A British View.Made me laugh, figured I’d prove that I’m still alive by posting here.
(via wilwheaton)
Excessive Opinions
Shouting Thoughts At You.
I’ve been writing on my other site a lot, don’t really want to only use this site as a way to promote my other one but ah well.
Be sure to check it out, shouldn’t take too long to give it a read, who knows; you might like it.
Jamie Burgoyne: Obligatory Introductory Post
I hate it too. “Where’s my content?!”
Well it’s coming, for starters I’ve written a few not-so-great-but-it’s-something Haiku. Which I’ve learned doesn’t have a plural form, isn’t it weird when words are like that?
This website, as it states on the right over there, is a showcase for fiction. I…
Not a huge amount of Content as yet (or any) but there will be a few bits uploaded tonight and some more throughout the following week. I’m still really busy but I’m hoping to squeeze out some good stuff in the upcoming weeks, then even more over the summer break. I’d really appreciate it if people check it out, follow on Tumblr or sub to the RSS.
As I’m very busy this week with other things, I thought I might share this video I found with everyone. It’s kinda cute and interesting; a little bit scary though, which brands a five year old already recognises.
Level 20-Something
I’ve been watching this indie show Level 20-Something, it’s an animated web series on YouTube with a pretty big video game influence. The universe is set inside the video game world but not as you would think. In this reality the people pull the strings behind the video game itself; they act out cut-scenes, populate the levels as minions or stand around pointlessly as NPC’s. Populated with a lotta’ classic video game references, this show has a pixel art style and midi-sound effects that are real popular lately.
Very similar to the 2007 G4TV show Code Monkeys, the show revolves around two guys, just trying to survive the daily grind, one level at a time. Mike and Chris work as insignificant mobs during the day, these guys are still trying to figure out what they want out of their 8-bit life. They don’t always follow the rules but they mean well, usually. Keiko is a pretty interesting character, kinda the typical actress nay bartender but with an anger streak that could be the answer to the guys problems. I don’t want to get too much into the story but its fun. Clearly a comedy, this show doesn’t stick solely to video games with a lotta’ film and TV references sprinkled in there too. The Seinfeld reference in episode four really cracked me up.
The animation is pretty smooth, but beyond that the way it’s directed is really great. The shots are obviously thought out well, there are only a couple single angle scenes, I haven’t noticed any animation loops and the backgrounds aren’t just static images. The voice acting itself is good, obviously the sound quality represents the production budget but it’s definitely above average for something recorded over Skype. I will say one thing though and that’s sometimes the conversations are little slow. If the editing was a little tighter it might seem more professional but often the gap between each character talking is just a second too long. This gets better further into the season but in the first episode it’s very noticeable and it, although not enjoyment-breaking, does take you out of the show.
All in all, I’m looking forward to the next episode. The overarching storyline seems rather interesting and the characters are likeable. I do especially like the small after-credit scenes and the music is pretty fun. The show has a fairly small following but the creators have put a lot of effort into fan interaction so hopefully word will continue to spread. Having no corporate backing or budget, this show is just another example of the internet making it possible for creative people to produce something that they would want to watch and then putting it out there for free.
You can find the show on YouTube here or via their brand spanking new website. You can find the real life Mike and Keiko at Wondercon this year, 16th through 18th March (2012) in the artist alley. If anyone is going to be there, make sure to say hi as they’re both collecting images for viewer cameos and giving away free pins in return for trivia answers. (Make sure to say I sent you.)
And that link again: www.level20something.com
Vintage
Why does everything from the 40’s and 60’s look awesome? It just has a much cooler feel, the clothes (hats especially,) the transportation, food, the Americana of the advertising, even stuff like the older guns or the quality of the music. It all just has a much cooler feel to it. Even smoking was cooler then, currently when I think of a cigarette my mind goes almost instantly to a group of 16 year old chavs standing outside that one off-licence that doesn’t check IDs.
Even the jobs, it all felt like you were doing something worthwhile. Nowadays it all seems futile.
Either that or it’s just the depiction of it. I mean obviously everything I see is from the media but even in terms of that; they are definitely a couple of the more iconic decades.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, I’m well into my course at university and from that questions about future career choices start to arise. All the things I would love to do all seem to be for dead or dying industries or have suffered from structural change. The advancement of technology, specifically the internet and the age of information, has left us with a lack of mystery or intregue.
I am 100% behind projects like Wikileaks, Wikipedia; even Google or IMDb. They provide us with more information than we would ever need but it’s somehow removed the appeal of certain jobs. To be an investigatory journalist, a P.I. or even a copper; they were somewhat romanticised as career paths. Now we just have the very un-sexy image of the borderline agoraphobic blogger, a perv with a high tech camera and legally dodgy social network data mining habits and some lazy yet overworked pastry dependant divorced alcoholic who spends more time behind a desk filling out paperwork than walking a beat.
We have L.A.Noir, Philip Marlowe novels, Mad Men and recently even this new show Alcatraz has a couple scenes set in 1963. It just makes me think, there is definitely a trend within humanity not to let go of the past. Television, film, literature and now even video games; there’s many ways to try and experience what our great grandparents may have experienced for real. To live in a different time.
Really what I’m getting at is I would like to live in a world where the fedora or the trilby (even a panama trilby) are widely accepted as commonplace. Rather than baseball caps or beanies which seem to be the only legitimately non-hipster hats in the 2000’s and 2010’s. We’re only two years into this decade, surely we can make the switch over to a more vintage look; get everyone wearing suits again and ban the wearing of sweat pants outside of a gym.
