Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 60
June 20, 2017
Breakfast and a Blog
Image Source: Hostelling International Blog
Long time readers of the blog may have noticed that I have blogged six days out of the week (Monday-Saturday) for the past two weeks. This is highly unusual for me and you might be wondering why I made this change. Well, to be succinct, I’ve been wanting to change my writing habits for a while. I’ve wanted to follow the advice of one my professors who suggested that life as a PhD student would be much easier if you found a regular time to write that works you and you stuck to it.
Now, I have a lot of dedication, but I tend to be more mercenary with my time as an adult than as a child. As a child, I read every night from 10:00pm to 11:00 pm (my curfew) without fail. Even as an adult, I read regularly on my 30 min. breaks at the Public Library (17 years of regular reading).
Yet, as an adult I’ve written (creatively) on my lunch hour when I worked at Eastgate Public Library (the air conditioning was too cold, so I’d sit out in the car) and that’s how I wrote, revised, and published my first article. I’ve written short-stories at 7:00 pm (right after dinner), 8:00 pm, 8:30 pm, 2:00-4:00 pm, 5:00 pm (right before dinner), etc. My point is, unlike my reading habits, my writing habits have been much more scattered.
I’ve attempting to follow the advice by regularly writing this blog as I eat breakfast. This gives me a chance to collect my thoughts and put them down on (digital) paper before the day starts for me–no matter how hectic the day is. I’m finding that by doing this, I’ve been much more creative and I’m enjoying the writing process even more. I also try to keep the blog entries much shorter and tighter, and I try not to write more than 30 minutes (I’m actually at 35 mins. right now) in order to not to be too long-winded. Here’s hoping that I can keep up this routine as I really enjoy the effect that it is having on both my enjoyment of writing and the production of entries on this blog–and here’s hoping that I can find a way to transfer this technique to my creative writing.
I don’t know if you read the blog, but thanks for the advice, Dr. R! It has been really, really helpful!
June 19, 2017
Summer Inspiration & Writing Projects
[image error]
Now that E3 is over, I find myself turning my attention back to my creative writing. I found that I’ve been very inspired to create new projects over the last few weeks and I’ve been brainstorming several. On Friday afternoon, I actually just took a moment and sat at the kitchen table and wrote the “rough draft” of a new short-story (fantasy) that I want to write. I wrote it from the outline I’d written earlier in the year and the drafting process was super easy as well as very rewarding creatively.
Now comes the much more difficult part, drafting a “Working Draft,” which is my terminology for the draft that “shows, don’t tell.” The Working Draft forms the basis of the story that people will be reading. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s still fun to write it, but the as many creative people will tell, the true joy is in the initial creation of the work. The rough draft was pure creativity, but the Working Draft is about evolution and refinement. Often, the success of the project hinges on how well I can translate the passion of the rough draft into the refinement of the Working Draft. This is where characterization, sensory details, imagery, dialogue, setting, etc., all get “set” into place.
[image error]
Image Source: RenaissanceClothingCostumes.com
Project OPaK
So this is my new naming convention for stories that I’m working on. In most cases, I already know what the title is. Project OPaK is just the first letters of the title. I’ve divided the story into three parts (Beginning, Middle, and End) and I will update you when I’ve finished each of the main parts, with a beginning update letting you know when I’ve actually started writing the project. At the end, when I’ve finished Project OPaK, I will continue to do an Author’s Note and give a detailed breakdown of the genesis of the work (how it came into being, what my writing process was for it, etc.). If it gets published in a hardcopy form, I will also try to remember to take pictures of the work and post those pics on the blog (like I did for The Last GunKnight, but forgot to do for other projects). The above picture, while not representative of the actual characters in the story, gives a good idea of the time period and themes that I’m aiming for within Project OPaK.
Here’s to a successful writing project–and a successful summer of developing many more!
June 17, 2017
E3 and me: Marvel’s Spider-man (& Honorable Mentions)
[image error]
Marvel’s Spider-man
The last game that I want to mention on this blog from E3 is the showstopper from Sony’s Press Conference, Marvel’s Spider-man. Sony showed an extended gameplay trailer that blew my mind. I’ve always been a Spider-man fan, and I own quite a few issues of Spider-man comics. This game had it all–action, humor, a strong narrative, but also has an open-world (the entire city of New York appears to be available to you to explore).
[image error]
The game puts you in the shoes of Peter Parker (although there is a nice Easter Egg for those who stay and watch the “stinger” at the end of the trailer). It isn’t telling an origin story, but rather it is telling the story of a Peter Parker who has been doing this for a few years and is comfortable in Spider-man’s shoes. I really enjoyed the high-flying acrobatics that the game showed and they nailed Spider-man’s sarcasm and biting wit. This one looks like it is going to be fun.
Honorable Mentions
Things that looked interesting, but that I didn’t have time to talk about in the post during this week.
Days Gone (Sony) – A post-apocalyptic game that has a horde of fast-moving zombie-like monsters (similar to the movie World War Z)
Detroit: Become Human (Sony) – A sci-fi game about androids struggling for their freedom.
Shadow of the Colossus Remake (Sony) – I’ve played the demo, but never bought this game, but sure looks awesome. It might convince me to get it this time around.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft) – I’ve bought every major AC game and the new setting promises to be fun.
Knack 2 – Hey, what can I say, I love a good platformer. I platinumed the original Knack, so of course I’m looking forward to the sequel.
and finally,
Elite: Dangerous – Elite was old computer game from the 1980s. My uncle and I played the heck out of that game on the Commodore 64, and we managed to “break” the economy in the game Our ship was so powerful and we had so much money, nothing in “normal” space could touch us. This one is sheer nostalgia. (I still have the 5.25 inch game disk and I’m pretty sure that I have the manual for the original game as well somewhere).
There were other games as well that probably deserve to be on this list, but I’ve already taken longer than I had intended and I’m much later putting out this post than usual, so I’ll end by saying, Sony had the most games that I’m interested in, so while their conference wasn’t as good as the past two years, it was still the best (to me) in a fairly unremarkable year.
June 16, 2017
E3 and me: God of War
Image Source: PS5Home
Sony’s Conference is always the highlight of E3 for me. I’ve talked at length about my preference for Sony consoles and software. I really like what Sony does in the video game space (with its Playstation brand). I could afford to buy other consoles, but I’m not as interested in Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s entries in the video game space (for various reasons) as I am for Sony’s entries. Sony had quite a bit I’m interested in this year (although their conference was light on show-stoppers). I’ll highlight the two that I’m most interested in to finish out the week.
God of War
The God of War (GoW) game was first announced at last year’s E3 (2016), but this year they showed actual gameplay and elements of the story and it confirms the good feeling that I had about the game. It also gives a release date of early 2018, so it should be a good game that I use as an incentive to help get me through the Spring 2018 semester. I’ve not bought a God of War game before, but I have played demos of all the PS2 games and I’ve seen bits and pieces of the GoW3. I never really cared for the GoW games because of the main character, Kratos. He, in a word, was a “rage-muppet.” He was always a one-note character, the very embodiment of rage and anger. Now, I know his history, which I won’t spoil here, but which is well known in the gamer universe (if you want to find out more, here’s his wiki); however, I feel that characters should be able to express more than one emotion. The new incarnation of Kratos, however, feels like they’ve really worked on humanizing him and giving him more emotions than just rage.
[image error]
Image Source: Playstation
I’m also very interested in Viking mythology. When I was a child, two of the most fascinating subjects were Greek/Roman myths and gods and Viking myths, gods, and legends. The Midgard Serpent (pictured above in the GoW universe) is one of the most fascinating things in the Norse mythology to me. I love the idea of worm that encircles the world, hidden away in the depths of the ocean.
This game has really captured my attention and I’m looking forward to uncovering the mystery of Kratos and his son early next year.
June 15, 2017
E3 and me: The Crew 2
Image Source: Rayman-Fanpage.de
This time I want to talk about another racing game that’s caught my eye: The Crew 2 (TC2). This game is a sequel to The Crew by Ubisoft. The Crew’s claim to fame is that it offers an open world map of the United States for players to drive through. Players can start in New York on the East Coast and drive seamlessly though the game’s roads, highways, or even off-road and travel to Los Angeles or San Fransisco on the West Coast. Now, while the map is highly condensed, it can still take anywhere from 30 – 45 minutes to travel the length of the map and there are quite a few unique elements to the game that I really enjoyed such as road discovery, landmark discovery, modifying vehicles, and a mostly satisfying in-game soundtrack delivered via radio stations. The Crew was denigrated for its story and many reviews thought that the game’s visual’s were not up to “next generation” standards (which the devs. addressed by “up-rezzing” the graphics as part of a patch) and they supported the game rather well, I thought.
[image error]
Image Source: Techno Buffalo
TC2 seems to up the graphical fidelity even more and it looks like from the gameplay trailers that the map may be even larger than the previous game (and if not, it certainly looks more diverse). It appears that they might be dropping the “story” mode to the game and going with more of a festival/win at all the various disciplines approach to the game. Speaking of disciplines, the game is devoted into 4 main areas: Street Racing, Off-road racing, speed boat racing, and air racing. It also looks like you can jump seamlessly between the various modes even in mid-race, although I’ll have to see how that plays in game to see if that is going to be as cool as it sounds.
The Crew’s large open world, its (in my opinion) inoffensive story, and its great game play made it a mainstay for me and helped me to keep my sanity during my second year of teaching middle school. I’m hoping that The Crew 2 helps do much same now. I’m cautiously optimistic about this game as well.
Here is the reveal trailer for The Crew 2.
June 14, 2017
E3 and me: Beyond Good and Evil 2
Image Source: rayman-fanpage.de
Bethesda’s E3 Conference this year left me disappointed; I have a wide range of gaming interests and nothing that Bethesda showed interested me or was something that I wanted to play, so it was up to Ubisoft to intrigue me and they did.
[image error]
Image Source: Kotaku
Beyond Good and Evil 2 (BG&E 2)
So this one came as a bit of a surprise. The original game, Beyond Good and Evil, has become sort of a cult hit since it’s release in 2003. Usually, I can say that I’ve played the game and have been awaiting the news of this long wanted/long awaited sequel, but in this case, I can’t. I actually missed this one — how I don’t really remember. I checked and according to IGN, it received a demo in the Official US Playstation Magazine (Vol. 78) and that was primarily how I checked out new games and decided if they warranted a purchase.
However, even though only a trailer was shown, the trailer for BG&E 2 is a very intriguing Sci-Fi trailer. It looks very inventive and the universe seems to be a mash-up of the movie The 5th Element and the Mass Effect series. Again, while no gameplay was shown, the creator of the series, Michel Ancel appeared on-stage (with another team lead on the project) and they talked a bit about the game’s development and what it would be like playing the game. It seems, from their description, that it will be a lot like/play a lot like Mass Effect Andromeda, where a “multi-ethnic crew” will come together to explore new worlds while looking for a specific object. According to the developers you will go to and discover new fantastical worlds during your search.
[image error]
Image Source: Trusted Reviews
This sounds truly epic to me and I hope that they are able to pull off. This is what I’m trying to do in my own Sci-Fi stories and this is what I like to read/play from stories from others. I’m cautiously optimistic about this particular game. And if you’ll notice, they even put a spaceship in the promotional image above, and as I’ve said before, put a dragon or a spaceship on your cover, and you’ll pique my curiosity/interest level by 100%!
In case you’re curious, I’m including a link to the BG&E2 trailer. However, this one has a personal warning from me about language. They drop the “F-bomb” early and often in the trailer, and while I’m not usually okay with that (I generally take the “language” tone of Captain America from Avengers 2: Age of Ultron in my everyday life), I still feel that the trailer is so well done and so evocative towards the vision that I’d like to see more of in stories (my own and others) that I’m willing to overlook it and feature it on my blog.
So, personal warning out of the way, here’s Beyond Good and Evil 2’s trailer. Hope you enjoy; I know I did.
June 13, 2017
E3 New & Notable Games (Day 2): Star Wars Battlefront 2
[image error]
Star Wars Battlefront 2
The second of EA’s games to make an impression on me was Star Wars Battlefront 2 (SW:B2). I’m a massive Star Wars fan and I bought the first game. However, because there was no story campaign and I was trying to apply for PhD programs when it released, I didn’t get to play it as much as I would have liked. I dipped into a couple of modes and played a few multiplayer matches, but nothing like what I probably should have for a game of that length and scope.
[image error]
Even though they mostly showed extended multiplayer footage of the game, I still think that the single player campaign will be good and that this will be a good game and the story (at least from the trailers) looks interesting. Below are links to various elements of the game and this is one I’m looking forward to when it releases later this year.
Assault at Theed Multiplayer Demonstration
Well, that’s it for EA–I’ll move on to Ubisoft games that were interesting in the next post.
June 12, 2017
Need for Speed – Payback
Image Source: Wikipedia
Since this E3 week, I’d thought I’d use this week to highlight some of the more interesting games that I’ve seen and I’m excited about that have been announced during the week. I won’t talk extensively about them, but just to give a little explanation about it and why I’m interested in it. So far, this E3 has been light on games that have interested me. EA had two games (well, they had 3, but they botched one by not premiering on their own stage, but giving only a teaser while giving an “extended” premiere to Microsoft, while Bethesda had nothing that interested me particularly this year, so today and tomorrow, I’ll briefly cover the two games from EA that were interesting.
[image error]
Image Source: Digital Trends
Need for Speed – Payback
I know few readers of the blog will be interested in video games, and fewer still will probably be interested in a racing game, but this one is doing something different. It is trying to tell a “story” using racing gameplay as the driving force (no pun intended) to move the player through from one story element to another. It is very much inspired by the Fast & Furious (F&F) film franchise, but imagine that instead of just watching exciting car chases on film, you could actually take control of the cars and do all those crazy “set pieces” yourself. That seems to be what NfS:P is going for.
Now, EA has tried this once before in a Need for Speed game, Need for Speed The Run (NfS:TR). The Run tried to tell a cinematic story, but it didn’t work out very well. I finished The Run, but felt no desire to go back to it once the story was done. The story, which had you trying to get the main character into 1st place by the time you reached the other coast line was too restrictive and didn’t work as well as they planned. However, several F&F films have been released since then and I feel fairly confident that they have figured out how to integrate the narrative with the gameplay this time around.
Here is the trailer for Need for Speed Payback Gameplay Trailer and here is the trailer for The Fate of the Furious (Furious 8) for comparison. You’ll notice a similar “vibe” between the two, I think.
This one looks like it could be a lot of fun. I am cautiously optimistic for it and will check the reviews when it releases later in the year.
June 10, 2017
Black Panther, E3 and Me
[image error]
Image Source: YouTube.com
So, this blog was going to be about E3 (the video game and computer game conference happening on the West Coast this weekend), but Marvel released a teaser trailer for the Black Panther movie coming in 2018. You can find the teaser trailer here: Black Panther Teaser Trailer.
I’m very interested in this movie as I was introduced to the Black Panther via a Marvel Comic that talked about the various gadgets and costumes of Marvel heroes in the early to mid 80s (it was the same comic that described the Mandarin’s rings and Falcon’s wings/jet propulsion system) and mini-series done about the character when I was in High School in the late 80s/early 90s. However, I discovered that the movie will debut next close to my birthday, so I feel that it will be a great movie to see as a present to myself, so I’m already “sticking a pin in it” as the expression goes. I hope it turns out as well for Marvel and the creators as well as Wonder Woman has turned out for DC this year. I will keep it on my radar.
E3
[image error]
This weekend marks the kickoff to the E3 Conference. I am a very big fan of video games and video game narratives, and this is where the newest games and technologies are mostly announced for the upcoming year. E3 used to be about selling games and software for Christmas, and while it still has some of that element, mostly its about things that will be coming out in the next year and building anticipation for things even further out (a year and a half to two years). Electronic Arts’s Press Conference kicks things off later today, and then tomorrow will be Bethesda. Ubisoft and Sony will round out Monday’s coverage and then the show will begin in earnest with games out on the show floor. EA’s press conference (or EA Play Event as they technically aren’t doing “Press Conferences per se since last year) is scheduled to kick off at 1pm Eastern time (9am Pacific Time) and I plan on watching that before digging into some yard work that I’ve put off for too long. If there’s anything fun and relevant to the blog, I’ll probably talk about the things that were announced that I find most interesting (games are doing some pretty neat and novel things in the narrative space these days). In between the conferences, I hope to get some writing done over this weekend as well.
Have a great weekend!
June 9, 2017
AMC, The Mummy, and Me
Image Source: Fandango
So, I was looking forward to seeing the new Mummy movie starring Tom Cruise–and then the first wave of reviews hit (currently 20% on Rotten Tomatoes). Now, regular blog readers know that I have a rule–call it the World War Z Rule–that I will ignore critical reviews on movies that I want to see unless they are almost uniformly negative (& even then, I’ve been known to see the movie anyway, a la Warcraft). This is what I’d been planning to do with The Mummy as I’m a fan of monster movies, in general and the Brendan Frasier version of The Mummy was one of my favorite recent incarnation/reboot. This film, while not a critical darling, has all the earmarks of a fun, summer popcorn action flick, in the vein of WWZ. However, as it stands now, I’m probably not going to see it.
Why?
[image error]
Image Source: Spicy Movie Dogs
Well, earlier this year, AMC bought out the local Carmike theater that I like to attend (it is only one of two theaters in town with IMAX). Now, normally I don’t begrudge companies buying out each other, but in this case, the buyout meant several changes that happened almost immediately. AMC did not make any substantial changes to the theater that I could see (no new seats, projection system, etc). Everything pretty much stayed the same except for AMC branding. However, AMC seemed to raise ticket prices–the charge for Wonder Woman was more than I usually paid, but more galling was the removal of option for buying a Small popcorn/Small soft drink at the concession stand. Yes, I know that the concession stand is where theaters make their money, but a regular or large popcorn bag is just a waste of food (and money)–I can’t eat all that popcorn and will end up throwing most of it out and I small coke is all I really need. I don’t like being “forced” to buy things that I don’t need. All told, the movie-going experience for Wonder Woman cost me close to $30 and that was for one ticket on a Saturday matinee.
[image error]
Image Source: Boundless
Now I understand that theaters are trying to maximize their profit margins to get a return on their investment, but the high cost of seeing a movie just means that people will become even more selective in their movie-going experience. Marginal movies, like The Mummy, that don’t get favorable reviews will find a much harder time achieving the coveted blockbuster status. It will take a sure/proven hit to get me out to the IMAX screen now, whereas under Carmike’s pricing strategy, I probably would have gone to The Mummy, this weekend no matter the reviews. That is why Marvel and Disney movies are seeing such a visceral reaction from the audiences: while Marvel & Disney movies don’t always “hit,” they do so with enough of a success ratio that families and movie-goers feel that they “trust” that they can get a good, quality story experience for the price that they’re asked to pay at the admissions window (and the concession stand.) As for me, my next major summer blockbuster comes in about a month, and surprise, it’s a Marvel movie: Spider-Man Homecoming.
[image error]
Image Source: Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
