution system, but d20 goes too far with detail, IMO. I tend to ignore a lot of the detail about how to, say, figure a DC for an activity and just wing a DC that seems appropriate for the challenge at hand. I don't worry too much about what the skill descriptions say so much as what makes sense. I worry about keeping people inside the box on actions, and rather wish my players would describe what they want to do (preferably something much cooler than "I move up and attack with my sword!") and I like to adjudicate what kinds of checks would be necessary to accomplish that.
Maybe that's a hallmark of "old skool" gaming, where DM adjudication was an expected part of the game, but that's still my expectation. I like a game that gives me robust tools to accomplish that, not necessary rules that imply that I have to do things a certain way. d20 works that way, but honestly, the books seem to imply (contrary to the statement circulated around back in the day) that they are in fact full of rules not tools and the books that say otherwise are few and far between. This has fostered a culture amongst players that these are rules not tools when I think the opposite is a very desirable situation.
What sparked this line of thought in me was my review of the Hot Pursuit! rules by Corey Reid. These most definately are tools---a modular add-on that enables classic chase scenes to be modeled pretty well in d20 (in my opinion, a rather egregious gaping hole in the current ruleset.) Corey is an online friend of mine from way back, and I actually looked at an early review copy of the rules and gave some minor feedback before they were officially published, so I feel at least some sense of (misplaced, no doubt) ownership over the way they work, and I've been anxious to implement them for some time, but haven't been running in quite a while either.
In my review of the rules, I noticed that they---like d20 in general---is a bit more robust than I need them to be. The basic concept of how chases work is brilliant. I really like it. The list of specific actions I don't need, and in fact I think actively detracts from the fast-and-loose way that I prefer running the game. Rather than utilize them (other than as examples to get my imagination working) I'm going to integrate the basic concept of the chase scene and it's basic mechanic, and then just... again... adjudicate the actions the PCs describe to me using existing skill checks and other tools in the d20 system.
In any case, if you like action-oriented games at all, I highly recommend you pick up the Hot Pursuit! pdf from whatever rpg-related pdf vendor you prefer; I know rpgnow.com has it, as well as the correllary Hot Pursuit: On Foot. Not only does it support a writer who I like and think is quite talented, but it's a nice little modular subsystem that really does plug a gaping hole in the rules and allows for chase scenes; one of the most iconic of action set-pieces in the fiction that d20 is supposedly designed to emulate.
Iguanodon
Greg Paul is at it again; having just published a new taxonomy for Iguanodon. I thought this was pretty interesting; from his Predatory Dinosaurs of the World book, I had always pegged Paul as a notorious "lumper." He lumped Yangchuanosaurs into Metriocanthosaurus, for instance, and lumped Daspletosaurus and Tarbosaurus into Tyrannosaurus as well as lumping all albertosaurine tyrannosaurs into Albertosaurus. If I recall correctly, he also lumped most of the ornithomimids into Ornithomimus. There were plenty of other less notable examples, but the pattern of being a lumper was prominent.
That's why it surprised me a bit to see him break up the big assemblage of Iguanodon into several new genera, including Mantellisaurus, Dakotadon and Dollodon. He also removed a lot of rather dubious Iguanodon species names, which is a bit of lumping I'm actually OK with.
That actually makes a lot of sense. The idea that Iguanodon lasted for 75 million years unchanged stretched credulity, and the facility with which paleontologists lumped fossils into the genus regardless of displacement in time and place was another red flag that something was probably not quite right.
Mantellisaurus and Dollodon are therefore Wealdon Supergroup iguanodontids of more gracile build and also demonstrate some other morphological variability from Iguanodon itself. Dakotadon he calls a more basal critter than Iguanodon itself.
As an aside, I quite like the idea of naming these genera after early Iguanodon discovers and/or scholars Gideon Mantell and Louis Dollo.
That's why it surprised me a bit to see him break up the big assemblage of Iguanodon into several new genera, including Mantellisaurus, Dakotadon and Dollodon. He also removed a lot of rather dubious Iguanodon species names, which is a bit of lumping I'm actually OK with.
That actually makes a lot of sense. The idea that Iguanodon lasted for 75 million years unchanged stretched credulity, and the facility with which paleontologists lumped fossils into the genus regardless of displacement in time and place was another red flag that something was probably not quite right.
Mantellisaurus and Dollodon are therefore Wealdon Supergroup iguanodontids of more gracile build and also demonstrate some other morphological variability from Iguanodon itself. Dakotadon he calls a more basal critter than Iguanodon itself.
As an aside, I quite like the idea of naming these genera after early Iguanodon discovers and/or scholars Gideon Mantell and Louis Dollo.
AVP:R
Over the weekend I finally (belatedly) got a chance to see Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Naturally, you'll tell me, "Good heavens, Dyal, it's only AVP:R. It's a B-movie. Who cares."
See, I've always had a soft spot for these kinds of alien movies. The two original Predator movies are among my favorite movies still, as is James Cameron's Aliens. Ridley Scott's original Alien is still a darn good movie too.
Sadly, that's now only half the movies associated with the properties; Alien3 is a movie that the best thing said about it is: "if you get past your expectations and understand that it's a completely different type of movie about psychological despair/horror than it's not that bad after all" and Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator usually just get the "well, my expectations were pretty low, so I actually found it decent fun, if nothing else." This new movie is on par with that.
Possibly it tops Paul W. S. Anderson helmed first crossover title. Possibly. It suffers from some of the same problems, notably the lack of a charismatic human cast. In fact, if anything, this cast is even less charismatic. We've got cardboard stereotypical characters, and one of the main actors looks like a discount Hadyn Christiansen.
It's interesting to compare this with the last movie I saw in theaters before it: Cloverfield. Both of them are monster movies that miss the mark, but they miss it from completely opposite ends of the spectrum. I remember reading a book about writing science fiction a long time ago that pointed out that many sci-fi authors fail to understand that all good stories are human stories. AVPR fails to understand that completely. The people aren't interesting and the plot about them isn't either. The story is about a Predator alien who comes to earth to kill Alien aliens. Because of this, the movie is at least watchable; it's fun to see the two types of aliens running around (when you can see them at all) and at least the look of the monsters is "restored" (the beefy pro-wrestler like predators from the prior AVP still rankle). But the movie is at best mediocre.
Cloverfield on the other hand, is a much better movie. Why? Because it goes out of its way to tell a story of human drama with interesting characters. So it's a better movie, but it fails to be a really good monster movie, because this really isn't an either/or type of situation. A good monster movie has to have interesting human drama with interesting characters and---in other words---tell a story about people. But it's also a story about a monster (or more than one) and in Cloverfield the monster is barely a backdrop for the movie. If you could retell Cloverfield with the villains being an invading Soviet army, a la Red Dawn then it's not a monster movie. And, in my opinion, you could make that exact same movie with invading Soviets. My need to know more about the monster went unsatisfied in Cloverfield, while my need to have interesting human drama to follow went unsatisfied in AVPR. Ultimately, that made the former a better movie than the latter, but I still don't understand why both movies couldn't have worked a little harder to giving us both.
However, since I can at least stomach movies about interesting monsters even without interesting people, I guardedly recommend AVPR. And just for fun, here's some art I found online of the alien that chestbursted out of a predator.
See, I've always had a soft spot for these kinds of alien movies. The two original Predator movies are among my favorite movies still, as is James Cameron's Aliens. Ridley Scott's original Alien is still a darn good movie too.
Sadly, that's now only half the movies associated with the properties; Alien3 is a movie that the best thing said about it is: "if you get past your expectations and understand that it's a completely different type of movie about psychological despair/horror than it's not that bad after all" and Alien: Resurrection and Alien vs. Predator usually just get the "well, my expectations were pretty low, so I actually found it decent fun, if nothing else." This new movie is on par with that.
Possibly it tops Paul W. S. Anderson helmed first crossover title. Possibly. It suffers from some of the same problems, notably the lack of a charismatic human cast. In fact, if anything, this cast is even less charismatic. We've got cardboard stereotypical characters, and one of the main actors looks like a discount Hadyn Christiansen.
It's interesting to compare this with the last movie I saw in theaters before it: Cloverfield. Both of them are monster movies that miss the mark, but they miss it from completely opposite ends of the spectrum. I remember reading a book about writing science fiction a long time ago that pointed out that many sci-fi authors fail to understand that all good stories are human stories. AVPR fails to understand that completely. The people aren't interesting and the plot about them isn't either. The story is about a Predator alien who comes to earth to kill Alien aliens. Because of this, the movie is at least watchable; it's fun to see the two types of aliens running around (when you can see them at all) and at least the look of the monsters is "restored" (the beefy pro-wrestler like predators from the prior AVP still rankle). But the movie is at best mediocre.
Cloverfield on the other hand, is a much better movie. Why? Because it goes out of its way to tell a story of human drama with interesting characters. So it's a better movie, but it fails to be a really good monster movie, because this really isn't an either/or type of situation. A good monster movie has to have interesting human drama with interesting characters and---in other words---tell a story about people. But it's also a story about a monster (or more than one) and in Cloverfield the monster is barely a backdrop for the movie. If you could retell Cloverfield with the villains being an invading Soviet army, a la Red Dawn then it's not a monster movie. And, in my opinion, you could make that exact same movie with invading Soviets. My need to know more about the monster went unsatisfied in Cloverfield, while my need to have interesting human drama to follow went unsatisfied in AVPR. Ultimately, that made the former a better movie than the latter, but I still don't understand why both movies couldn't have worked a little harder to giving us both.
However, since I can at least stomach movies about interesting monsters even without interesting people, I guardedly recommend AVPR. And just for fun, here's some art I found online of the alien that chestbursted out of a predator.
Monday, January 28, 2008
I'm running!
D&D, that is. After a bit of debate, we decided that our next campaign will be mine. Then we finished Kevin's Age of Worms.
Rather anticlimactically (a fact that even he gladly admitted, but he thought it better to play it "as written" rather than adjust it for dramatic impact. I'm glad I can now say that I've honestly played a campaign from 1st to 22nd level, but I can also honestly say I hope I don't do it again any time soon. I'm definately suffering from Long Campaign Fatigue Syndrome.
My game will be quite a bit shorter. I'm purposefully giving D&D a bit of a Cthulhu-like vibe, but I'm also going to purposefully try to pump up the swashbuckling vibe. I guess horror and swashbuckling together is a bit more The Mummy or Pirates of the Caribbean or even Van Helsing than it is Cthulhu, but I also have some rather overt Cthulhu references. More as an in-joke than anything else, though. A country (centered on a plateau) called Leng, for instance, or a horrible island chain called Rilyeh. A city called Carcosa. A nasty, northern country called Kadath.
The real challenge is trying to find something that works in D&D, but gives the same vibe as something like The Necronomicon, Nameless Cults, The Book of Eibon, or other obvious Cthulhu horrible tomes. Still working on that, as well as exactly how to use them.
I think there will be three main threats, and the PCs will have to choose which to address. If they're really lucky, they'll be able to address two of the three; more likely only one. Otherwise, they'll have to let the other one play out and live with the consequences of the threat they couldn't stop. Mwahahaha!
Rather anticlimactically (a fact that even he gladly admitted, but he thought it better to play it "as written" rather than adjust it for dramatic impact. I'm glad I can now say that I've honestly played a campaign from 1st to 22nd level, but I can also honestly say I hope I don't do it again any time soon. I'm definately suffering from Long Campaign Fatigue Syndrome.
My game will be quite a bit shorter. I'm purposefully giving D&D a bit of a Cthulhu-like vibe, but I'm also going to purposefully try to pump up the swashbuckling vibe. I guess horror and swashbuckling together is a bit more The Mummy or Pirates of the Caribbean or even Van Helsing than it is Cthulhu, but I also have some rather overt Cthulhu references. More as an in-joke than anything else, though. A country (centered on a plateau) called Leng, for instance, or a horrible island chain called Rilyeh. A city called Carcosa. A nasty, northern country called Kadath.
The real challenge is trying to find something that works in D&D, but gives the same vibe as something like The Necronomicon, Nameless Cults, The Book of Eibon, or other obvious Cthulhu horrible tomes. Still working on that, as well as exactly how to use them.
I think there will be three main threats, and the PCs will have to choose which to address. If they're really lucky, they'll be able to address two of the three; more likely only one. Otherwise, they'll have to let the other one play out and live with the consequences of the threat they couldn't stop. Mwahahaha!
Cloverfield
Saw Cloverfield this weekend.
I don't know how much Julie liked it, but she at least admits that it was interesting. I thought the same thing. I guess in some ways I was turned off by the unconventional storytelling techniques. I'm not a huge fan of constant hand-held cams, and would have a preferred a more traditionally shot movie, honestly. I'm not that thrilled with telling the story of a few normal New Yorkers to the point that there's literally no explanation for where the monster came from.
Other than that, I liked it. I guess maybe if they had done more of that, we would have ended up with yet another Matthew Broderick Godzilla. Which maybe I'm crazy, because nobody else seems to think so, but I think that's a sadly under-rated movie. It really isn't that bad. I kinda like it in a bad movie kinda way, the same way I like Van Helsing for instance. I can recognize that it's a far cry from brilliant while still enjoying it nonetheless.
Not only that, I'm probably the only person you'll ever hear of who wished the Cloverfield could have been more like Godzilla, even in a minor way.
Barring that, I wish it could have been more explicitly Cthulhu-esque, as early rumors had it.
I don't know how much Julie liked it, but she at least admits that it was interesting. I thought the same thing. I guess in some ways I was turned off by the unconventional storytelling techniques. I'm not a huge fan of constant hand-held cams, and would have a preferred a more traditionally shot movie, honestly. I'm not that thrilled with telling the story of a few normal New Yorkers to the point that there's literally no explanation for where the monster came from.
Other than that, I liked it. I guess maybe if they had done more of that, we would have ended up with yet another Matthew Broderick Godzilla. Which maybe I'm crazy, because nobody else seems to think so, but I think that's a sadly under-rated movie. It really isn't that bad. I kinda like it in a bad movie kinda way, the same way I like Van Helsing for instance. I can recognize that it's a far cry from brilliant while still enjoying it nonetheless.
Not only that, I'm probably the only person you'll ever hear of who wished the Cloverfield could have been more like Godzilla, even in a minor way.
Barring that, I wish it could have been more explicitly Cthulhu-esque, as early rumors had it.
Earlier Depeche Mode
Well, I added Speak and Spell, A Broken Frame and Construction Time Again to my mp3 player, while keeping Some Great Reward, Black Celebration and Music For the Masses, so I've got pretty much all of Depeche Mode's 80's output together and in order (technically I think the early singles for Violator were out in fall of 1989, but I consider that a part of the early 90s, and a different phase of Depeche Mode's evolution anyway.
This now covers three of the stages that I identify: 1) the Vince Clark penned, happy-go-lucky pop music, 2) the transitional, socially conscious Martin Gore efforts (including a period where he still penned a few songs that deliberately sounded sorta like Vince Clark songs) and 3) the darker, personal depression bits of the last three albums I had mentioned. Of course, elements of the styles blend together somewhat; it's a continuous evolution, not one marked by sudden breaks (well, except for Vince Clark leaving the band after Speak and Spell obviously.)
It's fun to hear all six of those albums back to back and watch (listen to?) the evolution of Depeche Mode. I can see why the band themselves now thinks much of their early output is cheesy and they don't like to play it; much of it is pretty cheesy. Then again, they don't do a concert but that they end with "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Everything Counts" and they haven't for years. I guess they can still mine from the early material where it's justified.
Too bad they have such a negative opinion of other classics like "People Are People" these days, though. I mean; c'mon. That song was a major hit.
This now covers three of the stages that I identify: 1) the Vince Clark penned, happy-go-lucky pop music, 2) the transitional, socially conscious Martin Gore efforts (including a period where he still penned a few songs that deliberately sounded sorta like Vince Clark songs) and 3) the darker, personal depression bits of the last three albums I had mentioned. Of course, elements of the styles blend together somewhat; it's a continuous evolution, not one marked by sudden breaks (well, except for Vince Clark leaving the band after Speak and Spell obviously.)
It's fun to hear all six of those albums back to back and watch (listen to?) the evolution of Depeche Mode. I can see why the band themselves now thinks much of their early output is cheesy and they don't like to play it; much of it is pretty cheesy. Then again, they don't do a concert but that they end with "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Everything Counts" and they haven't for years. I guess they can still mine from the early material where it's justified.
Too bad they have such a negative opinion of other classics like "People Are People" these days, though. I mean; c'mon. That song was a major hit.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
On a whim I recently reread three classic H. P. Lovecraft stories, Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Granted, these aren't my favorite Lovecraft stories (those would be The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath, At the Mountains of Madness and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward) but they are considered three of the foundations of the entire Cthulhu Mythos idea.
Rereading those three stories cemented in me the idea that Lovecraft has some good ideas from time to time... but he was a singularly untalented writer. His prose is belabored and clunky, his dialogue is terrible, his characters are wooden and flat, and there's little tension in them. His "nameless horrors" are an example of "extreme cop-out"---more horrible than words can describe being a phrase he paraphrases frequently.
Still, for some reason that I can't quite explain, I keep turning back to Lovecraft. What is it that draws me back to stories that always leave me unsatisfied; that make me say, "boy I wish someone else would run with this idea" or even "I wish someone else would insert a different idea in this story?"
I don't know. But now I'm tempted to turn to The Colour Out of Space or even The Whisperer in Darkness even so...
Rereading those three stories cemented in me the idea that Lovecraft has some good ideas from time to time... but he was a singularly untalented writer. His prose is belabored and clunky, his dialogue is terrible, his characters are wooden and flat, and there's little tension in them. His "nameless horrors" are an example of "extreme cop-out"---more horrible than words can describe being a phrase he paraphrases frequently.
Still, for some reason that I can't quite explain, I keep turning back to Lovecraft. What is it that draws me back to stories that always leave me unsatisfied; that make me say, "boy I wish someone else would run with this idea" or even "I wish someone else would insert a different idea in this story?"
I don't know. But now I'm tempted to turn to The Colour Out of Space or even The Whisperer in Darkness even so...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The joys of coloring books
Sometime around 1980, when I was still a wee tyke of just under the age of ten, my father discovered a little specialist curio toy store. Our big purchase there was a series of "castle blocks" vaguely LEGO-like toys made by some European company that really only allowed you to build castles. They were pretty cool. To this day, I've seen my grown brothers whip them out and construct something if my kids are around. It's still fun.
However, that store contributed more meaningfully to me via two oversized coloring books on solid poster-like paper published by Troubador Press. The first one was the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album.
I was vaguely familiar with the game, having kinda sorta played a session or two with a friend of mine, but honestly it wasn't until I got this coloring book that the idea really clicked with me. Thanks to this coloring book, I also came up with a workable model for drawing dragons, a hobby that consumed me for many years as I sat bored in my elementary school and middle school classes. 
However, that store contributed more meaningfully to me via two oversized coloring books on solid poster-like paper published by Troubador Press. The first one was the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album.
I was vaguely familiar with the game, having kinda sorta played a session or two with a friend of mine, but honestly it wasn't until I got this coloring book that the idea really clicked with me. Thanks to this coloring book, I also came up with a workable model for drawing dragons, a hobby that consumed me for many years as I sat bored in my elementary school and middle school classes. The other book was Tales of Fantasy, so similarly themed. It started off talking about mythological characters and locations: Atlantis, Merlin, Siegfried, Odysseus, but thanks to this book I was also introduced for the first time to Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany and more, as well as becoming much more familiar with Lewis Carroll, Frank Baum, Edgar Allen Poe, etc. In some ways, my subsequent complete migration to fantasy as my genre poison of choice can be directly attributed to these two brilliant books.
Sadly, I colored all over my copies (I was pretty young, after all, and the idea that I'd one day wish I had these as collectibles hadn't even occured to me), read them until they fell apart and then threw them out. Turns out that these books now go for quite a bit of money on the used market, and this for copies that are in less than stellar condition. Still, if you have a hankering for that kind of thing, I can't recommend them enough. Here's a picture I nabbed from an ebay auction of the front and back covers:
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sent!
Now that you mention it, Bob, I do have a topic that I'd like to at least have thought about before we meet, so we don't have to spend too much time talking about it. What do we do once this campaign is over this next weekend?
I'll go ahead and throw my proposal out there for what to do when this campaign ends next week. It looks like John won't be ready for a few months, and honestly I think a few smaller "mini-campaigns" before we dive into another 1st-20th marathon would be a good thing.
Here's my proposal; I could run a small mini-campaign using D&D rules, starting at 3rd level and probably getting to about 6th level; I anticipate that the game would run 6-10 sessions before being done. My goal would be to combine heroic, swashbuckling action with horror---sorta the same vibe as The Mummy or the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Like those movies, however, the end threat can't be simply defeated in combat---you'll need to uncover the ritual or secret weapon, or whatever it is that will allow you to defeat a foe much greater than your capabilities---turn the mummy or the pirates back into mortals, as it were.
I'd be pretty wide open on rules available (pretty much like Kevin was---anything from WotC would be fair game, and I'd probably accept anything else too if you really wanted to use it.) I've held off hammering out too many details until (if!) we decide we want to go down this route, to prevent me from doing a lot of work that won't get used, but we can discuss it some more next weekend if the group is interested.
The advantage (in my opinion) of this campaign is that it isn't very long; with any luck we'll still have time for another small campaign of some sorts as well before we start a major campaign like Shackled City, or whatever it is we decide to do after that.
--- In xxxxx@yahoogroups.com, Bob wrote:
> PS If you feel like you have a topic that you would like to save for discussion at our next session.....why not try to air it here?
I'll go ahead and throw my proposal out there for what to do when this campaign ends next week. It looks like John won't be ready for a few months, and honestly I think a few smaller "mini-campaigns" before we dive into another 1st-20th marathon would be a good thing.
Here's my proposal; I could run a small mini-campaign using D&D rules, starting at 3rd level and probably getting to about 6th level; I anticipate that the game would run 6-10 sessions before being done. My goal would be to combine heroic, swashbuckling action with horror---sorta the same vibe as The Mummy or the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Like those movies, however, the end threat can't be simply defeated in combat---you'll need to uncover the ritual or secret weapon, or whatever it is that will allow you to defeat a foe much greater than your capabilities---turn the mummy or the pirates back into mortals, as it were.
I'd be pretty wide open on rules available (pretty much like Kevin was---anything from WotC would be fair game, and I'd probably accept anything else too if you really wanted to use it.) I've held off hammering out too many details until (if!) we decide we want to go down this route, to prevent me from doing a lot of work that won't get used, but we can discuss it some more next weekend if the group is interested.
The advantage (in my opinion) of this campaign is that it isn't very long; with any luck we'll still have time for another small campaign of some sorts as well before we start a major campaign like Shackled City, or whatever it is we decide to do after that.
--- In xxxxx@yahoogroups.com, Bob wrote:
> PS If you feel like you have a topic that you would like to save for discussion at our next session.....why not try to air it here?
Games
Well, today's the day. I'm going to compose and send an email to my gaming group making my proposal for a campaign. I've decided that it's time. I think it'll go over well, but I need to be careful how I compose it to make sure that it doesn't sound like the kind of thing that some of the players won't like; I honestly don't think the idea is, but I don't want to give that impression either.
Wish me luck!
I also flipped through a copy of Elder Evils, a Wizards of the Coast book by Rob Schwalb which is basically about how to turn your D&D campaign into a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Given that that's pretty much always my goal, I decided I needed this book. However, I'm going to have to wait to pick it up for a few weeks; but in the meantime I've flipped through the d20 Call of Cthulhu book again for inspiration. Circvs Maximvs is down right now, but otherwise I'd be creating a d20 CoC character for a new Pbp game that Creamsteak is going to run. I'm excited; I always have loved CoC. I'm still fairly disappointed that it looks unlikely that Bob will be able to run his CoC stuff as long as Matt is in the group, because he seems actively interested in avoiding that game, but there you have it.
Since I don't have Elder Evils (and because I've got plenty of material anyway) I'm trying to decide what the "Cthulhu" monster needs to be for my D&D campaign proposal. Maybe I could wait until we decide for sure that my game is going to be on, but I'd rather have some ideas ready, frankly---since I don't think Matt really wants to run his "D&D Star Wars" if he can play something else, I don't think we're ready for John's mega-campaign (nor is he ready until he passes the bar, presumably in a couple of months) and Bob's game looks like it will stall due to the divisiveness of the concept in our particular group. I keep forgetting about Franz' suggestion, but honestly given his schedule, I don't think any of us are thinking that it'll really get off the ground anyway. I might log on later and write some stream of thought rambly notes on potential antagonists. I'm thinking the new Demon Lord Dagon might be a good one; he's been obviously heavily modeled by James Jacobs on the Dagon of H. P. Lovecraft, melded with the standard D&D conventions of a demon lord. I think some fantasy Innesmouth would be fun too. We'll see, though.
Also; three day weekend coming up; I'll be going to the Ann Arbor University of Michigan Museum of Natural History with Julie and the kids this Monday. That museum is most notable (at least in my opinion) for the large full skeleton of an Allosaurus fragilis that they have mounted, although it's otherwise still a cool museum with a nifty planetarium and a rather extensive collection of stuffed Michigan wildlife. It occurs to me that adding Allosaurus fragilis to just about anything improves it greatly. Now if I can just figure out how to add dinosaurs to my game above, I'll be all set!
Wish me luck!
I also flipped through a copy of Elder Evils, a Wizards of the Coast book by Rob Schwalb which is basically about how to turn your D&D campaign into a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Given that that's pretty much always my goal, I decided I needed this book. However, I'm going to have to wait to pick it up for a few weeks; but in the meantime I've flipped through the d20 Call of Cthulhu book again for inspiration. Circvs Maximvs is down right now, but otherwise I'd be creating a d20 CoC character for a new Pbp game that Creamsteak is going to run. I'm excited; I always have loved CoC. I'm still fairly disappointed that it looks unlikely that Bob will be able to run his CoC stuff as long as Matt is in the group, because he seems actively interested in avoiding that game, but there you have it.
Since I don't have Elder Evils (and because I've got plenty of material anyway) I'm trying to decide what the "Cthulhu" monster needs to be for my D&D campaign proposal. Maybe I could wait until we decide for sure that my game is going to be on, but I'd rather have some ideas ready, frankly---since I don't think Matt really wants to run his "D&D Star Wars" if he can play something else, I don't think we're ready for John's mega-campaign (nor is he ready until he passes the bar, presumably in a couple of months) and Bob's game looks like it will stall due to the divisiveness of the concept in our particular group. I keep forgetting about Franz' suggestion, but honestly given his schedule, I don't think any of us are thinking that it'll really get off the ground anyway. I might log on later and write some stream of thought rambly notes on potential antagonists. I'm thinking the new Demon Lord Dagon might be a good one; he's been obviously heavily modeled by James Jacobs on the Dagon of H. P. Lovecraft, melded with the standard D&D conventions of a demon lord. I think some fantasy Innesmouth would be fun too. We'll see, though.
Also; three day weekend coming up; I'll be going to the Ann Arbor University of Michigan Museum of Natural History with Julie and the kids this Monday. That museum is most notable (at least in my opinion) for the large full skeleton of an Allosaurus fragilis that they have mounted, although it's otherwise still a cool museum with a nifty planetarium and a rather extensive collection of stuffed Michigan wildlife. It occurs to me that adding Allosaurus fragilis to just about anything improves it greatly. Now if I can just figure out how to add dinosaurs to my game above, I'll be all set!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Music again
I've had Black Celebration, Music for the Masses and Some Great Reward on my mp3 player for some time now and this weekend I'll probably change them out. Wondering what to get here next, actually. I kinda wanted to go through all of Depeche Mode's releases in chunks. The latest three releases I never really got to listen to as much as I'd have liked, so I could use some refresher there anyway, but with the exception of Playing the Angel I remember being disappointed in them anyway. I think I'll go further back in time, actually. Since I just did albums #4, 5 and 6, I should do #1, 2 and 3 next.
But I'm also considering jumping to De/vision. I shouldn't; I should stick to my plan first.
It used to be that I'd listen to music all the time while doing other things. Now, I only listen to music while doing other things, and I do it much less frequently. It used to be that I'd listen to music and really focus on it; now even when I try that my mind wanders and the next thing I realize, I've lost track of what song I'm even on, much less not heard much of the detail of the music.
*sigh* Julie says sometimes that somewhere deep down I actually still want to be a bachelor. I think she may have a point. I just don't have time to do all the things I want to anymore, and I think there's some part of me that can't quite let go of that desire.
But I'm also considering jumping to De/vision. I shouldn't; I should stick to my plan first.
It used to be that I'd listen to music all the time while doing other things. Now, I only listen to music while doing other things, and I do it much less frequently. It used to be that I'd listen to music and really focus on it; now even when I try that my mind wanders and the next thing I realize, I've lost track of what song I'm even on, much less not heard much of the detail of the music.
*sigh* Julie says sometimes that somewhere deep down I actually still want to be a bachelor. I think she may have a point. I just don't have time to do all the things I want to anymore, and I think there's some part of me that can't quite let go of that desire.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Gaming
As a quick aside; we look like we're one session away from finally nailing the coffin down on our Age of Worms game. It's time to seriously consider what we're going to do next.
I'm going to officially throw my hat in the ring and propose a game. I think in some ways it's a compromise solution (it's not what I'd be most inclined to run if I had free reing to run anything) but it is something that I think I can enjoy---a horror themed D&D mini-campaign, starting at 3rd level, running for 6-10 sessions (estimated) and probably capping the campaign at 6th level.
Bob was offering to run Cthulhu, which I'd love to do (as would several others) but there is a strong feeling from a few in the group that it wouldn't fly with everyone. John's offering to run Shackled City, assuming he's done and ready to rejoin, but I think we need something shorter to prevent "fatigue" after playing Age of Worms for three years relentlessly. Matt's offered to run his Star Wars/D&D game, but honestly I get the feeling that while he's willing to do so, he'd rather play in someone else's game. Franz is really excited about running Shadowrun, which again I think everyone would do, but his availability is the spottiest of all of us, and he'd be using a version of the rules that only he and one or two others actually own. Kevin is anxious to stop running for a while and play something, leaving Amber as the only group member who hasn't so far got a hat in the ring.
We're really close to the time where we'll need to parse all these options out and figure out what we're going to be doing.
In my Pbp, I'm down considerably, which I didn't exactly NOT expect. One group has almost completely ground to a halt after officially losing 50%. Another group is down to four, but still moving along nicely. I'd like to combine the groups, somehow, assuming I can salvage a player or two out of the defunct group, but we'll see how that works.
I also had this crazy idea (which I haven't yet proposed to anyone, but it's been kicking around in the back of my head) of trying to make it to Toronto once a quarter for a nice long weekend of gaming, assuming Corey, Stuart, and maybe a few others would be willing. We could have two or three campaigns that meet quarterly, go through long marathon all-day sessions and then hibernate again for another quarter. Since these marathon sessions would be equivalent to 2-3 regular sessions, that would come to something equivalent to playing different games once a month. If we can get two or three concurrent campaigns going, that's actually not too bad at all. How fun would that be?
I'm going to officially throw my hat in the ring and propose a game. I think in some ways it's a compromise solution (it's not what I'd be most inclined to run if I had free reing to run anything) but it is something that I think I can enjoy---a horror themed D&D mini-campaign, starting at 3rd level, running for 6-10 sessions (estimated) and probably capping the campaign at 6th level.
Bob was offering to run Cthulhu, which I'd love to do (as would several others) but there is a strong feeling from a few in the group that it wouldn't fly with everyone. John's offering to run Shackled City, assuming he's done and ready to rejoin, but I think we need something shorter to prevent "fatigue" after playing Age of Worms for three years relentlessly. Matt's offered to run his Star Wars/D&D game, but honestly I get the feeling that while he's willing to do so, he'd rather play in someone else's game. Franz is really excited about running Shadowrun, which again I think everyone would do, but his availability is the spottiest of all of us, and he'd be using a version of the rules that only he and one or two others actually own. Kevin is anxious to stop running for a while and play something, leaving Amber as the only group member who hasn't so far got a hat in the ring.
We're really close to the time where we'll need to parse all these options out and figure out what we're going to be doing.
In my Pbp, I'm down considerably, which I didn't exactly NOT expect. One group has almost completely ground to a halt after officially losing 50%. Another group is down to four, but still moving along nicely. I'd like to combine the groups, somehow, assuming I can salvage a player or two out of the defunct group, but we'll see how that works.
I also had this crazy idea (which I haven't yet proposed to anyone, but it's been kicking around in the back of my head) of trying to make it to Toronto once a quarter for a nice long weekend of gaming, assuming Corey, Stuart, and maybe a few others would be willing. We could have two or three campaigns that meet quarterly, go through long marathon all-day sessions and then hibernate again for another quarter. Since these marathon sessions would be equivalent to 2-3 regular sessions, that would come to something equivalent to playing different games once a month. If we can get two or three concurrent campaigns going, that's actually not too bad at all. How fun would that be?
De/vision "Noob"
I picked up De/vision's Noob this weekend. Although it's been out for a few months now, I've been kinda out of touch with the synthpop world and De/vision in particular, since finding 6 Feet Underground and Subkutan both somewhat disappointing and bland. Noob so far strikes me as harking back to their classic heyday---but I haven't heard enough of it yet to say definatively. I can say that my first listen through was considerably boring than my first listen through on either of their last two.
In case you don't know, De/vision is one of the longest running and most successful of the Depeche Mode imitators, who were unfortunate enough to come along a little bit too late to ride the synthpop wave to mainstream recognizabability. They're not terribly different in many ways to Red Flag, Camouflage, Seven Red Seven or Cause and Effect, who managed to eke out at least a single or two and a full-length CD before synthpop was pushed underground by the ressurgence of Grunge. De/vision's first full-length CD came out in 1994; well too late for mainstream success.
They have, however, been very popular in their native Germany, and that success gradually propelled them to being one of the most popular bands in the indie-synthpop movement. In my opinion, they peaked in 1998 with their classic Monosex, but most of their CD's have had at least something to recommend them. I suspect Noob will linger long afterwards as one of their best.
Here's a quick and dirty list of their major full-length CDs. I've included three compilations because they included numerous rarities or at least rare remixes and alternate versions, but I did not include any of their two or three live albums.
In case you don't know, De/vision is one of the longest running and most successful of the Depeche Mode imitators, who were unfortunate enough to come along a little bit too late to ride the synthpop wave to mainstream recognizabability. They're not terribly different in many ways to Red Flag, Camouflage, Seven Red Seven or Cause and Effect, who managed to eke out at least a single or two and a full-length CD before synthpop was pushed underground by the ressurgence of Grunge. De/vision's first full-length CD came out in 1994; well too late for mainstream success.
They have, however, been very popular in their native Germany, and that success gradually propelled them to being one of the most popular bands in the indie-synthpop movement. In my opinion, they peaked in 1998 with their classic Monosex, but most of their CD's have had at least something to recommend them. I suspect Noob will linger long afterwards as one of their best.
Here's a quick and dirty list of their major full-length CDs. I've included three compilations because they included numerous rarities or at least rare remixes and alternate versions, but I did not include any of their two or three live albums.
- World Without End (1994)
- Unversed in Love (1995)
- Antiquity (1995)
- Fairyland? (1996)
- Monosex (1998)
- Zehn (1998)
- Void (2000)
- Two (2001)
- Remixed (2002)
- Devolution (2003)
- 6 Feet Underground (2004)
- Subkutan (2006)
- Best of... (2006)
- Noob (2007)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Everything counts in large amounts
For whatever reason, the last few days I've been listening to a lot of Depeche Mode. I don't keep my mp3 player very full most of the time (in fact, I purposefully try to keep it down to 2-3 CDs worth of songs for the most part; it makes it easier to find and play what I want and then change it out when I'm ready to move on.) So lately, I loaded the three CDs of Depeche Mode's "Early Maturity" period: Some Great Reward, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses. Wow, y'know, sometimes you forgot how good that stuff really is until you go back and hear the songs in context and in order right off the CD.
I'm sure many disagree and think Depeche Mode is simply pre-emo emo; overwrought teenage angst. I can see that. But I disagree. I think they really hit on some timeless, ageless emotional leverage here; stuff that still resonates with me, doesn't sound dated over twenty years later and just plain rawks.
Other stages of Depeche Mode have much to recommend them too, especially the next phase: "Mainstream Popularity" with Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion but for me, the three listed earlier are as good as synthpop ever got. Still.
I'm sure many disagree and think Depeche Mode is simply pre-emo emo; overwrought teenage angst. I can see that. But I disagree. I think they really hit on some timeless, ageless emotional leverage here; stuff that still resonates with me, doesn't sound dated over twenty years later and just plain rawks.
Other stages of Depeche Mode have much to recommend them too, especially the next phase: "Mainstream Popularity" with Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion but for me, the three listed earlier are as good as synthpop ever got. Still.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Some things... including dinosaurs and space opera
This last weekend, I was listening to one of my favorite classical pieces of music: Franz Liszt's Les Préludes and I had a thought.
I'm a real philistine. In fact, not only am I a self-professed philistine, I'm obnoxiously, fiercely and zealously philistine. Prejudicially philistine even. I have an aversion to "high brow" culture if I can have "common" culture instead.
"But waitaminute Mr. Dark•Heritage blog writer," you may be saying. "If you're so philistine, why were you listening to Franz Liszt's Les Préludes this weekend instead of something like Fergie or Justin Timberlake?
Well, see... you have to keep in mind that to me, Les Préludes isn't a fancy piece of classical music with a fancy French name. To me, it's the themesong of Flash Gordon. In fact, as a little kid, I actually thought that the music was written to accompany the old Republic serial; I only later found out that it had a life of it's own completely unrelated to Flash Gordon.
Then again, classic music is my kinda departure from my almost quixotic obsession with low brow entertainment. Flash Gordon, however is not. I'm a huge fan of the idea of the Republic serial. Of pulp writers. Of comic books and the trashy literary ghetto of genre fiction. The idea that James Joyce wrote the greatest novel of the 20th century is completely foreign to me. James Joyce wrote a novel that has been celebrated by a tiny, tiny number of people in the literati elite. Few others care about him in the least. Tolkien has a much better claim in terms of influence and popular appeal both.
See, that's where I think George Lucas really dropped the ball, and he did it way back in about 1978-1979. I read a fair amount of the ebook The Secret History of Star Wars right before the holiday started, and frankly I already knew every conclusion that he came to. My own conclusions were based on common sense, gut instinct and vague memories, while that book tracked down almost every comment in every interview, every draft script, every scrap of information he could and proved what I believed to be the case all along. That is:
George Lucas never set out to write a grand "mythic" story based on Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. George Lucas didn't have a grand plot about "The Tragedy of Annakin Skywalker" in mind from the beginning. Darth Vader wasn't Luke's father until the second draft of Empire in 1979 or so. What Lucas wanted to do was write---basically---a Republic serial, just like Flash Gordon. In fact, he wanted to actually make Flash Gordon; he tried to buy the rights to the title but couldn't afford it, which is why he wrote his own. In any case, what I really salute about George Lucas---and where I think he got it right, even if he for whatever reason now disagrees and wants to portray the genesis of Star Wars differently---was that he tapped into that low brow fantasy vibe that our society was sorely missing at that point. His timing was impeccable; it was due to come back in.
Anyway...
Some of you (does anyone read this besides me anyway?) may recall that I have a problem with the documentaries produced to date on dinosaurs. Walking With Dinosaurs has good writing and narration, and pretty good technical competence on the graphics, but the artistry is terrible. Some of the dinosaurs would need to have malformed, pathological or dislocated bones to actually fit inside the computer models made for them. I prefer the artistry of When Dinosaurs Roamed America but the technical competency isn't as high (the CGI looks plastic on several occasions) and the writing and narration is almost painful to listen to. Dinosaur Planet is almost as bad (and obviously by the same people) while Chased by Dinosaurs was probably my favorite, as an improved follow-up to Walking With Dinosaurs. The idea of having Nigel Marvin be a time-traveling zoologist humanizes the experience and is just fun anyway, which really helps.
I recently discovered that a few months ago another series was released called Prehistoric Park. It also features Nigel Marven, production by Impossible Pictures and CGI by Framestore (like Chased) but apparently was not funded by the BBC. This led to some obvious budget cuts; they shows do some noticable frame repeating, for instance. However, other than this minor problem, Prehistoric Park is clearly as good as Chased by Dinosaurs. The artistry and technical competence is pretty good (although still not perfect to my very high standards on dinosaurs), Nigel running around like a prehistoric Crocodile Hunter is fun to watch and for the most part, his selection of critters to focus on is just about right.
The premise is that he travels in time to "rescue" extinct animals and bring them back to a modern wildlife sanctuary kinda place. There are six episodes, and although he focuses each episode on a single critter, he usually ends up bringing back more than one. In the first one, he goes for T. rexes for instance, but also comes back with a Triceratops horridus and a whole herd of Ornithomimus velox. Three of the episodes focus on the Mesozioc era (although in the last one, he's actually looking for dinosaur hunting supercroc Deinosuchus hatcheri. He also makes two trips to the Ice Age; one looking for mammoths, and one to the tropical savannahs of South America to get a giant sabertooth; Smilodon populator. The penultimate episode stands out (in a bad way) in my opinion, since Nigel and team go to the Carboniferous and wallow in swamps looking for giant millipedes and dragonflies. That's the least dramatic (or interesting) from a zoological perspective, so they have to up the ante on the narrative to compensate.
All in all, I highly recommend this as a DVD purchase (or at least a rental or library checkout) from anyone who likes dinosaurs or prehistoric animals even a little tiny bit.
I'm a real philistine. In fact, not only am I a self-professed philistine, I'm obnoxiously, fiercely and zealously philistine. Prejudicially philistine even. I have an aversion to "high brow" culture if I can have "common" culture instead.
"But waitaminute Mr. Dark•Heritage blog writer," you may be saying. "If you're so philistine, why were you listening to Franz Liszt's Les Préludes this weekend instead of something like Fergie or Justin Timberlake?
Well, see... you have to keep in mind that to me, Les Préludes isn't a fancy piece of classical music with a fancy French name. To me, it's the themesong of Flash Gordon. In fact, as a little kid, I actually thought that the music was written to accompany the old Republic serial; I only later found out that it had a life of it's own completely unrelated to Flash Gordon.
Then again, classic music is my kinda departure from my almost quixotic obsession with low brow entertainment. Flash Gordon, however is not. I'm a huge fan of the idea of the Republic serial. Of pulp writers. Of comic books and the trashy literary ghetto of genre fiction. The idea that James Joyce wrote the greatest novel of the 20th century is completely foreign to me. James Joyce wrote a novel that has been celebrated by a tiny, tiny number of people in the literati elite. Few others care about him in the least. Tolkien has a much better claim in terms of influence and popular appeal both.
See, that's where I think George Lucas really dropped the ball, and he did it way back in about 1978-1979. I read a fair amount of the ebook The Secret History of Star Wars right before the holiday started, and frankly I already knew every conclusion that he came to. My own conclusions were based on common sense, gut instinct and vague memories, while that book tracked down almost every comment in every interview, every draft script, every scrap of information he could and proved what I believed to be the case all along. That is:
George Lucas never set out to write a grand "mythic" story based on Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. George Lucas didn't have a grand plot about "The Tragedy of Annakin Skywalker" in mind from the beginning. Darth Vader wasn't Luke's father until the second draft of Empire in 1979 or so. What Lucas wanted to do was write---basically---a Republic serial, just like Flash Gordon. In fact, he wanted to actually make Flash Gordon; he tried to buy the rights to the title but couldn't afford it, which is why he wrote his own. In any case, what I really salute about George Lucas---and where I think he got it right, even if he for whatever reason now disagrees and wants to portray the genesis of Star Wars differently---was that he tapped into that low brow fantasy vibe that our society was sorely missing at that point. His timing was impeccable; it was due to come back in.
Anyway...
Some of you (does anyone read this besides me anyway?) may recall that I have a problem with the documentaries produced to date on dinosaurs. Walking With Dinosaurs has good writing and narration, and pretty good technical competence on the graphics, but the artistry is terrible. Some of the dinosaurs would need to have malformed, pathological or dislocated bones to actually fit inside the computer models made for them. I prefer the artistry of When Dinosaurs Roamed America but the technical competency isn't as high (the CGI looks plastic on several occasions) and the writing and narration is almost painful to listen to. Dinosaur Planet is almost as bad (and obviously by the same people) while Chased by Dinosaurs was probably my favorite, as an improved follow-up to Walking With Dinosaurs. The idea of having Nigel Marvin be a time-traveling zoologist humanizes the experience and is just fun anyway, which really helps.
I recently discovered that a few months ago another series was released called Prehistoric Park. It also features Nigel Marven, production by Impossible Pictures and CGI by Framestore (like Chased) but apparently was not funded by the BBC. This led to some obvious budget cuts; they shows do some noticable frame repeating, for instance. However, other than this minor problem, Prehistoric Park is clearly as good as Chased by Dinosaurs. The artistry and technical competence is pretty good (although still not perfect to my very high standards on dinosaurs), Nigel running around like a prehistoric Crocodile Hunter is fun to watch and for the most part, his selection of critters to focus on is just about right.
The premise is that he travels in time to "rescue" extinct animals and bring them back to a modern wildlife sanctuary kinda place. There are six episodes, and although he focuses each episode on a single critter, he usually ends up bringing back more than one. In the first one, he goes for T. rexes for instance, but also comes back with a Triceratops horridus and a whole herd of Ornithomimus velox. Three of the episodes focus on the Mesozioc era (although in the last one, he's actually looking for dinosaur hunting supercroc Deinosuchus hatcheri. He also makes two trips to the Ice Age; one looking for mammoths, and one to the tropical savannahs of South America to get a giant sabertooth; Smilodon populator. The penultimate episode stands out (in a bad way) in my opinion, since Nigel and team go to the Carboniferous and wallow in swamps looking for giant millipedes and dragonflies. That's the least dramatic (or interesting) from a zoological perspective, so they have to up the ante on the narrative to compensate.
All in all, I highly recommend this as a DVD purchase (or at least a rental or library checkout) from anyone who likes dinosaurs or prehistoric animals even a little tiny bit.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Lords of Creation
Science fiction author S. M. Stirling has recently started a new series called "Lords of Creation" that features to date one novel---The Sky People and another one In the Courts of the Crimson Kings scheduled to come out later this Spring. I quote a portion of this Acknowledgements from the first book:
Frankly, I think anyone who freely acknowledges that he's writing an alternate history science fiction where Venus and Mars are as envisioned by writers like Burroughs, Brackett or Kline to be on the right track. I'm almost ½ of my way through The Sky People right now; Venus is much like Pellucidar; a mixed bag of dinosaurs, sabertooths, Neanderthals and beautiful primitive Cro-Magnon like humans, and the rival Soviet and American colonies get off to a bit of trouble when a Soviet ship carrying a cargo of AK-47's crashlands in Neanderthal territory.
As much as I like The Sky People, I have to admit that the prospect of In the Courts of the Crimson Kings set on Mars sounds even more exciting to me. Maybe that's just because I love the Mars of Burroughs and Brackett so much, though.
Holy cow. As much as it's fashionable to hate George Lucas these days, I love him to death. Not least because he made old fashioned science fiction like used to be in the pulps and Republic serials a viable (and indeed extremely popular) genre to work in again.
George Lucas, S. M Stirling, Leigh Brackett and Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as Murray Leinster, Otis Adelbert Kline, Edmond Hamilton, Ralph Milne Farley, Alex Raymond and even Lin Carter... as well as countless others... I salute you!
Thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Otis Adelbert Kline, Leinster, Heinlein, and to all the other great pulpsters for gracing my childhood with John Carter, Northwest Smith, “Wrong-Way” Carson of Venus, and all the heroes gifted with a better solar system than the one we turned out to inhabit. From the jungles of Venus and the Grand Canal of Marsopolis, I salute
you.
Frankly, I think anyone who freely acknowledges that he's writing an alternate history science fiction where Venus and Mars are as envisioned by writers like Burroughs, Brackett or Kline to be on the right track. I'm almost ½ of my way through The Sky People right now; Venus is much like Pellucidar; a mixed bag of dinosaurs, sabertooths, Neanderthals and beautiful primitive Cro-Magnon like humans, and the rival Soviet and American colonies get off to a bit of trouble when a Soviet ship carrying a cargo of AK-47's crashlands in Neanderthal territory.
As much as I like The Sky People, I have to admit that the prospect of In the Courts of the Crimson Kings set on Mars sounds even more exciting to me. Maybe that's just because I love the Mars of Burroughs and Brackett so much, though.
Holy cow. As much as it's fashionable to hate George Lucas these days, I love him to death. Not least because he made old fashioned science fiction like used to be in the pulps and Republic serials a viable (and indeed extremely popular) genre to work in again.
George Lucas, S. M Stirling, Leigh Brackett and Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as Murray Leinster, Otis Adelbert Kline, Edmond Hamilton, Ralph Milne Farley, Alex Raymond and even Lin Carter... as well as countless others... I salute you!
Berberosaurus liassicus
Holiday's are over. I've got more to say, but for the moment, let me just comment in this recent discover in a Toarcian formation in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco---Berberosaurus liassicus---a basal abelisaur. This is pretty interesting, because otherwise we haven't found any early abelisaurs, and they were considered a Cretaceous radiation of theropods. Post-Ceratosaurus as it where, which was considered an ancestor. Although abelisaurs are still nested within ceratosaurs, clearly Ceratosaurus itself had to be a parallel development rather than an actual ancestor.
Funny; just a few years ago Ceratosaurus was considered the last hurrah of an earlier type of therapod. Now, with the abelisaurs, we realize that the big success of the family was yet to come. And we now don't believe that ceratosaurs are nested within coelophysids anymore either.
That's the funny thing with dinosaur studies. New discoveries can really throw your beliefs out of whack at a moment's notice. The somewhat recent discovery of grass going back almost 100 million years (instead of appearing sometime after the dinosaurs extinction as was previously believed) and dinosaur coprolites that contain grass is another one.
Anyway. More to come on the blog later. I won't tell you about my holiday, but I may spend a moment talking about Japanese 2-D fighting games and S. M. Sterling's brilliant (so far; I'm less than halfway through) novel The Sky People.
Funny; just a few years ago Ceratosaurus was considered the last hurrah of an earlier type of therapod. Now, with the abelisaurs, we realize that the big success of the family was yet to come. And we now don't believe that ceratosaurs are nested within coelophysids anymore either.
That's the funny thing with dinosaur studies. New discoveries can really throw your beliefs out of whack at a moment's notice. The somewhat recent discovery of grass going back almost 100 million years (instead of appearing sometime after the dinosaurs extinction as was previously believed) and dinosaur coprolites that contain grass is another one.
Anyway. More to come on the blog later. I won't tell you about my holiday, but I may spend a moment talking about Japanese 2-D fighting games and S. M. Sterling's brilliant (so far; I'm less than halfway through) novel The Sky People.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Fatal Fury backgrounds
Fatal Fury was better on it's backgrounds than Street Fighter. Of course, it also came out a few years later, so they had the benefit of better technology and more experience. Even so, Fatal Fury's backgrounds---like every other aspect of the game today---are crude and primitive compared to what was to follow. SNK really liked to have crowd scenes; folks sitting around watching the fight.
However, even in this picture of South Beach at sunset, you can see the pretty nifty Toyota Jeep, the detailed palm trees, and the very pretty view fo the city across the harbor.
Tung Fu Rue's stage gets rain in the second round too, but it looks terrible.
Unfortunately, they used the exact same people in every background, and they only had about six of them. If you scrolled a little bit to the left or right they started repeating themselves. The people also looked really strange and cartoony. Still, there was room to improve on that front in years to come.
However, even in this picture of South Beach at sunset, you can see the pretty nifty Toyota Jeep, the detailed palm trees, and the very pretty view fo the city across the harbor.Another notable feature of SNK backgrounds is that they often changed as you completed more rounds. The typical progression was that they had a version that took place during the day, one at sunset and one after dark. This was originally simply accomplished by switching up the palette of colors used in the image, but in later games, this often became more sophisticated; my favorite such background progression is the Park from King of Fighters '99. The first image is a beautiful day in the park and all kinds of people are out. The second image removes most of the people, turns it into a dark cloudy sky with a few animated bits of lightning and a few patters of rain in the foreground. Finally, it's pouring down rain, the entire background turns washed out and blurry.
Great progression. But still many years to come. For now, we've got my personal favorites from Fatal Fury: Tung Fu Rue's stage, and the final stage of Geese himself:
Tung Fu Rue's stage gets rain in the second round too, but it looks terrible.The Fatal Fury soundtrack doesn't really stand out to me, but I have a lot to say about Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special. But before I do that, I'll have a look at the Street Fighter 2 backgrounds and BGM tracks.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Street Fighter backgrounds
As promised, I'm going to start my backgrounds and music section. I figgered why not go all the way back to 1987 when the first Street Fighter game came out and really kinda kicked the genre off.
Well, once reason why not is that I'm having a hard time finding good screenshots (and I certainly can't take any of my own; I have the game on an Xbox Capcom Classics Collection 2 disk) and another reason is that the music is kinda forgetable and none of it stands out to me.
Yes, I have actually gone to the menu and played the various music tracks. They really don't stand out.
The backgrounds themselves were great for their time, but like everything else associated with the original Street Fighter game have aged poorly. Only a couple of them hold up well compared to even SF2 backgrounds, much less SFA and later backgrounds.
That said, a few of them are quite nice. I couldn't find a good screenshot of Adon's place, but it's my favorite, in Tailand (SIC, but that's what the game says.) It takes place at sunset and there's a large (although not fat) squatting Buddha in the background surrounded by several pillars. In front of the statue is a pool of water, reflecting a bit of the pillars, statue and orange sky. There's also a lot of vegetation around; palm trees, horsetails and grass, and in the distance is a forest/jungle. Behind that is a row of low distant hills.
Beautiful background. Would look adequate if not good in a modern game. Looked amazing in 1987. On the other hand, we have Gen's nighttime in Shanghai scene, which was an early attempt at making an urban backdrop. It looks really fake. Everything is too regular in dimension. Much better version of this have since made appearances---see Gen's SFA2 stage for a great update on this idea.
Honorable mention goes to several others, including Joe's trainyard in NYC (apparently) Mike's fight in South Dakota right in front of Mt. Rushmore, and the two Japanese stages.
Tomorrow: Fatal Fury.
Here's a few images I was able to find online, at least. Not Adon's and not Gen's, but Mike's and Retsu's. You get a flavor for the artistry of this game here.
Well, once reason why not is that I'm having a hard time finding good screenshots (and I certainly can't take any of my own; I have the game on an Xbox Capcom Classics Collection 2 disk) and another reason is that the music is kinda forgetable and none of it stands out to me.
Yes, I have actually gone to the menu and played the various music tracks. They really don't stand out.
The backgrounds themselves were great for their time, but like everything else associated with the original Street Fighter game have aged poorly. Only a couple of them hold up well compared to even SF2 backgrounds, much less SFA and later backgrounds.
That said, a few of them are quite nice. I couldn't find a good screenshot of Adon's place, but it's my favorite, in Tailand (SIC, but that's what the game says.) It takes place at sunset and there's a large (although not fat) squatting Buddha in the background surrounded by several pillars. In front of the statue is a pool of water, reflecting a bit of the pillars, statue and orange sky. There's also a lot of vegetation around; palm trees, horsetails and grass, and in the distance is a forest/jungle. Behind that is a row of low distant hills.
Beautiful background. Would look adequate if not good in a modern game. Looked amazing in 1987. On the other hand, we have Gen's nighttime in Shanghai scene, which was an early attempt at making an urban backdrop. It looks really fake. Everything is too regular in dimension. Much better version of this have since made appearances---see Gen's SFA2 stage for a great update on this idea.
Honorable mention goes to several others, including Joe's trainyard in NYC (apparently) Mike's fight in South Dakota right in front of Mt. Rushmore, and the two Japanese stages.
Tomorrow: Fatal Fury.
Here's a few images I was able to find online, at least. Not Adon's and not Gen's, but Mike's and Retsu's. You get a flavor for the artistry of this game here.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Tomorrow, or tonight, or whenever I have some time, I want to spend just a little bit of time discussing an oft-overlooked, yet very important aspect of fighting games---the ambiance.
Yeah, gameplay is really important. Interesting characters are a must. At the same time, a dissonant or unpleasing setting can make even a game with great gameplay and characters a challenge to really enjoy.
So, by ambiance, what I really mean are the stages on which the fights take place, and the music that accompanies them. There have been some really beautiful works of music and art as stages in the genre, but there's also been some real clunkers. For some games, it's literally enough to break the game for me when gameplay and characters are fine (Marvel vs. Capcom 2 being the most notable example here; bland, boring stages and horribly inappopriate music make the game take a serious nosedive in the rankings as far as I'm concerned.)
What I'd like to do is take some of the most important games in the genre and talk about my favorite pieces of music and stages... as well as the ones that really need to go. This new series of posts will start... tonight? tomorrow? later this week?
Soon, anyway. Complete with screenshots that I'm going to crib from various online sources, if possible.
Yeah, gameplay is really important. Interesting characters are a must. At the same time, a dissonant or unpleasing setting can make even a game with great gameplay and characters a challenge to really enjoy.
So, by ambiance, what I really mean are the stages on which the fights take place, and the music that accompanies them. There have been some really beautiful works of music and art as stages in the genre, but there's also been some real clunkers. For some games, it's literally enough to break the game for me when gameplay and characters are fine (Marvel vs. Capcom 2 being the most notable example here; bland, boring stages and horribly inappopriate music make the game take a serious nosedive in the rankings as far as I'm concerned.)
What I'd like to do is take some of the most important games in the genre and talk about my favorite pieces of music and stages... as well as the ones that really need to go. This new series of posts will start... tonight? tomorrow? later this week?
Soon, anyway. Complete with screenshots that I'm going to crib from various online sources, if possible.
Fatal Fury
I've been going through another phase of really liking my Japanese anime fighting games. For some reason, though, King of Fighters has been letting me down and I've been really excited about Fatal Fury. Maybe the series just feels "cozier" or something to me; maybe it's the fact that it stands up so well as a head-to-head competitor with Street Fighter---I don't know.
Fatal Fury is entering a phase of unprecedented availability at home in the US. Right now, Fatal Fury Special is available for $5 on Xbox Live. Fatal Fury itself was just announced for the Wii arcade. The PS2 just got the Fatal Fury Battle Archive 1 released, which has Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3 included. This spring we'll see Fatal Fury Battle Archive 2 which will have the three Real Bout titles on it.
All of the Fatal Fury titles are also available on http://www.gametap.com/ although you have to have a "Gold" membership to play them (for that matter, so are all of the King of Fighters titles up through 2003.)
If you want to play a Fatal Fury game, for the first time, it's actually fairly easy to do so.
Fatal Fury is entering a phase of unprecedented availability at home in the US. Right now, Fatal Fury Special is available for $5 on Xbox Live. Fatal Fury itself was just announced for the Wii arcade. The PS2 just got the Fatal Fury Battle Archive 1 released, which has Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 3 included. This spring we'll see Fatal Fury Battle Archive 2 which will have the three Real Bout titles on it.
All of the Fatal Fury titles are also available on http://www.gametap.com/ although you have to have a "Gold" membership to play them (for that matter, so are all of the King of Fighters titles up through 2003.)
If you want to play a Fatal Fury game, for the first time, it's actually fairly easy to do so.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Favorite song ever
I think my favorite song ever is "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order.
That is all.
Well, that's never all, is it? I'm way too opinionated and long-winded to simply leave it at that. There's always a bunch of songs floating around and on any given day, any of them could claim the title. Strong contenders include "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode, "A Little Respect" by Erasure, "Dreaming" and "If You Leave" by OMD, even New Order's other huge single "Blue Monday", and... oh, I dunno, plenty of others.
But today, my favorite song is "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order.
That is all.
Well, that's never all, is it? I'm way too opinionated and long-winded to simply leave it at that. There's always a bunch of songs floating around and on any given day, any of them could claim the title. Strong contenders include "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode, "A Little Respect" by Erasure, "Dreaming" and "If You Leave" by OMD, even New Order's other huge single "Blue Monday", and... oh, I dunno, plenty of others.
But today, my favorite song is "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Patience (or cheapness!) wins again
Well, as long-time readers (of which I may well be the only one) know, I'm a big fan of Japanese 2-D fighting games. I can't really explain the fascination; I'm not otherwise overly fascinated with Japanese culture and I'm not really a fan of anime either. For some reason, though, I've always been a huge fan of 2-D fighting games, particularly the Street Fighter series, and I've been following them for a long time. I have quite a collection of games, on various systems, including Street Fighter, Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter 2, Super Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.
And that's just the Street Fighter series; I won't bore you with my listing of King of Fighers titles, or any of the other series, but trust me when I say that they're nearly as extensive. One problem with this genre in the past has been the fact the games, while somewhat older themselves, tended to be released when home systems were not capable of porting them well, especially for the later titles. This is particularly true for the Neo*Geo or SNK titles, which ported well to their own proprietary home systems, but not to others. However, in recent years, the company's have realized that there's quite a bit of "free" revenue available on the compilation market. Capcom's Capcom Classics Collection and Capcom Classics Collection 2 gave me my first really modern updates of the early Street Fighter titles. SNK has finally done the same for the Playstation 2, and have finally even started the ball rolling on US releases.
So, I don't have a Playstation 2, but they've come down to a relatively cheap price. And, with several of the US releases out now, and the last one that I really, really want scheduled for sometime in 2008, I can actually have almost all of the titles I really want in arcade perfect, or even better than arcade ports on a modern console, for the US market.
The PS2 titles that I'll want to buy when I get the chance, then, include King of Fighters XI, King of Fighters 2000/2001, Fatal Fury Battle Archive, and Fatal Fury Battle Archive 2. Those titles will give me pretty much all of the Fatal Fury titles, many of which I don't have, or only have on inferior outdated systems, and rounds out my King of Fighters selection. King of Fighters XI is almost worth it just on it's own. I'll also need to hurry and pick up the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology from Capcom while I'm at it.
Between that, my Xbox, my Dreamcast and a small handful of pretty good PS1 ports, I'll be set for life on the genre.
And that's just the Street Fighter series; I won't bore you with my listing of King of Fighers titles, or any of the other series, but trust me when I say that they're nearly as extensive. One problem with this genre in the past has been the fact the games, while somewhat older themselves, tended to be released when home systems were not capable of porting them well, especially for the later titles. This is particularly true for the Neo*Geo or SNK titles, which ported well to their own proprietary home systems, but not to others. However, in recent years, the company's have realized that there's quite a bit of "free" revenue available on the compilation market. Capcom's Capcom Classics Collection and Capcom Classics Collection 2 gave me my first really modern updates of the early Street Fighter titles. SNK has finally done the same for the Playstation 2, and have finally even started the ball rolling on US releases.
So, I don't have a Playstation 2, but they've come down to a relatively cheap price. And, with several of the US releases out now, and the last one that I really, really want scheduled for sometime in 2008, I can actually have almost all of the titles I really want in arcade perfect, or even better than arcade ports on a modern console, for the US market.
The PS2 titles that I'll want to buy when I get the chance, then, include King of Fighters XI, King of Fighters 2000/2001, Fatal Fury Battle Archive, and Fatal Fury Battle Archive 2. Those titles will give me pretty much all of the Fatal Fury titles, many of which I don't have, or only have on inferior outdated systems, and rounds out my King of Fighters selection. King of Fighters XI is almost worth it just on it's own. I'll also need to hurry and pick up the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology from Capcom while I'm at it.
Between that, my Xbox, my Dreamcast and a small handful of pretty good PS1 ports, I'll be set for life on the genre.
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