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By rampant bicycle, on July 26th, 2010
I spotted this this morning (at BoingBoing) and it made me think. There seems to be a quiet but distinct design camp in digital entertainment these days that is weary of things rendered in slick, shiny pixels. Instead we get the pleasing layers of cardboard and fabric and string that make up levels in a game like Little Big Planet (link goes to Google Image Search) or the soft sculpture universe of Kirby’s Epic Yarn.
And I thought: You know, I’m kind of tired of things looking perfect.
I love sitting down to watch old monster movies, or Raiders of the Lost Ark, or anything else made before the advent of CG in everything, and I have to say…I miss the old days of special effects. They weren’t always perfect, but they had mass. They had weight. You could see the actors reacting to them. And you admired the cunning of the special-effects men and women who made it all happen.
I’m tired of things being too perfect, too glamorous, too glitzy, even when the glamor is all about thick-necked space marines or lining up the perfect headshot. I’m tired of the culture of triple-A or nothing.
I wonder if this DIY aesthetic means that there are more people besides me out there who also crave more things that are legitimately DIY?
By rampant bicycle, on July 15th, 2010
Well, MY week’s been crazy busy. How about yours?
I can’t tell you what part of the busy-ness is in reference to except that it involves reviewing and will eventually be online somewhere else, I hope. But even aside from that, I’ve had an ill relative to tend, and of course about a million job applications to fill out, it seems.
Still. That is no fun to talk about. Let me share something actually interesting instead.
This article about an exhibit on fakes and forgeries in art is fascinating (can’t remember where I picked it up, unfortunately; apologies to misplaced link person!) I am particularly intrigued by the author’s comments on why we think fakes and forgeries are cool: they appeal to some deep-seated inner something or other in us all that suggests that when you get right down to it, art is a scam.
Of course, this had me contemplating other recent forgery furors, such as all that business about Obama’s birth certificate…I wonder if the same principle applies? Perhaps some of those people who believed he wasn’t really American-born clung so tenuously to that belief for the same reason…it spoke to some inner instinct that told them the entire political system was nonsense, a scam, a fraud.
(I shall refrain from offering my own opinions on said political system, however.)
On another hand, Naomi found this very interesting little survey about book covers and their impact on book purchases. I’ll wait while you go have a look.
Intriguing, no? Looks like a lot of people do judge books by their covers, proverbs aside.
Then again…Is there really anything wrong with that? These days, when there are so many books to choose from…how do you make sure yours gets noticed? You put a striking cover on it, that’s how.
More importantly, though, I am finding that I agree with the comments that a good cover should really try to capture visually the essence of the book. No wonder the survey-takers felt that cliches were offputting; they don’t really tell you much, do they, about what kind of story you’re in for?
I have to admit I’m as much of a sucker for a well-designed cover as anyone, though I’ll put the book back if whatever’s inside doesn’t sound interesting. I’ll have to try the reverse some time – go pick up covers I find really UNattractive and see if what’s inside will motivate me to buy the book anyway…
By rampant bicycle, on July 8th, 2010
Last night we had some visitors (hooray! visitors!), both sociology professors (this happens when you move in certain social circles, it seems.) And, as will happen when you put people who study sociology for a living in a room with people who studied sociology – and in my case anthropology – in school, we fell to . . . → Read More: Essential resources for internet culture
By rampant bicycle, on July 7th, 2010
Recently The Boy and I had one of those discussions. The sort that begins with “You don’t get out enough. You should go find some groups to join.”
He is probably right, of course. I don’t get out enough, as is probably evident from the glee with which I pick up any invitation that comes my way. . . . → Read More: LFG
By rampant bicycle, on July 1st, 2010
Some time ago, because I am a very bad girl, I picked up a copy of the .pdf of the roleplaying game Primetime Adventures. Today, I finally got around to reading it.
The Elevator Pitch
Primetime Adventures is a game where you and your friends work together to create a story in the style of a prime time . . . → Read More: Character-driven storytelling with Primetime Adventures
By rampant bicycle, on June 29th, 2010
I have this talent, apparently, for attracting small weirdness.
Oh, it’s little things. I am the person who will be standing on the sidewalk when a man rides by on a bicycle, and points a banana at me and says “Stick ‘em up!” (I did, for the record. He said “That’s right!” and rode on by.) I . . . → Read More: Have you heard the message?
By rampant bicycle, on June 25th, 2010
Lately, I have been finding myself with the urge to…revisit. I am sure there is a more elegant way of saying this. Probably in French, which has also given us such fantastic idioms as “l’esprit de escalier” – which means literally “the spirit of the staircase, I believe. What does it mean? “That thing that happens . . . → Read More: The Oz Project
By rampant bicycle, on June 25th, 2010
This delighted me:
There really should always have been an entry for them. Spotted . . . → Read More: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Daleks
By rampant bicycle, on June 21st, 2010
This evening it will be movie/tv night, as it is most Mondays. Our regular crew has just finished watching the BBC miniseries Jekyll (my assessment in brief: many lovely moments, and is good watching up till the last episode, when a number of things come apart. Oh, and don’t watch the last five minutes at all: . . . → Read More: I ponder the Western
By rampant bicycle, on June 18th, 2010
Love him or hate him, most people have strong responses to H.P. Lovecraft.
“Who?” I hear some of you asking. Well, there is always his entry on That Wiki if you are so inclined. But here is the short version: H.P. Lovecraft was a writer who published mainly short fiction in magazines like Weird Tales back in . . . → Read More: Lovecraftian Listening
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