Thursday, February 14, 2013

About entertainment

Overall i feel like stable baseline happiness comes from doing good to other while unstable, very short and depressing mood comes from chasing intense entertainment. Postponing important things to have fun usually means distracted stressed attempt at having fun while catching up on responsibilities gives relief and peace of mind. Also chasing extreme joys often includes unpleasant selfish behavior towards others which adds guilt and willingness to drink or drug worries away. Problems about lifestyle are relatively obvious in case of those who try to forget about poverty and problems by getting very drunk or high.
I suspect if most people could remind their pasts then they'd feel better thinking about all the good they did to others compared to thinking back to all the parties and moments of intense pleasures (codeine with cannabis was my habit) that don't matter much after they passed. Mainly my addictions faded when i thought if i'd like to take these so much if i stopped celebrating moment of dosing. It's difficult to not get psychologically addicted if moment of taking drugs feels like something to be celebrated.
I have several memories of doing something i knew was good while i didn't feel good and thinking back to almost all of these days feels very pleasant with stable calm. Momentary feeling like discomfort or happiness fade fast while sense of being good is what adds happiness. Party time can feel hollow, depressing and embarrassing even if it was good at that day while boring or stressful work day could stay in memory as time where life was lived well and those moments bring happiness later on through almost any day. 

Comedy shows

Usually shows that i like get ~5 million viewers (viewers that help with ad revenues) or less while vague relationship shows (even with bad advice or ideas) get often 10+ million viewers. Seems like as long as show has some people trying to start or maintain relationships then they usually get relatively high number of viewers even if that includes partying in form of vandalism, yelling as proof of having fun and drinking so much they wake up next to people they didn't expect or know.  There are many TV tropes that are far in awful territory like for example making light of sex with strangers while blackout drunk. It's like fetal alcohol syndrome doesn't exist in their world and only normal babies are born after such pregnancies. That's more common in teen comedies like someone tried to indoctrinate them to consider sex during blackouts as something great that happy independent people practice.
Related to that self-destructive drinking culture i know habitual young drunks that consider party good when something extreme happens. For example i heard one enthusiastic drunk hear that some girl who partied fell due to drunkenness and broke her tooth and that guy ranted enthusiastically how good party they had there. Night before that day he had slept on streets as he didn't know city and that was apparently his favorite highlight that made him laugh the most. I bet such attitudes can be found globally.

Another type of show that could get 10+ mil viewers in usa sized country (probably works everywhere) would be something so dumb that even real life idiots would feel smart watching that and joking about in front of friends or acquaintances. This way they feel good while maybe inadvertently doing free advertising job. If they feel good about joking or complaining how dumb some show was then they could start watching this show so they'd have material to joke with people they consider friends (like variation of "play dumb to trap dumb people" tactic that hustlers use).

When it comes to comedy writing i think it would be good to take inspiration from real life. This way world around becomes one giant source of possible jokes. I think joking with social commentary is mostly fine unless it sounds angry or sad or otherwise unpleasant to constantly feel through episode. Emotional neutrality and boredom are relatively fine unless they don't have enough events or jokes to keep attention.

One such show is "Malcolm in the Middle" which i started watching this february so i still remember details. Often the plot is descriptive of likely real life problems that are could happen during growing up in families. For example 1st episode starting with kids being creeped out at parents being too causally nude in front of them (and in later episodes parents being disturbed by youngest kid being too casual about being naked in front of them). Their mother complains and yells over almost everything and kids remind that in defense while father allows kids to do almost anything. It probably wouldn't be nearly as funny show if father was almost constantly yelling and threatening at others with mother as the quiet cowardly parent. In that sense they chose more acceptable genders for jokes that are ok only under narrow condition like for example any example involving adults being flirty with underage people was when older woman flirted with boys.   
Common reasons for conflicts are arbitrary punishments, chaotic rules and kids thinking that angry parents are trying to unfairly punish them if parents have their own stressful worries and are more easily irritated. Similarly to real life kids there are obsessed with having fun whenever possible and can become angry if they don't get to have fun while parents who have few fun moments are obsessed with paying bills and avoiding expensive destruction that their kids cause. Both parents there have jobs they don't like but kids want jobs that would be pleasant. Father worked in office where bosses stole money and tried to frame it on father by pretending father character alone threatened bosses to make them steal. Mother works in shop where unpopular bosses act overly special and rules often include wasteful inefficient rituals while advice about faster methods can get employee in trouble. While kids often think their parents make rules to torture their parents often had reasons like poverty or trying to have rare fun moments they had to plan ahead weeks or months.
All kids in that show are rebellious and destructive but these 4 brothers have different age and behave bit differently. Youngest one cares mostly about toys, oldest one likes public pranks and being a rebel as matter of principle. 2 intermediate aged boys are often obsessed with girls but do different mistakes with them. One relationship got relatively far because one side (girl) decided to say out that she likes one of the brother. All brothers do mistake that their father mentions in relationship talk- when they like someone who doesn't like them back they become obsessed and start doing stupid stunts that make them look more idiotic and more isolated from girl. Father is usually smarter character but he was manipulated by fishing rod add that showed father and son fishing happily together. He started dreaming about fishing happily with son who didn't show interest but who decided not to say anything.
Most aggressive brother joins military at one point and likes it because as he said it when he decides something on his own (usually something stubbornly aggressive) then he gets in trouble but when he gets orders to  he doesn't get in trouble so he considered himself a happy "tool". Same character started cooking at some point and as almost only cooking advice he said fat is what makes food taste good.  
In 8th episode they illustrate pushy controllers who need to talk like they represent everyone in their group while they stay very negative about topics and opinions of others like a minidictator
that demands everyone follows her or they are to be isolated from others. In the show that minidictator losed her underlings when mother said what kind of control freak she was and when more timid ones started to talk up she proved that she was indeed hated control freak. In other episode mother lost job because dishonest boss wanted to take credit for her job and fire for dishonest reasons but mother got job back by mentioning all the negative things she knew about him so she got her job back.
Youngest kid thinking that because he doesn't get feelings hurt then hamsters brain
is too small to have hurt feelings.
That show avoided many common stupid lazy glitches in comedy shows. For example some shows insist on filling showtime with many uselessly repetitive awkward jokes where some unrealistically stupid idiot keeps misunderstanding something or repeating some statement maybe 10 or more times while other actors look depressed.
Some other shows make the mistake of having too cruel or depressing events for entertainment.

"Arrested development" is sort of transparent comedy series. Like title hints all characters seem to show some developmental backwardness. Most characters are from rich family and don't have to work and when they work they usually experiment with different jobs that don't succeed. In this way writers don't need to know how to do that job either and guess how their own amateurishness could fail when used by characters of show. Characters are often naive in all types of relationships and pampered differently. One problem that may have kept that show from more widespread popularity was frequent use of incest jokes as few are willing to get reputation of someone who jokes about incest among their co-workers, relatives or friends.  

I don't like the idea of becoming a comedian because it feels relatively hollow and useless to others lives compared to using show time for giving them as seriously helping skills as possible that they are likely to need (that thought distracts me almost every time i try to think of jokes). That's probably also reason why almost every comedian does some social commentary. It gives better sense of fulfillment but reckless use of such power can cause troubles. For example social commentators seem to often do the mistake of using some clip to go on about how someone in clip said something outrageous that was not seen or heard in previous clip like for example in Daily Show and Colbert Report (otherwise fine shows). Also Colbert has weird habit of pretending with serious face that every predicted doomsday prediction is correct.

Websites like 9gag and Reddit which have almost unlimited amount of authors are good for learning about what people think and believe. 9gag is fastest updating comedy source i know getting new image every few seconds and with millions of public readers. Sometimes they have obvious scams but commentators can say it and due to millions of readers it is very hard to censor these sites as very few dishonest organizations can make more lies than millions can correct. Some commentators even threaten to kill others to protect some violent political system but others feel confident enough to say what they want. Few tv shows could tolerate spreading truth if they got threatened often but such websites are almost immune to such manipulations due to millions of authors. Often i see comments that say stuff i believe but don't want to publicly mention and sites like that give some security from feeling this message is public anyway and i don't have to risk by saying these things myself.
Title: war never changes. Example of image that was on front page both in 9gag and Reddit. Reddit has threads for many topics and some include violent people mentioning why they behaved such way. Rapists and former school bullies have mentioned both that they thought what they did was some good fun or joking around and later when they started to understand what they caused they became very disturbed about it. This could also apply to other forms of sexual harassment including those within married couples where male side thinks it's funny and exciting.



About music

Through words songs tend to say things that would make listener feel good. For example praising listener or describing some pleasant scenes and situations. As downside this can be very exhausting for singer if words need to be said in very emotional tone and singer has to repeat that through tens or hundreds of concerts. This stress could lead to drug use so they could be happy and dreamy on schedule. 

ATB is one musician who has used some emotional lyrics with calmer almost neutral singing voice throughout his career. For example ATB- Black Nights.

Songs that rely more on absorbing listener with tune tend to use echoing sounds that create sense of large room. If roomy absorbing sense or lyrics keep attention then it can give listener goosebumps.

Kaskade & deadmau5 - I remember is example of song that grabs attention and absorbs listener by being almost instructional song about which lyrics keep attention. For example scenes of early morning or other periods that remind people of moods they get during night which can feel bit surreal anyway. Also song reminds to think how it was to listener while not trying to be specific with details that could vary between individuals. For example starting with mentioning dawn, then sense of falling asleep and add memories of love they are familiar with. Kaskade has habit of making songs with such self-aware psychological lyrics while deadmau5 is mainly done background sounds.
Lyrics of that song:
Feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin
Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on to let go

Add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep
Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go

Remember turning on the the night
And moving through the morning light
Remember how it was with you

Remember how you pulled me
Through, I remember
Remember how you pulled me
Through, I remember

Feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin
Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on to let go

Add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep
Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go

Remember how it was with you
Remember how you pulled me
Through I remember feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin

Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on to let go
Add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep

Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go
Remember turning on the the night
And moving through the morning light
Remember how it was with you

Remember how you pulled me
Through, I remember
Remember how you pulled me
Through, I remember 

Synthetic Epiphany is often involved in songs where lyrics could often be applied to everybody and their worries.
Synthetic Epiphany & CoMa - Beauty in Errors
So here we are again
Careful what you wish for
Cause you just might get it soon
And then you're dismayed
By the mess you've made
And what you can't undo
I told you so ...
I told you so...
I told you go ...
I told you no...

(Everything you wanted now you...)
(so here we are again...)
I'm not cleaning after you...

I followed the current. I was silent, attentive, I made a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand, and perform the millions of gestures that constitute life on earth. I studied these gestures until they became reflexes again. But I was haunted by the idea that I remembered him wrong, and somehow I was wrong about everything...
Synthetic Epiphany Feat. CoMa - Perpetuate
Did you tell them what they want to hear
Just to keep them all away
You paint yourself as so sincere
As you look the other way

Is the face as I remember you my dear
Just another fake facade
Are the words that I remember oh so clear
Just another side you've got

Standing in your shadow
Standing in your shadow

Darling, I'm so sorry my words finally broke the charm .... it was just a picture cut from the framework of some dead moment.
And I'm sorry you thought me so confident and witty, you must know now that I'm just another flesh of generic brand. 
And one day I promise you will know
When I forget to feel this way
But if I can never let you go
What are you wanting me to say

I hate the lies, and that you grin
As they slip out of your mouth
No matter how politely they are said
I know what you are on about 
 
LOU REED "Perfect Day"

Just a perfect day
Drink sangria in the park
And then later, when it gets dark
We go home

Just a perfect day
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later a movie, too
And then home

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on

Just a perfect day
Problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
It's such fun

Just a perfect day
You made me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
Someone good

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on

You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
 
Computer games

I think i've always considered games more absorbing than movies about made up world with simplistic story that takes itself too seriously on bullshit areas.
Like those who want to mess with heads of viewers/gamers prefer to get job in game companies
instead of movie companies. For example Portal series with main opponents keeps messing with player with words.
Many games have tried to create absorbing atmosphere with
impressive sights, events, opportunities and mindgames often mixed with comments that game
characters know it a game.

Strategy games seem to be heavily inspired by militaristic attitudes that look eerily  similar to real life strategies in real wars. For example in some strategy games like in Civilization series riots can be solved by having military in those cities or by letting them starve until population falls below some limit (high population is common source of riots in these games unlike starving). Real sieges have involved attempts to take over places by stopping supply lines and waiting people to surrender to those who starve them. Another common strategy game attribute is that people can be killed without any rioting or even any criticism from enemies. Computer opponents could declare war for not paying loan and if they had nukes they'd probably use it in 1st opportunity no matter how trivial reason that war had. 
  
Almost all shooting games have very reckless weak opponents that somehow keep running towards player even if it has huge weapon and other one has stick (like in Fallout with mininuke gun not scaring any stick wielding opponent and escaping usually happening after certain amount of damage).

Some games can be entertaining by weird physics and opportunities. GTA San Andreas was only game that gave me weird nostalgia towards cities that inspired in game locations like San Fransisco with much of California's landscape and locations condensed into one large map plus in this game player could wear gimp suit and use dildo as weapon among other optional style choices. Also this game partially entertained by making character invulnerable while they were in cars or on bikes while falling. For example taking shortcut of falling ~50 meters was fine as only car was likely to be damaged. Even bikes and tricycles gave that protection so i used it sometimes to jump of highest mountain in game and still landed safely as long i didn't get off bike before landing. Saints Row series that has had similar chaotic wild style seemed to use that protective from falls effect of vehicles into part of "air steelport" mission.Saints row is one of the games that isn't clingy about its self importance making it easier to watch.


3.3.2014 update

One depressing consistent sight i noticed after 9/11 was that media companies responded like they all got some memo to create more tensions and horrible behavior among people. I was surprised that fox used to have sort of friendly show like "Malcolm in middle" which got canceled and replaced by way worse shows although even MIM gave bad examples by showing reckless impulsive damaging fun that poor parents have to pay for over and over as kids refuse to consider how parents suffer. After 9/11 a typical example and good example of newer zeitgeist of fox and other companies would be "always sunny in Philadelphia" where all main characters are horrible to everyone including using threats of murder even when trying to find sex partners but usually some improbable event happens to avoid turning main character into definite sex criminal. CBS started showing "how i met your mother" where main character uses shitty tactics to have sex with many women including lying and exploiting women too drunk to stay awake as some fun sitcom. Audience laughs and claps when using those same rapist tactics like it's some good fun teens can watch.
Like central doctrine became for all channels to use these shows to make people enjoy being awful to each other so war industry would have less resistance. This has removed my motivation to try write entertainment show as i would need to consider show must have many bad behaviors interconnected to "story" and at same time writer has to tolerate idea of making people eager to fuck their lives up by being hostile, having messed up relationships where females are insulted and while women can't have multiple partners the males apparently should have many partners, getting drunk or drugged enough to be useless and incapable of dealing with their problems or like sleep deprivation (also like it's fun to not let other people sleep) that makes them too exhausted to seem/be smart and emotional to improve society. Maybe sad clown nowadays can also mean comedians that are depressed for knowing they are doing that to viewers but no other way to be employed in this business.