Originally posted on my Facebook wall as a note. I'm putting it here so I can share it easier. You can view the original here.
When I went to film school, my professor Jason Blanchard, told me to make a list of companies that I wanted to work at. One of the ones near the top was Bandai Entertainment. Why not? After all, they brought a large number of my favorite shows and shows that are considered classics. Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, anything Gundam, Akira, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Freedom, and one of the best shows in recent memory, Gurren Laagan.
Yesterday morning they announced they would cease operations and focus only on liscening out their material from their Japanese owners to other companies.
While I think Bandai could have done a lot of things to prevent this from happening like lowering their prices, selling less singles and selling more seasons, putting up their material on digital and streaming services, there was one thing that killed them.
Piracy.
To that I say, fuck you all. Fuck all of you. You know who you are. I've turned a blind eye long enough and it's time to call you out on it. All of you who pirate contributed to this. All of you ruined my chances of working for this company. Everyone has reasons:
I'm just one person, I'm not hurting anybody.
It's not available where I am.
This is the only way I can watch it.
It's too expensive or I'm too poor.
I wouldn't have bought it anyways.
All of them are invalid. Keep in mind, I'm speaking specifically to my friends in the US. I can't even pretend to know what the situation is elsewhere. Ok, moving on.
There is an embrassment of riches when it comes to free or cheap entertainment in the US. ABC just gave away the entire first season of Pan Am on iTunes for free. Hulu lets you watch shows from the night before for free. Spotify lets you listen to 15 million songs for free. It costs $1.99 for an episode of a show on iTunes. For $8 a month, Netflix gives you access to a library of shows and movies. DVDs and Blu-rays have never been cheaper. CruchyRoll, FUNimation, Anime Network, Youtube (the legal videos, that is) and Hulu all do simulcasts of shows as they air in Japan (Also for free). There is litterally no excuse anymore. Content is everywhere and avaiable. What more could you possibly want?
The reason that bothers me the most though is: "I wouldn't have bought it anyways."
If you wouldn't have bought it anyways, then you are not entitiled to download it for free.
Yes, it's a crime, yadda, yadda, yadda. I couldn't care less about the legal ramfications (and apparently, neither do you). The thing I care about is getting more content and being able to create more content. We can't do this for free. Anime is a niche genre, I get it, but Bandai wasn't a poor company. They had resources. They still have revnue coming in, but the fact that they gave up distribution and production entirely does not bode well. Imagine if this was a bigger company, like Warner Bros. Imagine, no more Harry Potter, no more Batman, no more work from Zack Synder, no more work from Christopher Nolan.
I'm on record as hating the Transformers sequels. You know what, I paid my ticket and I saw the movies and hated them. I will never purchase them ever. But a couple of months passed after the 3rd one and I thought to myself "Maybe I was too harsh," and so I rented them off iTunes. Turns out I still hate them. I hate pretty much everything about them. But does that cast, crew, and studio deserve every dollar those movies made. You bet your ass.
"I wouldn't have bought it anyways," is not an excuse. So before you download that torrent file (especially those of you who work in the same industry as me), think about the people's livelyhoods and potential dreams your ruining by doing this.
P.S.: No, I don't support SOPA. The bill is ill-written, far too vague and could potentailly kill Fair-Use which I fully support to the Nth degree.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sorry about this not being updated.
Just letting all 3 of you know, I'm not dead, and I'll this back up real soon. I have some cool stuff coming up so stay tuned.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Um...I sort of went off on my Art History forum.
Yeah, I think my creepy over-analytical had a little too much fun today during my Art History Online class. The following is the transcript from that discussion...well, not the whole thing, but I assure you, I'm not taking anything out of context.
This was out assignment:
"How does Raphael’s the School of Athens exemplify the High Renaissance? Using the images from the text, what work/s do you think best represent/exemplify the High Renaissance and why?
If you were to create a Modern Day School of Athens from leaders in your fields of study whom would you include and why?
Film students may wish to include directors and actors, Marketing and Entertainment Business students can look to the most successful commercials, brands, and ad and campaigns, and Music students may wish to consider musicians, singers and producers."
Just as a note, we're also supposed to respond to another student.
My answer:
"The School of Athens clearly has a bit of a love affair with Western Philosophy, and this of course, is his love letter to it. The compositions intrigues me, since he has the groups clearly separated, and there is no actual person in the center. Yes, I know Plato is right there, but he is not on the steps, in fact there's no one else below him directly. He is further in the background compared to the people on the steps. It almost makes him unattainable in a way. This school of people look unattainable and gives them an attitude, as if they have a smarter than thou vibe about them. However, can you blame them? Without people Plato, where would we be as a people. We wouldn't have Aristotle, and we wouldn't have Raphael. Heck, we might not even have Einstein without the advances this "school" made. Even if they're wisdom seems dated now, it moved us forward.
A modern version of this in the film world (which would probably be somewhat insulting to Raphael, as he held these people in the highest esteem and film as a whole probably doesn't have the same respectability as the history behind painting, but what the hey, let's do it) would definitely have Orson Welles in the center. Citizen Kane (love it or hate it) is probably the most important movie of all time. Included in the picture would be Charlie Chaplin, Jean Luc-Goddard, Akira Kurosawa, Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, and Fritz Lang. And now the fun part, my personal favorites, that probably don't belong, but I would want them in there anyways. This would include, Kevin Smith, Bryan Singer, Katshurio Otomo, The Wachowski and Coen Bros, Mamoru Oshii, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Satoshi Kon, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, John Lasseter, Shinichiro Watanabe, and myself in the background somewhere, because why wouldn't I want to hang out with people I admire in a school."
Lord C's Answer (had nothing to do with mine...yet):
"I was truly blown away upon learning about the School of Athens. This is my first time partaking in the beauty and intellectual majesty of it. At first glance, to me it was nothing more than a very detailed and maybe the most eye-catching piece of the High Renaissance. But after realizing what the piece represented and the message that the artist (Raphael) was conveying, I then began to build a greater understanding from the knowledge and wisdom before me. I must say to me the Mona Lisa by De Vinci would be the best representation of the High Renaissance. Simply because of its popularity and how one automatically thinks Renaissance era when you see it.
In my School of Athens Michael Jackson and Jay-z would play the rolls of Plato and Aristotle. Michael would be in the roll of Plato representing the epitome of a musical artist. Michael with his arm raised to the sky, the gesture meaning through the power of music you can become more than man, much like Paul McCartney’s statement “The Beatles are bigger than Jesus”. A student of Michael’s work Jay-z is learning to become more than just an artist in a different way. With today’s mergence of business and art Jay-z is becoming less than a businessman and more of a man that is a business."
Lord C's response to my post:
"Jose,
I love how you pointed to the love affair going on here because it is that intense. Your views on the people on the stairs were very unique and your post overall is highly observent and how you say "there is no actual person in the center." proves it. along with the list of legends you put together in your recast leaves me speechless. Great post."
My response to him (oh boy...here we go.):
"In response to Lord Christopher (which, if that's your real name, it's the second coolest name ever, after Disco San Andreas) I thank you for you kind words, but sadly, I have a bone to pick with you about something you said.
I must say to me the Mona Lisa by De Vinci would be the best representation of the High Renaissance. Simply because of its popularity and how one automatically thinks Renaissance era when you see it.
While the Mona Lisa is a popular painting (with good reason) that is a beautiful work of art, to call it the best representation of the Renaissance era is incredibly subjective, which to your credit, you did say "to me". Obviously, I can disagree with an opinion but can't really do anything to change it. After all, it isn't really wrong or right, it's just yours and yours alone. However, you called it the "best representation". How can one painting be the best representation of a whole era?
To relate this to an industry, I don't study, but follow closely anyways, let's try the same thing for videogames. Many of you (not me) would probably say that your favorite game of all time is probably Modern Warfare 2. A great game by it's own right, but does it really represent videogames as a whole, ignoring the whole "best" part at the moment. Well, no. I mean, there are plenty of games, great games that are nothing like Modern Warfare 2, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Fragile Dreams, Persona 4, Final Fantasy 7, Scribblenauts, Mass Effect and Metal Gear Solid. However, none of the games I mentioned just now are even in the same genre of videogames as Modern Warfare 2 (FPS or First Person Shooter, for those who are unfamiliar). Is it the best representation of it's own genre. No, there are plenty of games even in it's own genre that are nothing like it, such as, Halo, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Metroid Prime, Half-Life, and Red Steel 2 (Not Red Steel 1, that game needs to be forgotten) and they still stand on their own as great games.
Bringing this back to Renaissance art, how can the Mona Lisa be the best representation of the whole era when the painting we're discussing has pretty much nothing in common with it, not even aesthetically. The Mona Lisa is an incredibly close and dark painting compared to The School of Athens, which uses bright colors and wide spaces. There are many other works that share little in common with the Mona Lisa from the same era.
'The influence of this painting cannot be overstated. Leonardo da Vinci’s use of sfumato and his understanding of the enigmatic expression of Lisa Gioconda, wife of Francesco del Gioconda has made this painting one of, if not, the most famous portrait in the world. For those who may not be aware, this oil on wood from 1503-06, resides in the Louvre in Paris. Great choice! Interesting inclusion of Michael J. in your modern School of Athens. I ‘d have to agree about his contributions!'
Now, I also agree with this statement by our teacher, which may seem odd because she totally agrees with you while I don't. I believe that while influence can shape artists minds to take what came before them, the whole point of evolving is to use what works and what doesn't. Having an influence is not the same thing as being the best representation of an entire era of art, or that whole genre of art. It's easy to leave a stamp or marking on an art, but essentially with such of variety of ideas and arts out there, there will never be true representation of art by simply one piece. Really, the best representation of art is all of it, the good and bad (because without the bad, how would we appreciate the good?).
Well, I've rambled on, (and feel like I haven't said enough) and perhaps I'll return to this subject later. For now, I'll just leave with this. I didn't mean to destroy something subjective. If that's your viewpoint, no matter how many long winded internet posts I write, I will never change that, but hopefully I've somewhat presented some new ideas for you to take into consideration.
Plus, I really think I wanted to work in videogames into my post somehow and still have it be relevant."
I'm waiting for someone to rebuttal my statement that "Citizen Kane (love it or hate it) is probably the most important movie of all time."
This was out assignment:
"How does Raphael’s the School of Athens exemplify the High Renaissance? Using the images from the text, what work/s do you think best represent/exemplify the High Renaissance and why?
If you were to create a Modern Day School of Athens from leaders in your fields of study whom would you include and why?
Film students may wish to include directors and actors, Marketing and Entertainment Business students can look to the most successful commercials, brands, and ad and campaigns, and Music students may wish to consider musicians, singers and producers."
Just as a note, we're also supposed to respond to another student.
My answer:
"The School of Athens clearly has a bit of a love affair with Western Philosophy, and this of course, is his love letter to it. The compositions intrigues me, since he has the groups clearly separated, and there is no actual person in the center. Yes, I know Plato is right there, but he is not on the steps, in fact there's no one else below him directly. He is further in the background compared to the people on the steps. It almost makes him unattainable in a way. This school of people look unattainable and gives them an attitude, as if they have a smarter than thou vibe about them. However, can you blame them? Without people Plato, where would we be as a people. We wouldn't have Aristotle, and we wouldn't have Raphael. Heck, we might not even have Einstein without the advances this "school" made. Even if they're wisdom seems dated now, it moved us forward.
A modern version of this in the film world (which would probably be somewhat insulting to Raphael, as he held these people in the highest esteem and film as a whole probably doesn't have the same respectability as the history behind painting, but what the hey, let's do it) would definitely have Orson Welles in the center. Citizen Kane (love it or hate it) is probably the most important movie of all time. Included in the picture would be Charlie Chaplin, Jean Luc-Goddard, Akira Kurosawa, Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, and Fritz Lang. And now the fun part, my personal favorites, that probably don't belong, but I would want them in there anyways. This would include, Kevin Smith, Bryan Singer, Katshurio Otomo, The Wachowski and Coen Bros, Mamoru Oshii, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Satoshi Kon, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, John Lasseter, Shinichiro Watanabe, and myself in the background somewhere, because why wouldn't I want to hang out with people I admire in a school."
Lord C's Answer (had nothing to do with mine...yet):
"I was truly blown away upon learning about the School of Athens. This is my first time partaking in the beauty and intellectual majesty of it. At first glance, to me it was nothing more than a very detailed and maybe the most eye-catching piece of the High Renaissance. But after realizing what the piece represented and the message that the artist (Raphael) was conveying, I then began to build a greater understanding from the knowledge and wisdom before me. I must say to me the Mona Lisa by De Vinci would be the best representation of the High Renaissance. Simply because of its popularity and how one automatically thinks Renaissance era when you see it.
In my School of Athens Michael Jackson and Jay-z would play the rolls of Plato and Aristotle. Michael would be in the roll of Plato representing the epitome of a musical artist. Michael with his arm raised to the sky, the gesture meaning through the power of music you can become more than man, much like Paul McCartney’s statement “The Beatles are bigger than Jesus”. A student of Michael’s work Jay-z is learning to become more than just an artist in a different way. With today’s mergence of business and art Jay-z is becoming less than a businessman and more of a man that is a business."
Lord C's response to my post:
"Jose,
I love how you pointed to the love affair going on here because it is that intense. Your views on the people on the stairs were very unique and your post overall is highly observent and how you say "there is no actual person in the center." proves it. along with the list of legends you put together in your recast leaves me speechless. Great post."
My response to him (oh boy...here we go.):
"In response to Lord Christopher (which, if that's your real name, it's the second coolest name ever, after Disco San Andreas) I thank you for you kind words, but sadly, I have a bone to pick with you about something you said.
I must say to me the Mona Lisa by De Vinci would be the best representation of the High Renaissance. Simply because of its popularity and how one automatically thinks Renaissance era when you see it.
While the Mona Lisa is a popular painting (with good reason) that is a beautiful work of art, to call it the best representation of the Renaissance era is incredibly subjective, which to your credit, you did say "to me". Obviously, I can disagree with an opinion but can't really do anything to change it. After all, it isn't really wrong or right, it's just yours and yours alone. However, you called it the "best representation". How can one painting be the best representation of a whole era?
To relate this to an industry, I don't study, but follow closely anyways, let's try the same thing for videogames. Many of you (not me) would probably say that your favorite game of all time is probably Modern Warfare 2. A great game by it's own right, but does it really represent videogames as a whole, ignoring the whole "best" part at the moment. Well, no. I mean, there are plenty of games, great games that are nothing like Modern Warfare 2, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Fragile Dreams, Persona 4, Final Fantasy 7, Scribblenauts, Mass Effect and Metal Gear Solid. However, none of the games I mentioned just now are even in the same genre of videogames as Modern Warfare 2 (FPS or First Person Shooter, for those who are unfamiliar). Is it the best representation of it's own genre. No, there are plenty of games even in it's own genre that are nothing like it, such as, Halo, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Metroid Prime, Half-Life, and Red Steel 2 (Not Red Steel 1, that game needs to be forgotten) and they still stand on their own as great games.
Bringing this back to Renaissance art, how can the Mona Lisa be the best representation of the whole era when the painting we're discussing has pretty much nothing in common with it, not even aesthetically. The Mona Lisa is an incredibly close and dark painting compared to The School of Athens, which uses bright colors and wide spaces. There are many other works that share little in common with the Mona Lisa from the same era.
'The influence of this painting cannot be overstated. Leonardo da Vinci’s use of sfumato and his understanding of the enigmatic expression of Lisa Gioconda, wife of Francesco del Gioconda has made this painting one of, if not, the most famous portrait in the world. For those who may not be aware, this oil on wood from 1503-06, resides in the Louvre in Paris. Great choice! Interesting inclusion of Michael J. in your modern School of Athens. I ‘d have to agree about his contributions!'
Now, I also agree with this statement by our teacher, which may seem odd because she totally agrees with you while I don't. I believe that while influence can shape artists minds to take what came before them, the whole point of evolving is to use what works and what doesn't. Having an influence is not the same thing as being the best representation of an entire era of art, or that whole genre of art. It's easy to leave a stamp or marking on an art, but essentially with such of variety of ideas and arts out there, there will never be true representation of art by simply one piece. Really, the best representation of art is all of it, the good and bad (because without the bad, how would we appreciate the good?).
Well, I've rambled on, (and feel like I haven't said enough) and perhaps I'll return to this subject later. For now, I'll just leave with this. I didn't mean to destroy something subjective. If that's your viewpoint, no matter how many long winded internet posts I write, I will never change that, but hopefully I've somewhat presented some new ideas for you to take into consideration.
Plus, I really think I wanted to work in videogames into my post somehow and still have it be relevant."
I'm waiting for someone to rebuttal my statement that "Citizen Kane (love it or hate it) is probably the most important movie of all time."
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Couldn't sleep so I decided to do this...
10:46 PM
At least it was 10:46 when I typed that. Google decided to save it at 10:47PM, using their autosave feature. How nice of them. I'm currently using the Wi-Fi at Full Sail building 3B, typing away because I couldn't sleep at home. Hell, I really can't sleep here either. But it's comfortable, and gives me something to do while I wait for my 12 hour shoot to begin at 1:00 AM.
I've got to be honest, I'm probably just typing this out because I remembered that it still existed and I thought I should update it. But while I'm here and I've got your attention, I'll try not to waste your time. Today was my last day on my podcast, Undefined Gamer. I said farewell to the podcast on it's 30th episode and I built that show up to where it is today, with Michael being a huge part of it by my side. He was more crazy about the show than I was, and he put probably more effort into it, which is probably why I knew I was going to leave it behind.
I feel like I've truly left a lot of things behind, like I'm finally growing up. Sure, I'm still immature, crass, and sarcastic, but even my humor doesn't feel the same. I know that sounds deep, or that I may want it to sound deep, but don't look to much into it. It's just something I've noticed a bit.
10:55 PM is when Google autosaved this entry, yet I typed this part at 10:57 PM.
You know, this is the first time I've actually written something in a while. I have a lot of ideas that I usually get on paper right away, but lately I haven't been doing that. This school's probably wearing me out. I should start drinking coffee.
Note: If I ever start drinking coffee, I want you to punch me in the gut every time you see me.
Second note: Make sure it's coffee. I get hot chocolate from Starbucks a lot.
Third note: Tricking me into drinking coffee, doesn't count.
I feel like posting this up already but I still haven't said anything. So, I'm going to keep going until I say something relevant because I promised that I wouldn't waste your time. Although, to be fair, how important is your time if you're reading this? Not to sound rude or unappreciative but I don't consider myself a great writer, and neither should you.
On second thought, that does make me sound rude, and pretty much turns you away. What I meant to say was, I'm a great writer, and you should keep reading because I am great, and I appreciate it.
Wow, that makes me sound pretentious and pompous, doesn't it? Ok, how about this? I'm a decent writer and you're a decent reader. Happy?
Just came to realization that I actually do have the same dry humor intact that I said I didn't before. So much for that.
Have you ever wanted to tell people stuff that's going on in your life, but you don't want to sound like a gossipy bitch about it? Lately, I can't seem to shut up about it. I must annoy the hell out of my friends. This actually has nothing to do with anything but it might explain my erratic blog entry. I think I want to tell people, and I think I want people to care, but I think I'll just keep it inside. For now, at least. I'm not exactly the Twitter type to always tell people what's going on, and then be shocked when someone finds out something they weren't supposed to know all because I posted it onto my wall on Facebook. Dumbasses.
My internet just crashed. Luckily I had saved everything beforehand so nothing got lost. Hurray!
Anyways, I guess I really don't have a point. I just want everyone who reads to know I haven't forgotten about this, and I will try harder to get new and cool stuff up. Hell, some of it might actually be meaningful.
At least it was 10:46 when I typed that. Google decided to save it at 10:47PM, using their autosave feature. How nice of them. I'm currently using the Wi-Fi at Full Sail building 3B, typing away because I couldn't sleep at home. Hell, I really can't sleep here either. But it's comfortable, and gives me something to do while I wait for my 12 hour shoot to begin at 1:00 AM.
I've got to be honest, I'm probably just typing this out because I remembered that it still existed and I thought I should update it. But while I'm here and I've got your attention, I'll try not to waste your time. Today was my last day on my podcast, Undefined Gamer. I said farewell to the podcast on it's 30th episode and I built that show up to where it is today, with Michael being a huge part of it by my side. He was more crazy about the show than I was, and he put probably more effort into it, which is probably why I knew I was going to leave it behind.
I feel like I've truly left a lot of things behind, like I'm finally growing up. Sure, I'm still immature, crass, and sarcastic, but even my humor doesn't feel the same. I know that sounds deep, or that I may want it to sound deep, but don't look to much into it. It's just something I've noticed a bit.
10:55 PM is when Google autosaved this entry, yet I typed this part at 10:57 PM.
You know, this is the first time I've actually written something in a while. I have a lot of ideas that I usually get on paper right away, but lately I haven't been doing that. This school's probably wearing me out. I should start drinking coffee.
Note: If I ever start drinking coffee, I want you to punch me in the gut every time you see me.
Second note: Make sure it's coffee. I get hot chocolate from Starbucks a lot.
Third note: Tricking me into drinking coffee, doesn't count.
I feel like posting this up already but I still haven't said anything. So, I'm going to keep going until I say something relevant because I promised that I wouldn't waste your time. Although, to be fair, how important is your time if you're reading this? Not to sound rude or unappreciative but I don't consider myself a great writer, and neither should you.
On second thought, that does make me sound rude, and pretty much turns you away. What I meant to say was, I'm a great writer, and you should keep reading because I am great, and I appreciate it.
Wow, that makes me sound pretentious and pompous, doesn't it? Ok, how about this? I'm a decent writer and you're a decent reader. Happy?
Just came to realization that I actually do have the same dry humor intact that I said I didn't before. So much for that.
Have you ever wanted to tell people stuff that's going on in your life, but you don't want to sound like a gossipy bitch about it? Lately, I can't seem to shut up about it. I must annoy the hell out of my friends. This actually has nothing to do with anything but it might explain my erratic blog entry. I think I want to tell people, and I think I want people to care, but I think I'll just keep it inside. For now, at least. I'm not exactly the Twitter type to always tell people what's going on, and then be shocked when someone finds out something they weren't supposed to know all because I posted it onto my wall on Facebook. Dumbasses.
My internet just crashed. Luckily I had saved everything beforehand so nothing got lost. Hurray!
Anyways, I guess I really don't have a point. I just want everyone who reads to know I haven't forgotten about this, and I will try harder to get new and cool stuff up. Hell, some of it might actually be meaningful.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Just in case you haven't seen it.
Hey, this was my first time working with Final Cut Pro, and I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to check out the rest of my videos too.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
I'd just like to point out I haven't forgotten about this.
Sorry, for the 3 people that read this and hasn't seen any new updates. I promise I'll be updating more. It's just been busy. I've got a lot of new topics and ideas that I'm fleshing out so please bear with me.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Should I pimp my shit? Why not?
Hey everyone, I just thought I'd take the time out to start promoting some stuff. First and foremost, my youtube page!
youtube.com/foxamigo
I promise, more stuff is coming down the pipeline for that soon.
My podcast!
http://undefinedgamer.podomatic.com/
Not updated as frequently as I would like, but we're working on it.
My newest addition to shit I probably won't update as often as I'd like! AKA my photography hobby.
http://jeargumedo.deviantart.com/
My Facebook! Which I will not add you if I do not know you, but feel free to try. There's a good chance I'll ignore you.
facebook.com/joseargumedo
My Twitter!
Psych! Don't have one!
youtube.com/foxamigo
I promise, more stuff is coming down the pipeline for that soon.
My podcast!
http://undefinedgamer.podomatic.com/
Not updated as frequently as I would like, but we're working on it.
My newest addition to shit I probably won't update as often as I'd like! AKA my photography hobby.
http://jeargumedo.deviantart.com/
My Facebook! Which I will not add you if I do not know you, but feel free to try. There's a good chance I'll ignore you.
facebook.com/joseargumedo
My Twitter!
Psych! Don't have one!
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