Staring At Capra Aegagrus Hircus

So this is the film based loosely, but not too loosely, on the book by Jon Ronson about the psychic arm of the American military. They are the men of the title, and they just so happen to stare at goats (Yes that’s Capra aegagrus hircus) and try to kill them.

The book is about the use of “New Age” techniques by the US military and how they could apply the paranormal for military purposes. It’s a very good book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The film takes the content of the book, the fun anecdotes and such, and puts them in to what is essentially a buddy/road movie with George Clooney, Ewan McGreggor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

Whilst the film and the book both start in the same place, an army general attempting to pass through a wall, they split there as the film changes the book’s author Jon Ronson for Ewan McGreggor’s Bob Wilton. Wilton is a newspaper reporter who is in Kuwait, trying to cross the border into Iraq. Whilst at the hotel he meets George Clooney’s Lyn Cassady and they go on a mission into Iraq. Laughs ensue as they get into and out of trouble, and the story of the Psychic Spies (Or Jedi as they are often referred to) is old in a series of flashbacks.

The Hollywood side of the plot is fairly predictable, and in parts quite boring, but the flashbacks to the First Earth Battalion and their crazy paranormal activities are just as fun and entertaining as they are in the book, even if the use of the Predator has been somewhat revealed in the trailers.

As you can probably tell I am slightly undecided on where to stand with this film. I enjoyed the book, and as such the “real” elements of the story are what I find interesting and the tacked on Hollywood storyline feels less than satisfying. The satire and dark humour give this film something, but that can feel dragged down by the predictable and boring nature of the story. Although I will admit that I took some enjoyment from Ewan McGreggor being taught how to be a Jedi. The man may not be too happy about being known for that role in that sci-fi series, but he is, and he can’t escape it.

This is a film, and films need to make money, so the hollywood-isation is understandable, and in some ways acceptable, so doesn’t fully detract from the fun that can be had watching men try to kill goats just by staring at them. It made me laugh and I did keep watching to the conclusion, even if I could see it coming like a brightly painted rhino.

fans of the book won’t be too disappointed, and there is a film in there to be enjoyed without looking too hard. So yes, by all means go and see it, and remember, some of it is more true than you may think, or want to think. Including the bit about Barney.

MTFBWY

Before You Go

The nice people over at MoretotheGame, who I seem to be plugging far too much, are thinking of bringing a new feature to their avid readers, and because they asked nicely, for once, I am going to join in. But because I’m evil, I’m going to jump the gun and post the article here, before they do, so you all get a sneak preview, and I get… well… not much really. The topic: What game should people play before they die. My contribution: Theme Hospital.

Theme Hospital

There are people who don’t like old games. They would see system requirements like 75MHz processor, 16MB of RAM and Direct X 5, and immediately return the game to the shelf to find the latest GTA, Call of Duty or Halo. Those people are fools and deserve to miss out on the greatness that these games have to offer. Others will pick it up and read the blurb which asks “Can you balance the books and the bedpans?” and decide that any sort of financial balancing act is beyond them. “Design maintain and manage a hi-tech hospital facility?” they would scoff, “Making the most of limited resources and turning cures into cash? Who do you think I am?” They chuckle to their equally idiotic friend. “You’ll be struck by the fun, if you don’t get struck off.” They will guffaw, put the game back in the wrong place and then go off to beat a prostitute over the head and claim that this is the best thing ever. They are fools and should be shot. Twice.

Now, whilst I don’t have a specific problem with GTA (even if the franchise is horribly dead), or CoD, which can offer some fun, even Halo, in all its horrendously overrated glory, can provide moments of fun, they do not bear comparison to the joy offered by a Bullfrog title like Theme Hospital.

Let me take you back to your childhood. When you were young and asked “What is it you want to be when you grow up?” you probably said “Batman” or “Wonder woman”, maybe “Princess” for some of the boys at the back, you might have said you wanted to be a fireman, or a vet. deep down, however, we all know what you meant. Really you wanted to be a hospital administrator. You always wanted the pleasure of choosing who to hire, you wanted to manage details like making sure patients had enough seating, you wanted to ensure you had fire extinguishers ready, enough heating to keep people warm. Make sure there were toilets and a staff room. All the little details. You wanted the chance to entertain visiting VIPs, impress the hospital board and get a promotion.

I can hear you all laughing. You think I’m crazy. There is no way that something like this could be fun. What is this silly man talking about? This isn’t a game I should be playing before I die. Well, the intro video will probably go some way to showing you that this game isn’t all about hard work.

(Video from Youtuber NHJBV)

If you think you are in for just simple diseases, think again. This is a 1997 Bullfrog game, it has humour. Diseases include Bloaty head (which needs popping), Invisibility, Slack Tongue (Which needs chopping off) and baldness (Yes there is a cure!). Your wonderful receptionist will ask people not to die in the corridor, keep their germs to themselves and, of course, telling the morgue patients to be quiet. Even hiring staff members can be fun when you read some of the personality descriptions provided.

There is depth to this game, varying missions, all with different requirements, chances to shoot rats between some levels, and trying to get one up on the other, computer controlled, hospitals, all with familiar names. There is a multi-player option, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. This was a DOS game, and as such the protocols available in the multi-player patch (Serial Cable, Modem, and IPX/SPX) aren’t really available on modern PCs. There are some work-a-rounds, but none for the more recent OSs, at least that I’ve found. That’s no great loss, and the other patch, the one that makes people pregnant, is still alive and kicking.

So why do I want you all to run a hospital before you die? This game is funny. I don’t just mean that you will snicker a bit at people as you watch them use the toilet, I mean there is a layer of humour here that Bullfrog did well in the games of this era. The game play is great, the challenge really does grow as you progress, and the graphics, while not super-realistic, aren’t too shabby for a game that is now 12 years old.

There are no invading armies (except some rats), there are no guns (except for use on aforementioned rats), there are no prostitutes (at least as far as I know), no zombies (although people can die) and there isn’t and Hot coffee (although people can get pregnant), but this is game in many ways superior to GTA IV, CoD 4, Halo 3, and many other modern games.

This is Theme Hospital. On the PC not the PlayStation. This needs to be played before you die.

MTFBWY

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The original content of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Any trademarks or copyrights relating to Theme Hospital, Bullfrog or EA are the property of the respective trademark and copyright holders. They are used under fair use and no infringing claims are intended.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available upon request, via email, to the author.

Copy Rights and Wrongs

The British government’s Intellectual Property Office has recently made its commitment to “reshaping” the current copyright system clear, but in this reshaping has “simplification” just gone too far?

The goals of the government have been made fairly clear, they are that the copyright system should be simplified by asking rights holders to broaden their terms of use, allow non-commercial use by individuals legal without seeking rights holder’s permission, make the enforcement strategy less “muscular”, educate of the consequences for infringement and allow an organisation to licence all works in a category (music, photography, film etc.) whether or not the work is from a person signed up with that organisation or not.

Now, I can agree with the first point. simpler licensing is one reason I release both this blog, and the vast majority of my photographs under the Creative Commons licence (Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike for this blog, Attribution on my Flickr). The re-use of these articles, and my photos, are fairly broad, and I also allow people to contact me if they want to use something outside of that scope. Simple and broad terms, however don’t always solve problems, as I will come to in a moment.

The last point, however, I disagree with completely. We currently have legislation in the UK that means you cannot transfer rights equal to that of the author to anyone else. What the government is proposing, however, is that a “collecting society or other organisation with significant representation” can licence all work of a specific body, even if the original author is not part of that society or organisation. In other words, someone else, who I don’t know, and don’t necessarily agree with, can choose a licence for my content. Simpler than the current system, yes, protecting an author’s work, I would question.

Let me now come back to the first point, and the second on the list, which is allowing personal use without the original author’s permission. You can say that because I publish content on the net, I am just asking for it to be stolen. We live in a world where people have copy and paste, and they don’t understand that what they are doing is wrong. This may be true, and the government intention to “educate” may well go some way to help this, but let me use my work as an example.

This blog has, on the left hand bar, a description of my Creative Commons Licence. This is displayed on every page, next to every post, you cannot miss it. It explains very clearly that the content is released by me, for use under certain terms. It’s not hard to see, it explains that if you want to use this outside the scope I can be emailed, and even gives my address. I recently sent an email to a site hosting content, posted by someone else, that came from my blog. Now, I have no issue with my work being spread, it would be ice to get an email saying it’s being used and where so that I know who is seeing what and where, but this posting breached my licence in several ways. It listed a certain forum (who I had already emailed regarding the article’s use) as the author, and it was not released under a similar licence. I emailed the site hosting this content and asked for clarification of these issues. They chose to remove the article and we all went on with our business.

Now this may seem like a grumpy guy demanding his content isn’t used badly. Whilst this may be slightly true, I didn’t request the article be removed, I asked that the credit be corrected and a Creative Commons Licence notice be made. I also had a problem with the fact that I discovered this through a Google search, and not an email from the person who posted the content.

My photos also suffer from some problems. The government commented on how sometimes images can be difficult to identify. My Flickr account gives my name, allows people to contact me via a Flickr message, a photo comment or email, and clearly states the image licence. Whilst I occasionally receive emails or messages asking to use my photos on X site or Y site, the way I usually find my content is via a “Google alert” I have set up. Usually I have no problem with the use, besides the occasional credit to “Nick Stone”. I usually do my best to contact the site owner, or whoever is using the content, to have the name corrected, although this is sometimes not possible.

The government would like to remove the need to seek permission to seek permission for “personal non-commercial use”. As most people seem to ignore this clause anyway, why bother. I licence my content so that people can use my content how they like, if someone objects to this, why should that need to change?

I like to know what my content means to people. I like to know how my content is being shown, and most of all I like to know that people like what I do. I can’t do that if the only thing I see of my work is an email from google saying that a guy called “Nick Stone” is being credited somewhere, like a Discovery Channel blog, because I know that not even Google will show me everyone using my content.

A further change regarding the use of “orphaned” works, with no identifiable author is being considered to allow, for commercial use without credit, and work that the publisher “could not find” the author for, because somewhere like Facebook has stripped the Meta Data. I would just like to say “no” and save that rant for another day.

So yes, “simplify” the copyright law, educate people, but don’t do it if this means a bad deal for people who work hard to generate content. Oh, and people like me who don’t work so hard. Remember guys, if you want to re-use this post, send me an email, it makes me feel loved.

MTFBWY

Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike

Fantastically Foxy

My Sunday trips to the cinema are always quite fun, I do like to keep up with some of the more entertaining films out there, and share them with you all, of course. This week I was torn between the new CGI 9 and the new Wes Anderson, stop-motion, film adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I sought advice from the nice people at MoretotheGame, where my film reviews are cross-posted on Saturdays, as to which I should see. They said Fox, so Fox it was. I’ll either catch 9 on my day off this Tuesday, or next Sunday. Probably Sunday. Enough rambling on though, let’s talk Fox.

Wes Anderson has often given us cartoonish characters in his films, take The Royal Tenenbaums for instance, so for him to bring us a stop-motion children’s film is hardly surprising. Although whether this is a children’s film at all I would question. Certainly there are many elements for children to enjoy, it is based on a Roald Dahl story after all, but to class this as a children’s film would seem a bit strange. Jokes about existentialism, Jarvis Cocker songs and a lot, and I mean a lot, of talking, none of which seem to make for a kid’s film, much more an animated Wes Anderson film.

Now, for those following me on Twitter reading my 140 character reviews as well as these, it may seem that I do these reviews, purely to confuse people, but I don’t. I simply prove that it’s hard to say everything in such a limited space. I said, in my 140 characters, “Fantastic Mr. Fox: Roald Dahl’s classic tale with more than a hint of America added. A good film, well voiced, and beautifully animated.” And that is true. It is a good film, and it is well voiced by talent like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon and the stop-motion, especially amongst all this CGI animation, is great. There is, however, not room in 140 characters to add “This is, however, a Wes Anderson film, not just a kid’s film.” And I wish there was.

Let me compare this film with the modern stop-motion masters that are Nick Park and Aardman. One thing this film does is prove that it isn’t just Aardman’s choice of animation style that makes the likes of Wallace and Gromit great. Aardman make films that work whether you are 7 or 70, and some added years either side as well, and the whole gap in the middle. This is because they know how to make the visual comedy work, and give wordy jokes are never too wordy. Fantastic Mr. Fox, however, has concentrated on aiming the look of the animation for kids, and hoped they won’t be paying attention when the fox says things like “comme ci, comme ca”.

It’s a good film. It does drift away from the original, adding just a little bit too much of the states to Buckinghamshire, even if 2000 individually labelled tins is impressive, the context isn’t quite right, it is more of an animated Wes Anderson film that an animated kid’s film from Wes Anderson, but the sound track is there, the voice talent is great and the visual style is spot on. So whilst any 7 year-olds thinking about going to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, who almost certainly aren’t reading this, may well be disappointed, any people who know what existentialism is, who would understand a Jarvis Cocker cameo and like Wes Anderson films, would probably leave happy.

And finally, I have a suggestion for how Wes, who also probably isn’t reading this, could have improved this. Take a page out of the book of someone who can do dark as well as kid friendly, like the Grimm fairy tales. Someone like Roald Dahl.

MTFBWY

An Expansive Expanded Universe

I’ve promised a post on my view of the Star Wars Expanded Universe before, and so I am now here to deliver. I touched on what I thought in my post about Death Troopers, but here goes the real, full on, entirely too long and almost thoroughly pointless rant that you have all come to expect from when I make a blog post.

For those not that well versed in what the Expanded Universe, either those new to Star Wars fandom, fans not entirely up on the lingo, or people who compulsively read every blog post I make, aren’t Star Wars fans and seem slightly confused, allow me to explain. The Star Wars universe is split into two (maybe three or four) camps. We have the OU, the Official Universe. Anything with the official George Lucas Seal of Approval, so that’s the six films, The Star Wars Clone Wars animated TV series, the upcoming Live Action TV show, the Official Film Novelisations, the audio dramas, and all that jazz. The Expanded Universe is, in effect, all the comics, books, and other officially licensed, but non-George Lucas’d, Star Wars things. You can then also add into that the “Infinites” things which fit into an “Alternate Universe”, AU, and then there’s the “Fan Universe”, no I will not abbreviate that, which is non-licensed, fan-made stuff that people just felt like making so they could play in the Star Wars Universe.

Now that’s sorted, let me explain the ongoing problem. The Star Wars Universe is huge. There are almost uncountable books, the films, the TV shows, the audio dramas, the comics, and all the other stuff, all telling stories in the Star Wars Universe. All of this stuff in the EU can sometimes cause problems. I mentioned a rift that occurred, in a previous post, when there was an alleged “change in cannon” and a certain writer pulled out of writing Star Wars books, because Lucas Film printed a guide that changed certain things the writer had written. This sent ripples throughout the fan community and caused a rift. Those who felt betrayed because they had invested time in these books and Lucas Film had just gone and changed it meaning they had “wasted their time”, and others who felt that if Lucas wanted his universe to have a certain fact, then that was his right as the maker.

George himself has admitted that he doesn’t have time to keep up with all the books, comics etc. and as far as he is concerned, all that he knows is what is in the films and TV shows, and that is all that is true to him. He has his plan, it’s all been written out for many, many years, and that is what is true. Yes we have the encyclopedias, visual guides, the online databank and Wookieepedia, but Lucas is a busy man, he can’t keep up with it all, and I doubt there are many fans who can.

These books come so thick and fast it’s difficult to know what’s happening. I try to keep up, I know enough to get by, but I can;t even pretend to know it all. The thing is, I know where I can go to get an answer, there are many places, but is being able to find an answer, that relates to a single line, from a comic, really an answer?

Did Boba Fett die in the Sarlacc Pit? Did Darth Maul come back as half robot? Did Han and Leia get married? Did they have kids? When, where and how did Chewbacca die? All of these questions have answers in the EU, I can even give you them off the top of my head. They weren’t, however, spelled out by Lucas. So do they count? More importantly, do they matter?

I recently read Death Troopers. I loved it. It is, quite simply, the most fun I’ve had reading an EU book for a long time. I loved it so much I’m currently listening to the audio book. The thing with this book is that whilst there are links to the movie trilogy, you don’t need to be a Star Wars fan to love the book. You don’t need knowledge of the Expanded Universe to enjoy it. It is a fully stand-alone book, and most importantly, it isn’t boring. The EU, of late, has become so bogged down in providing unnecessary detail in the books, stretching what could be a quick back and forth between two people, driving the story forward, into in-depth psycho analysis of the characters, dragging the book out, and boring people.

I know some people love that, and don’t let me tell you not to, I know you won’t, but for me, it is pointless, bloats the story, pretty much symbolises the EU in general. It was easy in the early days. A few books to go with the films. Padding out a bit of detail, but now there is so much, coming so fast, that if anything it makes the Star Wars universe too big.

So much of the EU now intertwines that you can pick up a book and find you need to read another book, but to get that you need another one, and so on and so on, and this can put a lot of people off. It’s put me off to a certain extent as well. More standalone books like Death Troopers would be nice. More fast-paced, less intricate-detail-oriented books, like Death Troopers, would be nice.

Books that really make me get involved with the characters, make me want to go back and watch the films, make me want to keep turning the page ’til I’ve finished, that’s what I want from the EU, and that is what Death Troopers has delivered.

The thing is, none of this is important. I can say all of this, tell you that I don’t care what the books say, until GL says it, it’s not true, but if you enjoyed the book, does it really matter? That there is what I think of the EU. It may or may not be true. It may just be true from a certain point of view, but if it’s a good book, then who cares. If it’s a boring book I don’t care if it’s all canon and I learn what Yoda’s species is, if it’s boring, it’s a bad book.

And that is my rant on the Star Wars EU. Which was a bit of a cop-out really. Real waste of time. Why are you still reading? Go find something better to do. Read a book or something.

MTFBWY

Other People

Other People. You know who I mean. The ones who aren’t you. They fill your lives, they’re all around you, and wherever they go they come along. These other people are really annoying and they ruin everything. I had never quite realised how much I hate these people until I was sat in the cinema about to watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (review here).

Now, I don’t usually have a problem with cinema audiences. Occasionally you get that group of teenagers who talk, or the odd phone ring, but today was something else. imagine the scene. I open the screen door, walk in and hear “Hey, Tom,  is that alcohol”, then Tom responds “Yes it is.” Now, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, alcohol is sold in French cinemas (bonus points for knowing which film tells us that) and that doesn’t ruin the experience. And there was only one can of cider here, so that wasn’t terrible. Despite being teenagers this group were quiet, so not too bad. There was a limited choice of seating already, so I selected my seat, and sat.

This may not have been a wise choice of place to sit, however, as I was treated to a wonderful, loud, conversation from the boy and girl behind about what the girl had done that… excited… some other boy. Whilst the film had not yet started, and talking was still acceptable, I am not particularly interested the activities of teenagers that lead to sexual arousal of other teenagers, nor am I interested when they launch into in depth discussions of their relationships.

Thankfully my distaste for the ongoing discussion behind me died when the lights dimmed and the trailers rolled. thankfully the conversations ceased and I was ready to enjoy the film. Then a very distinctive smell hit my nose. Someone one row in front of me was eating. They were eating a sandwich from subway. As you all know the smell of subway’s sandwiches can be very distinctive, and they spread everywhere. This happened, and I was surrounded by the smell for the entirety of the trailers.

With the smell fading and my anger relenting the trailers for upcoming movies began. At this point I was blinded by the iPhone owner in front of me as he took his phone from his pocket, screen on full brightness, to answer a phone call. It was only short so I assume it wa “Sorry, can’t talk now, in the cinema annoying everyone around me.” However he then chose to blind us all again as he loaded the bright white text message screen, still on full brightness, and preceded to type a message.

Some people even chose to enter the cinema when the lights were dimmed and the title screens were running and, as they all needed to sit together, caused trouble as people had to move to accommodate their late arriving selves.

The film began, the iPhone was gone, the sandwich smell had died away, and the discussion of male arousal was but a distant memory, and I was happy. During the film some light appeared throughout the cinema, though I must congratulate Mr. iPhone for leaving his alone. There were laughs at personal conversations from some teenagers off in the darkness. Some person behind me chose to drop their phone and give a running commentary on their hunt for it.

So all in all, today’s audience chose to discuss things in public that should be left in private, ate smelly food, used phones during the film, arrived late and demanded seats they wanted, and were generally annoying. Now, I don’t get annoyed that easily, but in this case I made an exception. My next visit to Nottingham’s Cineworld will see me carrying a gun.

Please remember people, a cinema is sacred ground, when you go there, don’t be idiots.

MTFBWY