Finn Miles is playing a series of house-shows across Iowa, and since they’re held in private homes I can’t invite you all.
However, I can tell you that:
1. You can book your very own house show. We’ll tell you how it works. (contact us at finnmiles@finnmiles.com)
2. If you really want to get invited to a house show…like the one we’re holding on June 5th in Des Moines, IA I may be able to get you onto the VIP guest list…if you promise to be good.
if not, you’ll just have to be satisfied to sit at home and watch old Finn Miles footage from past shows.
TIGJam Midwest is an indie game jam where creatives – programmers, hackers, designers, artists, or musicians – get together and make videogames in a weekend. For those who aren’t familiar with game jams, they’re similar to events like the 48 Hour Film Project or Startup Weekend. It’s called TIGJam because our group is part of the TIGSource community, which is a developer community for indie games.
Our game jams usually have a theme, and TIGJam Midwest’s theme this year is “proverbs,” proposed by Mark Doeden of 8monkey Labs. Participants will form teams, choose a specific proverb from a culture of their choice, and develop a game based on it. There could be games based on Chinese Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Christian proverbs, or more obscure cultures or religions.
The local community is encouraged to attend the show & tell at Impromptu Studio at 3pm-8pm on Sunday, where they will experience the games and meet local game developers. These won’t be your usual space marine shooters; expect raw and barely-finished games that explore satirical, brand new, or meaningful territory.
A couple other exciting things are in the works. Alec Holowka of Aquaria fame will be giving a keynote Friday at 7pm. Venom is providing free energy drinks, there could be a visit from Senator Jack Hatch to express his support of creative endeavors like this, and there are rumors of drink specials next door at the Des Moines Social Club. Finally, barring some catastrophy, there should be free catered food the whole weekend. Expect one or two other exciting things to get finalized closer to the event.
Some of you know Finn Miles is related to the fantastic “Nothin’ but Dylan” and what better opportunity to see both bands as well as scads of others in Dubuque, IA at BOBFEST! We’ll all be covering Bob Dylans songs – expect old favorites as well as rare B-sides and unreleased songs.
We pulled out the art supplies and before we knew it pipe cleaner art was everywhere! It turns out that the guys from Why Make Clocks are quite the artists (Pac Man, Star Wars, and other creative elements were bent and formulated by WMC). Also, if you haven’t heard Why Make Clocks plan an acoustic set you’re really missing out; their songs shine in an intimate setting like the Mars Cafe.
Also, congratulations to H. Dustin Harmsen of the Atudes on a wildly successful opening acoustic set, as well as the Atudes CD release…which is tonight!
In case you’re wondering where this is going, my answer is going to be the “unnamed medium” that I’ve referred to in the previous post. Just so I have my cards on the table, as a friend would say.
This post is part of a series: “unfinished posts I wrote a year ago that are collecting dust on my hard drive.” Most of them are about videogames and/or storytelling from an artistic perspective. I’ve been waiting for certain points where I’d be inspired enough to dig them up, and a recent article by Ian Bogost about Heavy Rain and how it relates to cinema inspired me to dig this one up. You should check it out. I realized something new while writing this though, so now I’m comfortable with it being out there.
In that post, I was writing about storytelling, and I tried to think of artistic mediums. I realized they could only be understood by what made them distinct. I’m probably not doing any of these the justice they deserve, but hopefully this will make the point.
Live roleplaying – dynamic, three-dimensional, using live actors playing roles in a defined space
Token-based roleplaying – dynamic, three-dimensional, using tokens playing roles in a defined space
Literature – static, two-dimensional, using written or printed language arranged on sheets of a semi-permanent surface
Painting – static, two-dimensional, using a single image represented by the placement of colored pigments on a surface
Photography – static, two-dimensional, using a single image of a real-life scene captured by a camera obscura and transferred to light-sensitive paper
Film – dynamic, two-dimensional, using a sequence of images and audio of a real-life scene captured by a camera obscura, cut into a linear series of arranged segments, and presented on a screen
Animation – dynamic, two-dimensional, using a sequence of images represented by the placement of colored pigments on surfaces, cut into a linear series of arranged segments, and presented on a screen
?? – dynamic, two-dimensional, using a sequence of images and audio stored on a computer, programmed into an interactive system, presented on a screen
As you can see, artistic mediums are technological in nature in the sense that the technology being used (or not used) defines the medium. For each of these, you will want to artistically use one of those properties in order to create an artistic experience through that medium. With literature, you’ll want to use language, arrange the language, or use the paper in some artistic way. With film, you’ll want the scene, the capturing of the scene, the arrangement of the segments, or the presenting of the images on a screen to be artistic.
None of these mediums have any mention of storytelling or games because both of these are completely abstract structures for meaning. They don’t rely on technology at all; they’re basically systems created by thought. Therefore, in order to be expressed in a way that can be artistic, a story or a game must be presented through a medium. Storytelling presented through live roleplaying gives you theatre. Games presented through token-based roleplaying gives you board games. Storytelling presented through painting (or drawing) gives you graphic novels.
That means videogames are games that are presented through the last medium. And what makes them distinct is that medium. It’s based on an interactive system that is virtual (computer-based) and fictional (artistic, not functional). EA probably put it most concisely in the manifesto promoting their indie game collective, calling it “software art.”
To bring it back around to Ian’s article, he was suggesting that in the same way film has editing at its core, videogames might have extension or prolonging at its core, which is basically the opposite of film. And after looking at what makes videogames unique, I can see how that could be true in part. Because videogames have at their core a computer, and computers are good at simulating, so they could be more about continuity than the breaking up of continuity.
However, I think a better way to put it might be that the use of editing is at the core of film, as opposed to the use of fast editing. In the same way, the use of simulations would be at the core of videogames, as opposed to the use of continuous simulations.
A few weeks ago I randomly followed up on a call for band submissions for review on a songwriter’s website. Usually these kinds of things end up being scams or bunk so I shot an email to the contact person and thought little of it.
It turns out the blog “Music Gems” that I submitted to is run by Louse, a talented singer/songwriter, writer, and well spoken person.
I answered her few questions as honestly as I could, and the culminating review well defined all I have been trying to communicate the last few years under the Finn Miles moniker.
I suggest that if you want a warm, fuzzy feeling and an excellent synopsis of Finn Miles music you hurry your eyeballs right HERE.
