John Lloyd a British producer had a ted talk titled “What’s Invisible? More than you think.” I was initially drawn to it because it was the first animated ted talk I had ever see.  It was all about existence and within our existence Lloyd addressed what is visible and not visible.  His premise, the things that are most important are invisible and least known. 

One example he used to help us to understand this idea was our view of the stars, galaxies and planets.  He said “we can see the stars but we cannot see the force that keeps them apart”, he also talked about how little of the universe we can actually see. He said we can see a person but can’t see their thoughts and the harder we look or closer, the harder it is to see them.  The idea that what we can see is less important than what we can’t is profound and immediately sparks thoughts and ideas.  He addressed things like gravity and radio waves and how we do not know very much of anything, especially the things we cannot see.

But what I found more important during this ted talk was that he ended it with two important questions and two quotes.

The questions were:

Why are we here?

What should we do about it while we are?

The Quotes:

“I don’t know why we are here but I am pretty sure it's not to enjoy ourselves.”

“We are here on earth to help others, what the others are here for I’ve no idea.”

In his own cynical and humorous way, Lloyd challenged us.  In similar fashion of the  “step your game up” videos addressed in the Chris Anderson video about Global innovation,  Llyod, is driving us to question what is really important, and what should we do with our lives.  

The use of animation on top of the audio of the live talk was unique.  The animated images helped to fully visualize points and reinforce them. I also felt that the collaboration of Animators with this educational piece helped make the wealth of information easier to digest.  That assistance is exactly what educators look for in aids to assist in decoding ideas and knowledge for students to be successful.

Though some of his examples were poking fun it was a very heavy topic that requires thought.  The also indirectly ask the viewers to question themselves and discover why they are here and what they plan to do with their life. If the viewers were also educators or animators they might also take away the question, how do I innovate my teaching to be as compelling and thought provoking as this video?

Foxcatcher: Escaping Type Casting

Foxcatcher is a chilling drama about the tragic relationship between John du Pont, a schizophrenic millionaire and his friend, Olympic gold-medal wrestler Dave Schultz.  But the biggest talk about the movie is that Pont will be played by (the Office’s) Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, (21 Jump street actor) will be playing Schultz.  If you did a quick IMDB of the duo, Foxcatcher is not what you would expect out of Tatum or Carell.

Tatum, a resident Hollywood Heartthrob, has been known to play the hunky lead is action flicks with a good dose of comedy as he did in GI Joe and Whitehouse Down.

Carell had been acting for several years before finding fame with movies like Bruce Almighty and Anchorman.  Since that time he has continued to make hit comedies like 40-year-old virgin and was the lead man for the Office.

Type casting is a double-edged sword in Hollywood.  On one hand a successful actor in a genre has a huge likelihood of being cast again in that genre, keeping them working.  On the other, attempts to find work in other genres are difficult because they have not really “proved themself”.  Plenty of actors fell victim to the latter situation and it can stifle their creativity.

No one really knew how well Robin Williams was going to be in Good Will Hunting because his background does not give you any indication that he can play serious roles. 

  

Foxcatcher is one of those rare opportunities for these two actors to test their mettle in uncharted waters.  As an actor I appreciate this kind of opportunity because so often we see the same character types played by the same people with little chance for some new blood.  I also think it helps actors who have been placed in a bubble a chance to escape, especially comedic actors.  Because of the lighthearted nature of comedies people downplay the actor's level of commitment need to sell the character.  Some of the most difficult roles to make believable are indeed, the silliest ones. 

I only hope that Foxcatcher is successful and proves to be a platform to display Carell and Tatum’s versatility.

Titan: Cancelled. Introducing Overwatch!?!

As a student planning to start my own company I keep an eye on those established in the industry who are consistently delivering.

Blizzard is one of those powerhouse companies who started out really passionate about their storytelling and art style and have done exceedingly well due to the level of quality they have put in their games. 

For Example...

About 10 years ago they launched World of Warcraft and to this day it still has Millions… MILLIONS of subscribers.  There is no doubt that they have stumbled across a formula for engaging players that works.  Not to mention WoW (as we call it) is only ONE of the games they produce. 

This year’s Blizzcon (yes they are so big they have their OWN Con) has come to an end and the talk of the town was Overwatch.  

It has been announced as a team based First person shooter (FPS) with a stylized design and a fast paced gameplay that in my humble opinion,

"Looks pretty awesome." (Hooker, D. just now)  

However I cannot help this bitter sweet taste that I have in my mouth after reading more about the cancelled “Project Titan” and the announcement of this game. 

For the past 3 to 4 years people in the gaming community have been hearing rumors and whispers of this Behemoth project that the folks at Blizzard were working on code named “Project: Titan”.  It was rumored to be WoW 2.0, or Starcraft as an MMO, and numerous other fanboy conceived hopes and dreams.  However, a few months ago Blizzard announced that they would be “abandoning” project titan. 

This article provides some more insight into that decision.  Hearing it from the developer’s mouth I honestly felt a connection with game development that you don’t really sense unless you seriously try to develop a game.  

They talked about the frustrations of trying to include all these elements into the game that they wanted, how they were not sure what they had but were desperate to try to make it work.  They were not even sure if it was possible to make it work. 

I earnestly felt like they were picking my brain as I have been on the fence about the development of a game that would involve various genres and play styles in a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) scenario.  

I could understand how frustrating it would be for these developers who seemed to have done the impossible before with several games, were having to cut their losses.  However, as a future game developer it made me a bit hopeful that my ideas and innovations are not yet discovered.  Clearly I have been influenced by years of following Blizzard and this news has inspired me to keep on developing my own game ideas.   Maybe I could be the cog in the machine necessary to make this project a reality, and maybe I will create the company that makes the new machine… 

H00k Out--

And as always,

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The Destiny of Co-Op Gaming

For the first blog I wanted to talk about something very close to my heart, and that is the Co-Op experience provided by games.

On September 9, 2014 Bungie (the company that started Halo, yes HALO) released Destiny.  I was really excited for this game because it was going to offer a kind of RPG depth to the First Person Shooter experience.  That, tacked on to the name Bungie, meant this game was on my radar.
I remember many a college night staying up playing Halo 2 with my roommate.  I remember the immense fun I had experiencing the epic storyline of Halo:Reach with my neighbor.  More recently, my Girlfriend and I finished up Borderlands 2 (an excellent experience) and we were ready for a new game.

BUT THEN I got the dreaded news that the game was not going to support split screen or even Local Co-Op AT ALL.

I remember a time when the only way to play with others was good old fashioned Couch Co-Op (or local co-op/split-screen co-op).

Granted there were a lot fewer systems in people's homes and  gaming was not the huge market it is today but, with more and more games stepping away from this I wonder what the future holds for the Co-Op players.

After reading the Gamespot article covering this news I was surprised that many gamers shared my concerns in the comments below.  They even mentioned that their significant other would not be able to join them in the game without having to go out and purchase another copy of the game, gaming console, and TV to play on.  Now just because one game is not incorporating one function does not mean it will be the trend of the industry.  But when a developer like Bungie who had HUGE success largely due to the multiplayer aspects of their games, leave out a core element that has been in all of their most lucrative games, I raise an eyebrow...

My concerns are:

• Most people who like this genre of games also like to play with close friends and people they can invite over.
• There is an influx of couples that grew up on games and want to play together without buying duplicates of everything.
• In an era where consoles are as common as a couch in the living room or a fridge in the kitchen, how do families cope with this lack of multi-user functions? Are they buying a console per kid?
• With the success of Destiny, will other developers follow suit?

All in all, though I am disappointed that I will not get to play Destiny side by side with someone, I can say that there is still a huge benefit to couch co-op and that there are still several games providing that experience.

--H00k Out
And as always if you enjoyed...

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About Hookblogs

WELCOME TO THE BLOG

I am David Hooker. 

This is my little corner of the internet where I will primarily Blog about the wide world of entertainment.  Specifically, I will talk about Comics (mostly DC & Marvel), Movies, Television (and webshows), and Video Games.  

Each week I intend to bring you a fresh blog about one of these topics, along with my opinion. 

Thanks for stopping by, and as always: 

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Hook Out--