Born in 1986, Mark Essen sort of missed the Atari boom. In fact, the original 8-bit Nintendo-- which inarguably revolutionized gaming -- was unveiled a year before he was even conceived. However, Essen has ostensibly defied his age and become recognized as one of the premier video game artists of his generation. At the present moment, Essen's work will not be found programmed into the latest PS3 blood bath, but rather, projected onto a wall in a Chelsea gallery, fully interactive; a stark contrast to the often cold stoicism ingrained in modern art.

A recent graduate of Bard College, Essen designs games that resemble the 25-cent polygon-ridden Atari coin-ops that existed for a brief, but absolutely vital, window of time. On the surface, his games appear to be pure, playable homage, though once examined, can be unveiled as something both reactionary and subversive. In 2008, BusinessWeek did a write-up on one of Essen's online "action" games, entitled "You Found The Grappling Hook." Soon after the mention, Essen reconfigured the game and re-posted it -- this time, to be based around an office full of BusinessWeek writers. The goal? To seek out the employees who could no longer stand to work for BusinessWeek and pitch them out a window. Graphically straight out of 1983, the "revamped" version highlighted exactly what it is to participate in the 21st century's digital landscape: Create, Send, Respond, Fashion New Response, Re-Send.

Mark Essen's latest work is currently featured in one of the most expansive, talked-about shows to date at The New Museum in downtown NYC, called "The Generational: Younger Than Jesus," exclusively showcasing artists who were born after 1976. Essen sat down with PsychoPEDIA and named for us a handful of absolute must-play titles. Seek them out and see them differently than you did when you were a kid and Mom made you press Pause when dinner was ready:

1. Crystal Quest (Mac)/ Sexy Hiking (PC)
Two gnarly, mouse-controlled, very unforgiving games. When you finally squeeze through that gate in Crystal Quest after clearing the screen, the game audibly sighs. When you get to the end of a Sexy Hiking level it just screams at you.

2. Rampart (SNES)/ Ken Griffey Jr (SNES)/ Virtua Tennis (PC)
The game play in these comes pretty naturally if you know how to pack, or have a basic understanding of baseball or tennis. The best part is you can still play them for hours. Totally tubular games, to be sure.

3. Joe and Mac (SNES)/ Contra 3 (SNES) / Jurassic Park 2 (SNES)
Way cool games to get you pumped. A few scenes: break a woolly mammoth apart piece-by-piece with fire and bones (Joe and Mac); kill hordes of bees flying out of a giant turtle's mouth (Contra 3), shoot a raptor in the face while hanging from a power line (Jurassic Park 2).

4. Metal Warriors (SNES)
You can jump out of your giant robot and get into a different one. Some of them can fly. Totally awesome.

5. Mech Warrior 3050 (SNES)/ Steel Battalion (Xbox)
The only way to play Mech Warrior is 2-player co-op. One person controls the legs, the other the turret. Combat is super-clunky so you have to collectively memorize exactly what to do in each level. While I haven't played Steel Battalion, I'm sure it's great. Flight sims always tempt you to build that ultimate setup of rudder pedals, throttle levers, joystick and seat, but I've never been able to justify it. This game forces all the players to invest the money and space for a huge panel of buttons and joysticks as well as three pedals, so the online matches must be pretty groovy. Ultimately we're going to need a control panel that connects to other panels that control different parts of the vehicle, like Rock Band. …I guess you could just join the army.

6. Mondo Medicals (PC)/ Stench Mechanics (PC)
Coolest games I can think of where the player wears a space suit besides Metal Warriors.

7. Star Fox (SNES)/ Star Fox 2 (SNES - never released)
Outrageous colors and crazy abstract low-poly models. Everything is moving pretty fast but it's all choreographed so well and the music blows me away.

8. Pilot Wings (SNES) / Wings 2: Aces High (SNES)
Flying is the ultimate mode of travel in 3-D games, and these two were the funky beginnings that did it best. Pilotwings was all about flying relative to the ground, Wings 2 was relative to your opponent in the air.

9. Over Flanders Fields (PC)
This is the best WWI dog-fighting simulator I've found. The planes are so slow and the graphics are really beautiful. It doesn't need a soundtrack. It's great.

10. Arena Maze of Death (GG)
I pretty much just like this for its name and the fact that you can play it on a Game Gear.

The Generational: Younger Than Jesus runs at the New Museum in NYC through June 14th 2009.

~Ben Zoltowski

Sixth photo by David Waldman
Seventh photo by Danielle

Posted by psychoPEDIA at 06:17 PM | Permalink

In show business, the first impression can sometimes be the last impression. The deciding factor in giving an unknown (or even an experienced actor whose opportunities have been limited) a chance to read for a part is often based on first impressions. In the world of horror films, Kelly Wagner is the one to know. Wagner has come to specialize in casting horror films, including big hits like The Grudge and Hostel, and she agreed to let PsychoPEDIA in on a few inside tips for aspiring actors to consider before they step into her office:

How did you end up specializing in horror film casting?
I was a horror freak growing up. A Nightmare on Elm Street was one of our favorite movies when I was 10, 11, 12. I used to sneak out of bed in the middle of the night and go into the TV room and turn on A Nightmare on Elm Street because I loved Freddy Kreuger. I didn't necessarily seek out horror films but The Grudge was the first and it became such a hit that we kept getting calls for horror films. Then I started to realize I'm getting to cast these films that I loved when I was younger. So that led me to meeting Eli Roth, which led to even more, taking the Hostel route, doing those kinds of films. I did realize when I was doing these horror movies that I loved them and I felt really comfortable with them. I tend to like the supernatural horror movies but I also enjoy the slashers.

What makes you good at casting?
Everyone has a sick fascination with wanting to be in one at one point in their life. When I say everyone, I mean the actors and actresses around town. Horror movies are filled with young ingénues that get killed. It's fun to put those kinds of things together. Actually, rarely when I'm casting a horror movie, when we do auditions we rarely do the screaming. People think, "Oh, I'm going to scream. I can scream for you. I can be in horror movies. Listen to how well I can scream." People always say that to me. "I'm a great screamer. You should put me in one of your horror movies." The fact is, I don't think on any of them did we ever do the horror scenes. It was always the other scenes, the acting scenes. Then we figured if they could act the part, the elements on set and that are put in front of you will naturally make it a horrific situation. So we never scream at auditions.

How does an actor get a foot in your door?
That's very difficult. I'll be honest, through their agents and managers. It's a submission process. So it's usually off of a phone pitch or sometimes off of a look, depending on the role.

What do you look for when they enter the room?
I definitely like to cast based on the essence of someone versus an over-performance. So I'm definitely sensitive to who they are as a person and that plays into my decisions on how far they'll go on the auditions, for me. I am more of a talk to them, get to know them, do the scene kind of person versus them just coming in and doing the scene and leaving. It's important that you have the essence of a character with you innately and that it's not just about a performance.

So you're almost casting the person, not the actor.
Right, I do that a lot.

Give us an insider tip on what you look for in an audition?
It's important that you let the film team lead the room. When people come in and try and lead the room, it becomes uncomfortable for the film team, for the casting director, for the director. It's important that the actor be able to let someone else lead the room because that shows how you're going to be on set. You have to be adjustable because anyone can make a choice. Let's face it, you get sent sides. You look at your sides and you think, "Oh, there's 10 different ways I can take this character." The fact of the matter is that you're probably not going to hear ahead of time which direction, so you have to make a choice, stick with it and carry it out. More importantly, if it happens to be the wrong choice, it's not your fault. Hear the correct way and be able to make the adjustment. That's the most important because I've seen people book parts and then in rehearsals or on set, a filmmaker or director has decided to make a change to the character and the actor isn't able to make that change because they're so stuck in the way they were doing it that they inevitably get fired.

What never to do at the audition?
Stop themselves. You should always go through with your scene. What I can't stand is when people come in and they mess up a line and they break character. "Wait, I messed up that line. Sorry, let's go back again." No, show us that you can continue. Show us that you are the character and you're not here just reading our lines. A person in real life may think, "Oh, when I see so and so, I'm going to say X, Y and Z" but then when they see them and they don't say it, you don't get to go back. You don't get to go, "Oh wait, rewind that sentence." So I want to see that they're quick on their feet. It’s important with any acting, but the biggest mistake you can make and the best way to impress is to be able to come in and go with the character and not worry about the specific lines.

What irritates the casting directors?
You should never stop yourself because a lot of people stop themselves and you're not in the mood to have someone stop themselves 10 times in a row. It's also not necessarily appropriate to ask if you can do it again. Let us decide if you're going to do it again. People get annoyed by that because honestly, a lot of it, when you walk in that door, we know if you're going to work or not visually. So when someone comes in and they ask you can they do it again and again and again, and you're thinking, "I'm not going to be able to use this girl because of X, Y and Z anyway but now I have to sit through her doing it 10 times…" And it's never personal. It's hard to not take it personally because there's a lot of rejection but it's not personal.

How can someone impress you?
Back to what I was just saying, being able to make a choice and then being able to be broken of it. Being malleable to what we're looking for. Being able to do things in a different light and not being stuck in one direction. A lot of people come in with their idea and we let them do their read. Then we say, "Okay, let's have you think about it from this perspective instead." And they're not able to show that change. That's immediately where they're going to get cut. You need to be able to take direction. That's the simplest way of putting it.

~Fred Topel

Posted by psychoPEDIA at 09:42 AM | Permalink