Re:Yeah, sure...blame the media!
on
Apocalypse Not
·
· Score: 1
I'm on your side, here. If anything, the media provided many assurances that few things would go wrong.... the lack of widespread panic among average Americans was a testimony to this.
You have to realize, though, that all articles by JonKatz focus on "geeks vs. the media". On the other hand, Y2k-loonies like Gary North were claiming there was a media conspiracy to ensure that people would be calm, quiet, and ignorant about the coming Y2K disaster.
Actually, I view modern Pittsburgh as a city on the up-swing. It has a lot of personality, there are a fair number of things to do, and the cost of living is low.
But, after getting my Master's degree there, I have no desire to "settle" there. Why? It's simply too far from the east coast by car and too expensive by air. Also, there aren't that many companies out there... the major tech employers seemed to be DEC and Westinghouse.
If broadband was widely available, it would definitely make it more attractive, especially combined with the low cost of living, but Pittsburgh is to geographically isolated from other cities, especially compared to NYC, Boston, and San Francisco.
To the credit of the comedic industry, it has not spawned a cottage industry of teenagers who try to "push the limits" for the sake of it, producing mediocre work in the process, like most performance and visual art fields have (even written fiction).
Rather, they're able to take the queues from Kaufman regarding what _was actually funny_ and move on.
Don't give me this "entepeneur worship" crap of yours. _I_ am the consumer. I demand that if I'm going to fork over my hard-earned money, I don't get jerked around by a conceited, high-on-himself, sef-proclaimed "artiste". _We_ consumers drive the economy and spend _our_ money, so I'd better darn right demand something other than crap from this famous-movie-maker-of-the-week George Lucas.
It's only if we consumers _do_ make these demands on Lucas that we'll get what we want.
You, my friend, are just setting yourself up to be a corporate tool, manipulated by those marketing drones that see fit to shove any old crap down your throat. And you, being the obedient consumerist that you are, will eat it right up.
You know, one thing I never understand is why no one holds movies to the same standards of books when it comes to story-telling. Why is the universal reply to a complaint about TPM, "it's just a movie" ?
One of my labmates theorizes that this is because some people are still amazed by the miracle that the pictures actually move.
Actually, you are completely wrong about special effects. If anything, some of the most special-effects intensive movies, such as Episode I and the Jurassic Park films, have been the worst of the bunch. The most interesting movies over the past 5 years haven't had this same sort of dependence. Vacuous special-effects-intensive movies have become something of a cliche.
It's not that Lucas is stuck in a rut, it's that he has simply realized what the necessary lowest energy state is for the purpose of producing "good movies" these days. Back before he had figured this out, the movies had interesting characters and a plot. 20 years later, he's realized that these things really aren't that necessary, especially if you're trying to attract little kids.
(as an aside regarding the "it was for kids" claim, read the May '99 issue of Wired with Lucas on the cover... he talks about how the movie was all about his desire to tell stories and create myths... he doesn't mention the "it was for kids" thing until _after_ the backlash started)
The solution to these piracy problems with ripping video or audio media is obvious-- encrypt the digital data on the media and prevent it from ever being played in analog form... there you go. If you cannot play a music on your stereo or watch the movie on your television, then noone will be able to make illegal copies of that media. The use of speakers and video displays in conjunction with digital media should be illegal, and then all the piracy fears will be allayed.
The same guy who did Stigmata made End of Days, and you recommend Stigmata over EoD? Man, that's a big point against EoD. Stigmata was bad. I mean, it was worse than bad. It was bad on so many levels that I don't even know where to start. And to think that EoD was worse... well, I have to admit that's a bit hard to believe.
One of the sad things about "millenial fever" that is inspiring a bunch of these movies is that the spirituality is very "fluffy" -- the sort of stuff that inspires the angel craze, the series "Touched By An Angel", The Celestine Prophecy, and a slew of bad movies (though I haven't seen Dogma, yet).
We live in an era where many people challenge their faith, but all to often it gets replaced with something shallow and empty and, most importantly in the USA, marketable. I really can't remember the last time I saw a good spiritual movie, though the Matrix comes close (and that's saying something when a sci-fi Keanu Reeves movie is the most spiritual out there).
-Dean
Thanks the completely wrong mentality
on
Dear Mr. Lucas
·
· Score: 1
The whole point, is that we, as consumers, should demand more from the George Lucases of the world. It is our job to tell him that his stuff is crap when he trips over himself. No one would poke fun at the advertising and merchandising if it was stuff that reflected what we actually liked.
So, go ahead... remind him that he can't write or direct. Laugh your butt off when he starts pontificating about "the power of myth." Write long articles in magazines describing him as the hack that he is. You would not be doing your job as a consumer if you didn't.
(and, to you guys who feel the need to quote from David Brin, Gene Roddenberry was hung up on juvenilistic utopian views of the future where technology would solve all of our problems as long as we went along with The Party... uh, I mean "Federation")
>Seriously though, I found the article devoid of >any content. It is nothing more than a rather >poor exercise in pretty prose
Among the writing community, this is what is considered the most important priority. Things like good story-telling and informational content take a back seat to prose sent jumping through hoops. The rest of us, drawn to good stories or writing that argues specific points, are obviously never going to be able to connect with the writing of people like Katz. He has been trained to write for other writers that look more for innovative turns of a phrase.
It's sad that slashdot has to be used as Jon Katz's forum through which he seeks merely to impress his writer-colleagues with his linguistic skills.
I'm more than just a little perplexed. I suppose a reference or a link would have been appreciated.
Certainly Doom already has the "defeat the demons" sort of theme built into it already. Ironically, the Christian game, assuming it's not some sort of odd joke, simply adds the option to become evil.
Somehow I always thought that Christian gaming would lend itself more to strategy games... eg, being a missionary in the 2nd century middle east trying to outrun the Romans, or maybe somkething like Warcraft II with a Christian back-story. But I never thought I'd see something as shallow as a Doom shoot-em-up.
Well, the problem is that it was a poor kids' movie. After seeing Episode I again, I realized that Lucas doesn't know how to make movies, actually. For example, he simply doesn't understand comic relief in the same way that Spielberg does. His attempts at comedy were at best childish, and at worst annoying and occurring at completely inappropriate times.
Yes, there's a lot of whining about how we shouldn't complain about "George Lucas's personal vision", but you know, I pay my money to watch movies, and I demand good stuff. George Lucas is always willing to wax poetic about the "power of myth" in his movies, willing to put together mind-blowing trailers, but woefully short on delivery, with the feeble, "but it's only a children's movie" when someone points out the shortcomings.
There are those who said that, "look, Episode I was just a movie." It was _not_ just a movie, it was somewhat _less_ that a movie. If it had been "just a movie", it would have been great.
This is absolutely the wrong mentality that will cause us all to become manipulated in life into consumer drones. It may be George Lucas's "creation", but it's my money! If I'm going to pay _my money_, I'd better get something that's good. I demand it. I do not pay money to make directors feel better about themselves, I pay money to see good quality stuff, period.
I'm not going to refrain from complaining about the quality of a work because I think the director has some sort of "right to his creation." Consumer products/movies/entertainment are only going to get good if we actually refuse to give money and/or publicly pillory crap, so I'll call a spade a spade, thank you, without regard to whether it's "his creation".
The way it works now is that you slave away at a bio phd only to end up in a post-doctoral fellowship which will only pay 20k-25k/year. These last another several years, at which time you _might_ get an appointment at a university as an assisstant professor, but you'll be competing with hundreds of candidates for each spot.
I can see how the prospect of that just is not appealing, anymore. On the other hand, those with BS or graduate degrees from top universities in CS or EE can find a good job right away that pays much more than someone with a bio or physics PhD and a few years of experience.
Honestly, I think it's good that these potential science majors are able to find other options rather than accept indentured servitude in a flooded market.
Actually, there's quite a difference between making a movie that is good for kids and making a movie that panders to them. The original star wars movie is great for kids, but Episode One is explicitly marketed to the 8-year-old demographic. THAT'S what Star Wars fans were upset about.
In California, it is illegal to raise local taxes to fund things like schools without a 2/3rd majority vote. Obviously, this never happens, so there is the same amount of money for schools that there was several years ago.
Also, it is illegal to raise property taxes on a house unless it has just been sold. Thus, the person who's house cost $100,000 in 1980 is still paying taxes based on a $100,000 value (it might be raised 1% a year, I don't remember, exactly), rather than a price closer to what it's actually worth.
I enjoyed the Matrix very much, but I can't see any way in which they'd make a good sequel or prequel. There was something new and unexpected about the Matrix, and sequels tend to have this sort of..."You will like it! Your kids will like it! Your dog will like it!" kind of marketing strategy.
Also, since the Matrix sequel has a guaranteed audience of people who liked the first movie, the studio probably knows it can throw any old crap onto the screen, and it'll be almost guaranteed make more money than it cost to produce.
I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, of course, but it always seems that the most likely thing is to go the path of least resistence for making movies.
While I know that it is very common for the writing community to eschew the pedestrian "topic" or "plot" in favor of prose sent jumping through hoops, I have little tolerance for it.
I am interested in reading "news for nerds" or original cxontent that provides new information or greater insight into a topic. Since none of these needs of mine were satisfied from this article, I had to ask what the point of Jon Katz's newest attempt at self-promotion (aka "article") was. Isn't this whole thing supposed to be about "Stuff that Matters"?
First of all, did we really need an entire Jon Katz article to tell us that the RIA trying to crack down on MP3? What's wrong? Was it a slow news day or something? Is there some reason why Jon Katz is so much more qualified to write this stuff than Rob Malda?
Secondly, much as I think that MP3's are great and the recording industry is fairly evil, why does Jon Katz mince words? Let's face it-- the crackdown is against pirated music being distributed over the 'net. The lawsuit against Rio was BS, surely-- a blatant crackdown against MP3 itself-- but forcibly shutting down many music sites amounts to cracking down on pirated music. Technically, there's really nothing wrong with doing so. That's why they're called _illegal_ copies. So, impotent as this "crackdown" is, why doesn't Katz just call the sites with "free music" what they are? Sites with "pirated" music.
Also, I would bet pretty heavily that most of the people trading and downloading this "free music" are part of the same "middle class consumers" that Katz simultaneously criticizes as tools of the recording industry.
Actually, almost _all_ government funded research allocates the money through peer review of grant proposals submitted by researchers. There's nothing shockingly amazing about the fact that the gov't did this when increasing its nanotech funding.
Actually _every_ day celebrates the memory of a saint. Most days celebrate the memory of several saints, so there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, commemorated over the ages.
I thought the Village Voice completely missed the point about much of the Jon Katz writings (normally I detest Katz, but I'll make an exception)... namely, that in the wake of the school shootings, suddenly every kid who was slightly unusual became a suspect, and schools felt they had to engage in "geek control." regardless of how hellish high school may have been for people (disclaimer: it wasn't for me), the geek profiling from the administration interfering with the education of others was unacceptable. Why the VV failed to even bother with this aspect of it is beyond me.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm on your side, here. If anything, the media provided many assurances that few things would go wrong.... the lack of widespread panic among average Americans was a testimony to this.
You have to realize, though, that all articles by JonKatz focus on "geeks vs. the media". On the other hand, Y2k-loonies like Gary North were claiming there was a media conspiracy to ensure that people would be calm, quiet, and ignorant about the coming Y2K disaster.
-Dean
Actually, I view modern Pittsburgh as a city on the up-swing. It has a lot of personality, there are a fair number of things to do, and the cost of living is low.
But, after getting my Master's degree there, I have no desire to "settle" there. Why? It's simply too far from the east coast by car and too expensive by air. Also, there aren't that many companies out there... the major tech employers seemed to be DEC and Westinghouse.
If broadband was widely available, it would definitely make it more attractive, especially combined with the low cost of living, but Pittsburgh is to geographically isolated from other cities, especially compared to NYC, Boston, and San Francisco.
-Dean
To the credit of the comedic industry, it has not spawned a cottage industry of teenagers who try to "push the limits" for the sake of it, producing mediocre work in the process, like most performance and visual art fields have (even written fiction).
Rather, they're able to take the queues from Kaufman regarding what _was actually funny_ and move on.
-Dean
Don't give me this "entepeneur worship" crap of yours. _I_ am the consumer. I demand that if I'm going to fork over my hard-earned money, I don't get jerked around by a conceited, high-on-himself, sef-proclaimed "artiste". _We_ consumers drive the economy and spend _our_ money, so I'd better darn right demand something other than crap from this famous-movie-maker-of-the-week George Lucas.
It's only if we consumers _do_ make these demands on Lucas that we'll get what we want.
You, my friend, are just setting yourself up to be a corporate tool, manipulated by those marketing drones that see fit to shove any old crap down your throat. And you, being the obedient consumerist that you are, will eat it right up.
-Dean
You know, one thing I never understand is why no one holds movies to the same standards of books when it comes to story-telling. Why is the universal reply to a complaint about TPM, "it's just a movie" ?
One of my labmates theorizes that this is because some people are still amazed by the miracle that the pictures actually move.
-Dean
Actually, you are completely wrong about special effects. If anything, some of the most special-effects intensive movies, such as Episode I and the Jurassic Park films, have been the worst of the bunch. The most interesting movies over the past 5 years haven't had this same sort of dependence. Vacuous special-effects-intensive movies have become something of a cliche.
It's not that Lucas is stuck in a rut, it's that he has simply realized what the necessary lowest energy state is for the purpose of producing "good movies" these days. Back before he had figured this out, the movies had interesting characters and a plot. 20 years later, he's realized that these things really aren't that necessary, especially if you're trying to attract little kids.
(as an aside regarding the "it was for kids" claim, read the May '99 issue of Wired with Lucas on the cover... he talks about how the movie was all about his desire to tell stories and create myths... he doesn't mention the "it was for kids" thing until _after_ the backlash started)
-Dean
The solution to these piracy problems with ripping video or audio media is obvious-- encrypt the digital data on the media and prevent it from ever being played in analog form... there you go. If you cannot play a music on your stereo or watch the movie on your television, then noone will be able to make illegal copies of that media. The use of speakers and video displays in conjunction with digital media should be illegal, and then all the piracy fears will be allayed.
;)
-Dean
The same guy who did Stigmata made End of Days, and you recommend Stigmata over EoD? Man, that's a big point against EoD. Stigmata was bad. I mean, it was worse than bad. It was bad on so many levels that I don't even know where to start. And to think that EoD was worse... well, I have to admit that's a bit hard to believe.
One of the sad things about "millenial fever" that is inspiring a bunch of these movies is that the spirituality is very "fluffy" -- the sort of stuff that inspires the angel craze, the series "Touched By An Angel", The Celestine Prophecy, and a slew of bad movies (though I haven't seen Dogma, yet).
We live in an era where many people challenge their faith, but all to often it gets replaced with something shallow and empty and, most importantly in the USA, marketable. I really can't remember the last time I saw a good spiritual movie, though the Matrix comes close (and that's saying something when a sci-fi Keanu Reeves movie is the most spiritual out there).
-Dean
The whole point, is that we, as consumers, should demand more from the George Lucases of the world. It is our job to tell him that his stuff is crap when he trips over himself. No one would poke fun at the advertising and merchandising if it was stuff that reflected what we actually liked.
So, go ahead... remind him that he can't write or direct. Laugh your butt off when he starts pontificating about "the power of myth." Write long articles in magazines describing him as the hack that he is. You would not be doing your job as a consumer if you didn't.
(and, to you guys who feel the need to quote from David Brin, Gene Roddenberry was hung up on juvenilistic utopian views of the future where technology would solve all of our problems as long as we went along with The Party... uh, I mean "Federation")
-Dean
>Seriously though, I found the article devoid of
>any content. It is nothing more than a rather
>poor exercise in pretty prose
Among the writing community, this is what is considered the most important priority. Things like good story-telling and informational content take a back seat to prose sent jumping through hoops. The rest of us, drawn to good stories or writing that argues specific points, are obviously never going to be able to connect with the writing of people like Katz. He has been trained to write for other writers that look more for innovative turns of a phrase.
It's sad that slashdot has to be used as Jon Katz's forum through which he seeks merely to impress his writer-colleagues with his linguistic skills.
-Dean
I'm more than just a little perplexed. I suppose a reference or a link would have been appreciated.
Certainly Doom already has the "defeat the demons" sort of theme built into it already. Ironically, the Christian game, assuming it's not some sort of odd joke, simply adds the option to become evil.
Somehow I always thought that Christian gaming would lend itself more to strategy games... eg, being a missionary in the 2nd century middle east trying to outrun the Romans, or maybe somkething like Warcraft II with a Christian back-story. But I never thought I'd see something as shallow as a Doom shoot-em-up.
-Dean
Well, the problem is that it was a poor kids' movie. After seeing Episode I again, I realized that Lucas doesn't know how to make movies, actually. For example, he simply doesn't understand comic relief in the same way that Spielberg does. His attempts at comedy were at best childish, and at worst annoying and occurring at completely inappropriate times.
Yes, there's a lot of whining about how we shouldn't complain about "George Lucas's personal vision", but you know, I pay my money to watch movies, and I demand good stuff. George Lucas is always willing to wax poetic about the "power of myth" in his movies, willing to put together mind-blowing trailers, but woefully short on delivery, with the feeble, "but it's only a children's movie" when someone points out the shortcomings.
There are those who said that, "look, Episode I was just a movie." It was _not_ just a movie, it was somewhat _less_ that a movie. If it had been "just a movie", it would have been great.
-Dean
This is absolutely the wrong mentality that will cause us all to become manipulated in life into consumer drones. It may be George Lucas's "creation", but it's my money! If I'm going to pay _my money_, I'd better get something that's good. I demand it. I do not pay money to make directors feel better about themselves, I pay money to see good quality stuff, period.
I'm not going to refrain from complaining about the quality of a work because I think the director has some sort of "right to his creation." Consumer products/movies/entertainment are only going to get good if we actually refuse to give money and/or publicly pillory crap, so I'll call a spade a spade, thank you, without regard to whether it's "his creation".
-Dean
Somehow I can't picture Spielberg sending a print of "The Lost World" to Kubrick and expecting encouragement from Kubrick based on it.
-Dean
The way it works now is that you slave away at a bio phd only to end up in a post-doctoral fellowship which will only pay 20k-25k/year. These last another several years, at which time you _might_ get an appointment at a university as an assisstant professor, but you'll be competing with hundreds of candidates for each spot.
I can see how the prospect of that just is not appealing, anymore. On the other hand, those with BS or graduate degrees from top universities in CS or EE can find a good job right away that pays much more than someone with a bio or physics PhD and a few years of experience.
Honestly, I think it's good that these potential science majors are able to find other options rather than accept indentured servitude in a flooded market.
-Dean
The 95% figure is actually from a gallup poll of _Americans_ (I think it was actually 93% or so).
That's where the number comes from.
-Dean
Actually, there's quite a difference between making a movie that is good for kids and making a movie that panders to them. The original star wars movie is great for kids, but Episode One is explicitly marketed to the 8-year-old demographic. THAT'S what Star Wars fans were upset about.
-Dean
In California, it is illegal to raise local taxes to fund things like schools without a 2/3rd majority vote. Obviously, this never happens, so there is the same amount of money for schools that there was several years ago.
Also, it is illegal to raise property taxes on a house unless it has just been sold. Thus, the person who's house cost $100,000 in 1980 is still paying taxes based on a $100,000 value (it might be raised 1% a year, I don't remember, exactly), rather than a price closer to what it's actually worth.
-Dean
I enjoyed the Matrix very much, but I can't see any way in which they'd make a good sequel or prequel. There was something new and unexpected about the Matrix, and sequels tend to have this sort of..."You will like it! Your kids will like it! Your dog will like it!" kind of marketing strategy.
Also, since the Matrix sequel has a guaranteed audience of people who liked the first movie, the studio probably knows it can throw any old crap onto the screen, and it'll be almost guaranteed make more money than it cost to produce.
I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, of course, but it always seems that the most likely thing is to go the path of least resistence for making movies.
-Dean
While I know that it is very common for the writing community to eschew the pedestrian "topic" or "plot" in favor of prose sent jumping through hoops, I have little tolerance for it.
I am interested in reading "news for nerds" or original cxontent that provides new information or greater insight into a topic. Since none of these needs of mine were satisfied from this article, I had to ask what the point of Jon Katz's newest attempt at self-promotion (aka "article") was. Isn't this whole thing supposed to be about "Stuff that Matters"?
-Dean
First of all, did we really need an entire Jon Katz article to tell us that the RIA trying to crack down on MP3? What's wrong? Was it a slow news day or something? Is there some reason why Jon Katz is so much more qualified to write this stuff than Rob Malda?
Secondly, much as I think that MP3's are great and the recording industry is fairly evil, why does Jon Katz mince words? Let's face it-- the crackdown is against pirated music being distributed over the 'net. The lawsuit against Rio was BS, surely-- a blatant crackdown against MP3 itself-- but forcibly shutting down many music sites amounts to cracking down on pirated music. Technically, there's really nothing wrong with doing so. That's why they're called _illegal_ copies. So, impotent as this "crackdown" is, why doesn't Katz just call the sites with "free music" what they are? Sites with "pirated" music.
Also, I would bet pretty heavily that most of the people trading and downloading this "free music" are part of the same "middle class consumers" that Katz simultaneously criticizes as tools of the recording industry.
-Dean
Actually, almost _all_ government funded research allocates the money through peer review of grant proposals submitted by researchers. There's nothing shockingly amazing about the fact that the gov't did this when increasing its nanotech funding.
-Dean
Actually _every_ day celebrates the memory of a saint. Most days celebrate the memory of several saints, so there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, commemorated over the ages.
-Dean
Wonderful... they know all about my boring life.
Incidently, most "tap detectors" detect changes in line capacitance, which is exactly what would come up using a telephone tap you describe.
Never tested it myself, though. What? Did you want to hear my conversations about my thoughts of Episode One or something?
-Dean
I thought the Village Voice completely missed the point about much of the Jon Katz writings (normally I detest Katz, but I'll make an exception)... namely, that in the wake of the school shootings, suddenly every kid who was slightly unusual became a suspect, and schools felt they had to engage in "geek control." regardless of how hellish high school may have been for people (disclaimer: it wasn't for me), the geek profiling from the administration interfering with the education of others was unacceptable. Why the VV failed to even bother with this aspect of it is beyond me.
-Dean