Dave J

Punishment Park vs. Penetration Park

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, whether in Omaha or not. (I was not.) Here is a somewhat linear story of things that may amuse or intrigue you.

So, first off, a rare picture blog opportunity (it's been long enough that I actually forgot how to do pictures). Gaze your eyes upon this treasure:

Oh yes. I was actually working the day it came out, but a reliable source told me the Toys R Us on Times Square received 5,000 units, and a CNN story said they sold a whopping 1,000 of them at midnight when it was released. That still left 4,000 unaccounted for. Knowing there was an abundance, I decided to leave early Monday morning before class to reach the store just as it opened, when I figured there would be no line. There was, roughly 100 people or so, but it was all very nice and polite because everyone was nerding out and talking nerd talk and there were no bat beatings or muggings to be seen--which is why this system rocks some socks and the PS3 can currently sit in the cold as the only system Dave doesn't own. ANYWAY, we will return to nerd talk in a bit.

Now, as I am heading to the subway station to head into the belly of the beast, also known as Times Square, I am scooting on a certified Razor (TM) kick scooter with modified pink wheels. I am then stopped by a MTV crew who wants to use me in something, so I take the place of confused bystander #2. Now this is probably a bad idea in the post-Borat age, but I didn't ask exactly what MTV thing it was for, I just signed the NDA and left to get my Wii as quick as possible. However, it was a professional crew with lots of fancy equipment, so it was something with a budget. If they use what they took, it would be a shot of me scooting left, stopping quickly and then a cut to me looking in mild disbelief, shaking my head. If anyone actually watches MTV and manages to find out just where I get my five seconds of fame, please feel free to let me know. My original guess was Andy Milonakis, but since that's being shot in Hollywood now, I'm left generally confused as to what MTV even airs anymore thats not a crappy reality show or a Fallout Boy video.

So back to the Wii. It's a lot of fun, really intuitive. I actually finally got a chance to try out Zelda tonight, which has been an extremely fun adventure. I knew it was going to be a major distraction, so in a rare show of restraint, I put a big stickie note on it saying the game couldn't be opened, let alone played, until I had finished two of my four final papers looming in the distance.

Well, last week I completed a healthy looking near-final draft of my first paper, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the Ghettoization of the Action/Adventure Game." It examines ideological frameworks of racialization and potential racism within the game, and how it has impacted a field of games that now includes Saints Row, True Crime: NY and LA, 25 to Life, etc. It weighs in at 25 pages with about as many sources, and the fact that I had to trim my thoughts significantly is a really positive sign; this is the general field I'm hoping to get a book together on in 2007, and it appears that the trial run was a great success.

My second paper, completed tonight in an effort to get to Zelda as soon as possible, is a paper on Michael Haneke's Funny Games and Cache. A lot of people have seen Cache, but Im guessing not many have seen Funny Games, which is probably good, because its one of the most depressing and disturbing films ever made. He's also remaking it in English with Naomi Watts for a 2007 release, so maybe people could catch it then. I was only able to watch it in 15 minute segments at a time.

Oh, and this arrived for me in the mail, finally. Bastards confiscated my Nebraska license for two weeks before handing over a replacement, complete with crappy washed out photo:

I used it two nights ago when Mad and I went to see the Hold Steady in New Jerz. Expensive concert drinks ensued! The show reminded me how much I love the Hold Steady, particularly live. The last time they were sober (and at NYU), so the vibe was very much different than being essentially surrounded by various disembodied cans of PBR splashing on you. The new album approaches being too pop-punkish with this new girl singer thing going on, but it's still all good. And $7 at Best Buy, or at least it was a week ago.

Les Savy Fav reminded me how much I like their naval drama/spoken word piece "Reformat (Live)", which is essentially a cliched story of naval excitement, mutiny and execution. Done with the band members pretending to be the renegade captain, various aging parental figures, lawyers etc. Just thought I'd throw that out there, because nothing seems to kick up blog excitement like music talk!

WII.

Posted by dave at November 26, 2006 11:48 PM