Initial Capitulation Recapitulated

I started this blog over a year ago. (I was going to do a follow up blog on the actual date, sort of a 'full circle' thing. But I forgot.) It was—and still is—designed to let me sound off on things that tickle my fancy, a breeding ground for the rough drafts of essays that I will probably never get around to fleshing out and finalizing.

It's been remarkably useful for that.

Lately, with my work on Press Start, the blog has been useful to me for getting different ideas off the ground, hearing what my students think of my current work, and feeling like I'm not writing into a complete void; that my voice is, in a sense, heard.

My life has changed significantly from that night last June when I scribbled down my thoughts about the Metal Gear Solid series, but one thing hasn't changed: I still think that 'blog' and 'blogosphere' are inane words.

Meh. I take the good with the bad.

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Dark Necessities

The second of my "music video essays", I'm exploring the single from Red Hot Chili Peppers' newest album, The Getaway , "Dark Necessities". As I did before, I'm posting the video and the lyrics here on the essay, and encourage you to watch and read along. In the case of the Peppers, it's always a good idea to have the lyrics handy, as the lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, has a tendency of mumbling and/or pronouncing words uniquely to create a particular effect--or he's super high, either possibility is there. The Set Up Here's the video: And here are the lyrics : Coming out to the light of day We got many moons than a deeper place So I keep an eye on the shadow's smile To see what it has to say You and I both know Everything must go away Ah, what do you say? Spinning off, head is on my heart It's like a bit of light and a touch of dark You got sneak attacked from the zodiac But I see your eyes spark Keep the breeze and go Blow...

Rage Against the Video Game Machine?

NOTE: If you haven't read the ' Foregrounding ' blog post or the one entitled ' Rough Draft ', please do that first. They're both short, but they matter a lot for what you're about to read. Okay. Done. Enjoy. Zach de la Rocha: "On truth devoured/Silent play in the shadow of power/A spectacle monopolized/The cameras eyes on choice disguised." Rage Against the Machine's single "Guerilla Radio" from their Battle of Los Angeles album is a reaction against the political circus and faux-choice presentations during the 2000 elections. The quote is not in full context (it is much more political than theoretical) here, but it provides a powerful starting block. A little bit of re-punctuation will help to clarify the thrust: "On truth devoured, silent play in the shadow of power [is] a spectacle [that] monopolized the cameras' eyes-on choice disguised." Line by line, we see parallels between how video games are perceived outside o...

Never Been Worse

A few miles from my house, a mentally ill man forced an evacuation of an elementary school , claiming he had a truck full of explosives. The school evacuated with no casualties or problems and, as of this writing, the perpetrator was in custody. In New York over the weekend, a bomb was set off in Chelsea, leading to a manhunt that has already been resolved . Stabbings in Minnesota . Yet another cop-related shooting, this time in Oklahoma . This is the news of the last twenty-four hours. It can be hard at times like this to declare, unequivocally (also with hyperbole), that this it has never been worse in this country. As a history teacher, it's hard not to want to raise my hand, clear my throat, and say, albeit timidly, "That's not true." The hard part isn't looking into the history books for the evidence. It's feeling as though the data aren't skewed. Anyone can look up the information. In the last two decades alone, FBI statistics show a st...

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