Zeitgeist Movement & Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Purity First trailer

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I recently watched all three of the Zeitgeist: The Movie, Zeitgeist: Addendum, and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward.

It’s impossible not to care about the issues discussed in the films, especially in many ways, I felt like the films were preaching to the choir on my end. (I’m mostly talking about the second and third films, not the first film, which was really just the ranting of a conspiracy theorist. Starting from the second film, the whole thing became much more goal oriented and organized, searching for actual solutions to the ongoing problems of human civilization.)

I’m one of those people that have always felt there are some thing about our society and civilization as a whole that’s fundamentally wrong, but because of the momentum of historical developments of our cultures, we are helpless being carried in a set direction as if we’re on a speeding train and cannot change course.

During some parts of the documentaries, my heart stopped because the very same issues being brought up were the same ones I’ve been writing about in one of my novels–the disappointment in our governments, religion, monetary system, wasteful use of energy, the entire human civilization and societal structure in general–it was like my mind was being read and played out on the screen. The feeling is both exciting and depressing at the same time.

In past interviews, author William Gibson said that when he watched Bladerunner for the first time, he was thrilled but also depressed, because he was writing Neuromancer at the time, and Bladerunner looked exactly like what he envisioned in his head. Someone else had beat him to that cyberpunk vision of the near future, and he almost gave up on finishing Neuromancer. Good thing he didn’t because it became an instant classic and elevated Gibson to the highest rank of sci-fi authors immediately.

I guess that means I should finish my novel no matter what.

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I don’t know about other writers, but it’s impossible for me to just forge ahead and finish the entire first draft, and then go back and do extensive revisions and rewrites. I have this habit of starting a new writing session by reading what I wrote in the previous session, and sometimes going back all the way from the beginning and re-read the whole thing to look for problems. I always find something I don’t like and would make changes before moving on to writing any new material. So technically, I’m always in the middle of writing, revision, and rewriting, all at the same time.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do this, as it depends on your personality and creative workflow. The fact I always have an outline of all the events that are suppose to happen in the story, a list of motifs and themes I want to convey, and important dramatic scenes, I never stray too far from that main path, and I think that’s enough to keep me on track, no matter what writing workflow I use.

Part of the reason why I can’t just write and then worry about revisions and rewrites later is that I must read what I wrote in the previous session in order to get into the mood, as well as for the sake of continuity in tone and style. If what I read from the previous session isn’t compelling and inspiring, then I simply cannot move forward until I make it compelling and inspiring. I guess you could say that in a way, I must be impressed by my own writing in order to want to continue, or else it just feels like I’m allowing myself to put mediocrity onto the page, and mediocrity just isn’t very inspiring.

I have tried to just forge ahead in the past, and it just didn’t work for me. I was unhappy because even though I move much faster that way, it just lead to a bunch of substandard writing that I can’t bear to read. In the grand scheme of things, I think doing massive revisions and rewrites is harder to manage than doing incremental ones as you write. It probably doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me currently, and I’ll likely stick to it until I discover a better workflow.

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The Purity First trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution is by far one of the most emotionally powerful game trailers I’ve ever seen. Many people commented that it’s brilliant as a movie trailer too, if such a movie existed. It would make perfect sense to me if we see a feature film adaptation of Deus Ex somewhere in the future, and I could totally imagine someone like Alfonso Cuarón directing it.

I was struck by how similar the Purity First trailer is in tone and style to the Zeitgeist Movement documentary movies. I would not be surprised at all if the people behind the trailer have seen the Zeitgeist Movement documentaries and were inspired by them.

While I did play the first two Deus Ex games, neither compelled me to want to finish them. They always lagged at some point with slow pacing and meandering plot lines. I like the premise of the stories, but the execution just isn’t that exciting as games. Hopefully the third installment will be different. From the looks of things, it probably will be.

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Quickie movie/TV reviews:

Burn Notice (season four) – I keep telling myself I should stop watching this series because it gets formulaic sometimes, and I dislike the standalone episodes format because they aren’t as engaging as a strictly continuing storyline without constant detours. But I keep watching because the season finales are always pretty exciting, and I’ve always liked all that spy vs. special forces stuff (big Jason Bourne fan here). I guess I’ll likely watch season five too when it comes out.

With each season, Burn Notice gets bigger in scale, involves more characters, and I guess that means each season is a little bit more exciting than the previous season.

For some reason, I keep thinking that eventually, maybe in the series finale, we’ll see a lot of the people Michael had previously helped actually banding together and returning the favor–likely saving his life in the process. It would be a very satisfying finale I think, to see karma playing out.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – The critics loved this film, but I found it a bit overrated. I like the premise and the actors, but somehow when all the pieces are put together, it felt somewhat contrived as it tries too hard to be edgy. It had the opposite problem of The Animal Kingdom–a film that I felt was a bit lackluster in its direction. These two films should have exchanged directors, and both films might been the better for it.

Blue Valentine – I’ve grown to like Michelle Williams a lot over the years. I thought she was pretty good in Dawson’s Creek all those years ago, and she seemed to be a more mature actor than the rest of the cast, but it wasn’t until Broke Back Mountain did I notice her real potential. She’s so good at playing someone who’s broken, and I think it’s partly because that’s part of her true personality as a person. She’s mentioned in interviews that she doesn’t cope well with all the crap that happens in her life and the entertainment industry in general. That kind of uncomfortable vulnerability is what shines through in her acting I think.

Blue Valentine was very difficult to watch during some scenes, because most of us know intimately what it feels like to be rejected by the person you love, and those scenes were just painful. If you don’t mind the pain, it’s a good film about how people fall out of love during the course of a marriage, and how heartbreaking it is when you contrast it against how they fell in love in the first place.

The Green Mile – Took me all these years to finally watch this film from beginning to end. While I liked the premise and the style, I think it’s far too long and could have been edited down by 1/3 in length and still retain its emotional resonance. In comparison, Shawshank Redemption was a much better film by the same director.