Stuff Only Alex Cares About

Thing the first.

I'm pretty sure I remember someone in the DVD documentaries for the special edition of Fellowship of the Ring saying that Tolkien invented the word "wraith". Imagine my surprise, then, when I read a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald using the word. Fortunately, someone is handling this for me.

Thing the Second.

Nice try, Mountain dew with this commercial.




Doesn't hold a candle to this:



Thing the third.

After reading this post, I really am disappointed that my brother didn't propose to his fiancee on Warcraft, though I am wondering if there will be a ceremony in-game. For the record, I am a priest.


Thing the last.

The Rock Band forums have a post dedicated to the analyzation [sic] of the Beatles cinematic. A few good catches in there.

The Beatles: Rock Band Cinematic -- Annotated

If you haven't seen the opening cinematic of the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band, you really ought to. Here's my attempt at annotation. This is mostly from memory, so please feel free to contribute.

update -- contributions have been labeled with initials.
latest update 6-7-09

We start off in Liverpool, with the Fab Four playing at The Cavern Club, the bar in which more or less had their beginnings. As we pan down, we get a lingering glimpse of posters featuring the names of several songs and lyrics.


Hard Days Night (title)
Come Together (title)
Benefit of Mr. Kite (title)
Rocky Raccoon (title)
Maggie mae (title)
The Revolution (title -- Revolution #1 and #9)
Carry That Weight (title)
Mr. Moonlight (title)
(MG)

St. Peter's Parish Church is where Paul met John. (TRB)

Dizzy Miss Lizzy (title)
Twenty Flight Rock (Eddie Cochran song Paul later covered)
The Blackbirds (title)
Blue Jay Way (title)
Maggie Mae and the Word (titles)
The Diamond Buyers (if it makes you feel all right) (lyric, Can't Buy Me Love)
Jeremy and the ? (character from Yellow Submarine)
(TRB)

Rock & Roll Music (title)
(JK)

The Meanie Blues (reference to the Blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine movie)
My favorite reference here is "The Semoline Pilchards" (lyric, I Am the Walrus).

Out on to the street in avoidance of throngs of screaming teens (which, if I remember correctly, was the plot of Hard Day's Night). And, wouldn't you know it, there's an Old Brown Shoe (title) in the alley.


The dash includes this shot:



Based on this photo:


Next up, a road featuring Maxwell's Silver Sundries (song title, Maxwell's Silver Hammer) and a fireman, who I assume likes to keep his fire engine clean (lyric, Penny Lane). Maxwell Edison was majoring in medicine (lyric), and perhaps thus the Surgery sign. Also look for the lizard outside the window (lyric, "lizard on a window pane", Happiness is a Warm Gun)

I believe there's a stack of pennies on the lane (or sidewalk) underneath the fireman. I'm willing to bet the WANTED poster is Bungalow Bill (notice the pith helmet). (TRB)


And poking his head out of the hole in the ground in which he sleeps is Mean Mr. Mustard (title, lyric). (TRB)


Duck into a restaurant, whose menu is surely all references. "Fish and Finger Pies" is from Penny Lane, and Hippy Hippy Shake is a title -- tough to read much else, but there's clearly more. The restaurant lists mostly items from "Savoy Truffle," but also includes "Honey Pie." (TRB) "One and One is Two" is a title, as is "Mean Mister Mustard" (above the door). The Grapes was one of the Beatles hangouts.


An Abbey Road (album cover). Where's Paul cigarette? On the left in the back, the horse with the H blanket is Henry the Horse from "Mr. Kite" (TRB) I think the mailbox on Abbey Road is actually a newspaper vending machine for the paper "What Goes On" (title) (TRB)


And who's that in the background as they get in the car? It could only be Lovely Rita, meter maid. (title) Without the bag across her shoulder she doesn't look very much like a military man, but she can give us a wink anytime.


And a gift basket from Strawberry Fields Farm (title) in the car. How nice!

It even includes a green apple, which is the logo for Apple Records. (MG)


Next up, the arrival in the States. Also, a yellow submarine (title, movie) can be seen in the river. (MG)

I'm fairly certain the sound of the plane as it lands is from Back in the USSR.


Note the accurate clothing.

On to the Ed Sullivan show.

and some other venue. (Anyone?) The typewriter's got to be a Paperback Writer reference, right?
Next up, Shea Stadium.


Shea Stadium signs...
P.S. I Love You (title)
Paul, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (title)
(JK)

And then things get... a little weird. Sgt. Pepper uniforms appear on our favorite moptops.



Note the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (title) on the left. Can we safely say those are eggmen on the right? (lyric, I Am the Walrus)


Here's a fellow whose stomach says Goodbye and Hello (title). Is the "stupid bloody Tuesday man"? (lyric, I Am the Walrus)



The piano on the left of this shot is from the promo video from Strawberry Fields Forever. "I think the audio equipment in the English Garden is from the outdoor recording sequence in Help! as well as the silver teapot (Buckingham Palace scene?)." (TRB) Needs verification


Is this a newspaper taxi? (lyric, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)


There's a very brief glimpse of the top of the giant drums, which shows they are the drum from the Sgt. Pepper album cover, (JK)


The costumes from I Am the Walrus.



A quick shot of a Blue Meanie (from the Yellow Submarine movie). Are these elementary penguins? (lyric, I Am the Walrus -- TRB)



And this last shot of them... so familiar but I'm not sure from what. Anyone?


Perhaps the pose at least comes from this. The order of the boys and color of their pants are correct. (TRB)


The Beatles are riding the elephant god Ganesha: Lord of Success at the end. (TRB)


Fairly certain the last note heard is the second to last note from "Day in the Life".

Also of note: The game drops on September 9, 2009. Is that a shout out to Revolution 9? ("Number 9... number 9... number 9...") (MG)

Thanks to Todd, Garv, and Johnny K for excellent contributions.

An Open Letter to Nintendo

Dear Nintendo -

It's me, Alex. Congratulations on the release of the Nintendo DSi. I have been enjoying the product thoroughly, and am excited about the future of DSiWare, the downloadable applications.

If I may, please allow me to suggest an application -- DSNotes. A simple DSiWare app which allows the user to write text documents and save them to the SD card. These could then be transferred to the user's main computer for use in other applications.

I carry the DSi with me most places, and I also carry a pocket-sized notebook. DSNotes would allow me to ditch the paper and move another need to the DSi.

Yours, as always,
Alex

The New Hotness

I'm posting this from the Opera browser in the Nintendo DSi. My experience with the device so far has been a positive one.

And yet, still no internal document storage. Alls I'm looking for is to be able to jot a note down and to email it later. Come on Nintendo -- hear my plea.

California Pipe Dreaming

Would I move to Irvine, CA for the perfect job?

Thing A) Blizzard -- the company that brought you Warcraft etc. -- is holding a fan fiction contest. Well, they're calling it a 'creative writing contest', which it is, but it's a fan fiction contest.

Thing B) Blizzard also posted a writer job for an upcoming game.

It doesn't seem like much of a reach to think that the contest is a recruitment tool, especially considering that the entry form asks for your published writing experience and if you would like to become a professional writer. Oh, and the prize is a trip out to Irvine to meet the Blizzard writers. In the HR biz, that's what we call an "interview".

Now, does this or does it not sound like THE job for your old buddy Alex? Everything I have ever had published has had to do with video games, including two VG writing-related contests.

But would I move to Irvine? Sell the house, say goodbye to casual porch nights and nearby family? Have to take a plane every time I wanted to see someone?

And what the hell would I do with the other grand prize: Frostmourne?

At long last

Long-time B A Starters will remember the Great Debate over whether or not videogames are art. After much discussion and refining of definitions, my statement was "not yet". Maybe they can be, but no one's come up with anything so far that makes me say "yes".

I'm pissed at myself for not knowing anything about Jason Rohrer until Alanna lent me December's Esquire. I read the article and played Passage, and now can quite firmly state that there's at least one person out there making art in this format. (The person who made The Majesty of Colors counts too -- a post for a later date)

Before you go any further, I recommend giving Passage a play. I read the summary in the Esquire article before I played it and wish I hadn't. Still, despite knowing the point before going into it, I still had an emotional reaction to the game.

Passage provides you with choices. Do I hunt for treasure chests, or do I explore the world? Should I marry? If I do, it becomes harder to get the treasure but more rewarding to explore. But no matter what you choose, you will subtly age and die. Unceremoniously, suddenly, irrevocably.

For the first time in a lifetime of videogaming, I found myself reflecting. I have had a lot of reason to consider my choices recently -- career, personal, spiritual -- and this 5-minute game resonated with my meditations. It's an interactive Beethoven's fifth; go ahead and make your silly little choices -- fate will win and they will have done nothing to change that. All you can influence is your own experience, and try to do as much with your 5 as possible.

I'll be keeping an eye on what this gent produces. If you find anyone else out there working to communicate emotion through the interactivity of videogames, do please throw a comment my way.

Razor's Image

I had hoped that Mirror's Edge would be good. Not that I have a next-gen system yet, but still. YT parkouring around? Awesome. Visual style looks awesome, too. All around awesomeness.

So, imagine my dismay when it turns out to be kind of meh. I played about three seconds of the 360 demo, and that was all it took.

Good news, though -- there's a 2d flash version. I mean, it plays like a cross between Line Rider and 8-bit Ninja Gaiden, but it's still fun. Here's hoping they do more with it.