Christmas Quiz 2020

 I suggest watching this video in full screen.

In the before times I use to usually meet up with friends in Glasgow for a while.

But, due to current events, those meetings were moved to Microsoft Teams.

However, it has given me the opportunity to try something out.

One activity we decided to do in these meetings is a quiz, using PowerPoint to present the questions.

I made a few this year and the one here was one presented yesterday.

Consider this my alternative Christmas card for this year.

 Happy "I survived 2020, as well as winter" everyone

(Excuse the voiceover quality. It was done in a hurry.)

A Problem with Art Criticism and Ranking Works

What is your favourite [fill in blank]?

It's a question you may have been asked so many times you have lost count. I bet many art critics get asked it so many times that they have developed a default answer to which ever subject it is.

For example, movies can be placed on this hierarchical pyramid I just made up.

Here's its breakdown.

1. Kane's Podium. Named after the protagonist of "The Greatest Movie of All Time." These are the movies you'll find in any critic's Top Ten Favourites. 
2. Near Masterpieces. Those movies that are beyond "good" that can be considered "masterpieces" or "classics." Most high brow and art house movies can be found here.
3. The Good Movie bundle. Movies that are not good enough to be near masterpieces, but good enough to be worth seeing in a multiplex. If it appeared on TV, you might consider watching it.
4. Multiplex Filler. Movies you only remember as posters on the walls of multiplexes while going to see a "good movie" or only saw because the "good movie" you wanted to see was sold out or not on a convenient time. Also commonly seen on TV A LOT.
5. The Direct-to-Video Bargain Basement Bin. It doesn't need explaining.

Now, I know some will question where some of the movies I have chosen to feature are placed on this graphic. But it was made in a bit of a hurry, so shot me. But your disgust proves my point I am making. Also, consider this question.....

Where would you put Star Wars on this pyramid? 

Many would place A New Hope in the good movie bundle, due to snobbery against everything sci-fi. Some would place it on Kane's Podium (and defend it with their lives). Only ill-educated morons (and I use these terms very broadly) would place it below the "good movie bundle."

And that's just factors present-day opinions. An opinion of something can change over time, due to many factors that one can't just out, because the relationship between a fan and a work of art can be as complicated as one between two human beings.

You see the problem?

Art (like politics) is a very subjective subject. Every person has their own definition to what is considered "art" or what is a "masterpiece." Its something many people know and don't know at the same time. They know "everyone is entitled to their own opinion" but they will get angry anyway when they hear someone say "I like Digimon/Hollyoaks/James Blunt." You can't win against everyone, no matter what you like. Even if the thing in question is brad new or something that has been part of the wallpaper for centuries.

That's why, if you ask me "what is my favourite [insert thing here]?" my answer may be different every time. It could be because of who is asking or how I feel at the time.

Honestly, I find finding favourites very hard. I find it easier if I'm asked for a "top 3/5/10" of a thing. As long as I can have them in order of what I think of first. No hierarchy. No number 1 top of the pile choice. Just a small chosen selection.

Invented Word 4 - Box-ticking Plot

Box-ticking Plot (noun) - A story plot deliberately written to tick boxes in some form of checklist. Such check lists can be from a focus group or the demands of fans of a franchise. Such plots can feel "forced" upon the writing of a piece of media and the reader/viewer can notice it.

The term came to me when I saw Anime America's review of the 19th Pokemon movie - Hoopa and the Clash of Ages. I have seen the movie before seeing this review, so I had an idea what Robyn was going to say about it.

(I tried to find the video in question, but I suspect Anime America has been struck by another copyright troll (again!).)

FOUND IT!!!!

Sneak Preview 3 - The Pokémon 20th anniversary special BIG act of Cultural Vandalism

This is sneak preview number 3 of my Pokémon 20th anniversary special that is still under construction and is scheduled for completion in February 2016.

Haven't decided let when to release the next one let.

After Ash nearly gave away Pikachu in the touching episode 'Pikachu's Goodbye', a number of things happened before Ash finally competed in his first league tournament. These included...

• What some over-sensitive people might call "a certain type of rag doll's Christmas special." 
• Ash getting trapped in snow.
• The Eevee Brothers.
• The battle of the gyms in Dark City.
• Melvin the magician.
• Jigglypuff's début at Neon Town.
• Gary Oak's Indiana Jones tribute and Ash's "ride" with an Aerodactyl.
• James' past catches up with him.
• The birth of Togepi.
• The secret evolution garden of the Bulbasaurs.
• The Jessie vs. Misty battle on Girls' Day, where Jessie uses her recently required Lickitung.
• Todd Snap the photographer.
• The worst exam ever.
• Team Rocket's more successful duo, Cassidy and Biff (Its Butch for god sake! How hard can it be? Have they heard of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?)
• The performance of this water ballet.
• Clefairies from Space and the Jigglypuff bitch-slap fest.
• Gary Oak's encounter of that Pokémon.
• The runaway Mr Mine.
• The surfing Pikachu.
• Psyduck get's cast in a movie.
• The première and Meowth's back story.
• And Ancient giant Pokémon.

Oh, and that incident on New Island - the site of Ash's encounter of that Pokémon that beat Gary in the Viridian City Gym - Mewtwo. 

We all know the story that Mewtwo is a clone of Mew commissioned by the (initially) orange-suited power-hungry Svengali figure that is Giovanni and created with the cloning skills of Dr Fugi. But how many of you know of the real reason how Dr Fugi got involved in this project? Are you aware of the extra 10-minute short that was added to the start of the first movie after it's first release? Like me, you may have already seen the first few minutes of it as an added extra on the film's first VHS/DVD release in late-2000, the scene where the scientists find the Mew fossil in Guyana. What happened in the remaining seven minutes is (SPOILER ALERT) tragic. Dr Fugi's main motive to work on this project was to aid his personal project to clone his dead daughter. It was like what happened to Shou Tucker in the 2003 version of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime. He had successfully made a copy of her conciousness (in the form of a holographic cloud) inside a tube (I think he planned to make her body after working out the kinks in the making of Mewtwo.). The interesting thing is that in the lab Amber (the dead daughter) and Mewtwo (in an infant stage) communicated telepathically. During their correspondence Amber showed Mewtwo the outside world through her (child-like) memories. But during so her concious in a tube began to die in the lab. As she began to fade from Mewtwo's mind Mewtwo started to cry. Been the first time he ever cried he was puzzled by the liquid coming out of his eyes. Amber said they were called tears and said....

"They say living beings only cry when their bodies are in pain. Humans are the only ones who let out tears when their sad. ... Thank you. Thank you for your tears. But please don't cry. You're living! Stay alive okay? I'm sure it'll be fun." 

Then she disappeared. But Mewtwo couldn't stop crying.

"The tears aren't stopping! What should I do? Answer me Amber!"

That that was when his brainwaves spiked alerting the scientists. Because it was too early for him to be awake, they induce deep sleep through a tranquillizer. And during that sleep his memories of Amber were "forgotten."  But were they? During their first communication Mewtwo wondered if he were a human or a Pokémon. Amber's comment about him crying adds fuel to this question of his identity. So by the time he finally woke up he was already confused about his purpose in life. But as the scientists treated him as a "final product" of a long R&D session in fossil genetic cloning, Mewtwo went ballistic and blew up the lab. Seeing the destruction, Giovanni saw all he needed to see to know if his project was a success. Very soon after the destruction of the lab he offers Mewtwo the chance to learn ow to focus his power. He agreed and spent some time in a suit of armour (as he did when he battled Gary). After a few weeks of this Mewtwo still questioned his purpose in life, but Giovanni made the mistake of coming clean and telling him that he was a "tool" made for his selfish means. Mewtwo went ballistic again and ran away back to New Island and vowed to take his revenge on humankind for his slavery and the supposed slavery of all Pokémon. Then the opening titles roll.

Most of us who saw the first movie when it first came out, we only saw from the part I made bold above. In fact, (according to Takeshi Shudō) the original plan was not to reveal Mewtwo until Ash reaches the island. The prologue was not planned, but the hiatus of the TV series caused by the exploding missiles incident forced the animators to make them, as they originally planned to hint Mewtwo's existence in these three episodes, which only finally aired after the film premièred (ouch). Although the original film was a good "fate of the world in the balance" story for kids, I feel that the additional ten minutes added more maturity and not-subtle foreshadowing in the story. Maybe the idea of a reviving a dead child may have been considered "scary" for kids in the late-1990s (years before the pandemic of superhero movies forced the creation of the 12A/PG-12 rating). Despite the fact that (SPOILER ALERT) in the finale of the film, Ash "dies" in the crossfire in the battle between Mew and Mewtwo... and then is revived by the tears of all the Pokémon present (clone and original). Did Mewtwo really "forget" about Amber's words? There's something to think about.
With its plot featuring a very powerful Pokémon and a fate of the world in the balance premise involving it (with some deep exploration of humanity's relationship with nature and the environment), Mewtwo Strikes Back set the template for all future feature films.

How Motion Pictures Work

Back in February (as a duty of editor of the NAS Times newsletter) I took part in a group that visited various places in Glasgow.
On our first trip that month we went to the Mitchell Library. At the time of our visit, it was holding an exhibition about cinemas in the city. Glasgow had a lot of cinemas. In fact, in the 1930s Glasgow had more cinemas per head of population than any other city in the world.

It was after seeing this exhibition (which showed a few old projectors and various other pieces of cinema paraphernalia) that I thought about making another informative strip (like the one I did back in November).

I didn't chase this idea until just a few weeks ago when I was in the mist of making this animation.

The subject of this strip is motions pictures. As someone who loves animation, I'm fascinated how it is possible for drawings, models or photographs to become "alive" on screen. Its a very interesting thing to investigate. It involves biology as well as technology. Reading about how movies were invented is a very interesting story, involving many characters, especially Eadweard Muybridge, and mysteries, like the disappearance of Louis Le Prince. I might one day do something about this, but for now here's how motion pictures work....

Featuring The Masked Pidgeotto.

Took a bit longer than expected to make.

UPDATE: June 2017

Last night I wrote this paragraph. I think its does a better job than this strip...

“The Illusion of Life”

Human vision has the sense rate of about one tenth of a second. This means that if an object travelling across a human’s field of vision takes less than one tenth of a second to do so the eye won’t see it. If an invisible person moved an object in small intervals in that field of vision, if those movements happened in a rate more than ten times a second, it’ll appear to the eye that the moving object is “alive.” The same thing happens with still images. If you flash still images into someone’s field of vision at least 12 times a second (with some mechanism to block the image briefly as it changes to the next one) they will appear to move. But the more images you flash a second the smoother the movement appears to the eye, as the blank spaces between images become less noticeable. According to Thomas Edison, the ideal minimum rate for “flicker-free” movies is 46 images per second - "Anything less will strain the eye." 

It demonstrates what I am trying to do with my computer book.