Christian Allen's Corner

Zombies, Guns, and Realism: Why The Walking Dead needs me...

Anyone who reads this blog (i.e., my mother and Chinese comment spammers) knows that I have an affinity for Zombie fiction, and one of my biggest pet peeves is unrealistic or incorrect portrayals of firearms in media.  I’ve previously ranted about slide lock syndrome in Hollywood, and incorrect weapon advice for dealing with the Zombie menace.

This weekend, the two elements combined into a perfect storm for me, in the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead.  In one single scene, multiple firearms gaffes ruined my suspension of disbelief and my immersion in what is an otherwise excellent Zombie-themed TV show.

This is a plea to AMC and the producers of The Walking Dead to get a new, qualified weapons advisor for your show.  It won’t cost you any more than you are already paying, and it will help keep viewers like myself who actually know what they are looking at when it comes to firearms and zombies.  You spend so much time building interpersonal drama, tension, and excitement, with meticulous detail when it comes to makeup and effects.  And then you piss all over it with shitty, lazy firearms representations.  I would expect better from a SyFy channel Friday-night special movie featuring Debbie Gibson and the bottom-rung Baldwin.

Take a moment to watch the following clip (SPOILER WARNING:  Do not watch if you haven’t seen the episode!):

http://www.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/videos/the-walking-dead-talked-about-scenes-episode-207-sophia-is-found

Let’s take one issue at a time:

1. LACK OF RECOIL: 
   
   I could list these individually, but it colors the entire scene.  Notice that when Glenn and Daryl are firing their shotguns, there is ABSOLUTELY NO RECOIL!  It appears (though I can’t be sure) that Glenn is firing a Mossberg 12g, and Daryl is toting a Winchester 12 or 20 gauge, but regardless of the size of the gun, they should be experiencing SOME recoil, unless they are supposed to be firing Hollywood blanks.  All your weapons advisor needed to do was to teach the actors how to recoil with each shot in a semi-realistic fashion.  It is actually easier to do with a pump-action shotgun than with other weapons, as the act of “pumping” the action with the recoil is smooth and natural, as opposed to your actor’s actions of firing (with no recoil, perfectly still), and THEN working the action.
   
   Of course, this isn’t limited to shotguns, as Andrea shows absolutely NO recoil when firing her Beretta 92FS…
   
   SOLUTION:  Teach your actors how to recoil realistically, even when firing blank rounds or digitally adding in firing effects afterwards.
   
   
2. MOTIONLESS SLIDES: 
   
   The close-up shot of Andrea unloading from her Beretta 92FS clearly shows that the slide is not cycling between shots.  This is underscored by the lack of recoil or her reacting at all to firing (and this omission could have possibly been covered up if she had done that).  Once the viewer sees that the weapon is not functioning, the lack of recoil and obviously post-added digital muzzle flash becomes even more apparent.  I can see this is not a lack of hardware, as Shane’s Glock has a functioning slide.  Perhaps the actress didn’t want to fire the weapon, or the footage of her aiming had the correct emotion but not her firing? 
   
   SOLUTION:  If the actress doesn’t want to fire a blank gun, at least get her a $100 airsoft gun that has some movement in the slide.  If the shot of her not firing is great, and she wasn’t shooting, then digitally add in some slide blur movement.  It’s not rocket science.
   
   
3. INCONSISTENT MUZZLE FLASHES:
   
   Several of the weapons being fired obviously had Hollywood blanks loaded, most notably Daryl’s shotgun.  You could tell because of the slow burning ejection of powder flying out of the barrel when he fired (and since he didn’t show any signs of recoil, holding it perfectly still while firing).  Other actor’s weapons obviously didn’t have any powder in them at all, as the discharge was only marked by a quick “flash,” obviously doctored post-shooting in after effects, using the standard “muzzle flash” effect.  It couldn’t have been more fake if you just added lense flares to the barrels of the guns.
   
   SOLUTION:   Use better blanks, or better digital effects.  I work in video games.  I know that people expect more spectacular muzzle flashes in guns than actually exist.  That’s cool.  But at least be consistent.  If one gun is spitting slow-burning gunpowder, then have them all do it.  If one gun is having a quick-flash digital effect, then have them all do it.  But, for the love of guns, don’t mix the two!

In conclusion, I love The Walking Dead!  This show is awesome, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and pulls no punches.  Its setting, characters, and makeup effects are top notch.  Now, if only you could find someone who could ensure the same quality for your firearms-related effects and acting, you would be on top of the game.

Maybe you should hire someone who knows what they are doing.  Maybe a former Marine.  Maybe someone who has trained individuals in firearms handling.  Maybe someone who has done this in media before. 

There has got to be someone with all those qualifications…

hmmmm…

Maybe me?

 

America, step up and get real!

A popular movement springs up of grassroots organized Americans that rally against corruption in politics and tax-funded bailouts of failed corporations who sponsor our congressional overlords.  The corporate-funded twenty-four hour news networks launch an immediate attack against them.  They state that these groups are a threat against America.

Politicians join the chorus of corporate-sponsored news organizations to decry these Americans gathering to speak out against the lobbyists, the corrupt politicians, and the corporations who take huge tax-funded bailouts while the rest of America suffers…

The twenty-four hour news networks, which make their money based on the schism in America, are quick to attack or support these protesters.  They make their money based on views to their sites and shows; and assault the antics of the protesters or the background of the supporters…

Everything I just wrote applies both to OWS and the Tea Party.  Why can’t America balls up and realize that the Red/Blue debate is bullshit.  Congress is corrupt.  The ruling party is happy to take millions of dollars and pass laws that except themselves from behaviors that would put you in jail.  They are the problem.  Lobbyists pay them off and they are fucking you, whether you are the 99% or the 1%.   The .001% is fucking everyone, and you are buying into it, whether you are a Tea Partier or an OCW’er. 

They are playing you both.  Do you really think that they believe that Pizza is a vegetable?  Do you really think that they think we need hundreds of military bases overseas?  Do you really think that they aren’t gerrymandering all of the districts so that the two parties can stay in power?  When is the last time you saw as serious third party?   The two parties are playing you.  They are working together.  Their split of platforms  doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not meant to. 

Stop fighting against other Americans.  Start fighting against the system.  Raise your gun.  Raise your drum.  Hoist your Peace Flag.  Hoist your Gadsen Flag.

Let’s all stand together against corrupt asshole politician congressmen who take millions of dollars from unreportable SuperPAC’s to vote against the will of the people, in order to enrich their own pockets.  We can argue later whether people making $250,000 a year need a tax increase, or whether Social Security is a viable enterprise.  Let’s get the corrupt fuckers who are getting richer and richer off of your dollar out of office, whether you make a million or you make twenty grand.

Then maybe we can begin healing and coming together. 

We are the %100.  They are the corrupt fucks living off of your blood, sweat, and tears.

 

 

Doublethink

A grassroots group of Americans, fed up with using tax money to bail out giant corporations and politicians being bought off through corrupt politics by lobbyists, rise up to protest, demanding tax reform.

Talking head pundits, from the “other” political spectrum, who are paid by a giant conglomerate, with ties to a shadowy foreign billionaire, demonize them and insist that they are dangerous to America, and work to expose the “true” organizers of the movement and their corporate funding. 

Meanwhile, talking heads from the “opposite” spectrum hail them as true Americans, pining for justice and freedom.  The “controversy” on the national news networks drives ratings and increases profit for these companies, who themselves give millions to the same corrupt politicians who the people are protesting.  Americans remains polarized, fighting amongst themselves, while the corporations and corrupt politicians continue to get richer.

 

 

 

 

Now, am I talking about the Tea Party or Occupy Wall street?

 

“the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts.”

-Doublethink.

 

Sit on your Joystick and spin...

So Joystick Division has an editorial on how old games don’t stand up to the test of time, and the point of the article is that because they don’t, video games can’t be art. 

Now, I am completely sick of the “are games art?” discussion.  Like I have said in the past, it doesn’t fucking matter to me, no matter what old-assed movie critics say.  Likewise, I don’t really give a shit what some failed movie student says.  I’m really getting sick of movie folks trying to justify how awesome they are by bagging on games because they are embarrassed by porn and Transformers.

That being said, the thing that prompted me to respond to this post was the statement that old games don’t have relevance because they are dependent on technology, and because of that, games aren’t art.

First off, fuck you.  This is complete bullshit.  Yes, Tennis for Two is outdated.  So is Birth of a Nation.  Would the average person want to sit down and experience either?  No.  Comparing Ikari Warriors to Citizen Kane is stupid and unfair.  Citizen Kane came out over one-hundred years after the equivelant of Tennis for Two, the modern Zoetrope.  Have you sat and absorbed the "art" of a Zoetrope movie lately?  I bet not.  You even mention Half Life 2 in your article stating that technological advances have not reduced the impact of the game, thus undercutting your whole stupid article.  Just because an art form is an art form doesn't mean people will make good art.  Again, go watch Transformers, or maybe Avatar.

A great amount of vitriol is reserved for Ikari Warriors in this article, based on the fact that the author received a PS3 version and “had a lot of trouble taking it seriously.”  Well, since I have an original Ikari Warriors cabinet in my garage, alongside my Galaga, Bad Dudes, and T2 cabs, I think I can speak to that, especially since as a fan of the Ikari Warriors arcade I am one of the fools who purchased the disastrous PC port.

Ikari Warriors on the PS3 is not the original creator’s format.  It is intended to be experienced on the arcade by people with quarters.  Come to my house and play it in my garage, and bring some money.  I promise that the experience will be different that playing the port on your PS3.  How do I know this?  I love Galaga on an arcade cab.  And I hate it on the Xbox 360.  On the 360, the controls don’t work well, and I find myself driving towards the achievements in the game rather than experiencing the game or trying to get a high score.  Ikari Warriors PC had the same effect.  Functionally it was the same.  But the medium affected the experience.

The author brings up current cave paintings as an example of “art is art” and because they are paintings, everyone appreciates them.  Well, let’s do an experiment.  Let’s take the Sistine Chapel, whitewash it, and replace the images with stretched out replications of cave paintings.  Then you can walk into the chapel, and appreciate the “art” that are cave paintings.   Based on your logic, I’m sure the experience will be the same….right?

Again, I don’t care what is considered “art.”  This may taint my views.  I never watched Citizen Kane in my formative years.  I was much more influenced by Stratego and Battletech, and later Starflight and Wasteland than Gone with The Wind.  Does any of that affect which is considered art?  Is a Battletech novel art but a Mechwarrior video game not?  Does it matter?

In all, it comes down to entertainment.  I like to be entertained, whether it’s from something that I can immerse myself in or something that makes me think, or a device that expells lead at supersonic speeds (and that's a whole 'nother discussion).  If you want to sit around and feel superior because you don’t appreciate or like something, I guess that makes you an expert and me just a consumer (or a designer).  But if I have one of my rare free hours and I can choose between partnering up with my Ikari partner, rescuing Ronnie from Ninjas, or enjoying Shia Labeouf’s latest masterpiece, I know that I’ll be on the joystick instead of the remote.  Enjoy your art.  

 

Right is now left, follow your Party!

Truespeak is now real.  If you are Republican you must support the Federal Expansion of Reform via the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Regulation of the Free Market through assumption of non-liquid debt.  If you are a Democrat, you must oppose the Federal Expansion of Exploiting Civil Rights via the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bailout of Corporate Executives through assumption of non-liquid debt.  Left is Right and Right is Left.

Come on folks, can we PLEASE look past party and start to think along the lines of conscience?  Even if you REALLY can align gay marriage the concept of minimal federal interference (WTF?), or if you can align the right to self-medicate on illicite drugs with the concept of complete federal control over universal health care (WTF?); can any of you really align yourself with one of the dual parties and say they represent you?

Can YOU really say that the Republicans have represented your view of smaller government?  Can YOU really say that the Democrats have represented your view of social equality?  REALLY?

Accept the truth.  Rebuclicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin.  They are playing you against each other.  They are using Truespeak against you.  They play competing issues against each other.  They manipulate you based on your party loyalty.

Forget party.  What counties have focused on Party Loyalty?  Name two that come to mind.  Let me guess...Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.  Why should Party Loyalty matter in the United States of America? 

Reach down, grab a hold, and vote what you feel.  Vote your conscience.  Vote what you feel.  Fuck the parties.  Fuck the pundits.  Vote on the issues.  Vote for the candidate that agrees with what you think.  Don't worry if you win or lose, just VOTE.  Vote with you heart!  I challenge you to seriously put aside party and look at the IDEAS of the candidates.  Can you really vote Republican or Democrat?  Maybe you should look outside the Two Parties and find another candidate that ACTUALLY represents YOU!

Constitution Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party; sack up and vote what you believe, not what Truespeak tells you to.

If you dare.

The E3 of politics..

A few years ago, publishers rebelled against E3.  The glitz, the glam, the cost!  It was all too much for them.  However, consumers didn’t mind.  They got new screenshots, new trailers, new news.  Yes, it was rough for publishers, and it was especially rough for us developers.  But consumers didn’t mind, at least according to the media.

The two week E3 of politics is now running in the “conventions,” with Republicrats putting on their big show.  The party publishers don’t mind, and consumers don’t seem to care, at least according to the media.  If you based it on media coverage, it would seem that the regurgitating of the same screenshots, trailers, and developers is totally cool.  I get to turn on my radio and hear exactly the same shit I’ve been hearing for years and years, from both sides of the same coin.  Yay, pick your poison again.  At least at the real E3 I got to see new shit.

Excuse me if I puke, while the pictures that won’t get shown by the Republicrat media follow (Denver pics representative of pics that will come from whatever city is in part two next week) :

   

There's still the wars...

It's easy to forget there is a war(s) going on.  I don't generally publicly speak about politics and war, but scrolling through the news today, I got hit with a blow.  One of my old units, the ANG 1132nd MP Company out of Rocky Mount, NC, came under rocket/mortar fire in Baghdad.  One soldier, Staff Sgt. Emanuel Pickett, 34, died.  14 others were wounded.

I didn't know Staff Sgt. Pickett.  He joined the 1132nd after I got out of the service (I was part of the unit before it "stood up," or became a deployable unit).  But the news of his passing and the attack hit me in the gut today.

I had a similar feeling back in '05, when I read the report that many of my friends from the 855th MP Company in AZ were receiving purple hearts.  People in my fire team.  Folks I had left when I transfered to the 1132nd. 

Here I am making video games, and my brothers & sisters are taking fire.  I guess I don't know what to say to that, except godspeed.

My thoughts go out to the family of Staff Sergeant Pickett, as well as all my family, friends, and service mates that have served these conflicts...I'm sorry I wasn't standing beside you when it really mattered.

The BBC Actually responds to my letter...

Wow, I'm impressed.  I read a BBC article that had a factual misstatement in it, and so I sent them a letter.  Not only did they respond, but they updated the story!

My Letter:

The photo tagline in this article states "Handguns are used in most US assaults and robberies."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7104800.stm

According to the USDOJ website, "simple assaults," those without a weapon, make up around two-thirds of all assaults, as seen here:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/aslt.htm

Also, According to the website, in 2005, 42.1% of all robberies, and 21% of all aggravated assaults were committed with firearms.  I don't see how this data backs up your statement that "Handguns are used in most US assaults and robberies."  Even if all the firearms used were handguns (which I am sure they are not), these numbers do not support the statement "most", especially when factoring the number of simple assaults compared to aggravated assaults (since by definition simple assaults do not involve a firearm).

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/guncrimetab.htm

Please correct your statements and print a retraction.

Thanks,

Christian Allen
USA

Their response:

Dear Mr Allen,

Thank you for your email. Your comments regarding the FBI statistics
are absolutely correct.  I have amended the FBI figures in the story. The
writer of the story is not on shift so I cannot check where he got the
figures from. I believe it may have been an erroneous conflation of a
line that read "handguns - the weapon of choice in two-thirds of
robberies and assaults." - which is, of course, entirely, an entirely
different statistic.

I have passed your comments on to the writer and sub responsible for
the story.

Kind regards
Americas desk
BBC News website

The amended tagline to the article reads:

"The debate over handguns is politically charged in the US"

Not that will will make much of a difference in the big scheme of things, but nice to see a news organization take the details seriously, you don't see that too much in gun control coverage.