Solace in the Dregs
blub blub there I am submerged in the bottle
club dub sinkin' in last licks kicks full throttle
lost lights keep me hidden in the shadow
in the back
lost fights good riddance to the battle
left a crack
in everything there's a turn, there's a twist, there's a riddle
I'm marrying the heart burn, the last kiss, right there in the middle
of my time tick-tock sticker shock now I see it
that rhyme sonar chime in a line how I flee it
on my heels double time chop chop
reaching out in three D
how it feels troubled mind pop pop
screeching mouth it's greedy
so it's dodge, dip, dash, oh no don't wanna die
where to lodge, flip, crash, uh so I'm gonna hide
it ain't far - it is here right in my own hand
at the bar, which is clear is now my homeland
my glass tower always nears
at last cowering in tears
three quarters of a liter and I'm at the bottom
free from the fears and the source that I got em
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Posted on Roger Ebert's blog:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2011/04/video-games-are-art.html
As an exceptionally terrible artist, I have had this argument gestating in me for some time now, even before Mr. Ebert threw his hat into the arena. It's my belief that all art is an attempt at communication and in particular communicating emotions. Without emotion, a novel becomes a textbook. Without emotion, a photo becomes a visual record. Without emotion, a dance becomes a physical routine. It is the evocation of the art that defines it, not the medium. In this respect, the difference between Jackson Pollock's works and every house painters tarp is made manifest.
Naturally, one can find emotion or be affected emotionally by almost anything. Some are driven to great passion by textbooks, as are others to encyclopedic pictures, or still others to the routine movements of crowds. What makes Koyaanisqatsi different from the background of your local daily newscast is the existence of a creator expressing their communication with intent. Spilled paint may be beautiful, but it requires a feeling mind to take that result and give it the intention art requires.
The intention of communicating emotion is what defines an artist, and the impact of evoking emotion is what makes a successful artist. Note that the the intended emotion may not be the evoked response, however there are ample examples of artists who have thrived without ever successfully conveying their emotions as they intended. I believe most artists find it sufficient to be experienced, to be heard so to speak, as their urge to create is often more compulsion than desire.
It's from this perspective I've always felt that video games have been an obvious medium for art, no different from a stage or a canvas or a camera. The expression may be as simple as "have fun" or it may be as complex as "what changes the nature of a man?" (hat tip: Planescape: Torment.) It may serve to only delight, as with Katamari, or to terrify, Amnesia: Dark Descent, or to evoke a feeling of family or kinship, World of Warcraft, or to take the player on a journey through their own imagination, too many games to count.
In one of his many retorts on this topic, Ebert wrote "Art seeks to lead you to an inevitable conclusion, not a smorgasbord of choices." Oh really? I suspect that assertion would not survive even a cursory analysis through his own formidable movie watching experiences. Every movie intended to lead to one single conclusion? Every moviemaker had their movie interpreted exactly as they intended? Really? Isn't it the flexibility of the film's construction what makes it breathe? He must be painfully tired of the Economy of Characters and the Gun on the Mantle by now, along with countless other "inevitabilities" locked in film amber. The claim itself imprisons the audience as it exalts the artist.
It seems to me that as Mr. Ebert becomes more exposed to this art form, he seems to inch closer to finding his own value as interpreter not for others passive enjoyment of his specialization but for his own active enjoyment of a new art form that cannot be, cannot exist, without his active engagement. I would urge him to greater exposure not to prove anything to anyone, but to bring the love he obviously has for savoring art to an environment that for once will allow his necessarily calcified perspective to become limber through interactivity.
Isn't it about time to take that gun off the mantle - and NOT use it?