In honor of Game of Thrones Season 2, I present “Tyrion Slaps Joffrey”

Posted on March 30, 2012 by wellsdc

It may take time for all the GIF’s to load, but it will be worth it.

Winter is coming again

Posted on March 28, 2012 by wellsdc

(SPOILERS MAY ABOUND WITHIN)

To say I am excited about “Game of Thrones” season 2 would not do justice to the concept of excitement. Even words like “stoked” don’t truly convey the feeling. Of course, the stokedness is mixed with any fans apprehension that adapting such a huge novel to a TV screen will invariably screw it up somehow, but consider this: I had misgivings about season 1 when it started, and now I don’t remember what they were. That is either because (a) I did not blog about them at the time and so therefore they were not retained in my mind, or (b) any misgivings were overshadowed by how great the show turned out to be. I prefer option (b).

Season 2 will be largely based on the second book of the series, A Clash of Kings, although I fully expect that the show’s story arc will delve into other volumes now and then, as it did in season 1. HBO has put out a couple of shorts that introduce some of the new characters and showcase the new settings.

Fans of the books might notice that they seem to be giving much more prominent roles to Margaery Tyrell and Qhorin Halfhand. I’m all for that. Qhorin is a great character, and I have always been curious about Margaery (no spoilers, but she goes through a lot of crap.) My only complaint regarding her is that they put the accent on the first syllable of the Tyrell name, which means I have been mispronouncing it for years (the same was true for both “Daenerys” and “Targaryen,” though. I’m just glad I know now.)

Brienne of Tarth, from dear-westeros.tumblr.com

Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth

Now then, here’s the burning question: Brienne of Tarth, where the hell is she??? She may come closest to being the moral center of this part of the story, and they don’t even see fit to introduce her? Think about it: through the first four books, she is instrumental in turning one bad character (Jaime Lannister) sort of good, and in showcasing how one good character (Catelyn Stark) has turned bad, sort of. She’s also one of the most interesting characters overall–in a universe full of people who have lost all control over their own destinies, she is one of the few who dares to try to be who she really is. It almost never works out for her, of course, but the scorn and ridicule that nearly all of Westeros puts on her just makes her that much more heroic. She deserves to be prominently featured.

Continue reading →

I forgot a few very obvious “Hunger Games” influences, may the Great Geek God forgive me

Posted on March 24, 2012 by wellsdc

I am embarrassed to admit a few omissions from yesterday’s post about influences in The Hunger Games. In order to shore up my geek creds, let’s just go ahead and list them here and pretend this never happened, okay?

The SPOILER ALERT from the previous post remains in effect.

“The Running Man” (movie): The 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie offers a disturbingly-prescient view of today’s reality TV lineup, with the only difference, really, being that no one actively tries to kill anyone on actual reality shows today (that we know of). Arnold, as a convicted (but innocent) criminal, doesn’t have much choice but to participate in “The Running Man,” in which he must escape various celebrity “stalkers,” portrayed by real-life sports celebrities like Jesse Ventura (wrestling is sort of a sport) and Jim Brown. If he wins, he gets all manner of fabulous prizes (or does he???) Much like The Hunger Games, the game takes place in a large arena with various resources scattered about. It has a smarmy host who seems kindly but is actually a monster (Richard Dawson, soon to be channeled by Stanley Tucci). The biggest difference is likely to be in the fact that “The Running Man” is very, very ’80s.
“The Running Man” (novella): Where the 1987 Arnold movie errs on the side of cheesiness, the 1982 Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) novella is dark. Dark to the point of being downright cynical. The Ben Richards character doesn’t enter the game because someone coerces him, but because he needs money and really has no other options. Instead of a game arena, the game is played out in the real world in a dystopian future U.S., and in addition to “hunters” tracking him, anyone else can bring him in or kill him. He wins money for every hour he stays alive, and if he can survive for 30 days, he wins the grand prize of $1 billion. Much like The Hunger Games, the “Games Network” is ubiquitous in society, and there is even a mention, after televisions become required in all households, of instituting a requirement that they always be on. In a strange foreshadowing of today’s YouTube culture, Richards must make a video recording of himself every day and mail it to the Games Network. This keeps the audience updated on his doings and, of course, allows the powers that be to track him. In a final bit of foreshadowing, easily the most troubling of all, Richards brings the Games Network down, literally, by crashing an airplane into the Games Building. The novella ends with “…and it rained fire twenty blocks away.”
“The Long Walk:” This is another Stephen King book written as Richard Bachman and first published in 1979. It is set in a dystopian alternate United States controlled by a military dictatorship of some sort. Young men volunteer to participate in the annual “Long Walk.” The prize for the last man standing is, essentially, everything. Winners supposedly receive whatever they want, which must be tempting in what is described as a desperately poor and subjugated society. Losers “buy a ticket,” a term whose meaning is not made clear at first (I’m getting to that). The “Walk” starts at the Maine/Canada border and proceeds south for as long as it takes. Walkers must maintain a pace of four miles per hour, monitored by trained soldiers accompanying them on half-tracks. If their pace drops below that, they receive a warning. If they walk for an hour with no subsequent warning, the warning is removed. They get three warnings, and on the fourth warning they “buy their ticket.” The meaning of this becomes clear several hours into the walk when someone on his third warning gets a Charley horse and drops back. Despite his pleas, his ticket is called, and a soldier approaches him, pulls out his carbine, and shoots the man in the head. This being Stephen King, the carbine fires with sufficient power to eviscerate the man’s skull. Of course, all of this is televised. The remainder of the book is a psychological study of (a) the effect of nonstop walking under penalty of messy death, and (b) the factors that would possibly compel people to volunteer for this event.
“The Lottery:” A 1948 short story by Shirley Jackson, this may be the most disturbing of all, because it offers no hints at all that it is going somewhere creepy. Early on in the story, it might as well just be a standard small-town America story. Everyone is preparing for a big event, “the lottery,” held every year. The heads of the town’s families draw slips of paper from a box, and the family that draws the slip with the black spot is “chosen.” The members of that family draw slips of paper again, and the person who gets the one with the black spot wins, so to speak. The rest of the town then stones that person to death. It is fair to say that, based on the tone of the rest of the story, the reader does not see this coming.

I’m heading to the “Hunger Games” movie in a few hours. I’ll let you know how it is.

Photo credit: Running Man Theatrical Poster [Fair use claimed] via Wikipedia.

A watered-down “Battle Royale” with hints of the “Handmaid’s Tale,” all wrapped up in “Twilight”

Posted on March 23, 2012 by wellsdc

(WARNING: Might contain spoilers) It’s not really fair to compare The Hunger Games to Twilight, especially since I’ve never actually read Twilight (and, FSM willing, I never will.) I watched the first “Twilight” movie with a vaguely annoyed expression over a three- or four-day period, since I couldn’t sit through more than about thirty minutes at a time. I only mention it because of a gnawing fear that the forthcoming “Hunger Games” movie will drop the threadbare scraps of its dystopian themes of oppression and alienation and throw itself at a tween-swoon-inducing love triangle that only barely rears its sparkly head towards the end of the book.

Actually, I know that’s going to happen, because this review says so.

I actually quite enjoyed the book (I haven’t read the second or third books yet), even if I’m not the main target demographic. It was pretty derivative of quite a few things, but I like the way it took some disparate scifi elements and put them together in an innovative, if not altogether immersive, universe.

Here are a few things I liked about the book, in terms of its homage material:

“Battle Royale:” I’m referring to the profoundly-disturbing Japanese movie, not the Manga series. If The Hunger Games is not at least partly inspired by this, then it is a truly remarkable coincidence. The Hunger Games takes the children-fighting-to-the-death premise and improves on it by making the rationale for the event actually make sense. In “Battle Royale,” if I recall correctly, society has decided that children (defined as anyone under 20 years of age) constitute a grave threat to the safety and stability of society. As a disincentive to misbehaving, every year a ninth-grade class is selected to participate in the Battle Royale, in which they are deposited on an island and given a set period of time to fight to the death. It’s more disturbing than Hunger Games in the sense that these are classmates, who have known each other their whole lives, suddenly compelled to kill each other. Each child is fitted with an explosive collar to give them an extra incentive–if they refuse to fight, then the game master (whatever they’re called) will kill them anyway. The problem is that the premise makes no dang sense. The children are chosen at random, meaning that there is no value as a deterrent to crime or other misbehavior, because even model children could find themselves picked for the Battle. At least the Hunger Games are acknowledged to be random, as a demonstration of the Capitol’s complete dominance over society.
“The Handmaid’s Tale:” This is actually another one where I’ve only seen the movie (1990, starring Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall, and Aidan Quinn), and I’m pretty sure it leaves a lot of the book’s elements out. It posits a near-future dystopian America, the Republic of Gilead, with an uber-conservative religious leadership. Women who have managed to retain their fertility are literally treated like cattle. The main parallel I can see is in the portrayal of an all-powerful state that dominates all features of life, although it occurs to me that just about everyone, from hardcore liberals to hard core libertarians, could see some relatable material here
A Storm of Swords: This would be Book 3 of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series (the one that starts with A Game of Thrones). Specifically, the effete, peacock-y people in the Capitol remind me of the people in the cities of Slavers’ Bay in Storm of Swords. Daenerys Targaryen and her entourage go there early in the book and are generally horrified by what they find. The three cities, Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen, were once part of a great empire, but they are now in a strange state of denial about their own decline. The warriors and merchants dress ostentatiously, fashioning their hair into horns and other strange shapes and dyeing it bright colors. The warriors in particular do not make for a very effective fighting force because of their ornamentation, and they prefer to rely on their slave armies. As fans of the book know, things do not go well for the slavers. The capital of Panem rests on a fragile foundation, depending on the Districts to maintain their lives of luxury while needing to keep the Districts brutally suppressed.

Of course, there are a few things I don’t like so far:

Backstory: The Hunger Games does not appear to have any. At all. All we know is that something very bad happened, possibly a nuclear war and/or severe climate change, and that the oceans have risen. After some amount of time, the Capitol united all the remaining areas of North America. The Districts, which had apparently already been established, rebelled against the Capitol, but lost in a major way. The Capitol destroyed District 13 entirely, and started the Hunger Games as a reminder to the Districts that it was in charge. That’s literally all we know. It makes sense that Katniss wouldn’t know any more than that, since it would be in the Capitol’s interest to keep the District populace in the dark. The audience does not need to be that much in the dark. Try Googling a map of Panem–it’s remarkable how many different interpretations you’ll find. One person thought District 13 was in the DC area, while someone else thought it was in Quebec (apparently the Quebec theory makes the most sense, but I forget why.) At least one fan has put a remarkable amount of work into developing a map and history of Panem.
Economics: Matt Yglesias has a review of economic theories that make a society like Panem plausible at Slate. I did not finish reading his article because it has Book 2 & 3 spoilers, so I’ll just summarize my thoughts on the matter. The Capitol uses some very scifi technology. “Hovercraft” that either use cloaking devices or can do some sort of teleportation. Ointments that can heal second-degree burns in a matter of hours. Genetically-engineered animals with rudimentary intelligence. And so on. The Districts supply all of the raw materials used by the Capitol, it would seem, and they seem to enjoy few of these technological advances. District 12 could be part of the 1930’s or the 95th century, but it seems odd that they wouldn’t have any of the technology enjoyed elsewhere, or that they could meet the needs of the Capitol without such technology. Which leads me to my next point…
Geography of the Capitol: District 12 is in Appalachia. The Capitol is somewhere in the Rockies. If climate change has caused ocean levels to rise and flood low-lying areas of North America, then those areas would probably have a warmer climate than they do today. Which would be good, because it is difficult to imagine building an imperial capital city in the middle of the mountains, around 8,000 feet above sea level. Just about any city that has ruled over a large area with any degree of control (think Rome, Constantinople, Baghdad, Tenochtitlan, and so forth) had ready access to some amount of natural resources. The middle of the Rocky Mountains does not offer that, at least not in today’s ecosystem. So how did they get to be the biggest kid on the block? Perhaps their geographic isolation worked to their advantage in a nuclear war, with mountains shielding them from the worst of the fallout. Or maybe they rode out a climatic or geological upheaval by being so far away from sea level, and were then able to roam the continent, picking up the scraps. All we know for sure from the first book is that the mountains protected the Capitol from the rebellious districts. The problem is that geography is a two-way street. If it’s hard to get into an area, it might also be hard to get out.
Geography of the Districts: District 12 produces coal for the Capitol. District 11 handles agriculture. District 1 makes luxury goods. There is a problem with monocultures like this. Does District 11 produce good for all of Panem, or just the Capitol? Panem would need a highly sophisticated distribution system if it had to get food and other supplies from one District to all the others with little to no contact between the Districts. The mind boggles at the logistics.
The word “Capitol:” the book keeps referring to the capital city of Panem as the “Capitol.” One small, grammar-nerd problem with that. “Capitol” refers exclusively to a building. Anything else, i.e. a city, is referred to with “capital.” That’s been bugging me for a while.

Anyway, I’m going to see the movie on Saturday. We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I can finally start reading A Dance with Dragons.

Photo credit: aimmyarrowshigh at livejournal.

Behold the mighty Coffthulu!!!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by wellsdc

I got some new coffee mugs. They look like this:

You, too, could have some from Creature Cups, if you think you are brave enough to stare at this in your coffee each morning…

Of course, my friend Jenn made the literary connection that I missed in my reverie of having my very own octopus cup, but at least now I know what to call it:

All hail the wondrous Coffthulu! We tremble in his shadow.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease may “Prometheus” be good…

Posted on March 19, 2012 by wellsdc

The official trailer for “Prometheus” came out last week, and I must admit that I am very excited.

The initial teaser trailer, released on December 22, 2011, was like brain foreplay for fans of the original “Alien”:

The “official” trailer came out last week to the collective squee of millions:

Finally, the “international” trailer pretty much rubs the awesome in our faces:

I have to allow for the possibility that this movie will not be good, or that it even might suck. Ridley Scott might have given us the original “Alien” and “Gladiator,” but he also gave us “Robin Hood” and “Hannibal.” I’m enough of an “Alien” fan, though, that I even went public with my excitement about Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, a film that took two incredible science fiction icons and turned them into a slightly higher-budget Jason Voorhees.

“Prometheus” has a remarkably solid cast, probably the most solid of any film in the franchise since the original. I’m not a fan of Michael Fassbender (he gets on my nerves for some reason), but I can’t deny the guy can act. I’m glad to see Noomi Rapace get a chance to reach a wider audience, especially now that most Americans picture a different actress when they think of Lisbeth Salander. I will watch anything with Idris Elba in it, just sayin’.

Of course, I am assuming that “Prometheus” actually is a prequel to the “Alien” movies. The director and producers have been extremely coy about that issue. Anyone who has seen the original “Alien” will recognize the derelict ship and the Space Jockey’s chair in the new trailers. Then again, that last Aliens vs. Predator movie seemed to want to set up the Predators as the race that piloted the derelict, although it could have been an homage. I suspect “Prometheus” will pull a reboot and ignore the AvP movies entirely (and justifiably). The project began with the idea of a prequel telling the story of the Space Jockey’s race, and that appears to be where this film is headed.

I can delve more into the “Alien” films, but for now just enjoy the anticipation of “Prometheus.”

Also, “enjoy” might not be the right word for this, but marvel that someone actually took the time to compile all the “kill scenes” from the first four films:

Spoiler alert: although I disagree with the math, they find the total score to be Aliens 53, Sigourney Weaver 17.

SXSW Diary, Day Four

Posted on March 12, 2012 by wellsdc

We are now more than halfway through the excitement! Part of me is sad to think it will be over soon. The entire rest of me is exhausted, and slightly annoyed at that other part for continuing to make it do stuff.

The day started out cold and foggy. It abruptly turned warm and sunny mid-morning, but this was not an inspiring way to start the day.

Not that my dietary habits are of any particular interest, but I had an awesome breakfast at Kerbey Lane, followed by some aimless wandering. I have been on vacation in my own town for the past few days, but today I must return to my actual house because of some real-world obligations, alas.

Copyright trolls

The first session I attended was “The Undoing of Copyright Trolls” (#UndoTrolls on Twitter), by Robert A. Spanner of the Trial & Technology Law Group. Since this was the only explicitly legal session I’ve been to so far, I’m going to put it on my law blog.

Game of Thrones geek-out

Perhaps the most anticipated (by me) event of the whole conference was the Game of Thrones meetup in Palm Park around 11:00 a.m. For those of you who do not know what Game of Thrones is, I have to ask, like I asked the people who’d never heard of “Firefly,” what are you doing here???

Moving on, Game of Thrones is the first book of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It is also a television series on HBO, starting its second season (roughly corresponding to the second book) on April 1.

The meetup was just a chance for fans of the books/show to hang out, talk about the books or show, avoid spoilers, and so on. It was great, after several days of feeling intimidated by my lack of technical know-how and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of my own aspirations as a writer, to meet some like-minded people in an area that is more geeky than nerdy. I speak geek far better than I speak nerd. I happen to have strong opinions on the fundamental difference between “geeks” and “nerds.” That’s for another post, though.

So anyway, I met some awesome folks, found inspiration, learned a few new Westeros conspiracy theories, and fun was had by all.

Chillin’

After hanging out with same Game of Thrones fan friends for an hour or so, I decided to wander again. I’m honestly a bit burned out on panels and sessions. I would rather hang out and meet interesting people. After grabbing a sandwich and charging my phone, I decided to head back to the Samsung Bloggers’ Lounge. I actually found a seat and once again met interesting writer types.

Since the whole raison d’être of this conference is to meet people, that seemed like the best use of my time. Another enticing feature of SXSW is chance celebrity sightings and surprise apearances. As I sat in the lounge writing and chatting, the person next to me excitedly noted that Robert Rodriguez was sitting on the stage. Turns out he was there for a live interview with “What’s Trending,” a web series or something. I have now achieved my obligation to see a famous person.

Actually, I’m pretty sure I saw Rob Riggle walking around Saturday, although his badge had someone else’s name on it. When I stood in line to get my badge on Friday, I stood next to someone I call not-Ben-Affleck. This is because I determined that he was not, in fact, Ben Affleck.

There was also a musician named Daria Musk who apparently built a following on Google+ and plays “hangout concerts.” She played on the stage for a little while and broadcast it (is that the word?) on Google+. I’m not entirely sold on the concept yet. It might have been the song title “+1 Me.”

On an unrelated note, I missed a panel the other day that sounded interesting, “Sex Nets: Pickup Artists vs. Feminists.” There were not as many fireworks as one might expect with those two groups thrown together, but I was more interested in hearing what people had to say. Panel participant Amanda Marcotte has a write-up of how the panel went. Worth a look.

Photo credit: ‘The day was foggy,’ ‘Robert Rodriguez at SXSW’ by wondermutt, on Flickr.

SXSW Diary, Day Two

Posted on March 10, 2012 by wellsdc

Today began with great anticipation and mild disappointment, with a bit of admiration of the inherent goodness of humanity thrown into the mix. Upon my arrival at the Convention Center this morning, I had hoped to attend “A Conversation with Joss Whedon” (#SXjosswhedon on Twitter), featuring the man himself. If you are unfamiliar with Joss Whedon, I first have to wonder how you even found this blog and why you’ve read this far. Joss Whedon is responsible for making “shiny” a culturally-relevant adjective. He brought us the long-running television classic (in some circles) “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the ahead-of-its-time science fiction western “Firefly.” He has perhaps the most devoted fan base in all of American entertainment, so I was quite excited.

But I got there too late.

Not actually late, mind you. His talk began at 11:00 a.m., and I arrived at the Convention Center at around 10:20 a.m. I stopped to buy coffee, which might have been my big mistake. By the time I made it to the fourth floor, where he would be talking in the imposingly-titled Room 18abcd, the line snaked back around on itself. At around 10:50, a SXSW volunteer inserted himself into the line, about forty people ahead of me, and announced that everyone standing behind him wasn’t going to get in.

So, like Malcolm Reynolds at Serenity Valley (seriously, you need to watch “Firefly”), I withdrew from the line and took a seat along the wall. A volunteer then informed us that a live feed of the talk would be available at a “hearable” volume. 11:00 arrived, and something remarkable happened. The throngs of people denied the opportunity to see Joss Whedon in the flesh sat down on the floor to watch the video screen, allowing everyone there a relatively unimpeded view.

Joss Whedon

I tweeted a bit of what was discussed. As is common with filmmaker conversations at conferences, it was mostly thoughts on film, the creative process, and maddeningly vague hints and references to current and future projects.

He mostly talked about “Cabin in the Woods,” a recent horror-esque project, with a bit of commentary on “The Avengers.” Of course, the question of when “Firefly” will be coming back was raised, to which Joss said he’s waiting for a call from a network and he is “not ruling it out.” I tweeted some of my favorite bits from his talk, which I now attempt to reproduce here:

“My favorite thing is going into a movie not knowing what to expect.”
He spoke very highly of Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine,” which is a good way to endear oneself to me.
Of the “Evil Dead” films, he believes part 1 is “the real classic,” because it established the various tropes of the genre. Bold words, sir.
He often prefers working with a lower budget. Budget restrictions, he says, make it easier for “things to feel lived in.”
The genre of torture porn is not really horror, because it mostly consists of people the audience hates getting killed in inventive ways for about 90 minutes. In other words, it’s not actually scary.
Numerous studio executives asked him if “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was a working title. The network apparently wanted to change it to “Slayer” for years. I guess, had that happened, “Buffy” could have joined “and a Pizza Place.”
“I dislike revision, and I’ll tell you why. It’s more work.”
The first question from the audience was simply a request for a high-five. Joss gave the guy one. It was awesome.
Best question from the audience: “Why do the networks keep fucking with you?”
Joss’ answer to the best question, in brief: Networks have their own agenda and a business model to follow. Great content, by itself, will not sway them.
“Dollhouse” was about sex on a fundamental level (duh.) The network apparently asked him to take out the sex and replace it with shooting.

That was pretty much it. Then they quickly cleared people off of the hallway floor so that the multitudes of people coming out of the presentation room wouldn’t trample them.

Weather

It’s cold and rainy and generally nasty. I only mention that so I have an excuse to use this Willy Wonka meme picture.

Remixes

I wandered a bit and came back to the same room (after concluding it would take too long to stand in line for coffee or food) for a talk called “Everything is a Remix, so Steal Like an Artist” (#SXREMIX on Twitter) with Austin Kleon and Kirby Ferguson. I had not heard of either of these guys before, but the subject sounded interesting, and it was.

They said that their goal for the presentation was to “demystify creativity.” Kirby says that “all artists spend their formative years doing derivative work.” After copying for some time, we create art through transformation. Edison, as but one example, didn’t invent the light bulb. He improved on it & made it commercially viable.

They outlined the three basic elements of creativity: Copy, transform, combine.

If you only “combine” things, then you are not really putting your own voice into it. Kirby compares what that process creates to Frankenstein’s monster.

In a video presentation on influences in “Star Wars,” Kirby showed the influence of Joseph Campbell, Kurosawa, “The Searchers,” World War II films, and more.

“Creativity is not magic, Kirby says. Does it ruin “Star Wars” to see how much material George Lucas “stole?” In a sense, it may not make “Star Wars” itself more interesting, but it turns the film into a film history lesson.

“Nothing is completely original” – this just means we need to redefine “original.” “Original” could mean “new & exciting” as opposed to “unprecedented.”

“Halo effect” – people want to make something wholly new, but they shouldn’t have to. This could be viewed as empowering. Don’t worry too much about being derivative, just create.

Mythical idea of the “lone genius”: Film is a collaboration requiring collaboration. Terry Gilliam calls himself a filter for the ideas. God used to get all the credit for creativity. The Romantics (Lord Byron, et al) changed it to themselves alone, & we still have that idea. The lone genius idea tends to excuse bad behavior and frequently destroys young talent. It is more important, Austin said, to be a good human being than a good artist (Kirby sort of disagreed).

Most of us have no problem with copying as long as we’re the ones doing it.

On the difference between a “remix” and a “ripoff”: Remixes acknowledge the source material. Ripoffs pretend to be original. Austin says plagiarism and forgery are two sides of the same coin.

A final quote from Austin: “Imitation is only flattery if it’s any good.”

A Blogging Interlude

I had a bit of free time, so I headed back over to the Samsung Bloggers’ Lounge, where they unfortunately did not have any free food or coffee. Still, it offered a good, albeit crowded, place to sit down and write for a little while. It’s also a good place to strike up conversations with random people. Let me throw a little SEO love to the people I met today: there was a Chicago marketing consultant (Lon Taylor), a Los Angeles online live chat service provider (Ben Congleton), and a Houston mobile technology provider (the awesomely-named Paul Steel). I also finally got to meet Jen Wojcik in person. That was awesome. I forgot to mention that yesterday I finally met The Q in person too! It’s great to actually meet the Tweeters you follow.

Story Wars

Next up was “Winning the Story Wars” (@SXstorywars on Twitter), a reading by Jonah Sachs from his forthcoming book of the same name. It was very marketing-oriented, but offered some excellent pointers for storytelling in general, I think.

He first talked about how we began telling stories through oral tradition. This eventually led to the Broadcast Era, which in turn led to the “Digitoral” Era (don’t you just love marketing neologisms?)

There was discussion of Joseph Campbell, the second time I’d heard about him today! The ingredients of myth are explanation, meaning, story, and ritual. Religion, science, & entertainment can’t offer all four at the same time, but marketing can. (At this point I was a bit skeptical, but keep reading). He gave the example of the Marlboro Man: the Marlboro Man made it okay for men to smoke filtered cigarettes, which was an issue back in the day, and then became a major cultural icon. In other words, the myth and storytelling is not always a good thing for society, but I digress.

He then talked about the model of “freaks, cheats, and familiars,” and this was pretty interesting. People, by which he meant the human race, have existed in our current biological state for at least 70,000 years. Understanding how people thought 70,000 years ago, when times were presumably less complicated, helps us understand how people think today. Back then, people lived in small tribes, and they evolved to react to unfamiliar people, viewing them as either a threat or an opportunity. “Freaks” in a story grab people’s attention and draw them in.

Next, he addressed the “problem of altruism”: people have to both compete and cooperate to survive. Stories of “cheats” uphold cultural norms, because people want to see them punished. “Cheats” could also be used in a story to defy a cultural norm we hate.

As for “familiars,” stories are told in “tribes” that the marketer can’t control, so the story is encoded in a language or setting the audience will accept. This is sort of like the “everyman” character.

Then he read a story about Robert Oppenheimer and the Trinity test, which was interesting. That’s all I have in my notes.

A Carlin Home Companion

I stuck around in the same room because I was intrigued by the next presentation. Kelly Carlin, daughter of George Carlin, presented a one-woman show about her father, “A Carlin Home Companion” (#SXcarlin on Twitter). It was amazing. George Carlin, in my humble opinion, was and remains one of the greatest comics of our era, and he was simply a great wit and intellect to boot. She tells a deeply personal and moving story of growing up in his home, watching the course of his career, from standard “Tonight Show” comic, to countercultural icon, to drug addict, to stand-up hero, and more. It is too personal a story for me to possibly do it justice as a summary here. I’ll leave it at a paraphrase of how she ended the show, saying of her father: