tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38623195157021175672024-03-05T17:05:25.530-06:00Jordan Minor's Obligatory BlogJMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.comBlogger307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-85580078575661438322022-11-23T14:12:00.001-06:002022-11-23T14:12:14.042-06:00Pre-Order VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR!<p> <span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pre-Order VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR!</span></p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
My video game history book, VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR, is out next year. It’s full of my opinionated critical essays about the best, boldest, and most bizarre video games from 1977 to 2022. Check it out! </span><div><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/video-game-of-the-year_9781419762055/">https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/video-game-of-the-year_9781419762055/</a></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQzBcKSp0iUZC09CTVzBUbovej0o7Y4ekChGyeQqn84QexWOzqEpCtcwhtisJR3bjWknAx2FMjHPS3WNwFmQ6w389Jgdx5wW4sAcuNg2Xn-Gd3w6k5Nn6GkQCuam1Nl70mgF3jXQVH66wc_mNiMG7yUi-yoHxpKWuZNbDQwHtVP50DknwyNO-UgKa/s900/VGY_cover_072622.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQzBcKSp0iUZC09CTVzBUbovej0o7Y4ekChGyeQqn84QexWOzqEpCtcwhtisJR3bjWknAx2FMjHPS3WNwFmQ6w389Jgdx5wW4sAcuNg2Xn-Gd3w6k5Nn6GkQCuam1Nl70mgF3jXQVH66wc_mNiMG7yUi-yoHxpKWuZNbDQwHtVP50DknwyNO-UgKa/s320/VGY_cover_072622.png" width="267" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-16229823104973890082021-12-13T13:09:00.001-06:002021-12-13T13:09:14.969-06:00I'm Writing a Book!<p> I'm writing a book! That seems like the kind of thing I should put on my blog.</p><p>Details below!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGVo4mGNQHcPmVJoPLqZXReDLnRsj_M_YigKE8bEOF7u7uew72lH_18gibpBg1MzJFkdVTPc_GjvMH9pXcrjoBsW6MsC0qqYKpr1EJhJMC3S_gcwcjR2yYXwye26fgJ3hktA_6aKDqasg2yBWKs20-ybgJgnrjfFvElfhe2ucJdiejVUU9zkrEP7R7=s600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGVo4mGNQHcPmVJoPLqZXReDLnRsj_M_YigKE8bEOF7u7uew72lH_18gibpBg1MzJFkdVTPc_GjvMH9pXcrjoBsW6MsC0qqYKpr1EJhJMC3S_gcwcjR2yYXwye26fgJ3hktA_6aKDqasg2yBWKs20-ybgJgnrjfFvElfhe2ucJdiejVUU9zkrEP7R7=w564-h180" width="564" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-47038083166489818272017-01-22T20:13:00.003-06:002017-01-22T20:13:42.526-06:00Of Art And Oven Mitts: The Death And Life Of Followers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO3qqkdpNuen2eYcUuQAAr5x_QnU5PBr3J1QuhkdA8FaELKpqOxEEL1F9d3jI7LHitZhaJbirXpkkZ_apAZjkbsJO6XXkSQ2I1kdxcVFVtrBURWO99FLmzSokZjvPzgPtkgD0sPRL5mw/s1600/IMG_0041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO3qqkdpNuen2eYcUuQAAr5x_QnU5PBr3J1QuhkdA8FaELKpqOxEEL1F9d3jI7LHitZhaJbirXpkkZ_apAZjkbsJO6XXkSQ2I1kdxcVFVtrBURWO99FLmzSokZjvPzgPtkgD0sPRL5mw/s320/IMG_0041.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br />
Originally published on Postmortem Mag<br />
<br />
“I can’t believe you suckers bought it. I did it, I’m set!”<br />
<br />
That’s a line said by main character Ron Patrick Hearst in the opening of Followers, my student short film about the reluctant leader of an oven mitt-worshiping death cult. The film was initially conceived as a web show, the winner of a $500 grant from a fledgling student group to produce about five 10-minute webisodes. This line, written as part of the final episode, reflects what the story had become. At that point, it was full-blown meta-commentary on my thoughts on the project’s very existence.<br />
<br />
“It can’t continue. It shouldn’t,” said Ron while pondering his own fate. Before, during, and after we filmed this scene, it felt like the rest of the world was trying to tell us the same thing.<br />
In 2010 I was accepted to Northwestern University, a fantastic college in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. But the real decision was deciding which specific school I would attend. Officially, I was slated to study at the Medill of School of Journalism, in arguably the best undergraduate journalism program in the country. I’ve always wanted to be a writer of some kind, and more specifically, I was trying desperately to break into video game journalism. I figured having bonafide journalism chops would give me the edge I needed to stand out in a crowd of competitive gamers looking to turn their hobby into a livable wage.<br />
<br />
However, I knew very little about the Northwestern overall. I hadn’t visited, and I only applied because my mom had looked up good journalism schools. As I started to do more research I also became very interested in the School of Communication, especially its robust film program. The only thing more appealing to me as a writer than people reading my words is seeing my words visualized.<br />
<br />
I wrestled with this decision for some time before sticking with journalism. It was the harder school to get into, I don’t care about most aspects of filmmaking outside of writing, and I could always transfer or declare a film minor. I eventually did the latter and my dorm was basically half journalism kids and half film kids anyway. Soon enough, through friendships, I had made some connections to our microcosm of a film industry.<br />
<br />
When I wrote the first draft for the first episode of Followers in late 2011, it was a response to my biggest beef with the nature of student films, at least on our campus. Everything was too normal. Unencumbered by studio demands, school should be the place when budding filmmakers should feel free to do the weird stuff that appeals to them. And yet, every screening was full of pretentious sub-indie dramas or sitcoms with riveting subjects like “College mailrooms sure are slow.” Most student films are amateurish by nature, but there’s something sadder about poorly done takes on such generic genres instead of more off-kilter ideas. So instead of just complaining, I wrote something weird, taking influence from obscure superheroes, stoner comedies, and Cthulhu mythos.<br />
<br />
Here's the pitch: “When a lazy young man accidentally gets his hand stuck inside a demonic oven mitt, he is forced to take charge and form a cult to earn his freedom.”<br />
<br />
Why an oven mitt? First, it’s cheap and the actor can wear it all the time without being too inconvenienced. Second, in the show it’s essentially a puppet. I wrote a bunch of dumb comics as a kid about surly talking food, and the puppet was essentially my latest version of those characters. After all, what are puppets if not live-action cartoons? The character’s name is T’Chroll, pronounced like “Troll,” so it’s not like I was going for subtlety.<br />
<br />
From there, the plot spirals into my preferred blend of needlessly dense and complicated lore, undercut with simple comedy. It’s the kind of cult-themed movie where characters are named Joan Townsend and Ron (because of the Jonestown Massacre and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard). An antagonistic teaching assistant would spend one scene carrying out covert missions for a mystical secret society while whining about not being on their mailing list. A recurring joke with a lazy roommate involved the Internet-famous Gorilla Munch cereal. The character initially set up as the love interest instead becomes attracted to the ridiculousness of the cult, not its leader, and winds up the real brains behind the operation. And in the end, the main character learns the lesson that he shouldn’t learn any lessons. With T’Chroll’s demonic help, Ron goes from a passive bad person to an active one.<br />
<br />
Somehow, my script won. That’s when a story where a woman says, without a trace of irony, “Take your stupid oven mitt and stay the Hell away from me!” began to take me on a roller coaster of emotions.<br />
<br />
With help from my charitable film friends, I spent the next few months scraping together a student crew and casting actors. I’m not white, and since I rarely write characters with race in mind we strived for truly colorblind casting. So while I certainly could’ve written more than one prominent role for a woman, I am pleased we were able to spotlight two Hispanic men as well as a gay man. And they were just a straight-up great cast, the best people for the parts.<br />
<br />
The more the project materialized the less I could contain my excitement that Followers was becoming a real thing. The suckers, a.k.a the money people, bought it. But when development would stop for weeks at a time, simply due to busy student schedules, doubt creeped into my mind, and it stayed there for the next three or so years. I submitted the first script in January 2012 and hit publish on the final movie in April 2015.<br />
<br />
We filmed the pilot in May 2012 and it was such an incredible trip. A 10-page script calls for about 10 minutes of footage which required hours of filming over a very busy weekend. I had been on a few film sets before, but inhabiting a world that you created and described on your own, even if it only consists of a messy apartment with a magic brick, is something else. I spent that summer endlessly rewatching an early cut of the episode, constantly re-editing it into new trailers while finishing up the remaining four scripts.<br />
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<br />
In retrospect, filming the next four episodes throughout the 2012-2013 school year actually went pretty smoothly. But in the thick of it, the frequent delays between meaningful progress had me always on edge thinking that the show would never come together.<br />
<br />
This deeply bothered me for two reasons. The first is kind of petty. At this point, a new team of students was controlling the TV group, and I don’t think they ever respected the show. I always got the sense that they thought the show would fail, that it was too strange or dumb, and that I had no business running it. Maybe this was true, but looking back, I think my paranoia was really due to feeling like all my artistic hopes and ambitions were pinned to Followers.<br />
<br />
Second, I was in my junior year and my journalism career was going well. As it became more obvious that was the professional direction my life should take, Followers was my first and, what I perceived at the time, my last chance of dabbling in filmmaking, and in fiction even. So part of my sense of self, this idea that I was an artist, depended on me expressing my vision in a finished form.<br />
<br />
But like I said, aside from a few snags (we had to recast one role and bring on my great friend Jon Oliver as the new director/co-producer) the shoots went well. We filmed outdoor chase scenes, strobe-filled demonic possession scenes, and even a big, bloody, sword fight in an auditorium full of extras that turned into a dance party. But it wouldn’t be Followers without the threat of annihilation at the very last moment. Shooting the final episode was a mad dash to get everyone’s schedules lined up, even if it meant waking up at the crack of dawn. We were shooting during the last week, if not the last day, of classes before everyone went home or prepared for graduation. We did it though. We didn’t shoot every scene I wrote, but we got enough to make a show. Or rather, I thought we did.<br />
Considering how much the relatively small the previous hiccups bothered me, the next few months were… difficult, to say the least. I don’t remember when I accepted that Followers was never going to be a show. Maybe it was during the summer of 2013 when I found out that crucial footage from episode four, the dance party/sword fight/one-act play, was somehow missing and couldn’t be reshot as everyone else was moving onto different films. Maybe it was during my internship at PCMag.com the following fall in New York. I was cut off from the slow implosion of my movie happening back in Evanston, and I realized a tech/games journalist was what I ultimately am. Or maybe it was during winter break when I felt profound sadness because the world would never see a bunch of actors saying lines I wrote to a cow-shaped oven mitt wearing googly eyes.<br />
<br />
Followers, as I intended it, was dead. So the question now was if I could get anything out of it. I began personally collecting the footage we had. Next, I made a document full of story points and tried to cut and rearrange them into a single film that could survive the gaping plot hole left by episode four’s deletion. Satisfied with my new nonlinear, and slightly nonsensical, construction I edited the footage into a rough cut and attempted to find a new editor.<br />
<br />
By the way, in the middle of all this I graduated from Northwestern in June 2014.<br />
<br />
The next few months were a weird time. I was living with my parents doing lots of freelance writing, applying to jobs, and trying to keep Followers alive on the side. I can’t imagine what the TV group must have been thinking. “We were right all along. That stupid oven mitt thing totally crashed and burned.” Or maybe they completely forgot? But I couldn’t let this go. In a way, it was still keeping me tethered to a part of my life I needed to move on from. That and unemployment.<br />
<br />
I eventually hired a freelance editor, Kurt Gallant, and worked with him for a few weeks to turn my rough cut into a watchable, 40-minute short film. As it took shape, I felt hope unclouded by doubt for the first time in years. Suddenly the Followers universe felt alive and vibrant again as I added new elements, such as specific song choices and American Graffiti-style ending descriptions to describe each character’s fate. I saw hilarious footage I forgot we shot or that was shot on days I wasn’t on set. To help deal with my sadness I watched documentaries about other unrealized films like Lost in La Mancha or Jodorowsky’s Dune. At that point, nothing would please me more than the thought of escaping that personal limbo. Kurt had saved not only my movie, but my artistic identity.<br />
<br />
On April 23, 2015, after making one last trailer, I released Followers on my YouTube page. Barely anyone saw it but that wasn’t the point. It existed. I made some DVDs for good measure. Earlier that month I also moved to New York City to work full-time for PCMag.com.<br />
<br />
I still think sticking with journalism over film school was the right choice, at least that’s what my career suggests. But by making Followers I received my own film education. I have a deeper appreciation for how difficult it is to make a movie. I have so much more sympathy for filmmakers unable to make their dreams a reality and the existential despair that can bring. But I also realized how much adversity and compromise can actually enrich the process of making art, even silly art like mine. If Followers had been made with no problems I would have been pretty happy. But bringing Followers into existence through sheer will despite what felt like cosmic odds against us yielded far more satisfyingly complex emotions. Witnessing your baby spent its whole life on the brink of death is a real bummer, but I’m glad that I learned firsthand that the struggle towards unpromised creative catharsis, however long, is worth getting your mitts on.<br />
<br />
Watch it for yourself<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ARodZJ_80YA" width="560"></iframe>
JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-46959870390274536952016-05-02T14:33:00.002-05:002016-05-02T14:33:50.894-05:00Hey! I Work at Geek.com now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRfzCTKS-lo8jHw8AdFD2Ma_YKgFatKhG4z2F7ffH9llSs7QPvkEOd080hMs1ge8TlqXAx4MXWV_248ETj0gY1Ag3dGSVwNOXMlbnw9CkCTrSajiCYbDUbEoEn1sNOB2cSaLRDT5FVvo/s1600/geek.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRfzCTKS-lo8jHw8AdFD2Ma_YKgFatKhG4z2F7ffH9llSs7QPvkEOd080hMs1ge8TlqXAx4MXWV_248ETj0gY1Ag3dGSVwNOXMlbnw9CkCTrSajiCYbDUbEoEn1sNOB2cSaLRDT5FVvo/s1600/geek.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In case you didn't read the title, hey, I work at <a href="http://www.geek.com/author/jminor/" target="_blank">Geek.com</a> now! I'm the new Senior Editor! I had already done some freelancing for them, and since it and PCMag are both here in the Ziff Davis New York office I'm still sitting at the same desk. But now if you want to find my incredibly interesting and entertaining thoughts on tech, games, movies, and all parts of geek culture Geek.com is where you should go.<br />
<br />
For example, check out my recap of <a href="http://www.geek.com/games/zip-me-up-inside-indiecade-east-1653861/" target="_blank">IndieCade East 2016</a>.JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-54122030517694121232015-12-30T15:57:00.001-06:002015-12-30T15:59:40.399-06:00Best O' 20152015 was a huge year for me. I got a new job at Phil Collins Magazine, met a lot of cool new people, and moved to a New York City. But as all that was going on, I still had time to consume, and even create, some new media. Here are the best.<br />
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<b>Best Video Game that Almost Made My Eyes Bleed- <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2495405,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void</span></a></b><br />
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Some other cool games- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, Her Story<br />
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<b>Best Movie that Almost Made My Eyes Water- Creed</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nwnfHfOFWak" width="560"></iframe>
Some other cool movies- Mad Max: Fury Road, The Big Short, Anomalisa, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (the best Daniel Craig film of 2015)<br />
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<b>Best Parody of the Best TV Show Ending of 2015- Don Draper Invents Pizza Bagels</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KOzS9Azg0Ag" width="420"></iframe>
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<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2495600,00.asp" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Best Wholly Legitimate Phrase of 2015- Famous Star Wars Franchise Character Emperor Sheev Palpatine</span></b></a><br />
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<b>Best Things I Wrote in 2015-</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Cards Against Humanity Tabletop Deathmatch Interviews</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2492368,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Valve’s Movie Brats: Inside the Source Filmmaker Community</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2497045,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Heroes of the Storm Review (or Why MOBAs are Bad and You Should Feel Bad)</span></a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnz_OjOJe5jIEdZ-PQBav_oSarR1R7vGu" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Games to Go (Video Reviews of Cool Mobile Games)</span></a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLnz_OjOJe5jIEdZ-PQBav_oSarR1R7vGu" width="560"></iframe>
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<a href="http://www.postmortemmag.com/issue-three-connection/2015/9/17/of-art-and-oven-mitts-the-death-and-life-of-followers" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Of Art and Oven Mitts: The Death and Life of Followers (a Postmortem on the Tortured Production of My Silly Student Short Film)</span></a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.148apps.com/news/years-148apps-learned-stop-worrying-love-ios-games/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Four Years of 148Apps, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love iOS Games</span></a><br />
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<b>Best Time I Spit On Camera</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XwwC_q5dGs8" width="560"></iframe>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-980525994114161812015-06-28T23:34:00.000-05:002015-06-28T23:34:29.481-05:00Games to GoCheck out "Games to Go," my new video series on PCMag.com covering mobile games, something I've been doing a lot of these past few years. This first episode is on Fallout Shelter.<br />
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JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-87540592382671623242015-05-31T15:36:00.004-05:002015-05-31T15:38:23.867-05:00What's Up With Me: Summer 2015My life has been pretty crazy these past two months, so what better place to talk about it than on my poor, neglected blog?
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<br />
In case you didn’t know,<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/jordan-minor" target="_blank"> <span style="color: blue;">I now work at PCMag.com</span></a> full-time as a Junior Software Analyst. Internships pay off! I still do plenty of writing about <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2482149,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">video games</span></a> but the job also covers everything from <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484039,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">mobile payment apps</span></a> to <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484799,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">weird video messaging platforms</span></a> to America’s most useful gadget the <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2483631,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Apple Watch</span></a>. <br />
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Meanwhile, every Friday they put a camera in front of my dumb face while I read dumb words I wrote off a teleprompter for the daily news show “What’s New Now.” Check it out!
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Moving to PCMag also meant moving to New York. Of all the places to live for the foreseeable future, this city was a pretty good pick. I haven’t done nearly enough exploring, but with summer coming up that’s hopefully about to change. <br />
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Meanwhile, I finally released <em>Followers</em>, my horror comedy short film I spent like four years working on. If all goes right I’ll have a longer post-mortem on this to share later, a much-needed emotional purge. But in the meantime, please enjoy the nonsense that happens when actors perform my scripts and professionals film them.
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Right before starting at PCMag I finished up my interviews for Cards Against Humanity’s Tabletop Deathmatch board game reality show. <a href="http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/episodes/17/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The final story</span></a> focused on CAH co-founder Max Temkin, who I’ve interviewed twice now, and a bunch of other board game folks really enjoyed how it turned out.
Don't listen to the CAH haters!<br />
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Being an employed adult has definitely made my life a lot busier, but I still find the time to play new games and consume other media. Bouncing between <em>Splatoon</em> and <em>Wolfenstein: The New Order</em> will break your preconception of what a shooter is allowed to be. I enjoyed <em>Avengers: Age of Ultron</em> way more than the first, but the things I disliked about the first are what most people loved about it so once again I’m in the minority. There’s nothing more I can add to the <em>Mad Max: Fury Road</em> discussion other than it’s awesome and you should see it. I still can’t stop thinking about the "Mad Men" finale.
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But yeah, that’s what’s up with me. I’m a full-time, professional, Black, games/tech journalist living in New York City. How ridiculous is that?
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JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-18789852035203998612015-04-24T10:12:00.001-05:002015-04-24T10:12:35.696-05:00Followers, FinallyI'll have more in-depth thoughts to share on this soon enough, because who wouldn't after spending nearly four years on a creative project, but for now, please watch, share, and enjoy my silly short film "Followers."<br />
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<br />JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-25609262491320971792015-04-13T15:12:00.003-05:002015-04-13T15:12:59.593-05:00I Work at PCMag NowI work at PCMag.com now!<br />
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That's all.JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-65289509092644682012015-03-24T18:41:00.000-05:002015-03-24T18:43:48.100-05:00Four Years of 148AppsToday was my last day writing about iOS games for 148Apps.com. <a href="http://www.148apps.com/news/years-148apps-learned-stop-worrying-love-ios-games/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">I wrote a big, sappy essay about the four years I spent there</span>.</a> Enjoy! And stay tuned for BIG EXCITING NEWS regarding my future career in nerdy journalism VERY SOON!
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JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-83388167410060028222015-02-17T16:03:00.001-06:002015-02-17T16:03:54.382-06:00Tabletop Deathmatch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The fine folks at Cards Against Humanity hired me to interview the finalists of their board game reality show Tabletop Deathmatch. You can check out the first story here! Look for new articles twice a week for the next two months or so.<br />
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<a href="http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/episodes/1/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/episodes/1/</span></a><br />
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<br />JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-67446321766322960462015-02-13T12:54:00.000-06:002015-02-13T12:56:34.748-06:00The Lego Movie's secret gaming rootsWhen The Lego Movie came out last year I was curious if the creators had been influenced by the similarly wacky storytelling of the Lego video games. So I did some investigating. What did I find? Read this feature on Geek.com, a site I've been recently writing for, to find out!<br />
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<a href="http://www.geek.com/games/the-lego-movies-secret-gaming-roots-1615688/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.geek.com/games/the-lego-movies-secret-gaming-roots-1615688/</span></a><br />
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JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-90007862167848173762014-12-28T19:17:00.002-06:002014-12-28T19:17:52.151-06:00Stuff I Wrote in 2014The end of 2013 was a turning point for me as far as my writing goes. I couldn’t be more grateful for the great response to my Kotaku feature story on the <a href="http://kotaku.com/chicago-home-of-a-new-indie-gaming-renaissance-1335671787" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Chicago indie gaming scene</span></a>, and my fantastic internship at <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/jordan-minor" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">PC Mag</span></a> made my actual journalism school graduation six months later feel like just a formality. In 2014 I tried to keep that freelance momentum going and ended up writing a bunch of stories for a ton of awesome publications that, a few years ago, I never imagined I’d break into so soon. I think I did some of my best work in 2014, and it just so happened to fit in a nice, chronological, top ten list.
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<strong><a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/features/11034-Coding-Clementines-Black-Girls-Make-Games-Too" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Coding Clementines: Black Girls Make Games, Too-</span></a></strong> Teaching a game design camp for little Black girls in summer 2013 was awesome enough on its own, but sharing that story on The Escapist felt great as well, just in time for Black History Month. Like anything involving race on the Internet, not everyone had nice things to say about this one, but there were plenty of good comments to read too.
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<a href="http://www.148apps.com/tag/who-wore-it-best/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: blue;">Who Wore it Best?-</span></strong></a> It may not get the most views, but I’m really proud of this ongoing video series I launched on 148Apps, where I'm now a Senior Writer, covering the avalanche of clones on the App Store. It just got so weird so fast. Favorite episodes include Threes! vs. 2048 and the end of the year wrap-up I just did. <br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/04/rustys-real-deal-baseball-review-3ds.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball Review-</span></a></strong> This was the first thing I wrote for Paste Magazine’s great gaming section, and while it may not measure up to some of the truly brilliant essays on that site, I think I did a pretty good job conveying just how crazy and clever Nintendo’s twist on free-to-play gaming is. But haggling with a divorced, washed-up, baseball playing dog dad is really something you should try for yourself.
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<strong><a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/11883-From-Big-Screens-to-Touch-Screens" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">From Big Screens to Touch Screens-</span></a></strong> Licensed movie games moving from consoles to mobile phones was a trend I saw <a href="http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-slow-death-of-movie-tie-ins-their-move-to-mobile-and-the-gamification-of-cinema/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">surprisingly little writing</span></a> about, and I had become close enough with some mobile developers that I figured I could cover this topic myself in this Escapist feature. This was my attempt to write something more industry-focused than usual and I liked how it turned out.
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<strong><a href="http://mediadiversified.org/2014/07/19/video-games-afrofuturism-frontier/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Video Games’ Afrofuturism Frontier-</span></a></strong> This year I donated to the Media Diversified Kickstarter to highlight pieces from writers of color, and to get on their database I had to write an original piece for their site. Fortunately, the potential connections between video games and Afrofuturism were already on my mind after going to author Ytasha Womack’s talk at Northwestern, and this article was a great opportunity to tie all those thoughts together while interviewing Womack herself. I even got to host an enlightening Twitter chat about it afterwards.
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<strong><a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/entering-thought-processes-behind-weirdest-video-g-208820" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Entering the Thought Processes Behind the Weirdest Video Game Titles Around-</span></a></strong> Of all the new places I wrote for this year, getting onto The A.V. Club might have been the coolest. I think my feature on weird game names like Drunken Robot Pornography and a certain Charles Barkley game fit in pretty well though. Plus I got to mention Momma Can I Mow the Lawn? which is always fun to do.
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<strong><a href="http://www.148apps.com/news/words-apple-watch-devolution-language/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Use Your Words: The Apple Watch and the Devolution of Language-</span></a></strong> My take on the storied “old man rants about new technology” genre of tech opinion pieces is about how dumb the communication features of the upcoming Apple Watch look. This one is basically just a transcription of incredulous conversations with friends.
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<strong><a href="http://www.unwinnable.com/2014/10/13/milestones/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Milestones-</span></a> </strong>Unwinnable is another very cool, classy magazine that I was excited to finally write for this year. For these developer interviews, including one with one of 2014’s gaming all-stars Brianna Wu, I tried to use a more experimental narrative format, connecting four otherwise unrelated personal stories through themes and concepts. I hope the end result is enjoyable enough to overcome how pretentious that sounded. <br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/10/designer-of-beats-by-dre-robert-brunner-reflects-o.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">A Conversation With Robert Brunner, the Iconic Designer Behind Beats by Dre-</span></a></strong></span> I started doing regular work for Paste’s technology section this year, and this interview with industrial designer Robert Brunner was probably the best thing I did there. The blogosphere talks a lot about trying to critique games as art rather than just product, but even products have plenty of artistry to think about as well.
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<strong><a href="https://medium.com/@JordanWMinor/the-good-gamers-dilemma-737e9bb328e2" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The “Good” Gamer’s Dilemma-</span></a></strong> As a games journalist, GamerGate was something I obviously couldn’t ignore this year. But beyond just saying it’s horrible, even though it is horrible, I wanted whatever feature I wrote on the debacle to uncover, or at least reiterate, some core truth of the movement. It took 5,000 unpaid words, but I think these lengthy, revealing interviews with GamerGate “moderates” on how ultimately untenable that position is at least come close.
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<strong>Some other cool stuff that didn’t quite make the list:</strong>
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-The <a href="http://jordansob.blogspot.com/2014/04/stubborn-gorilla-wonderfully-weird.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Donkey Kong retrospective</span></a> on this very blog convinced Nintendo to invite me to a <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/hands-on-with-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-new-faces.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Super Smash Bros. preview</span></a> in June.
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-My favorite three iOS game reviews of the year: <a href="http://www.148apps.com/reviews/revolution-60-review/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Revolution 60</span></a>, <a href="http://www.148apps.com/reviews/leos-fortune-review/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Leo’s Fortune</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.148apps.com/reviews/swing-copters-review/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Swing Copters</span></a>.
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-These Paste Tech features on <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/07/5-things-you-should-know-about-cryptocurrency.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Bitcoin</span></a>, <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/10/5-examples-of-how-bad-the-silicon-valley-class-warfare-is.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Silicon Valley</span></a>, and <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/12/tech-from-10-years-ago-blogging-bluetooth-and-the.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Tech from 2004</span></a> were very fun to do.
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-Pikmin has <a href="http://jordansob.blogspot.com/2014/06/on-politics-of-pikmin.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">weird politics</span>.</a><br />
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-Halt and Catch Fire had an <a href="http://jordansob.blogspot.com/2014/06/halt-and-catch-fire-pilot-review.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">intriguing pilot</span></a>, but apparently the rest of the season wasn't as promising.<br />
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Of course, 2014 also had plenty of setbacks, both personal and professional. But that just gives me more goals for 2015. If you enjoy my work, or even if you just skim through it, thank you so much.
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-Jordan MinorJMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-13019585650314882422014-12-28T18:07:00.001-06:002014-12-28T18:10:47.939-06:00Best O' 2014Obligatory Blog. Obligatory Awards.
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<strong><em>Top 5 Games of 2014</em></strong>
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<strong>5. Mario Kart 8</strong><br />
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It’s the most beautiful Wii U game, it’s the best playing Mario Kart to date, the DLC is fantastic, and it dominated my free time towards the end of my college career. Too bad they ruined battle mode.<br />
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<strong>4. Transistor</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.smashbros.com/us/images/character/pac-man/illust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.smashbros.com/us/images/character/pac-man/illust.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a>I didn’t love Bastion as much as everyone else did. It was pretty and sounded nice but the style was incoherent and the fighting was dull. Transistor took everything good about that game and fixed all the flaws with a brilliant, creative combat system and haunting, ruined, yet still classy cyber world. <br />
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<strong>3. Bayonetta 2</strong><br />
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Above all else, I am a fan of ridiculousness, and there was no other game this year that featured more, better ridiculousness than the continuing adventures of gaming’s favorite sexy librarian dominatrix bullet hair witch in Bayonetta 2. <br />
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<strong>2. Threes!</strong> <br />
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You can read <a href="http://www.148apps.com/news/game-year-2014-148apps-staff-picks/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">my thoughts</span></a> on why this is the best mobile game of the year over on 148Apps. <br />
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<strong>1. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U</strong><br />
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Still hate the name, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the best entry in my favorite series so how could it not top my list, even if its 3DS counterpart doesn’t feel entirely necessary. <br />
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More after the break.<br />
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<strong><em>Top 5 Movies of 2014</em></strong>
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<strong>5. Gone Girl</strong> <br />
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Remember how I said I love ridiculousness? Gone Girl has insane, dark, hilarious, and super-trashy ridiculousness exploding out of every orifice once the real story of this seemingly average thriller is revealed. And as a Tyler Perry scholar, I had to put it on here.
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Alejandro_Jodorowsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Alejandro_Jodorowsky.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a><strong>4. Snowpiercer</strong><br />
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A smart, violent, crazy, dystopian class warfare tale and the only good Chris Evans movie this year. Ride the rails. <br />
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<strong>3. Jodorowsky’s Dune</strong><br />
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This entertaining documentary about how failure and disappointment still have value in creative work got me through a tough period involving a certain project of mine that’s now hopefully somewhat back on track. Also, it might even be better than Dune the book, which I also read this year. <br />
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<strong>2. Boyhood</strong><br />
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Some of the story beats don’t necessarily work, especially later on, but this real-time 12-year epic of small personal moments is an astonishing achievement nonetheless. <br />
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<strong>1. (Reserved for Selma)</strong> <br />
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<strong><em>Song of 2014</em></strong>
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<strong>Gust of Wind</strong><br />
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The Pharrell collaborations on Random Access Memories were arguably the best parts of that album, and bringing back Daft Punk for this Girl track had equally spectacular results, even if I’m pretty sure it’s actually Pharrell himself singing through the robot filter.
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<strong><em>TV Show Ending of 2014</em></strong>
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<strong>The Legend of Korra</strong><br />
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Benders. <br />
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<strong><em>Quality of Life Ruining Social Media Service of 2014</em></strong>
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<strong>Twitter</strong><br />
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When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it seemed dumb and super narcissistic. I never stopped thinking that, but as a journalist I also took advantage of its networking and reporting opportunities. Plus there’s lots of funny stuff on there, including great drama. However, as the internet continues to become a meaner, more outraged, dumber place, where real people and anonymous forum people struggle to co-exist, seeing all the nonsense on Twitter bums me out pretty much every day. But I can’t stop reading it. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>Best Thing I Did in 2014</em></strong>
<strong></strong></div>
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>Graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University</strong>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Medill_logo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Medill_logo.gif" height="95" width="320" /></a></div>
JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-45440860797545861582014-10-29T20:27:00.002-05:002014-10-29T20:27:25.150-05:00The "Good" Gamer's Dilemma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdtzu_jEhIgi-m_-kWHqyM9XA4yRZ5JKHUgwPm3dlKiyXy8TqOVAfCnwk9KrmbHMTSLQwOOsmEJL7fY9vyaKEchlTTNYd_wWC28Jyt8qP3j4-gfJia62hqF2XoacGjcpGeUB-2awLj2o/s1600/gamergate+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdtzu_jEhIgi-m_-kWHqyM9XA4yRZ5JKHUgwPm3dlKiyXy8TqOVAfCnwk9KrmbHMTSLQwOOsmEJL7fY9vyaKEchlTTNYd_wWC28Jyt8qP3j4-gfJia62hqF2XoacGjcpGeUB-2awLj2o/s1600/gamergate+logo.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
My first, and hopefully last, article on GamerGate, specifically the untenable position of its moderates. There's a lot to it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://medium.com/@JordanWMinor/the-good-gamers-dilemma-737e9bb328e2" target="_blank">Check it out!</a>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-27971991950196423762014-10-10T13:03:00.000-05:002014-10-10T13:04:20.788-05:00Milestones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://templeboss.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/unwinnable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://templeboss.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/unwinnable.jpg" height="154" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I wrote a feature called "Milestones" about pivotal moments in game developers' careers. <a href="http://www.unwinnable.com/2014/10/10/unwinnable-weekly-issue-eighteen/#.VDgaS_nF-So" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Download</span></a> this week's issue of Unwinnable and check it out!<br />
<br />JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-31760250939875268642014-09-23T13:27:00.000-05:002014-09-23T13:27:01.965-05:00Use Your Words- Apple Watch and the Devolution of Language<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/applewatch09-600x339.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/applewatch09-600x339.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
My new feature for 148Apps. The title says it all. <a href="http://www.148apps.com/news/words-apple-watch-devolution-language/" target="_blank">Check it out!</a><br />
<br />
JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-42193617843928008082014-09-16T11:04:00.000-05:002014-09-16T11:04:59.784-05:00Entering the Thought Processes Behind the Weirdest Video Games Titles Around<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5209/64/16x9/960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5209/64/16x9/960.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Check out my latest feature, <a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/entering-thought-processes-behind-weirdest-video-g-208820" target="_blank">Entering the Thought Processes Behind the Weirdest Video Games Titles Around</a>, on The A.V. Club. Hope it's as fun to read as it was to write. JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-51250939653685487392014-08-11T21:02:00.001-05:002014-08-11T21:02:44.861-05:00The Rise of Facebook Games and Teaching the Game Developers of TomorrowIn 2011 I wrote a pair of features I'm very proud of for Yahoo's contributor program. Unfortunately, the program has now been shut down leaving these stories without a home. So I fixed that. Here they are!<br />
<br />
The Rise of Facebook Games and Teaching the Game Developers of Tomorrow<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>The Rise of Facebook Games</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How Farmville is Changing the Industry</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr1O8iC6L-0BIMsYARxbPWhgY7DuOIzxa11tpcexWGJZhPpNqjqRuZdIpXRNBc0YXQ4S0Ds947J366wWwbOWMnGtj18iHW0QlNIzEc-hR495AGJlY2b-oJ4deuhv18I2Fx02zLIRTJsA/s1600/rise+of+facebook.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr1O8iC6L-0BIMsYARxbPWhgY7DuOIzxa11tpcexWGJZhPpNqjqRuZdIpXRNBc0YXQ4S0Ds947J366wWwbOWMnGtj18iHW0QlNIzEc-hR495AGJlY2b-oJ4deuhv18I2Fx02zLIRTJsA/s1600/rise+of+facebook.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Turns out there are millions to be made selling virtual
crops.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this poor economy, services typically seen as
unnecessary, like entertainment, take a bigger hit. But while other sectors of
the industry, like movies and music, have seen declining sales recent years,
one continues to grow: the video game industry. That field is not immune from
the recession either, but one aspect of it in particular has begun bringing in
larger amounts of revenue into the changing market. Social and casual games,
such as Facebook games, are having more and more of an impact on the entire
medium.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According to the NPD group, an organization that tracks
sales data numerous industries like movies, music and video games, the most
profitable games of 2010 were "Call of Duty: Black Ops",
"Cityville" and "Farmville". While the winner, Call of
Duty, a mature rated, high-definition shooter, is what one would typically
think a successful game would be, it also cost millions of dollars to produce
and $60 to buy. Whereas Facebook games like "Cityville" and
"Farmville" cost a fraction of that to develop and are free to play,
gaining their revenue through ads and optional in-game transactions. Yet,
combined they easily overtook "Call of Duty" in terms of revenue.
Clearly these new types of games are doing something right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Facebook and a lot of the games we see on handheld
devices are way more accessible to more kinds of people, women and older
people, that didn't use to play games," said Caryl Shaw, an executive
producer at ngmoco, Inc., a game developer that deals primarily with more
casual games. "The platforms are there now that didn't exist 10 years
ago." Although games like "Call of Duty" continue to succeed,
they also require the user to own an expensive console. Meanwhile, all one
needs to play a Facebook game is a computer and Facebook, vastly increasing the
potential audience.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not only is the increase in Facebook gaming bringing in more
game players, it is also bringing in more game creators. "There are a lot
of more developers bringing content to these platforms because they are cheaper
and easier to produce," said Jeff McCord, who was been making games since
the 1980's and whose recent projects are showing up on platforms like the
iPhone. "It takes a much smaller team or even an individual to do it. It
opens up many more possibilities for these small artistic expressions and
creativity in gaming."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, while these game developers say that the increase
in popularity of Facebook gaming is a positive trend, some players comfortable
with more traditional games are not as excited. "I would say Facebook
games are absolute trash and it is sad such low quality gameplay experiences
are raking in so much cash," said Dave Lazaar, 19, a resident of Woolwich,
N.J. and an engineering student at Rutgers University. Lazaar was one of many
self-described "hardcore gamers" at a pre-order event at a Chicago
GameStop, a popular video game retailer. "I can only hope they introduce
some casual players to real games."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This more pessimistic attitude towards Facebook gaming was
the norm at the event. "To put it simply, they are entertainment
traps," said Shelby Kurz, a 19-year-old from Swedesboro, N.J. studying
Psychology and Philosophy at Rutgers University. "They give the player the
illusion of controlling how they play the game. You can choose to grow a plant
in 15 minutes of three days and the game doesn't even have to be good because
either way, the player will come back."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There have even been examples of casual players getting into
Facebook games only to regret the experience. "I think they are a huge
waste of time and a big distraction," said Morgan Monahan, 18, an RTVF
student at Northwestern University from Erie, Pa. "I used to play Café
World which required checking Facebook at least every two days. I would be in
class and be worrying about whether I was going to be home in time to serve my
food." Monahan was not the only member of her family to succumb to the
addiction. "My parents played too and were just as if not more addicted
than I was. My mom would often call me from work and make me serve her food.
One day my whole family decided to stop cold turkey. I felt like a weight had
been lifted off my shoulders."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Currently some may see Facebook games as low-quality time
wasters but the burgeoning genre still has potential in the eyes of others.
"Right now games like Farmville seem really inconsequential but I think that
can change," said Sam Barker, 20, from Kendallville, Ind. who is studying
English at Northwestern University. Barker is also a more traditional gamer but
thinks that in time these new games can live to the standards of their
predecessors. "Perhaps they could give the games more of a point. One of
my favorite things about video games is their ability to be viewed as an art
form."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The increase in Facebook gaming may continue to threaten the
time of undisciplined students and working adults but fortunately for gamers
more resistant to this shift, the expanding market does not necessarily mean
they will be excluded. The rise in Facebook gaming does not have to cause the
fall of traditional gaming. Shaw demonstrated this more hopeful attitude.
"Call of Duty didn't go away because Farmville was created. There are
always going to be games for all types of gamers."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Teaching the Game Developers of Tomorrow</strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A Look at the Increase of Video Game Design Schools<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsl-8wOJsO3coXfSLI_wJqAEvchNHXX0jZhjJA_QfOi_pJ3dQkj7mp3FUEhRGKy0A_VYphhz3RHNXMIjJfAII0pvIsLADiQWCbV6UJKXN4ccbDpjeyZNyPm2FeOfQB1fsepAVUNYHyatM/s1600/game+development+schools.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsl-8wOJsO3coXfSLI_wJqAEvchNHXX0jZhjJA_QfOi_pJ3dQkj7mp3FUEhRGKy0A_VYphhz3RHNXMIjJfAII0pvIsLADiQWCbV6UJKXN4ccbDpjeyZNyPm2FeOfQB1fsepAVUNYHyatM/s1600/game+development+schools.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At DePaul University's College of Computing and Digital
Media in downtown Chicago, students can relax in the lounge and play some of
the biggest, newest video games on huge, high-definition televisions. However,
the real fun in this school is happening in the upstairs labs. Here, students
are laughing and working furiously on computers not playing games, but making
them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Such a sight shows just how far video games have come since
the days of Pac-Man and Pong in 1980s bars and arcades. What were once kilobyte-sized
files with blocky graphics have become massive productions on par with the
latest blockbuster movies in terms of budgets. In the past all one needed to
make most games was a basement and a friend who could program. Today though,
it's a little less simple to get into one of the most expanding and profitable
sectors of the entertainment industry. Like with any other serious career, one
needs a serious education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>A Growing Trend<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According to the Entertainment Software Association, one of
the governing bodies of the video game industry, the number of schools offering
video game design programs has been steadily increasing. This past academic
year, that number reached 300 in the United States, a 20 percent increase from
the year before. Currently, there are only eight states in the union without
one of these schools. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Our game design programs officially launched in 2008
and since their inception, interest has grown very rapidly," said Angela
Kugler, admissions director at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond,
Wash. DigiPen was recently named the third best undergraduate school for video
game design by the Princeton Review. "Our enrollment grew last year about
10 percent over the previous year. I think our enrollment growth is also a product
of a lot of new initiatives and not just because we started offering the game
design programs." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are more careers in the game industry besides
designing that these schools can prepare one for however. Ross Derham, a
19-year-old from Swedesboro, N.J. studying game design at Champlain College in
Burlington, Vt., hopes to get a job writing scripts for games. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Champlain is number eight on the Princeton Review list, and
one of its more appealing aspects is the flexibility it offers students like
Derham. "They have specifics in the game majors (game design, game art,
game programming) whereas in the other schools it is all lumped under one big
major. I wanted to specify what I would want to do in the major because I would
rather be amazing at one aspect than mediocre at all three."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Is It Really Necessary?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While the video game industry itself is a relatively recent
development, having only been around for about 30 years, schools for game
design are even newer. The oldest courses started about a decade ago.
Therefore, those who have been in the industry for some time now are unsure of
how effective they are. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"If you want to break into the industry, get a
university education, but it doesn't matter if you go to a 'Game Design
Course.' In fact, I'd probably recommend you don't," said Simon Phipps a
veteran, self-taught game programmer and designer. After getting his computer
studies degree from Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England, Phipps
has gone on to work for major companies like EA and Eurocom. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Instead, Phipps suggests that aspiring designers get degrees
in fields related to game design but not exclusively tied to it. "I'd
recommend that anyone go and learn coding, web or art and animations skills so
they've got transferable skills to another field if you can't get into
games," he said. "At the end of the day, the vast majority of people
working in the industry are coders and artists. Get a good grounding on that,
get a job with a games company and then work your way into becoming a designer."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Breaking In<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When hiring though, studios look for more than just
education. Again, like in most other careers, the experience of prospective
designers is very important. "Have a strong website that showcases what
you are capable of," said Sarah Beck, a representative from WB Games.
"Make sure you research trends in the industry and are applying at studios
that are making games that are similar to your portfolio. Internships and
software knowledge are also very useful." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, proper education is still crucial. "You should
have a bachelor's degree of some kind related to the field," said Beck.
"Types of degrees can be in many areas since it takes many different
skills to design and develop a video game." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These days though, with the game industry becoming
increasingly niche and fragmented, student designers do not always need to be
hired by big studios to get noticed. More and more student-developed games are
getting attention, mostly due to the advent of free, online game sharing and
the independent games scene. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After getting a lot of positive press from game publications
and festivals, "Octodad," developed by students at DePaul University,
has become a viral hit online. Ronimo Games was formed by Norwegian game design
students who had sold the rights to their student game "De Blob" to
major publisher THQ. The game's subsequent remake was a hit and Ronimo used the
funds to develop another critically-acclaimed game "Swords and Soldiers."
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>The First Generation<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The newness of game design programs also means they have an
exciting, potential future in term of their applications. "Look to the
work being done in serious games/edutainment to see the approaches being
taken," said James Portnow, CEO of Rainmaker Games and a freelance game
design columnist. Portnow thinks it's important to foster the development of
better designers in order to make better games because they have so much
potential as a medium. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Games can help educate, help us overcome national and
international barriers, see past stereotypes," said Portnow. "They
can let us explore ideas and challenge our suppositions." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are in a time where the children who grew up playing
video games are going to be the ones making them. Going to school for coding or
programming is one thing, but the concept of going to school specifically for
game design is one whose benefits are still unknown. However, these aspiring
designers are eager to uncover this mysterious, uncharted territory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-27365960403401937612014-07-19T11:50:00.003-05:002014-07-19T11:50:57.910-05:00Video Games' Afrofuturism Frontier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mediadiversityuk.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/starhawk-emmett-graves.png?w=639" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mediadiversityuk.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/starhawk-emmett-graves.png?w=639" height="136" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
My first feature for Media Diversified examines what video games could stand to learn from the Afrofuturism artistic aesthetic. Check it out!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mediadiversified.org/2014/07/19/video-games-afrofuturism-frontier/">http://mediadiversified.org/2014/07/19/video-games-afrofuturism-frontier/</a>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-70901504113878399292014-07-10T11:11:00.002-05:002014-07-10T11:11:21.888-05:00From Big Screens to Touch Screens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJ1RAAckEz5VNdkBj9LvWVg2xh1cgpZce9xm1hyphenhyphencVPsMDmqIbuPoDSRwieyNr4QOhG30yYhtg-AD-Z0n60T1z1r7ZuUyoBoY2sVzkpX3LJDXx67AwGLwL8PDl1iyrz0_DJWz_YbP7FWw/s1600/big+screens+to+touch+screens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJ1RAAckEz5VNdkBj9LvWVg2xh1cgpZce9xm1hyphenhyphencVPsMDmqIbuPoDSRwieyNr4QOhG30yYhtg-AD-Z0n60T1z1r7ZuUyoBoY2sVzkpX3LJDXx67AwGLwL8PDl1iyrz0_DJWz_YbP7FWw/s1600/big+screens+to+touch+screens.jpg" height="153" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Movie tie-in games have been making the move to mobile... for better or worse.<br />
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<a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/11883-From-Big-Screens-to-Touch-Screens" target="_blank">Check out my latest feature for The Escapist!</a>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-35349857779210653252014-06-29T17:53:00.000-05:002014-06-29T17:55:08.309-05:00On the Politics of Pikmin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMS2rzOhcQHut0DbQ0hdbxRRJsJDEqKHc6LFjqgGiRxU7Ia7Em6-N0Hjph_B6seqgNi-bylgLdoNFJ9De8f6SpIgKUfuY5Uw0LEiiuWrLZdLY-a5zUSpCKuv-N705ZUh-qcYJvk4RVas/s1600/radical+pikmin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMS2rzOhcQHut0DbQ0hdbxRRJsJDEqKHc6LFjqgGiRxU7Ia7Em6-N0Hjph_B6seqgNi-bylgLdoNFJ9De8f6SpIgKUfuY5Uw0LEiiuWrLZdLY-a5zUSpCKuv-N705ZUh-qcYJvk4RVas/s1600/radical+pikmin.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know what's awful and tedious about being a journalist? Transcribing hours of interviews. You know what's a great distraction from transcribing interviews? Having a wonderfully thoughtful conversation on the nature and ideology of Nintendo's <em>Pikmin</em> series with my good friend and fellow recent Medill graduate </span><a href="https://twitter.com/annalise_frank" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anna "Anne" Frank</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. So here it is, mildly edited.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anna</span></em></strong>: I've been playing <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><em>Pikmin 1</em> and wondering what stops Olimar from being some sort of slave master or cruel dictator to the Pikmin? Does he give them something in return? Or does he just employ them for nothing and makes them attack things for his own ends? How is this a positive thing?</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: blue;">Jordan</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">He gives their lives order and purpose. And without his guidance they'd be lost, weak individuals getting eaten by Bulborbs or whatever at night. Plus he helps their species propagate, although that's mostly for his own ends. I</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">t is mad colonial.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anna</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Ah yeah I see that, it can be seen as good or bad, depending on your philosophic views. The whole "they are too stupid to regulate their own lives and run their own society" is cute if you're talking about Pikmin, but not when talking about other things... What if the Pikmin rise up against him? Do they do that at all in 2 or 3? Do they ever have any agency?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ar2GEK3cfjoK8En1xSp0h-dbsFMPA1TUibp_cIZ0MW0V0GoQJWdo-jTdWW1eMZXgWey9UVVEHQxsYQb2qn_1viRUpB3hfYs_YOn8YcH1NCc0-sTp3jBZkBnih0gvBmMZaEeiFVHolz4/s1600/obey+olimar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ar2GEK3cfjoK8En1xSp0h-dbsFMPA1TUibp_cIZ0MW0V0GoQJWdo-jTdWW1eMZXgWey9UVVEHQxsYQb2qn_1viRUpB3hfYs_YOn8YcH1NCc0-sTp3jBZkBnih0gvBmMZaEeiFVHolz4/s1600/obey+olimar.png" height="400" width="231" /></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Jordan</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I haven't played much <em>Pikmin 2,</em> but I doubt it, which is crazy because the whole premise is Olimar's company sent him back to the planet to strip it for treasures. In <em>Pikmin 3</em> you play as three other astronauts who have to rescue Olimar, but he got captured by some mother slime monster, not radical Pikmin which would be way more interesting. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">However, if you run out of days in <em>Pikmin 1</em>, the Pikmin resurrect Olimar as some kind of man/Pikmin hybrid which has some interesting implications.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anna</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Hmm, I do think that would be much more interesting, instead of a slime monster. But yeah, becoming a man/Pikmin hybrid would be neat because it gives him more compassion/empathy/brotherhood with the Pikmin. Maybe <em>Pikmin 4</em>? I want more Pikmin psychology to be explored, or for them to evolve somehow, develop new abilities/more thoughts, like the whole robot-learns-from-humans-to-</span><wbr style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></wbr><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">be-human-and-then-learns-how-</span><wbr style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></wbr><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">to-defy-them sort of thing. They probably don't want to vilify the Pikmin, but at least make them more than long nosed Furbies! Jeez.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: blue;">Jordan</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">What if <em>Pikmin 4</em> was like <em>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> and you play as the Pikmin version of Caesar?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anna</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. And they can get James Franco to do voice work as pseudo Caesar owner/Oimar. And at first you love him, but he becomes your enemy. Same gameplay, you lead the Pikmin, but instead of collecting monster corpses to fuel your reign YOU COLLECT HUMAN CORPSES AAAHHHH!</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><strong><em><span style="color: blue;">Jordan</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Semi-serious question, can I post this conversation on my blog? It's too good to keep locked up. I don't have to name you unless you'd want that.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anna</span></em></strong>: <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Haha, feel free to do what you want. I think this idea deserves screen time as well. And I don't mind being named, I stand by everything.</span></span></span></span></span></span>JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-15892685927045361912014-06-21T20:40:00.001-05:002014-06-21T20:40:49.498-05:00So I Graduated College...Today, I graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. So I'm now just a journalist, not a journalism student. When I tweeted that out, game developer <a href="http://www.gutshotgames.com/" target="_blank">Gut Shot Games</a> tweeted me this picture back.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHB1CBeDObuCajraK0Up-RTIkzBtm6_ZAzDnIadHSbwGhyRX86h_ghW3vX9_n9ND0aLtvjyMJ77A332XKRmiixoXA2dw7C_9C1Pso6GVpd_eSr3GiRMAM92D8we8HhYahkgYqT-dQlQo/s1600/BqrcvPSCUAEMJu8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHB1CBeDObuCajraK0Up-RTIkzBtm6_ZAzDnIadHSbwGhyRX86h_ghW3vX9_n9ND0aLtvjyMJ77A332XKRmiixoXA2dw7C_9C1Pso6GVpd_eSr3GiRMAM92D8we8HhYahkgYqT-dQlQo/s1600/BqrcvPSCUAEMJu8.jpg" height="286" width="320" /></a></div>
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So I'm not just a journalist, but, now more than ever, a games journalist. <br />
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I don't even like dogs.JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-47430175643361103502014-06-13T12:55:00.000-05:002014-06-13T12:55:11.205-05:00Hands On With Super Smash Bros. for Wii U <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEind2rcIfOAY8EMgmoihC7k_tJQWDfS2rY7-BPZZC6oFOyFvDPjr9oMZ2hTSzX89X81aJDw7pRC9vAv8IUJs8rMIis5bj2zXzfcsv6zL2CYR2wOy8mIbV9N0pyhuFC6xVHmHj-2NOJOkok/s1600/super+smash+bros+wii+u+e3+2014+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEind2rcIfOAY8EMgmoihC7k_tJQWDfS2rY7-BPZZC6oFOyFvDPjr9oMZ2hTSzX89X81aJDw7pRC9vAv8IUJs8rMIis5bj2zXzfcsv6zL2CYR2wOy8mIbV9N0pyhuFC6xVHmHj-2NOJOkok/s1600/super+smash+bros+wii+u+e3+2014+main.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I got to play the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and wrote about it for Paste Magazine. It's gonna be really fun. Check it out!<br />
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<a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/hands-on-with-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-new-faces.html">http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/hands-on-with-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-new-faces.html</a><br />
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<br />JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862319515702117567.post-56085601615763901172014-06-03T12:41:00.000-05:002014-06-03T12:42:10.155-05:00"Halt and Catch Fire" Pilot Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“Halt and Catch Fire” is proof that no matter how many things a TV show has going against it, all I need to give it a chance is a premise that speaks to my niche interests. Sure it’s another desperate attempt by AMC to finally have another show that’s actually good once “Mad Men” joins “Breaking Bad” in the great channel in the sky. Sure the main character is just another hyper competent, amoral, successful, white male anti-hero. And sure the title is basically for no one. But how can I not watch a series about the early 1980s PC boom? I was willing to tolerate the TV movie cheesiness of <i>Pirates of Silicon Valley</i> so of course I’m going to watch this.<br />
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After seeing the first episode “I/O” though, I think I’d be pretty jazzed even if I wasn’t a tech writer. Part of that comes from the tremendous sense of place. Texas makes sense as a setting because of all the tech companies with roots there. One character even works for Texas Instruments. But it’s also a fascinating reminder of how much the traditional macho Texas lone star culture held sway over the early tech culture in ways we can probably trace up to today’s awful tech bros. It was never just California hippies.<br />
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Meanwhile, the 80s time period covers not only the surface level details like music and fashion, but also the general attitude of pure greed and intense self-interest. This is where Lee Pace’s Joe MacMillan begins to part from the likes of Don Draper and Walter White. In this first episode at least, his obviously constructed salesman persona is less about covering up past traumas or insecurities and more about concealing straight up sociopathy. His role in the show is to play hotheaded but charismatic Steve Jobs to Scoot McNairy’s Steve Wozniak stand-in Gordon Clark, a bearded, sad sack, computer genius and alcoholic father. But in practice Pace ends up coming off as a cross between Gordon Gecko and Patrick Bateman. He stalks Gordon’s family at a movie theater for crying out loud. Pace’s performance is the highlight of the pilot so here’s hoping it isn’t undermined by some needlessly convoluted mystery about what happened during the year MacMillan went missing. Maybe he stole someone’s name in a war?<br />
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Conversely, Mackenzie Davis as Cameron Howe gets the short shrift. I like the choice to make the show’s female lead the young computer science prodigy who sees the internet coming, but she just has too little to do for too much of the episode. Her punk arcade antics are fun, and it’s amusing, if unnecessary, that her knowledge of programming not only impresses MacMillan but sexually arouses him. But the only thing she really does is join the team, establishing her place for future episodes.<br />
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Fortunately, the rest of episode does more beyond simple table-setting. The actual mechanics of MacMillan scheme to take down IBM and seize control/ctrl, all while being openly hated by a corporation he tricked into hiring him, are enjoyable to watch in a sneaky caper film kind of way. Meanwhile, the sections devoted to the Clarks’ strained family life transcend the typical domestic drama tropes they could have easily devolved into. As more of the couple’s previous history with computers is revealed, their actions and relationships begin to make sense in a compelling, believable way. There’s even a cute bit where Gordon repairs and upgrades his daughter’s spelling toy demonstrating the variety of ways computers have value to people. Currently, with Howe as a nonentity and MacMillan as a nonhuman, much of the human drama comes from Gordon and his wife Donna played by Kerry Bishé. Luckily, they deliver.<br />
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Taken as a whole, the dark campy melodrama of “House of Cards” and the mundane comic insanity of “Veep” basically represent all politics can be. I’m hoping that together, “Halt and Catch Fire” and HBO’s great new sitcom “Silicon Valley” can do the same thing for the ever-expanding and increasingly villainous tech scene. It’s no “Mad Men” or <i>The Social Network</i>, but this first episode shows enough promise to warrant another download.JMinorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12183600637794275695noreply@blogger.com0