Thank you Sony

I play a lot of video games. Call it silly. Call it childish. I love it. Always have. Hopefully always will. I don't even want to begin to think about how much money I've handed to the video game industry in exchange for their goods. It's a lot. Usually I'm pretty good about being patient and waiting for the right time to buy though. I check clearance, search craigslist, compare prices, and if there is a video game within 30 miles it is safe to say that I know about it.

This summer however I jumped the gun. I wanted a Playstation 3. I had already started my summer job and I had the money so I started doing research. I found a bunch of different bundles and discounts and picked out the one I wanted. Amidst all this searching I also stumbled upon some rumors. Rumors of price drops, and one of a complete redesign of the system. I went back and forth in my mind. Should I just splurge and buy now...or be patient and then get the better end of the deal. Well of course I just went for it.

Now cut to today. I'm standing in a Best Buy kicking myself as I stare at the newer, smaller, and much much sleeker Playstation 3 consoles. Oh and it's also 100 dollars cheaper. Am I bummed? Yes...very.

I do it for hip-hop

I love hip-hop. I think that the poetry that raps write and perform is incredible. I love all kinds of hip-hop too. I like politically minded alternative rap like Mos Def and MF Doom, and I like radio rappers like Soulja Boy and Lil John. There is something I can really respect though about rappers who use their unique skillsets to change people lives and influce people in positive ways. Music has the ability to really affect people and I feel like a lot of musicians don't take advantage of that ability. Especially in hip hop. There are some though. The Roots for example take full advantage of the gift they have in making music. They rap about the struggles that people face and the terrible situations that people have to face everyday. Like the song "Return to Innocanse Lost."

"She'd already lost...three. Uterus-bruised, shredded, and weak from being daily beat. And Friday nights were the worse and...daddy never came with flowers, instead he spent hours at some corner spot with some bar pop named Cookie"

Songs like this are so different than what we are bombarded with on the radio. The radio is plagued with artists like Lil Wayne and Ludacris. Whose music sounds good...but lyrically is garbage. It's a shame too. The content in these songs gives hip-hop such a terrible name. It demeans women, and promotes violence and greed. Writing about it makes me feel like Bill O'Reilly...which is something I never want to feel like. But it's real. And it sucks. I like Ludacris. A lot. But man...he is the worse! He came out with an album called "Chicken and Beer." Look at that album cover. Here's some lyrics from the album's single "Stand Up."

"Watch out for the medallion my diamonds are wreckless, feels like a midget is hanging from my neckless. I pulled up wit a million trucks looking, smelling, feeling like a million bucks-ahh! Pass the bottles, the heat is on, we in the huddle all smoking that Cheech and Chong! What's wrong?! The club and moon is full and I'm lookin for a THICK young lady to pull one sure shot way to get em outta them pants."

It sucks. But I still enjoy it. Which sucks even more.

Dead Space

This morning I had two and a half hours to kill while I waited for the cable guy to get my internet working so I turned on my Xbox in hopes of finishing up the last chapter of EA's Dead Space. After about an hour of play I did it. The credits rolled. The end of the game really suprised me. It was sad. That's something that doesn't typically happen in video games. The video game industry is trying more and more to make people respect games as an art form and a legitimate medium for story telling but nine times out of ten games tell the same old "overly masculine guy saves the damsel in distress" story. Dead Space doesnt tell that story and I respect it for that.

Choosing favorites

A few days ago my little brother Walter told me how I could get a free five dollar credit for Amazon.com's MP3 store (Click here if free legal music downloads are your cup of tea). So I got onto Amazon to check out what my options where. I spotted two albums that interested me.

One was Redman and Method Man's new album "Blackout! 2" and the other was Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I sat for a good long five minutes before I decided I should got to bed and decide in the morning. Why was it such a hard decision? Well as soon as I saw Blackout! 2 I wanted to buy it. I love hip hop! It's pretty much the only genre that I listen to...but at the same time I would much rather support a group of musicians that play their instraments and go on tour. It's not like I wouldn't enjoy Phoenix's album, because I would, it is just that I'd probably only listen to it once or twice. Blackout! 2 on the other hand I would listen to on a regular basis.

I slept on it. Then I went to school. It was strange of me to put so much thought in to one little purchase. It was only five dollars but for some reason I just couldn't figure it out. I ended up buying the Redman/Method Man album. I guess it was the right choice. I really like it. But still I feel just a little bit guilty for not supporting an up and coming band. I spent a big chunk of my teenage years supporting bands just like Phoenix. I dished out money, both my parents and my own, to see bands like, to buy their overpriced mechandise, and to listen their albums. Now I don't do that. Crazy how things change.

In the begining

This is a blog about entertainment, and with entertainment being as broad of a concept as it is I want to start by giving a little big of background info on what i enjoy.

One weekend when I was six years old my parents decided that the time was right and we took a trip down the street to the local Blockbuster. We didn't look at the new releases like we usually did, but instead went straight to the science fiction section and picked up one VHS copy of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The second that movie started my life changed. I fell in love. It was the greatest 121 minutes of my life. Watching Star Wars was the first time I had really been taken away to a completely different world and from that point on that was all that I wanted. I ate up anything and everything that had to do with other worlds, creatures and realities that where not my own. I read comics and books, played video games, watched other movies all just to escape to these different and unique worlds.

...and that's how it all began.