Hmm, forgot I made this. Oh well, might as well update while I have something on my mind.
First off, been doing some shopping over the weekend for some hot Dieselpunk attire, which accumulates to me going to goodwill and buying some old dress clothes. Still, I look pretty damn sexy.
You might be asking yourself: What is Diesel Punk? Why are dressed like a total gangster from the 1920s? Where did you get that Fedora?
Well, that's not a Fedora, it's a Trilby.
I was actually corrected on that fact just recently. You learn new things everyday.
Anyway, dieselpunk is a derivative of Cyberpunk, much like Steampunk is. It's all about modernizing the Diesel era, most notably the 1920's to the 1940's. It's slightly different from Steampunk, however, as it's not about taking modern or sci-fi technology and translating it into a Victorian "steam-esque" motif, but more about taking the technology of the Diesel era and translating it into a modern setting. I know that doesn't sound that much different, but it's kind of hard to explain without making a huge page about it. The only thing you need to know about it, though, is that it's about self expression and creativity, which makes it a fucking win in my book.
I mean, it is like its own art form in a way. I love it. I'll be sure to post more to my empty part of the internet where nobody watches as I find more things to show off...to nobody...
Anyway, I do have something I'd like to talk about - A subject that was brought to my attention when I was watching one of Asaliari's videos. (As explained earlier, he reviews online reviewers.)
He called attention to a man that goes by the "RPG Fanatic" on youtube. He reviews RPG's and talks about RPG related subjects. This would be cool for me, if it didn't turn out that the guy is as pompous as they get.
There's a guy named Roo whose on Blistered Thumbs, (I believe, anyway) who did a game review and mentioned JRPG's (Japanese Role Playing Games), and gave his opinion on how this is a valid term for Japanese born RPGs. The RPG fanatic (I'll just call him Jfreedan from now on.) seems to have felt this video was somehow a personal attack against him, and made 20 minute rant rebuttal to this Roo's 5 minute segment on the subject. Here's J's video, although you might want to make sure you're adblocker is on, as his videos are full of ads.
In this rant, he proceeds to get his viewpoint across in the most childish way possible. Not only acting as if he is the authority on RPG's, but even managed to call Roo a racist. This video created a small shit storm when Asa stepped in and decided to not only make one, but two videos dedicated to Jfreedan and his antics.
This is the second video by Asa. I prefer this video because he cut the humor and decided to get straight down to business. Not that I don't think the guy can be funny on occasion, but when you're calling someone out, I believe you have to take a more serious approach.
At first, I thought Jfreedan might have just overreacted a bit when making his video. I figured they would have talked everything out privately and moved on. - That's not the case. He ended up spamming and throwing mud at Asa almost hours after the video was released, and then proceeded to block all of Asa's accounts, along with many other people he believed were "trolling him". Really, J? Really?
After doing some..er.."research" (Provided by Asa in the video above), I noticed that this guy doesn't take criticism very well. In fact, he can't even admit to being wrong to anything. Let me give you an example from a forum he frequents, "Henshinjustice":
"Well all of my money is going toward my own project and otherwise, to be perfectly honest, based on the stuff you have to show I'm not convinced that $6000 is what you need. My opinion is that you should try and scale your ambitions back and focus on being as creative as possible within the limits of a considerably smaller budget.
Those are my thoughts, at least." - HSJ user giving J some advice.
"...As for scaling back ambitions, modern audiences have big expectations, and there are plenty of threads in this forum that prove that. And you can't just run around filming in a city, because if you gain any notoriety later the city and store front owners will sue you for having filmed without a permit / agreement..." -Jfreedan, rebutting
"What I was trying to say - and I'm struggling to find a way to say it without coming across as offensive - is that I don't think your proof-of-concept is up to snuff. At least not enough to move up to a $6000 budget, anyway. When I say scale back on your ambitions I mean put this project on hold and work on making a better proof-of-concept short. Make a ten-minute short that shows off the tightest script, slickest editing, and most eye-popping effects you can muster and THEN ask people for $6000 for your feature.
Again, that's my opinion." -That same user.
Basically, J wants to make a Tokusatsu webseries, and was trying to raise 6000$ to do so. This user, and others on the forum, said that he should scale down his ambitions or put this project on hold until he has something to showcase his talent. Apparently, J took this as an offense, and he spiraled the thread into the gutter. You don't have to take my word for it, though. Here is the thread in question.
"Continuing to insist I should do something else is incredibly silly because you don't have any basis to make that judgment call. Insisting that I need to learn to tell stories when you have very little to go on concerning my story-telling ability is also silly because you have no basis to make that judgment call."
Here is Jfreedan not understanding the advice given to him by his peers. They say something along the lines of "Hey, you should put yourself out there and show you have talent before you ask people for money", but he apparently thinks they're stepping on his ego, and he doesn't like that. The point they were trying to make was that you have nothing to show that you have the talent to pull off what you're wanting to do. Please show us before you beg for our money like a fucking hobo.
I swear, this guy either has a thick head, or he just doesn't want to admit to his wrongs. The latter might be evidence, because he decided to lower the price from 6000 to 1000 for his shitty little project.
This is what J considers "showing his viewers" his "talents". Aside from the fact that this story board is complete shit, there's nothing to show that he has any real understanding of cinematography, acting, or directing at a practical scale. All we get from this is that he probably doesn't know how to tell a story.
How he can even consider this as a means of showing himself off is beyond me. I can't knock it too much, I guess. He did raise the money. (Then again, Twilight is a multi million dollar franchise now, so I shouldn't be too surprised.)
But I'd like to digress a bit and talk about the subject that got me posting this, which is if JRPG is a valid term to classify RPGs.
Honestly, I've been around gaming since I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were peeing on my brother's NES (Sorry, nate), and growing up, I was either on the computer, or a console. Thing is, I've always called games by their most base genres - RPGs, FPS, Puzzle, Adventure, etc. only deviating from that for certain games like Mass Effect (RPG shooter) or MMORPGs.(Which is more of a general genre now than a subgenre, it seems.) This is what I do, and what my friends do. We've no need for complicated terms like "Sandbox static nonlinear RPG".
So, when I first heard of this argument, I thought to myself "Does this even really matter?". But I guess if you want to get technical, they have their purpose.
When I hear Jfreedan's argument, it does kind of make sense. Basing games on their gameplay mechanics seems to make a lot more sense than lumping a whole bunch of games together in what could be considered a broad genre. Then again, Japanese culture, storytelling, and general aesthetics make their games just feel different from Western games, which gives the term validity in a sense.
Either way, it doesn't really matter to me. Dragon Age is an RPG to me just as FF13 is an RPG to me. I mean, I tried defending Asa and Roo's take on the subject, but I have no interest in it. Especially when I think that J's argument might hold ground if he wasn't such a pompous little prick.
Which is what this is really about: Jfreedan is a prick. Plain and simple. From what I've seen, the man can't take criticism, can't admit to his wrongs, and I believe his inflated ego is the prime cause of this.
But Jfreedan, if you ever manage to come to my little blog in the middle of nowhere, I have some advice for you. It's okay, I'm here for you, buddy.
First of all, learn to stop taking games so seriously. Yeah, I get it, you want them to be represented as an art form, but they're main purpose is for entertainment. Take it from someone who spent much of his childhood and school years in art classes - you don't need to take it as seriously as you do, and the last thing the gaming community needs is another asshole.
Second, learn to take a step back and listen to what your peers have to say. The people at HSJ were only trying to help, and you ended up insulting their work and second guessing their experience when you yourself have shown absolutely nothing that would qualify yourself as a serious and talented filmmaker. No, your silly reviews don't count.
Third, take down this video:
All this video has managed to do is show that you think scaring 3 year olds is A-OKAY! If I were the father in that video, you would have received a very serious ass beating.
Fourth, stop acting like you made the movement against the JRPG term. You didn't. You didn't even make it popular. In fact, it's not even that popular. I think that's proof enough that no one gives a shit.
If you feel that JRPG shouldn't be used, that's cool, more power to you, but when you prance around like a knight and make 20 minute rant videos to people who weren't even talking to you, then you just come off as a dick.
Fifth, as to not further sully your already deteriorating reputation, you should make a public apology to Roo, Asa, and all of the people who you've pissed off within the past few months on HSJ. Learn to admit your wrongs, and you'll be a better person. Nobody likes a know it all.
Sixth, Give up Death Ninja GKaiser whatever. That shit is weak, son. I'm sorry, I'm not usually a straight forward prick, but really? That's what you want to do? You go around all over the internet talking about how you're a "storyteller" and how you want to "create a vast story", yet all you muster up is a scene with a shitty Monarch rip off and a reference to the Wizard which was old when the Nostalgia Critic did it? Please. I've written better shit than you, and I don't even update my comic near enough for people to have a grasp of where my story is going.
That's not even the worst part - the script in general is just terrible. Please, either rewrite that crap or just throw it away.
Now, I can fully admit to being hypocritical here - I'm usually all about constructive criticism. So, I'll be a little more constructive:
- The dialog is very poorly thought out and it flows terribly. Clunky sentences like "LSD? IS THAT WHAT UR ON?!?" just doesn't sound right coming out.
-Names like "The Legion of Spooky Doom" and "Dark Shanobi" sound like you asked some random 8 year old to give you some ideas. It doesn't give any weight to the claims of your suppose "awesome writing ability" you like to brag about. Try revising the names a little so as to not seem like you're going to your local elementary school for ideas.
The only thing I could find that was even remotely clever was the Microsoft reference, which makes me assume you're a macfag. I think this is very contradictory to your claims of being a gamer, as the Mac has shit for games. But that's just my opinion.
I know, it's a 5 minute segment of an uncompleted script, but if this is basis of what you want to show to the world, I don't think you'll have a future in film making...unless you get hired to direct Cats and Dogs 3 or something...
Anyway, you (the unfortunate soul who sat through this) might be thinking, "Hey Topher, why do you gotta be a dick? It's not like you've done anything good either". Very astute, imaginary viewer. The thing is, I don't claim to have, and I certain don't hold myself in such high regard to think I'm any better at doing what I love to do than the next person who loves to do what I do. (Which is drawing and writing.)
Truth is, if I can make something that entertains, then I think I've done my job. If people can show me ways to improve, than awesome. Give me advice. Knock my ass down from my high chair, so I can build a sturdier chair.
As I've linked my Deviant art channel here already, I guess I can post the premise to greys here for those to scrutinize (Even you, Jfreedan!) Here you go, and enjoy:
"Greys is a science fiction satire that centers around the strange lives of Ahmu and Zeb, two aliens from the Zeta Reticuli star system whose mission on Earth is to observe and obtain samples, but not to interfere. This becomes complicated, however, when some of their subjects have gone missing, and the only way to uncover the mystery is to go to Earth themselves and investigate. Throughout their adventures, they meet an FBI agent with strange powers, a crazed Russian farmer, and Nikola Tesla.
The humor in Greys is centered around Alien and abduction pop culture, and references to real life accounts to supposed abductions, conspiracy theories, and alleged paranormal phenomenon."
And there you have it. Greys in a nutshell. It's not my main project, and it's certainly not updated as much as I want it to be, but it is, what it is.
And on that note, I'm gonna stop this here. I'm tired, and I have some things to do before I get ready for work tomorrow.
First off, been doing some shopping over the weekend for some hot Dieselpunk attire, which accumulates to me going to goodwill and buying some old dress clothes. Still, I look pretty damn sexy.
You might be asking yourself: What is Diesel Punk? Why are dressed like a total gangster from the 1920s? Where did you get that Fedora?
 |
| STYLIN, and possibly high. |
I was actually corrected on that fact just recently. You learn new things everyday.
Anyway, dieselpunk is a derivative of Cyberpunk, much like Steampunk is. It's all about modernizing the Diesel era, most notably the 1920's to the 1940's. It's slightly different from Steampunk, however, as it's not about taking modern or sci-fi technology and translating it into a Victorian "steam-esque" motif, but more about taking the technology of the Diesel era and translating it into a modern setting. I know that doesn't sound that much different, but it's kind of hard to explain without making a huge page about it. The only thing you need to know about it, though, is that it's about self expression and creativity, which makes it a fucking win in my book.
I mean, it is like its own art form in a way. I love it. I'll be sure to post more to my empty part of the internet where nobody watches as I find more things to show off...to nobody...
Anyway, I do have something I'd like to talk about - A subject that was brought to my attention when I was watching one of Asaliari's videos. (As explained earlier, he reviews online reviewers.)
He called attention to a man that goes by the "RPG Fanatic" on youtube. He reviews RPG's and talks about RPG related subjects. This would be cool for me, if it didn't turn out that the guy is as pompous as they get.
There's a guy named Roo whose on Blistered Thumbs, (I believe, anyway) who did a game review and mentioned JRPG's (Japanese Role Playing Games), and gave his opinion on how this is a valid term for Japanese born RPGs. The RPG fanatic (I'll just call him Jfreedan from now on.) seems to have felt this video was somehow a personal attack against him, and made 20 minute rant rebuttal to this Roo's 5 minute segment on the subject. Here's J's video, although you might want to make sure you're adblocker is on, as his videos are full of ads.
In this rant, he proceeds to get his viewpoint across in the most childish way possible. Not only acting as if he is the authority on RPG's, but even managed to call Roo a racist. This video created a small shit storm when Asa stepped in and decided to not only make one, but two videos dedicated to Jfreedan and his antics.
This is the second video by Asa. I prefer this video because he cut the humor and decided to get straight down to business. Not that I don't think the guy can be funny on occasion, but when you're calling someone out, I believe you have to take a more serious approach.
At first, I thought Jfreedan might have just overreacted a bit when making his video. I figured they would have talked everything out privately and moved on. - That's not the case. He ended up spamming and throwing mud at Asa almost hours after the video was released, and then proceeded to block all of Asa's accounts, along with many other people he believed were "trolling him". Really, J? Really?
After doing some..er.."research" (Provided by Asa in the video above), I noticed that this guy doesn't take criticism very well. In fact, he can't even admit to being wrong to anything. Let me give you an example from a forum he frequents, "Henshinjustice":
"Well all of my money is going toward my own project and otherwise, to be perfectly honest, based on the stuff you have to show I'm not convinced that $6000 is what you need. My opinion is that you should try and scale your ambitions back and focus on being as creative as possible within the limits of a considerably smaller budget.
Those are my thoughts, at least." - HSJ user giving J some advice.
"...As for scaling back ambitions, modern audiences have big expectations, and there are plenty of threads in this forum that prove that. And you can't just run around filming in a city, because if you gain any notoriety later the city and store front owners will sue you for having filmed without a permit / agreement..." -Jfreedan, rebutting
"What I was trying to say - and I'm struggling to find a way to say it without coming across as offensive - is that I don't think your proof-of-concept is up to snuff. At least not enough to move up to a $6000 budget, anyway. When I say scale back on your ambitions I mean put this project on hold and work on making a better proof-of-concept short. Make a ten-minute short that shows off the tightest script, slickest editing, and most eye-popping effects you can muster and THEN ask people for $6000 for your feature.
Again, that's my opinion." -That same user.
Basically, J wants to make a Tokusatsu webseries, and was trying to raise 6000$ to do so. This user, and others on the forum, said that he should scale down his ambitions or put this project on hold until he has something to showcase his talent. Apparently, J took this as an offense, and he spiraled the thread into the gutter. You don't have to take my word for it, though. Here is the thread in question.
"Continuing to insist I should do something else is incredibly silly because you don't have any basis to make that judgment call. Insisting that I need to learn to tell stories when you have very little to go on concerning my story-telling ability is also silly because you have no basis to make that judgment call."
Here is Jfreedan not understanding the advice given to him by his peers. They say something along the lines of "Hey, you should put yourself out there and show you have talent before you ask people for money", but he apparently thinks they're stepping on his ego, and he doesn't like that. The point they were trying to make was that you have nothing to show that you have the talent to pull off what you're wanting to do. Please show us before you beg for our money like a fucking hobo.
I swear, this guy either has a thick head, or he just doesn't want to admit to his wrongs. The latter might be evidence, because he decided to lower the price from 6000 to 1000 for his shitty little project.
This is what J considers "showing his viewers" his "talents". Aside from the fact that this story board is complete shit, there's nothing to show that he has any real understanding of cinematography, acting, or directing at a practical scale. All we get from this is that he probably doesn't know how to tell a story.
How he can even consider this as a means of showing himself off is beyond me. I can't knock it too much, I guess. He did raise the money. (Then again, Twilight is a multi million dollar franchise now, so I shouldn't be too surprised.)
But I'd like to digress a bit and talk about the subject that got me posting this, which is if JRPG is a valid term to classify RPGs.
Honestly, I've been around gaming since I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were peeing on my brother's NES (Sorry, nate), and growing up, I was either on the computer, or a console. Thing is, I've always called games by their most base genres - RPGs, FPS, Puzzle, Adventure, etc. only deviating from that for certain games like Mass Effect (RPG shooter) or MMORPGs.(Which is more of a general genre now than a subgenre, it seems.) This is what I do, and what my friends do. We've no need for complicated terms like "Sandbox static nonlinear RPG".
So, when I first heard of this argument, I thought to myself "Does this even really matter?". But I guess if you want to get technical, they have their purpose.
When I hear Jfreedan's argument, it does kind of make sense. Basing games on their gameplay mechanics seems to make a lot more sense than lumping a whole bunch of games together in what could be considered a broad genre. Then again, Japanese culture, storytelling, and general aesthetics make their games just feel different from Western games, which gives the term validity in a sense.
Either way, it doesn't really matter to me. Dragon Age is an RPG to me just as FF13 is an RPG to me. I mean, I tried defending Asa and Roo's take on the subject, but I have no interest in it. Especially when I think that J's argument might hold ground if he wasn't such a pompous little prick.
Which is what this is really about: Jfreedan is a prick. Plain and simple. From what I've seen, the man can't take criticism, can't admit to his wrongs, and I believe his inflated ego is the prime cause of this.
But Jfreedan, if you ever manage to come to my little blog in the middle of nowhere, I have some advice for you. It's okay, I'm here for you, buddy.
First of all, learn to stop taking games so seriously. Yeah, I get it, you want them to be represented as an art form, but they're main purpose is for entertainment. Take it from someone who spent much of his childhood and school years in art classes - you don't need to take it as seriously as you do, and the last thing the gaming community needs is another asshole.
Second, learn to take a step back and listen to what your peers have to say. The people at HSJ were only trying to help, and you ended up insulting their work and second guessing their experience when you yourself have shown absolutely nothing that would qualify yourself as a serious and talented filmmaker. No, your silly reviews don't count.
Third, take down this video:
All this video has managed to do is show that you think scaring 3 year olds is A-OKAY! If I were the father in that video, you would have received a very serious ass beating.
Fourth, stop acting like you made the movement against the JRPG term. You didn't. You didn't even make it popular. In fact, it's not even that popular. I think that's proof enough that no one gives a shit.
If you feel that JRPG shouldn't be used, that's cool, more power to you, but when you prance around like a knight and make 20 minute rant videos to people who weren't even talking to you, then you just come off as a dick.
Fifth, as to not further sully your already deteriorating reputation, you should make a public apology to Roo, Asa, and all of the people who you've pissed off within the past few months on HSJ. Learn to admit your wrongs, and you'll be a better person. Nobody likes a know it all.
Sixth, Give up Death Ninja GKaiser whatever. That shit is weak, son. I'm sorry, I'm not usually a straight forward prick, but really? That's what you want to do? You go around all over the internet talking about how you're a "storyteller" and how you want to "create a vast story", yet all you muster up is a scene with a shitty Monarch rip off and a reference to the Wizard which was old when the Nostalgia Critic did it? Please. I've written better shit than you, and I don't even update my comic near enough for people to have a grasp of where my story is going.
That's not even the worst part - the script in general is just terrible. Please, either rewrite that crap or just throw it away.
Now, I can fully admit to being hypocritical here - I'm usually all about constructive criticism. So, I'll be a little more constructive:
- The dialog is very poorly thought out and it flows terribly. Clunky sentences like "LSD? IS THAT WHAT UR ON?!?" just doesn't sound right coming out.
-Names like "The Legion of Spooky Doom" and "Dark Shanobi" sound like you asked some random 8 year old to give you some ideas. It doesn't give any weight to the claims of your suppose "awesome writing ability" you like to brag about. Try revising the names a little so as to not seem like you're going to your local elementary school for ideas.
The only thing I could find that was even remotely clever was the Microsoft reference, which makes me assume you're a macfag. I think this is very contradictory to your claims of being a gamer, as the Mac has shit for games. But that's just my opinion.
I know, it's a 5 minute segment of an uncompleted script, but if this is basis of what you want to show to the world, I don't think you'll have a future in film making...unless you get hired to direct Cats and Dogs 3 or something...
Anyway, you (the unfortunate soul who sat through this) might be thinking, "Hey Topher, why do you gotta be a dick? It's not like you've done anything good either". Very astute, imaginary viewer. The thing is, I don't claim to have, and I certain don't hold myself in such high regard to think I'm any better at doing what I love to do than the next person who loves to do what I do. (Which is drawing and writing.)
Truth is, if I can make something that entertains, then I think I've done my job. If people can show me ways to improve, than awesome. Give me advice. Knock my ass down from my high chair, so I can build a sturdier chair.
As I've linked my Deviant art channel here already, I guess I can post the premise to greys here for those to scrutinize (Even you, Jfreedan!) Here you go, and enjoy:
"Greys is a science fiction satire that centers around the strange lives of Ahmu and Zeb, two aliens from the Zeta Reticuli star system whose mission on Earth is to observe and obtain samples, but not to interfere. This becomes complicated, however, when some of their subjects have gone missing, and the only way to uncover the mystery is to go to Earth themselves and investigate. Throughout their adventures, they meet an FBI agent with strange powers, a crazed Russian farmer, and Nikola Tesla.
The humor in Greys is centered around Alien and abduction pop culture, and references to real life accounts to supposed abductions, conspiracy theories, and alleged paranormal phenomenon."
And there you have it. Greys in a nutshell. It's not my main project, and it's certainly not updated as much as I want it to be, but it is, what it is.
And on that note, I'm gonna stop this here. I'm tired, and I have some things to do before I get ready for work tomorrow.
Hey, wow, you quoted me! That thread on HJU was a ton of fun, let me tell you! I'm not going to say the films I have available now are totally amazing in every way but I don't feel bad in saying how totally hilarious it was to be told that nothing I had ever done ever was anywhere near as great as his video game reviews.
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