Music Video of the Day: (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Undertanding by Elvis Costello and the Attractions (1979, directed by Chuck Statler)

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 116 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.

The 99th video to premiere on MTV was the video for Elvis Costello’s cover of (What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding. The song was originally written by Nick Lowe and performed by Lowe with his band, Benny Schwartz. Though the original version didn’t chart, Costello’s cover became one of his first big hits. It’s one of the songs that’s still most associated with Costello. Interestingly, on a day that was dominated by repeated airings of videos from Rod Stewart and REO Speedwagon, the video for Costello’s biggest hit was only aired once.

The video was directed by Chuck Statler, who was responsible for many of Costello’s early videos.

Enjoy!

The First Videos Shown on MTV:

Cattle Drive (1951, directed by Kurt Neumann)

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

In this coming-of-age Western, Dean Stockwell plays Chester Graham, Jr., the spoiled and unruly son of a railroad owner (Leon Ames). While riding on his father’s train and making trouble for the conductor, Chester overhears his father talking about sending him to a military school. When the train makes as top, Chester impulsively runs away. The train leaves without him and Chester finds himself stranded in the middle of the wilderness. That’s when he sees cowboy Dan Matthews (Joel McCrea) trying to catch a wild stallion.

Dan is a part of a cattle drive. Knowing that he can’t leave Chester to die in the wilderness, Dan brings him back to his camp. The other members of the company aren’t too keen on having to look after a spoiled brat along with the cattle and Chester isn’t too happy to hear that he’ll be expected to work if he expects to get fed. But with no choice but to work together, Chester, Dan, and the rest of the company make the journey to Santa Fe. Chester finally drops his attitude enough to work with the company’s cook (Chill Wills) while Dan deals with a rival cowboy named Currie (Henry Brandon). Chester learns about responsibility and Dan finally finds the courage to consider settling down.

Of the many westerns that Joel McCrea made over the course of his career, he considered Cattle Drive to be his favorite and it’s easy to see why. Cattle Drive features McCrea doing what he did best, playing a tough but good-hearted and down-to-earth cowboy who looked after an outsider. If you were ever lost in the old west, Joel McCrea is precisely the type of cowboy that you would hope would come to your rescue. The plot features almost every single cattle drive cliché that you could imagine but McCrea plays his role with a winning combination of grit and compassion and he and Dean Stockwell, who is also very good, make a good team. Shot in Death Valley and Utah, Cattle Drive feels and look authentic and should be enjoyed by anyone looking for good, heartfelt western.

Game Review: The Song Of The Mockingbird (2021, Mike Carletta)

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

The Song of the Mockingbird is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition. Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

You’re not just a cowboy. You’re a singing cowboy! You’re as fast with your guitar as you were with your six shooter. You’re in love with Rosa, a sensuous dancer. Unfortunately, Black Blade’s gang of outlaws have not only abducted Rosa but they also stole your gun! If you’re going to rescue, Rosa you’re going to have to use your wits and your ability to pay attention to all the little details of your surroundings. It won’t be easy. From the minute you start the game, you go from happily singing The Yellow Rose of Texas to being ambushed by Black Blade’s men.

The Song of the Mockingbird is a western. There really haven’t been that many western IF games, which is strange because the western genre seems like it would be a natural fit for the Interactive Fiction format. The Song of the Mockingbird makes a good case that maybe there should be more western games. Well-written and full of memorable details, The Song of the Mockingbird is an entertaining and fun Inform game. It’s a text adventures but the descriptions are so vivid that you don’t really need any fancy graphics to help you visualize the world of the game. The game mixes serious western action with some satirical but affectionate digs at the whole singing cowboy genre.

There are a lot of puzzles in The Song of the Mockingbird. Some of them are simple and some of them are not. Of course, having to solve puzzles have always been my downfall when it comes to IF games. Fortunately, Song of the Mockingbird comes with a walk-through, which you can use as a last resort. I will admit that I referred to it a few times but, when I did, I discovered that Song of the Mockingbird’s puzzles aren’t really difficult. They just require the play to pay attention to every detail of their surroundings. This is a game where it pays to be attentive.

Play The Song of the Mockingbird.

Music Video of the Day: Vienna by Ultravox (1980, directed by Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 116 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.

The 98th music video to premiere on MTV on its first day of broadcast was this video for Ultravox’s Vienna. Due to budgetary limitations, half of this video was shot in London while the other half was shot in Vienna. Ultravox’s label was not convinced that music videos would ever catch on so they weren’t willing to put out a lot of money to make one. You would not know that from watching this video, which in many ways predicted the type of narrative-driven music videos that would become popular as MTV grew and developed.

One reason why this video looks so good is because it was directed by Russell Mulcahy, of Highlander fame. Mulcahy also directed the video for Video Killed The Radio Star which, of course, was the very first video to ever air on MTV.

Enjoy!

The First Videos Shown on MTV:

Wyoming Renegades (1955, directed by Fred F. Sears)

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

Brady Sutton (Philip Carey) used to be one of the most feared members of the Hole in the Wall Gang. He robbed banks with Butch Cassidy (Gene Evans) and the Sundance Kid (William Bishop) and he developed a reputation for being a ruthless outlaw. But that’s in the past. Brady has spent three years in prison and now, he’s ready to return home, marry Nancy (Martha Hyer), and go straight. Though most of the townspeople don’t trust Brady, he’s managed to find a sponsor in newcomer Charlie Veer (Douglas Kennedy), who has given Brady the money to open his own blacksmith shop.

Unfortunately, Brady might be done with the Hole in the Wall Gang but they’re not done with him. When Brady spots some members of the gang in town, he realizes that they’re casing the bank. Despite Brady’s attempts to warn the sheriff, the town assumes that Brady must be in on the plot. Brady grows so frustrated that he finds himself tempted to go back to his old ways. Meanwhile, Charlie is suddenly very interested in being introduced to the infamous Butch Cassidy himself.

Wyoming Renegades is a straight-forward, B-western. The plot is nothing special but Philip Carey and Douglas Kennedy both give good Western performances and Gene Evans is memorably evil as Butch Cassidy. For those who only know the characters as Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s performances in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the most interesting thing about Wyoming Renegades will be seeing Cassidy and Sundance portrayed as being sadistic and humorless villains. The truth about Cassidy and his gang is probably somewhere in-between the fun-loving rogues played by Newman and Redford and the unforgiving bastards presented in Wyoming Renegades. In reality, it’s said that Butch Cassidy always tried to avoid killing people while Sundance rarely hesitated to draw his gun and start firing.

As for Wyoming Renegades, the ending does feature an unexpected twist, with Nancy proving herself to be more than just a docile love interest. Fans of classic television will want to keep an eye out for a young Aaron Spelling, playing a loathsome outlaw named Petie Carver.

Game Review: The Best Man (2021, Stephen Bond)

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

The Best Man is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition. Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

In The Best Man, you take control of Aiden. He seems like a classic “nice guy” and that’s the problem. When his best friend Laura calls him and asks if he would be willing to step in at the least minute and serve as the best man at her wedding to John, Aiden agrees. Just from the opening conversation between you and Laura, it first seems that The Best Man is going to be one of those romantic comedy games where a nerdy guy goes on an everyday quest (like getting the wedding rings before the ceremony) and eventually “wins the girl.”

Instead, the game reveals that Aiden is not a reliable narrator. He spends a lot of time in a fantasy world, where he and Laura are together and have a beautiful future but actually, it’s obvious that Laura has never considered him to be anything more than just a friend. Aiden is so delusional and obsessive that, about halfway through the game, I wasn’t even sure that Laura had actually called him or that Laura even existed to begin with. The game itself features a lot of minor tasks that need to get done before the wedding but the fact that the whole thing might be in Aiden’s head adds a new wrinkle to the usual romantic comedy. Aiden may think about Laura abandoning her husband-to-be for him but the player knows that would be the worst thing that could happen. It takes courage to write a game where you actively root against the person you’re playing and considerable skill to actually make it work. Fortunately, Stephen Bond has both.

The Best Man is well-written with enough interesting details to make it worth replaying. The mix of dark comedy and disturbing drama really pays off,

Play The Best Man.

Music Video of the Day: Kid Blue by Louise Goffin (1979, directed by ????)

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 116 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.

The 97th video to premiere on MTV on its first day of broadcast was this video for Kid Blue by Louise Goffin. Goffin is the daughter of legendary singer/songwriter Carole King.

Enjoy!

The First Videos Shown on MTV:

Afraid of the Dark (1991, directed by Mark Peploe)

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

Lucas (Ben Keyworth) is an 11-year-old boy who lives in London and who enjoys watching the neighborhood through his telescope. Because Lucas’s mother is blind, Lucas is concerned that there is a serial killer who is going around and attacking blind women. Lucas is determined to help his father (James Fox), an inspector with Scotland Yard, capture the killer. Lucas starts to sneak out of the house, visiting cemeteries and spying on the same blind women that the killer is stalking. Investigating on his own, Lucas discovers who the killer might be.

Or does he?

Outside of the imaginary world where he spends most of his time, Lucas is a shy boy and his father is not a detective but instead a florist. While Lucas’s mother actually is blind, Lucas himself is starting to lose his eyesight as well. Lucas is scheduled to undergo an experimental surgery. He’s due to go under the knife, just as surely as the victims of the serial killer that he thinks he’s hunting. Meanwhile, his mother is pregnant and the increasingly unstable Lucas is both obsessed with his older stepsister and jealous of all the attention that his new baby sister is already getting.

Afraid of the Dark is a British psychological thriller that deserves to be better known. Intelligently written and directed Mark Peploe, it’s both a poignant and a frightening look at a child who, due to being forced to deal with something that few others can understand, has retreated so far into his own imaginary world (where he can be the hero) that he can no longer tell what is real and what isn’t. Lucas is both frightening and sympathetic and the movie will keep viewers guessing as to what is real and what isn’t. James Fox and Fanny Ardant are perfectly cast as Lucas’s parents and David Thewlis, Paul McGann, and Robert Stephens all make an impression as the men who Lucas investigates in his search for the serial killer. Tense, intelligent, and surprising, Afraid of the Dark is a film that is worth discovering.

Game Review: we, the remainder (2021, Charm Cochran)

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

we, the reminder is an entrant in 2021 Interactive Fiction competition. Browse and experience all of the games by clicking here.

Something has happened. Everyone that you ever knew, including your mother, vanished nearly a month ago. They went up into the air. You are alone in a dilapidated apartment building, confined to a wheelchair and running out of food. Through the living room window, you can see what appears to be a dead body on the street below. Go out into the hallway and you’ll discover the elevator is broken. The stairs are going to be a struggle to get down on your own. But it’s either that or starve to death. If you make it down the stairs, the world outside is a dangerous place and bad memories of your life in a religious cult are triggered. If you can find food, you’ll then be able to solve the mystery of where everyone has gone.

we, the remainder is a vividly written, horror and religious-themed Twine game, one that features a fair number of puzzles and which can be unforgiving if you don’t quickly figure out how to find food. (As I’ve said, puzzles are always my downfall when it comes to IF so I starved to death a few times.) Once you eat, though, the game is a rewarding exploration of a surreal but intriguing world. Play it, solve the mysteries, and be sure to keep a Bible nearby because having a working knowledge of the Book of Revelations will definitely help you out.

Play we, the remainder.

Music Video of the Day: Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper (1975, directed by Jorn Winther)

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the original horror rocker himself, Alice Cooper? Welcome To My Nightmare is one of Alice Cooper’s signature tunes and this early music video shows that, even before the advent of MTV, both Alice Cooper the singer and Alice Cooper the band understood the importance of matching the right image with the right song.

This video starts out with a Halloween-themed promo for MTV2. Obviously, that was not a part of the original video but it’s still pretty cool.

What I like about Alice Cooper is that once he gets off-stage, he’s just a normal, golf-playing suburbanite.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!