ASCII by Jason Scott

Keep on Keeping On

My friend Charlie officially announced he was sick of me showing people cool new stuff I'd downloaded at my editing station in my office. It's a nice editing station, a nice office and (often enough) really cool stuff, but any more than two people and you just can't see the screens. "Get this stuff on your TV", he said.

Quick research found that I could head on down to Best Buy, buy a device called a DN191H, and fix the problem immediately. The DN191H is a progressive-scan DVD player that plays a massive range of data, from DVD-Rs full of JPEGs all the way up through regular DVDs and VCDs and CDs and what have you. It also has a "14 in 2" card slot, which means i can take a CompactFlash card from my PC, load it up with anime fansubs I've downloaded from somewhere or another, and take this little card with me over to the living room and watch all of the episodes I want as if they were DVDs. And then bring the card back and re-use it again, so I don't have piles of one-time DVDs sitting around like crack vials.

Again: I can now blow an entire season of TV episodes into a card roughly the size of a matchbook in just a couple minutes and then watch it on my big screen TV in the other room. I can take this matchbook over to a friend's house (turns out a mutual friend of mine and Charlie's, Keith, ALSO bought a similar model), play what we brought over, and then trade cards, so we can each bring our stuff back and copy it on our computers or what have you.

Oh, and the DN191H cost me $99.

I dropped out of the day-to-day "!!!!OH MY GOD!!!" world of "copyfighting" for two main reasons. The first is that I am one of the more fanatical collectors of old data and just that project is taking most of my time and effort. Statistically, few others are undertaking this effort. So this is a good division of labor and it's the only way my stuff will stay updated like it is.

But the second is that if you look at things historically, especially in this country, we just aren't very good at closing pandora boxes. Once people see something they really dig, especially if that something is a process or tool, we kind of keep demanding it and other people will bore through concrete walls with their teeth to sell it to us.

I appreciate the fighting that goes on, where there's constant threat that it all will be taken away from us if we don't stand and deliver but that is often a young man's game and sadly I am no longer a young man. I'm a methodical misanthrope sorting through piles of history, and when I harangue, I just sound bitter.

But what I also see is that if you look at stuff, it's often not a case of "they" took away our "right" to do something... it was that the something (more often than not) was prone to kill people (flying cars and personal storage of dynamite comes to mind), was stupid or overtaken with better models (subscription-based milk delivery) or just technologically made obsolete (a block of ice in the basement, a constantly stoked fire in the living room).

No doubt there are definitely some cases of insane laws or overzealous legislative assery getting in the way of progress, happiness or liberty (I've lived under blue laws for nearly 20 years now) but again, if there's enough people that want "it", they're going to get "it".

Every time a company bends over for some bit of idiocy and removes a product from the shelves that people want, there are a dozen happy companies that are made up of 5 guys in a room who are more than happy to sink their life savings to sell you what you wanted back again. And forget companies, people will do it.

Complacency is one thing; the constant assumption that the world will serve you comfortably and that you will always get exactly what you want and when you want it, is a function of the parts of the world where dirt isn't a vital part of your diet. And it doesn't just happen that way, either; there's bumps, there's outages. The new thing is often made of plastic and kind of predictable, where the old thing was made of metal and much cooler. That definitely happens. But more often than not, the plastic thing gets to the core of what you want.

If it sounds like I'm the old guy in front of his TV saying that on the whole, life is pretty good, I am likely being that very thing. Make no mistake, you can hear me rail and take action in a hundred different venues. But sometimes, every once in a while, it's good to take a deep breath and marvel that, ultimately, you're breathing.

And that I can fit an entire season of Ōran Kōkō Hosuto Kurabu on a matchbook.

Looking Ahead: DVD Formats

Well, I'm sure all the parties involved were quaking in their boots to find out which side Bovine Ignition Systems was going to come down on, but after spending some time on the issue, I'm going to cautiously throw my support behind HD DVD as the likely format my next two movies will be produced for.

There are a number of reasons behind this, most prominent that I hate Sony and Blu-ray is basically Sony's format, while HD DVD is basically Toshiba's. Just knowing Sony got its hands all over Blu-ray makes me shove it into something burning and run away. It's worth noting, however, that Sony was also on the steering committee for HD DVD as well. This follows with the second part of my "fuck Sony" outlook, which is that Sony plays every side and backs every horse, even when it screws Sony. If that sounds unlikely, it really isn't; Sony will work at cross-purposes to meet any potential economic advantage it can in every situation. That said, HD DVD appears to have only gotten a small amount of Sony grease on it.

As a filmmaker who puts out his own crap on his own terms, my main point of view with a format is: How quickly and easily can I strip all limitations out of the format and leave the most up to the people who have bought my stuff?

I realize this is not the majority view of most filmmakers or studios in regard to a format; they want to know how much it would cost to make it so the players actually reach out and hold children hostage until the studio is sent $15 for each play of the DVD. In fact, the big concern would rest with whether it should be $15 or $30 or a per-seat license.

Anyway, enough hammering. The point is, I don't care about copy protection and I certainly don't care about setting up the disc to be obfuscating to the end-user. That means no footage you can't get out of (do you really need to be forced to see the full 10-second logo of the studio every time? You'll see it enough as it is), and making full use of cool features that you can also turn off. (Menus shouldn't really have background music, but playing a song could be a cool option elsewhere, if the person chooses).

Both Blu-ray and HD DVD come with AACS, which is the new "we promise nobody will snap it in half" version of CSS,which was the copy-protection they promised nobody would snap in half and which was snapped in half. All I care about is I can shut it off. There's this astoundingly vicious thing called "down-sampling", where the studios can choose to force the player under certain circumstances to play the footage at a reduced rate. I will not choose to force the player under certain circumstances to do anything you don't want it to.

Blu-ray then goes on to clock on another bunch of stuff, including a watermarking technology they promise you won't be able to hear in the disc. They also claim this watermark won't be removable. Of course it'll be removable. And not content with AACS, they also add the BD+ copy protection format, because nothing's better than having six bouncers at the door instead of one; no chance for confusion or issues there! Either way, combined with the rest of the crap it sticks on the disc, it's a loss.

It is also apparent that AACS will give the option of a computer/player "phoning home" if so chosen, so verify you got a good copy. Fuck that right in the ear. I will never do that, either.

Am I starting to sound repetitive? Likely. Let me move forward into the rough plans for my work.

At the rate I'm filming/doing things, it looks like GET LAMP is looking at an early 2008 release on whatever format I choose. Obviously a lot can go weird during the next year, but I expect this to be the case. I am assuming for the moment it will be two DVDesque things in a nice package. I've potentially lined up a jaw-dropping package artist. I know it sounds weird to talk this way after only a dozen interviews, but you have to if your final work is going to look good. If I layer it out, it can potentially add years.

Assuming they have the HD DVD ducks in a row, I'll again go with Bullseye Disc. I love those people. I finally met them in person this past July and had a great time hanging out with Curtis, Shelby and the rest of the gang. Curtis has his Apple II disc collection on-site. Who the hell else does that? I'm sticking with them.

HD DVD also has this neat other feature that I'm likely to go with, even if it means no disc art: dual-format discs. You can actually have one side be HD DVD and the other regular DVD, so that you can take GET LAMP to a friend's house and pop it in, and still get stuff. I like that a lot, even if it means twice the authoring work.

The previous documentary was Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0. The next ones will likely be Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5. This "Non-Commercial" bit relates to the fact that I'm bringing in more "name" people and they need something that doesn't have my documentary packaging going "and please make money off this as well", since some of them are making money off what they'll have me do. This mostly centers around the music, by the way.

So there we go. I'd tell you to throw your Playstation 3 plans into the garbage after this, but the fact is, they'll be able to play DVDs, and I intend to be compatible with DVDs! Everyone wins! Well, except for people who think Blu-ray's the way to go.

Another Satisfied Customer

Actual real content from me shortly. I have about 4 articles in mid-workover, and yes, I really do write articles/essays that aren't stream of consciousness. But this little exchange is hard to pass up sharing. Note that we're discussing a file on textfiles.com, and I'm wondering if I'm wearing a little glowy green uniform with a funny hat and a nametag.

P.S. Don't drink nicotine.

Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:42:33 +1030
From: Jen _
To: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: please help

I was just wondering if you could help me a bit.

This is from the nicotine file of the anarchy thing, on your website. Make sense?

"Just collect a handful of cigarette butts and strip the paper from them, if you are a neat person. Soak them for several hours, if possible, in water."

And what do you do after that? Do you have to boil the water to then get the nicotine out? Or can you just drink the water?

Please help.

Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 01:22:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason Scott
To: Jen _
Cc: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: Re: please help

Follow nothing from any file.

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:31:23 +1030
From: Jen _
To: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: Re: please help

Why? What does it matter what I do, you don't even know me.

Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:23:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason Scott
To: Jen _
Subject: Re: please help

Why does it matter what my opinion on the file is and what you need to do with it? You don't even know me.

Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:29:50 +1030
From: Jen _
To: jason@textfiles.com
Subject: Re: please help

I don't think I ever said it mattered what your opinion of the file was. I just asked you what happened in the next bit of it.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wikipedia Criticism for Dummies in a Nutshell in 24 Hours or 21 Days Unleashed

With my general articles, talks and whatnot about Wikipedia now in the two-years-old stage, I've had a lot of chance to get feedback and to go out and look up my name and find commentary about it. The ones that fell into the "read, comprehended, responded" approach often got mail from me. The ones that fell into the "appear to have read it while watching anime in the other window on the desktop" have generally been ignored by me, with a few exceptions that I'll no doubt regret when I'm 40.

But beyond that, there's a whole bunch of discussions where someone goes "Wikipedia, yay", then someone goes "Wait, read Jason's stuff" and then the first person goes 'Ewww, words'. I sympathize with this, as I was once the same way. Granted, I was two, but regardless, I'm there with you. With a lot of stuff up on the internet in the form of long-winded articles, you have to invest a lot of time and at the end your head is swimming even if you sort of knew the subject. And the result of all that hard work might be that it sucks!

To that end, I'm putting in this article what I think are the five most common reactions/"debates" about Wikipedia I see, and that way in the future people can point to this article and then my other stuff if the pointed-out-for-them person in question says "tell me more". Otherwise, they get the point and go.

When I use Wikipedia, I go to an article, read it, and it seems pretty on the money. I get the info, and go! It works! I don't see what your problem is with it.

If you walk outside your room, stop three random people you've never talked to before, and ask them all the same question, chances are you will get some information from them as well. Luck, opportunity and the nature of your question will have an influence on this, but you'd be foolish to think the answer was definitive or adequate compared to primary sources or actual reference material. And the three people you asked (Three People-ia) would be deluding themselves if they were sure they'd be a definitive source on the subject, too. But on Wikipedia, this very thing happens, and happens often. I do not doubt that you will get a decent enough answer, especially if it's general (who is buried in Grant's Tomb, who wrote Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) but you are relying on an enormous amount of luck and you are settling for the lowest common denominator. But hey, the Weekly World News sells hundreds of thousands of copies a week, so there you go.

Nature did a study in which they showed Wikipedia is less inaccurate than the Encyclopedia Britiannica! Look, I have a weblink and everything.

I wish people would stop quoting that study like it proves a whole lot. It looked at forty-two (42) articles out of a total of roughly 700,000 available, truncated articles on both sides to "anonymize" them, introduced errors of its own, won't let people see the original data in full, and groups minor, major, and debatable errors together. Naturally, when Britannica pointed all this out in a three-month researched response, people went "of course they're lying", but then again, these are people who don't read, like you, hence you're reading this. Since you like to trust things, like Wikipedia, trust me: it's a suck-ass study. Maybe someone will do a better one someday. But stop quoting that one.

It's Just Wikipedia. People know what they're getting, and I promise to take the result with a grain of salt and be very careful, and look both ways when I cross the street.

I applaud your good intentions, but it is now (August, 2006) to the point that Wikified information (and by that I mean pulped, blended, realigned and dessicated grab-bags of facts presented as pseudo-essays shot through ad-hoc committees) are now the first google hit for most proper and non-proper nouns, verbs, and are getting quoted without attribution everywhere. This is quite understandable, since the information is freely available and easily available besides. But now it's showing up in school reports, websites like answers.com, and particularly unethical newspapers. So it's not just a case of figuring out that Bamboo isn't the capital of Maine; it's that you will see Bamboo quoted as the capital of Maine more and more over time. Legislative decisions are being made based on Wikipedia articles. Medical decisions are being made based on Wikipedia articles. So it's not "just" Wikipedia. That's why I care enough to have written all I have.

Why do you hate Wikipedia so much and want it to be destroyed?

I don't think any critic of Wikipedia wants it destroyed or to go away; that's quite impossible at the moment. But there are policies, rules and design flaws in Wikipedia that could be changed and improve some of its worst bits, and over time it could go from wildly unpredictable to something that could be considered either reliable or dependably semi-reliable. Wikipedia has been doing this to itself over time, usually by top-down decisions that change its nature that cause a big uproar and then get accepted. And some of these changes came as a result of criticism. You're welcome.

Even though I agree with you about what you say about Wikipedia, I just can't stop using it! It's so useful and really, at the end of the day, it gives me what I need! Why worry yourself over it that much?

I like people like you, because when I go to Las Vegas every year, I know that it was your hard-work and persistance to avoid ultimately accepting logical conclusions that make the lobbies so nice and give me free drinks while I play hold-em with my friends.

Dollar hold-em.

The Pinball Hall of Fame Needs You

Permit me the indulgence of imploring the world to go play some games.

As mentioned previously, I have been working on a second documentary besides the text adventure movie GET LAMP. This second one is about arcades and is called Arcade: The Documentary.

My travels took me through Seattle (where I interviewed a developer of MAME, the Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator, as well as a refined collector of video games) and now place me in Las Vegas for the DEFCON convention (I am not speaking this year) and allow me to relax.

However.

I found out a while ago that Las Vegas is home to a special place, the Pinball Hall of Fame. I assumed, like one might, that this Pinball Hall of Fame was a fixture in Las Vegas, kind of like a famous restaurant in a city or a beloved park in a state. A long-standing entity that has always been there, has ups and downs, but is there like an old friend when you find the time to show up again.

This is not the case.

The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas has only come into the world this year. It is the work of a number of people but primarily Tim Arnold, a fervent collector of pinball machines who has been credited with having nearly 1,000 in various states, but with over 400 in good shape. He's had this collection for decades, having been an arcade operator or involved with them about as long as I've been alive.

His dream was to have a place loaded with pinball machines, a museum where you could both see these artifacts of the latter half of the 20th century but also be able to play them. And not just play them, play them at the original prices and have a great time.

Currently, that dream has come true. Here are screengrabs from video I shot today with Mr. Arnold's permission:

If you like that shot, I have a collection of additional ones (that will load very slowly, sorry about that) at this page. (When I'm further along with the project, it'll be moved to faster hosting, but for now, it's in my basement)

These are, to me, beautiful, exciting screenshots, and they tell me I'm going to enjoy making this documentary. But they're also a warning, and they're also an important thing I must say.

The Pinball Hall of Fame needs more players.

This is a registered non-profit, who incur thousands of dollars in rent and utility bills (these are a lot of machines to have in one place and all are turned on), and who get their funding though people playing these games.

There is no reason this place shouldn't be packed, filled with people playing these old classics, trying out games they've never seen before, learning and having fun at the same time. I spent hours there today, setting up these shots and playing the games myself. I thought I knew a lot about pinball. I knew one half of butt-all. I saw companies and machines I'd never heard of. I took copious notes as I shot the videos, and I have a lot of research to do as a result of a mere evening.

This jewel, this shrine of pinball was mostly empty this Wednesday day. In Las Vegas. That's somewhat inexcusable.

Right now, people my age who played pinball throughout their youth, who would stumble a little walking into the Pinball Hall of Fame, are downstairs in this hotel jamming $20 on red and pressing the little start button on the slots, over and over, eyes fuzzed over.

The Pinball HOF is off the strip, to be sure: it is four miles to the west of it. But on the other hand, four miles. You drive there between the hours of 11am to 11pm (midnight on Friday and Saturday), 7 days a week, and your four mile jaunt is rewarded with hundreds of games to play, using real quarters (no tokens) and with your money going towards the upkeep of the machines. Oh, and charities.

As if this wasn't cool enough, a few of the machines and the snack vending goes to charity. To charity! So not only does it raise money to keep the place going, it actually donates money to good causes (which the site makes clear, and the checks of which are pasted up on the wall of the place). Thousands of dollars have been raised this way even in the short time the place has been open.

I wish I had a little glowing white button I could flip the cover off of and slam, a Slashdot/Digg/BoingBoing/Wired buzzer that would go off with a klaxon blast and make the news of the Pinball Hall of Fame go far and wide. I would love for that place to be a required destination for anyone who loved Pinball to see, like we now stop off at Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon or any of a thousand culture landmarks that fill every day with gawkers and wide-eyed children.

I don't have that button but I do have you. You now know about it. Go there or tell someone who you think should know about this place.

The Pinball Hall of Fame is at http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ and is worth the trip, I promise you. Let the world know. This place needs you.

Update: The editor of the Pingame Journal, Jim Schelberg, has put up what I guess counts as a fan site, www.pinballhall.org, which has a different approach to the information (and links to some pinball stuff you can buy. It has additional photos and descriptions of the place, too.