Media
Audio Killed My Video Stars
Jan 7th
I really wanted to give something personal for the holidays this year. I don’t knit and my last best drawing involved portraying a space battle between the Millenium Falcon and the USS Enterprise, so I settled on creating videos of the kids. I had a backlog of photos and moving pictures (“talkies?”) that needed forcible eviction from various digital devices, so the project was motivating on multiple levels.
In the process, my videography jones got kicked into high gear. Pinnacle 7 got dusted off (quirky, but workable in Vista), the camcorder got a workout, and the clutter of tedious videos got transformed into something moving and timeless, set to a couple songs I like. Nice.
Delivery became a dilemma. Gifting a link seemed a bit too virtual, so I planned to put them onto SanDisk MP3 players (the Fuze plays video) and send them out to my parents. The retrospective montages were guaranteed tear-jerkers, plus everyone got a great little music player for the gym. The wins were racking up.
This is supposed to be the era of user-generated content (formerly known as “crap you waste your time on”), so I felt compelled to share my creation with others. My Facebook page had fallen into disrepair over the holidays, so I uploaded my shiny new vid … uh, wait … “violation” … “privacy” … what?
Facebook froze the upload and threatened to remove all my content should I try again. My mash-up creation had morphed into copyright infringement, and threatened to transmogrify into social media banishment.
So, this is the world we live in. The RIAA has convinced a lot of people that music is a finite resource that cannot be borrowed or bartered without harm. In our system, my creative application of music can only be perceived as a threat to the artist’s well-being.
And yet the reality is nearly the opposite. With few exceptions, music is a sprawling, fungible commodity that has multitudes of substitutes. Yes, there is (was) only one Michael Jackson singing Billie Jean. But hearing a “free” version of Billie Jean hardly ever replaces a “paid” version, rather it is more likely to replace a “free” version of something else. And that replacement is likely to promote future purchase of Michael Jackson’s music, movies, shirts, breakfast cereals, and commemorative plates.
Creative uses of copyrighted media put the source material into circulation in ways that it would not have otherwise, helps it break through the sensory fugue. If anything, the artists should thank me, and present me with royalties for future sales that would not have come without my help.
Zen and the Art of Battlestar Galactica
Mar 21st
Successful science fiction invariably falls victim to a simple conflict: The mechanism that allows it to fuel imagination and break convention is also irrevocably tied to empiricism. Using science to generate fantasy is akin to using a metronome to generate music, where expanding creativity grates against the formality of the propagating structure.
This conflict might not be such a problem except that the people who tend to like science fiction also tend to demand consistency and transparency from things that don’t exist. Bonanza was a much more popular show than Star Trek in the late 1960’s, and both have generated their fair share of fan fiction and conventions … the hallmarks of any good franchise obsession. But it’s one thing to draft blueprints for the Ponderosa based on historical experience with similar structures, and quite another to dissect the validity of a future universe made up by a World War II pilot.
The latest spin on the sci-fi angst comes as the re-envisioned Battlestar Galactica winds down with the series finale. BSG has used the common trappings of spaceships and “bad robots” to provide uncommon insight into terrorism, spiritual awakening, social order, and human compassion. Yet while the show has gained enough credibility to win a Peabody Award and an audience with the United Nations, it still can’t avoid the inevitable scrutiny that has more to do with an OCD episode than critical thinking.
I’ve just finished watching the final two hours of BSG (not including the profit-reeking postscript coming in June) and there are plot elements that felt rushed, sloppy, or unsatisfying, at least partly due to the slow episodes that have been criticised for wasting time down the home stretch. I can understand how a passionate follower of the show would find fault with certain resolutions, or the lack thereof. Even now I’m slightly irritated that (spoiler #1) a driven sociopath like Cavil would spontaneously give up without a Khan-like gesture of destruction. And I expect further viewing will reveal Kara Thrace to be (spoiler #2) an incoherent deus ex machina who inexplicably finds the wrong Earth before she finds the right one and disappears in a cloud of revisionist flashbacking.
But really, so what? Fraying threads may ruin a potholder, but they go unnoticed at the edge of an exquisite tapestry. After following BSG for 5 years, I care far less about the hanging chads than I do the conflict and compassion that was earned through ambitious story arcs and character evolution. To some, the series is a fraud for not following a predestined path from start to finish, as if any story about Big Ideas should always know The Answer in advance. To those who require cozy symmetry from storytelling, I recommend the collected works of Chris Columbus, or multitudinous other films and TV shows through which the journey is predetermined or irrelevant. Ron Moore ultimately took us exactly where the BSG premise told us it would go, but by improvising so expertly along the way, the ending felt fresh and satisfying to a degree that I never could have expected.
After the original series ended in 1979 (we shall not speak of Galactica 1980), all I wanted was to fly a Viper like Starbuck and Apollo. Granted, I was in 4th grade, but the series didn’t offer much beyond that level of attention.
After Ron Moore’s BSG, I want so much more – to feel Apollo’s ambition, to have Baltar’s redemption, to share Adama’s grief, or even to walk with Tyrol in isolation. While the ending makes it an explicit part of the “canon,” this series has always revealed us in its characters. Now that those characters are gone I am left with a greater sense of my own being, and it didn’t require an inverse tachyon beam to find it. That’s great science fiction.
PS … but the (spoiler #3) “angels” pontificating in New York City? That was still pretty lame.
what i’m podcasting
Nov 29th
I’m a relatively recent convert to downloading podcasts. They didn’t sound that compelling to me until I realized the simple beauty of listening to fresh spoken word content at work. Even though I’m fortunate enough to sit in an office, there are only so many times I can listen to Nine Inch Nails while trying to think. But podcasts provide a fountain of interesting stimuli that aren’t too intrusive to my thoughts or the work environment.
There aren’t too many podcast subscriptions in my iTunes as yet, but the few I have are definitely worth recommending. Let me know if you have any particularly good podcasts for daily music or tech news. My current favorites, in no particular order …
Meet the Press / This Week with George Stephanopoulos: I seldom observe the day of rest, so Sunday morning news shows come and go while I’m running around elsewhere. These podcasts provide ad-free audio of the entire show, including interviews and roundtable discussions. I prefer Tim Russert’s interviews, but ABC has the better panel.
MotoGPod: The motorcycle racing season is history, but there’s plenty to talk about during the “silly season” of contract negotations and organizational politics. The host may have a voice made for mimes and the audio charisma of a talking fish, but he gets good information and interesting content … plus he’s the only one out there talking MotoGP.
Lost / Battlestar Galactica: These are easily my two favorite TV shows now that Carnivale is cancelled and Six Feet Under has passed on. Both use sci-fi as a loose backdrop for telling good stories with relevant themes, and respect the audience enough not to spoon-feed information or deliver messages via sledgehammer. Both also have creative teams that are hip to podcasting; BSG takes an episodic commentary approach (no doubt priming the pump for the Season 2 DVD) while Lost is less structured.
Texas Music Matters: KUT is a pretty damn good public radio station with some pretty damn good podcasts. And it just got that much better when David Brown left his bigshot LA gig on Marketplace to host a music program in Our Fair City. David Brown could recite the phonebook and make it interesting, so hearing his golden voice contemplate Texas music is sheer joy.
battle of the recycled concepts
Aug 26th
If you wanted to find a single show that changed the landscape of television, it might be All In the Family. But that would be boring, so I’ll say it was Battle of the Network Stars. In the Good Ol’ Days, TV stars were pretty much untouchable icons who played their roles and maybe showed up on Mike Douglas every once in awhile. Then ABC Executives had an epiphany that people might want to see Lynda Carter and Adrienne Barbeau jumping around in swimsuits. But how to make it happen? Ah yes … the American staple of athletic competition. And thus was born a TV institution that paved the way for reality TV and further entrenched T&A as a viable ratings booster.
In Hollywood, no idea (good or bad) goes uncopied, so we now have, not one, but two new versions of this classic show on the way. The less interesting doppleganger is spat up by Bravo Network. In its continuing bid to alienate its core audience of smart people with taste, Bravo is promoting Battle of the Network Reality Stars. This makes no sense, because there is no cross-over appeal; we’ve already seen these “stars” in their “real” persona, so the voyeuristic component is mild compared to seeing Farrah Fawcett mucking about in a muddy tug-o-war for the first time. Most of these competitors have already appeared naked in their shows or Maxxim magazine, so the T&A novelty has passed as well. My only curiousity is how they’re going to juggle the multitudes of network teams, now that we’re dealing with substantially more than the Big Three.
Slightly more intriguing is a movie concept based on the show. According to CHUD, it goes like this:
The film is being seen as a comedic Ocean’s Eleven, filled to the brim with comedy stars. The plot would center on a disgraced network executive who must win the Battle to get his job back. Which makes no sense.
So there you have it; two non-sensical interpretations of classic celebrity exploitation. And this time, Robert Conrad won’t be around to keep things real.
barfday gifts
Aug 14th
The weekend commemorating my aging ephemerality, along with its accompanying mental and physical deterioration, is nearly over. Damn, it’s been a good one. Music, movies, stiff drinks, scrumptious food, social interactions both planned and spontaneous, and above all else some quality time with Rachel, all conspired to form a memorable and fulfilling birthday.
One of the highlites of the weekend was a luncheon with Ren & Stimpy creator John K. organized by the Alamo Drafthouse. Since John K. and I were seated at opposite ends of the table, I actually spent most of the lunch talking with Alamo owner Tim League, which was a nice opportunity to meet someone whose labors I greatly appreciate. Alamo chef John Bullington treated us to a fantastic meal featuring crab cakes, duck breast, and LOG for dessert (i.e. a tongue-meltingly rich cake cooked in the shape of a tree stump).
While everyone relaxed and digested the LOG, John K. came around and drew caricatures of each attendee. Drawing is something I used to do a lot of, but it never came naturally. My method was to painstakingly etch, erase, and re-etch slow and exacting lines that ultimately never quite came together how I wanted. But someone like John K. clearly has spent his life drawing from instinct, and he quickly put down a series of caricatures that manage to nail each person’s distinct features while retaining a cartoony simplicity. Rachel and I were blown away with the result.
Turns out that there have been a recent spate of John K caricatures posted in other blogs. Two cartoonists have posted a series of sketches that show John K’s unique take on various celebrities. The Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes portrait really hits the mark, and most are better than bad … they’re GOOD!
