Just watching Tank Girl...

And who's genius idea was it to put a "Let's Do It" number in there? :)

Mashups!

I've got to say, I've been following the podcast on this site for a fair while now (It let me grab "Dean Grey"'s "American Edit", one of the best mashup CD's I've yet come across (And now, sadly, hunted down by the *AA and banned from all sites that care to host it)), and while it's a hit-and-miss affair, there's a lot of things in here that work well, and surprise me.

So, go check it out.

US Congress vs. Videogames

You know, it's shit like this that really gets my goat. Congress really has missed the point.

Let's take an example here. How's this for a plot:

A man, returning from a long trip out of state, is picked up by some corrupt cops, who frame him for a murder to blackmail him into doing various "Dirty Jobs" for them.

He gets home to find his neighborhood overrun with drug dealers and gangs killing his friends and family.

So, as he can't trust the cops, he is forced to take matters into his own hands, cleaning up the streets, taking out the drug dealers, and defending his home from those who would destroy it.

So, while getting used to changes in the city, and making what connections he can to support him cleaning up the town, he ventures out into the world to expose and get rid of the corrupt cops, clean the drugs off the street, and perhaps even find love along the way.

Sounds like the plot for some Hollywood action-thriller, doesn't it?

That's the opening scenario and plot for GTA: San Andreas. Sure, you can go on a rampage and kill hookers for their money, but the point is, and I have to switch to bold for this one, you don't have to! Nowhere within the game do you have to kill a hooker. In fact, the number of plot-required deaths is small (And you have no option with them, what with being blackmailed).

Let's take another example. That old scapegoat, Doom. There, you're on Mars, which has been overrun with hellspawn, and you have but one option. Kill or be killed. It's quite simple, really, just like war.

And let's move on the subject of kids getting games rated too high for them. 9 times out of 10, it's the parents asking the kid "What game do you want, Jimmy?", then buys whatever game Jimmy points to. The shopkeeper can do nothing here, as it's the parent who's buying, and if they point out that the game's not suitable to the parent, most parents are offended. And parents aren't taking responsibility any more. If they can find a scapegoat to blame their child's disfunction on, they will. The fact that they're relying on TV and videogames to care for their children means that they don't know what their child really is like, or is really thinking. They plonk their kid down in front of the TV to shut them up.

It's a good job I'm in Canada, where the state doesn't interfere with things that work just fine.