Snap: The ONE comic series I’d recommend to anyone who wanted to appreciate comics in a more serious light. Penned by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, this is a seminal piece of work that deconstructs the superhero genre, gives the characters excellent character motivations, all coupled with an art style that Moore himself has claimed to be “unfilmable.” [5/5]

Love: I absolutely adore the writing. Each character is so distinct, even the bit players, and all of them come together into one very believable alternate history, and you end up being sucked into this imaginary space where vigilantes are celebrated and then martyred. Monologues by Rorschach are intense, psychosis-fueled affairs, yet you are drawn into the diary and mind of this madman. Characters like Dr Manhattan open up your mind to other universes beyond our own and bleak anti-heroes like The Comedian cause you to question your own outlook on the world. Yet, through it all, with careful writing, you have a sense of each character’s motivations, you root for them as you would any other superhero in this endless / inane genre, yet you know what makes them stand apart from you, and you find yourself wanting to be just like them, warts and all. Most comics have never been taken seriously within the literary fraternity, but this series will have you applauding the accomplishment of seamlessly combining text with still images, each panel an infinite window into another world that balances reality and fantasy upon the precipice of fiction.

Hate: Talking about this with people who didn’t enjoy the series.

Snap: This is a review based on the second time I’ve watched the film and having also read the comic books before the film, so yes, there’s baggage. For starters, the original comics were written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons, and now adapted to film by director, Zack Snyder. I think it’s important to separate the comic book medium and film medium very distinctively, because with the comics, you’re allowed to linger on certain frames, pause and think. But with a movie medium, you just can’t do that, and this affects pacing, which is one of the key differences between the comics and the movie.

Taking that on board, the Watchmen film was a little more enjoyable the second time round, maybe there were bouts of nostalgia, but overall, I’d say that Snyder did a very decent adaptation of the comic books, perhaps a little too faithful that it seemed to embody his own fan service rather than use the film medium to it’s full potential and tell his version of the story that someone else had originally written. [3.5/5]

Love: The visuals are stunning, there’s no fault there. Also, the sets and costume design were pretty faithful, yet updated enough to still be appreciated by current audiences. Most of the mood was kept, the atmosphere was dark, depressing, like having static in the air because you know there’s something foreboding in the background. Character representations were also enjoyable without anyone really trying too hard. I had my own expectations, but I think the cast delivered, some more than others, but still, a commendable effort.

Hate: Most of my issue with the film, is pacing. Maybe there’s really too much information to squeeze in, but I think it’s as the original writer intended. Some things just are not meant for a film medium. I guess, I just wasn’t used to being led along the pace of the director, because my expectation with the comics medium was just set at too high a bar. Regardless, while I loved the creative decision to film on sets instead of having over-the-top CGI, it shows a little too glaringly. I thought I would be absorbed into an alternate timeline of 1985, but it sort of stuck out like a make believe world.

Overall, the mis-en-scene just felt very scattered. One moment you’re walking dark grimy alleyways with tightly-focused camera shots, and the next you have clean cityscapes (and even that doesn’t happen so often.) My point is that the city is as much a character (thanks to Rorschach’s journal entries), but that seemed lost and you don’t feel much for the populace that the heroes are trying to save. It’s a tall order, and I graded the film harshly only because I cared.

By now, any music lover on the Internet today has heard of Soundcloud and benefited greatly from being able to stream almost any type of music using a fuss free web-browser interface.

One of the great things about Soundcloud, is that many independent musicians are creating music on their own, and using the Soundcloud service to host their published works. The same way we use Flickr to see what other photographers are doing, or Vimeo to see what other filmmakers are creating, Soundcloud has been the de rigueur hosting service for creators of music.

Another great thing is that an entire community is forming around users of the service. 17 May 2012 is Soundcloud Global Meetup Day, and organising Singapore’s inaugural participation into the global fray are Fernando Gros (a musician and writer who resides in Singapore) and Marcus Wong (a musician who’s played in Singaporean bands since he was 17 and still makes music.)

And from community comes interaction and collaboration. We can all learn from each other. So if you’re a music lover, creator or user of the soundcloud service, or just generally interested in new technologies, this is a great casual setting to meet one another, and discuss what works and doesn’t work for you. The meeting will be at The Pigeonhole and you can definitely enjoy a beer while being treated to a programme that includes live performances, interviews and panel discussions.

// Details //

Date: 17 May 2012, Thursday
Time: 7PM – 10PM
Venue: The Pigeonhole, 52 / 53 Duxton Road
Entrance: Free!

SGSC: Soundcloud Global Meetup (Singapore) Event Page

Snap: A documentary that reveals many insights into the creative and thought process of Alan Moore, the writer of some of comics’ most influential stories such as: Watchmen; Swamp Thing; V for Vendetta; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Batman: The Killing Joke.. etc. [4/5]

Love: If you’re a fan of Alan Moore’s work, this will give you greater insight and depth to what motivates and inspires him. It’s also a very enjoyable trip down the rabbit hole, and seeing how far it goes. Mr Moore is a bit of an eccentric, but his very articulate sharing of the things he’s learned are almost as enjoyable as some of the best tutorials you’ve had discussing existentialism, perceptions on reality and the reasons why art is important to our culture. There’s also a bit about how he compares writers to shamans, and it was a very captivating monologue.

Hate: If you’re looking for intellectual discourse, you might not like this. But if you’re always in the mood for some good discussion, sit back and enjoy all one hour ten minutes of it!

Drawings by Amanda K. Ang. A talented illustrator and someone I’ve gotten to know in recent times, is having her very first exhibition this Saturday, 19 May 2012 at The Pigeonhole. Alongside to kickstart the launch of the exhibition, are bands that Amanda knows personally. Novak and Shelves will take the stage from 8PM onwards to usher in the spiraled out madness of live music. A pretty worthwhile accompaniment to Amanda’s many drawings, your beer and our banter.

// Details //

Date: 19 May 2012, Saturday
Time: Bands play from 8PM
Venue: The Pigeonhole, 52 / 53 Duxton Road
Entrance: Free!

Damn, I love Mux Mool (Brian Lindgren). He says some pretty cool shit, so if you’ve got a minute to spare, ramble on children.

Produced by James P. Morse

// TRANSCRIPT //

No. Haha! Does anyone have health insurance?

Here’s something to do this weekend! There’s a new youth led initiative known as NSP Catalyst, a youth led initiative whose aim is to inspire minds, empower communities and create a more socially aware nation. (In case you didn’t know, NSP = National Solidarity Party)

I’m rather intrigued, most forums do not acknowledge that a diverse and nurturing culture is an important social fabric, so while this might be politically motivated, I’d still be happy to lend my attendance and participate in the discourse.

// MULTIPLICTIY: SINGAPORE IDENTITY //

Does Singapore have a cultural identity to call its own? We want to know what you think. Join us as we have a go at this tricky and hotly debated topic together with our special guests—people who have shaped Singapore’s cultural landscape with their work and contributions. It’ll be a fun, light-hearted, yet thought-provoking affair so do come down with your friends for an afternoon of personal, intimate discussions with:

Alfian Sa’at, playwright
Brendon Fernandez, actor
Mike See, band manager (The Great Spy Experiment)

Details:
5 May, Saturday, 2pm – 5pm
The Pigeonhole
52/53 Duxton Road

The Pigeonhole: http://thepigeonhole.com.sg/

Bands are also performing from 730PM – 1030PM at The Pigeonhole
Pep Talk (7.30pm)
Gabriel Lynch (8.30pm)
Typewriter (9.30pm)

Here’s a little treat for songwriting, music or Nick Cave geeks. Very insightful documentary about The Cave’s songwriting process, or his perspective on how he approaches his craft.

“You’d live in the studio, you wouldn’t go home, especially back then. Blixer would sleep under the piano in his rubber boots. Tony Cohen, the Bad Seeds’ eccentric producer could be found comatose in the air conditioning shaft or under the mixing desk checking the wiring. You created an alternate universe for those few desperate weeks, when night and day ceased to exist and cleaners with their buckets and brooms became terrifying reminders of the outside world..”

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Snap: Pre-CGI Science Fiction goodness directed by Fascist-specialist director, Paul Veerhoeven and starring everyone’s favourite Austria Death Machine. Features a relatively mind-fucking plotline by early nineties standards. In essence, our hero finds out he’s not really who he thinks he is, becomes embroiled in a conspiracy that would put the Da Vinci code to shame, kills half the population of colonised Mars all the while being being hipsterly ambiguous before Inception was cool. [3/5]

Love: The moments when you’re left wondering if Quaid/Hauser was stuck in a dream or living out reality are quite intricately weaved. The set design and visual effects were an absolute thrill to behold. If you have a soft-spot for that form of special effects, you’ll appreciate the effort the production team took to make the style as visceral as possible. As a little extra, it’s endearing to see product placement efforts from big brands in the 80’s but have faded in the new millennium. Also, there are Arnie quotes.

Hate: There’s some rather bland acting, and the usual cannon fodder trope for enemies and bad guys, though the death scenes of key villains sorts of makes up for that short coming. Characterisation is one of the key elements that causes this film to suffer. It’s tropes galore and you get the sense of a United Colors of Benetton ad that’s trying to pass off as a futuristic, homogenous Martian colony.

Arguably I’ve yet to try any of these new fangled video sharing services (such as Viddy), so everything you read here might be a crock of rubbish. Either way, I’ll put a few thoughts down as to why I don’t think the sharing of short video clips may not be as hot as sharing snapshots with your friends. I do intend to try it out some time, and I may be pleasantly surprised after it all.

1. The media takes too much time to consume
In my opinion, one of the successes of Instagram is that the media is static. You can spend as quick one second glancing through a picture, or you could look at it for hours (say a really cute cat/dog). Most of the time, the image jumps out at you straight away and captures your attention at that very moment. The emotion it evokes is almost instantaneous. Video on the other hand, requires a more complex thought process to appreciate, and the video uploader is also constrained to most “rules” of visual communication and I would argue, videos might be more boring even though there is kinetic energy within the frame. As such, I think the barrier for entry to appreciate video might be higher than it is to appreciate still shots.

2. Is 15 seconds too long or too short?
A point worth discussing. Some filmmakers might find the 15 second time limit of videos on Viddy too short, some might find it just right. The point is that we’re stuck with a limit as to what we can upload. With static images, there is no limit, because while each frame is an instant, abstractly, there is an instantaneous amount of time captured in a still moment, whereas with video, you’re forced to view time linearly. As media consumers, most of us are used to the idea of video being a long-form medium, with edits in between and it ultimately tells a sort of story. 15 seconds might be too short for some uploaders, while others will cleverly work around the constraints by reimagining the purpose of the medium. I think most of us fall under the former category.

3. Most people don’t know how to take videos
And I mean, videos that do grab your attention so that you don’t feel like you’re wasting too much time on the application, and just watching 15 second clips of shakey cameras or scenic landscapes (though that in itself can be rather breathtaking). My point is that there’s already a lot of amateurish crap on YouTube, so do we really want that sort of visual standard to be a norm? This also leads me to my next point.

4. Video sharing mobile apps ultimately feel like a recycled idea
There are already multiple video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo that are more catered to long-form video styles, something I would argue that consumers are more familiar with, and uploaders are familiar with too. Their mobile apps are not too shabby as well, and you can appreciate the discovery process as well, since there are more people uploading and tagging videos to said sites/services. If I were to discover videos on an app like Viddy, I imagine it’s not something that I can’t already find on YouTube, although I may be wrong, and there could be a whole community of micro-filmmakers out there. But I’m not holding my breath, most of us are amateur video producers / directors and the same quality of videos is probably waiting to be discovered on Viddy which I doubt will succeed in holding my interest.

5. Video sharing apps are not changing anything
This could be a risky statement, but I feel that the successes of Instagram (static images), is due to the way it changed the way we consume visual information. It brought everything to one central location while at the same time allowing you to upload to the rest of your own personal digital assets. It made it compelling to upload and consume. I’m not so sure about Viddy, as I’ve pointed out in all my earlier opinions that video and images are most likely different mediums. Applying a template of Instagram (filters, following interesting uploaders and allowing one to upload to multiple platforms) may seem like a no-brainer since all of us enjoy videos. But how many of us enjoy taking videos and packaging videos in a way that is interesting to consume? I don’t foresee people talking about certain video uploaders going viral on Viddy as opposed to how YouTube has a better service to encourage that. As consumers, we’re just not used to the short amateurish video content that the majority of us puts up. In the end, apps like Viddy are not changing the way we consume visual images of the multimedia kind, and as such, it would be foolhardy to think that such apps can mirror the success of Instagram. (Also a nicer way of saying, be careful what you invest in.)

In closing
I’ve said most of these statements in the context that I tried out a very buggy app called SocialCam, and I sometimes capture videos with the 8mm app, and email 50second clips to Posterous which sends it to my YouTube channel. Sure, Viddy could centralise it all in one location, and there may be a community of videomakers there, but even I don’t find my videos on YouTube fascinating, so I’m wondering whether a hypothetical, small community is enough to sustain the use of apps like Viddy.

That said, I will probably try the app out just to see if these opinions do have any weight, and I’m also interested to discover interesting ways that uploaders have broken the mould of producing video content.