FLYmeatwad

@Demoskinos said:

I used to pirate the shit out of music and everything back in the day but now there is literally no reason for me to pirate anything. Its simpler and more conveient to get any sort of media I want through legit avenues. I want to listen to the new Taylor Swift song? Pop on Spotify.

Taylor Swift's new (aka 2012 album released last year) still isn't on Spotify. I think that crappy "Never Ever Getting Back Together" song is, but that pretty okay "Trouble" song definitely isn't. Regardless, the whole Red album certainly isn't on there, so I'm not sure this is the best example.

We are defining 'important' as essentially synonymous with 'influential' right? In that case I see Skyrim, Geometry Wars, Farmville, Angry Birds, ME, and CoD4: MW fighting it out for the top spot with CoD probably taking it all down.

I still find the more interesting conversation, as I have mentioned elsewhere, to concern the games that best define this generation. In which case it's a battle between Fez and ME2.

Last season was pretty underwhelming; however, at present The Office has returned (with the re-addition of Greg Daniels) into NBC's best Thursday night comedy. It's strange, considering how many people have bemoaned the death of Community after Harmon was canned, despite no episodes of Season 4 even airing yet, that the return of the person who was responsible for many of the best years of The Office continues to be cause for dismissal. The hive mind hasn't caught up yet, I suppose.

Regardless, the more troubling element than Brian (Jim and Pam will probably be okay, though I have loved watching the deterioration of their relationship thus far this season, since it seems so anti-The Office) is the Pete/Erin relationship. Mostly this becomes concerning because it's so telegraphed (like I'm not sure how the show doesn't wrap up with Andy/Nellie and Eric/Pete pairing up), the guy who plays Pete doesn't seem like a great actor, and because Ed Helms has been off the show for like three months now and it's tough to develop any sort of emotional investment when they basically destroyed the Andy character by making him a Michael Scott-lite version last year and (a fault of Daniels this year) this season.

Clark Duke has been a great addition though, and now that he seems to be full on back from whatever he was filming for Kick-Ass 2 I'm expecting big things from him going forward.

I had a bunch of problems with SSX, and mostly missed the online ship. I think I paid $10 or so for it when Best Buy had it on sale and it still felt like too much. I loved the way the single player was presented, but the actual playing never hooked me.

VIII is my favorite, though I feel like IX might be the 'best' top to bottom. Not sure though, FF VIII is pretty incredible. I think both VIII and IX are close. VII is the second worst core FF game I've played (haven't played the MMOs or XIII-2), just super dull from a narrative perspective. Doesn't help that it's sandwiched between VI and VIII either though, I suppose.

Damn it. I'm relatively excited for GTA V, loved RDR that's for sure and most of the other 'recent' GTAs (not much on III and only slightly higher on IV), but the longer it takes Rockstar to release this the farther away Bully 2 potentially is. Or another open world franchise that could maybe be cooler than GTA. Whatever, still buying this day one. Just wish there was more than BioShock and handheld stuff to get me excited in the Spring/Summer this year.

Love Advanced Wars, just don't know if I have any friends who are also picking it up so who knows if the multiplayer will mean much to me. Also I'm definitely getting Fire Emblem next week, so may have strategy overload. I also don't have a smart phone or a tablet.

Red Dead Redemption is the best game made this generation. Fez and Mass Effect 2 are the games that 'define' this generation. I hate Mass Effect 2.

The problem with 'ending' or 'stopping' racism is that our language is one built on the concept of binaries. The entire thought process as we learn if from childhood, I believe, is also founded on the idea of recognizing what one is not and then beginning to self identify as a result of knowing that one isn't something else. Basically an extension of Lacan's notion of the mirror stage. In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equanio, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African there is a point early on where he still resides in Africa and first encounters what we would perceive to be 'white' people. It's not really until this point in his life that he looks down into water, inspects his reflection, and begins to create the idea of racial difference. Now I know this story, while true to an extent, is an amalgamation of many individuals's experiences, but it's still worth noting that it appears to be human instinct to differentiate ourselves from others, and that's something that I'm unsure could ever be changed.

Back to the idea of language, I believe it is Kawash who mentions that, even with the idea of a racial hybridity, an inherent division still exists. The argument, as I understand it, is that hybridity, while touted as a means of accessing this idealized (and in my opinion unattainable) 'post-racial America,' actually reinforces division because it suggests an imperfection. In order for a hybrid to exist it presupposes the idea of a purity, which would confirm an inherent racial division as (using binaries, though if one is to accept race as real rather than a socially constructed means of control) black and white both being 'pure' with any combination being lesser.

The larger point being that the very language we use is designed for division. It's similar to the feminist argument that language is phallocentric (something I definitely agree with. Just try to describe the specifics of sex without giving agency to the masculine parts), but I would add that, given the way we process this notion of 'other' is so ingrained into our psyches, an apparent part of human nature, that even if rebuilding our language was practically feasible it would still be impossible.

I really liked DQVIII right up until the point where I realized I would have to do like 5 hours of grinding just to make any progress. I guess the JRPGs I like make grinding fun (Persona, Xenoblade, even some FF games) while the ones I enjoy but wish I could love more make it kind of a drag (DQ VIII, Dark Cloud, even some FF games). This has inspired me to give DQ VIII another try once I work my way through FES (for real this time, I'll get over not having direct party control, I promise!).

Really want to pick up Ni No Kuni, but think I may end up waiting for a sale on it because I have so many other things I'm playing right now.