I'm writing for Establishing Headshot!

Okay, I’m very happy to announce that I shall be writing the odd article here and there for the website- Establishing Headshot.
It’s a fairly new site and I’m happy to contribute some interesting essays. I really like their focus (Videogames and storytelling) so I shouldn’t have any problems there.
Here’s a link to what they’re all about.


http://www.establishingheadshot.com/about/


I also recently got a job- which takes up much of my life at the moment; so juggling work, play and Establishing Headshot may be pretty tough at first.

Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat

Thanks to Lovefilm being stored on my PS3, I managed to watch a documentary called Moral Kombat which focused on video game violence.

Whilst it wasn’t the greatest documentary ever made; it did portray a neutral argument of pros and cons. For example, there were interviews with Jack Thompson who completely opposed video game violence; juxtaposed with scenes staring Lorne Lanning who praised how encapsulating a video game experience can be.

I wanted to post a few of Lanning’s rants on my blog via YouTube- but there isn’t much Moral Kombat on the site (except for a trailer). So I’ve typed it up myself!

What I could not believe, however, is how much hatred there seems to be towards poor Spencer Halpin with plenty of insults and abuse aimed at his youtube account. What many people don’t understand is that, scenes that are negative towards video game violence are opinions of the speaker- not Halpin. If you disagree with Jack Thompson’s remarks, then you disagree with Thompson not Halpin (who managed to make a very fair film-praising and condemning videogames in equal measure).

Anyways...here are some wonderful things spoken by Lorne Lanning (Creator of Oddworld)

Quote 1- “We released Odyssey in 97 and we got a letter that was from a seventy-two year old man from England. And he says ‘You’re gonna think I’m nuts, but I have to tell you this story because something happened playing your game and it saved my life. My wife of x number of years died after a very long illness, my granddaughter died...’ It was just one after another of these horrible stories. This man was on the verge of suicide- he went out and bought a gun – but he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t figure out why. Somehow he associated that ‘maybe the reason I don’t have the guts to pull the trigger right now is because I’ve still got some spare cash...I’m just gonna spend it on the most frivolous, stupidest thing I never spent money on.’

He went and he bought himself a Sony Playstation and he bought our game Abe’s Odyssey, and he started playing that game and he said it was a point in his life when he was completely depressed, he was bitter and he could find no joy anywhere. Playing Abe’s Odyssey; this guy became our biggest fan, and what he said was that he laughed...and he hadn’t laughed in years. If we could just make people laugh, if we could give them something to rope them up and make them feel good along the way...and here is this man sending us this mail and when we read it, we all cried we all just couldn’t believe that the game had that much impact on a life.”

Quote 2- (Talking of Abe) “He wants to break free- he’s reflecting how we all feel. But then he learns more from looking at the history of his people; from having a deeper understanding; from not being ignorant- which is the place that he came from- that knowledge gave him more empathy. In that sense, he can’t just let everyone be screwed ‘I’ve gotta go back and save them.’

If we can embrace that, and we can reflect the feelings that we feel as individual people- living in a world where there are such huge forces that in many ways are influencing our lives and influencing the lives of our children we feel helpless against...these characters could embody some of that feeling- maybe they can be mechanisms to give us hope in our worst times.”

A final point- it’s a shame that the documentary was made a year or two before the whole Modern Warfare hype took the world by storm.

I Heart Lovefilm

Just signed up for Lovefilm on my Playstation 3. Thankfully, it's a thirty-day free trial so I can watch as many movies as I like till then (I know that sounds pathetic, but money is too tight these days)

At this moment in time, they don't have thousands of choices on their PS3 streaming channel; but they do have some rare gems.

I've always wanted to see John Carpenter's Dark Star, and now I can!

They've also got two spaghetti westerns that I've never seen before- Django the Bastard and Trinity meets Sartana. Life is good right now!

Thanks Lovefilm and Playstation!

What Happened to Posey?

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got to see Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen (1967) and I’m happy to inform you that I loved it. I’m a big fan of the video game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 because it really lets you get to know the names and faces of the men that will fight and die together and The Dirty Dozen is no different. Before Lee Marvin’s bands of misfits go to battle, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew each face and personality trait of the dozen (making it all the more powerful when they start to diminish). Its overarching plot- A Nazi kill frenzy, naturally reminds me of Quentin Tarrantino’s Inglorious Basterds; however I do think The Dirty Dozen is far superior because I warmed to the dozen and despised the Basterds.  

My biggest complaint, about the movie, is that it ends rather abruptly. Secondly, what happened to Private Posey? 

Whilst watching the film, I immediately found sympathy in Posey. The gentle giant of a man was definitely one of the most respectable of the dozen. However, in the final shootout, we never actually see what happens to the character. We know his machine-gun nest is riddled with bullets; but no shot of his death.

It’s safe to assume that Posey does die, since he does not appear in the final scene, but I do feel that it’s a rather basic mistake to not include or imply his death. This is especially so when you consider that throughout the film, I was constantly thinking ‘I hope Posey survives, I hope Posey survives.’

Never mind- great film none the less.