Good Evening, Good Evening, Good Evening and welcome back my fickle readership to matgreenfield.com. Having successfully bullshitted my way through algorithms, blundered my way through Programming, breezed through Commercial Software and bamboozled a board game – the time usually devoted to work and/or procrastination is, albeit temporarily, free for the production of more written content for this blog. Lovely. As such, to make up for the lack of posts, and because I’ve been inhibiting my own desire to write for the past few weeks, I am giving you lovely people an inveritable avalanche of topics under one post!
Playstation Move – and Sony’s new TV range, the Bravia Watch, and new eReader, the Sony Reader Read (I could go on for a while)
What the fuck has happened to gaming? The move from sedentry sit and button mash gaming to motion sensitive controllers has been apparent for many years and I had hoped we’d advanced enough along the natural progression of a new technology to the level of the upcoming Project Natal. But apparentely not, Sony has refused to even attempt to compete by bringing out a range of motion-sensitive controllers and dragged everything back a step. Nintendo, having only become a serious console contender a few years ago, has always been perceived as a casual gamers console, not the kit for serious fraggers who opt for either the PS3 or the XBox 360 – where the competition had always been – so Nintendo can afford to not try and dominate the market of motion sensitivity. Microsoft’s announcement of Natal, a system that aims to remove controllers from the equation altogether and have players control the game with their bodies in an intuitive (ie. not EyeToy) way was a groundbreaking step. What was the thought process of Sony execs when they were trying to find a way to compete with Natal and, after much brainstorming and deliberation, decided to do something that Nintendo did three years ago, badly, with a garish dildo complete with vividly coloured testicle.
It just feels like Sony have given up, not only did they produce something totally bland and unorignal AND give it a crappy design, they couldn’t even be bothered to make up a proper name for it – the Sony Move – which sounds like a cross between a barked command and a desperate plea to buy this heap of junk.
But if they really want to call such a phallic device after what they expect people to do with it, why not just call it the Playstation Wank and have done with it – in more ways than one.
Digital Britain – Well, we’re clearly not
Soooooo much to say on this topic that it will have to fill a post of it’s own, stay tuned…
Oranges, Nostalgia, Picturesque and Cynicism
As you’d expect, my coursework has severely depleted my reading, moreso than usual, but I have managed to dish up a few quips. Firstly, I have long-since finished Screen Burn by Charlie Brooker and found it to be a delightfully dejected book, despite it essentially being four years of Brooker’s weekly Guardian columns packaged into one book, starting at 2000 so the TV shows he reviews are a tad outdated and exist as a mere wisp in my memory – the first one mentions the departure of Ricky Butcher in Eastenders who, as I understand it, has since returned, left and returned once again. I have since purchased Brooker’s ‘The Hell of it All’ which is the same format but was released this year and opens in 2007, perhaps something I can be more atuned to.
I have finished reading the T.S. Eliot collection that any readers dedicated (and borderline obsessed) enough will remember me grappling with last year. My understanding of poetry was, as I anticipated, largely due to the assistive nature of my college teachers and I failed to grasp, I fear, a lot of the meaning. However, what I did understand made me have to pause for reflection – convenient then that I was sitting by the Student Village (my halls of residence) pond at sunset where the vista would’ve made Rolf Harris piss himself put me in a rather poetic mood for the rest of the day – I went out that night so it was shortly replaced with alcohol.
I have since started reading, for perhaps the second or third time, Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson. This semi-autobiographical novels tells the story of a girl who has been a devout member of the Christian faith her entire life because of her adoptive mother, a frightfully narrow-minded person who clings . This girl grows up and becomes attractive to another female member of her church, and the novel deals with her own acceptance of her sexuality with her faith, as well as the complex reactions of those around her. The book has some seemingly over-exaggerated depictions of religious practises, but given that this is based on Winterson’s real experiences, this is likely not overstated – however, the book is not an plain and simple criticism of religion, as the protagonist maintains her faith throughout, but is simply a critique of people taking the teachings of religion, using Christianity as an example, too seriously and the impact that can have. The relationship is, unsuprisingly, tested by Jeanette’s revelation but a glimmer of hope at the end tempers the dramatic events of the book with an uplifting ending.
Alice in Wonderland: Burton does it again and it’s getting repetitive
I saw, just yesterday, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland – a continuation, of sorts, from the original Lewis Carroll original tale set 13 years later with a now young-adult Alice as the protagonist. Tim Burton brings his usual entourage to proceedings but I was unconvinced by their appearance – Johnny Depp plays The Mad Hatter but his performance is a far cry from the original eccentricity of the character and is instead that now all too recognisable ‘Depp Eccentricity’, not just for the costume similarities will you notice parallels between Depp here and his portrayal of Willy Wonka……or Jack Sparrow……or Sweeney Todd at one point. Bonham-Carter, at least, has some varieties in the characters she plays, unfortunately she doesn’t do anything with it and the part could just have easily been played as well by any actress. Stephen Fry has a vocal role as the Chesire Cat, besides being a huge Fry-fan, his normal British pomp is laced with something very dark that it’s unusual to hear in Fry’s voice – he does it beautifully but often British sounding dark can sound like a whine, Fry doesn’t manage to always avoid this but he does very well. Matt Lucas’ dual role as both the voice and face of the Tweedles was a masterpiece of casting that nobody could fault. The rest of the voice cast is padded out with the usual British treasures, including Alan Rickman, who somehow got starring credit despite being his character being on screen for all of three minutes.
Unsuprisingly, I recommend seeing it in 3D. As with Avatar, my feeling is that I would’ve been a bit disappointed has the 3D not looked so good, combine that with the finely detailed victorian setting at the start/end and the trippy Burton-esque Wonderland throughout and the result is quite spectacular – but an effect, I feel, wouldn’t have looked as wonderful in a mere two dimensions. The film itself is fairly predictable, but I think a lot of people will see this film with the misconception that it’s aimed at an older audience, it isn’t – it’s a kids film through and through so expect the predictable moral of the story, the puerile humour and all the other things associated with a kids film. Do I think adults will enjoy it? Absolutely, just bear in mind it’s still a kids film.
Sorry all, my pent up creative juices have run dry for today (which in a post entitled ‘Playstation Wank’ is never something you should close with) – much like the Artful Dodger, I’ll be back soon with more posts.
Now go wash your hands.
