Interactive stories

I'd like to talk about interactive stories, better known as videogames. When I was a teenager I frequently played games, now I hardly play them at all anymore, or it should be something exceptional and original. But, hearing others speak of them, I got the notion that most people, especially women somehow, see them as a mindless waste of time. And in many cases, that's completely true.

If you would ask a random person what a game today is about, you'll likely hear: "Shooting people, violence, explosions". I would guess around 85% of games are exactly that. Just like in the movie industry, those types of concepts get the most attention because like a summer blockbuster, a movie with big action scenes and expensive special effects, it appeals to the target demographic and brings in the money. Likewise, they get a big marketing push, advertisements everywhere, and everyone knows of its existence. Does this mean that Hollywood is nothing more than shallow action movies? Of course not, they make loads of alternative films as well, but you have to look out for them more. The same is true in the videogames industry.

Therefore, I'm going to point you to a few games that I played when I was younger or just recently, that are different, made an impression on me and made me think. That brings on another subject, can games be art? Well, isn't art about raising questions? I'll let you decide.

Now, I really like minimalism in games and movies. It brings you in the esscense of the world and story much better than explaining everything and handholding the player/viewer every step of the way. Don't underestimate your audience! Most of the games I'll talk about are like that.



Ok, let's jump right in, Beginning with Journey.

You should definitley watch this trailer, it shows you the gorgeous artstyle and it helps to really understand the concept of it:
 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61DZC-60x20

Journey is a game that has no spoken dialogue what so ever, no tutorials, you just wake up into a desert world and see a giant mountain in the distance. Somehow, you know that it is your destination and start moving towards it while exploring the strange but beautiful world.

You drift along the always moving waves of sand always getting closer to the structure at the horizon, find relics that piece by piece give you information about what's happening in the world and sometimes, if you want, you'll meet an other player. Someone who is online, playing at the exact time. You can't speak with him, but you can comunicate with a form of singing/whistling. You help each other traverse the land and, while the game never tells you who the other player is, you form a sort of band.
What happens when you reach the mountain? I'm not telling but the game is a nice metafor about life.




Next up, ICO.

ICO, is a touching story about an outcasted boy, born with horns on his head, who is brought to a desolate castle, to there be locked up and die alone. When he finds a way to break free, he discovers a girl, Yorda, who is trapped in a cage. Together, they will try to escape the castle. But there is a dark presence that tries to keep them there. What for? You'll have to play yourself.

To give you an idea of the vibe of the game, watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsmZyRPI8zY

Again, like Journey, nothing is explained. You have to figure out the story through visual clues, no words are spoken. Well, sometimes there is bit of dialoge, but it's in a fictional language. What's so great about it is that with no words, you still get emotionaly invested in the tale thanks to the masterfull animation of the two characters, and that you have to hold Yorda's hand to take her with you through the castle further gives you a connection with her. One other strong point is the atmosphere. Most of the game you'll hear only the wind howling, your own footsteps and echo's rumbling in the large rooms. It really brings the desolate vibe home and you truly feel alone and deserted. The ending is something thats free for interpretation, but it was the first time a game made me feel the way I felt that time. When I finished it and thought back on the whole experience I was blown away.




Limbo:
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vRXBOzGzU Watch this!

Surprise, Limbo comes with no explanations at all. The whole story is for you to figure out. The only thing that can help you is the title and the final second or two in the game, and that's it. Limbo is dark, scary, and you never know what will happen next.

The game pulls you in through it's ambient sounds and intriguing world. It also exels in making the player feel vulnerable as the slightest misstep could be your last and has moments that will make you panic and get at the tip of your seat.



Then we have Shadow Of The Colossus. This one is made by the same japanese creators of ICO and it shows in artistry and quality.

Check out the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhsQrCUlbnM

You are a nameless boy traveling on a horse who brings an unconcsious/dead girl to a temple far away in a land seperated from the rest of the world. No man comes here. When laying the girl on the altar an unknown voice speaks that in order to save the girl, the boy should kill 16 giant colossi that roam the land and then, the voice says, he will help resurrect the girl.

The whole game you cross the gigantic plains and forrest on your best friend, the horse Agro, to locate these wonderful creatures. They will never harm you unless you attack them first and while you end their lives you question if you are doing the right thing. By the end you fill will find out what you where actually doing this whole time.

Its' definitley considered a classic and the ones who played it know why. Games like this don't come around very often.


As music of the week I couldn't pass on something from Shadow Of The Colossus. Many pieces from it's soundtrack are very bombastic (but beautiful) but to really let the atmosphere of the game sink in, a more soothing melody works better. Really, put in on play, close your eyes and imagine slowly riding a horse through a mystic and foggy forest while a massive brigde leading to a desolate ancient temple draws nearer, cause that's exactly what's going on in the game when this music starts, and let your imagination take you to a different place. The whole soundtrack is composed by Ko Otani, thanks bro!

And now just shut up and enjoy.

                                                   Ko Otani - To The Ancient Land

Drain of colour

Good day earthlings!

Today I have a new drawing to post. But first, let me adress something. Since last week I recieved some complaints about my story starring Rogerke. People told me it was too far fetched, some literal quotes: "Your father and I are starting to get worried about you, (sigh), where did we go wrong?", "First you were doing those Harlem-shakes, now this? Are you on drugs?"
They talked about it as if it was all made up. Not only is it insulting for me and my beetle-friend, it shows no respect for Rogerke's emotional life story. But thanks to a sweet insider, I got my hands on evidence to back up my story. To silence the disbelievers, I can show you the poster that was on his wall, featuring the lovely LoreBello:

Indeed, some apologies would be welcome!

Now I'd like to show you a new drawing. It's not exactly what I wanted it to be, because when I started colouring it, it just didn't look right to me (wrong colourpallet and so). Unfortunately, when I realised it wasn't really going to work out that good, it was already too late and I had no choice to finish the rest. Here's the result (the dragon/monster is supposed to be white!):



Somehow, I like drawing beasts, you are what you draw aren't you? Don't they say that? I'm told to be a beast myself, but that was because once I ate a plate of spaghetti bolognese using no hands.

Anyway, when uploading the picture to my computer, I wanted to try out how it looked in black, white and gray and to me it actually looked better that way. Judge for yourself:

So I think I'm not going to use colour in my next drawings. What do you think works best? Let me know.

It's time I uploaded some music originating closer to home. Herman van Veen is part of my youth as he created the theme song for the fantastic cartoonseries Alfred Jodocus Kwak. Herman is a celebrated cabaratier, actor and musician with a strong, powerfull voice but who can also sing very softly, yet always perfect understandable. I had the fortune to go to one of his concerts last year, which was awesome. In the song "Onderaan De Dijk" he's assisted by Edith Leerkes.

And now just shut and enjoy.

                                            Herman van Veen - Onderaan De Dijk

Small visitor

This weeks update supposed to had some new drawings to show you but unfortunately they didn't work out like I wanted so for now I'm keeping them in my "If anyone sees this, kill them" drawer. Maybe next time I can post some things that are not cringe worthy. I do have an older drawing which I'm fairly content with, although there are obvious flaws like a lack of depth. After finishing it I thought "this went pretty well (for MY skills), let's draw some more!" To then come to the conclusion that maybe it was a one time struck of luck bugged me, but I'll just keep trying...

Talking about bugging, while bended over my failed works, cursing over my results, I saw a little bug at my feet. He was making his way across the carpet, which for him must have been like crossing the steppe in Africa.
I needed a bit of distraction so I immortalised him on camera and promised to post the picture on his facebook profile.

His name is Rogerke, wich is a dutch/french name. In english you would have to pronounce it as "rogaayke". I told him about my frustrations about my drawings and he replied that once, he too felt similar emotions, although a tad different. He explained that when he was a larva, the other beetles picked upon him cause his state of being a larva went on for much longer than normal. He was told that he'd never become a leader of the group and should just give up on trying to reach his next state. "You wouldn't believe how much concentration it takes to transform into your next evolutionary level." spoke my small visitor. All he wanted was to be a protector for everybody in the whole treetrunk. When his transition to a full fledged bug stayed out he was even labeled as an adhd-er by his own parents and taken to "special school", where under achieving larvas were taken to prepare a life as a separator. Separators do nothing more then separate the good and rotten leaves for the community all day. Feeling miserable about his point in life and knowing he could be more, every night he began training in his little room. Concentration was key, so he took down his poster of LoreBello, t fro ime, and closed his eyes whispering to himself "I can be more, I can be more" 'till he forgot the world around him. Each passing moon he felt closer to his purpose, ignoring the comments from his family that only disappointment would come from striving for more.

Time moved on and there was one day coming nearer which he thought about with aversion. It was the yearly beetle-ball. That evening all the beetles came together to dance, have fun and to find romance. But not for him. How cold a larva ever dance? From his window he saw the festivity taking place wishing he could be part of it. That moment further cemented his belief he should try harder to becoming what he wanted to be. His nightly ritual continued for a long time until one moment, when he had almost given up hope, he started to shake all over. Uncontrollable his body bursted through his outer layer, breaking down the walls around him, his head smashing against the crumbling ceiling. When he opened his eyes he saw his parents at his feet, looking up in awe. He was transformed into one of the biggest and strongest bugs they ever saw. No one ever dared to tell him he couldn't be what he wanted anymore. The mayor officially gave him the title of protector soon after. Our little big bug even started a school to help other larvas who had the same problem as he once had, and selling instructional dvd's for insect who lived too far away. So you see, he said, you can't stop with believing in yourself and the only way to improve is to work hard, succes never comes for granted. I thanked him for this inspirational story and asked where he was heading now and answered me: "I'm going to see LoreBello now, I'm almost too late for my date because of you!"

Then I thought, "Hey, this bug is alright", said goobye and let him continue his way.

See you next time rogaayke.

This weeks music is brand new. What we have here is part of an album release from aids awareness organisation Red Hot, who have released albums before, but has this time contacted artists all over the world to do covers of the great african legend Fela Kuti. While the original song "Trouble Sleep"is fine by itself, the version My Morning Jacket created is also 14 minutes of pure bliss.

I have to admit that the quality of the upload isn't perfect, but it's the best I could get my hands on for now. I'll update the link if I find a better version.

And now just shut up and enjoy.

                                                  My Morning Jacket - Trouble Sleep

                                               

Fighting the mind

How do you go about getting yourself in a good state of mind? This is something you have to learn when doing endurance sports. People who go jogging probably understand what I mean. As many people forget, besides the obvious fysical workout, it's also a mental sport. Actually, I think it's even the hardest part about it. With a good condition but a bad wave of thoughts you'll have a hard time going very far.
Now, when I go running, almost everyone wears earplugs blasting their favourite music. A good way of keeping the mind in a happy mood and distract yourself from the signals that your tired body is sending you. For a long time I did this myself and was even setting up playlist with the perfect rhythm to run on. Saturday Night from Elton John was perfect for this! This went good for a while but I also noticed that after an hour + running, when I pulled out my earplugs it always felt like an oasis of calmness came over me. In the end I even looked forward to the moment I turned off the music and could let the quiet sink in. This is of course, if you can run in non crowded places. At that point I decided I should try jogging without music at all and just enjoy the scenery and sounds of the surroundings.

By doing that you also cancel all the distraction that music gives and you're stuck with only your own thougths. I heard from others not everyone can cope with silence that well. Like when they don't have some noise around, only hearing themselves or voices from memories, they start thinking themselves into a depression. Lucky for me I can easily evade such lines of thoughts. But anyway, now you only have yourself to keep you going. After about 15 kilometres it can get a bit hard to not think about some point of pain in your feet or the distance still in front of you, so at that point it's case to be your own best friend. Not so easy! Start thinking about things that make you happy. Your plans for the weekend, a significant other, that big fish that you know is somewhere in the pond and you're gonna catch for sure next time, whatever gives you energy. What I do mostly is dreaming up small stories like the one you can read two posts below. Simply running is a great way to get inspiration, it's pure free time with no distractions. It's not like you have much else to do until you finish. It's great when you, after a while, start getting "in the zone", a sort of trance, and forget you're even training and feel that you can go on for hours. This doens't happen every time unfortunatley. Sometimes what also works is just not thinking.......at all. Only focus on your breath and keep going.
Granted, when you arrive back home covered in dirt, the taste of grass in your mouth and two days have passed since you started, it's time to stop shuting down your brain while running.

Another thing I enjoyed about jogging without music is that I'm better aware of what's around me. It could be coincidense (I think not) but I've seen much more wild animals than before. Rabbits, owls, bats, squirrels and even deers, which is pretty cool. And during winter when everything is covered in snow it's just such a nice sound hearing nothing else than the snow cracking under your feet.

The thing is, you can't enjoy silence without being exposed to sounds first. So blast your ears for now, but try to embrace the silence afterwards.

Oh, and a bonus pic, you remember the small creation made of cat bones and clay I took to the forest a few weeks ago? This is what the head of the cat looks like:

What would you say about some jazz this week? I've chosen for something from Marva Josie. She has sang for two presidents in the white house in her lifetime so you can't call her very "underground". She has a big repertoire, but for me there is one piece that sticks out. "He does it better" is not one of her better known songs, I believe it's one of her best though.

And now just shut up and enjoy.

                                                Marva Josie - He Does It Better