Tag Archives: hardboiled

there’s a glow

Posted on by April 3, 2014
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  This is the music video for the song ‘There’s a glow’ by the band NO, a Los Angeles-, respectively Echo-Park-based Indie sextet, which just published its debut album ‘El Prado.’ Filmmaker Johnny Agnew almost entirely filmed the video within the computer game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ (GTA V | Rockstar North 2013)—my, my, how ↵machinima has developed since I first posted about it in 2005 or so. I especially do like the ironic, humoresque ambience and narrative of the video, very gamer-like. And as we are already at it: not that I’d have time for it, but where are … Continue reading →

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what is cited?

Posted on by January 5, 2013
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zeph’s pop culture quiz #53 Which movie is payed homage to by the scene about to commence in the screencap? Bonus question: Which other movies are cited in the movie the screencap stems from?     Simply leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next … Continue reading →

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the simple art of murder

Posted on by January 21, 2012
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There are things which are interesting again and again, forever. ↑Raymond Chandler‘s essay ‘↑The Simple Art of Murder‘ (1950 [1944]) I already have read multiple times, quoted from it in ‘↑Cyberanthropology,’ and so on. Now I just stumbled over it again, via the ↵cyberpunk reading list, where the essay is commented like this: When reading it, replace ‘mystery novel’ with ‘sci-fi novel’ and its amazing. Every complaint the Cyberpunk authors had about ‘classic sci-fi’ is there as a complaint about ‘classic detective stories.’ – Logan Joshua Ratner We ↵just had it that William Gibson prefers Dashiell Hammett and is not … Continue reading →

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ignition—ablaze rewritten

Posted on by October 4, 2012
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manuscript-day two of 100    My having an appointment here and now renders the situation odd. Else there would be little wonder in the downtown Manhattan spaghetti joint being perfectly deserted at that time of night. Way past the graveyard shift, uncanny twilight, floor covered by classical black and white checker tile, rows of lavishly upholstered benches, matching diner-style tables squeezed in-between, an enormous mahogany bar in the back, and nobody to be seen.     A cliché setting not missing its target, bringing home the menacing ambience quite nicely. Just if I would not be nervous and frightened enough … Continue reading →

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welcome back to bright falls

Posted on by October 14, 2012
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cyberian nomadism confirmed    Once a real member of a real online community, always a member. ADM, whom I know since ye olde days of Max-Payne glory, yesterday evening sent me an e-mail, notifying me of the resurrected ↑BrightFalls.net—plus dipping my nose into the fact, that the Alan-Wake related links in the sidebar of my blog are outdated.  The relaunch of ADM’s site is a perfect up-to-date example of what, among other things, I am always bragging about in the academical realm:  “My” community is the central slice of the online-fanhood gathered around the games “Max Payne” (Remedy Entertainment 2001), … Continue reading →

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game noir

Posted on by October 14, 2012
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  Michael Mosel, a student at Marburg University, CC-licenced his paper “↑Film noir Computerspiele—marketing gag oder reales ‘noir gaming’?“ [“Film noir computer games—marketing ruse or real ‘noir gaming’?” | .pdf | 907KB] and ↑published it online, as his brother ↑notified us at ↑PlasticThinking.  MOSEL, MICHAEL. 2006. Film noir Computerspiele—marketing gag oder reales ‘noir gaming’? Thesis for the seminary Film Noir by Burkhard Röwekamp, Institut für Medienwissenschaft, Fachbereich 09: Germanistik und Kunstwissenschaften, Philipps-Universität Marburg. After giving a nice introduction into the subject of “film noir”, the paper deals with the games “↑Max Payne“ and “↑Grim Fandango“. Until now I only was … Continue reading →

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ablaze

Posted on by October 14, 2012
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  If it wasn’t for my having an appointment here and now, there’d be little wonder in the downtown Manhattan spaghetti joint being perfectly deserted at that time of night. Way past the graveyard shift, uncanny twilight, floor covered by classical black and white checker tile, rows of lavishly upholstered benches, matching diner-style tables squeezed between them, an enormous mahogani bar in the back, and nobody to be seen. A cliché setting. But the cliché doesn’t miss its target and brings home the menacing ambience quite nicely. Just if I’d not be nervous and frightened enough yet. Alas, there’s no … Continue reading →

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cyberpunk reading list

Posted on by January 19, 2012
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Bruce Sterling’s compilation of ↑what should be in every cyberpunk library is all very well, but have a look at ↑The Cyberpunk Reading List! Now I know what I am going to do the next 1001 nights. Just some examples for you to dig, like Victor Milan’s “The Cybernetic Samurai”: “After a limited nuclear exchange, scientists in Japan work to create the first artificial consciousness. Trained in the way of Bushido—the warrior code—it unifies Japan through its influence in an effort to stop WW4.” Plus its sequel “The Cybernetic Shogun”: “The offspring of the cybernetic samurai disagree about what role … Continue reading →

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interview at the diner

Posted on by October 14, 2012
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 Maniac and Aavenr from the much respected Max-Payne-site ↑Deep Six met with Remedy’s Sam Lake (Lead Writer and the man who lent his face to the original Max Payne—although at first glance I thought it was Mickey Rourke, no offence ;-) and Petri Järvilehto (Lead Game Designer) at a Diner like seen above (I mean an online one) and conducted an enlightening ↑interview [via ↑AlanWAKE.Net] on Alan Wake. Now we know about the story from first hand: SL: Alan Wake is a successful horror writer. For the material of his first novel, he used the strange dreams that he had … Continue reading →

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in the wake

Posted on by October 14, 2012
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With ↵Alan Wake a new, albeit concealed door to the anthropological understanding of online-communities appeared for me. Striding through this portal hopefully will allow me to shed light on the ↵issues my project is concerned with, by swimming in the wake of a new community. There is the chance to ‘be there’ from the very beginning, to follow every phase of community-building, appropriation, change, and so on. I dropped into the original Max-Payne community quite early, but never was a first-hour member. With Alan Wake I dare say I am. And now the situation is different, because meanwhile—after struggling to … Continue reading →

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