Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I Love Elite Beat Agents, But...

I love the game Elite Beat Agents. It's a clever, silly, and fun beat game that can entertain a man for hours and shows that beat games can be played with a touch pad on the DS...and done very well.

But...Three Panel Soul pegged it best with this comic. Sometimes the story just makes a person a little confused by its ridiculousness.

Talking About the iGeneration

A while back, iTunes ran this promotion where they gave away free songs when you joined their facebook group. It was great, and it was the only reason I joined. During one of the packages of free songs, I got a track entitled "iGeneration" by MC Lars. Check out the lyrics, specifically the second verse --
The iGeneration new organization meant optimization and unification,
When imagination gave participation in creation of culture a manifestation.
The Berlin Wall fell and out we came, the post-Cold War kids laid claim to AIM.
LOL, OMG, yo, BRB. Space, colon, dash, closed parenthesis.
We sat at our laptops and typed away, and found that we each had something to say.
Web-logged our fears, our hopes and dreams. Individuated by digital means.
Fiber optic lenses, DVD, Coca Cola, Disney and Mickey D's.
Flat mass culture, the norm that took hold; I hope I die before it gets old.
It may seem like a bunch of buzz words about the internet and modern mass media, but think about it for a moment and you'll realize that MC Lars, with is expression and his lyrics has put the nail on the head. He has found a new way to define Generation Y, and frankly I think they should be defined that way. We are the iGeneration.

The internet is such a defining factor in this entire generation, from MySpace to Facebook to Web logs of our lives, our hopes, our ideas. We use the internet as our means of uncovering the news far more than we use classic media. We post personal thoughts and sometimes information, yet no one seems to blink an eye. We don't care about privacy issues as much, so long as we continue to have a choice as to how much of our privacy we wish to give up. We are much more liberal on social issues partially because we see them, we see people and we feel their plight through the mass media and through their own personal release of emotions through the internet. We appear more passive in our attempts to protest and raise up against, but in reality we do so en masse to each other through the incredible power of the internet. We've found a way to protest and get our message across to one another across the globe in such a way that has never existed before. We find video games to be as true of a media as film, television, and literature. We also take our freedoms and liberties for granted far more than we should. We have a faith that's personal and many explore different religions and home brewed versions of traditional faiths. We are ready to take over already as Generation X stands by with a bit of rugged ingenuity and the iGeneration rises into political offices already. We are unified through this information superhighway and we like it that way. We are the iGeneration and I think I'm happy to be a part of it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Something to Sing About

In the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More with Feeling," has some wonderful music that I've talked about at least once before here. One song that I didn't pay as much attention to at first was "Something to Sing About," which discusses Buffy's emotions about coming back from the dead. The profound aspect begins with the first verse and I think it can apply to...well, many people --
Life's a show
And we all play our parts
And when the music starts
We open up our hearts

It's all right
If some things come out wrong
We'll sing a happy song
And you can sing along

Where's there's life
There's hope, everyday's a gift
Wishes can come true
Whistle while you work
So hard all day
To be like other girls
To fit in in this glittering world

Don't give me songs
Don't give me songs
Give me something to sing about
I need something to sing about...
It's profound in many ways. The emotions evoked by these lyrics is amazing and what it means both in and out of context is great. Think about the desire to fit in, the desire to be understood by everyone around you, you want to be accepted by those who care. It's an interesting song and Sarah Michelle Gellar pulls it off far better than Jewel would have (as Whedon initially had intended, according to Wikipedia).

Everyone feels like they need something to sing about from time to time. They need something to make them more fulfilled in life -- something may seem missing. This whole introduction sets that stage. Joss Whedon has a way with words, so it's not surprising that he's able to come up with such clever and meaningful lyrics. Read them through and think about them.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A New Tron Chapter Awaits

One of the first movies to make use computer generated graphics was Tron. It was a sight to behold and incredibly fun back in the 1982. This year marked its 25th aniversary.

Well, apparently, that marks as good a year as any to finally make a sequel movie. The original creators are still around and ready to help write for this one. This will be interesting to see how a sequel will be handled, and how much of the ridiculous "Tron 2.0" video game gets incorporated into it. I just hope that it can live up to the expectations that will be created from a 25 year wait between sequels...