Meme Cloud Special: Misfits of Science

I was born in the tail end of the 80's, so I missed experiencing most of them firsthand. However, through the magic of reruns and VHS, my childhood could still benefit from large doses of 80's TV, movies, cartoons, and music videos. I've come out the other side with an undying love for all things that capture that glittering 80's style.

Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Duck Tales, NES games, Phantasy Star, Men Without Hats, MacGyver, Infosoc - the whole decade was made out of awesome (which, in case you've ever wondered what unprocessed awesome looks like as it occurs in nature, it looks a lot like this).

But there is one 80's TV series in particular that I wish to discuss here - "Misfits of Science". I've just spent the last couple of months working with fellow 80's nut, ThirdBass, constructing a fansite dedicated to the show, Science of Misfits. I must hasten to add that I merely tidied up the HTML and offered a few suggestions - the brilliant retro design, content, and hours of research were Bass's hard work.

I love so many things about the show: the rocking music selections; the humour, which is often content to slip by in the background or in expertly written cross-wise conversations; the comraderie of the characters, and the coolness of their superpowers; the fact that the show remains about the characters, and not about their superpowers; and of course, Johnny B, whose red guitar, super speed, signature colour blue, and wariness of water bear a passing resemblance to another one of my favourite characters. ;P

I could go on about the show itself, but you don't need to hear my trap flapping. Bolt on down to Science of Misfits and check it out for yourself - and if it doesn't put a smile on your face, you have a cold, cold, blackened heart.

The Meme Cloud, Part 2

Software/Hardware: Commodore 128

Back when I was about 10 or 11 years old, the only computer I had that was user programmable was the Commodore 128 (I went through several models, but the 128D was my favourite, and the longest lasting).

At the time I was addicted to Genesis and Super Nintendo games such as Phantasy Star II, Starfox, and Super Mario Kart. I wanted nothing more than to be able to make my own 16-bit video games.

The Commodore, while woefully underpowered for anyone with 16-bit ambitions, was the closest thing I had. Far from sneering at the primitive machine, I threw myself into learning how to coax anything video-gamey out of it. I tricked it out with a RAM expansion cartridge and set to work.

For the most part I was interested in making graphics, and ended up making more intro and cinema sequences for games than games themselves. I never moved beyond Basic 7.0, squeezing every last drop out of it instead of attempting the seemingly insuperable task of learning the arcane Machine Language.

I have many fond memories of the era, and even if I never accomplished much of note with the Commodore, it helped to shape me into a programmer and video game designer. The abstract lessons I learnt in those early years are still with me, even in the age of Game Maker, when there are almost no graphic, memory, or processor limitations.

TV Series: Mr Bean

I watched Mr Bean because I loved Rowan Atkinson's performance as Blackadder.

Mr Bean is almost the exact antithesis of Blackadder, but equally well-performed and hilarious. While Blackadder is the epitome of sophisticated verbal wit, Mr Bean is the epitome of simple physical comedy.

But it's not your average tired slapstick routine. It's exceptionally clever, like when Bean is brushing his teeth and changing into his suit while driving his mini - with his feet. Even watching the man prepare a sandwich is funny.

Music (Band): They Might Be Giants

I have Sega to thank for turning me on to TMBG, as their song "Mammal" was on a Sampler CD that shipped with the Sega CD to show off its CDA playing capabilities. The song was a true novelty, a dollop of weird in my otherwise Beatles soaked music world. To this day it remains a favourite of mine, and the only song on the sampler that I remember at all.

It wasn't until I began to listen to the Dr Demento show regularly that I encountered TMBG again. That's where I heard most of their hits, like "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", "Why the Sun Shines", "Birdhouse in Your Soul", and "Particle Man". It was great to discover that that little band I had a soft spot for because I associated them with the day I got Sonic CD actually had more to offer.

The first time I ever saw them performing was on "The Screensavers" (which I watched religiously at the time). John & John's charming and quirky personalities (as well as the sheer fact that they were willing to be on a geeky show like The Screensavers) won me over, and I had to become an active fan and follower.

The thing I like the most about TMBG is their ability to make a song out of anything. "Hovering Sombrero", "I've Got a Fang", "Unrelated Thing", "Mink Car", "Edison Museum"... the list goes on and on. No other band expresses that prodigious overbubbling zest for clattering around and having fun making music for music's sake as well or as much.

Music (Artist): Roger Miller

Because Roger Miller seems like something only boring old people would listen to, it may come as some surprise that someone who just cited TMBG can squeeze him in their Meme Cloud. It becomes less surprising, however, when one realises that Disney's animated Robin Hood was how I was first introduced to his music. And less surprising still, because it was also the Dr Demento show that offered further exposure - significantly, "I'm A Nut", one of the best novelty songs ever written. In fact, Roger Miller's song "Whistlestop" was sped up and remixed to create the infamous Hampster Dance, and you can't get much more relevant than that, can you?

In all seriousness, though, his songs can range from wry to bittersweet to uproarious, but they're all sung with such an honest, soul-baring frankness that it plays havoc with your natural laugh / cry instincts.

Not only is this the only country-and-western music I will tolerate, but I actively adore it.

TV Series (Animated): The Adventures of Tintin

Here I'm specifically referring to the Ellipse / Nelvana cartoon. Though I'm sure the original books by Herge are fabulous as well, I can't speak for them because I haven't bothered to read them yet (I have a general dislike for the comic book format that I'll have to overcome first).

The wonderful thing about the cartoon is that it is refreshingly adventurous. Almost all children's adventure cartoons these days are terrible. Not least because of the stringent rules about depictions of violence. With the inability to depict realistic guns, or show any blood whatsoever, all action sequences devolve into mindless bonecracking fistfights, numbing explosions of ever increasing magnitude, and laser weapons that seem programmed to miss. The Japanese are able to make more entertaining adventure cartoons for the same age group, but by the time they reach our shores they more often than not are bowdlerised, impotent (sometimes to the point of being unintelligible, as is the case with some Yu-Gi-Oh! storylines), and poisoned by cringe-inducing dubbing.

But Tintin avoids all of those pitfalls. It harks back to the same era as does Indiana Jones, when men were men (and dogs, aparently, were superhumanly adorable). It's just adventure, plain and simple - with exploration, intrigue, danger, and yes, real guns. There's no cynicism, no "look at how awesome we are", and no gaggle of identical superfriends with 5-foot wide shoulders and the same brand of humour as the House scriptwriter who "wrote" all their lines (you can't tell I hate Justice League Unlimited, right?).

And it also has the best orchestral theme song this side of a John Williams score.

I'm hoping that the new CG movie does at least as well, but I'm not terribly optimistic about it.

The Meme Cloud, Part 1

'You are what you eat', or so says the old saw. There's a bit of truth to it - in many ways, you are the sum of your inputs, the random bits of culture you've absorbed during your lifetime. I say this strictly as a generalisation. To be sure, we are more than the mere sum of our experiences. The order in which we are exposed to them, the mood we are in at the time of exposure, the person or place responsible - all of these things also heavily influence us. And there is almost certainly a genetic component as well. However, it remains my opinion that a good way to gain insight into one's personality is to discover what bits of culture have had a lasting impact on them. In some ways you get to know them better, and in other ways, you find you know them less, as they dig deep into their pasts and pull out more and more obscure influences. One way or another, as a means to catalogue one's unique blend of constituents, or just a stream-of-consciousness to perhaps turn others on to one's more eclectic tastes, the exercise of compiling a 'meme cloud' can be entertaining. Thus I present to you this running series of posts. In each will be one of my memes, a strand of my culture that comprises my idiosyncratic whole. They will be accompanied by short descriptions of how I came by them and what I think of them, and how they have influenced me, however slightly. These will be things that have some detectable impact on how I behave (my choice of words, creative style, my tastes in other entertainment, etc). With them will be a secondary list of 5 things that I happen to like, but that have little impact on my personality overall. I will also be purposely making the lists as unrelated and varied as possible, to demonstrate the sheer disparity of tastes that a mind can accomodate. Here goes - in no particular order:

Video Game: Chrono Trigger

Having missed Chrono Trigger when it first came out on the SNES (which is okay, since I was too young to properly appreciate it at the time, anyway), I only played this masterpiece comparatively recently on the Playstation.

Yes, the disc-based technology of the PS results in frustrating loadtimes before each battle, but fortunately the battles are not random, and the smattering of anime styled cutscenes and other little extras make up for this. Furthermore, even if the game dropped heavy stones on your toes after every ten seconds of play, it would still be worth playing, such is the level of this game's greatness.

As a joint effort between Squaresoft and Enix, before the companies officially merged, the game has the unique flavour of a grand collabourative undertaking, a meeting of the best minds in the industry. Hironobu Sakaguchi, of Final Fantasy fame, and Yuuji Horii, of Dragon Quest fame, combine their talents to create a tale that is the perfect mix of complexity and simplicity.

For someone raised on action games, and the comparatively user-friendly RPG elements of the Phantasy Star series, Final Fantasy was always a little overwhelming. Sure, I loved Final Fantasy VI (III in the West), but there is a feeling pervasive of all the major Final Fantasy titles of mad genius on a little too long of a leash. To have that tempered by a stone simple Dragon Quest sensibility transforms Chrono Trigger into a romp with the grandeur of a Final Fantasy, but the earthy familiarity and consistent tone of a more laid back RPG. This, along with fantastic characters and localisation, and a score by the incredible (though outrageously uncredited) Yasunori Mitsuda with a little help from Final Fantasy maestro Nobuo Uematsu, makes Chrono Trigger, in my opinion, the best Square RPG there is.

But how has it influenced me? Aside from sucking hours from my life, that is. Well, the primary influence it has had on how I design my own RPG's, and other types of games, for that matter, is the manner in which the enemies are presented.

Almost every enemy in the game has a different introduction. Instead of random battles that accost you every couple of steps, battles are initiated in a much more natural way - an enemy will leap out from behind foliage, or descend from concealment on the ceiling. Being attacked turns from a chore into a surprise, every time.

These events aren't even limited to enemy type - sometimes enemies of the same type will ambush you in different ways. This goes a long way to improve immersiveness, and give the enemies personalities beyond multicoloured blobs that must be repeatedly struck. It also appeals to the action gamer in me, who wants to be surprised around every corner, and grows impatient with the repetition of traditional RPG's.

Film: Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Though continually overshadowed by another, somewhat similar, Disney film, I feel Bedknobs and Broomsticks suffers from the comparison. It seems unfair to uncharitably compare two movies because of an accident of birth.

Watching the movie as though it stood alone, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a delight. I must here admit that I saw it long before Mary Poppins, due to the random and chaotic nature of a life lived long after the release of either. There is plenty of the Disney magic present in the film, the kind that catches you later lustily singing Portabello Road before you become aware of all eyes disapprovingly upon you.

It is not without its faults, but I wish people would shed the ingrained unfair contrast with Mary Poppins and just appreciate it for the wonderful adventure that it is.

Television: Have Gun - Will Travel

I must first admit to you that I have never liked westerns. Or cowboys. Or anything of the sort. But after watching Have Gun - Will Travel on a recommendation, I fell in love with it immediately. In particular, the episodes written by Gene Roddenberry are great. Just as Star Trek uses the milieu of outer space to frame universal and timeless human stories, so Have Gun - Will Travel uses the wild west. Though it is now a very old show, set in a period yet older, it is not mired in the dusty obsolete whooping, yee-hawing and cowboy singing that scar the other westerns I've been subjected to.

Paladin is a hero as timeless as Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes, and I can only wonder at the fact that he has not had further adventures. Remake, anyone?

Video Game: Seiklus

This is not a professional video game, but an independent Estonian game by cly5m, distributed through the internet. It stands as testament to the fact that a single person can still make a video game that's worth playing, whether they work for a company or not.

It has shades of early Commodore games, the first Myst, and has an atmosphere that is at once compelling, and even moving. Very few games draw you in, and make you feel like you have been transformed into the character on the screen, but Seiklus has this elusive property. Shigeru Miyamoto couldn't have made it better himself, and Seiklus belongs on your shelf of games as much as if not more than any title you payed good money to put there.

Seiklus Wikipedia entry

Seiklus Official Page

Music (Band): Eiffel 65

I was, of course, introduced to Eiffel 65 by their repetitive and slightly annoying, though still lovable, anthem, 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)'. However, to dismiss them as a one hit wonder capable of nothing more complex would be a mistake.

Sadly, they are no longer together, to my knowledge, but their short career has resulted in such gems as 'Your Clown', 'Crazy', 'Now Is Forever', 'Losing You', and 'Brightly Shines' (which sounds like it could be a Tears for Fears track), all of which top 'Blue' for me.

Of all the modern dance music I've heard, they recapture a little of that spirit that I had though lost when the 80's ended.

Film: Young Einstein

Firstly, you must understand one thing. Though I am by no means a trained or professional scientist, I grew up reading the likes of Isaac Asimov (not his fiction, primarily, though I do like it, too), and Carl Sagan. True, their message of the supremacy of the scientific method only began to sink in as I matured, but their other major point - that the universe is big, beautiful, and largely beyond us set the stage for my mindset.

Thus, to watch a film that flagrantly throws science out the window to recast Albert Einstein as a Tasmanian who invents rock and roll would seem anathema for me.

But it's not. I love it. For someone who loves science, and the history of it, it just makes the movie all the more enjoyable. While most everyone else might be struggling with the sheer bizarre nature of the central concept, I can sit back and enjoy it for what it is. It's like a parody of science and its heroes, a loving ode to their quirks and senses of humour. It's similar to how 'Murder by Death' is a send-up of the whodunit genre.

Science and scientists are a vast repository of true characters, and if we didn't get to have a little fun with them every once in a while, things would get boring. And a kicking Icehouse song doesn't hurt, either.

Young Einstein Wikipedia entry