Video Games Unworthy of My Fanaticism...Yet

I have to admit it: I never could get into the video game phenomenon. Although there are individual exceptions, I think that becoming a video game fanatic (or not) is largely a generational matter. And I may have just missed the "cut". I know that my children sure were (and still are) big video game players. I keep telling them, in reference to my relative lack of interest in the "activity", that I am waiting for virtual reality technology to take hold. But in spite of the fact that Walt Disney World's Carousel of Progress show's vision for the near future features Grandma sitting in the living room engaged in playing a virtual reality space battle game, nothing of the sort has yet "materialized" in the "real" world of the marketplace. Instead, we just keep getting more realistic looking flatscreen games.

Maybe we need a Steve Jobs in the gaming industry to come out with a vision that pushes the technology and software designers into the virtual world that I myself would clamor for. But then again, maybe that's the point: virtual reality could possibly be made so alluring that its participants might just decide to spend their waking hours completely within its fantasy lands, and that wouldn't exactly be a good thing for society in general, would it? Come to think of it, that's just what happened in a Star Trek: the Next Generation episode: one of the crew went overboard with his holodeck (virtual reality room) sessions to the exclusion of his duties, even losing touch with reality itself (which was actually complete fiction, but in the context of the show it was reality).

After all, it is clear to me that this is already happening to an extent with flatscreen games. There is even a company called GameFlight that allows video game fans to be able to afford to spend just about every waking moment of their lives completely immersed in them. I've seen the commercials: the "satisfied customers" kind of creep me out with their fanaticism, I have to say. Have you seen any of these ads?

Maybe the current generation(s) of video gamers will eventually reach the point where the two-dimensional game image becomes a bore and they collectively begin to demand high-quality and readily available virtual reality. If that happens and the industry responds with some good reality-emulating products (and not those cheap, inadequate 3-D simulations), expect yours truly to join the ranks of creepy video game fanatics...

The Group Metric and the Military

The Canadian alternative band Metric, fronted by singer Emily Haines (also of Broken Social Scene), runs through many different themes in their music. One of them is their strong opposition to anything military, not just war. This distinguishes them from what many in the United States do when they "oppose the war but support the troops". Metric makes no such distinction, as the two videos below show.





Metric has put out four studio albums so far, and each of them is great. Right now, I think I'd have to put them at #2, right behind Sufjan Stevens, in my list of current favorite musical acts. They are quite passionately negative about the military and war, though a bit too "anti-troops" for me (yeh, I'm one of those wacky "anti-war troop-supporters")! Here's a link to another anti-war hit of theirs, Monster Hospital.

Beirut's Song: In the Mausoleum

Above is a video of one of my favorite bands: Beirut, led by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon. Beirut is greatly influenced by French, East European and Mediterranean music. This track is from the recent The Flying Club Cup CD. Following the recording of the CD, each track thereof was performed again by Beirut and filmed by the group La Blogothèque at different locations in Brooklyn, New York. You can access the other videos from the website Flying Club Cup.

Wassiyé

Here is a song and video by the very talented Mali artist Habib Koité and his accompanying group Bamada. The song is titled Wassiyé. I loved the music and the performance. I hope you do, too.

Seether's Rise Above This

The hard rock band Seether came out with a hit single earlier this year titled Rise Above This. Lead singer Shaun Morgan wrote this song about his brother Eugene Welgemoed, who recently committed suicide. Rise Above This is all about choosing to survive through personal difficulties instead of taking what, at the time, may appear to be the easier way out. For when we do rise above our deep times of anguish, we sometimes look back and wonder why it seemed that bad. And we'll never know what tomorrow will bring. Choosing to be a survivor can sometimes be--no, it IS an honorable and courageous thing to do!

Here is the official video for Rise Above This:

The Shock Of the Lightning

Here, for your listening and viewing pleasure, is my current favorite song that is on today's charts and airwaves: The Shock of the Lightning by Oasis, a British band that has done well over the years to promulgate the great musical tradition of older bands like the Beatles, the Zombies, and the Who. This video was officially released on YouTube and authorized for embedding. And I totally dig this type of weird video!