Think About This

"Cute, smile-less, heartless, violent
Childhood destroyed, devoid of all childish
Ways, can't write they own names
Or read the words that's on they own graves
Think you gangsta, popped a few rounds?
The kids'll come through and murder a whole town
Then sit back and smoke and watch it burn down
The grave gets deeper the further we go down."

-Lupe Fiasco, "Little Weapon".

Nintendo's Loss: Foretelling Widespread Panic?

Further proof that the video game industry is not recession proof (and that consumers are scaling back on even small luxuries). Bear in mind that Nintendo has had the best-selling video game console since the Wii's debut and they're reporting an '08 profit 150 billion yen less than they what they previously forecast. Meanwhile Sony, maker of this game generation's worst-selling system, is expecting a 150 billion yen loss.

The Rainforest Debate Further Complicated

Elisabeth Rosenthal reports that, due to a decreased need for farmland, slaughtered rain forests are recovering__very rapidly. These "secondary forests" are expanding the amount of global rain forest at 4% annually, whereas 1990 data report that forest is being stripped at 1.2% in the same time. Meanwhile, a field of stripped rain forest will grow more in 20 years than a tree field in New York over a century. That's the good news.

But researchers aren't sure how fast the forest is being cut down now. Increased tech and global demand might mean that it's being cut down faster than in '90. It's also not known whether the secondary forest provides the same evironmental benefit as "old" forest. In a sad irony, the global recession may force industry workers back to the forest and stripping for farmland. Full-story here.

F*cking Tell 'Em, Barry!

Hell. Yes.

The Pixel Pusher 10+ Revisions Later

Remember that first flyer I posted? Here's the final one that went to press:


I'm sorry to say that I noticed one more error in the text after printing (see if you can spot it).

Here's the old one again, for the hell of it.

Ted Haggard: A Proper Sacrifice

Patton Dodd, of Beliefnet.com, tells Slate the fundamental problem with becoming an Evangelical leader. First, a look at true redemption:

One place to look is outside religious ministry and inside British politics, to the famous Profumo Affair. When popular politician John Profumo was caught with a prostitute in 1963, he resigned and withdrew completely from public life. For the rest of his days—he lived until 2006—he did the work of atonement, cleaning toilets, washing dishes, and working with alcoholics in London's East End. Profumo never published a memoir or even granted so much as an interview, even though he once acknowledged "deeply distressing inaccuracies" in reports of his affair.

This is something Haggard always claimed he would do, if he ever strayed from his flock. But therein lies a problem:

The problem for people like Ted Haggard...is that he was in a position of public trust. Once fully lost, that trust can never be fully restored. Robert Downey Jr. can become an A-list actor, ruin himself with drugs, sober up, and become an A-list actor all over again. A businessman, a scholar, or a parent can do something similar. Why can't Haggard? Because his very public career was based on the antithesis of his failures. Downey wants only to be a damn fine actor, and he can be that no matter the content of his character. Haggard wanted to be a minister, a position that makes claims on his behavior—claims that Haggard professed to be equal to. Haggard didn't have to be a big supporter of President Bush, or outspoken against homosexuality, or any of the things that charged his public life. But he did have to have character that was consistent with the values that he so loudly espoused. His life did have to be consistent with what he preached, because preaching is based on public trust within the preacher's community of followers. Integrity is the deal-maker, hypocrisy the deal-breaker.

Which is exactly why he and his family deserve to be jobless and exiled from their community. Haggard and his 30 million followers oppose Civil Rights in many forms and their dogmas discourage nuance in political dialogue. If their lives are ruined for the sake of social progress (and because of their bigotry), I'm all for it. No apologies.

Otf Imitated, Never Duplicated

Beware of fakes.

Auto Maker Hubris Knows No Boundaries

Taking the bailout money to court...against the people who gave them the money. Beautiful. While we're at it, why don't they just debut a car that runs on the pain of illegal laborers and the sadness of gays who can't marry? Better still, line the seats in a leather crafted from the skin of the 4 out of 5 African-American men in jail. Let the douchebaggery see no limit, please, for the love of Jesus Herbert Walker Christ.

My Genius. From Elsewhere, InterWeb.

Your comment about the Bible being written by ordinary men reminds me of my theory about the story of Jesus Christ.

Two guys are walking down the street. One is named Jesus. The other guy, let's call him George Walker, bumps into Jesus not unintentionally because it's a bad day for him (George).

"Watch where you're goin', hippie!" says George, rudely.

It creates a scene because Jesus falls down and scrapes his knee. Uncool. Jesus stands and sizes George up real quick. George, looking for a fight, says, "Yeah, maybe it wasn't an accident. Maybe you got what was coming to you, huh pal?"

And he beats his chest and throws up his dukes. Jesus, calmly, asks George what's wrong? Is his harvest bad? Does his goat not give milk? Is his wife seeing the stable-keeper on the side? What gives?

George bursts into tears. "Aw, man, it's all those things!" And he throws his arms around Jesus in apology and consolation. Jesus, who happens to be George's neighbor, overhears the scandal of the Walker household frequently but he says nothing more to George about it. Instead he says, "It's alright, friend."

The passersby erupt into applause and everyone is happy. Jesus, while he has everyone's attention, reminds his audience that it's good to be nice to people, even mean people. Especially mean people.

The story of Jesus and George spreads across the city, then neighboring cities and then neighboring nations. Each time the story is passed, maybe some details get forgotten or a more interesting detail gets added. Maybe Jesus didn't just give George a hug; he made his wheat grow and sent a wave of locusts onto the house of the stable-keeper. Maybe George becomes three different guys, each named Judas, Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate. A century passes and four guys in remote locations all decide, "Man the stuff that Jesus did ought to be written down."

Six centuries later, you have the proto-orthodox church.

Billy...Bad? Say it ain't so....

Ron Rosenbaum, of Slate, rails into one of my favorite all-time musicians, calling him one of the worst ever to succeed in the industry. He (Rosenbaum) pinpoints Billy Joel's phony contempt for various people as the dominating element. While I agree that many Joel tunes are contemptuous, I find it's their utter showtune-ness that creates the love/hate relationship listeners have with the music. Or maybe just Joel's clumsiness...

But what is this "phoniness"? Sure, Billy Joel has scorned people for driving Cadillacs ("Anthony's Song") despite probably owning an expensive car, but so what? He isn't the first hypocrite to walk the planet...Love ya', Bill....

Starbucks Cutting Decaf in Effort to Earn $400 M

Whole story here.

I worked there for five years and always asked myself why there was a rule on the books to brew coffee constantly. Here's how this all might backfire: The cafe I worked at generally ignored the rule. Sometimes they let it mellow; sometimes they brewed on request, but no one was brewing constantly unless there was constant demand. If Starbucks all over the U.S. are like this, then they may fall just short of that $400,000,000 mark.

Buck Fush

I love how the former administration held the lives of Gitmo detainees with shatty record keeping.

Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Nominated for Best Actor

The Oscar nominations have been released. I'm seldom pleased with who wins (the decisions are often political messages to the outside world), but I'm overjoyed Richard Jenkins is nominated for his lead in The Visitor.

The Visitor is the story of a unfulfilled, middle-aged professor who discovers his second apartment has been rented out to illegal immigrants. Rather than kick them out, he decides to get to know them and you can guess where things go from there. For being about illegal immigration in the post-Dubya world, the film is neither a Hallmark sob-fest nor an ideological gatling gun. Instead, it's a hushed, near-masterpiece of realism that strikes a careful balance of ethos, pathos and logos.

Likely, there were "better" films this year_either Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke will win, probably Penn_but I didn't enjoy any other film as much as The Visitor.

Just Because: Some Devil

The first in a line of essays that stray out of the present to muse on something worth musing over.
~
Chances are if you’re not the part of the legion of hard-core fans that trade live shows and own every official release of the Dave Matthews Band, than you’re in one of two other groups: You either “respect DMB’s musicianship” or wonder what the big deal is and go back to blasting TV On the Radio. Matthews has struggled with lukewarm critics falling into the second and third categories for the bulk of his career. Problems include weak songwriting too reliant on sexual innuendo, cryptic subject matter and novel vocal arrangements always weighed heavy by complex musicianship. It remains unknown whether Some Devil, Dave Matthew’s first official solo release, deliberately addresses these criticisms, but the critical elite get their due.

Some Devil sounds surprisingly different from previous Matthews efforts. Matthews flanks himself with jam-band icon Trey Anastasio and underground guitar-god Tim Reynold’s, along with Tony Hall (bass) and Brady Blade (drums) from Emmy Lou Harris’s backing band. Matthews refrains from jams and complex arrangements, instead seasoning the music with guests Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Seattle Music Group and the Total Experience Gospel Choir. Long-time collaborator Stephen Harris is on the console, lending Dave and his friends a sparkling blue’s rock sound sorely lacking on the flatter Busted Stuff.

Some Devil also marks the second release in what seems to be Matthews’ “dark” period, first initiated on Busted. The familiar themes of regret, redemption, mortality and insanity are in order. Matthews, on album opener “Dodo”, ironically hints that the extinct bird should have known better: “This little game/where nothing is sure of/why would you play by the rules?” he inquires, no doubt scolding Humanity instead.

But what makes Some Devil worthwhile are its bizarre double ironies. The record arrives in Matthews post-Everyday era; where his audience has never been so generic, his long-time fans so dissatisfied and his critics so jaded. So Matthews seemingly casts himself as the Devil speaking to Christ in the desert on “Save Me”.

Meanwhile, the mini-epic “Too High” features him reassuring a friend in a state of torturous waiting. But Dave briefly mocks his muse, singing, “The sand is empty in the hourglass/I’ll be there/to turn it over and over in your head/so you keep your hope/you get your day.” On “Trouble”, Dave portrays himself as bowed, ashamed and pious, but he’s simply begging to be left alone. It would seem that Matthews, ever the reluctant and mysterious celebrity, is finally telling his fan base and critics alike, “Yeah, I fucked up. Here’s what you want. Now get off my ass.”

But the complexities don’t end there. Most of the other songs speak to a bitter nostalgia that occasionally unwinds into a euphoric insanity, as on “Oh”. Matthews has admitted in interviews that the lyrics of the romantic ode are meant to be those of an old man joyfully singing to the ghost of his deceased wife. Similarly blissful tunes such as “Up and Away” and “So Damn Lucky” are ultimately engulfed by all the darkness, making Some Devil disturbingly alluring.

Luckily, all of this controversy helps Matthews hit pay dirt. For years he has struggled against Rock’s critical elite to prove himself as a relevant songwriter. Some Devil shirks the musical complexities of his work in the 90’s in favor of emphatic musings and heartbreaking narratives. With reeled in musicianship and an emphasis on songwriting, there’s no excuse for critics not believing what the fans have believed all along: Dave Matthews has arrived.

Barry knows how you like it.

Barack in Sumter, SC, in January 2008.

Note how, around 1:30 in, Mr. Obama evokes Malcolm X while dispelling the rumor that he is a secret Muslim. Then, he evokes the famous Muslim civil-rights activist again, before saying, "Alright, I'm having too much fun up here."

That's the same man here, who prefaced his second oath with the words, "We're going to do it, very slowly."

Make no mistake, this man is capable of viewing himself through the lens of media-obsessed citizens. It's nice to have that sort of intelligence in the White House.

Mixed Martial Arts illegal in NY, for now.

Here's a surprise.

Honestly, I'm not much for MMA (too brutal for my tastes), but I don't understand why it would be illegal anywhere. Two people of sound mind willfully duking it out with refs and medics on hand sounds like an excellent outlet for agression.

The Pixel-Pusher Cometh.

Speaking of graphic design, check out my first flyer for the UTSA Creative Writing Department. From scratch, peoples (click to enlarge).

Happy Birthday, Martin. Wish you were here.

I'll refrain from stating the obvious, regarding tomorrow's inauguration, etc. Instead, I'd like to report that San Antonio should be hosting the nation's largest march (100,000) for the acclaimed civil rights leader, as I post this. It's a shame I'm stuck here at home learning graphic design. But duty calls...

By the way, last week my Neo-Con friend at work asked why we don't get a day off for Washington's birthday. Being her semi-Chicano, mostly-liberal counterpart, I said, "Yeah, U.S. citizens need to take more days off."

Jesus Christ losing Rock Edge, Hair

Last night, we attended Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the original film. We were not pleased. The drums were electronic, the keyboards filled in for brass and strings, the dancers weren't dressed like hippies, the music wasn't very loud and there was little dancing. Not very Rock n' Roll. It was as if Ted Neeley, 67, was making the show age with him in every way.

But that's not all. The play opened with Jesus reviving a dead person, an amendment to the original production. Big deal, right? He is Jesus H. Christ, after all. But the opening scene undermined the character conflict between Judas and Jesus. The film doesn't allude to Christ's divinity, therefore empathizing his humanity and casting Judas_as well-meaning detractor_in a sympathetic light. Not so, last night. Instead, we were watching something that could have been directed by Billy Graham, especially because Neeley acted as if he were talking with God constantly. Not very Rock n' Roll, indeed.

Warning: Contains Squeeky Coitus

Thank you, Andrew Sullivan, for pulling me away from schoolwork to watch this.

Forward-thinking or Goatish?

Consider the following:

A scholar is giving a presentation on, I don't know, the mating habits of bullfrogs in New Zealand. In the middle of his lecture, the unthinkable happens: his cell phone rings (maybe it plays the William Tell Overture). The entire audience shifts in their seats as that familiar mixture of disdain and embarrassment fills the place.

THEN HE TAKES THE CALL, informing the crowd, "I'm sorry, one second...It's my wife; my child is disabled..." The crowd murmurs. Everyone is thinking, "Oh, okay..."

Then my intern--very interested in the mating habits of anything--says to her friend, "You know, a cell phone does not possess the utility to excuse him interrupting this lecture. In the pre-cellphone age, anything that child may have needed would have just worked itself out. Or it would have been too serious for that cellphone to solve anything."

Everyone seated around her leans away, fiddles with their note-taking materials or, ironically, checks their cellphones to distract themselves.

What say you, readers? Is my intern on to something or is she just an insufferable (though lovable) goat?

Facebook and Google: Clash of Titans

This is Michael Aggers' companion article to Manjoo's, where the former waxes wishful of having all social networking centralized. In passing, he also explains another benefit of online social networking:

"We are sorting out the entourage, or, to put it in a more utilitarian way, we are deciding which people are worthy sources of information."

A decision we wouldn't be forced to make in the pre-SN world and a vast contribution to a citizenry that begs for more participation regarding information.

The problem is that the internet, for all of its "final frontier"-ness is a hard place to make money, and Google and Facebook are ready to duke it out for your advertising eye. A great read, if for no other reason, to read a Google employee refer to the internet as barbaric.

The Case to Facebook Holdouts

Farhad Manjoo, of Slate, tells us why Facebook is the new cell phone:

"For a long while—from about the late '80s to the late-middle '90s, Wall Street to Jerry Maguire—carrying a mobile phone seemed like a haughty affectation. But as more people got phones, they became more useful for everyone—and then one day enough people had cell phones that everyone began to assume that you did, too. "

Thus, the utility of the device began to outweigh its costs and complications. Also:

"In general, Facebook is a lubricant of social connections. With so many people on it, it's now the best, fastest place online to find and connect with a specific person—think of it as a worldwide directory, or a Wikipedia of people. As a result, people now expect to find you on Facebook—whether they're contacting you for a job or scouting you out for a genius grant."

His entire argument is nothing short of bulletproof. But if everyone should get on Facebook, the question of what happens to other social networking sites gets raised. For Facebook to reach its full potential, all other networks must go away, or at least become the "other" social network of users. A Microsoft-like control of the industry may be on the horizon, with MySpace playing the Apple. Too bad MySpace just sucks.

Comments Are Now Open To Everyone!

So sound off if you could not before.

Trading Sales for Security

Some hard data on December economic activity. Although the drops are scary in our one-paycheck-away-from-financial-ruin economic climate, I'm happy that there seems to be a new attitude of financial convervatism washing over the citizenry. It's perfect timing considering Obama's economics will likely marry the individual responsibility of Jimmy Carter with the some of the more radical ideas of Franklin Roosevelt. With any luck, 08' and 09' will be the darkest hours of our economic nightmare.

How about Doogie Hanzer?

Daily Show pits Obama against Bush on Presidential Etiquette. Holy crap, we should have impeached Bush just based on how he talked to the press.

Getty wants to make me a star.

My friend and yet-to-be-discovered photographer extrordinaire, Clayton Hackett, just told me that this photo (of me) is being sought out by Getty Images.



Oops, I actually meant this one.


I told him my one condition is that Getty watermark the photo with the URL to this site.

Nothing is sacred.

Not even this.

To quote user Syddiggers at the site:

"3.7 million dollars for a non-ugly woman with no experience. Is she related to Sarah Palin?"

Yasir?

Is it just me or is Bill Cosby starting to look like the late Yasir Arafat? Please spare me any comments about the fact that Cosby voted for a "secret Muslim."

Update: The intern who brings me sugar-free energy drinks and tasty protein bars disagrees with this post entirely. However, she asserts that Arafat is the father of my brother and his (our) uncle. Probably not in that order.

EGM falls, but staff marches on.

Jeff Green reports some encouraging news in the wake of EGM's surprising (to readers, not necessarily insiders) closure. Former members of the 1Up show have already produced a podcast and hit number two on iTunes. Green writes:

"That's higher than This American Life. Higher than all the NPR podcasts. Higher, in fact, than any actual official 1up.com podcast ever got."

Like Jeff, I suspect that sort of success is temporary_given the hullabaloo surrounding EGM's closure_but the achievement is respectable and exciting none the less. We can only hope that these ex-staffers stay in the game online. Dog knows they've got a loyal following out there that misses them greatly already.

For me, EGM was a fixture in my life longer than many of the people I know. Being a child of the 80's, gaming journalism seemed to grow as I did, with steadily rising reading levels and increasingly mature/complex content being brought to consoles each year. The reality of not finding an issue in the mail each month to read up on some of the best reviews, previews and office antics around has yet to set in. I give myself until February, when the final issue goes online at 1Up.com.

For those looking to keep up with former staffers, give my links box a few clicks. You can find Jen, Mielke and even Shoe and co. still tearing up the blogosphere.

Update:
MTV Multiplayer is reporting that an unfinished, 20th anniversary issue may still be completed. Whether it could be digital, physical or pure balderdash remains to be seen. The e-mail onslaught must begin now.

Dice must deliver Akira

Mirror's Edge makes many long-needed changes to the first-person genre of video game. It swaps gunplay for disarmament, fight for flee and creates a palpable sense of being chased. My palms haven't sweat like this since Half-Life 2.

But the parkour acrobatics work only most of the time. The game demands too much player accuracy, especially in the moments when the player has to fight or repeat a difficult platforming section needlessly. I've been working through each chapter by degrees, tempering my frustration with the play control against the game's beautiful (though lifeless) world.

Anyway, it just so happens that I'm playing this game while re-reading Otomo's Akira graphic novels. For those who don't know, Akira, the film, takes many liberties with the manga's original plot to create a more digestible feature. As a result, we have one of the few instances where both the art and print version of a work are both quite different and neither seems preferable.

But what I've noticed is that Otomo's manga features several Mirror's Edge-style chases, with the poorly-armed protagonists resulting to unconventional means of survival. That is: climbing, running, jumping, disarming and occasionally firing guns at enemies, which constitutes most of the manga's plot. If developer Dice uses a sequel or two to iron out Mirror's Edge's gameplay annoyances and lifeless environments, then maybe they can implode the geek realm by crafting a five star Akira video game.

Pain is Temporary, Jada is Forever

I'm getting a tattoo in two weekends. Though I'm sure it will sting somethin' fierce, my biggest concern is actually having to sit for three hours listening to this on the hi-fi.

First Post

So here we are. I'll spare you an introduction, as it's covered somewhere on this page. To all present and future viewers, welcome.