The Truth Is In There

I'm really looking forward to the new reality show Start Ups: Silicon Valley that hits the Bravo channel next month.

If you've not been following the making of this show- or if you have zero idea what it even is- check it out.

So needless to say- I assume- I'm jazzed by the potential of this show cause I love the subject matter. I GET it's not real but it's a REALITY SHOW and I'm not trying to be clever when I say that- by now- anyone tuning in to a reality show thinking it's a documentary is a damn fool.

So is this going to be an accurate documentary about entrepreneurs and tech start ups? Come on. I mean, I seriously doubt it. And even if there is some accuracy, I certainly doubt it will have the same sense of truth that a great doc like Startup.Com has. And even that- a genuine, dyed in the wool documentary-manipulates the audience as well, just like any medium that documents reality does (other than a security camera and hell, even that has a bit of a truth distortion simply based on where the camera has been placed).

But I won't be tuning in to this new show to see moment to moment truth. I'll be tuning in for entertainment and because the show- based on the trailer anyway- DOES SEEM to be accurate in capturing the energy and the youthful spirit (no matter your age) that you connect with whenever embarking on a scary but exciting as hell new journey.

Maybe that's the key to making a great reality show: be ok sacrificing the moment to moment truths in the name of entertaining the audience while at the same time demand the essence of the experience the subjects are going thru is portrayed accurately, even if the show creators must express that essence not thru accurate footage but thru editing tricks and music selection and 'actor' manipulation; a metaphor for the essence, if you will.

David

Heartbreak At The Green Springs 6

When I was checking my daily dose of Aint It Cool News today, I noticed that Megaforce hits DVD this week and so my nostalgia machine got to running full blast and I felt the need to share! So here we go! :)...

Man, as I kid I was CRAZY EXCITED for this flick! Stayed up nights just thinking about it, DYING for the damn thing to open! I mean, what 10ish year old boy would not go ape shit for this? I mean, just look at it the Godamn'd movie poster:

Goddamn guns of Goddamn mother fucking VEHICLES?!?! What is not to love?!?!

Alas- this was utter shite. Just a whole honkin tube of fecal paste in the form of a movie. :(

Saw this on opening day with my brother and- I think- one of my best childhood friends/next door neighbors at the Green Springs 6 theater in Bama (same place I saw Star Wars and Flash Gordon, FYI :)...

We walked out 30-45 minutes into it. It was sleep inducing. It was disappointing. It was just awful. I had stared at the coming soon movie poster above in the Birmingham News (our local paper) for the 2-3 weeks before the flick premiered and I was so jazzed. But man, what a let down.

 How the fuck could a movie that was filled with gun strapped VEHICLES be boring?!? Don't ask me, but it sure was that.

On the upside, we spent all the remaining time waiting for my mom to pick us up in the arcade! So it wasn't all bad :). We played a bunch of the obvious stuff, like Battlezone and Galaga along with the following 2 arcade games that- for some reason- never became they classics they deserved to be:

CONGO BONGO

ARABIAN

Man, those are some great unsung heroes of the great video game wars! I think I'll do a post soon about all those great almost-famous arcade games that hold just as much a place in my heart as the usual suspects that everyone remembers from the 80's arcade heydays.

Ok- off to the wonderful salt mines of video game makin! Later ya'll!

Thanks for coming to the blog!

David

Pack In Maps...The Final Frontier

Got this from a Facebook post (the Choose Your Own Adventure fan page, if you must know :) where one of the comments from someone I don't know was, 'Someday, that will be a lot of adventures...'

Man, how right he is! This thing looks like a world map from one of the coolest sci-fi video games ever!!!

It's the kind of thing that used to ship with the great Ultima and Infocom games; the kind of pack in map (sometimes actual cloth!!! :)  that you used to stare at obsessively after your parents  took you out to dinner after buying you the game; often times the packs in like the map- along with the super cool and detailed instruction manuals (R.I.P.)- were all that kept you from busting out of your skin with desire and anticipation to just be home and playing the damn game already! :)

Man, good ol' days of gaming rocked! So do games today...but man! :)

Later ya'll!

David