The Big Bang Theory - Howard's kissing machine

Fig.1 The Big Bang Theory: "The Infestation Hypothesis", Season 5, Episode 2: Howard invents a kissing machine for Leonard's long distance relationship with Prya.

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Visual simplicity targeting younger customers

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The death and rebirth of Duke Nukem Forever: a history

"Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997, after its predecessor, Duke Nukem 3D, had rocked the PC market with a hero who liked kicking ass, hanging out with strippers, and murdering alien police officers that were, literally, pigs. It was inappropriate, raunchy, and amazing.

It was also one of the games that gave 3D Realms the success that brought its destruction. Duke Nukem Forever began life as a completely self–funded game; its developer wanted nothing less than perfection, and would chase every update in technology in order to deliver it. The game saw monumental delays, suffered the slings and arrows of a gaming world that was first angry and then tolerant of its favorite whipping boy, had its home taken away, and has since risen from the dead.

Is the public still interested in Duke Nukem? Hell yes it is. This is the story of the gaming industry's favorite joke, and how Duke may finally have the last laugh."

(Ben Kuchera, 7 September 2010)

Fig.1 'Duke Nukem Forever | History of a Legend Episode 1', 2011

Fig.2 trailer from Electronic Entertainment Expo, 1998

Fig.3 video capture of 1991 side–scrolling 'Duke Nukum' version

Jean-Luc Godard: figures posing in order to be admired

"Godard is right at home here, especially following his 80s fare like Passion and First Name: Carmen. In this decade more than ever before, Godard was preoccupied with the fusing of image and sound, in the vein of Renaissance art and music. This means that he's obsessed with the human form, male and female bodies. Historically, this creates something curiously hybrid. While classical opera may have to do with bodies, Godard's style is decidedly closer to that of pre–Classical painting, with uncovered figures posing still in order to be admired or, better, worshiped. Godard's use of male bodies juxtaposing the females here fits nicely into his standard approach to bodies along with everything else: exchange of commodities. The transaction doesn't take place in the segment; the problem is an imbalance of supply with demand, a Marxist cliché that Godard is only too glad to inject into a series of films supposedly just about art and love."

(Zach 'Andrews idea', 29/08/2010)

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Wranglers: Exposing Homoerotic Tensions Within Westerns

I created this short clip in 1994 from re–purposed shots from Fritz Lang's 1952 film 'Rancho Notorious'. This sequence works to expose homoerotic tensions inherent in the Western film genre.

The sequence shows Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) Rancho Notorious' protagonist, struggle to 'escape the frame' and the admiring advances of his outlaw compatriots - Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer), Mort Geary (Jack Elam), Kinch (Lloyd Gough), Wilson (George Reeves), Starr (Stuart Randall), Red (Roger Anderson) et al. Through deleting the subject of the cowboy's attentions Marlene Dietrich, I was able to shift the meaning of the scene from one that centred on heterosexual interest to one that centred on homosexual desire.

I created the sound track using a similar technique. I did so through splicing sections of the original sound track together so that it would evoke some of the melodrama of the original film.

The clip was created using the early non–linear editing platform Avid Media Suite Pro.
(Simon Perkins)

Fig.1 Simon Perkins (1994). 'Wranglers' digitised and cut–up VHS video, 3:21 minutes.

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