Monthly Archives: September 2015

Unknown Hosts 9/23/2015

Past Unknown Hosts Episodes

Welcome to a special episode of Unknown Hosts! Unlike most weeks, Ka_Niff and Ross cast from the SAME ROOM AND LOCATION, talking about our impending time at TwitchCon. Enjoy, and remember to watch us live at http://www.twitch.tv/unknownhosts!

Timecodes:
02:58 – Start of Show
03:28 – TwitchCon Talk
24:02 – What’s New with Us?

The Good, The Bad, and The Kappa
30:28 – New Spider-Man To Be 15 Years Old
36:52 – New Hitman Delayed, Will Feature Post-Launch Content “Updates”
41:54 – Game of Thrones Breaks Records at the Emmy’s because of a change in voting policy
49:23 – The Extraordinarily Convoluted Explanation for Kingdom Hearts 2.8’s Title
54:21 – Destiny: The Taken King Contains Secret, Super-Difficult Missions That Players Still Haven’t Discovered
1:02:02 – Some Incredibly Difficult Super Mario Maker levels

1:11:31 – Chat Topics
1:16:13 – Giveaway: Burnout Paradise
1:21:56 – Plugs
1:24:44 – More Talk about TwitchCon

TwitchCon and the Rise of a More Interactive Fan Community

Video Games

twitchcon

At the end of this week, I will be attending TwitchCon, a convention which exists to bring together people who stream themselves playing video games for online audiences. When I was growing up, I wasn’t aware that this could even be a profession, or that there would be any interest whatsoever in watching other people play games. I wouldn’t have understood it, and I’m not certain that I understand it now. However, I’ve been doing it for the better part of this year in some form or another, so it certainly intrigues me.

The conclusion that I’ve come to is that the success of Twitch and game-streaming, particularly live-streaming, is actually a strong reflection of the medium. When you look at other popular mediums, such as film, television, print, and music, there are always fans and critics who adore and consume media with a voraciousness and complexity that supercedes the average consumer. These are the diehards, the ones who meet in coffee houses, or in book clubs, or on internet forums to discuss in-depth how a piece of art or entertainment made them think or feel.

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Stardust Review

Movie Reviews

Stardust

Last week, I reviewed a modern fairy tale movie called Winter’s Tale. It was not very good. After we watched Colin Ferrell and his Pegasus become stars together, my fiancee urged me to watch another modern fairy tale movie called Stardust. This one, she assured me, was much better, and given its pedigree, I had no reason to doubt her. The film is based off of a book by Neil Gaiman, one of the greatest authors of modern fantasy and fairy tales working today, and directed by Matthew Vaughn, one of my favorite modern filmmakers. No matter the quality, watching a movie forged by such different artistic voices had interested me for some time.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that Stardust is a good movie. It’s got all the trappings of a fairy tale story: inanimate objects that are somehow alive, magic, other worlds, true love, etc. But unlike Winter’s Tale and other failed films in the genre, the rules of its universe feel somewhat intuitive and the character drama is earned. The tone and feel of the film is reminiscent of The Princess Bride. It’s a love story at its center, there are moments of danger and menace, but it’s generally a light-hearted adventure story.

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Representation in Straight Outta Compton

Movies

straight outta compton

Straight Outta Compton has been an enormous success for Universal, and with good reason. In addition to being a very entertaining movie and, in its best moments, a breath of fresh air in the “musical bio-pic” genre, it’s a film that came into being at the perfect time. During a year in which systemic racism and police violence against black Americans have been more public and undeniable than ever, Straight Outta Compton is a literal and figurative middle finger to the white establishment, a highly satisfying statement of rebellion in motion-picture form.

This article won’t be a review of the film (for what it’s worth, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but felt like it lost the plot somewhat in its last half hour). Instead, I’d like to examine  the film’s representation of race and gender, as it’s a fascinating counterpart to the modern, whitewashed blockbusters.

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