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Movies, gaming, and storytelling
May. 8th, 2004 04:24 amKill Bill Vol. 2 (aka Still Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2: Kill Biller) didn't piss me off nearly as much as the first one did. I don't think it's a good movie, exactly, but it's a hell of a lot better. For one thing, the violence doesn't go from shocking to nauseating to comical to stupid. I think.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I avoided it for a long time because of life events, but I'm glad I got a chance to pay money for it in the theaters and drive up its box office. I want to encourage the making of films like that.
Charlie Kaufman and Joss Whedon (when Joss isn't blocked up beyond all recovery) are writers I have a complicated relationship with. I watch what they do, and I think, damn, I should have thought of that. But I also think, I never would have done that in a million years. There's admiration, and a kind of worshipful envy. I don't begrudge their successes.
With a lot of other writers, I have a reaction closer to, yes, that's how it should go. I respect their craftsmanship, but nothing really surprises me. Joss and Kaufman make me realize how much more is possible than what I would first think of to do.
A lot of my storytelling skill (such as it is) comes from role-playing games. I know how to construct and complicate an adventure plot, how to foreshadow, and a certain amount of how to use little details to stand in for big things. But an RPG is still a limited literary form that doesn't deal well with, well, themes. It's collaborative in a way that discourages them.
( Being John Malkovich spoilers )
I really can't decide if I want to finish my dissertation or take another crack at trying to be a writer. The prospect of working with someone like Joss Whedon makes TV writing seem enormously tempting.
P.S. I keep reading that Fight Club wasn't a good movie, most recently in an Angel recap. I admit it doesn't break new philosophical ground, but it changed my life. And a movie that changed my life has to have something to it.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I avoided it for a long time because of life events, but I'm glad I got a chance to pay money for it in the theaters and drive up its box office. I want to encourage the making of films like that.
Charlie Kaufman and Joss Whedon (when Joss isn't blocked up beyond all recovery) are writers I have a complicated relationship with. I watch what they do, and I think, damn, I should have thought of that. But I also think, I never would have done that in a million years. There's admiration, and a kind of worshipful envy. I don't begrudge their successes.
With a lot of other writers, I have a reaction closer to, yes, that's how it should go. I respect their craftsmanship, but nothing really surprises me. Joss and Kaufman make me realize how much more is possible than what I would first think of to do.
A lot of my storytelling skill (such as it is) comes from role-playing games. I know how to construct and complicate an adventure plot, how to foreshadow, and a certain amount of how to use little details to stand in for big things. But an RPG is still a limited literary form that doesn't deal well with, well, themes. It's collaborative in a way that discourages them.
( Being John Malkovich spoilers )
I really can't decide if I want to finish my dissertation or take another crack at trying to be a writer. The prospect of working with someone like Joss Whedon makes TV writing seem enormously tempting.
P.S. I keep reading that Fight Club wasn't a good movie, most recently in an Angel recap. I admit it doesn't break new philosophical ground, but it changed my life. And a movie that changed my life has to have something to it.
