So.
Friday, Beth and I and C and J went to
Video Games Live, a concert where music from all the game I never played is performed live by a symphony orchestra, along with video displays, interactive contests, and filmed introductions by the original creators of the music. In addition to the fact it's just a good time, it's also a statement about how video game music is becoming part of the bedrock of our culture, as deserving of respect as cinematic music. Minor annoyance -- the program promised music from EQ2, but there was none. There's MMORPGs besides WOW, people!
Yesterday, we went to see Dark Knight. The IMAX showing I really wanted was sold out for two days, but we managed to get tickets to a 6-ish show, apparently a rare feat (yay online ordering!). Despite the fact the movie is getting rave reviews (currently at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes), I had a few issues with it. The critics love it because it "transcends" the genre of superhero movies...which is part of my problem. The director seemed almost embarassed about putting Bruce Wayne in the batsuit...he spends quite a bit of time in civvies. The Joker is just wearing makeup and has some scars; he's not the truly inhuman caricature he should be. The insanity is there, very well played, but the "comic book" nature is toned down almost to zero. This is more of a crime movie than a superhero movie. I also dislike the fact they apparently just filmed Chicago in daylight to play Gotham; the best Gotham ever was Tim Burton's darky twisted cityscape. Gotham should not look like a real city; it should look like the bleak mirror of one, a city with all the light and hope and life removed, a city of madmen on both sides of the law. I appreciate that this franchise is apparently not going to go the ever-increasing-camp route which ruined the 1980s/1990s series of films, but going "too realistic" shows just as much contempt for the source material as "too silly". It's a hard balance to find.
Today, we game! Yay!
Still working on Perdido Street. I see why it won all those awards. I still am not sure what the plot is, but who gives a frak? The setting is amazingly gameable. Of course, I have a fetish for giant steampunk/Victorian/freaky cities.
And, oh yeah, Gen is right,
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog is great. See it before you have to pay for it. Then pay for it, so people see this is a viable medium and make more cool stuff that doesn't need to be approved by the marketroids.
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