Redshirts

January 30th, 2009Blog0 comments

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is back on: Hell’s Kitchen.

I really like this show. I think Gordon Ramsay is brilliant, and this show features a cartoon version of him where his volume is turned to 11. We get Angry Ramsay, who is just as entertaining as thoughtful culinary Ramsay.

There’s a lot of talk in my circle about Reality TV game design. How/when/why reveals are made, how challenges are designed, etc.. One interesting (disturbing?) phenomenon I’ve been seeing lately is that the producers of the show will often take one or two people who have no business being on the show and put them on — despite the fact that they lack the technical skill or ability to compete.

For instance, a couple of contestants on the new Hell’s Kitchen have never worked in a restaurant before. Since the entire game is based on line cooking efficiency, they’re pretty much doomed from the start — but their presence and eventual elimination makes for great reality television. And if they rise to the occasion? Even better.

Top Chef has been doing this as well. Consider the two people eliminated in the first episode — they were easily the least experienced of the bunch.

In one of his books, Malcolm Gladwell also describes the question that every athlete faces: Do you care enough to continue suffering through the lactic acid? Do you care enough to get up at 5 am every day and hit ten thousand golf balls before lunch? These people — the cannon fodder, or to us nerds, “redshirts” — care about the prize, but they clearly do not care about the process required to get there.

However, redshirting by producers can just be plain unfair. For instance, Stylista, the craptastic show about wanna-bes competing to be an assistant for a fake Anna Wintour: One of the challenges involved the contestants putting together outfits for themselves off the Elle rack.

The rub: One of the contestants was a big girl. BBW. And naturally, all the clothes on the rack were size zero. This led to tears and level 10 butthurt.

Now you can’t say that this was coincidental. The producers’ intention was to incite violence and make this girl cry. That’s just plain unfair — outside the rules of the game. They redshirted someone specifically to crush their gentle spirit.

I think you can still construct good reality television while retaining a basic sense of humanity. In fact, doesn’t that create more compelling TV? When you create game design that causes people to lose because of their own actions?.. And even better, when they win in spite of themselves?

Sony Versus Nintendo Versus the Crappy Economy

January 29th, 2009Blog0 comments

Pretty great article in Ars Technica today on why Nintendo is kicking Sony’s ass — even though they’re both dealing with the same horrible economy.

Part of Sony’s problem is its diversity. For the most part, its different electronics offerings aren’t mutually supportive—owning a Vaio PC doesn’t seem to make anyone more likely to buy a Bravia TV or a PS3. As such, sales of nearly everything plummeted.

This is something that Apple understands well. Tons of people have been switching to Mac and the iPhone because of the iPod. The halo effect is real, and having the entire company remain profitable is much better than having the winning half of a company carrying the losing half on its back.

Machead

January 28th, 2009Blog0 comments

A Machead I can believe in.

Macheads

January 28th, 2009Blog0 comments

Macheads (Link goes to iTunes Store) is a new documentary about the cult of Macintosh. It’s short and horrifying. Any documentary that begins with a dude gleefully telling us that the “mac is the reason [he] has no wife” pretty much guarantees a strange time.

It’s reminiscent of Trekkies, the 1997 documentary about Star Trek fanatics. The difference is that Trekkies showcased insane people who were still lovable and fairly harmless. Macheads features people who are pretty much just insane.

Some well-known mac industry pundits and talking heads are interviewed — people like Guy Kawasaki, for instance. And then large numbers of bizarre mac nerds are showcased. One fellow is wearing what he describes as a “Tech Kilt”. There is a hippie lady and her hubby who have a computer museum in a barn. This makes me realize that the difference between Windows nerds and Mac nerds is weed, and plenty of it.

Like I said, the documentary is short — only about 60 minutes. It feels a bit disjointed as well. It can’t decide whether to structure itself based on interviews and its subjects’ individual stories or on Apple’s historical timeline, and the narrative quickly breaks down. For instance, about two thirds of the way through it talks about Steve Jobs’ triumphant return to Apple without ever previously mentioning how he was forced out of the company. A layperson with no Apple background would be totally confused.

A good documentary tells a story and has a narrative. King of Kong and Wordplay are both excellent examples of this. They develop their subjects biographically and tell a story about the challenges they face, finally presenting unexpected outcomes for each person. Macheads just presents peoples’ opinions about the Mac — usually “I LOVE IT”, and leaves it at that. The documentary felt like a short dip in a very shallow pool.

They did dig up some impressive weirdoes though. Strange, mind-wandering hippies, mac-obsessed basement dwellers, etc.. The kind of people that Fake Steve Jobs would call “Mactards”. The kind of people that Real Steve Jobs would quickly walk past and zoom away from in his unmarked Mercedes SL.

This documentary does one thing that is very impressive — something that Microsoft and its cheesy “I’m a PC” ad campaign has been unable to do: It makes me want to switch to Windows.

These People are Hardcore

January 26th, 2009Blog0 comments

During the Inauguration parade, Drum Major John Coleman gave our new Prez a nod and a salute. Apparently that’s against protocol — he’s been suspended for six months.

Video here. (Incident at 0:15)

Clearly, the Best Thing To Be is an Actor on Star Trek

January 23rd, 2009Blog1 comment

In Wil Wheaton’s book “Just a Geek”, he describes the regret he felt at departing from Star Trek: The Next Generation early to pursue a film career that never materialized. I respect this guy a lot and admire his ability to own up to a decision he made when he was only 18 and admittedly didn’t know any better.

But after careful study and analysis, I know that one of the best things an actor can do for him/herself and their family is to be a regular on a Star Trek TV series.

Case Study: Here is Michael Dorn -

You might not recognize Michael Dorn if he was walking down the street, but we all know him as Worf from TNG. Now that Michael Dorn has done seven years on the series, a few more on DS9, and done multiple movies, he can now do (and he does) whatever he wants as an actor.

Plus I think Michael Dorn is fairly solid financially. He owns two jets. His hobby is flying them.

If you book a gig as a regular on a Star Trek series that runs the whole seven seasons, you’re pretty much set for life. Afterwards, no matter what you do, you will have a built-in audience of fanatics who will appear everywhere to support you. Geeks and nerds are a highly supportive and enthusiastic bunch, and they have deep pockets due to their IT jobs.

I think it’s safe to say that this also applies to actors on BSG, Stargate, LOST, etc.. Being an actor on any long-running Sci-Fi series is gold.

Now there are some people that might be like, “Hey — what about doing things that are artistic and creative and serve a higher purpose? What about that?”

To this I say the following: Altruism is good, but to make your dream projects happen you need to have money to fund them. Capital. You need to have the economic stability to be free to do as you choose. And with the line between “TV Actors” and “Film Actors” blurring (for good and for ill), it seems like the danger of being pigeonholed has been dramatically reduced.

If I were an actor, my dream job would be being a regular on a Star Trek series. Hell, it still is my dream job. If offered the shot, I would put my career on hold for seven, eight, ten years and do it. Getting paid thousands of dollars a week to say things like “The containment field in the antimatter intermix chamber is destabilizing!” would be the most awesome fucking thing ever.

Also I would get to have pointy sideburns, which would be really cool too.

Jay-Z / Radiohead Mashup Album of the Day

January 23rd, 2009Blog0 comments

Another day, another Jay-Z Mashup Album. Jaydiohead is a mashup between Mr. Z’s Black Album and various Radiohead albums (OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows), with imaginative and very interesting results. Obvious comparisons will be made to Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, but this one has a different feel. It’s worth checking out, especially for the asking price ($ Free).

My favorite tracks: Dreaming Up and Dirt Off Your Android.