This actually happened to me during the write-on competition, but I was busy enough that I didn’t want to waste time putting it down on “paper.” Now that I’ve got some time (original composition of this post happened on a bus from DC to NY), I feel like I should get this out there.
So, it’s Thursday, and I’m relaxing by the Mass Court pool, finishing up my write-on reading, when a group of the other residents sit down near me, and start talking. The conversation wasn’t the most interesting thing ever, and it was pretty clear that they weren’t the type to be friendly to people they didn’t know, so I tried my best to just tune it out. However, my interest was piqued when they moved to the subject of gamers. As usual, these “popular” kids couldn’t possibly understand why anyone would want to play video games for fun, surmising that it must be because “they can’t go to a bar and pick up a girl.” Now this kinda annoyed me; who’s to say that going to a bar to get hammered and pick up some floozy for meaningless sex is the end-all/be-all of existence? But what really got me was the last comment they made on the topic, which came from one of the women in this conversation:
“So I was at a bar last weekend, in the ladies room, and I hear this girl talking to her friend. The friend asks, ‘Where’s your boyfriend?’ The girl is like, “He’s at home, with his friends, playing WoW. I think I’ll go over later and play WoW with him.” And this is a HOT girl. What’s the world coming to?”
This just pissed me off. Ok, we get it, it’s “cooler” by some arbitrary standard to get wasted and act like a moron than it is to stay at home and play Warcraft. But who are you to say that acceptance others is not a good thing? I agree, the stereotype of the gamer is some overweight, pimply kid who never showers and lives in his parents’ basement watching internet porn and is entirely incapable of normal human contact. But we’re not all like that. Along with those who I’m sure would fit your stereotype, the gamer community includes students, people with jobs, and parents who game alongside their kids. Just because we don’t fit some ideal of what one should be doing with their Saturday night doesn’t mean that what we choose to do is not just as valuable to us as your drunken weekend escapades are to you. To belittle anyone for not fitting themselves into whatever small social compartment that you believe their outward appearance would force them into is wrong, and more than a bit pathetic.
To quote the classic Revenge of the Nerds (which has been on G4 pretty much constantly), “none of us can be free until nerd persecution ends.”
May all your hits be crits,
B
Friday, May 29, 2009
Music of the 90s
The 1990s might be my favorite musical decade of all time. This is probably attributable to the fact that I lived through it, and have memories of when the songs came out. However, even I'm aware that the 90s were a very uneven decade when it came to music. There was really no common thread, and there were as many misses for me as there were hits. As a thought experiment, I decided to put on the "90's" station (brought to you by Comcast) to get a quick survey of the decade in music. Here's the list, with a few comments.
1. Losing My Religion (REM)- "Oh...life is bigger/It's bigger than you/and you are not me." Quite possibly the most ridiculous set of lyrics I've ever heard. The song itself might be one of the best of the decade though.
2. Good Vibrations (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch)- Who would have thought that Marky Mark would have had a career after this song came out? Beautiful thing about this country; old celebrities never die, they just find new ways to resurrect.
3. Bitch (Meredith Brooks)- Maybe it's because I'm a dude, and couldn't possibly relate to this song. However, I don't know a woman who doesn't like this song. I guess its the "I Will Survive" of the 90s.
4. Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)- I rue the day this man was born. Not only is this up in the top 5 worst songs of the decade (listen to the Weird Al parody at some point, so good), and NOT ONLY did he have the world's dumbest mullet, but he brought forth the plague that is Hannah Montana. Yuck.
5. Hold My Hand (Hootie and the Blowfish)- I was watching Jerry MacGuire, and it never fails to crack me up when the kid goes up to Cuba Gooding Jr., and asks "Are you Hootie?" I'm sure Darius Rucker has been asked that question a billion times, and I'm pretty sure that it used to piss him off somethign righteous. Too bad they only had one good album...
6. Braking all the Rules (She Moves)- Now I'd never heard of this band before, but I'm sure the brains behind this song had a thought pattern that went something like this: "You know that 'Tearin Up My Heart' song is doing pretty well. Why don't we make another song that sounds just like it in every way, but have women singing it? It can't miss..." But it did.
7. I Could Fall in Love (Selena)- I can't tell if the movie was a good thing for her memory. The movie wasn't bad, but I'm pretty sure that most people just remember J.Lo.
8. No Rain (Blind Melon)- Everyone knows the song, and most remember the video. Too bad they didn't put anything else out; I guess that's the downside of a heroin addiction.
9. The Way You Do the Things You Do (UB-40)- I know this was a cover, but I can't for the life of me remember who they were covering. Also, did they ever do a song that was not a cover?
10. Baby, One More Time (Britney Spears)- Oh Britney, Britney, how were we supposed to know? Pop stars have a short shelflife, until they start doing ridiculous, embarassing shit (See, Jackson, Michael) but nobody could have predicted that you would flame out so spectacularly.
11. You Mean the World To Me (Toni Braxton)- Almost forgot this song existed. I guess that's the effect of making possibly the most melodramatic song of all time.
12. Give Me One Reason (Tracy Chapman)- I wonder what ever happened to her. I loved her voice, just perfect and bluesy. But two major hits and we never heard from her again. Pity.
13. Graduate (Third Eye Blind)- This song got lost in the uproar over Semi-Charmed Life and Jumper, but it was a legitimate hit in its own right. These guys are possibly the best example of the scourge of 90s bands- the inability to follow up an amazing debut (Hootie and the Blowfish, Alanis Morrisette, etc...). At least they put out one amazing album.
14. Mo Money, Mo Problems (Too many artists for me to remember)- Honestly, why in hell does Diddy (or at the time the song came out, still Puff Daddy) feel the need to ruin perfectly good songs by putting himself in the song? He's just not very good at rapping, and should leave it to the professionals.
15. Unbelievable (EMF)- A perfect example of the mid-90s one-hit wonder. An extremely catchy song with a hook people remember, and nobody knows any words outside of the chorus.
16. As Long As You Love Me (Backstreet Boys)- I hate bubblegum pop. Its just brutal on the brain. I mean, at least Disney has not achieved total cultural saturation with its current infection of this schlock. I'm proud to say that I have not heard one single song put out by any of these Disney pseudo-bands.
17. U Can't Touch This (MC Hammer)- What a fantastic sample, possibly the best of all time. Also, the male orc dance in WoW is the MC Hammer dance, which is awesome.
18. Walking on Broken Glass (The Eurythmics)- A forgotten song, mostly because of how unbelivably good Sweet Dreams was. The Eurythmics are undeniably cool, and I think I should listen to more of them at some point.
19. What Is Love (Haddaway)- Maybe I'm the only person who liked Night at the Roxbury (while realizing that the movie wasn't very good), but this song is pretty much the only thing people remember about it. The Diet Pepsi commercial last year using it was pretty excellent.
20. Everything I Do, I Do It For You (Bryan Adams)- It might be unmanly to say, but I like this song. I guess it came out early enough that I don't remember the incredible overplay that I'm sure accompanied its release. The movie disappointed, especially given how incredible the cast was, but it led to one hell of a parody. At least the song endured.
In summation, the 90s was a weird music decade. Some amazing stuff at the beginning, nothing good at the end, and a bunch of bright gems popping up throughout. Fortunately, the good stuff was good enough to save the decade, and make it awesome.
May all your hits be crits,
B
1. Losing My Religion (REM)- "Oh...life is bigger/It's bigger than you/and you are not me." Quite possibly the most ridiculous set of lyrics I've ever heard. The song itself might be one of the best of the decade though.
2. Good Vibrations (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch)- Who would have thought that Marky Mark would have had a career after this song came out? Beautiful thing about this country; old celebrities never die, they just find new ways to resurrect.
3. Bitch (Meredith Brooks)- Maybe it's because I'm a dude, and couldn't possibly relate to this song. However, I don't know a woman who doesn't like this song. I guess its the "I Will Survive" of the 90s.
4. Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)- I rue the day this man was born. Not only is this up in the top 5 worst songs of the decade (listen to the Weird Al parody at some point, so good), and NOT ONLY did he have the world's dumbest mullet, but he brought forth the plague that is Hannah Montana. Yuck.
5. Hold My Hand (Hootie and the Blowfish)- I was watching Jerry MacGuire, and it never fails to crack me up when the kid goes up to Cuba Gooding Jr., and asks "Are you Hootie?" I'm sure Darius Rucker has been asked that question a billion times, and I'm pretty sure that it used to piss him off somethign righteous. Too bad they only had one good album...
6. Braking all the Rules (She Moves)- Now I'd never heard of this band before, but I'm sure the brains behind this song had a thought pattern that went something like this: "You know that 'Tearin Up My Heart' song is doing pretty well. Why don't we make another song that sounds just like it in every way, but have women singing it? It can't miss..." But it did.
7. I Could Fall in Love (Selena)- I can't tell if the movie was a good thing for her memory. The movie wasn't bad, but I'm pretty sure that most people just remember J.Lo.
8. No Rain (Blind Melon)- Everyone knows the song, and most remember the video. Too bad they didn't put anything else out; I guess that's the downside of a heroin addiction.
9. The Way You Do the Things You Do (UB-40)- I know this was a cover, but I can't for the life of me remember who they were covering. Also, did they ever do a song that was not a cover?
10. Baby, One More Time (Britney Spears)- Oh Britney, Britney, how were we supposed to know? Pop stars have a short shelflife, until they start doing ridiculous, embarassing shit (See, Jackson, Michael) but nobody could have predicted that you would flame out so spectacularly.
11. You Mean the World To Me (Toni Braxton)- Almost forgot this song existed. I guess that's the effect of making possibly the most melodramatic song of all time.
12. Give Me One Reason (Tracy Chapman)- I wonder what ever happened to her. I loved her voice, just perfect and bluesy. But two major hits and we never heard from her again. Pity.
13. Graduate (Third Eye Blind)- This song got lost in the uproar over Semi-Charmed Life and Jumper, but it was a legitimate hit in its own right. These guys are possibly the best example of the scourge of 90s bands- the inability to follow up an amazing debut (Hootie and the Blowfish, Alanis Morrisette, etc...). At least they put out one amazing album.
14. Mo Money, Mo Problems (Too many artists for me to remember)- Honestly, why in hell does Diddy (or at the time the song came out, still Puff Daddy) feel the need to ruin perfectly good songs by putting himself in the song? He's just not very good at rapping, and should leave it to the professionals.
15. Unbelievable (EMF)- A perfect example of the mid-90s one-hit wonder. An extremely catchy song with a hook people remember, and nobody knows any words outside of the chorus.
16. As Long As You Love Me (Backstreet Boys)- I hate bubblegum pop. Its just brutal on the brain. I mean, at least Disney has not achieved total cultural saturation with its current infection of this schlock. I'm proud to say that I have not heard one single song put out by any of these Disney pseudo-bands.
17. U Can't Touch This (MC Hammer)- What a fantastic sample, possibly the best of all time. Also, the male orc dance in WoW is the MC Hammer dance, which is awesome.
18. Walking on Broken Glass (The Eurythmics)- A forgotten song, mostly because of how unbelivably good Sweet Dreams was. The Eurythmics are undeniably cool, and I think I should listen to more of them at some point.
19. What Is Love (Haddaway)- Maybe I'm the only person who liked Night at the Roxbury (while realizing that the movie wasn't very good), but this song is pretty much the only thing people remember about it. The Diet Pepsi commercial last year using it was pretty excellent.
20. Everything I Do, I Do It For You (Bryan Adams)- It might be unmanly to say, but I like this song. I guess it came out early enough that I don't remember the incredible overplay that I'm sure accompanied its release. The movie disappointed, especially given how incredible the cast was, but it led to one hell of a parody. At least the song endured.
In summation, the 90s was a weird music decade. Some amazing stuff at the beginning, nothing good at the end, and a bunch of bright gems popping up throughout. Fortunately, the good stuff was good enough to save the decade, and make it awesome.
May all your hits be crits,
B
Monday, May 25, 2009
How I got KEA-d
Well, I'm in my new apartment, which is pretty awesome, especially since you can tell that it's really coming together. We've got a couch, bed, TV's, dining room set, etc, already set. The only thing left for me to put together was this red kitchen storage unit. Now, I'm usually really good with IKEA stuff. I mean, how much talent does it take to follow the pictures? However, this one really got me. First, the shelves of the unit are various quadrilaterals: one rectangle, two things that could probably be considered trapezoida, and one thing that might well be a parallelogram. Normally, I just follow the pictures and can deal with this sort of thing, but this time there were two pictures: beginning and end. This must be how the crew of the Enterprise feels; the instructions were, in effect, "make it so." So, I blindly embarked on my task, and soon learned that this would have been a hell of a lot easier with two people than one, as someone needed to hold the initial structure in place, while the other screwed in the shelves. Needless to say, the legs kept falling out, occasionally landing on my head. Eventually I prevailed, and the shelving unit now sits proudly in the corner of my kitchen. Less than three weeks till Marie moves in. I can't wait.
May all your hits be crits,
B
May all your hits be crits,
B
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Another Missed Opportunity
Now, this is dating myself a bit, as it happened in Civil Procedure, but I figured it was worth putting up. Now, Abernathy always used to tell us that juries feel more sympathetic towards people than big businesses. You would have this small plaintiff against Big Pharmaceuticals, Big Oil, Big Auto, and the jury would inevitably find a way to rule in favor of the plaintiff. However, in the case of Owen Equipment and Erection Co v. Kroeger, how would the jury feel about Big Erection?
Food for thought I guess, and with all the jokes about that case (the widow versus the erection, for one), I don't know how i missed this. Oh well.
May all your hits be crits,
B
Food for thought I guess, and with all the jokes about that case (the widow versus the erection, for one), I don't know how i missed this. Oh well.
May all your hits be crits,
B
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