On the scene now in Wellington: glossy, sexy brochures for The Affair of the Diamond Necklace, the interactive theatre event I wrote for the St James Theatre here in Dubtown. It’s a full-colour piece of eye candy that really makes the show look awesome – which is as it should be, because the show will be awesome.
There’s something very exciting about having classy collateral showcasing your wares. It makes the whole endeavour feel suddenly real, which is an important effect when the experience from this side of the coin is people in a room having fun and emails going back and forth about costumes and script edits. It’s like a feedback loop – we put something out there that announces us in a big way, and then we get extra movitation to live up to that high standard.
It has not escaped my notice that this is, by coincidence, ten years exactly since I was last distributing glossy, sexy brochures around Wellington in order to promote an interactive theatre event. That was Apocalypse, also called Aliens: Apocalypse (but not on the official literature so we didn’t violate any copyrights). Apocalypse was the last of three biannual weekend events where a big crowd of people pit themselves against the Giger-creatures of the Alien movie series. I was the prime mover behind all three, but was far from alone. They were all successful, but this third one, Apocalypse, was the most fitful and compromised success. It was, to be plain, an over-reach not in scale of event but in the content – I was trying to do with it something that I didn’t have tools to do. These days, with a vibrant live action gaming scene in New Zealand, with alternate structures for interactive gaming like Jeepform, online RP, pervasive games and the technique-focused Forge diaspora, and with just more know-how under our collective belts, it is safe to say we would have done it differently. But still: a success, a memorable occasion.
The flyers were beautiful but ultimately fruitless. A careful media strategy saw us garner coverage in newspapers and radio; we were supported by a handsome website and these impressive flyers completed the image of an interesting and well-assembled event. From all of these efforts, we pulled in only a handful of people who didn’t come from word-of-mouth. (On the other hand, these few people were also enthusiastic supporters of the event, and we benefited from their presence greatly; so perhaps it did balance out in the end?)
And again, I think back to the second Aliens weekend, Fury, and how every person who arrived encountered a huge and impressive movie-style poster dramatising the event they were about to join. Those posters, I’m convinced, set the tone; they told every participant that this was something big, something special. And so they believed, and so they acted, and so it was.
But then again, I remember walking the dealers room at Gen Con 2005 and seeing the people sitting lonely in their booths, surrounded by product they would never shift, with incredible art on the cover of their piled hardbacks, art that would have cost a fortune. The magic didn’t work with that transaction.
I’m excited that people will be picking up our brochure and stuffing it into their jacket pocket and pulling it out later on as they walk along the waterfront and inspecting it, decoding it, evaluating it. The glossy brochure is a promise; it says that we’re delivering something worth your time. I am deeply confident that we are doing exactly that.
Month: July 2009
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To Come To The Aid Of The Linky
My grandfather Percy loved his typewriters, and went through a large number of them over the years. When he first typed “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party” I had no idea what it meant but didn’t ask. What kind of party would need help, small me wondered. Was pass-the-parcel going wrong? Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey spinning wildly out of control?
(Internet, he say: it comes from a very early typing demonstration.)
Shoggoths: what we know from fiction.
Real-life shoggoth in the arctic.
Real-life shoggoth in the sewers.
Classic romance comics reveal all the reasons why chicks cry. Related: 1963 Aussie govt paper on why women shouldn’t be trade commissioners.
101 Muppets of Sesame Street – mouseover for first appearance details.
A Michael Jackson response that won’t make you feel dirty inside. Also: Sadhbh gets shirty with the MJ hypocrites.
PBS interview with health insurance insider about their panic over Michael Moore’s “Sicko”. Incredible account of how PR is done by big interests, how politicians get pulled onside, how a campaign strategy is run, etc. Includes links to actual internal documents that present their response strategy in powerpoint slides.
In honour of Flight of the Conchords getting some emmy noms, here’s an a capella take on “Friends”.
Captain Kirk follows Wesley Crusher. Something about this makes me very happy and I don’t give the slightest hoot about Trek.
Index of Alan Moore stuff that is free online.
And finally… a five-minute video of video game history with Super Mario leghumping! And WTF! W! T! F! For five minutes! And this was meant to be the beginning of a srs doco!
And finally finally… play Helen off, keyboard cat
The ENnies!
Which are like the Emmies, only they’re for role-playing games and they’re not presented by Doogie Howser!
Nominated this time are good friends of this parish: Hot War (words by Malcolm Craig and visuals by Paul Bourne) for Best Writing and Best Setting; and 3:16: Carnage Amongst The Stars for best cover (which was Paul Bourne art with design by game author Gregor Hutton).
Congratulations!
This recognition is very well-deserved. I’m sure, should Malcolm win, he will mention in his acceptance speech the crucial role in Hot War’s genesis that was played by Fidel’s Cafe on Cuba St here in Wellington. Those tasty breakfasts fuelled many of his writing binges…
Not a great time to be a chap
The news and current affairs are, as we all know, systems designed to shout the most abrasive and divisive things to generate interest. Lately I’ve been trying to steer clear of NZ news because of the omnipresent coverage of Clayton Weatherston. This man is now the most hated man in the country, and I imagine he will hold that title for a long time to come. He is on trial for murdering his girlfriend, a much younger girl who was his student. The crime was appallingly violent. He is claiming a defence of provocation.
His claims are nonsensical, but there might be an effective legal strategy behind this defence. Most of all it bothers me that the victim’s family and friends are forced to endure this prolonged character assault as it is amplified through the media. (As Bartok noted, If they didn’t allow TV cameras in the courtroom, would it be getting nearly as much play?) I hate that our news coverage is so dominated by this man and his justifications for an act of the most extreme violence against a young girl. Never mind that he is hated, and none of his words are believed, and that he is certain to be found guilty; the mere fact that we have given him this national platform and that we attend to his words demeans us all. (See also NotKate’s take.)
Also we had in the last few days the woman who was in an abusive relationship with an NZ TV celeb telling her side of the story. Russell Brown has a good summary of why it matters. Remember, also, that this violent celeb has maintained a lot of public support throughout “his” ordeal.
And finally, the British midwife who thinks the pain of childbirth is important for parent/child bonding. Of course, this is a chap talking about what’s good for the womens. Jonny Nexus notes the appropriate response.
Head Clearing
I’m experiencing a bit of a freeze-up. I feel like all the balls in the air are taking longer to come down than they should be. It’s got me nervous but I don’t want to pick up anything else just now. Keep watching the skies for descending metaphorical balls (er).
The exquisite corpse is almost over – 9 parts out of 10 done. Someone out there who hasn’t read any of it so far want to contribute the final section? Hop on over to part nine and follow the instructions… (You don’t even need a blog of your own actually, I’ll host it here.)
Just cleared my spam filter from the last two months. Weirdly, it was mostly empty this time – 15 spam comments in two months, when I was averaging 100 a week for a while. Also caught three false positives, a comment from Marie on yesterday’s post, one from Ken at Open Parachute on an Ian Wishart post, and one from Suraya on a Filament post. Suraya always gets grabbed by my spam filter for some reason, even when she isn’t talking about cock.
Getting one sudoku wrong is a sign of carelessness, but two in a row is just embarrassing. Must stop doing them while watching television, wven if the television is Rhys Darby presenting NZs top 100 pop culture moments, which last night featured Martin Henderson pashing Britney Spears in the Toxic video, Geeling Ng pashing David Bowie in the China Girl video, Under the Mountain, and our own little piece of Guantanamo-logic, Ahmed Zaoui.
Speaking of Under The Mountain: poster for remake movie (courtesy blog leader @dritchie)
Enough. I go to officeland now. That should help.
Lose Books, Drink Wine
A great idea that you should steal.
I went to a party chez Jack and Heather. They had provided a big table of books. You could take any of the books you liked. You could bring your own books and add them to the table so other people could take them. It was a bookorama, a bibliophile’s delight, a bibliophage’s banquet.
While the eager guests thumbed through copies of fascinating books, Jack and Heather made smart conversation and poured drinks. Really, how could this go wrong?
(Here’s how: ogodnowwehaveEVENMOREBOOKSyarg)
If you suffer from groaning shelves, think about Jack’n’Heather’s “Literature vs Liquor” experience TM. It’s easier to say goodbye to books if you see them going to good homes, after all.
(Thanks Jack’n’Heather!)
Oh the links we could linky
Muppet mashup – mashups, remixes, and covers of music from The Muppet Show and Sesame Street.
April Fools joke becomes real: Tauntaun sleeping bag
Hannah Montana Linux. Say what? It’s on Sourceforge, man, I dunno. Blame @johnnieingram, he has a guilty look if you ask me.
Michael Jackson tributes worth a look: Eternal Moonwalk and dance breakout in Stockholm public square
Movie stunts that stuntmen rate highly – it’s a typically-undercooked Slate article but still of interest.
Ben found this: the proposal document for The Wire. Outlines season 1 in a lot of detail – most of the beats are familiar but there’s some major changes too. Direct pdf link
And finally… Fancy Fast Food man what
Folk Music Revisited
Way back in December 2003, in what was only my 9th post to this blog, I generated a small eddy of argument over this:
Made me reflect for a bit on the absence of a ‘traditional music scene’ in Wellington, and perhaps in wider New Zealand. Traditional/cultural music groups exist, of course, but they’re pretty hard to find – I certainly never stumbled across more than one or two. (Although, now I think of it, the Cuba Street Carnival always seemed to summon them out of their shadowy corners.)
In New Zealand we have little in the way of local traditional ‘folk’ music that is shared with the community. Certainly, we have cultural music traditions that are strong – I defy any New Zealander’s spine not to tingle when a waiata rings out – but they are bounded into particular spaces and contexts. The Pacific Island musical traditions are likewise heavily tied into their particular communities. New Zealand’s European-descended pakeha seem to be largely happy to let the musical traditions of their various forefathers fade to nothing. The Asian communities are still a long battle away from being accepted as ‘part of New Zealand’ and their music likewise.
There was much discussion and a follow-up post with even more discussion. Lots of people challenged me, basically.
Anyway, I was thinking about that again when I read an interview with Stephen Fox, one of the PhD candidates at my workplace. It was printed in the DomPost a couple weeks ago but hasn’t turned up online, so here’s the excerpt I most want to quote:
He says pakeha today don’t have an equivalent to Maori and Pacific Island cultural arts. Pakeha folk arts and rituals, including annual celebrations and rites of passage, were replaced about the time of the Enlightenment, he says, although some survive in small pockets such as folk music and dance. “But they don’t have that deep core of information. With Polynesian dance, you have these massive genealogies. You are getting this massive dose on information of who you are within this cultural context.”
And that, I think, sheds some light on the position I was arguing back in ’03, and still have some sympathy for today. It also points at the value of, say, putting Maori cultural practice into play with Maori prisoners – they get information from it that pakeha wouldn’t get if someone turned up to make them morris dance, or sing “Thank You Very Much For Your Kind Donation”. (I kid because I love.)
Anyway. I really wish you could read the whole article, but you can’t. I can link you to Stephen’s website though.
Writing Update: June
Tne twelve short stories target for the year:
– Two stories (“The Tape” and “Buckets”) completed and, er, rejected by publication outlets. “Buckets” got shortlisted with some very nice words in rejection. Pleased by that. The benefit of good commentary from kind readers, there.
– Untitled walking story – still haven’t returned to this, still think it’s pretty much unsalvageable.
– “Babel” – have had good reader feedback. Needs some careful thinking and another pass.
– “The Twelve Times I Drank Too Much” – draft all typed up but haven’t sent it to anyone yet.
– “Confession” and “The Big Drive” both exist as notes and snippets only. Not good enough! Keep at it mr orgue!
Comic still progressing. Regular meetings with artist, pages slowly incrementing. Verra slowly.
Sekret writing project Marie Antoinette event – now officially announced. Rehearsals proper start Monday, yay!
Ron the Body has been back in the marketplace, too. Sample response from a UK agency: “I enjoyed this, but it’s not quite right for my contacts.” Onwards!
(Wedding thank-you cards… we are over halfway through… just)
[Last writing update]