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Twitch Plays Pokemon Self loathing and Never Being Able To Predict Anything

None of us is as insane as all of us.

If you are in any way hooked into the bleeding edge of this weird thing we call Internet Culture, someone might recently have talked your ear off about Twitch Plays Pokemon.

Im going to talk about it now. So, if you were bored about it by your [child/weird friend/acquaintance you always secretly suspected has Aspergers], you can now do what you wish you could do then: tell me to shut up by closing this browser window with extreme prejudice.

(Pause.)

OK. You are still here. You want to learn what Twitch Plays Pokemon is, so that, for once, you can know about the hip internet thing before it ends and becomes as tired and old as those captioned cat photos your parents send to your aunts and uncles.

My explanation of what is happening will take the form of a Socratic dialogue between me and the voices of self-loathing in my head. Take it away, voices!

I HATE YOU SO MUCH!

Hey, pace yourself there, sparky. We have a lot of ground to cover. Many miles to go before we sleep, and all that.

Sorry, nerd. "Twitch Plays Pokemon"? How is that even a phrase in English? Why should I ever care enough to continue?

Well, I dont know how "interesting" or "significant" it is. Im sure some kids in some PhD mill somewhere will write a thesis on it or whatever.

But the main reason I think its interesting is because it is so weird. I mean, thinkers like Isaac Asimov and William Gibson and Neal Stephenson always try to predict the future. Then, when the future actually shows up, we find their predictions to be just sort of weirdly sterile and unimaginative and just kind of off.

What actual humans do when given any sort of resources is always really weird and chaotic. (Except for porn. Theres always porn. Now in HD.) Those above world class thinkers never imagined anything close to tens of millions of people trying to play a 20 year old videogame together as a maddened hivemind because why not.

Thats because they were people who had it together and could get dates in high school.

I got dates!

They hated you more than I do.

Well played, brain. But youre stuck here with me, so lets describe Twitch Plays Pokemon.

Sometimes, I get into things just for the fan art.

Fine. What is Twitch Plays Pokemon?

Well, its a channel on twitch.tv. As of this writing (Monday, Feb. 24), over 63000 people are watching/participating and over 27 million have dropped by to watch.

And what on Gods Green Earth is twitch.tv?

Its a video game streaming web site. Basically, when youre playing a game, you can also enable other people to watch you play it.

WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT?

Beats me, man. Look. The Internet is now as big as human experience. Which means that 95% of it will be stuff you cant comprehend the value of, forever and always. So youll just have to take the value of twitch.tv on faith.

So people go there to watch cool games like League of Legends and Call of Duty.

Sure. Its a dream come true. Though, lately, the most popular channel by a margin has been to watch people play Pokemon Red, a Gameboy game from 1996.

The confused fellow to the lower left is you.

What is Pokemon?

Oh, give me a break. Youre reading a game blog. You must have heard of Pokemon. At the very least, its 10% of the cultural DNA of anyone in their 20s. Basically, you catch monsters and theyre your pets and you use them to duel other monsters.

Part of the cultural DNA of boys, you mean.

My daughters would vigorously disagree.

But back to the channel. In it, theyre not watching the game. The multitudes passing through are also playing it.

So I assumed. How does your little nerd-conclave work?

People type the controls they want to press (up, down, left, right, A, B, start) into the chat window, and the game processes them. This results in a very slow, very chaotic game.

So 50000 people are typing in commands and theyre all processed?

No, its more complicated than that. There are two modes for how the commands are taken: Anarchy and Democracy, and people vote on which control scheme is in place at any one ...

OH GOD KILL ME.

Sorry. Youre right. Its boring. Ill sum it up. In Anarchy mode, a few commands are selected at random from what people enter, resulting in slightly directed chaos with lots of weird, interesting things happening. (Assuming you are capable of finding any of this interesting, which I do, but Im weird.)

In Democracy mode, people vote on what the next move is and a move is taken every 20 seconds. Its more directed, but painfully slow and boring.

It has arguments about politics AND religion? Sign me up!

And how long has this travesty been going?

As of this writing, 10 days and 20 hours, 24-7. Its a global project. When one continent goes to bed, another picks up the slack.

OK. Fine. Theyre playing an old game in a stupid way. 

Its even worse than that.

How is that even possible?

You see, there is a 10-20 second lag between what happens in the game and what you see on the screen. So when you enter a command, youre not saying what happens now, but what happens in 20 seconds. This means that even if everyone involved was united and smart, some chaos would be unavoidable.

One happy side effect of this is that its very difficult for trolls to sabotage the project, because having any sort of directed input by anyone is very difficult.

This all sounds stupid.

Oh, it totally is. But stupid things can be interesting and fun.

But isnt it gross to care about something like this, when, say, people in the Ukraine are dying protesting their government?

Havent you been reading? Its a global thing. I bet a bunch of kids in the Ukraine are playing the game to distract themselves from the terror and uncertainty.

Anyway, that is a dumb standard. Our ancestors fought and died in part so we could occasionally relax and do something frivolous.

Fine. An old game, in a stupid way, and it barely even works. Why on EARTH would so many people care?

Three reasons.

Oh, Lord.

First, its a big experiment in the fascinating field of collective intelligence. Its the idea that a lot of people giving tiny inputs is smarter than any one person. A lot of research into this idea has taken place, and it is genuinely cool.

Because the most surprising thing about Twitch Plays Pokemon is that its working. Its slow, but this confused random input is beating bosses, solving side quests, agreeing on what path to take among many possible choices, and generally getting it done. Sometimes the Hivemind even plays WELL.

That is pretty cool.

Really?

We are, after all, dealing with Gamers here.

No. Psych! Loser. Whats the second thing?

The second interesting thing is the constant debate between democracy and anarchy. In other words, between slow, methodical success or fast, inefficient chaos. Anarchy is winning. In other words, people as a mass would rather do the thing in the chaotic, slower, harder way simply because its more cool. That, if nothing else, should give you some faith in humanity.

And the third reason? If it involves fan art, Im so out of here.

Third, the fan art.

[Sound of running away.]

Sorry, brain. Youre stuck in here with me.

Ahhh. It burns us.

Twitch Plays Pokemon has evolved its own weird, funny, sometimes tiresome backstory and mythology. It is in human nature to anthropomorphize things. Elaborate stories about the insanity of Red (the main character) and the relentless voices in his head that drive him on have been crafted. Its actually kind of cool and poignant.

It helps that the chaotic interface results in a lot of painfully self-destructive behavior. Red constantly destroys his own best pokemon, throws away valuable items, and flings himself off of ledges. Twitch Plays Pokemon is truly unpredictable. Tell me, how many things in your life are like that?

Fortunately, theres not cosplay yet, but give it time.

Twitch Plays Pokemon has the XKCD Seal of Nerd Legitimacy.

What is this Helix Fossil everyone goes on about?

Its an item in Reds inventory that gets used accidentally like ten times a minute. Lots of jokes have arisen around this. Its the Cake Is a Lie/Arrow To the Knee of 2014.

Hasnt that joke been run into the ground?

To everyone who has been paying attention, yes, but new folks are hearing about the stream all the time, and its funny to them. Also, um, how should I put this delicately? The Twitch Plays Pokemon diehards might not be the most socially-aware folks on the planet.

But the whole cobbled-together Twitch Plays Pokemon backstory does include a pretty amusing, made-up parody religion. I suspect that appeals to the demographic of the player base.

And who is doing all this? Shut-in boys, right?

Ummmm ...

ADMIT IT.

The only survey I could find of players is here, and, yeah. Guys. Which is, itself, interesting. I dont know if this sort of activity has inherently higher value to men, and, if so, why. Maybe if Anita Sarkeesian reads this, she can tweet something.

So how will it end?

Nobody knows! It is completely unclear if the hive mind can finish this stupid thing, which adds a pleasing sense of suspense to the whole thing.

But if you want to help find out ...

I dont. Oh lord, I dont.

Humor me.

Internet culture moves fast and is unpredictable.

Fine. What would I do if I cared?

Well, if you want to read the history of the thing and see a lot of surprisingly funny and elaborate fan art, go here.

If you want a live update of what is happening, go here.

The freshest fan art is here. http://www.reddit.com/r/twitchplayspokemon/

My personal favorite pieces for fan art are here and here, though you need to know the culture a little to get it.

I still dont see why anyone should care.

Because, try as I might, I cant think of any analogue to this in human history. The duration, the planetary scale, the chaos, the joyous frivolity of it.

Unprecedented? Really? What about Second Life? SETI@home? WIKIPEDIA?

OK, youre right. I got a little overexcited there. How about this? Twitch Plays Pokemon is a reminder that we have not even begun to scratch the possibilities of what the hordes on the Internet can do when something piques their interest. And, sometimes, like with Wikipedia, those things Anonymous spits out can be genuinely valuable.

God. Youre even more pathetic now than when you were telling everyone whod listen about Doctor Who back in the 1980s.

And now everyone watches Doctor Who.

And thats why everyone who reads this should go to Twitch Plays Pokemon and enter just one command. I dont know if this is a harbinger of bigger things or not, but, if it is, dont you want to think you were on the ground floor?

OK. Fine. I went and voted for Democracy. Happy?

Filthy casual. Anarchy or riot!

Everyone who reads this will laugh at you.

I love you, brain.

Virgin.

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Dear friends,


**WARNING!!! This post contains a review of Frozen and also some trivia regarding it (a big Thank You! goes to IMDB ;) my reliable source when it comes to movies data). It will be an extensive post and it will have loads of pictures and text so please grab yourself a cup of tea and a warm blanket and Enjoy!**
As you may have figured out by now, I have managed to see Frozen :) I think I am hearing a crowd of approvals from back here and I am happy for it ;) now for those who have seen this movie this post may be redundant but for all the other friends I have and yet not seen this latest Disney beauty it may come as a help. Please be aware that I will keep nothing away from you and there will be SPOILERS! So you can either stop now and check out other posts I have done until now or come later on for the Musical Friday usual post, or you may stay and enjoy the trivia and hear me rant about this heart warming animation done by Disney ;)

The French Poster showing as "The Snow Queen"

Producer Peter Del Vecho explained the English title change from "The Snow Queen" to "Frozen": "The title Frozen (2013) came up independently of the title Tangled (2010). Its because, to us, it represents the movie. Frozen plays on the level of ice and snow but also the frozen relationship, the frozen heart that has to be thawed. We dont think of comparisons between Tangled and Frozen, though. The decision to call the film Frozen was the filmmakers decision. The studios decision to then call it the Snow Queen overseas was because that just resonated stronger in some countries than Frozen. Maybe theres a richness to the Snow Queen in the countrys heritage and they just wanted to emphasize that." As he continued to make his statement, "Were telling a story about family and relationships and that in itself can be very complicated. A lot of times what you perceive something to be isnt what it turns out to be - Elsa has to hide for her whole life who she is, even from her sister. That clearly affected her and made her into the character she is. Hopefully, if you look at the story through Elsas eyes, youll be able to understand what she does, or if you look at it through Annas eyes, youll be able to understand why she does what she does, but theyre all complicated relationships. We dont think of it as a Princess movie. They happen to be Princesses, but we dont think about it that way, so I always get a bit thrown when people talk about this. But I can say we want to make them really believable and not set them up on a pedestal. Our version of these characters should feel really real and be relatable to things you might go through in your life."
The characters of Anna, Hans, and Kristof are all named after Hans Christian Andersen: Prince Hans as in Hans, (Krist)of as in (Christ)ian, and (An)na as in (An)dersen. 
Idina Menzel said Frozen (2013) is "a bit of a feminist movie for Disney." "Im really proud of that," Menzel tells Zap2it. "It has everything, but its essentially about sisterhood. I think that these two women are competitive with one another, but always trying to protect each other - sisters are just so complicated. Its such a great relationship to have in movies, especially for young kids." Kristen Bell said on a similar matter: "Im really excited to show it to people. I became a part of the kind of movie I wanted to see as a kid," she said. "I always loved Disney animation, but there was something about the females that was unattainable to me. Their posture was too good and they were too well-spoken, and I feel like I really made this girl [Princess Anna] much more relatable and weirder and scrappier and more excitable and awkward. Im really proud of that."
Elsa is the third Disney vocal role for Idina Menzel. At the end of Enchanted (2007), her character Nancy Tremaine went to the animated Andalasia and married Prince Edward, and in the Disney television series of Hercules (1998), she is the speaking and singing voice of the sorceress Circe.  Idina Menzel auditioned for the part of Rapunzel in Disneys previous fairytale, Tangled (2010). Even though Menzel didnt get the part, a Disney casting director recorded her audition and two years later, it got her the part of Elsa.
Originally, Queen Elsa was intended to be the villain of the story. However, when the characters major song, "Let it Go," was played for the producers, they concluded that the song was not only very appealing, but its themes of personal empowerment and self-acceptance were too positive for a villain to express. Thus, the story was rewritten to have Elsa as an isolated innocent who is alarmed upon learning that her powers are inadvertently causing harm and struggles to control her powers with Annas help.
Anna and Elsa are the 2 Princesses of the kingdom and they are best friends with eachother. Elsa is the older one, more serious and mature, and Anna is the younger one, all giggles and songs and laughter. The movie starts with Anna jumping on Elsas bed and making her come out to the ballroom where one of the most beautiful songs start: "Do you wanna build a snowman". We soon learn that Elsa is gifted and that she was born with special powers - powers that unfortunately she cannot control. She has icy powers that allow her to freeze things and make snow appear. While playing with Anna she accidentaly strikes her in her head with her frost and Anna gets a white stroke of hair for always. But she does not recover so her parents take her and her sister to the mountain trolls that cure her and say she was lucky she did not get hit in her heart as the heart cannot be turned back as easily... they erase all the memories of Elsa doing magic for Anna but they leave in all the fun ;) and they give special gloves to Elsa to keep her magic under control. Time passes by and Elsa shuts herself out from the world and her sister, trying to control her powers but to no avail... Unfortunately their parents die and the girls are left all alone. Fast forward 3 years later when Elsa comes of age and she needs to take power into her own hands and open the palace doors for the world to come...
For Anna this is a magical time as she has never seen a ball and she could not remember when she ever saw the castle doors open... I love her scene in the ballroom and the drawing room where she dances and twirls and jumps fitting the lovely paintings on the wall ;)) For Elsa it is a dreaded time as she still cannot control herself and she knows she will have to take the gloves off in order to receive the symbols of power. But all goes well until the party after the coronation. Anna foolishly falls in love at first sight and presents her "future husband" to Elsa. Elsa is in enough stress with all these people around and keeping her panic to a minimum so she cannot believe what Anna just said and refuses to give her consent. They both start argueing and as we could expect this end up bad... Anna takes one of her gloves and from there on all Hell breaks loose and the kingdom is slowly transformed into an Ice Kingdom and their beloved fiord is frozen...
I sincerly love the "Let It Go" song that Elsa is singing once she is free, out on the mountain - The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway... And lets face it, Elsa is quite a kick arse architect. She builds in an instant the most beautiful ice castle you ever seen and she transforms like a ice-phoenix all hair down and winter white dress... She has the power and she has a strong will and she wishes not to hurt anyone! Especially her baby sister. But guess what!? Anna is a strong willed Princess as well so she leaves Hans in charge of the kingdom - yes, her newly discovered fiance... Lack of judgement if you ask me! - and rides off to talk to her sister and prove people wrong, that she is not a monster. With help from her new friends - Kai, Kais Raindeer (whose name escapes me here...) and Olaf (the most adorable snowman you will ever see, made by Elsa) - she manages to find her sister in the North Mountain and confront her. Well... that worked out well! NOT! While discussing/fighting Elsa hits by mistake Anna and this time in her heart...
Long story short, Anna is dying and only true love can save her - according to the adorable trolls that saved her the first time. So Kai rushes out to the castle so Anna could get in time to Hans to have a true loves kiss that would cure her... Well SURPRISE!!! Hans wishes both girls dead so he would have the kingdom to himself so he leaves Anna to die, locked in a cold room, and goes to kill Elsa as well... But change of events, Olaf rescues Anna and helps her out of the castle so she could meet Kai and save herself - Kai is the one she loves, Kai put her needs above himselfs and Kai got into her heart step by step not just during one night at a party! And I sincerly love this turn of events. I love that Disney is showing that not the first person you lay your eyes upon is your true love or that you need to marry the first person you set eyes on. I love that both Anna and Elsa are 2 strong Princesses that make up their own minds and destinies. Anna sees Hans trying to kill Elsa and she makes up her mind upon sacrificing her own love/life/freedom in exchange of her sister. She puts herself between Hans and Elsa in the exact moment when she gets transformed into an ice statue and breaks Hans sword. Now dont worry :) Disney stories always have a happy ending and I did tell you that true love will save our adorable Anna ;) Annas true love for Elsa and her sacrifice makes her turn human again so the 2 sisters reunite and Elsa learns how to control her powers through love :)

For the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", three different actresses respectively provided the singing voice of Anna: Katie Lopez as Young Anna, Agatha Lee Monn as Teenage Anna, and Kristen Bell as Anna. Agatha is the daughter of the films writer/director Jennifer Lee and Katie is the daughter of its songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. In fact, Katie and her sister, Annie, sang the films deleted song, "Spring Pageant", along with their parents. The song can be found on the films two-disc Deluxe Edition Motion Picture Soundtrack.

The two snowmen, Olaf and Marshmallow, represent Elsas personalities when she made them. Olaf, who was built by Elsa when she played with Anna as a little girl, is friendly and affectionate. While Marshmallow, who was made by Elsa when she wanted Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf to leave her castle and never return, was rough and fierce. At one point in the production, the giant Snow Monster that Elsa creates was actually a giant Olaf, and Olaf addressed him as "little brother". Studio thought it was cute and kind of funny, but ultimately looked a bit dumb. Scenes like the siege of the ice castle wouldve been pretty strange had they gone this route. 
Upon winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, Frozen (2013) became the first full-length Disney (non-Pixar) animated feature film to win the award for the category after the studio was nominated four times before. Frozen is also the first Disney animated feature film to win a Golden Globe since Tarzan (1999), also directed by Chris Buck.
And remember everyone: Only true love can thaw a frozen heart. So never give up loving! :*

Yours truly,
A LadyBug that truly enjoyed Frozen and she is sure to be watching this again and showing to her future children, one glorious winter day :)