Posted by ASandoval on October 22, 2009 under Games, Movies, Music | 
Star-studded celebrity power in games is no longer a big surprise. The rise of multimedia within games along with the million+ dollar production values have almost made it a given with many triple A titles. So it was no surprise to me when Jack Black was announced to voice the main character in Brutal Legend, designer Tim Schafer’s magnum opus centered around the ‘world’ of Heavy Metal visual imagery. Schaefer is most heavily known for his witty writing from the silver age of PC graphic adventures to his last generation sleeper hit Psychonauts, and heavy metal based humor is one of (some may say solely) Jack Black’s claim to fame.
That said, I was anticipating Eddie Riggs to be the 3D doppelganger of Jack Black, or if you want to be cynical, “That guy Jack Black knows how to play”. In terms of Brutal Legend, Eddie Riggs would be that lovable idiot whose love of music doesn’t make up for the fact that he’s not that good at what he does, until he’s suddenly thrown into a Hellish nightmare not unlike you’d see on an 80’s Metallica album, and the trailers did nothing but strengthen this impression I had. It’s not that I thought it was a problem; I enjoyed Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny as much as one objectively could, so it just seemed like the perfect fit for the video game world. But one playthrough of the demo later let me know how wrong I was.
See, Eddie Riggs is not the doppelganger of Jack Black, nor the persona of Jack Black he formed with Tenacious D. In fact, he is if anything, the opposite side of the coin.
Don’t get me wrong, there are similarities. Both characters are intensely, feverishly passionate about music, in particular the classic metal of era (It’s worth noting here that Schafer was born in 1967), but how the passion manifests itself is completely different. JB (The name Black uses as the lead guitarist/vocalist of Tenacious D) is obsessed with becoming the rock star he believes he was born to be. He is in ways, a parody of the epic hero, someone who thinks he stands for everything the people want although in reality no one takes him or his music seriously. He’s obsessed with the glamour of the limelight, the attention and fame the music can give him.
By contrast, the opening intro of Brutal Legend introduces Riggs as a professional roadie who follows bands and helps them with their act by providing guitars or making/fixing stages. And he is completely fine with this, as he explains in the opening monologue:
A good roadie knows his whole job is to make someone else look good. Keep someone safe, help someone do what they were put here to do. A good roadie stays out of the spotlight. If he’s good, you won’t even know he’s there.
It’s not that he is incompetent, either. Immediately, we’re shown that the other characters recognize that Eddie is the best there is at pretty much anything in the music world. This isn’t someone who is clouded by delusions of grandeur like JB – Eddie knows he’s good at what he does. In alot of ways, he is to the music world what Solid Snake of Metal Gear fame is to the military – Snake isn’t a soldier for the glamour of being a hero, but believes in ideology of fighting for what one believes in, and therefore sticks to the shadows as an unknown entity. For Eddie, it’s all about the music and the band, even when the music isn’t particularly good.
And the best part is that Jack Black nails the performance. It’s actually a shame that the video game medium isn’t given much thought by film critics, because anyone whose ever say Black can only ‘be’ Jack Black would be hardpressed to find anything that seems remotely slapstick. Riggs is a somber character, passionate about the music but cynical about where it’s going as a medium. Black’s performance is rather quiet, with a subtle tinge of a southern accent to give him an extra push of individual character. I’m sure this is partially from the direction of both the audio production company and Schafer himself – it would certainly explain the more Lenny Kravitz inspired art made when Brutal Legend was nothing more than a premise – but also that Black really embraced who the character was for his performance, seen at many recent award shows and events dressed up as Eddie.
Color me impressed, then; I knew I wanted to play Brutal Legend, but I didn’t see it as a game that would change both how I viewed Tim Schafer as a designer/director and Black as an actor. If anything, it’s a testament to how a perfect melding of minds can make for a unique experience, and this is solely based off of impressions from the demo! Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the full game soon. I’m much more interested in that character and the world than I originally thought I would be.
Posted by ASandoval on August 11, 2009 under Games, Misc., Movies, Music |
Nearly a year ago, a friend of mine was taking part of a group discussion along with myself about a game mechanic idea that she had. I don’t remember the exact details of my reply, just that it left a bitter taste in her mouth. In the end, I was left with accusations of being overly critical and, in her words, of being “Mr. Negativity”.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this; actually I’ve been dealing with accusations of being generally negative and critical for many, many years. It’s no wonder then that I have such an interest in media journalism, as these are the same words being uttered by the internet hive mind about any professional writer who says something they disagree with or just generally don’t want to hear.
Personally speaking, I feel as though I’m fairly laidback in my view of media, because regardless of whether or not they write about it, geek culture is fueled by cynicism. I can hardly ever have a conversation with any of my non-journalist friends and talk about music without talking about why mainstream music is a blemish compared to their musical tastes, but I can generally turn on a radio station and chill out to whatever is playing. I’m also fairly opinionated about movies, but Matrix Reloaded stands as my favorite of that trilogy, I think Ghostbusters 2 is hilarious and while not living up to the ridiculous standard they had to live up to, I’m generally pleased with the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Yes, all three of them.
But even for all of those examples, I have a rhyme and reason for it. I’m not satisfied with merely liking or disliking something, I have to understand why I feel that way about it and why someone may agree or disagree with me. That is the true nature of being critical about something. This leads me to what I’m driving at: since when did being critical become synonymous with being negative?
Certainly you can be negative when being critical. In fact, it seems that when someone is opinionated, it’s the negativity that other people choose to focus on. That’s all fine and good, but does someone having a different opinion than someone else have to be taken so personally? Moreover, should it influence a person’s opinion of the kind of person the critical one is?
And being critical about something you dislike is not always about negativity as well. To use a personal example, a good deal of my friends, including myself, are not fans of the Halo series of video games. For a couple of them, they feel as though the game is an abomination, even going as far as saying the only reason people like such an “average and un-unique” game is because its popular (This is a logical fallacy known as circular logic, but again, geeks = cynics). While I’m not a fan of the game and believe there are better shooters (or to be more precise, shooters that appeal more to my interests), Halo has many positive merits and I can understand why someone would enjoy the game, such as perfectly paced level design and compelling A.I. that does not rely on cheating (See Mario Kart’s infamous rubber band A.I.) or smokes and mirrors (See Half-Life).
Right now, the world of media journalism is rough. There has never been any set standard or rule like there is in news journalism (although whether that is followed itself is debatable, but I digress.) which gives readers an incentive to lack credibility in media journalists, to an almost unfair degree. Even worse, with the economy the way it is and trade magazines falling left and right, it gives publishers/studios an edge against publications when it comes to controlling information, meaning people should be more worried about journalists becoming slimy PR reps rather than being opinionated dickheads. Thus is another benefit of someone being critical: at least you know they’re honest with you.
I don’t expect to change any minds with this article; I don’t even have a real readership to influence. But highlighting myths about who I am and the way I think makes me feel better about myself, so at least there’s that.
Or maybe I’m just being negative about others. Who knows?
Posted by ASandoval on September 30, 2008 under Music |
I’ve been known to be wrong on occasion. Generally, I’m pretty good at fessing up to it. So when I first heard that Tarja was kicked out of Nightwish on STAGE by her own band, I thought it was the most epic thing ever, and officially declared Nightwish dead. I mean, I didn’t really like Once at all, and what I saw as the main focal point of the band left right after. At that point, it was like the gimmick had died. That was fine, my tastes were starting to ween off of them anyway.
So of course Dark Passion Play, featuring the new vocal stylings of Annette Olzen, had to go and be bad ass. Oh well, cynicism is outdated anyway.
So Annette’s a damn good singer. She doesn’t have that operatic quality that Tarja did, which makes her vocal stylings closer to Within Temptation or Lacuna Coil, but that’s fine. What makes Nightwish stand apart from the other two is the music styling, which is almost balladic… you know, with guitar thrashing and epic choirs and such.
I said earlier my tastes had been maturing away from Nightwish, and that’s still true. There old stuff has waned on me (Although I still like it) and Once was downright disappointing and generic. Dark Passion Play actually feels like an evolution. Everything I loved about their old style presented in a fresh, new and interesting way.
Really, when you’ve got as many albums under your belt as Nightwish does, this is how you want to be. Even Linkin Park (If you’ll excuse me for even mentioning such a poisonous name for all you mainstream cynics with your heads up your ass for a second) has learned this, and they only have three albums out.
Dream Theater, your ante has been upped. You better try harder next time, or you might be overshadowed.
