Mongol

I think it’s safe to say that most everyone knows the story of Ghengis Khan, at least vaguely. Mongol has the ambitious goal of erasing that vagueness and sharing the Great Khan’s life story with a worldwide audience. (Or at least the audience fortunate enough to live near select theaters.)

I was lucky enough to catch it this afternoon, and I walked away surprised and impressed. Granted, the beginning was a little slow and perhaps repetitive, but it’s quickly forgotten with the rising action in the latter part of the movie. Mongol holds historical accuracy close to its heart, and I’m glad they didn’t sacrifice it. The early parts of Temujin’s life are incredible (especially if one compares the average modern nine-year-old’s experiences), and important to show, even if it means the beginning drags a little.

The battle scenes were fantastic. They left me with more of an emotional impression than a lot of Hollywood blockbusters I could name. (Alexander, I’m looking at you.) Cinematographers Sergey Trofimov and Rogier Stoffers found that perfect line between the extremes of overblown, try-hard cheese and underwhelming action in their battles.

It was filmed on location in China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. I’ve always been in love with the endless grasslands there, so perhaps I’m a little biased, but the film is beautiful to behold. I can’t imagine how many horse wranglers they needed on the sets.

But even the most gorgeous scenery alone can’t make a film, so I’m happy to say that the characters and the actors who played them did so admirably. The dynamics between Temujin and his wife, and his “brother” and later nemesis are subtle, but splendid. The Mongolian dialogue was a treat for curious ears, as well, not to mention the morin khuur music and the throat-singing. (Again, I’m biased towards those things, but even if you’re not already smitten with the sound, it’s certainly a refreshing and appropriate soundtrack.)

I’m crossing my fingers that the entire planned trilogy is made and released soon, because the first one ends with Khan poised to sweep through Asia and show Europe his stuff, setting things up for a sequel even more impressive than this fantastic first.

My first time involved a goat.

I happened to roll out of bed with perfect timing yesterday. I hop on Dantalion, check my Twitter, and lo – Gabe/Mike of Penny Arcade announced just minutes ago that the uStream was about to go live. I’d been wanting to catch one such feed for a while, and I’m glad I did.

I tuned in to find he’d already drawn none other than our “friend” Jack Thompson in the first panel. In light of Jack’s recent behavior, this was already setting itself up to be a winner of a comic.

Tycho/Jerry had done the playlist that was layered over the live feed. Portishead played while Jack Thompson was being colored. (The chatbox enjoyed making jokes at his expense. One winner: “he can only orgasm when he kills a puppy.”)

Mike Krahulik draws with impressive speed. His Photoshop skills led the chatbox to cry, “MOAR LENS FLARE!” Jack Thompson was colored in in what seemed like moments.

The Ben Folds cover of Bitches Ain’t Shit piped in just as Mike moved to the next panel. A fearsome creature began to take shape – Broodax!

Broodax took a little more time and effort on Mike’s part, but he inked on valiantly until the creature was duly rendered. In the blank comic panel, a message to us, written by tablet pen: “Sorry, not drawing him again.”

A quick cut n’ paste later, and Broodax filled the final panel. The chatbox filled with lols. Another message from Mike before he went back to work, a winsome and defiant, “Fuck that.”

He colored in Broodax with the same speed he’d colored Jack Thompson, going into great detail with the blood around the chap’s mandibles. Music and amiable chatter flowed. Carpathia, BT feat. M Doughty, the Cranberries, the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets (which I CAN’T believe I hadn’t heard/heard of before), David Wilcox, Genki Rockets, Gothic Archies, Interpol, Imogen Heap, and Iron & Wine songs set the varied mood.

Tubgirl may or may not have been brought up at one point.

The dialogue went in, and after a last-minute edit from Jerry via email, the comic was finished.

Mike hopped on the mic (ha ha) to chat with us when he was done, kindly offering himself up to some Q&A. While he was doing this, people started talking about a goat. A goat from “last time.” As though summoned, up on the live feed of Mike’s desktop, a goat appeared. There were also some fighting dragons and other images at one point, but the goat remained, stealing the show.

And then the goat began to move.

At first, it flailed around screen. Then it sulked down to the bottom of the screen and PEERED out at each and every one of us. I managed to capture the terrifying moment:

At first, Mike couldn’t see the mysterious creature, because of some quirk of uStream. After he went off-air and the goat persisted, however, his jubilant laughter informed us that he had finally seen the goat.

PA-TV definitely has the curiosity-satisfying voyeuristic element down, but it’s also a lot of fun. I hope to catch more live feeds in the future, and if you were sitting on the fence about taking time to check it out, I’d suggest you do it at least once.

You can check out PA-TV here.

And also, check out the feature WotC is doing right now. Penny Arcade + Player versus Player + playing the new 4th edition, and recording their session for all? Yes please. 2 episodes are up, and both leave me thirsting for more.

Speaking of which, I’m off to get my 4th edition core rulebooks right now.

SPP Hors D’Oeuvre

Last night I received some feedback on the SPP(tm) – “Secret Podiobook Project” – from two good friends of mine. The introduction was in its early draft stages, and while I felt that it was better than the other two false starts I had produced, I still had some amorphous misgivings surrounding it.

Emily B. and Simon F. acted as fantastic soundboards for me, and I think the SPP is heading in a new and better direction. Determining my narrative approach is proving tricky, because I need a set-up that will ensure that my main character is doing most of the talking in some way or another (to facilitate the voice talents of a friend of mine – the main reason I’m making this a podiobook rather than just a .pdf release), but will also look good on paper, and won’t leave too much room for falling into an overly retrospective and self-absorbed narrative so common with memoir-type pieces.

I’m being mysterious about this project for a few reasons. The main one is that I’m not sure when it’ll be finished, let alone out there in the big wide world. I had ambitious plans for it to be released in August, but the wealth of research and planning I’ve needed to do to prepare has pushed any conceivable completion date way back.
Not to mention the whole hurdle of sound production and marketing online – a bridge I’m planning to cross when I get to it. I’m still loading up my wagon in the gawd-dammed village down the road at the moment.

Also, I find that if I share too much of a project too early, it takes away from the urgency that can lead to 2000+ word days of production. I’m fairy sure a lot of other writers are like this, and I hear the advice to keep a project to yourself for quite a while circulate often in writing circles.

Nevertheless, I wanted to share something, to give you a taste of this one pet project of mine. Here are some of the books I’ve taken out of the library to comb through:

London in the Age of Dickens by Aldon D. Bell

London – The City and Westminster by Arthur Mee

Henry Hudson by Llewelyn Powys

English Life in the Nineteenth Century by Roger Hart

Victorian Buildings of London. 1837-1887: an illustrated guide by Gavin Stamp and Colin Amery

Lost London; a Century of Demolition and Decay by Hermione Hobhouse

Fore & Aft Sailing Craft by Douglas Phillips-Birt

The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor by Darcy Lever

And, perhaps more tantalizing, some of the bookmarks in my project folder:

PBS’ Red Gold

Map of London 1827

The Victorian Dictionary

The Diary of a Resurrectionist

Hmmm…that’s a good enough (if potentially misleading) taste for now.