The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 -5
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8-bit beauty
ccording to some, there's a even 8-by-16 seats, to create a grid-
"condition"called the Tetris like background while using people
Effect where "Tetris" play- in colored t-shirts as pixels. For
ter many, example, in his "Tetris"-based film,
hours of he has people sitting in colored
the Rus- t-shirts in groups of 2-by-2 to cre-
zzle block ate the square block (the "O" block),
begin to and people sitting in rows of 1-by-
nate about 4 to create the long blocks (the "I"
er-ending block). Using stop-motion photog-
of "Tetris" raphy, people move from seat to seat
floating WHITNEY between takes and, in the final cut,
an imagi- POW these "blocks" appear to float down
rid. This the movie seating grid and arrange
s during waking and sleep- themselves like pieces in a "Tetris"
irs - those affected dream game. (If the image isn't that clear
ape and reverse L-shape for you, you can view Reymond's
and see S-blocks while they GAME OVER Project art series at
os and while they're taking www.NotSoNoisy.com/gameover/
s. index.)
Tetris Effect generated To compliment the visual 8-bit
talk that Wired magazine homages with auditory ones, there
short piece on it in 1994. are also relatively new musicians
er, instead of talking about that have begun to use the beeps
'ange visual phenomenon and blips of 8-bit games to create
d to the game, the article music. Here you can hear the strik-
about the addictiveness of ing 8-bit "TSEEW!" of a laser beam
" calling the Tetris Effect zap or the "DING!" of coin-catching
ochemical, reductionistic in a "Mario" game used repeat-
or, if you will, for curiosity, edly to create jingles or catchy pop
on, and creative urge." tunes. The 8-bit music genre itself
Tetris Effect can be seen as has been lovinglynamed "chiptune"
ral metaphor for our want and has gathered an underground
gorize and organize differ- following of indie music and video
egular-seeming objects into game enthusiasts alike.
ive system. It's here that we One pioneering chiptune art-
the interplay between cul- ist is Nullsleep, the moniker for
d what we create: We cre- Jeremiah Johnson, who attended
organization we'd like to the Engineering and Applied Sci-
d, if we look at "Tetris" in ence program at Columbia Univer-
ent light, we can see how sity. An average show of his will
video games have saturated showcase the use of augmented
ture because the game is Nintendo consoles and hand-held
here and has become a facet Game Boys to create the twitchy,
yday life. We can find "Tet- nostalgia-inducing sounds that
calculators, iPods, Facebook coalesce into legitimate musical
ions and key chains. And pieces. The songs themselves con-
sist of complex musical layers that
use harmonies, melodies and rhyth-
mic elements to differentiate these
ages from our pieces from simple one-line "Mary
Had a Little Lamb"-type ditties.
eo gam e past (Nullsleep's music is available for
free download online at his website,
ifluence the www.Nullsleep.com.)
The 1980s game aesthetics have
work of today. become aheavy influence in con-
temporary art. Current pop-art aes-
thetics have been borrowed from
what was heavily influential and
play the game to spend our ground-breaking two decades ago
rded hours or minutes, even - video games. There's an interest-
cades after the game's cre- ing interplay between artists and
their artwork that can be see when
ris" is just one video game analyzing pixel art and chiptune
raks to the ubiquity of gam- music, because culture and art are
ture and the prevalence of intimately intertwined. While War-
t aesthetics as they move hol was producingsilk screen prints
he realm of "nerdiness" of Campbell's soup cans and Brillo
op culture. Although we pads (icons that were significant
ind the 8-bit generation in to the emerging consumer society
0s with the pixilated play- in the 1960s), contemporary art-
s of the Nintendo Entertain- ists are harkening back to images
'stem ("Super Mario Bros.") that were important and iconic to
Atari ("Galaga"), the 8-bit them - which include images from
hetic still hangs around not the pixilated screens of the NES
the form of pop culture (we and Atari. It seems like our simple
w who Mario and Luigi are) childhood time-passer has become
art, which takes the form of something of a generational and
xel art and chiptune music. cultural icon.
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Film's comic book violence
entertaining but empty
By BLAKE GOBLE
Daily Film Editor
"Punisher: War Zone" is one of the most mali-
cious, moronic and masoch-
istic films to ever be released
this side of a "Saw" movie. Its
gore necessitates barf bags and Punisher|
theprotagonistmeritsforgive- War Zone
ness when he doesn't deserve
it. The villains smack of racial At Quality16
ignorance and big guns are and Showcase
glorified in a way that would Lionsgate
make even Clint Eastwood
blush. It's comic book revenge
at its worst.
Yet, despite its abhorrent nastiness, this is
one hell of a show.
Fast and mean, "War Zone" is a guilty plea-
sure of the highest order. A candy-colored fan-
tasia of gore and crazy shit, this is the stupider,
funnier side of comic book adaptations. It's just
fun.
Based on the scandalous
Marvel comics, this is the
third iteration of the skull- :
shirted vigilante's war on uf
crime. Frank Castle (Ray
Stevenson, TV's "Rome")
is the Punisher, a victim of ;
gang violence that left his
wife and two children slaughtered. Five years
on the job, and far from being done, Frank is the
ultimate gangbuster. Cops let him slip by, and
the feds want him locked up. No one can touch
him because he's just too good.
But there are two mainstorieshere.Yes, "War
Zone" isn't entirely wanton revenge. Frank first
accidentally creates an arch-nemesis, named Jig-
saw (Dominic West, TV's "The Wire"). Why's he
called Jigsaw? Well, remember the scene in the
1989 "Batman" where Jack Nicholson isdropped
in a vat of acid? Here it's a glass crusher, and it's
very intentional - and verygraphic.
Frank also screws up and accidentally kills
a federal agent. In the wake of the accident, he
makes an effort to atone by trying to make good
with the wife of his wrong target. Heart-felt
clearly, but these are not what "Punisher" sto-
ries are all about.
"War Zone" is no exception to the nonsen-
sical, over-the-top violence other "Punisher"
stories have perpetuated. Done in a guilt-free,
pop-minded manner, "War Zone" is everything
the comics are about. Frank is a spectacularly
efficient mass murderer, and were he not the
lead character, this would pretty much be a
slasher flick. Yet it's not meant to make us sym-
pathetic with Frank. We just can't help but be
amused by his efficiency.
Directed with extra cheese by Lexi Alexan-
der ("Green Street Hooligans"), the point of this
film is to laugh uncomfortably at the graphic
violence: makeshift stabbings, kidneys eaten
and faces turned to roast fuckin' beef. (Don't
worry, it's funnier onscreen).
Normally this kind of violence would make
even the mosthardened people cringe. It's bru-
tal. But the ploy here is to not take anything
seriously. "War Zone" works as a parody of
itself bythe end, and in that respect, it ain't half
bad. The repetitive glee in Frank Castle's ram-
page certainly has the foundation for a great
drinking game.
Considering the top-notch production values
despite the budget, clever effects, quick pacing
and general willingness of the cast and crew
to not take themselves too seriously, this is
much better than it should be. "War Zone"
makes a fine B-movie. Far more fun than the
dark 2004 "Punisher," and far better than
the 1989 Dolph Lundgren "Punisher," "War
Zone" is furious fancy.
Pixilated art is the norm for the
NES, with its unclear, tile-like visu-
als - think of NES Mario in all of
his blocky, tri-colored glory, where
his mustache is a series of brown
blocks in the middle of a beige-
block face. Pixel art is simply
blocky. We can see the indi-
vidual pixels (or smallest units
of display on a monitor) as obvi-
ous squares that sit next to one
another like colored tiles. This
seems to be the general premise
for the art genre itself.
Pixel art itself may be kind
of counter-intuitive since we've
approached the realm of hyper-
realistic video gaming and CGI,
where computer-character hot
girls look like hot girls ("Soul
Calibur IV") and mulleted bad-
ass gaming protagonists look,
well, badass ("Metal Gear Solid
4"). But in games like "Space
Invaders," for the 8-bit Atari,
you just have to use your imagi-
nation to turn the strange shell-
fish-looking blobs with eyes
into ominous-looking aliens.
But there's something
charming about the unclear,
block-like characters in these
consoles, and contemporary
artists are already beginning
to make their homages to the
Atari using unlikely materials
and familiar themes. Guillaume
Reymond is one such French-
Swiss artist who works with
the pixilated art realm in mind,
but instead of working with col-
ored pixels, he uses stop-motion
video, movie theater seats and
people in colored t-shirts.
Reymond's series "GAME
OVER Project" uses stop-
motion video to create strik-
ing mini-films that emulate
the flying pixels of "Space
Invaders" or "Tetris." He uses
movie theater seating, in its
Pow is an avid "Tetris" player
and sees S-shaped blocks just
about every day in her dreams.
E-mail her at poww@umich.edu.
S U O K U
Michigan Head*Pain & Neurological Institute is
conducting a research study evaluating an investigational
medication for the treatment of migraines.
Participants must:
o Be 18 years or older
- Experience . to 8 headaches per month for the past 2 months
if you qualify, you will receive study related exams and
study medication at no cost to you.
In addition, you will be compensated for your time and travel expenses.
For more information, please call a study coordinator at (734)
677-6000, option 4.
Learn more about participating in research at www. MHNI.com.