{"id":247,"date":"2006-04-14T00:25:41","date_gmt":"2006-04-14T07:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/?p=247"},"modified":"2017-09-13T20:51:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T03:51:02","slug":"strokes-of-the-brush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"Strokes of the Brush"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since I’ve made a posting on the personal blog here.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of my time and resources have been tied in completing Afterhell Volume 2<\/a>, which is finally done.\u00c2\u00a0 Then came a slight rush of attention<\/a> when “The Sonic Society”<\/a> broadcast the pilot ep, “Dark Descent.”\u00c2\u00a0 Last week Eddie, one of our cats<\/a>, had a bloody but fortunately minor crisis with one of his paws.\u00c2\u00a0 That required a few harried rides to the vet and the first of many pills for the poor guy.<\/p>\n

As soon as all that was sorted out, my body practically crashed.\u00c2\u00a0 One bright side of that is, since I have to take a lot of rest, it gives me a chance to catch up on Old Time Radio shows and podcasts.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been listening to everything from TWiT<\/a> to the 1950’s Nightwatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course not every podcast is ultra-shiny.\u00c2\u00a0 Once in a while, you find a popcorn kernel that didn’t pop.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes you find out that’s irritatingly awful.\u00c2\u00a0 So what have we got here in my big bag o’ podcasting.<\/p>\n

This one is golden, fluffy, and buttery.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s another.\u00c2\u00a0 This one too.\u00c2\u00a0 Now how about–ooh, here’s a bad one.\u00c2\u00a0 The Babylon Podcast, Show #5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wait, I hear you say, it’s a podcast about Babylon 5<\/a>, one of the best TV shows evar!<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How can it possibly be bad?<\/p>\n

I impart a sad truth, grasshopper.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s always someone ready, willing, and able<\/a> to ruin<\/a> a good<\/a> thing.
\n<\/a>
\nAnyway I tried Babylon Podcast #5.\u00c2\u00a0 I downloaded it months ago, but didn’t get a chance to go over it until this week.\u00c2\u00a0 And as starting points go, it’s a fitting one, I suppose.\u00c2\u00a0 (I R so clevar, R I not?)<\/p>\n

BP#5 features an interview with Kurt DeFilipps, who was an assistant propmaster on the Babylon 5 series.\u00c2\u00a0 I figured, “They’re gonna talk about props.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing controversial there, just a mess of trivia and a few laughs.\u00c2\u00a0 An easy listen fer sure, dude.”\u00c2\u00a0 It starts out well.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a fun interview.\u00c2\u00a0 The end of it fizzles out, the way people keep talking long after they’d run out of things to say.<\/p>\n

But it’s a fan-run operation.\u00c2\u00a0 These things happen.\u00c2\u00a0 With a little practice in front of the mike and behind the controls of a sound editing program, it gets sorted out eventually.\u00c2\u00a0 Same thing with the opening — they do their own self-indulgent version of the Season 1 B5 titles (“It was the dawn of the Third Age of podcasting….”)\u00c2\u00a0 God, it’s so childish.\u00c2\u00a0 Embarrassing and totally pointless.\u00c2\u00a0 But hey, they’re having fun.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s cute.\u00c2\u00a0 You cop it to enthusiasm and move on.<\/p>\n

The rest of the podcast, however, is like passing a stone the size of a bowling ball.\u00c2\u00a0 Left to their own devices, podcasters Tim Callender and Summer Brooks lay into the pilot ep, “The Gathering.”\u00c2\u00a0 What’s the fraggin’ point in that?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s an easy target.\u00c2\u00a0 The pathetic, misshapen thing can’t even defend itself.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone knows how bad it is, even with the TNT edits.\u00c2\u00a0 No great challenge to attack.\u00c2\u00a0 No real insights to offer, either.<\/p>\n

It’s one thing to discuss or study the ep, but it’s another to just rag on it.\u00c2\u00a0 Tim Callender and Summer Brooks don’t bring any hard info to bear for context –like the fact that the production process on the pilot ep was a mess, low on money, short on time, director Richard Compton being forced to maintain order on his own, all facts documented by jms himself at conventions when he was promoting Season 1.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead they griped about the things they didn’t like.\u00c2\u00a0 Delenn’s ring.\u00c2\u00a0 Stewart Copeland<\/a>‘s music.\u00c2\u00a0 The props.\u00c2\u00a0 The sets.\u00c2\u00a0 How various plot elements didn’t mesh well with the rest of the series.\u00c2\u00a0 How telepathy was handled.\u00c2\u00a0 How the Vorlon ships has logos on them (?).\u00c2\u00a0 How we didn’t see the Centauri Republic in the series resemble a tourist attraction as described in the pilot.<\/p>\n

They can’t even respond to criticism with any semblance of credibility.\u00c2\u00a0 People were a little surprised by their criticism of Stewart Copeland’s music.\u00c2\u00a0 Granted, his score for the pilot didn’t resemble Christopher Franke<\/a>‘s “Requiem for the Line” motif or anything.\u00c2\u00a0 But jeez!\u00c2\u00a0 Tim Callender snarked at a comment on the Babylon Podcast blog, “Yes, I was aware of Copeland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pedigree (I also like his Klark Kent stuff).\u00c2\u00a0 And the Police recorded ‘Walking On The Moon’, so I suppose there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an SF connection in there somewhere. \ud83d\ude42 “\u00c2\u00a0 So he likes Stewart Copeland’s bloodline.\u00c2\u00a0 Nice thing to say, I guess.\u00c2\u00a0 And somehow a strawman in desperate need for an SF connection wanders into discussion on his way to see the Wizard…<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Summer Brooks simultaneously backpedals and slags in the same posting:\u00c2\u00a0 “I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I ripped Copeland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s score at all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I just thought that the music changed the tone being set for the story. […]but honestly, does it stick in your soul like Franke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theme does?”\u00c2\u00a0 Translation:\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t rip Copeland’s score, but since I didn’t, I’ll take some time to do that now.\u00c2\u00a0 And of course the soul is an objective standard for anything<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Ugh.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like watching Barry Bonds<\/a> dig himself in deeper.<\/p>\n

Jeez, did they like B5 at all?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, they did like the fact that G’Kar didn’t cry out, how “he didn’t make a sound<\/em>!” when he was being crushed by Delenn’s ring.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though he did.<\/p>\n

They’re doing the best they can, I guess.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean, they confuse “Hunter, Prey”<\/a> with “Points of Departure,”<\/a> “Walkabout,”<\/a> and “In The Beginning.”<\/a> \u00c2\u00a0 Or nitpick things to death and call it geeky fun.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’re doing what they can.<\/p>\n

Okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Fine.\u00c2\u00a0 Just keep me out of it.<\/p>\n

By virtue of jms’ writing<\/a>, Lawrence DiTillio<\/a>‘s writing, Ardwright Chamberlain<\/a>‘s voice work, and Jeffery Willerth<\/a>‘s forebearance, one of my favorite characters<\/a> on the show once said, “A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles.”<\/p>\n

After this, I have a much more clear, much more bitter understanding.\u00c2\u00a0 [sigh] Let’s head back to the barn….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since I’ve made a posting on the personal blog here.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of my time and resources have been tied in completing Afterhell Volume 2, which is finally done.\u00c2\u00a0 Then came a slight rush of attention when “The Sonic Society” broadcast the pilot ep, “Dark Descent.”\u00c2\u00a0 Last week Eddie, one of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,6,27],"tags":[72,35],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-livejournal-postings","category-offtopic","category-personal","tag-babylon-5","tag-livejournal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}