This one’s outta my hands, guys. Minor emergency in the 3D world calls me away from mucking about online (and mucking about offline, for the most part). The plan is that I’ll be back to updating next week, but right now, no one knows how long this is gonna take, or what’s required to git-’er-dun. So, I’ll see ya when I see ya.
Onward…to ADVENTURE!
I was originally going to write about how today was a monumental day because, for once, Faye from Questionable Content WASN’T being a huge rhymes-with-witch. (Well, I guess I did just write about that.) Seriously, I’ve never understood why she’s the most popular character in that comic.
That, however, was overshadowed by far more depressing and important news, as news of Satoshi Kon’s death began burning up the Internet. This 47-year-old master Japanese director was one of my artistic heroes from the moment I first discovered his work in anime, via the “Magnetic Rose” short from Memories. Paranoia Agent later became one of my absolute favourite television series.
If you’re curious to see some of Kon’s work, just hit up a certain popular video site for clips and other videos. I highly recommend “Magnetic Rose” as uploaded by user DimensionAnime. I’d link to the videos here, but, since the whole thing is uploaded by DimensionAnime rather than just clips, that wouldn’t be entirely kosher, and we like to be kosher here, if not in the rabbinical way. So please go find it for yourself. Then buy it!…if you can still find the home release, that is.
I’ll be raising a glass of something fizzy and unidentifiable in his honour tonight, while contemplating Kon-themed sushi (remember that, The Don’s lovely wife?) and hopefully organizing a Satoshi Kon anime marathon for the future. I feel extremely lucky that I got to see Kon himself a few years ago, when the movie Paprika made its U.S. debut at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. Kon answered questions, he entertained, and after the movie and panel were over, everyone left giddy and excited, touched by the presence of a creative genius. I guess those blurry, dark photos I took away on my crappy camera that night will be greater treasures to me than ever before.
Sleep well, Kon. Hope you’re enjoying the moon.
Meanwhile, M. Night Shyamalan and Uwe Boll continue to live and work in the entertainment industry. Truly, there is no justice in this world.
So, the whole “does Zelda have an official timeline?” debate has been stirred up online. Yes, AGAIN. This time, it was the current Zelda manager, Eiji Aonuma, confirming in a recent interview that the Zelda timeline is documented, but so confidential that only Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto, and another director of Zelda projects have access to it.
This article does not speculate whether or not the Zelda “master timeline” exists. I’m sure if the guys in charge of Zelda at Nintendo Japan say it does, then it does. I’ll leave the debating over whether or not Nintendo is lying to this write-up over on Zelda Informer–worth checking out both for the points raised in the article and the discussion in the comments, by the way. This article is merely my brief thoughts on what the “master timeline” really is.
Here are those brief thoughts: Nintendo isn’t lying, but the timeline is no master.
What, you want more? I can’t believe you guys actually expect me to do some work here! Fine….*GrumblegrumbleMonsterBait*
When I say the timeline exists, but it’s no master, I mean this: the timeline is being composed retroactively when each new game is developed. I know those Zelda timeline theorists out there would love to believe that Miyamoto introduced the original The Legend of Zelda with full knowledge of where the story would go in the future, and that all the games have reflected this pre-existing knowledge. But that’s just not the case.
Nintendo has always emphasized gameplay over story. That line has been repeated so many times I’m only adding it here for completion’s sake. No one knew the Zelda series would take off like it has. Very few fans were concerned when it was revealed that A Link to the Past would feature a different Link and Zelda than in the The Legend of Zelda. (I’m not saying “and Zelda II” because the Princess Zelda in that game was not the same Princess Zelda as in the original game, but was a distant ancestor–though Zelda II still had the same Link as in the first Zelda game. Also, I’m not saying “and Link’s Awakening” because there were no Princess Zeldas in that game. Just a Link, who appears to be the one from A Link to the Past. Confusing, innit?) It was only when we learned Ocarina of Time would have a brand-new Link and Zelda, again**, that people really started to care about what happened when, and how events of one game connected to the others in the series.
**For those keeping score at home, that’s three Links and four Princess Zeldas over the course of five games.
It seems most likely that at this point, or sometime during the next few games that came after Ocarina of Time, Nintendo realized they couldn’t keep tossing out Zelda games that reference other Zelda games without some sort of timeline to keep a pretense at order. So not only is the so-called “master timeline” being written up retroactively, it’s also not set in stone. How many contradictions have we seen from one Zelda game to another that make it difficult to determine their proper order? I can guarantee you, Nintendo has been caught out by those same contradictions, and putting together a “master timeline” is a too-late but ongoing attempt to make order out of the chaos. A good reason for keeping the alleged document confidential is that perhaps Nintendo knows it contains conflicts and paradoxes since there’s already so much of that in the games.
And let’s face it: the Zelda universe is too big and scattered to easily keep track of. The development team changes from game to game, so there’s a steady stream of people who don’t know their Zelda canon from the inside out and so abandon or forget previously-important story elements. Each game has multiple writers. Each writer alters the story from its originally-conceived version a little bit more, until the final product is different from what any one writer imagined, and it’s not uncommon for story elements to contradict when multiple people worked on them. That’s just at Nintendo Japan; I’m not even getting into translation alterations that are made when Zelda games are localized for different countries. But you’d be surprised at how much plot and other concepts can change from the original Japanese releases to, say, North American releases. (Link goes to a translation comparison of the backstory in the Japanese and North American A Link to the Past manuals.)
I really don’t think there can ever BE a true timeline at this point. There’s just too much clashing information, and Miyamoto, the creator of the Zelda series himself, has said that he’s never really been concerned with game order or continuity between games. The closest we can ever get to a real “master timeline” would be to have a team of people at Nintendo Japan examining every single bit of dialogue and lore from every single Zelda game, comparing their information, tossing out all conflicts, and rewriting paradoxical bits that can’t be compromised. Those last two bits mean that the timeline would still never be an accurate representation of the history of Hyrule since the content taken from the actual games would have to be partially altered and rewritten in order to fit into the timeline. On top of that, I highly doubt that the Zelda “master timeline” is being composed by a team of people who spend their days examining the Zelda universe nonstop. Most likely, it’s a few people who write down major plot elements in their downtime at work, which means that vital but easily-overlooked details are being left out. Missing information can cause as much inaccuracy as conflicting information.
And that’s why I don’t think we’re ever gonna see a true Zelda “master timeline”. If Nintendo DOES ever make this mystical document public, I imagine it’ll be full of those previously-mentioned plot conflicts and paradoxes, which’ll just make the fans debate the timeline even more, and no one will really be appeased. Or the story will be extremely cut back or rewritten and missing important details in order to crop out all clashing data, which will just make the masses equally fan-raged.
I’d like to say that I’d really love to be proven wrong. I want to see a tight timeline that no one can argue with, that tells when and where my favourite games fall into their own canon! I just don’t see it realistically happening.
So what’s my belief on the order of the Zelda games?
Oh, no, I am NOT opening that can of Lanmolas.
Since I’ve made such a whipping boy out of Misfile lately, I thought it was only fair to link to Randall Danger’s interview with the artist, in which Chris Hazelton has his say about how he views and creates his work.
To me, the most interesting portion is when Hazelton talks about when and how the comic will end. If he really already has it worked out, let’s hope he dumps the excessive filler of recent years and gets on with it! If I have to see one more “car race to solve your problems” storyline, one more “Emily, just stop being shallow over Ash’s sex and HOOK UP OR SHUT UP ALREADY” moment, or one more sanctimonious and sexist rant from Ash, I shall be very tempted to track down the comic’s server and neatly deposit an axe blade inside it. Sorry you had to endure reading about such gratuitous violence, folks.
Tune in next time, when I’ll write something, and you’ll politely pretend to read it!
As mentioned in last week’s article, the webcomic Dreamless came to an end recently. Not, as the saying goes, with a bang, but with a whimper. The final page shows the story just coming to a halt rather than providing an actual satisfying ending. The writer is trying to drum up interest for a sequel, so I assume this was done intentionally to ensure fans come back to see what, if anything, happens next. I have a bit of a vendetta against stopping a story when you’re not even sure if you’ll ever continue it, so, like some commenters on the final page and elsewhere on the Wide Webs, I found the ending quite underwhelming. I’m having trouble gathering up enough interest to even write about the comic here, honestly, but I promised to write this, and so I shall. No one will fault you if you can’t find the time to care about reading something I’m having trouble caring about writing!
You might remember from my review, shortly after Dreamless began in 2009, that I was massively enthused about the comic’s story and its mysteries. Ah, those innocent, carefree days of yesteryear! But instead of becoming more interesting as we learned the characters’ backstories, the story began to seem more bland and bare-boned, accompanied by occasionally sloppy writing. As the comic went on, I pretty much stopped caring about the angsty characters and was mostly reading to see Sarah Ellerton’s beautiful art work. It didn’t help that the comic’s writer makes a habit of insulting the audience in the site’s comments. Pretty difficult for me to stay invested in a story when I know the creator views the readers as dungheaps with wallets.
Still, though, the comic is short, fewer than one hundred pages, and it does have some spectacular art, so I’d say to check it out if you want quick, throwaway entertainment. The first third of the comic will draw you in, even if you feel cold to the story by the end. If you go in with low expectations for the later pages, you’ll probably come away with more enjoyment than I did.
Is this going to be a trend, that every webcomic I review is one I eventually grow to dislike? I sure hope not. It’s already happened (well, is happening) with Misfile, the very first webcomic I ever reviewed on Spwug (here, here, and then a post where I confessed to falling out of love with it here). And now it’s happened again with Dreamless, the second webcomic I reviewed here. Luckily, I don’t think that’s the case; it’s just bad timing all around. If I ever start hatin’ on Girl Genius, I hope someone puts me out of my misery.
If you guessed “your friendly neighbourhood Marlink”, then applaud yourself! You just earned 500 XP!
Guys, what with San Diego Comic-Con going on last weekend, all the geeky announcements coming from said con, StarCraft II dropping this week, and the webcomic Dreamless ending yesterday (Monday, July 26th), I actually was so flooded with topics that I honestly didn’t know what to write about this week. Luckily, two tickets to a free pre-release showing of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World saved me from hours of pointless self-debate. My boyfriend has awesome connections, man. (Despite popular misconception on the blogging sites that link to me, I am, in fact, a chick. *Cheepcheep*)
Don’t worry, North American moviegoers. The film won’t be released here till August 13th, and I won’t be spoiling your experience with a plotariffic review here and now. This is just a gush post. I’m going to predict right now that this is the best movie I will see all year (sorry, Tony Stark). It is, in fact, the best movie I have seen, not just this year, but in many years. We just saw it for free, but my little household is already planning to go see it again, with pocketbooks wide open, as soon as it opens in theaters. And quite possibly see it again, and again, and again.
Okay, so, I’m a Scott Pilgrim newbie. I’d never even heard of the series until I went to see Iron Man 2 this spring, and my friends were geeking out over a poster for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. From the snatches of conversation I could decipher (I was also playing Zelda on my DS at the time, which may have affected my comprehension), Scott Pilgrim was the Best Comic Evar, and this movie was going to be the Best Movie Evar. I filed it away as “interesting; may have to check out this Scott thing” and then promptly forgot it in the wake of Tony Stark Being Awesome. Let’s face it, that’s far too easy to do. Then I continued to forget about the existence of Scott Pilgrim until yesterday, when I received a text from my significant other about those famous free tickets to the advance showing. So, yeah. That’s me, going into the movie blinder than a hundred thousand blind cave fish with severe astigmatism and broken glasses. I didn’t know what to expect.
When the movie began–began!–with the opening sound of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (the electronic harp heard at the beginning of the below video), I knew that this Scott Pilgrim and I were going to get along just fine.
In fact, there is one character who is frequently playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past during the movie, and I have to admit–I didn’t hear a single word of dialogue while those sounds were playing in the background. I think I could watch that movie a hundred times–and I plan to–and I’ll never be able to tell you what’s being discussed when Zelda 3 is in the movie’s hizzouse. Talk about tunnel vision, man.
Okay, I’m trying to drag myself away from Zelda now. Really, I am. I understand that the greatest video game series of all time making a cameo isn’t enough to draw some people into the theater. Picky, picky. But all joking aside, as much as I fangasmed at the Zelda-ness, that wasn’t what made me love the movie. If there had been no Hyrulean presence whatsoever (and it was also referenced aside from the music, by the way), I would still have declared this The Best Movie I Have Seen In Years. I read up…a LOT…on the original comic series today and even got to read a little bit of the work itself. From what I can tell in my incredibly limited experience, the movie seems to hold true to the geek parody-loving, metahumour style that seems to be the comic’s standard. I can already point out places where the movie cut and squished things together a bit to make it all work in two hours, but I see that as giving me something new to look forward to when I read the full series. There are super-fast visual cuts from character to character and scene to scene near the beginning of the movie that you might find a little unsettling or confusing, but the film very quickly calms down and remembers it’s a movie, not a comic book, and that panel-to-panel behaviour doesn’t work so well in most live-action. Still, though, the movie does a terrific job of sticking with its graphic novel roots. Sound effects are written out on the screen as they happen, for example, and two people can literally throw each other around the room without taking damage. Batman would approve! You know, if he wasn’t too busy angsting over his parents being dead and all.
And, dear elder gods, but this movie is FUNNY! The theater was less than half full (very few tickets given away for this particular screening), but, frequently, the audience was laughing and cheering so loudly that the movie would be completely drowned out for a few seconds. Did I mention the movie was funny? I actually got a stitch in my side from laughing so hard, and my boyfriend seemed to be having trouble breathing at times.
Now, I went into the movie blind, but you don’t have to. (Stop reading now if you want the comic/movie to be a total blank slate for you.) Here’s a belated Wikipedia blurb on what Scott Pilgrim and his ilk are on about in the comic and movie:
The series is about 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker, hero, and part-time bassist who is living in Toronto and plays bass guitar in the band “Sex Bob-Omb.” He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers, but must defeat her seven “evil [exes]” in order to date her. (Read the rest of the article for more on the story.)
But if you think this is just a romance story, you’d better re-examine that theory. Scott Pilgrim is all about adventure, a “real-life” video game where ninja attacks are to be expected, Bollywood song-and-dance fights are considered a viable way to settle your differences, no one bats an eye at a vegan going Super-Saiyan and punching holes in the moon, people explode into coins when they’re defeated (but it’s not “real” money, being Canadian and all–I kid, I KID!), and sometimes, you find out the worst enemy you have to face to win the princess is Dark Link yourself.
If parody and metahumour and a little touch of love are your bag, baby, then you want to see this movie. If you’re not a fan of geek humour…then I don’t know what the hell you’re doing on this website. Go watch your American football games and try to convince me that it’s not gay when the guys slap their teammates’ asses. You’re only fooling yourself. Actually, because I’m all about love and peace and sharing and all that crap, I’m also going to recommend Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to you, ’cause expanding your horizons “ain’t never hurt nobody”. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the film! Here, have a little trailer to prove it:
And now, if you’ll pardon me for this week, I’ve got to go add six new comic books to my Amazon.cacom wishlist….
This time, my art-thirsty friends, we’re looking at a webcomic featuring video game jokes.
“But there are so many video game webcomics out there!” some may cry. “Why would I be interested in checking out this one?”
Because it’s damn funny, that’s why! You silly kids and yer questions….
Katie Tiedrich’s site, AwkwardZombie.com, features a weekly webcomic that mostly focuses on Nintendo games, along with some World of Warcraft, Phoenix Wright, Borderlands, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, among others. You’ll also get healthy doses of Tiedrich’s slice-of-(fantasy)-life pie.
Pie? Dang, I must be hungry.
AwkwardZombie.com does a fine job of pointing out those little fallacies and game-holes we all like to lovingly poke fun at, augmented by its caricature art style. (Usin’ big thinky-words done maked me look SMART, y’awll!) The most recent comic–as of this posting, at least–is having a laugh at The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. It especially sang to me since I’m playing through the game right now and have similar occasional frustrations. Click each picture here for fullsize goodness, as Spwug’s cramped formatting makes for some squashy-lookin’ pics.
This comic speaks truth! WHY can’t you control Zelda normally when playing her? WHY do you have to draw a shaky pre-set path for her to follow? WHY does the path always need to be altered to avoid new dangers as soon as she starts walking it? WHY IS A CHILD LIKE LINK ALLOWED TO DRIVE TRAINS ALONE ALL OVER NEW HYRULE??
I complain because I love. I do mean that. Spirit Tracks has been my crack for months now. It’s just got a few things that could be improved upon, like every other game in existence. Moving along…!
A big chunk of the comic’s earlier content came from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Lots of people picked to live in a house! Insert further “Real World” spoofing here! But yes, comedy and mayhem do ensue when your roommates consist of Roy, Marth, and Link….
…As well as Mewtwo, and cameos by the rest of the gang, including Snake, Otacon, and Pikachu. Poor Otacon. No one ever really cares, huh? Well, except Naomi, and we all know how that went, don’t we?
What you’ve already seen is what you get with these comics, and that’s just dandy by me. There’s no ongoing story to try to catch up on, no deeper meaning to discern (unless it’s “do something dumb in your video game, and it will get mocked on the Internet”). It’s just fun, cracky comics, starring the big and small guns of video gaming! Simple and entertaining. After a hard day in the real world, who doesn’t want to come home to see that on their computer monitors? What are ya, emo or somethin’?
Warning to the anti-emo: the journals below the comics are sadly sometimes prone to the self-deprecating “Waah, waah, I can’t draw, I suck, yet I keep making comics that I want you to keep reading even though THEY SUCK” comments that irritate me so much. But I’m happy to add that those are mostly found in earlier comics. The journals have largely become less negative and more neutral or positive in more recent times. Of course, there are rare moments where self-deprecation actually = comic humour!
I’ll leave you with a The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess comic that made me grin. I love Tiedrich’s snarky Midna in her Twilight Princess comics! Then we’ll chase that with a few more, mostly Zelda-related, comics. The artist really seems to love her Zelda jokes, and it shows!
Another “PREACH it, sistah!” moment from Twilight Princess (and also Ocarina of Time). I remember shooting an arrow at a Big Poe in Ocarina of Time just as the sun came up, only to see my missile rip right through the spot where the Poe had been floating one second earlier. ARRRGH!!
And one final comic from Ocarina of Time. Yes, Navi, I’m pretty sure that counts as “cruel and unusual punishment” under Hyrulean law.
That’s all for now. Till next time, hop on over to AwkwardZombie.com and catch up on its offerings!
With only one page left to post, two weeks from this past Monday, it’s time for you to leap on reading Dreamless (reviewed here) if you haven’t already! No one really knows how it’ll end–well, except the creators–but we all want to find out. I’ll be on hand to post my afterthoughts once it’s finally completed. With less than one hundred pages in its archives, this makes for a fairly quick read, and artist Sarah Ellerton’s visual candy is worth the clicks on its own.
Enjoy!
It pays to follow what your favourite webcomics creators are doing outside of their webcomics. You learn interesting facts, like in this recent announcement on LiveJournal from Kaja Foglio, of Studio Foglio, where the comics Girl Genius, MYTH Adventures, What’s New, and Buck Godot are hosted.
To sum up, the Foglios will be creating a comic and other odds and bodkins to go with PlayStation Home’s upcoming steampunk area. Often regarded as bloatware where users go to harass other users (or get harassed by other users), this may be the one thing for many PS3 owners that makes them actually want to blow the dust off their Home accounts and log in. At least, I know that’s how it’s working for me.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on this development. You know, so you don’t have to. (Because who really follows Home news, anyways?)
Now, back to harassing other Home users–I mean, enjoying an enriched and healthy and social PlayStation Home experience.
According to Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries, the definition of “art” is “a: the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also: works so produced b (1): fine arts (2): one of the fine arts (3): a graphic art”. Sounds pretty abstract a concept, right? Left up to the individual? So, then, what you consider art is your opinion, and your opinion only. There are absolutely no facts about what art is.
I touched on the unique and beautiful art style of the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in last week’s E3 article. Since then, new information has come out regarding the visuals, like in this article from Kotaku: “Skyward’s unique visual style, which looks like a halfway meeting between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, was inspired by Miyamoto’s love of impressionism [art], and the skies in the game are a tribute to [French Post-Impressionist artist] Cézanne.” Wow! When I saw the screenshots linked in my previous article, I remarked that the game looked like a painting. I didn’t know at the time that this was because the graphics were inspired by paintings. Now, whenever someone whines about the art style, you can them an “uncultured pleb”!
This reminded me of Roger Ebert’s latest assertion in April that video games “can never be art”, despite his having no qualifications to speak on this topic since he doesn’t actually play video games. (I want to point out this link to Ebert’s blog freezes my browser every time I load it, so click at your own risk. It won’t factor into my article since it’s not relevant to art, but it’s not exactly getting on my good side here, either, Ebert.) In this article, he backtracked a little and said MAYBE games can be art, but never in our lifetime, and they’ll never, ever be “high (read: real) art”.
Other sites have already addressed Ebert’s crap-stirring topic over and over again, and make for entertaining reads, so I don’t need to go into that here. I’m quite fond of Cracked.com’s take on the whole debate, for the record. Oh, and don’t miss a response article from Ebert all the way back in 2007, in which he repeatedly and openly insults novelist Clive Barker for daring to disagree. The comments on these other articles also do a good job of raising up valid instances of video games as art. I know I’ve never cried at a funeral no matter how much I loved the deceased, but I definitely shed tears at the endings of Link’s Awakening, Secret of Mana, and Ocarina of Time, for example. To me, that is art. It does not have to be art to someone else. What art is is left entirely up to each and every individual.
Art begets art. There are professionally-rendered Mario statues and paintings of Princess Zelda. There’s Video Games Live, bringing game music to the orchestra pit…and orchestrated music IN video games is not an unheard-of occurrence. And now, we have The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which has an orchestrated soundtrack and is created to look like an Impressionist painting. Are statues, paintings, and orchestral performances no longer art if their source material is a video game, Ebert? Or are video games themselves art because of the creativity and imagination that goes into them per the dictionary definition, as well as elements normally associated with art, such as orchestrated music and art movement visuals?
When you come down to is that what art is, is left entirely up to personal opinion. I will never consider a good 95% of modern abstract creations to be art. You took a paintbrush, dipped it in black paint, flicked it on a canvas, and named it “Despair”? I could do that in thirty seconds! Your work doesn’t belong in a museum that paid millions of dollars for it; it belongs at the thrift store. Or in the garbage. But the difference between Ebert and I is that he presents his opinion of video games as fact, while I make it very clear right now that my perception of abstract modern art is only one writer’s opinion. And, also unlike Ebert, I won’t tell you that you’re wrong to think otherwise, as he did game designer Kellee Santiago in his blog. (Though I might look at you funny if I find a print of “Despair” hanging in your house. Partly because I made it up. I’ve seen a painting in the Museum of Modern Art in Washington, DC that was virtually identical to my example, but I don’t remember the name.)
Oh, and let’s end on a high (high art?) note. This thread gives me hope for humanity: intrigued by the new Zelda title’s graphics, at least one gamer has taken a (renewed) interest in Cézanne’s work. I doubt this will be the last person to seek out classic art in the face of new art!
And that’s my opinion.
Next week, you’ll probably have to fend for yourselves, as I’ll be buried neck-deep in things outside the Internet. Enjoy a week off from me!
