I kind of got carried away with this chip tunes stuff and accidentally made a track of my own. It’s called Arpeggio Boy – if there was a computer game hero who destroyed his enemies by ripping some wicked 8-bit arp action in their faces, this would be his theme.
Check it out on the Music Page
By some serendipitous coincidence, last night I found myself listening to The Sound Lab on Triple J. Then Fenella announced there’d be Chip Tunes on and I was surprised and excited that the genre had managed to make it to mainstream radio. I guess it just goes to show what you can achieve by organising the community.
I think what’s great about this genre is that it has built-in nostalgia. Listening to a couple of tracks immediately brings back memories of the days (and nights) I spent playing games like Super Mario Bros. 2, Dexterity and Pokemon Blue. Chip tunes aren’t new, in fact it’s one of the oldest form of synth. But to think that this stuff is starting to be considered a legitimate art form worthy of airplay is just amazing!
You can check out Dot.AY’s mix on the Game Boy Australia blog.
UPDATE: I should include the Good Game clip for completeness.
OMG SPOILER WARNING!
I had the awesome privilege of watching District 9 yesterday. The above shameless photoshop is the result of a mix of fandom and procrastination but really I just wanted to show off my lame photoshop skills. Actually, the truth is it was such an epic image, I had to do something fun with it. Yes, that’s Melbourne for the keen readers among you.
Why was D9 such an awesome film? Firstly, director Neill Blomkamp does something very clever. He manages to create a powerful empathetic relationship with the alien race (derogatorily referred to as “prawns”). How? By making them refugees who we humans proceed to treat like shit because we don’t know what to do with them (well apart from barbaric scientific experiments, of course!). Turning the lead character into one of the aliens also helps. By the end of the film, the aliens are the good guys, which is what sets this film apart from the cliched ID4-type storylines.
The second reason this film appealed to me is the fairly overt references to recent computer games of a similar plot. It looks and feels unquestionably like Half-Life 2, largely due to the similar tech and weapons. The assault rifles encased in white plastic are also reminiscent of the Portal gun. The clunky physics of the mech suit Wickas uses reminds one of Dog as well. Additionally, the story happens to a regular guy just during his normal day at work.
Some interesting trivia to finish up. The title “District 9″ is a reference to “District 6″, from the apartheid (meaning ’separateness’) episode in South Africa’s history where 60,000 non-whites were forcibly relocated. Appropriate, given that’s essentially happens to the aliens.
UPDATE: (8/12/09) At the risk of alerting the wankers at Last.fm who may find this on Google, I can still use the streaming radio through the iPhone app! Suckers!
Today I received this email from Last.fm, whose personalised radio I’ve been enjoying FOR FREE since 2007.
Hi frostnova,
Your free trial to Last.fm Radio is about to end. If you’re enjoying it, why not
subscribe for only $3.00/month and continue listening to non-stop personalised
radio.Best Regards,
The Last.fm Team
When I first joined, there was no mention of this “free trial” bollocks they’ve pulled completely out of thin air as if they are some kind of Ministry of Truth.
To be honest, I value Last.fm mostly for tracking my listening habits and haven’t used the streaming radio very much so I’m not ready to completely jump ship just yet.
What I’ve really been waiting for is for Apple to make “Genius Live” for iTunes, so you could listen to suggested tracks which aren’t in your library.
You can read about what other disgruntled users are saying, although I won’t be surprised if this thread gets censored.
