Unwinnable

The rule of thumb in screenwriting is that you’ve got ten minutes to get all of your pieces in place. In a mere ten pages you must set up your characters, their motivations, conflicts and the big problem they’ve got to overcome. An efficient writer can pull this feat off even faster. The brilliant ones do it in style; like the Coen Brothers in Raising Arizona, they can cram all that work into a brilliant (admittedly longer than ten minutes) pre-credits sequence. Or a clever screenwriter can break the rules a la Quentin Tarantino or Christoper Nolan and twist the narrative so that the setup is buried somewhere towards the end of the picture, forcing the viewer to puzzle out the whys and wherefores as they watch the player react to complications. (more…)

In my very early days, I listened to a lot of Power Records, a known quantity series of comic book and record sets that chronicled the adventures of Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Superman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek and a few other properties. They either came as a smaller 45 RPM record with one adventure or a larger 33-1/3 RPM record with up to four adventures. The 33-1/3 record sleeves were like proto comic book trade paperbacks. (more…)

Aphex Twin’s “Xtal” opens unassumingly. There is no long intro or buildup to some grand unveiling of a complex musical idea; instead, the song immediately introduces its main theme, a lovely syncopated chord progression, alongside a typical hi-hat rhythm, then bringing in other elements – kick drum, ethereal female vocal sample, more drum hits. Within the first minute or so, you’ve heard almost everything in the song’s palette.

Alright, let me be honest: as you’ve probably already noticed, I have a lot of trouble writing about music. I have great admiration for people that can communicate the effect well-composed music has on them, because I constantly find myself struggling to explain it in a way that isn’t stilted and ridiculous. In case the rest of my attempt here falls flat, I’d like you to just remember this much: “Xtal” is the first track on Aphex Twin’s debut album (Selected Ambient Works 85-92) which I consider one of the most important albums in electronic music history by a very safe margin. It’s a wonderful, weirdly majestic song, and it changed my damn life. (more…)

My father is a jock. He took the pitcher’s mound on his high school baseball team and was good enough in college to be scouted for a spot in the old Oakland A’s bullpen. He currently refuses to allow bad knees and a bad back to keep him off the golf course. He religiously attends the college basketball games of his alma mater and watches whatever sport is in season on television at high volume.

I, on the other hand, am fairly incompetent as an athlete. When I played basketball in high school, it was all I could do to hit the backboard with a shot, and I had to look at the ball to dribble it properly. (more…)

While Unwinnable was having its vacation theme week, I was on actual vacation, half of which I spent in Washington, D.C., fitfully attempting to visit every major landmark and museum. Naturally, I left the city with a list of things I wanted to see but never got around to, but one thing that I was determined to see was a particular exhibit in the Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Art of Video Games. I am that guy who writes about videogames and I simply can’t pass up the chance to see my preferred medium presented in a positive light in one of the more esteemed venues for what we call “art.” (more…)

Chrissy Murderbot is a busy dude. Last year he released a new mixtape every week, covering nearly every genre in electronic music you could Beatport – and others you can’t. He jockeys discs all over the globe and runs two record labels. He also has a new LP out on Planet Mu. I got to talk to Chrissy toward the end of his ninth international tour about old school video games and electronic music production. (more…)

Do yourself a favor and take 4 minutes out of your day to watch Matt McNeely’s wholly fascinating mini-documentary examining the impact and influence of  the Nintendo Entertainment System.