Fear of Girls, a D&D Documentary 452
FhnuZoag writes "Google Video is hosting the short film 'Fear of Girls', written and directed by Ryan Wood. The film is a hilarious 'documentary' dealing with a pair of self-declared elite table-top roleplayers. The film has already appeared at a variety of fringe events, but here's a chance to see it for free and online from a server that probably can survive a slashdotting." Allright, so it's not that funny, but since I'm off to play D&D this afternoon, it tickled me.
Pretty Damn Good Quality (Score:5, Interesting)
And it was good. Very funny, very well done. Where the hell does YNG Turk Films get that kind of cash to make something as high quality as that (come on, the closing credits were stunning). Has it really become that easy to manipulate video on your home computer? Probably, but these guys know how to entertain.
After looking into more of YNG Turk Productions [yngturkproductions.com], it seems they're based out of Hopkins, Minnesota (just like MST3K!) but there seems to be little other information about them. What I do know is that they've done quite a few comedic sketches and you can find another one on Google Video called Pitching Mother [google.com] but they've also done other various (primarily comedy) skits in their times. Will Ryan Wood gain a cult following?
I have to admit, the best thing about being a geek/nerd is that I love to see myself made fun of. I absolutely die laughing and love it. Any other stereotype gets offended whenever you make fun of them. And if you can't be lighthearted about everything, then you're going to have a hell of a time making it through life.
Fear of the Girls [soundtrack] (Score:2, Interesting)
Fear of the girls, fear of the girls
I have a constant fear that a girl's always near
Fear of the girls, fear of the girls
I have a phobia that a girl's allways there
Have you run your fingers down the wall
And have you felt your neck skin crawl
When you're searching for a friend?
Sometimes when you're scared to take a look
At the corner of the room
You've sensed that a girl's watching you
Watching horror films the night before
Debating dungeons and star trek
The unkown troubles on your mind
Maybe your mind is playing tricks
You sense and suddenly eyes fix
On dancing girl's shadows from behind
*Special thanks to Iron Maiden*
Re:my experiences with AD&D (Score:4, Interesting)
This reminds me of... (Score:2, Interesting)
A must-see for every true otaku!
-t_d
Re:I hate this (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Pretty Damn Good Quality (Score:5, Interesting)
1- where they got their money. I can tell you this this production cost them almost nothing. Maybe a couple hundred bucks expenses in production incidentals.
2- Is it really that easy? yes and it has been for almost a decade now. Anyone with a copy of Adobe Premiere and a way to get video in (DV makes life really easy) has what it takes. I can set you up with everything you need to shoot a short of this quality for less than $1000.00 total. including camera, audio, lighting and editor. (Hint an old P4-1.2ghz machine with 512 meg of ram and a copy of Premiere6 thta can be had for dirt right now, coupled with a el-cheapo Canon DV camcorder, some shop lights, a painters pole and gaffers tape to hold a $59.00 audio technica shotgun microphone out there.)
Anyone with a desire to do this can do it easily. and if you already own a PC that is of decent speed (Even a PIII 1ghz will do it well) you already have most of the gear. (a pinnacle DV500 card with a copy of Premiere 6 and extra tools costs about $150.00 most places on the net right now.)
finally what gear you have means nothing. I know of a group that has 4 Canon XL1-HD cameras as well as a high end AVID editor with all the goodies and tens of thousands worth of gear and they suck horribly. Their video looks good but it's a nice and shiny turd.
I have also seen something shot on a really old VHS camcorder and edited in camera win awards and have people in the audience clamoring to see it again.
Good writing, good direction and most of all Competent crew = good project. Gear and money does not.
Re:my experiences with AD&D (Score:2, Interesting)
Most people don't realise that one of the 3 designers of d&d was actually a minister (I think it was episcopalean, so insert obligatory joke about small boys here...), I can't recall his name right now (probably because I havent had my nd coffee and it's only 6:30am here). Be that as it may, let me tell you about a true story from the early 1980s..
insert TARDIS noises...
I started playing D&D (actually a totally bastardised version, as all we had for rules was about 50 pages photocopied from GMG and PG) in 1980, at Uni. During the 1980/81 long break, I told a good friend (a young lady I'd known for about 6 years, that is, since I was about 13) about it, and she thought it seemed a great thing.
Many (!!)years passed, and in 1986, circumstances were such that she actually managed to play with us. By that time we'd "graduated" to Rolemaster, but that doesnt dilute what follows. She rolled up a character (an evil caster) and eagerly joined in the game. Within 5 minutes she looked all confused. "What's the problem?" "When do we start sacrificing animals and stuff?" I had a moment of insight. "You mean like you want to kill real animals here and now, in Steve's living room?" "Oh, do we wait till night time to do that?" It was quickly explained that really the game was just a grown up version of "let's pretend". She was not convinced, but afeter the game session she told me that she'd got the impression form the media that it involved real satanic rituals and medieval witchcraft. She ended up eing a good player, and staying with the campaign for about 3 years.
Now this girl had a completely wrong idea about RPG due to certain right-wing extremists, and as she was one of those extreme rebel type people she thought D&D would be a great evil and anti-establishment thing. I have to wonder how many of these people that "go off the deep end" with RPG also start with a wrong idea what it's about, and don't get it straightend out? Like the Pastor's son I met once who told me he'd love to play D&D because it stood for everything his dad didn't like.
Re:Fear of girls?! (Score:3, Interesting)
Some girls treat men as crap, some men are crap. Some men treat girls like crap, some girls are crap.
Can't we all just get along? - Probably not..
Re:Fear of girls?! (Score:5, Interesting)
I myself attempted this years ago, on a MUD, all text, so there wasn't even a sexy avatar to look at, just a female name. I made a cleric named Freya, and set about playing. A group found me immediately and pressed me to join, and they started loading me up with gold and equipment, and rapidly started getting me xp. All the guys (which IIRC was all of them, period) were emoting smiles and winks and whatnots at me constantly, and one even broached the subject of mud marriage, asking me if I'd heard of it. This character was less than 1 hour old at this point, and already being asked to marry?!? I had barely said two words to any of them, mainly "Thank you" for yet another pile of gold or armor or whatever. I suppose, that since I had already been given a sizeable amount of gold and equipment it was considered we had 'gotten to know each other' already. I decided to just quit out, came back in with my regular male character, and continued on able to enjoy the game once again. I've never ever bothered to try making a female character again, it's just not worth the hassle.
I've known real live female gamers that only play male characters for this very reason.
Re:Fear of girls?! (Score:3, Interesting)
There is something to be said for being single slack and idle geek (including not being divorce poor).
Hey, when it comes to bragging about sex, shouldn't they be bragging about how many times they actually succeeded at it's function rather than how many times they fire blanks (just like a jock to not understand the point of what they are doing). Based upon reality, the most successful males are redneck hillbillies and members of fringe religious groups. The rich and greedy are starting to look pretty amateurish nowadays.
Aymen to that (Score:1, Interesting)
When a woman has to sign up for SELECTIVE SERVICE then she can come talk to me about how bad she has it in life. Oh well, women usually outlive men so they have plenty of time to gripe about how their evil oppressors held them down long after their oppressors are dead. I didn't hear women complaining about being given preferential treatment on the Titanic's lifeboats, did anyone else? Yeah, discrimination is evil only when it goes against you, not for you. That's why I'm a humanist, and not a feminist.
As for women whining about being hit on all the time and being stared at? Give me a break and a half. Us men would give our right nut to be treated that way by women. Get paid to have sex? Bring it on! Now, I'm not condoning rape at all, but sheesh, let's look at the cold hard reality here for what it is: if there was a city on Earth where women sneaked into windows and jumped on guys' wangs at night, and where a random walk by an alley was likely to end in a guy being snatched by a gang of sex starved women? Ya damned SKIPPY almost the entire world's male hetero population would immigrate there! That's the stone cold truth. Can I get a witness out there??