JOURNAL: MCWagner (Matthew Wagner)

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  • I've been up and down the four corners of this big old world... 2002-01-11 20:31:15 Since I posted a link displaying all the vitrol and hate that anime fandom can stir up, I thought I should post one from the devoted opposition:
    http://www.geocities.com/lycium7/anime_index.html

    Sort of a hub site for the vast (4 sites) movement to point out the evils of anime. Be warned, if you go there you will truly be angered and incensed...geocities banners pop up on EVERY FUCKING PAGE. Especially amusing is this link: http://antianimeleague.tripod.com/ wherein, if you dig deep enough, you find that the creator made it in response to the events of September 11th.

    ....

    What?

    Anyway, overwhelmed with the well-documented and carefully argued conclusive evidence on these pages, I have decided to turn my back on that great Sodom and Gammorrah that is Anime and instead review some good, clean, civilized animation from the great old US of A. Ironically, this is the film that I had already planned on reviewing for today (and the source for a couple of the title quotes). From the studio of R. Bakshi and the mind of R. Crumb comes the 100% American "Fritz the Cat."

    Yeah, THAT Fritz the Cat. This may go past a lot of you, but if you're an animation fan (as opposed to just anime) and you enjoy digging around in the history of animation, eventually you'll hear about this work. Made in 1972 it was the first full-length X-rated cartoon. Sprung from the mind of always controversial and usually crass underground artist Robert Crumb, "Fritz the Cat" was something of a counter-counter culture film that made quite a name for itself in its views of the 1960's.

    I should insert something of a caveat here. I know nothing about the 1960's. I mean, I got the history lesson just like everyone else, and I've seen all the movies about the hippie movements and the peace rallies, etc. etc. etc., but I'm way too young (by a factor of 2x) to have any first-hand knowledge and I've never been interested in hearing all the sides to the stories to find out what the era was REALLY like. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect going into this film (DVD for christmas).

    Now, despite all of these caveats, I have to say that this film FEELS like a more candid presentation of the era (in its admittedly satirical manner). Every other image I've ever been given of the sixties was viewed through John Lennon's Rose-coloured glasses. Woodstock and Malcom X and the convention riot, etc. etc. etc. A world of peace-loving musicians and artists and the panicking, oppressive, evil government trying to wipe them out, overlaid across the rising racial tensions that assulted one every time you stepped into the street. This movie takes place in a much more ordinary world, in-between all the big events and to one side of all the major issues, where the rest of the world lives, and stares on in disbelief.

    Take Fritz. He's an artist, a musician, and a poet, but he never really seems to create anything. The movie opens with him and his guitar in central park bitching to his friends about all the high-school punks that beat them there, all playing "sixty versions of 'lemon tree'". His real motivation for all this artistry? A way to get laid.

    Ah-HA! I hear you say. "That's what I thought. What about all the porn? That's why it got The X-rating right?" Well, the porn is...laughable. Anyone who's seen even the mildest Hentai has seen more erotic material than this. Every time sex comes into the story, it's entirely played for laughs. From Fritz's melodramatic way of talking three girls into a bathtub with him, to the breakup of his little orgy when the rest of the stoners in the apartment decide to join him. The humor gets sick a few times, but we've all seen sicker stuff before. Yeah, there's nudity, and a couple of sex scenes, but essentially it never really moves beyond the "cartoon(y) animals having sex" level. Sort of the childish bathroom-scrawl of sex.

    In all honesty, I don't think the X-rating is warranted. This looks more like the ratings board erring on the side of caution than anything else. What you need to understand is that Fritz gets heavily stoned, incites riots, flees from the police, and blows up power stations, but he isn't the hero of this film. Simply put, there isn't one. I get the feeling that Fritz is what Crumb thought was WRONG with the 60's, or rather, what the 60's WERE. Fritz's an overflowing font of idealism and random artistry, but it's not GOING anywhere or doing anything but getting him laid. He's also a jerk. After inciting a race-riot with the most idealistic of intentions, he sorta fearfully backs into an alley when the cops show up, shouts "We will overcome!" and runs for it. On a petulant whim (after an argument) he abandons his girlfriend in the desert when he's supposed to be going for gas. He accidentally burns down his NYU dorm while torching all his papers and books in a protest against finals. Perhaps the most telling bit is when Fritz becomes the "You know, I tried to stop them" guy.

    "But what about the racism? I heard the film was really racist!" Well, sorta. Everyone is portrayed as stereotypes at first glance, but a closer look will show you that they're only portrayed that way to conflate those assumptions. There's a hilarious scene where three college girls stand around talking "at" a silent crow (crows are black, cops are pigs, rabbis are lions, etc.) trying to convince him that they understand "where he's coming from." ("I took a course in African studies at school. I had no idea you people were so civilized!" "Why does a great actor like James Earl Jones always have to play Black men?" "I had a Black girlfriend who said that Jewish people were the closest to Black people. I'm Jewish, you know.") In short, the people who believe in the stereotypes being animated are shown as idiots or worse.

    (Now that all the controversial issues are out of the way.) The animation is really nothing special. There were several errors I spotted (jumped frames, etc.) in that respect, anime it ain't. The animation stays cartoony and fairly simple, shot frequently against monochromatic backgrounds to look "artsy" and save money. The sequence that stood out in my mind, though, was when Fritz's pool-shooting friend gets shot. The death scene is done REALLY well, and is easily the best part of the film. The worst part of the film is the sound. Everyone except Fritz sounds like they were recorded in a tin can. There's an entire sequence in the synagog that I couldn't understand a word of because everone was mumbling. This is a real pity, because the script is the real gem of the film. Nearly every line is pure gold.

    In summary, a well-written script with adequate (occasionally excellent) animation and lousy sound make for an amusing social commentary film, but should only be viewed by those not easily offended.

    Next time, an educational lession on why children shouldn't play with dead things. (For one thing, they'll steal your boat!) 
  • I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend... 2002-01-09 23:03:31 Couple of individual replies:

    KZ: Which Wolverine mini-series did Frank Miller do? The one just titled "Wolverine" or the "Wolverine and Kitty Pride" one? Both are pretty good, although my personal favorite was the Magik limited series.

    Bowler: To be honest, I only remember a D20 Shadowrun game as a rumor. I'm not certian how much truth there is to it, but I wouldn't underestimate the possibility. The system I was trying to think of yesterday but couldn't come up with was Star Wars, whose core rulebook for the D20 system has already been released. I'm not at all impressed with that application of the system, but that may be just because of personal distaste for the concept and my experiences with the system thus far. 'Course, I'm not much of a Shadowrun fan either because the only games of it I've ever played were done on a pickup basis which turned it into the equvalent of a cyberpunk dungeon crawl. Bleh.

    Kusoyaro: I think we all have friends like that. How are you liking the second Harry Potter book so far? I don't want to think I misled you... Oh, and how is American Gods? I read his earlier book "Stardust" and was rather disappointed.

    And now, inordinate amounts of information concerning people other than me:

    Apparently, I'm an idiot. Today my labmate, Sandy, the person I work with nearly every day, comes in and proudly displays a diamond ring. I had absolutely no idea she was anywhere near a proposal, or even SEEING anyone. I felt like even more of an idiot when I found out who it was she was engaged to. ANOTHER labmate, an undergraduate research assistant who finished his project with us about four months ago and moved up to Minnesota to persue his graduate degree. He came back down to work on a publication based on his work with our graduate advisor and left on monday with nary a word to anyone about his proposal. This makes the seventh (or seventh and eighth, depending how you count) marriage or marriage proposal in our lab wing since the department got transferred to the new building a little less than two years ago. It could just be me, but since there's a total of about 23 people in our lab wing, this strikes me as just a liiiitttlllle above average. I shouldn't worry though. Accoring to Sandy, I'm immune.

    *Sigh*

    On the other end of the scale, the mother of one of my roomates died on Monday, and I missed it entirely. Apparently he got the call on Monday night, but I didn't get in until late after everyone else was in bed. He, and my other roomate, got up early for a class the next morning, and I got up after they had left. By the time I got back in from work, he was being dropped off by my other roomate at the airport, heading back to Indonesia. I didn't find out what was going on until late tuesday night. The death was entirely unexpected, sounds like a heart attack after getting out of a swimming pool, and apparently just about destroyed my roomate, and I wasn't even here for him.

    I think ya'll understand if I don't feel like reviewing a movie tonight. 
  • Ph'nglui mglw'nafh / Cthulhu R'lyeh / wgah'nagl fhtagn 2002-01-09 14:51:14 (Glad I had a reference, would never have spelled that right otherwise.)

    Anyway, holy cow my last entry was HUGE. Didn't realize how long it went on until I checked back at it today. I promise I'll try to make them shorter from now on. Don't know if I'll get that review done tonight, as an extraordinary number of things has happened since then, all to people other than me. 
  • OK, Winston, here come the truth... 2002-01-08 23:05:59 First off, yes, I know I misquoted the last title line but one. Memory's not what it used to be. Also, if there is one thing I would really like to request for the board, it's an integrated spellchecker for the Journals. ("dialoge" Gahhh. I can actually spell, but as I pick up speed I miss stupid mistakes.)

    Just a few individual replies:

    Elipsis: In reply to your question "how someone can write so much and still have the time to do anything with their day."

    *Ahem*

    OH SHIT! I HAD SOMETHING TO DO ON SUNDAY? :) Does that answer your question? Actually, I just keep a scrap of paper with me and when I happen upon something interesting I write down a note or two to remind me later. Speeds up the thought process if I don't spend half the time trying to remember what it was I was going to say. That and I can type at a decent clip.

    Re: All the comments on the "cosplay scandal." I happen to be on lists with most of the "offenders" listed there and this is just chewing up the mailings like crazy. Who wants to make the Ramsey's shit list for all eternity by bringing the site to the attention of Lowtax at www.somethingawful.com? I'd say it more than qualifies, but I'd rather not be the one vilified by "the Editor" as I have a connection to a con, and the libellous s**t thrown at me could rub off on the con afterwards. On the other hand, it might be better to just ignore it and see how long it festers before stagnating. Bleh. Frankly, I'm tired of it already. Does serve as a cautionary tale for any flames that spring up in our little hobby, though.

    Believe it or not, I actually have some AMV news. I finally came to a decision on my next vid and borrowed the whole Urusei Yatsura TV series on DVD from Quu. Don't know when I'll get around to working on it, but at least this is a step. I'll only give ya'll one hint on the song. The song is by the only person ever weird enough to do Urusei Yatsura justice. (Not goofy weird, or funny weird, just flat weird.)

    I also have an idea for a good system of increasing reviews. The problem is that people really don't check out videos at random. They either review the ones they know from local contests after downloading, or they check out ones reccommended by friends, or check out ones from their favorite series, etc. etc. That's not really random, as the viewer either already knows that they will be good, or already is biased towards the series or music, or is checking out videos already voted in the top 10%, skewing all reviews towards the top of the scale, and making the upper numbers a little, well, meaningless, while leaving those without name recognition or the ability to travel around to cons out in the cold with no reviews at all. My suggestion? It's a little extreme, but here goes. Pick a letter at random from a hat, and resolve to go through all the (available for download) videos by creators beginning with that letter. Too hard? Well, start at a random point in the list of creators starting with that letter and wrap at the end. Try to do a significant number of the creators in that letter, if not the whole list. If a lot of people do this, there'll be a lot more reviews, and a lot more significance to the ranking system. It'll provide encouragement to the newer makers, reassurance to the older makers, and "recalibrate everyone's taste" by exposure to more mediocre and bad videos, letting you judge other videos more fairly. This is just a suggestion, and I'm well aware of how difficult it is, but I've been trying to do this myself for a while (with some success) through the letter "A", and I've gotten some very appreciative replies from makers who haven't seen much input from anyone else. Just a suggestion for the rest of the list. (I may post this in the forum later.) Keep in mind that a lot of videos aren't available for direct or indirect download, so the job isn't nearly as overwhelming as it looks. (Hell, MY videos are only on Waldo's, so I won't even benefit from this.)

    OK, everyone get back, I'm about to seriously geek out here. Feel free to skip this whole section. (Dileneated by the lines.
    ________________________________________________________________________
    Now let's see....CoCD20....Pick one: Screed, Bleat, Blog, Rant.

    Rant.

    I would consider it an amazing coincidence if anyone on this list actually knew what I was talking about when I said I was going to rant on CoCD20. For everyone else, this requires a little background. About two years ago (IIRC) TSR, the old fortress that owns the rights to the original D&D system (remember, if you get to a high enough level, they teach you the REAL magic) issued their famously advertized "3rd edition", the first new edition of the core rules in, what, two decades? More? The basic changes to the system consisted of a revision to the game system such that nearly every roll encountered during regular play is done with some alteration or another to a twenty-sided die. Thus, the game mechanics system became known as the "D20" system. Now I can understand the stances of old-guard RPG gamers who prefer the old second-edition rules since they're used to them. They're welcome to use whatever system they like.

    I was never one of those old gamers. I mean, I gamed a very little D&D in grade school, even less fantasy-world gaming in high-school (other than a few fabulously disasterous brushes with "Dangerous Journeys"...where your character sheet is longer than the adventure) and was re-introduced to the original D&D in undergrad college while trying to avoid Magic:TCG. Frankly, I was never really enthralled by the workings of high fantasy worlds. (I had a couple of lousy DMs, both of the dungeon-crawl and the "extended (yawn) character development" schools.) Now that I have a fairly good DM (middle-road on both topics) I have to say that I greatly prefer D&D D20 system, mostly because, despite having a bachelor's degree in hard sciences, I could never calculate my fucking THAC0 to save my life (which was usually the case). I could also never remember if high was good or bad on a particular roll, because 2nd edition had a number of rolls where the scale was inverted. In 3rd edition, high is always good, low is always bad. Simple, hunh? Several other aspects of the system are simplified as well, leaving me perfectly happy with the system. In fact, after this entry, I have to level my current character. (For the RPGers: A series of odd coincidences led to the "awakening" of an animal companion, who suddenly became terribly skillful in several respects. Meaning my 6th level character is now out-ranked by his 4th level pet.)

    (Stop snickering.)

    The problem comes in on the fact that TSR poured a LOT of money into this game revision in the form of advertizing. As such, they are seeing a jump in income they haven't managed for a very long time. Other properties of theirs, and even those of their competitors, are attempting similar comebacks by coming out with D20-compatible systems, thus latching on to the media wave. The only other one that springs to mind at the moment is Shadowrun, and I'm not even sure on that.

    However, this brings us to CoC. CoC stands for Call of Cthulhu, a role-playing game based sometimes loosely, sometimes closely on the writings of Howard Philips Lovecraft, a pulp horror writer of the 1920's-1930's, and generally credited with being the most important American horror writer excepting Edgar Allen Poe. It just so happens that this game is the one I run for our little gaming group, and it is the ABSOLUTE ANTITHISIS OF THE D20 SYSTEM. This requires a little explaining. First, it should be noted that the Lovecraftian cannon, both writings by HPL himself and additional stories by his contemporaries, was never really intended to be taken as a full dilineation of a single world (despite what August Derleth intended). It wasn't intended to describe a single internally-consistant fantasy world of specific races and gods and religons, etc. etc. Instead, most of the stories were sort of horrific reflections of the way in which HPL saw the world. Living in an age of massive industrialization and fantastical leaps in scientific advancement, Lovecraft was struck by the relative insignificance of mankind's advancements, mankind itself, or even the planet earth in the face of abject, insentient, meaningless cold infinity, and the unchangeable facts and factors of the physical universe that mankind was discovering, but had no control over. Mankind's stay on this planet is but a brief wink in the eye of time, and there will be nothing to remember or even care when we are all gone. Being struck with a feeling of such meaningless HPL called this "cosmic horror" (corny now, but emphatic then), and he attempted to deposit that feeling in his pulp stories, thus creating tales of unfathomable, unstoppable powers that lie dormant by some trick of stellar allignment, but could, at any time, rise from the deeps and the old places of the world and, without a thought or even realizing it, destroy the world and every inhabitant therein. Even those unimaginably powerful beings were essentially meaningless, as demonstrated by their "Daemon Sultan" Azathoth, a "monsterous nuclear chaos" that is both blind and mindless. To these somewhat grandiose themes he added tales of ancient alien spacegoing races that regard mankind as interesting specimines at best and cattle at worst, and stories of madness revolving around the discovery of ancient evils, hideous degenerations of man, and the essential meaninglessness of the universe. (Another set of his stories concerned the "Dreamlands," but this is a bit far afield for that.) Knowledge in Lovecraft's world would inevitably lead to madness, for the human mind was incapable of sanely comprehending his place in existance. (See also: Zaphod Beblebrox and the infinite perspective machine from the Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy.) Despite all of this, HPL did write good stories, if a bit flowery.

    So how the hell do you build a game out of this? The players play "investigators" pulled into strange situations which they try to puzzle out, but keep getting pulled deeper and deeper into strange horrific concepts and subjects, tripping over bodies and encountering strange creatures the whole way. Half who-dunit and half atmospheric horror story. The ORIGINAL mechanics of the game were quite straightforward. Characters are defined by their profession and a set of stats much like D&D, along with hit points. Skills ranged from 1-100% and you just rolled percentile dice to see if you succeeded. Combat worked similarly. At the beginning of the game you got between 1-99 sanity points (a register of your hold on reality, strength of character, ability to cope, and how many times the fucking cat can jump out of the closet before you just loose it) which you gained and lost (mostly lost) during play. One skill is called "Cthulhu Mythos" and is representative of how much you understand what is REALLY going on (and, at default, begins at zero). As Cthulhu Mythos increased, your maximun sanity points decreased, meaning the more you knew, the less stable (and viable a character) you became. Also there was NO LEVELING. The concept just doesn't exist. Study or practice has a chance of increasing skills, but you never get more hit points, or become somehow better suited to dealing with the unfathomable horrors before you. Thus, the final fate of characters was either A) retirement from adventuring, B)death, C)prison or D) the slow descent into madness.

    For those of you who read KoDT, this is the game of which Brian said "stay in the back of the party, keep your eyes closed, shoot at everything, and BURN any ancient tomes you find." Kinda ruins the fun, IMHO. In other words, stay ignorant, hidden, and alive.

    The first reviews of CoCD20 have just come out. In brief, they kept the san system the same, but changed the skills, and added a leveling and "feats" system.

    What the Hell? First: Skills. This was a nice little microcosm of the system itself. Characters were incapable of getting more than 97% in any particular skill, as it was considered the limits of human capablities, and yet there were frequently calls for skill checks at 1/2 or worse chance (divide your skill by 2 and attempt to roll a number under the result to succeed). Thus there were concepts like trans-dimensional physics that would be nearly impossible for even someone who had devoted his life to related subjects to understand. By comparison, the "Spot Hidden" skill of Sherlock Holmes was only around 89%. Characters were thus forced to muddle through difficult situations despite the fact they didn't have all the information, didn't understand what was going on, and were uncertian that their plan would work. Primo horror material, and a good reflection of Lovecraft's work. In the D20 system, the skill categories (assuming they work like D&D) just continue increasing upward without bound so that a first level character is only capable of a Physics roll of 1-20, whereas a 10th level character is only capable of 20-40. Eventually, anyone can comprehend ANYTHING.

    Second: Levels. There is a very good reason that there were no levels in the original system. Advancement in levels implies superiority of characters over early characters and better ability to succeed where newer characters would fail. In CoC, due to the self-limiting factors of the sanity/Cthulhu Mythos system, characters that have "been around the block" are often LESS capable in a tight spot as they understand more of what's going on and are more likely to loose it at an unfortunately critical time. Further, level advancement implies a greater stature before the various "bad guys," which is entirely antithetical to the concept of the game. Any such incremental advances in "levels" means just as little to an elder god as any first level character facing off against him. The level system also implies the addition of an experience system, something that was always adequately reflected in skill advancement, aquisition of arcane knowledge, increases in Cthulhu Mythos, and decrease in sanity. More importantly, it is reflected in character history, something more important to problem solving than skill or HP advancement. Addition of a level system can only warp the horror at the center of the game, that no matter how skilled you are, or how long you've been around, or what information you've gleaned, the inevitable will catch up with you. You may stave it off for a while with clever tricks and a lot of luck, but it cannot be stopped. Primo Horror stuff.

    Finally: Feats? WTF? (And I don't say that lightly.) I can't even concieve of what the hell the feats could be. Combat is a much smaller part of the game than in standard D&D. The game takes place in the 1920's, and, appropriately, in the old system, no matter how long you'd been around, getting shot twice with just about any handgun stands a pretty good chance of killing you. Period. (No raising from the dead here.) In other words, if you get in a fight, you've already done something wrong. The critters you encounter usually make guns look pretty tame too. Thus combat feats are out. There is "magic" in the game, but it doesn't take the form of magic bolts of lightening or fireballs, but elaborate, time consuming rituals, usually of acts so unspeakable that characters would never do them. (Magic is usually only used by cultists, and practically NEVER does direct damage.) Thus magic feats are out. What the hell is left?

    Lastly, the review I read (in a friend's "Dragon") listed two sample monster descriptions. And one had FACTUAL ERRORS! (Remember, these are basing themselves off of specific stories.) Who the hell said Deep Ones are immortal?

    ________________________________________________________________________

    Well that took a lot longer than I thought it would. I hope most of ya'll skipped that as it was just me geeking out on a pet hobby of mine.

    Hokay...next time (I've given up on making these daily)...let's see...a review of one of the most infamous animated films ever...and it's NOT Japanese! 
  • "Look, if you're going to talk about my trash-can like that you can just get the hell out..." 2002-01-06 21:25:44 Whoop. Spoke too soon. Journal hits just (finally) passed profile hits.

    KZ: Yeah, it's more sad than anything else. I'm a little surprised that they didn't find a way to take AWA's "no skit" policy as a personal affront to them, and list AWA on the "offender's" chart. Personally, though, I'm not gonna discuss it any more than this. I don't want them to direct their baleful Sauron eye over here. I'm not a costumer, never been, never want to, so I suppose it's really not any of my bidness.

    I wonder if anyone can spot the above quote... 
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