MASHUP: Beastie Boys vs. Nine Inch Nails - 3 MCs and 29 Ghosts

To paraphrase Depeche Mode, it's Mashup Time Again!

Same artists as last time.  They've given the fans a lot to work with.  The instrumental is another one from Ghosts, track 29, but heavily rearranged.  The vocal track is "3 MCs and 1 DJ" (with a few added surprises).  Some of the "3 MCs" percussion bleeds through due to the unavailability of an acapella track, but it actually works.

The NIN track is under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share Alike license.  The Beastie track is under a "I'm sure they would be totally cool with this" license.

MASHUP: Beastie Boys vs. Nine Inch Nails - Ghost Word

To wash the taste of entry-level political commentary out of your mouth, here's one of the mash-ups I've been working on.

The generosity of the Beastie Boys and Trent Reznor with regard to their multitracks -- proportional to the lack of other artists' multitracks in general -- dictates much of my output.  But hey, you work with what you've got.  This one uses the vocal track of the Beastie Boys' "Oh Word?" (from To The 5 Boroughs) and NIN's "7 Ghosts I" (from Ghosts -- they're all titled like that).  The instrumental track has been rearranged in various ways for structure and length.

The NIN track is under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share Alike license. The Beastie acapella track falls under what appears to be a less formal "just don't sell it" dealie.

Unmosqued

This ad is pretty shocking. Probably not in the way they intended, though.



It'd be almost comical if it weren't so sad. The Don LaFontaine-esque action movie narration of the situation is really one of the more offensive 9/11-related things I've seen, since it's actually supposed to be taken seriously. "ON SEPTEMBER 11TH. They declared war against us... NOW they want to build a mosque. At GROUND ZERO. (directed by Michael Bay)"  The "sacred ground" claim seems a tad melodramatic as well.  Aren't we planning on building something else there?  As wonderful as this new building will surely be, I don't know if it will really live up to the whole "sacred" thing.  Just saying.  Might not wanna throw down that gauntlet.

But anyway.  I'll put my cards on the table; I'm not too high on Islam.  I think it's got plenty of inherent, significant problems.  I don't know if I accept the whole "it's a religion of peace" thing.  But that's not really even the issue to me.  See, I'm a big fan of personal responsibility.  You do something bad, it's your fault.  It can be useful to look into the factors that contributed to that action, but it's still your fault.  Always your fault, first and foremost.  When someone kills someone else, don't blame it on Islam, don't blame it on Christianity, don't blame it on Marilyn Manson, don't blame it on violent video games -- blame it on the killers.  There is no way to divert the blame when we're talking about such a major atrocity.  It takes much more than just bad beliefs or bad hobbies to drive someone to that.

I actually don't support the building of a mosque at Ground Zero, though.  Not because Muslims don't have the right to do it, or because "they" attacked us.  Just because, y'know, it's pretty inappropriate and insensitive.  It's not their fault, but it's still inappropriate.  I can appreciate the idea that we're this progressive society that can leave our emotions at the door and use perfect logic to conquer all, but we ain't robots.  You can't just say "ISLAM-NOT-RESPONSIBLE-FOR-SEQUENCE#911 -> EXECUTE-COMMAND_BUILD-MOSQUE".  Sometimes you simply have to respect boundaries.

Let's say you're a Christian, and you have an agnostic friend whose parents were beaten to a bloody pulp by an ultra-conservative Christian group because they were doing stem-cell research or something.  (I suppose this isn't a particularly common occurrence, but I hope the analogy works.)  I think most Christians in that situation would avoid blasting Christian rock music when that friend is around.  (Or even in general!  But that's another issue.)  It's not like you're compromising your faith or anything; it's simply not a good idea, and is more likely to drive that friend away than win him over.  What happened to his parents isn't your fault or Christianity's fault, but you have to respect that it's a sore point for him.  It doesn't mean you can't have cool-headed, rational discussions about your beliefs, but waving a big banner around isn't doing anyone any favors.

(This of course is assuming "mosque" is not a gross overstatement... which it's starting to sound like it is.)

Thankfully, this ad probably isn't actually going to air anywhere.  And even though the group that made it is called "The National Republican Trust", they do not in any way represent the Republican party as a whole.

...but I guess we should blame the entire Republican party for their actions, right?

Castlevania: Triptych of Disillusionment (Castlevania 3D)

My knowledge of the Castlevania franchise began with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, considered by most to be the apex of the series and still one of the finest examples of 2D gaming in existence.  Konami agreed, apparently, because they've re-used the formula for all subsequent handheld titles in the franchise, and are mimicking the general style to somewhat different effect in the upcoming Harmony of Despair.  Opinions on these handheld games vary a bit, but the general consensus is that they a) still have not quite recaptured what made Symphony so special and b) are all pretty darned fun regardless.

But on the big-screen consoles, Konami has been trying for well over a decade to successfully bring the franchise into 3D.  The results have ranged from "pretty fun" to "downright horrifying".  Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Curse of Darkness.  The level design was largely quite bland and unmemorable, but the combat and collection/crafting systems were fun and addictive all the way through.  Clearly, though, it was still a far cry from the definitive 3D Castlevania we've all been hoping for.

So now E3 has brought us some sneak peeks of the next chapter: Lords of Shadow.  And at first glance, it... well... I certainly can't say it looks bad.  But what does it look like, exactly?  Well, what it looks like is Konami being so determined not to screw up another 3D Castlevania game that they're just clinging to something that works without really caring about how much it fits into the franchise.  Which could still be good, I guess.  I mean, Curse of Darkness barely involved a castle either.

But correct me if I'm wrong here; aren't most of us dying to play a 3D Castlevania game in which you run around  exploring a huge and freaking awesome castle?  Wasn't that the whole point of bringing the franchise into 3D in the first place?  To make Dracula's Castle more real and interactive than ever?  So far, what we've gotten are beat-em-ups that occasionally involve rooms that resemble castle corridors.  Not a bad start, but it's time to evolve.  Because we have reached the point where a 3D game that captures the same sense of adventure and exploration that made Symphony of the Night so great is entirely possible.

You want proof?  Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Without even realizing it, the designers of Arkham have laid the foundation for the definitive 3D Castlevania game.  Replace asylum with castle, replace Joker with Dracula, replace thugs with skeletons -- you're halfway there.  Now, I don't want to discredit the game here, because as it stands, it's definitely the definitive Batman game and should be viewed as such.  It has certain things that are unique to the Batman intellectual property, and the characters and settings therein are still essential to the experience.  But from an overall design standpoint, it demonstrates exactly how a 3D Castlevania should be done.

I don't claim to know how this would work from a business perspective, but if Konami really wants to keep the Castlevania franchise alive, they need to find a way to give the Arkham team the task of creating the definitive 3D Castlevania game from the ground up.  If nothing else, they need to study Arkham's design very carefully and consider how to apply the same principles to a Castlevania game.  Because it works.

The Future Endeavors of Michael Tarver

Sometimes in life, we do things we can't completely explain.  This is one of those times/things.  I present to you my comic miniseries, The Future Endeavors of Michael Tarver.  It's one in-joke from WWE/NXT (you know, Professional Wrestling) that somehow inspired me to draw again after barely drawing anything for well over a year.  I think it's of interest.  To whom, well, that's a question, isn't it?

Click the images for larger Tarver. (also available on DeviantArt -- see sidebar link)