SORQ notes to self

• The extent to which a character has been fleshed out into a person may or may not be the key deciding factor for people to liking a movie (or a TV series or a book).
• Memorable fictional villains are almost always: really cool on the outside, really not cool on the inside. E.g. Darth Vader, Don Corleone, Hannibal Lecter, Vincent Vega & Jules Winnfield, Heath Ledger's Joker.

Soccer: the SORQ treatment

I played soccer as a kid. I even was a member of the local soccer club. And when I wasn't playing for my club, I would be playing on the patch of grass behind my home.

Marco van Basten was playing for Ajax Amsterdam at the time and I venerated him. After all, the man was a striker, that special kind of player who gets to be placed way up there on the front line, the one who is brave enough and who has it together enough to take on the last defence of the enemy and to try and take us that much closer to victory.

With my club I would play either in the back or in the midfield and when our striker would have the ball, I would watch him from afar with bated breath, and when he scored I would have nothing but admiration for the guy. How the hell does he do it, keeping his cool like he does in the enemy's lair?

On to the Quadrant.

1. [subjective] The game: It's symbolic war. Two villages, nations, squads square up against each other, and when the drumbeat of war falls silent, only one thing is left to do. (rating = 1)
2. [subjective] The team: The battle-scarred veterans, the celebrated heroes, the unsung heroes, the generals, the foot soldiers. Which one are you? (rating = 1)
3. [objective] The team: To win is to have the right man at the right place in the right formation. In 90 minutes' time you will know if you indeed were right. (rating = 1)
4. [objective] The game: It's a game of chess, and chess is forever. Mental, emotional, physical: it is the beautiful game. (rating = 1)

SORQ score: 4

PS: I've decided to name my pet teak tree Party Tree II.

Review: 'The Avengers'

In The Avengers, blockbuster special effects meet cracker-barrel Saturday morning cartoon storytelling as an energy cube of sorts becomes the object of contention between a supervillain and a group of superheroes called the Avengers.

On to the Quadrant.

1. Story, subjective: When I watched the movie, I wasn't actually thinking of it as a Saturday morning cartoon, but rather as a comic book adaptation. The movie assumes the viewer has some degree of familiarity with the Marvel universe, which, since I haven't, I find a bit alienating. (rating = 0)
2. Characters, subjective: You relate to a superhero when the human being that's the flip side to his alter ego is fleshed out into a person. It's hard to relate to comic book superheroes or mythological gods. (rating = 0)
3. Characters, objective: Weaksauce supervillain. Weaksauce chemistry among the good guys. It's not the costly special effects that people will remember, but the priceless chemistry. Having said that, the characters individually are fun to watch. (rating = 0.5)
4. Story, objective: The story doesn't seem to have an anchoring theme, a 'ground' as in a connection to the earth, to make the movie relatable. I find it a bit puzzling actually as to why the story doesn't seem to have an anchoring theme: after all, it's simply common sense to have one when telling a story. (rating = 0)

SORQ score: 0.5

(Runtime: 143 minutes)

Subjective-Objective Relatability Quadrant: the Roll-out

The Subjective-Objective Relatability Quadrant or SORQ or simply the Quadrant is a tool that has been designed to assess the extent to which something imitates life. This something can be anything, but will here be primarily used for movies, books, and music. Also, it's made up.

Now, imagine a grid divided horizontally into two sections. The upper part denotes the Subjective section, the lower part the Objective section. Both are then further divided vertically into two subsections each, i.e. Story and Characters.

So, moving clockwise from the upper left corner of the quadrant, we now have:

1) Section Subjective, subsection Story, which asks whether the story of a movie (for example) relates on a personal level (if yes rate = 1, if no = 0, if neutral = 0.5);
2) Section Subjective, subsection Characters, which asks whether the characters of a movie relate on a personal level (yes = 1, no = 0, neutral = 0.5);
3) Section Objective, subsection Characters, which asks whether the characters of a movie are 'real' (yes = 1, no = 0, neutral = 0.5); and
4) Section Objective, subsection Story, which asks whether the story of a movie is 'real' (yes = 1, no = 0, neutral = 0.5).

The highest achievable score is 4, the lowest nought.

SORQ is based on the assumption that the degree to which someone likes a movie (or a book or a band) correlates directly with the extent it relates to that person and/or the real world. The personal experience is subjective and may therefore vary among individuals, whereas the realness factor can be perceived objectively and is rather conformable.

This is the roll-out of SORQ and tweaks and modifications will be made along the way.