Create

Who came up with the idea of naming things using temporally transient modifiers relative to existing ideas, anyway?. The worst of these is “postmodern”. Seriously, that word has about as much intrinsic meaning as post-structuralism. “Modern” was bad enough—adopting a name for an art/philosophy movement that means “relating to recent times” when the present remains anything but. Why stop there? Let’s name the next one based one the first, but without adding any useful content. So “postmodernism” is what comes after modernism (note that it has nothing to do with “futurism” either); or more specifically, an extension and/or rejection of modernism. Don’t even get me started on “contemporary”. I take that back… at least you can tell post-structuralism is, in someway, related to structure.

Now we’ve got the same problem with music genres. Progressive rock, which started out as an extension—a progression, if you will—of rock (in various directions); taking rock and making it moreso; is now a stagnated, strictly defined niche sub-genre. If you want to be considered “progressive” nowadays, you have to sound exactly like certain bands from 50 years ago. And the list goes on. I’ve seen Velvet Underground labeled both a “proto-punk” band and a “post-rock” band (although they pre-date the term post-rock by about 30 years). Ironic, since punk itself evolved as an extension and/or rejection of rock (but in different directions than progressive rock); a post-rock that is much different than the, er, modern (canonical) post-rock. Then we have post-punk, an extension and/or rejection of punk, also pre-dating post-rock by about 15 years, which I suppose could be considered proto-post-rock. Sooner or later, someone will come up with a web app diagramming the relationships of all the rock sub-genres that begin with a prefix that begins with ‘p’. Now with bands like Isis and Pelican, we have “post-metal”. I downloaded some Cult of Luna tracks recently and found them labeled, hilariously and somewhat fittingly, as “post-crust”. Aaaand I haven’t even gotten to “alternative” rock…

Post-Script: http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000502.html

Masthead, About page, and links to the right updated. Check them out. New post coming tomorrow. For real, this time.

(or Who Are You And Why Are You Writing This?)

Hello world, indeed. I am guessing that if you are reading this, I happen to know you personally, so there is not much point in introducing myself. But maybe you have happened upon this site through a method other than me directly telling you about it, and you are reading through the archives, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. If you couldn’t guess from the URL, my name is Alex Kerfoot. I make games. Or, in most cases, I help make games. I have worked on games in an academic environment; at a small, independent studio; and at a large corporate studio/publisher; each of which have given me the opportunity to work with a lot of really bright people from different walks of life who have all significantly influenced my perspective and thought process. So, there should be no perception that the ideas put forth on this site are entirely of my own devise. Everything we see and everyone we talk to influences our ideas.

I have had a lot of inspiration this last month, not the least of which was the Game Developers Conference. (more…)