Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

I should probably start this of by mentioning that I worship pretty much anything I've seen from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli so the amount of bias you're about to read cannot be classified as a proper review. On the other hand I will also not deny that I am a very casual Miyazaki fan in that I don't really know anything about the man except that he is the mind behind some of my favorite animated films. Hell, make that favorite films period. Classic works of animation such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke are the ones that come to mind in an instance, and are only the tip of the iceberg because there are many more such classics. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that there was a new Miyazaki film coming but I was still taken quite a bit by surprise when I saw the ads downtown for the new film Ponyo. They were actually going to play it in Swedish cinemas (!) and it didn't take me long to decide that I was going to finally see a Miyazaki film on the big screen.

Best Game Developer Diary Ever Made

Stumbled upon this hilarious but pretty pointless developer diary for the upcoming game Borderlands by Gearbox. It's clear that the chaps at Gearbox have spent more time browsing YouTube for funny videos this summer rather than actually using this dev diary to tell us anything about the making of the game. The whole video is clearly a reference to the clips of Christian Bale going apeshit on the Terminator Salvation set that surfaced a while back. Hopefully Christian Bale will take this video in good humor but it's more likely that he'll be really really crazy pissed off. Hopefully he won't resort to the chainsaw as in American Psycho because it would be a shame to see another developer close their doors. =)

Microsoft Marketing Über Alles!

The new "We Are ODST" ad above for Halo: ODST is another confirmation on what I have been saying since the start of this gen; the people at Microsoft's marketing department know their shit. I remember the initial Xbox 360 TV-ads and how unique and hip they were with the amazing slogan of "Jump in!" but the real works of advertising genius were in my opinion the "Starry Night" and "Believe" ads that were made for Halo 3. These ad were not game ads per say since no gameplay was actually shown and many people complained about this but what those people didn't understand is that these guys at Microsoft were not interested in the game per say - they were instead interested in myth-making. This approach worked too since Halo 3 is among the highest selling console exclusives this generation with 10 million units sold and going, these numbers can only be achieved if you managed to penetrate the mainstream.

The slogan "Finish the Fight" is among the strongest and most subtle ways to confront the consumers. I personally have missed the whole Halo spectacle and not finished any of the games - since I think the games are pretty sucky except the first - but even I feel a sensation that I should go and finish the fight when I see these ads. It doesn't end there, the "Believe" ads compliment this idea that you need to do what is needed as Master Chief by telling different stories from old veterans about Master Chief and how they were waiting for him and how he was their only hope. Once again the ads urge you to go and become Master Chief or all these old soldiers will not be alive unless you finish the fight. Like I mentioned all of this is simple myth-making; taking a few strong and emotional cues and repeating them over and over until they become almost myths within society. Brilliant marketing in other words or you could even call it Joseph Goebbels' inspired propaganda.

Now we have the "We Are ODST" ad which once again shows off the supremacy of Microsoft marketing compared to say Sony or Nintendo. Here they're building a war movie mentality of the squad and how sacred it is, the fall of brothers in arms and how the end of a battle is a start of yet another. All with extremely high production values that really get your blood pumping and have more in common with a Hollywood production rather than a game. All of this makes me suspect that Don Draper from Mad Men is working at Microsoft's marketing department. I mean the level of money, talent and heart put into these ads is not something you see every day in game commercials so it really stand out. It is also an important indication that gaming as an industry is going forward and being taken more seriously, these quality ads don't come cheap. Below I linked to my favorite Halo ads to showcase my point in that these marketing guys and girls at Microsoft get it.

"Starry Night" Trailer
"The Hunted" TV Commerical
"Gravesite" TV Commerical
"Believe" - TV Commercial

The Mysterious Pop of Andrew Bird

I don't really know much about Andrew Bird except that he's a Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and whistler. That's pretty much all I know about him and all of that I've read on his website a while back. On the other hand what I do know well is that he's probably my favorite active singer/songwriter today with great masterpiece pop albums such as The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Armchair Apocrypha and the most recent Noble Beast and I've spun all of them today in a rally to find pure pop bliss. I succeeded.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, simply calling Andrew Bird's music as "pop" is kind of an understatement and it's really hard for me to describe Andrew Bird's music but I usually go with; pure pop bliss mixed with tons of weird quirky lyrics as the main pillars of it, all packaged with pure charm and talent. Let's be frank, great pop is hard to come by these days, especially pop as ambitious as what Andrew Bird is accomplishing with pretty much every album. It's catchy and full of melodies but it's so quirky and weird at the same time, ultimately it's just beautiful music.

The Mysterious Production of Eggs is definitely his best album that I have in my collection and that is where I suggest anyone starts if they have any interest in checking out Andrew Bird, that's where I started and was completely blown away. Still I wouldn't disqualify any of the other albums since all of them are pretty great in their own way and should be heard by anyone who appreciated great catchy pop music with a coat of quirkiness. I'm personally off to once again sink myself into the strange world of Andrew Bird and his beautiful music.

The Amazing Art of Beatles Rock Band

This game holds absolutely no interest to me and I can never see myself buying a Rock Band game and playing with those silly plastic instrument. I tried it once in a store and felt like I went full retard. There was absolutely no connection between me and gameplay. I'm not saying that these games are absolutely horrible, I can somewhat understand the appeal of music games for the average Joe. My main problem with the current music games is the huge amount of rehash that is happening in the genre and I can see it very well ending up in the horrid state that milkage left the Tony Hawk games for example.

So when I heard about a Beatles Rock Band I felt like a part of me had died - for future reference here is me dying inside - considering I've been a fan of The Beatles for a long time and didn't want to see their brand and great music soiled by a game series and genre on the decline when it comes to creativity and quality. Not many things are sacred to me but Beatles happens to be one of those few things, I simply did not want to see lifeless doll-like Beatles made "hip" for the average Joe of gaming and in the process losing all the soul that the band possessed.