Mecha Talk

Chaos Theater Ep. 030 - "Brave & The Sprawl Trilogy"
- Download Now: 64 kbps - 164 mins, 04 sec. (2:44:04) 75.2 MB

Special Guest Host: Kristina Pino (Brave)

Segment Breakdown for this Episode:

01. Intro: "What We've Been Up To"
Runtime: 0:00:01 - 0:35:21

02. Discussion: "Brave"
Runtime: 0:35:51 - 1:00:59

03. Discussion: "The Sprawl Trilogy"
Runtime: 1:01:32 - 1:49:53

04. Outro: "Audible recommendations", "Chaos Theater Mailbag" and "Internet whoring"
Runtime: 1:50:28 - 2:41:00

We're doing double duty this episode with two topics for discussion. After catching up on what we've been doing, we're joined by Tomopop's Kristina Pino for a brief discussion of Brave as an addendum to our earlier Pixar episode. We then switch gears to discuss William Gibson's classic dystopian cyberpunk Sprawl Trilogy, including Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. After that, we dish out some Audible recommendations and answer your voicemails and Mailbag questions. As mentioned during the show, the next episode will be out relatively quickly so as to get back on schedule. Get your web shooters ready as we discuss the four Spider-Man live action movies.

Music Featured in this Episode:
"Boing Zoom DAKOTA!" from Rock Candy 1 by Shadow
"Furious Angels" from The Matrix Reloaded by Rob Dougan
"Du Hast" from The Matrix Reloaded by Rammstein
"Mona Lisa Overdrive" from The Matrix Reloaded by Juno Reactor vs Don Davis

Sponsors & Special Offers:
Audible

Feedback:
Google Voice: 305-792-8324
Email: chaostheatershow@gmail.com

Websites:
MAHQ.net - Gundamn.net - Chaos Theater -Chaos Theater Mecha Talk Forum - Gundamn! @ Mecha Talk Forum - MAHQ.net @ Twitter - Chaos Theater @ Twitter - Gundamn! @ Twitter - Main RSS Feed - iTunes

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PSN: amuromsz006

As per my promise on the air, here is a link to the retail page for a plushie of Il Bambino from the Pixar Short La Luna. He's holding a little luma--- er, star, as well. Very cute, and the price isn't bad for a 12-inch tall plushie.

Also in case you missed it, you can check out The Pixar Times for all updates/info on Brave and La Luna as well as information about upcoming Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur, the yet-untitled Brain film and the Dia De Los Muertos film.

Edit/add: If you're interested in learning where some Easter Eggs are in Brave, including the cleverly hidden Pizza Planet truck, The Pixar Times has already updated with the cheat sheet right here.

I hope you all enjoy our brief review of the the film Brave! Obviously, I hope you enjoy Pedro and Chris' Sprawl discussion as well, but I wasn't in that part so =P.

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Kristina Travels, Tweets, Writes About Toys, Reads, Reviews Anime; just generally blogs way too much.

Last game played: Trine. Last book read: The Whip. Last gunpla built: SD Stargazer Gundam.
Reading: Peter Pan.
Watching: Fairy Tail, Gundam00.

"You ought to keep one foot out of your mouth. You may need it to run." (Chiana, Farscape)

I'd be interested to hear your guy's thoughts on the Japanese Brave commercial VS US Brave commercial thing now that you've actually seen the movie. I remember someone was saying there was a big difference in advertising between the two countries, and the trailer really showed it; though from your conversation it sounds like the Japanese trailer would have misled people.

Also I was pretty hyped up to hear your synopsis of the Sprawl trilogy. I was able to read Neuromancer before hearing the episode, but couldn't get more than a few chapters into Count Zero - it didn't grip me instantly the way that Neuromancer did, but now I can see how there was a method to the madness. I personally drew a big connection between Neuromancer's concept of AI trying to become sentient and the themes of Ghost in the Shell, especially since Gibson's use of the term 'ghost' was even more direct than that of the anime film. I'm sure there are a few listeners out there who haven't read the book before, and I can say (as a not-so-big Cyberpunk/Sci-Fi fan) that's it's totally worth it. It's not too long, and only really drags towards the end with the Space Rastas.

A while back I found a BBC radio play based on Neuromancer, http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=32178 the production isn't bad though some of the performances were a bit off Armitage, for example tends to sound more like a car salesman than a former soldier and the southern accent is a bit forced, more like a british actor trying too hard to sound like a American from the south, though that may play in favor of the nature of his character. Hideo was also disappointing as he was neither menacing nor Japanese, more like a bad stereotype of a Japanese man, though 3Jane and Rivera were suitably creepy.

When you compared Molly to a full renegade Commander Shepard, I got this image of a renegade interrupt icon appearing on the HUD inside her optic lenses, only it's always lit and all her dialogue options only say violence.

I can recommend Gibson's other work the Bridge Trilogy, a good companion series to the Sprawl Trilogy Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties set in a near future world where the Golden Gate Bridge has been taken over and turned into a shanty town for the homeless after a massive earthquake closes it and California is now divided into two separate states. The three novels are interconnected but can be read as stand alone books I personally like Idoru the best, it features a rock star who goes to Tokyo to marry a virtual idol ala Miku Hatsume with several characters trying to find out if the guy is for real, pulling a publicity stunt, or if the Idol is a sentient machine who may or may not be manipulating him. Pattern Recognition, part of the Bigend Trilogy is also a great read, a cyberpunk novel in a modern day setting though the story is similar to one of the storylines in Count Zero, where a woman who possess a odd disorder that causes her to experience panic attacks when exposed to advertising logos, is hired to track down the mysterious creator of several viral videos that appear to be footage from a much longer film, but shot out of order.

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Ok let me see I can't say much on Sprawl Trilogy.
Brave I have some small interest in, not sure if going to see it.
Look forward to the Spider-man movies discussion next episode.

For a first game yeah I've heard Mystic Quest get that reputation since it's very simplified.
At same time though I still like it for what it is, but when you point out those little points Chris it is good to sort of note that compared to RPGs later on.

Like pre-determined routes on world map and only 2 party members max ect.
As for horrid ones I will, guys I DID play that LOTR SNES game.

I once had it for a little while, it like Shaq-Fu also got sold off on ebay and disposed of.
I only played it once in total I remember.

How it came in to my possession is mum sometimes finds stuff 2nd and brings it home in case it's something rare or not.
For instance she did get Mario Kart for SNES once for $5 AU (no box or anything though, worked fine)

Thank you for entertaining my questions.

I was just getting irked by all the awful female leads who can't appreciate the good men around them and just a lot of the inherent unfairness I see everywhere. Was also annoyed by Gamestop whores who told me not to come to the midnight release of Armored Core V because I didn't pre-order, and then pressured me to pre-order. Amazon is fine though.

Yeah, I'd take the giraffe, too, though I'm pretty sure it'd be fatal.

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"Red particles are bad, they mutate you into... dead? But green/blue particles are good, apparently, for reasons and for purposes yet to be determined. Isn't science sometimes nicely color-coded?"
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On a related note, there are old tapes of Gibson himself reading from the book, and it's great to hear a legit southern accent. I actually heard some of the tapes before reading the whole novel, so his voice carried over to my reading of Case for at least the first half of the book.

on Brave: it's good. it's not up to the 'pixar standard' but that standard is incredibly high that there's no way they can maintain it. so i'll settle for a good movie with a unique premise. also Bear-mom is awesome.

Neuromancer: so an acquaintance of mine was bitching about how his tutorial group for sci-fi lit class didn't 'get' what it was doing. Some students claiming that it felt like Gibson skipped every 3rd word. It really throws into contrast how sci-fi can be books about the future (clarke and asimov) or books from the future as is the case here. Pedro mentioned world building in Neuromancer, but it's not heavy exposition about how the world came to be in the place it is, it's just the characters living in the setting letting readers get immersed in the world.

also, the movie might finally actually be on track to happening this time. my hopes aren't all that high, though.

Count zero is my least favourite of the three. just a touch too odd from the start (cyberpunk usually waits till the 3rd act to go crazy). Did love how everything meshed back together for Mona Lisa Overdrive.

PS:
Pedro: does Zelda count as an RPG?
Me yelling at my computer: Godsdamnit no!
Chris: aww, why the ZOINKS not?

this is basically how every meeting about game coverage at RPGamer goes.

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