I have a theory

Posted in IRL with tags on February 1, 2010 by thistlefizz

I have a theory.  It’s a little convoluted, so stay with me now.  The basic idea is this: You never really know how much you know until you are in charge and someone on your crew screws up.  Then you figure out if you have your stuff together or if you have no clue.  Because if someone on your crew screws up, you have to explain to them why what they did was a mistake, and how to correct it in the future.  And if you don’t get it, you won’t be able to explain it to them either.

Allow me to explain through an example.  As I have mentioned, I work during the summer at a venue called Celebrate Brooklyn! as the lighting director.  However, when I started there I was an intern, and really knew nothing about the lighting industry.  I mean, I thought I knew what I was doing, but really I had no clue.  Well, I guess that’s not quite accurate either.  I had a pretty good understanding of what was going on, and I had a fairly solid grasp on the design aspect of lighting and production.  My real shortcoming came in practical application and technical ability.

So my first summer out at the park I made a lot of mistakes.  And I mean a lot.  It really felt like everything I did was wrong and that I would never be able to get things together.  Fortunately for me, I worked for some really great people.  My boss (the guy who was the lighting director at the time) was patient, attentive, and helpful.  He always made sure that not only did I understand what I was supposed to do, but the reason why and the logic behind why I was doing it.  He made sure to teach me so that in the future I would be able to handle it on my own without his direct guidance.  Even the crew heads of the other departments made sure to take time to teach me and help me learn about their aspects of the production.  I can honestly say I learned more at Celebrate Brooklyn! than any other place, save my training at college.

My third summer at the park I was made the Lighting Director (and the guy who used to be the LD was made the Production Manager/Designer).  It wasn’t the first time that I had been put in charge of a crew of people, nor was it the first time I had to manage inexperienced people.  It was, however, the largest and longest running production I’d ever been put in charge of.  And, since CB! relies heavily on intern labor, it was also the first time that I was expected to actually teach the inexperienced crew members, rather than just manage around them.  I had to make sure that these kids, most of whom had just graduated high school, knew what they were doing and by the end of the summer at least had a basic understanding of how to work in this type of production.

I’m not going to claim I’m the best teacher or always most patient one, but I really did try to make sure that my interns knew what was going on and understood why we did things the way we did them.  I tried to make sure they could recognize their mistakes and understand why they were mistakes, and how they could avoid them in the future.  Most of the mistakes they would make were small, and simple to correct.  However, every now and then they would really screw the pooch on something and I would have to work very hard to correct things.  I won’t go into the mistakes at this point, but suffice it to say some of those foul ups were…well, they were doosies.  Like, really.  Wow.  Sometimes I would wonder if they had ever listened to a word I’d said.

Anyway, the point is, sometimes when they screwed up they would be able to correct it themselves.  Other times I would have to correct it for them.  Either way though, I always had to have the answer (even if it meant I had to take a second to go look it up myself and pretend I knew all along), and always had to be able to explain the situation to them so that they understood why what they did was a problem and how they could avoid it in the future.  If I couldn’t explain it to them, then they wouldn’t learn anything from it.  Or if I just did it for them without explaining it to them, they wouldn’t learn anything from it either.

But during this process, I really began to realize how much I knew.  If they hadn’t made those mistakes, I would never needed to explain it to them.  And if I never needed to explain it to them, I never would have realized how well I understood the concepts myself.  Additionally, it really clarified to me which concepts I didn’t understand very well myself, and which concepts I only barely understood.

So I guess I have a side point: I really like teaching.  First I like it because I really enjoy helping other people learn, especially when it’s a topic I am passionate about it.  Second, I like it because I teach myself in the process.

Maybe I should go into teaching…

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

1 Comment »

Critiquing free content

Posted in General with tags on January 29, 2010 by thistlefizz

I read a number of online comics.  I enjoy them quite a bit, especially the ones that manage to update a lot.  It never ceases to amaze me that some of these artists are able to get a comic out every single day.  One such comic that I read (Schlock Mercenary) has been putting out one comic every single day since June 12, 2000.  That is just unheard of in the world of webcomics, even among the ones that sell books and other merchandise.  But it’s not just the ever consistent update schedule that keeps me interested.  It’s a well drawn, well thought out, and well written comic.  And even though sometimes the story lines have a tendency to meander a little, or take some time to get going (in fact some of the story lines take months to pick up speed), it remains one of my favorite comics.

There is another webcomic (that shall remain nameless for now–all I will say is that it was about a certain MMO we all enjoy) that I tried reading, but had to give up on.  I got tired of the artist going through phases of never updating, and then complaining that it was so hard to update and whining about how it wasn’t fair that his fans were giving up on him.  Eventually he decided to have a guest writer and he would just draw the strips, but he still didn’t update with any sense of regularity.  This wouldn’t really have bothered me except that a) he repeatedly promised he would update every day, and b) he constantly complained that it was unfair that his fans were getting tired of broken promises.  He kept saying that since he was giving us these comics for free, we had no right to complain about the sporadic and broken update schedule.  I don’t know if the guest author backed out or what, but he started asking people to send him in stories and he would draw them.  Still, day after day, week after week, new comics failed to appear although plenty of people commented and claimed to have sent him ideas.  I honestly expected that his next step would be to ask people to send in fully written, drawn, and colored comics that he would just post on his site.  But that never happened.

If you go through the comment section on that particular webcomic’s site, you will notice a war going on between two groups I will call, ‘the hyper-critics’ and ‘the super-fanboys’.

The ‘hyper-critics’ spent all their time criticizing every aspect of the comic, from it’s art and writing, to the author’s broken promises and lack of commitment.  Nothing the author did was good enough for them.  Most of the time they complained about the lack of updates, but then even when there were new comics, they called the art hackneyed and the writing trite.

The ’super-fanboys’ on the other hand blindly defended everything the artist did no matter what.  The artist was above reproach.  No-one had a right to complain that the comic never got updated because it was free content.  Nobody could call the art or writing bad because they aren’t artists–they can’t create anything so they don’t know how hard it is.

To be honest both sides ended up sounding foolish and childish.  All their arguments, even the most intelligent ones, eventually devolved into bitter name calling.

It got me wondering–to what extent can free content like a webcomic be criticized?  How much does the audience have a right to expect from the artist, and when do they cross that line?

Here’s my opinion on the matter.  If an artist (or author or musician) puts out free content, then the public that consumes said content has a right to express their opinions about that content.  I personally think that if they don’t like the content that they should offer up constructive criticism, rather than just saying, “this seriously sucks hard core”, but they still have a right to their opinion.  They do not however have a right to demand that the artist change their content to fit their desires.  They are certainly welcome to ask, and they are certainly welcome to go elsewhere if their requests are ignored, but demanding is right out.

The artist is never above criticism though.  Just because the content is free doesn’t mean they are exempt from being critiqued.  I really don’t like it when someone makes a critical comment (nice or not) and someone responds with, “you aren’t paying for this, so don’t complain” or “I don’t see you doing any better, therefor you can’t complain.”

I also think it’s a mistake for the artist to ignore all critical comments just because what they are putting out is free.  Maybe it’s completely legitimate criticism.  Maybe their art really does suck, or maybe their story line is really dragging and slightly boring.  But if they ignore criticism across the board then they won’t improve in any way.  Then they just end up living in denial.

It’s like those people who audition for American Idol who are completely convinced that they are God’s gift to music, but actually wouldn’t be able to carry a tune in a wheelbarrow.  Often times I wonder, are the people in their lives equally delusional, or are they just cruel, cruel people?  Honestly.  If your brother or sister or best friend or whatever wanted to audition for American Idol but you *knew* they couldn’t sing their way out of a paper bag, and you let them go anyway, that’s on you.  Any embarrassment or hurt feelings or rejection they go through is on you, because you should have had the guts to be honest with them, instead of leading them on with false encouragement.  Yes, it’s true that we are free to try whatever we want and to pursue our dreams as we see fit, but we do a disservice to those around us if we allow them to delude themselves.  If they can’t sing, tell them.  If they still want to pursue music as a life choice, that’s fine, and by all means support them.  But get them vocal lessons.  Hire a vocal coach.  Encourage them to practice, and to learn, and to improve.  But don’t lead them on with false hopes and false encouragement.

Wow that was quite the tangent.

Anyway, my point is, I think that just because you’re putting out free content, that doesn’t mean you are exempt from criticism.  It doesn’t mean that your audience has to accept and love your work and think it’s awesome all the time.  However, those of you doing the criticism need to remember that after all, you aren’t paying for the content.  You can’t demand this that or the other.  You can’t really vote with your dollars, or even with your internet traffic, because the artist may only be putting out said content to share it with people, not because they care if anyone buys it or sees it.  Feel free to comment and share your criticisms, but don’t be a jerk about it.  If you don’t like it, but don’t have any constructive suggestions on how to improve, keep your damn mouth shut.  But if you do have helpful things to say, say them, and don’t be afraid to say them.

And finally, to the fans out there, stop blindly defending the artist.  If someone makes a negative comment about their work, it’s not the end all be all of comments, nor will the world come to an end.  And stop telling people they have no right to criticize since the content is free, because the artist may need the critical comments.  But if you keep blindly defending them in every situation, the artist may begin to believe they are above reproach.  And then their work won’t ever get any better because they will already believe that they are at the top of their game.  In fact, I’d be willing to wager that the quality of their work will go down.

I’m curious what other people think about this, especially anyone that puts out free content themselves.  How much can free content be criticized?

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

4 Comments »

There is no post for today

Posted in General with tags on January 28, 2010 by thistlefizz

Why?

Because I got engaged last night!

I will be back with posts on Friday.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“
~Fizz

9 Comments »

Introducing: Real Life, Part 2

Posted in IRL with tags on January 27, 2010 by thistlefizz

Ok so picking up where I left off yesterday, about 630 the house opens and the audience starts filtering in.  Since 600-700 is usually when I have dinner break I have to make sure that everything is up and running by 545 to give the crew time to clean up before we break.  I make sure that a preset look is up so that the stage isn’t a dark, empty, boring shell.  Usually I put up a nice amber wash, to warm up the stage a little; add in some pink front light to give depth; add the Celebrate Brooklyn! logo on the scrim upstage; and sometimes throw in a template wash for variety.

During the actual show, we run two light boards.  One of them controls the conventional fixtures, the other controls the moving lights.  This isn’t actually typical.  Most venues only use one board, but we have a lot of conventionals, and a lot of movers, so it’s just easier for use to have two boards and two operators.  I run the moving lights, while my assistant runs the conventionals.  There was a time when the Production Manager (who used to be the lighting director) ran the conventional board, but this past summer he’s decided to take a step back from running the lights during the show so he can focus on bigger picture stuff.

So anyway, the first band comes out and we set up a couple static looks.  After all, we don’t want to waste all the good stuff on the opening band.  While they play we do some slow steady changes between static looks; broad general washes, mostly one or two colors.  Sometimes we might throw in an effect or two, to get the crowd moving and the excitement going, but nothing too crazy.  If we even turn the movers on at all they don’t actually move.  They come up, shine general washes, and stay that way.  Some days it’s too hot and humid to fire them up, so we leave them alone until the headliner comes out.

Both board ops have to be in constant communication the entire time though.  We can’t just do our own thing without talking otherwise we may end up with clashing looks.  Usually we’ll decide right at the beginning of the song what color pallet to use and then he will bring up the conventionals in a wash and then I will overlay the movers in a template, color wash, and add some movement.

Before the headliner comes out we keep the stage dimly lit in blue.  If you’ve ever been to a concert you may recognize this trick.  During the intermission the houselights are up and the audience is milling about, and the roadies are doing their thing on stage.  Then the houselights go down, the stage goes blue, and maybe a few movers (or followspots, depending on the situation) start tracking around the stage and audience.  This creates a dramatic tension and sense of anticipation.

Typically at CB the producer and artistic director come out during the intermission and stand downstage left and drone on for a few minutes about this that and the other.  Thanks for coming, thank you to the sponsors, here’s some upcoming shows, blah blah blah.  Then they introduce the headliner and walk off stage.  Some bands just walk on.  But others take advantage of this dramatic tension that I just mentioned.  My favorite moments are when the producer and artistic director walk offstage, I bring the houselights down, bath the stage in blue, and then start tracking a few movers in the house.  Then the keyboardist sneaks into place and starts playing a riff, and I bring up a white backlight, putting him in a silhouette/halo.  Then the drummer (who also snuck onstage) starts jamming in and I bring up a low light behind him that uplights him as well as backlights him.  Then the base player starts in and she gets a cool backlight.  Now the band is playing the intro riff, and the tension is building and the crowd is cheering and I start strobing the lights a little and finally the lead signer/guitarist comes out and a front and back follow spot snap on as she makes her way onstage.  From that moment on those follow spot ops had better stay on her at all times, except for the periodic black out.  At CB we also have a second spot from the front that can pick up soloists when needed.  Anyway, the intro riff ends and the band pops into the song and the moving lights start flashing and moving around and it’s a totally awesome moment and the crowd starts cheering and everyone goes nuts.

And that’s how the show goes.  Since the bands that come through CB are different every night and most of them I’ve never heard of, I have to make it up every night.  I don’t have time to write specific cues for specific songs.  I have to feel it out–get the emotions of the song and the feeling for the music.  I have to feel the rhythm so I know when to change and move the lights.    And let’s not forget that the other board op has to be doing all this too and we have to be talking to each other so we know when to move and change and such.

Another one of my favorite moments is the ending of a song, especially a really rocking one that I’ve done cool lighting effects for.  The end comes and the band goes into the final moment where they are gearing up to hit that last note and then BAM! They hit that last note and we hit a black out.  Awesome.  Or sometimes we hit a blackout but leave the back follow spot still shining on the lead singer.  It creates an awesome look.

Conversely, one of my least favorite moments (re: I hate it when this happens) is when the ending of a song fizzles out.  Either it just ends really sloppy or they strum that last note over and over, acting like they are going to hit that one last beat really hard, and then…nothing.  It all falls apart.  I hate that.  It’s such a let down.  There’s all this build up and everyone on the lighting crew (two board ops and three spot ops) are expecting an awesome blackout moment  and then…thhhbbtt.  It’s crap.  I hate it.

If the band is planning on doing encores then about 1015 they head off stage.  I keep the house dark and the stage blue, using that same dramatic tension moment as I did earlier.  Then they come back out and the lights come back up.  But at 1030 that’s the end of the show, because at 1030 in Prospect Park the law says we have to shut the hell up.  And if we don’t we get fined.  And we sure as hell aren’t gonna be the ones paying it, so if the band doesn’t follow our signals to get off stage at 1030 (and there are plenty that just can’t seem to get the hell off the stage), then we pass that nice $2000.00 fine right on to them.  I remember one year we actually had to kill the power to the sound system and turn on the houselights and stage works because they just refused to stop playing.

Once the show is over, I turn on the house lights and leave a post show look up (something dark and templatey), and the spot ops pick up the producer who comes out and says something like, ‘thanks for coming, it was a great show, please put your trash in or near (that’s my favorite part) a trash can, and start making your way to an exit’.  If we’re lucky the crowd just makes their way out, no muss no fuss.  If not, then the producer has to come back out and make another announcement.  You know it’s a bad night if he has to come out a third time because if people don’t start leaving then the cops have to come in and shovel them out–or arrest them for being drunk and disorderly.

I usually wait about 5 minutes after the producer has made his announcement and then I turn off the post show look and we go to work lights.  Because we leave a lot of the lights on over night for security we have to swap the control from the light board to the building.  Because I have to turn off the light board and the dimmer racks and all the giant power suckers, and wrap up the front of house tower and go home.  We call this ’swap over’.  Oh I should have mentioned that we have to do this exact same swap over (only the other way; from building control to board control) when we come in each morning.

Finally, we make sure that all our equipment is wrapped up and tarped to protect it from the rain.  There’s a lot of rain.  If we’re going to be gone for more than a day, then we have to lock up anything that can easily walk away.  Even though we usually have 24-hour security when we’re gone, it’s still just a good idea to make sure that things can’t be easily stolen.  Because those damn punk kids that run loose in the park have been known to try and steal from us in the past.

So that’s a typical show.  We have between 20 and 25 shows a summer.  Once that’s all over we start strike.  In a nutshell, strike is just load in, in reverse.  We take everything down, pack it up, send it back, and put it away.  Strike is super easy because unlike load in where we have to put things up in a specific and ordered way, we just strip everything down and toss it in boxes.  There is a little bit of order in that we have to make sure that the equipment that we ordered all goes back, but it still all comes down quick.  Load in, 3 to 4 weeks, strike, 5 to 6 days.

And that’s what it’s like (or at least in a super gigantic broad overview) at Celebrate Brooklyn! Hopefully this has at least been somewhat interesting and educational.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“
~Fizz

1 Comment »

Introducing: Real Life

Posted in General with tags on January 26, 2010 by thistlefizz

Since I’ve decided to start broadening my post topics, I thought I would start by introducing you to what I do for a living, as it’s likely that’s what I’ll start talking about most (besides WoW).  I work as an electrician/programmer/lighting designer in the entertainment industry.   I work in theater, concerts, corporate events, fashion shows, dance shows, etc.  If you aren’t really familiar with the industry or the type of work I do, it’s a little hard to describe in writing.  I’m much better at doing it in casual conversation.  This is the first time that I’m writing it all down so I’m unsure how it will turn out.

One of my concerns in trying to explain what is I do is that it will be terribly boring.  And that would make me sad.  But that may just be my own self consciousness.  So hopefully I can do this in a way that will be interesting and not confusing.  Rather than just making a list of my duties and give a lengthy resume, I decided that the most interesting way of describing what I do would be to talk about the production process at one of the venues I worked at.  Describe it to you in story form rather than list form.  I’ll try to keep the story short-ish, but it may get a little wall-o-text-ish.  Make sure to refer to the glossary of terms if you don’t understand what I’m talking about.  And feel free to leave questions in the comments section.

So with that….

1 Comment »

There are four lights!

Posted in General with tags on January 25, 2010 by thistlefizz

One of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a two part episode called “Chain of Command”.  My apologies if I get any of the facts mixed up, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the episodes so I’m doing this all from memory.  The story goes like this: Captain Picard, Dr. Crusher, and Lt. Worf are ordered to go on a secret mission to a planet called Celtris III, to investigate reports that the Cardassians have a lab there and are trying to develop metagenic weapons (a super powerful bio weapon that unravels the DNA strands of anything it comes in contact with).  Reports have come in that this planet is giving off theta-band carrier waves.  They get to the planet, and arrive at the location of where the lab should be and discover that the theta-band carrier waves are coming from one single device and that there is no weapons lab; it was a trap all along.  Dr. Crusher and Lt. Worf manage to escape but Picard is captured and taken to a torture/interrogation facility.

There’s a secondary plot involving the new Captain of the Enterprise (they had to put someone else in charge while Picard was gone since there was the distinct possibility that he wouldn’t come back and the Enterprise needs a Captain).  The new Captain, Captain Jellico shakes things up a lot, and changes things around a bit and some other not very relevant nonsense.  Eventually though the Federation sends him to meet with the Cardassian Ambassador to discuss various “we know what you’re up to” “no you don’t” “yes we do, stop it” “we’ll stop if you go away” type topics.  It’s all very tense and stand-off-ish.  For a great deal of the negotiations the Cardassians seem to have the upper hand, and at some point it looks like the talks are going to fall apart.

Eventually it is discovered that the Cardassians are planning to invade Federation space and they have captured Picard to try and get tactical information on the movement of the Enterprise.  The Cardassian fleet is discovered hiding in some nebula (I forget which one, but it doesn’t really matter), and Cpt. Jellico sends Commander Riker into the nebula to to place mines all over the Cardassian fleet.  Cpt. Jellico informs the arrogant, and now very angry, Cardassian Ambassador that he knows what they are doing and has planted mines all over his ships, and that if they don’t depart in peace (and release Picard) then he will blow them up.  The Cardassians begrudgingly leave with their tails between their legs.

Ok so back to Picard.  He is captured and taken to a torture facility.  His interrogator, Gul Madred, is a cruel and ruthless man.  He lifts Picard’s arms above his head and hangs him there all night.  Then in the morning, he comes in and lets him down, and then proceeds to tell him what it is he wants.  He says that he wants to know about the Federations tactical plans and what their flag ship (the Enterprise) is going to do.  But he knows that he has to break Picard down first.  And the way he goes about it is through psychological torture.

Gul Madred turns on a set of four lights and asks, “how many lights do you see?”

Picard responds, “there are four lights.”

Gul Madred then activatesa control device which sends pain throughout Picard’s body, and says, “no, there are 5 lights.”

They go back and forth like this for quite some time.  Madred will ask various questions and they will have awkwardly pleasant conversations, and then he will ask about the lights.  Picard always says that there are only four lights, and Madred always responds by zapping him.

After they go back and forth for a while Gul Madred sighs and says something to the effect of, “it’s a shame, I was hoping to be able to get what I needed from you.  Oh well, you can go.  I suppose I’ll have to move on to the female.  I would try the Klingon, but we had to kill him.  Hopefully the female will be more cooperative.”  It’s at this point that Picard realizes he’s talking about Dr, Crusher, and since he doesn’t know that she escaped, he really begins to fear what Gul Madred might do to her, so he agrees to stay, and endure more.

At the end of the episode Madred comes in one last time to try and break Picard.  Madred knows that he is supposed to release Picard because of what Cpt. Jellico has just accomplished, but he is determined to break him before he releases him.  Madred asks again about the lights, Picard says there are four, he zaps him.  Then he says that all the pain can be over, that Picard can be freed from the pain and live a life of comfort and scholarly reflection.  All he has to do is admit that he can see five lights. Picard pauses and thinks really hard before responding.  Just then, two Cardassian guards come into the room and ask Gul Madred what he is doing and tell him that Picard was supposed to be cleaned up and ready to go an hour ago.  Picard realizes he is about to be set free, and starts shuffling out of the room.  Just before he gets to the door he pauses, turns, looks at Gul Madred and yells, “There… are… FOUR LIGHTS!!” (and there is an unspoken “bitch!”).  It’s a very powerful moment where you know that Madred wasn’t able to break Picard and that Picard’s horrible ordeal is over, and he ‘won’.

Some shows would just stop here, ending on a win.  But instead they have an epilogue, where Picard (now reinstated as the Captain of the Enterprise) is having a discussion with the ships’ counselor, Diana Troy.  He begins relating the experience and tells him of the ultimate choice Gul Madred gave him: End the pain by admitting he can see five lights, or continuing to insist that there are only four lights and endure endless torment.  It’s at this point that Picard admits that in that moment, he really thought that he could see five lights.

It’s just one of those really great moments, and is a powerful look into psychology and how the mind works.  And it leaves you wondering, did Picard really ‘win’?  Did Gul Madred actually break him?  If the guards hadn’t come in at that moment, would Picard have admitted that he actually saw five lights?  It gets me thinking about what my own personal breaking point might be, maybe not at the point of torture, but at what point might I admit to something I know in my heart isn’t true?  At what point would I convince myself a lie is true if it meant the end of personal pain and suffering and meant a life of comfort and ease?  I don’t know the answers to any of those, but it sure is an interesting thing to think about.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

2 Comments »

And now it’s time for another addition of “I never noticed that before”

Posted in General on January 22, 2010 by thistlefizz

In the Magus Commerce Exchange, Dalaran, there is a shop called the Scribes’ Sacellum.  It is here that scribes can learn their craft and buy their needed supplies.  It’s a well staffed, well stocked little shop.  And holy crap is it a tall store.  I was in there this morning, and I was reminded of a fairly true principle–most people just don’t ever bother to look up.  Because I looked up.  And what I discovered is that the Scribe’s Sacellum (sacellum by the way means small, usually unroofed, chapel consecrated to a divinity) extends up and up and up, and the walls are lined with books.  In fact, you know what it reminds me of is that room in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, the one where Charlie and his granddad drink that stuff that makes them float way up to the top where the fan blades are.  Except the Scribes’ Sacellum doesn’t have giant fan blades at the top of it.  It also doesn’t have any of that cool flying-inducing beverage.

In addition to this rather extensive library, there is a woman standing in the back of the Scribes’ Sacellum named Theresa Wolf, who carries the title Loremaster.  It would appear that this woman’s sole responsibility to conjure a spell that moves books from the shelves down below in the lower part of the shop, up into the very tippy top parts of the shop, ostensibly re-shelving them.  It’s hard to tell if that’s what actually happens because once the book gets all the way to the top it just disappears.  I don’t know why but it was really captivating to watch.

Anyone else noticed anything like this lately that they’d care to share?

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“
~Fizz

1 Comment »

New Page Added

Posted in General with tags on January 20, 2010 by thistlefizz

You will notice that I have added a new page to my website; a glossary of terms related to theater and entertainment lighting. I have added this page because I am going to start talking about what I do for a living a lot more and I don’t want to have to stop and explain every other word.  It disrupts the flow of the piece as well as my train of thought.  So I put up a fairly comprehensive list of terms that may come up.  I don’t expect anyone to become a professional just by reading it, but I’m hoping that everyone will have a much better understanding of what I do and what it is I’m talking about.

I’m currently working on a few posts related to lighting and what it’s like to work on a job site, so I encourage everyone to take some time and paruse through the new page.  It’s super long though, so don’t feel like you have to read it all.  Just get the basic gist of the page, and where things are and then you can use it as a reference later.

As a side note, while I was making this glossary, I thought about how nice it would be to have a page like that for World of Warcraft related terms.  So I’ll probably work on another glossary page related to that topic.  Feel free to post any WoW terms you think I should define, or any that you currently don’t understand yourself and I’ll see what I can do.

Enjoy.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

2 Comments »

Broadening my horizons

Posted in News with tags , on January 18, 2010 by thistlefizz

I’ve become a little bit…disillusioned with WoW as of late.  Those who read my post/rant about the worst PuG ever know why.  So I haven’t felt much like playing.  Looking down the road, this may lead to a lack of topic ideas for my blog here.  Now, I’ve really come to enjoy blogging quite a bit and don’t have any intention of stopping simply because I’m not playing WoW these days.  Because of that, I’ve decided that I’m going to start broadening the topics of my blog to include…well, whatever I feel like.

I thought for a bit about if I would loose readers or not, but then I remembered that it’s my blog and I’ll write about whatever I damn well please.

So with that I just thought I would tell those of you who are going to stick around that I’m going to be broadening my horizons.  Future topics may be about my real life, my job, the industry I work in, rabbits, New York City, other games, crap on tv, and so forth.  Around the time Cataclysm comes out I’ll probably pull the focus back to primarily dealing with World of Warcraft, but for now, the gates are opening.

Everyone is still welcome to read, and comment on what I talk about.  Just because it’s not WoW related doesn’t mean I won’t accept comments.  I like comments.  They give me a warm, fuzzy feeling on the inside.

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say for now.  Sorry my posts haven’t been very eloquently written lately.  Also I’m a little bit more rambley.  I blame the brain injury.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“
~Fizz

PS: By the by, if anyone decides to remove me from their blogroll because I’m not as WoW-oriented as I was before I won’t be offended.  Just remember, my posts are still gonna be good, regardless of their topic, so think about that before you remove me.

5 Comments »

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

Posted in General with tags , on January 18, 2010 by thistlefizz

(Note: this post contains ’spoilers’ (I put that in quotes because the episode aired almost 20 years ago, but they still are technically spoilers) about an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.)

There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled Darmok wherein the Enterprise encounters a race of aliens known as The Children of Tama.  They try and communicate with each other but find themselves frustrated in their efforts because the Children of Tama use such a different method of communication.  After trying, and failing, to communicate, the Tamarians transport Captain Picard and Captain Dathon (the captain of the Tamarian vessel) to the surface of the planet they are orbiting (El-Adrel).  Additionally, they put up a dampening field around the planet, making it impossible for Picard (or Dathon for that matter) to be transported off the surface.

Captain Dathon tries to communicate with Picard, offering him a knife, saying “Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra. Temba, his arms wide!”  Picard thinks he is offering the blade so that they can combat each other, so he refuses to take it.  They continue talking back and forth to each other, but neither one has any understanding of what the other one is saying.

As the day goes on both Captains begin to grow tired and weary.  Without warning an alien monster appears out of nowhere and attacks them.  The monster is powerful and has an ability to become invisible.  Dathon again says, “Temba his arms wide!” and offers Picard the knife again.  It is then that Picard begins to understand how it is Dathon is communicating–through metaphor, citing example and so on.

They manage to fight off the monster and take cover for the night, but Dathon is badly wounded.  As they huddle around the fire, they reflect on their shared experience of the day and begin a very rudimentary communication.  Captain Dathon tells Captain Picard the story of Darmok and Jalad at an island called Tanagra.  I forget all the details, but essentially it’s about two men and their exploits on Tanagra, and their eventual sailing away together.

Picard begins to understand the way Dathon communicates and tries it out himself.  He shares the epic of Gilgamesh with him.  Picard tells him about Enkidu and Gilgamesh and how they were once enemies but became friends through a hard, but shared experience.  He then relates it to the current situation that he and Dathon are going through.  So Enkidu and Gilgamesh at Uruk became Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel.

In the morning the monster attacks again.  They are able to defeat it but Dathon dies.  When Picard gets back up to his ship, the Tamarian First Officer enquires about Dathon (Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel?) and Picard is able to use the metaphors he learned to communicate that they had fought the monster and Dathon had died.  He then offers to give back the knife (“Temba, his arms open?”) but the First Officer tells him to keep it (“Temba, at rest”).  They then part in peace, with a little more mutual understanding.

So what does this have to do with anything?  Well, to be honest I wrote the first half of this post like 6 weeks ago, so I really had to think hard about what my point was.  But I finally remembered.

The first raid that I did on Fizz (Karazhan I believe), I had a really hard time figuring out what was going on.  There was just so much going on, and I hadn’t been tanking (even in 5 mans) for very long, so it was just overwhelming.  The raid leader might as well have been speaking a different language.

There are a lot of terms and abbreviations and slang that gets used in 5mans and raids.  For the uninitiated it can be really hard to figure out what’s going on.  To us, saying something like, “wait to start dps until I get aggro.  Build up DoTs slow, and gtfotf!” may be totally common place, but to a noob none of that makes sense.

It didn’t matter how much explanation they gave me, or how many guides I read, or even videos I looked at.  I just didn’t get it until I got in there and did it myself.  Until I created a shared experience that I could then reference, the words from the other players meant nothing.  I didn’t understand their context until I went in and did it.

Additionally, as the guild raid group did things together more often, we were able to establish a dialogue.  The more we did things together the more we were able to understand each other; we would learn each others play styles and how to meld together.  Just as Picard and Dathon were able to learn to understand each other through sharing an experience, we were able to do the same.

So if you are one of those people that want to run 5mans, or step up the the more challenging raids, but feel overwhelmed and nervous about the experience, just jump right in and do it.  There’s only so much you can read and discuss about it.  Until you actually go and do it for yourself, you won’t get over your fears about it.  Plus, you can’t expect to succeed if you never try.  So just get out there and go do it already.  Times a wastin.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]“

~Fizz

Leave A Comment »

Next Entries »