Cyberpunk: a breif primer.

Happy bleated All Fool's day, everybody! Yeah, I know it was a few days ago: but I'm not one much for pranks and I don't plan these things in advance. However, for today's post, we'll be talking about my personal favorite genre: cyberpunk.

In brief, cyberpunk is defined as "High tech, low life." Aside from the conventions and settings, cyberpunk's basic premise is the advancement of technology while humanity declines. When the lines between humanity and technology are blurred, resulting in large-scale alienation either thru internet overuse or the predominance of robots/cyborgs/prosthetic parts, where technology is used as a tool to maintain the dystopian order, and when the end result is social stagnation, that's cyberpunk. Inspired by the genres of film noir and hard boiled literature, cyberpunk shares similar themes of urban degradation, corporate omnipotence, and moral ambivalence (where there's a definite white and black, but the gray is the consequences).

Most cyberpunk stories feature a protagonist who's on the vestiges of society: someone in the dregs of the social hierarchy. To that end, hackers, bounty hunters, thieves, and generally any antihero who's struggling or directly opposed to the established order are cyberpunk protagonists. The genre was conceived during the malaise of the seventies and born from the pessimism of the eighties, where Japan's meteoric technological and financial rise formed fears that our great nation was in decline and Japan would rule the world. While this might look silly and even stupid today, thanks to Japan's bubble bursting resulting in the early 90's recession, Japan was just as big as a concern as China today. The settings are usually noir-inspired metropolises, where the police are ineffectual at best, crime is on the rise, and the gap between the rich and poor is canyon-wide. As a base, think fictional Gotham, or past Chicago, or modern-day Detroit.

Okay, now that we've gotten thru the general settings and themes of the genre, let's get into the hard examples. First, let's examine the progression of the genre from its stages:

• Proto-Cyberpunk (70's): Where the major themes and settings were conceived. The main movers and shakers included the authors Alfred Bester, Isaac Asimov, and Philip K. Dick (AKA the author you've seen so much but never heard of). Bester's The Stars My Destination is credited with providing the basis of an antisocial protagonist who singlehandidly stands up to the despotic corporate rule (Fun fact: Cowboy Bebop is incredibly close, if not outright inspired by Stars). Most of not all of Asimov's works, especially I Robot, were massively influential in how robots function in science fiction, as the famous three laws hold true for most if not all robots in fiction. Philip K. Dick, however, possibly has had the most influence over cyberpunk film, as his stories have been adapted multiple times. For more info, see this handy Cracked article.
  
  
• Cyberpunk (80's): The genre became fully realized during the technological boom of the eighties, where videogames and personal music players brought to you by Japan were met with skepticism by several individuals. Inspired by the proto-era authors, a new generation of creators invented the genre as we know it. Primary credit would go to William Gibson, who's magnum opus Neuromancer has singlehandidly brought the concepts of cyberspace and prosthetic parts into popular consciousness. Secondary credit would go to Philip K.Dick, whose short story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was adopted into Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The film brought active film noir themes and settings into modern cyberpunk: from the perpetually dark and overcast dystopian LA to the cyborg-esque "replicants"and the incredibly powerful corporation who built them, to the heavy emphasis of moral complexity. Both Gibson's book and Scott's film fully established the genre as the logical concision to the film noir genre.
  
  
• Post Cyber-Punk (90's): Once the bubble burst and Japan fell into a deep recession, the genre found itself at a crossroads: if the most technological powerful nation in the world was at a state of decline, what did that mean for the genre as a whole? A new film would fill the void and become the main driving force for the genre for the next twenty years: Ghost in the Shell. Adapted from the manga written by Shirow Masamune, the anime film was incredibly influential to the new sub-genre of post-cyberpunk. The subgenre, in comparison to its predecessor, focused on individuals working within the dystopic system and invariably coming into conflict with said system. For Shell, it was Public Security Section 9: a paramilitary special task force led by the hardnosed Major Motoko Kusanagi and overseen by Chief Aramaki who investigated cyber-related crimes, with an emphasis on cyber-terrorism. Wholly inspired by Blade Runner, Shell revolutionized the genre by providing a new diving point for creators to draw from. The subsequent anime series adaptations and films proceeding were directly, if not indirectly influenced by the revolutionary film and graphic novel. Not to be outdone, the genre's Godfather wrote a new trilogy; the Bridge Trilogy.
  
  
• Modern Cyberpunk (2000's): The new driving force behind the new decade was The Matrix. Directed by the Wolkawski...erm, siblings..., their magnum opus and perhaps only good film brought cyberpunk back to its Gibsonian roots by portraying a resistance group fighting against their mechanical overlords within cyberspace. The film successfully brought elements within both the genre and the mainstream: John Woo inspired Gun fu, Bullet Time, and the new fashion of trenchcoats and sunglasses. Unfortunately, the proceeding films failed to provide any new material for the genre. Fortunately, the good people at Production IG took up the mantle by releasing two exceptional anime series based off the Ghost in the Shell franchise: Stand Alone Complex and its sequel, 2nd Gig. After its success, two films were released as well: Innocence and Solid State Society.
  

Cyberpunk today is in a state of flux. The Godfather released a new trilogy recently entitled the Bigend Trilogy, which was started in '03 by Pattern Recognition, continued in '07 by Spook Country, and ended last year with Zero History. The most major work in the genre, however, came from the film genius himself, Christopher Nolan, in his neo-noir epic Inception. Admittedly more noir than cyberpunk, the film nevertheless can be considered a shining example of the genre by intorducing not only a radically new technology, but like its predecessors, also tackled the issues of corporate oligarchy and the ramifications of such a devastating new technology. Time will tell who'll step up to the plate and provide us another grand example of the genre, but rest assured it will come.

I personally like the genre because, like many other like-minded individuals, I am constantly skeptical of the so-called "progress" that technology provides us. Rather than seeing technology proving us with the potential of world peace thru interconnection, I instead see a heightened phenomena of worldwide alienation. The genre's popularity therefore has been in direct correlation with the genral status of society the world ever. Since the Great Recession, I feel that people have become more receptive to the genre, as proof of Inception's wild success.

As for a newcomer into the genre, I heartily recommend all the examples listed above, especially from Gibson, Dick, Nolan, and Production I.G. I am also fully confident that the genre will grow and find new outlets and variations to keep it fresh.

Well, that's it for today. I'm gonna go back and watch Futurama.

-BO

Jumping off the bandwagon and current comic reading list

I'm quitting, or at the very least, taking a break from WOW.

Let's see how long I can go!

It's always been an on again-off again thing with me and WOW. There will be weeks if not about a month where I'm just burned out of grinding, raiding, and PVP'ing and just decide to take a break. Maybe WOW's just a habit for me and then again maybe it's one of the few games that I can play on my two-year-old laptop that I'm typing on today. Let me tell you: if I had a nicer rig, I'd be playing Arkham Asylum, Red Dead Redemption, and the upcoming LA Noire. Eh well, there's always League of Legends, TF2, and Puzzle Quest 2 to keep my gaming needs satisfied. On top of that, this'll be a great opportunity to refine my creative writing skills.

Speaking of which, my aspirations are aimed towards writing for comics. To that end, I'm starting to collect comics to get a feel of the audience and the style I'll be writing into. I've spent $30 so far (no impulse control whatsoever...), and here's the titles I've bought or collecting so far and my thoughts towards them:

• Batman: The title's decent, although it's a little to fantastic for my tastes. The recent story line (#707-704) involves an ancient, powerful Chinese relic. Not that I don't like a little fantasy now and then (why I play WOW), but I like my Batman hardboiled and noir...
  
  
• Detective Comics:...which is why this is my favorite title. This is Batman at his film noir best: investigating crimes, exposing the dark underbelly of Gotham, kicking ass and taking names. See my previous review of "The Black Mirror" storyline. Kudos to writer Scott Snyder, who's said in recent interviews that his goal is to depict Gotham as a dark mirror where the viewer's worst fears will be reflected back to them. To that end, It's interesting what horror elements Snyder will integrate along with the noir elements.
  
  
• American Vampire: Snyder's other series he's writing. My first issue and so far I like it: a short history of one vampire family from the nation's birth to the present. Currently our protagonist Lucius Sweet is stepping by a Wild West show in '19 and going in to enact vengeance. For what it's worth, the characters are engaging, the story flows, and the art matches Snyder's writing. Worth collecting.
  
  
• Vampirella: Buffy meets Blade in a Castlevania plot. Lots of asskicking, lots of blood, surprisingly low amount of T$A. Don't let the cover fool you: Vampirella's rocking a more sensible jeans, boots, and trench coat look. It works and the comic's good...but when I can get DC and Vertigo titles for a buck less, I'll pass. I will look into Dynamite's other mini series, Lone Ranger: the Death of Zorro.
  
  
• DMZ: An exceptionally engaging statement on the past and current administration's war policies, contractor lobbying and profiteering, and how there are only two sides in a war: combatants and non-combatants. Read it for the great action and the great big "Fuck You" to the Military Industrial Complex.
  
  
• Zatanna: I wish I would've known about this character earlier. She's a master magician who not only possesses real magical powers but is also an active member of the JLA. She also has an irrational fear of puppets? And is written by Paul Dini, writer for my favorite animated series Batman: the Animated Series? Sold!
  
  
• Power Girl: Color me imprised! I expected gratuitous T&A at the expense of story thanks to Power Girl's...talents, yeah, talents. I instead got a really deep and engaging look into how a superhero juggles both an alter ego and secret identity. Plus she's fighting dinosaurs. Awesome.
  
  
  
• Green Lantern: I'm a bit worried that the Lanterns might be overexposed in recent weeks thanks to the upcoming film. GL is everywhere. He's headlining C2E2, there's a couple of DC animated features out, there's a new "War of the Green Lanterns" storyline...I afraid DC might be bleeding him dry. In any case, I can say I'm interested in buying future issues after this one. The great thing about the internet is that any time I'm stuck on a continuity issue (who's that, why's he/she important, etc), a quick Google/Wikipedia/TV Tropes search will clear that up, and especially with a title like this that I'm not all too familiar with. I can list off a respectable amount of Batman characters, but I can only name a few Green Lantern ones.

Yeah, I know there's no Marvel titles up there, but one I'm not much of a Marvel fan and when DC is doing a more affordable promotion (Drawing the line at $2.99!), I'll pass. Most of Marvel's titles are about four bucks when I can spend ten and buy three DC/Vertigo comics.

I'd appreciate any recommendations as a first-time comics reader/collector. I'm focusing more on Noir/Cyberpunk/Mystery titles, but I'm also on the lookout for any titles that have a lighthearted meta spin on them like Power Girl.

RUMOR Joseph Gordon Levit to play "Holiday" in The Dark Night rises

Joseph-Gordon Levit AKA Arthur from Inception is rumored to play the Holiday Killer in Nolan's 3rd Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.

For those of you not in the know, the Holiday Killer was the main antagonist in the excellent Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Batman graphic novel The Long Halloween. "Holiday" was a serial killer hitting mob leaders and officers on holidays who left behind a corresponding novelty as a calling card. His actions instigate an all-out war between the Mob and Batman's Rouges Gallery.

So what's the implications for The Dark Knight Rises? Well for me, with the inclusion of both Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway as Bane and Catwoman, respectively tells me that Nolan is trying something especially unique for the new Batman film. Again, for those not in the know, Bane was a Genius Bruiser luchador-inspired hitman who, while brilliant in his normal form, became superhumanly strong once he took special steroids. He's also one of the very few to successfully incapacitate Batman by breaking his back in Knightfall. He's a relatively obscure character, outside of those of us who watched Batman: The Animated Series as kids, but Holiday is a much more obscure character in comparison.

My guess is it's Nolan's move to curry favor with the hardcore Bat-fans out there after he...ahem...underused Scarecrow in Batman Begins. By adding two obscure characters in the mix, it's his way of both further accommodating his realistic style and to appeal to the hardcore crowd.

A note on Nolan's "realistic" style: his style is much more of the subset hardboiled. Hardboiled, most commonly seen in the noir and cyberpunk subgenres, is characterized by having realistic grounding but enough wiggle room to accommodate stylization. It's why John Woo can do bullet time and those damn doves in his films or why Max Payne could use the heavy Norse analogies. While Nolan has consistently used the more conceivable villains and settings in his films, he still leaves enough room to allow his characters to beat the shit out of eachother and still bounce back for another go. This is why he's chosen Catwoman, Bane, and Holiday as opposed to the more fantastical/sci-fi villains such as Mr. Freeze or Poison Ivy.

My speculation is as follows: Holiday will be running around hitting mob targets in the first act. By the second act, we'll see Selena Kyle aka Catwoman lifting objects from the Falciones while they hire Bane to hit Holiday and /or Batman. Bane will sucessfuly break Batman's back (possibly early on in the seccond act), incapacitating Bats and leaving Gothom to the mercy of the mob. Now how it ends is contingent on where Nolan wants to go with the series:

• If this is his last film, Batman will rise to the occasion (hence the title) and defeat Bane and bring Holiday to justice, dying in the process. This will exhonerate him from taking the fall for Dent's murders and end the films on a bittersweet tone which, as seen in his previous films, is Nolan's style.
• If he's going for a fourth, Catwoman will take up the responsibility of being Gotham's de facto vigilante while Bats recuperates. See above how four will end.
  

In any case, I'm personally overjoyed of the implication of Holiday in the film, at the very least Levit will be cast. The Long Halloween is my personal favorite graphic novel: right above Watchmen on my list. I love Loeb's noir inspired style and influences and how Sale's art accommodates it perfectly. We'll see how Nolan plays this one, but in the meantime I'm looking even more forward to The Dark Knight Rises.

The Numbers Game

Disclaimer: The views I share are mine and mine alone. I apologize to those I may have hurt in my rash generalizations.

Sitting at my computer with two more take-home final essays to go, I'm thinking about this little discussion I had with my science friend Andrew. He's alright, but we got into a bit of an argument today on the merits of cutting arts out of school over maintaining math. It got me to thinking to why science and art persons can be so hostile towards eachother, then I remembered this little quote from Stalin or Remaque, depending on where you've heard it:

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

This in my opinion represents the worst in math and science; everything's a number to be filed; a formula to be solved; a statistic to be posted. No more, no less.

Numbers can lie; numbers can device; numbers can be for fools. When politicians such as the Governor of Wisconsin Walker say that they're taking away "bargaining rights", it's to make it look like a business deal. They hide the fact that "bargaining rights" are right to assemble, as promised under the First Amendment, next to freedom of expression and freedom of religion. When a chief of staff or a wartime reporter talks about "collateral damage", it's to make it look like numbers of destroyed properties instead of numbers of slain civilians. When you hear about the national death from Tea Party candidates and conservative pundits on Fox News, they throw around words like "trillion" and "billions" not because it's the truth, but if you throw big numbers around enough, you can scare people.

The fastest way to detach a people from their humanity is to take away their identity and slap on a number; more effective than giving them a label. It's why the nation of Eurasia refers to England as "Airstrip One" or why the Holy Empire of Britannia calls Japan "Area 11", or why the Brave New World catagorizes newborns into alphas and betas; it's easy to detach yourself from a living, human being or group of them if you just attach a number and not even bother with a label or a slur. Don't talk about "illegal aliens" in terms of names like Juan or Maria; just throw around words like "millions" and "thousands" and how they relate to the border. Don't talk about dissidents in the Middle East as "protesters"; use buzzwords like "Muslim Brotherhood" and "revolution" and add an inflated number to it.

You can also use numbers to misinform and confuse people. Throw a person in Room 101 and apply enough electroshock; you can convince the toughest man around you're holding up five fingers when you're holding two. It's not "hundreds" or even "a few" out of all the upstanding, peaceful Muslim individuals in the world, it's "millions" and "several" if you want to whip up enough fear into convincing individuals that one mosque that's only a "couple" blocks away from Ground Zero instead of "several" blocks away. You can convince thousands to vote Republican; to burn Korans; to breed discontent and irrational hatred against real people who don't fit in to the American WASP paradigm. You can falsely accuse a whole swath of upstanding Muslim individuals that they're in the league with terrorists successfully just like Representive King in his current Anti-Muslim Witch Hunt that's on a scale that would make McCarthy proud.

Maybe I'm just really frustrated since it's finals week; maybe I had too much tequila a couple nights ago and now my mind's a little off. Maybe I'm listening to too much Muse. And I know that words are just as dangerous, like how we waged conquest a century ago in the name of saving our "brown brothers" from themselves or how right after 9/11 we used terms like "Islamo-Fascism" to refer to the governments and mentality of the Middle East. But when it comes down to it, the mind has a hard time comprehending numbers on a large scale. When someone murders dozens, we have them executed or locked away for life; when someone kills hundreds or even thousands, we put them under house arrest or even leave them in power. When Bernie Maddof steals millions from charities and investors he's a thief and sent to prison, but when the banks take billion in "bailouts", we let them give huge bonuses and manipulate a large segment of the population to rally against any regulation to stop them from doing this again because it's "redistributing wealth" and "socialist".

It's a lot easier to think of a number instead of a person.

Comic Review: The Black Mirror (Detective Comics #871-73)

I've started collecting comics recently, and I feel it's about time I started reviewing 'em. For today, I'll be reviewing the miniseries The Dark Mirror from Detective Comics #871-73.

First, let me set up the ground rules for future comic reviews: I'll be reviewing miniseries and/or one-shots since I don't have the time to do individual issues. To set the perameters: A+ is Batman: The Long Halloween while F is Batman: Fortunate Son. Both of which I've personally read and both of which I believe best represents the standards of an excellent and horrible comic, respectively.

Dick Grayson's still breaking in the ol' cape and cowl while a particularly gruesome case surfaces. Someone's selling supervillian paraphernalia and distributing it to the bored, thrill-seeking socialites and millionaires of Gotham. Further investigation uncovers the Glass House auctions led by "The Dealer" in which iconic items such as Killer Croc's mutagen, Dr. Langston's Man-Bat Juice, and most sickening of all, a bloodstained crowbar rumored to be the one that the Joker used to kill former Robin Jason Todd. Grayson goes undercover and faces a darker underbelly than he ever imagined and questions his capabilities as the new Batman.

Detective Comics is taking a more genre emphasis in the numerous Batman series. To whit, it's a heady and visceral mix of horror and noir, and the seediest and creepiest that Gotham has to offer is put front and center. The best example would be how the members of the Glass House auctions all wear gas masks to block out the insanity poison that not only make them look creepy but also make them eerily reminiscent of the Combine foot troops from Half-Life 2. The art style as done by Jock is especially effective in conveying these themes. It's too bad that I'm not well versed in comics enough to compare, but Jock's work effectively portrays Gotham as Silent Hill.

I especially enjoyed Scott Snyder's writing, as it's a moment where Grayson's youthful optimism is shattered for all it's worth. Gone are the days where he was the free-willed youth bounding above Gotham at Batman's side; all the remains is the ugly truth that Gotham's depravity knows no bounds. This level of depravity is best represented in the auctioneer themselves: a group of bored rich people who've taken on an almost cult-like worship of the Rouges Gallery. They literally turn into a pit of animals trying to rip off any piece of Grayson's body they can get.

Overall the series is a very engaging read. I look forward to the Snyder/Jock collaboration in the future, and despite the fact that I'm a casual Batman Comic fan I never felt out of the loop of these recent developments such as Grayson as the new Batman. An exceptional work overall.

Final Grade: A. Snyder and Jock are exploiting the dark and depraved of Gotham for all it's worth and I'm enjoying every bit of it.

Why I'm not looking foward to the Avengers Film

As a fellow geek, I try to keep myself on the pulse of current geek events, culture, and controversy. ONe of the biggest events in recent memory would be the announced Avengers film. Geek icons from Moviebob to Linkara have all announced their anticipation for the film, as it marks the culmination of a huge compilation of the finest Marvel superheroes to date and their respective film franchises: The Huk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, and recently Captain America. Ten long years of ups and downs for the Marvel film franchise, it looks like this should be the defining moment of the comic film genre....

...one that I'm not looking forward to at all.

First, let me make my biases apparent: I'm a DC fan, primarily for Batman. My first cartoon was Batman: The Animated Series. My first comic was Legends; I consider The Dark Knight to be the best film of the first decade of the new millennium. You're in full right to call me out on having my biases blind me from something great. However, I'm also looking at it from a critic point of view. I prescribe to Murphy's law, and it applies to Marvel's goals and aspirations for the Avengers project.

First, let's look at Marvel Studio's track reccord. For every Iron Man we have a Fantastic Four or a Ang Lee Hulk or even a Spider-Man 3. The track record is 1 good film for every 3 bad ones. Now to be fair, DC has had its share of duds (Batman and Robin, etc.) But what DC has over Marvel is better quality control thanks to the fact that DC is a subsidy of Warner Bros. With one studio overseeing the whole thing, there's better management as opposed to several different studios working from the same source material. Marvel Studios' main collaborators have been Paramount, Universal, Fox, and Sony. With so many different production companies, quality control is going to be inconsistent. I wholeheartedly blame Sony for the mess that is Spider-Man 3, as it was Sony who wanted to cram Venom and Gwen Stacy into an allready stuffed film and not Sam Rami. With Batman and Superman, it's all being distributed by Legendary Pictures and produced by the genius that is Christopher Nolan. Even the Green Lantern film is being directed by Martin Campbell who has serious directing chops. Too many cooks spoil the stew, and when you have too many distributors working on your films, it's a lot harder to keep an handle on your firms.

The second and final point is that the Avengers is an ensemble piece. Murphy's law dictates that the individual films will be rushed in order to accommodate the big film. We have a new film, X Men, Thor, and Captain America films debuting this year. Next year will be the Avengers and the Spider-Man reboot sans Sam Rami. Now the reason Spider-Man is getting a reboot is because of Sony's own Executive Meddling and the result was that Spider-Man 3 bombed. It's clear that with three films in the same year Mavel's rushing the prodject in order to get the big show on the way. When you do that, the individual parts become weak as less time is given to flesh out each individual character. I have to agree with Nolan's stance on no Justice League film. Batman's strengths lie in his solidarity; this is the Dark Knight who fights and works for the most part alone. He doesn't need a Robin or even Superman to help him fight crime. Likewise, the Superman franchise is very much a wild card. The previous effort was mediocre at best while others (III with Richard Pryor and IV with a heavy handed nuclear Aesop) were particularly bad. Superman needs time to fully develop, and any move to rush him for an ensemble piece would only make things much worse than they already are. We can see a similar predicament with Captain America: his previous films have all been bad, and Marvel's move to speed up an Avenger film a year away from Captain America's reboot spells disaster.

Despite my criticisms, I am a firm believer of giving others the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Marvel can pull it off and produce well made self-contained films and an ensemble piece within the span of two years. I, as always, will remain skeptical of the final product. In the meantime, I'll look foward to what a proven director and a proven cast can do come '12...