Music Monday: Mutant Future Inspirations #1

I am behind with posting my second SAGE request, but since I wasn't the only one writing it and I'm kinda tired and decided to leave it for tomorrow.

Instead, I give you the first of my planned series on my MF campaign inspirations.

Since it's Music Monday (the alliteration day) here are some videos that are both visually and sonically responsible for how I play MF.

Let's start with something weird and perhaps unexpected for those familiar with my previous music references. If you can't stand synthesizers or electronic music, I recommend muting the vid (but do watch it).





Here's something completely different, though the video is also animated. I once heard or read that "Queens of the Stone Age owe as much to Black Sabbath as to Beach Boys". I agree. And that's exactly why they are here. I chose this particular song, because to me, a MF adventure should have the dynamics of a drug trip. It should be really weird and full of surprises while possessing some twisted inner logic. Some fear and joy should also be added into the mixture.




A good MF adventure should have at least one pair of tentacles (or at least tendrils) in it. As an aesthetic statement. It should also be a bit like a b-class horror movie.




This is a very obscure, yet very good band called Fiend Without a Face (after a 50's s-f flick). It's a side project of Mastodon's guitarist - Brent Hinds. They play a very weird mix of surf, psychobilly and grind? They put out only one record, which has been out of stock for a long long time, but I think it's downloadable somewhere off their myspace. Definitely worth checking out!





Speaking of Mastodon...





As I said before, I really like to build my MF sessions on both - the retro-stupid fun and post apocalyptic horror. Here's a band that really helps me achieve the second thing. I really like Grails, they're like Pink Floyd, just less radio friendly and more intelligent.





Finally, this list would be incomplete without this brilliant vid.

I hit it with his axe

In this post, Zak Smith asked us not to judge I hit it with my axe until episode 5 airs.

It just did.

And I liked it. I liked all episodes except for the first one.

I think that the biggest strength of Zak's show the fact, that it's a documentation of D&D is played. While any session report is a (more or less literary) retelling of the game, so in fact - a re-narration of a past narration, the show is a straight up account of how actual game play looks.

And I must admit that, the first time I watched it, I was amazed at how similar his and mine games are. It was very uplifting to see, that even with all his insight and superb writing skills, he still plays the game in the same way.

Finally, I think that the DIY, chaotic way the show is put together only adds to it's appeal and adds to the feeling of observing real game play, instead of watching some prearranged, polished tv theater.

It is your destiny!

I promise to keep this short. James Maliszewski claims that Episode IV is the best part of the trilogy*, because:

A friend of mine once said that Star Wars is the only one of the series that didn't take place within the Star Wars universe.

and

Star Wars is the only one of the series that simply tells a story rather than telling a story about Star Wars. To varying degrees, all of the sequels and prequels exist, at least in part, to tell us more about the characters, places, and events of the original film.

And I agree. However, I must note that this assessment doesn't state anything new, it simply follows from the fact that Star Wars is the first film in the series ( which btw. wasn't planned until the movie turned out to be a huge success). As such it had to be a stand alone work of art, constructed around a closed story arc and with no lose ends sticking out.

James also writes:

Certainly there were lots of details established in the first film, but most of those details existed primarily to advance the story it was telling rather than to flesh out the setting of the story. It's the only film of the series that's like that, which probably explains why, even after years of interminable "expansions" to the original through movies, TV shows, comic books, novels, and other media, it still retains a freshness and vibrancy that the others lack.

I disagree!!! While it might be argued that, indeed the other two movies are a kind of an appendix to the first one, it's still The Empire Strikes Back, which holds the lead as (in my opinion at least) the best movie.

Why? Because it's probably the episode that has the most dramatic tension, as well as plot and character development. In fact, compared to the other two movies. it could be seen as not only being numerically and chronologically in the center, but also as the true culmination of the saga.

And I'm not even mentioning the multitude of cultural tropes and motifs which make that movie (and the whole trilogy) one of the most postmodern works in history of cinema.

Blah blah blah

Here is the real reason for this post.






*to me there will always be only 3 Star Wars movies

Avatar! WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!

Because of all the Christmas crap, I didn't feel like writing anything. It seems, like this holiday was tailored specifically to drain all my energy and leave me feeling like a zombie, with a few gifts as a pretend make up for all the horrors...

But anyway... Today I was planning to go see Avatar with fishlemons...

Before I get into any details, I must state: I'm not a fan of James Cameron or the premise that stands behind the making of that movie, but in order to judge the movie I do need to see it. And in this particular case, to see it as it was meant to be seen - in 3D. So, if you love Cameron or movies like Alexander, you should probably stop reading this now.

You can't really blame me for not linking Cameron. After all, he's the man who gave the world Titanic. Even Terminator and Aliens can't redeem him (let's face it, compared to the original, the sequel to Alien is shit).

I decided to see Avatar knowing the plot is probably gonna be addressed to the same average viewer as Attack of the Clones. A movie with a budget of 237 million $ has to make at least twice as much in order to satisfy people who invested in it and that means it can't feature any controversial ideas, or even hint anything that might be thought as offensive, inappropriate or otherwise unsuitable for anyone who's 12 (interestingly enough, it can feature people shooting each other in the faces).

Apart from that, with the economy and all, spending such amounts of money on making an animated movie with actors acting, but being animated in order to look like they do in real life, seems kinda inappropriate. The first Star Wars cost 10 million, and made much more money than Avatar will ever make. Why not try to go that way, and give the rest 227 million dollars to all the people that lost their houses and life savings?

Still, non above really matters since, instead of going to the cinema, I ended up writing this rant! How did that happen? I tell you why!

THE TICKET IS FUCKING EXPENSIVE!!!!

Really... As I went online to check the screening hours, I found out that a student ticket (here in Poland we have a good custom of giving University students a discount on cinema and public transport tickets) costs twice as much as usual!!! Not only that, but you also need to "rent" the 3d glasses for an additional, "symbolic" fee...

Summing up, the ticket price for Avatar (including the glasses rent) is equal to a new book!

I won't pay that amount of money for a movie that I probably won't even like... That's why I'd like to ask all of you, who perhaps have seen the movie, IS IT REALLY WORTH THE MONEY???

...or should I just get myself sth. good to read?



Btw. I promise my future posts to be of more substance.

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the painting is "Saturn devouring his son" by Goya