Call of Repetitiveness

   When you ask a experienced gamer, whats the greatest game you've ever played? They may say the games that had a huge impact on media and changed the way people think about what video games actually are. Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid and God of War. Each of these games depicted different meanings of what the traditional video games are and brought it to a new level. GTA represent sexuality, drugs, and strong language. Metal Gear Solid represented a more realistic aesthetic to it and a huge inspiration for following games such as Splinter Cell and many others. God of War sparked a new level of blood and gore violence in video games. As other developers took this as a reference to make a particular game called Dante's Inferno. Now you can ask yourself, where does the Call of Duty series fit in the wide world of games.  It puts the gamer in a first person perspective of what war really is. But where this series lacks is in it's later games. Games such as Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.

  The usual campaign series alway blows the critics away with it's over the top action sequences. The multiplayer experience varies from the basic team deathmatch to even a zombie mode in which 1-4 players are put into a environment of their likings, to face the unlimited amount of nazi zombies heading towards them. Yes this does sound quite awesome, killing zombies is every gamers dream. And I have to admit, it is. With that said, now compare it to games like Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil. Its all about the type of interpretation  game developers put you in. They know this series is popular in the gaming industry, so why not add that extra element in it, even though it's not fully perfected. Just like the multiplayer, no aircraft elements, no vehicle elements, and no underwater elements. It is ok to think outside of the box when you're a developer that many others look up to. Just like taking risks, it can be for the better or the worse and this is what I think COD developers should do multiplayer wise.

  As this game series evolves I think it's a basic concept but an addicting feel to it. Due to great controls and decent graphics. Ultimately it comes down to how epic it stands to society. According to society, video games is something that young teens play for the fun of it. But it is much more than that. The amount of artistry  in it really shows. They should take use of particular creations such as Playstation Move and 360's Kinect. But not only take the amount of technology away, create a true meaning that gamers can connect to. We tend to be more attracted to things that we find alike in each other.

  Overall, the COD series has it's triumphs in sales, multiplayer, and campaign, but needs that extra element to it. This is so they can create a new meaning other than talking trash senselessly to each other in the lobby.

SuPeRnAtUrAl

  Have you've ever had the likes for the supernatural world? What lies ahead other than the world we live in? Some may say thats child's play, but the true believers tune into the CW network every Thursday night to watch hit show "Supernatural" staring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. The beginning storyline implies upon two brothers trying to find the demon that killed their mother and burned their house down. Providing some help by their father, he tells them the only way to kill this demon is by using a legendary gun created by Samuel Colt, a famous American inventor. After killing the demon, their father passes away and now the two brothers are left alone hunting demons, vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, and the list goes on. As where we are right now in the show, Sam Winchester has retained his soul. Now both brothers face the apocalypse with a little help from an angel called Castiel, played by Misha Collins.

  Supernatural  is a show you can say that is for all ages. It has horror, action adventure, thriller and some humor to brighten things up now and again. It's a show that people watch since you can connect to the characters. Such as family issues and being able to cope together to get the job done. The common issues we face as individuals now and again. At times, Sam and Dean don't always get along, but for the sake of others they come together and finish the job. In life people get into arguments or have certain dislikes within each other. But by taking the higher road and looking at the positive outlook things always or most of the time work out. This show, shows that time and time again and portrays a great lesson for the audience.

  Taking a look at the supernatural aspect of it, the show does look back on ancient tales and alters it in a  different way. They take something so enchanting and dim it down a good way to provide that sense of indifference to it.

  All in all, Supernatural still delivers on a great amount of levels for the die-hard fans to keep tuning in to see how the series unfolds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72eDXfYjowc

Colourful Food

  Talk about defamiliarization of everyday objects. Then use that theory in a stop motion animation and you have yourself a elastic band, spaghetti, clay meal. Sounds delicious eh? "PES Films" is a channel you can subscribe to Youtube that specializes within stop motion videos. In this particular video, "Western Spaghetti" shows everyday objects we use then adding an unfamiliar aspect to it that I find so interesting. This video is winner of "TIME Magazine" #2 Viral Video of the Year, as well as the Honorable Mention at Sundance 2009.

  What I find so intriguing about this video is that it shows the most childish things can be interesting. Clay is used as a replacement a tomato sauce, and sticky notes are replaced for butter. Things that don't seem familiar are juxtaposed together to create a new meaning. PES Films had done this so well that we can actually believe that these different elements can be together. It shows to us as artists we don't have to go by the rules, we can create a new meaning that could possibly revolutionize how society see things in a different perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

STOP Pop SHOOT

    Have you ever had an assignment and got sidetracked by things influenced by media? Well in this stop motion video it shows that in a form of defamiliarization of sticky notes. It starts off with an individual working on the computer using Photoshop and Word Perfect. He then gets tiresome and dozes off. The sticky notes admittedly turns into a hammer and knocks him on the head. Now he gets sidetracked by playing video games/ inspiration from famous video games. After that a series of rain starts to fall that covers the wall then he dozes back to sleep.

    What I found most interesting about this stop motion video was that throughout the video the individual kept on dozing off. I was wondering if this was a dream or just his imagination. It left the audience in suspense and also gave that random aesthetic to it. Even though there is no concept at all, we as artists can interpret those ideas and create a symbolic meaning to it.  

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs&feature=related

BELIEVE IT!!

   
    In the glamorous world of anime there lies a show with great meaning not only to the audience, but to itself. "Naruto" is an anime about the young Naruto Uzumaki facing adversity head on and never looking back. The beginning of the series stars with the Nine Tail Demon Fox attacking the land of Konohagakure, so in order to dismiss this creature Naruto's father "The Fourth Hokage" seals the demon in his own son's body. In the following years growing up, Naruto undergoes a child's life of bullying, hate, and loneliness. He then creates a emotional bond within his fellow classmates that takes him away from his pain. As the series goes on, his fellow team 7 partner "Sasuke Uchiha" leaves the village to be under the wings of "Orochimaru" to help him kill his older brother "Itachi Uchiha" due to family issues. From there on in, Naruto makes a life long commitment to bring back Sasuke although Sasuke has no interest in returning, only revenge. As where we are episode wise, the great ninja nations create an alliance to kill Sasuke Uchiha as well as Uchiha Madara, leaving Naruto in the middle of all of this. 


  As where this stands in the wide revolutionary world of anime some may say? Not quite bad, as others would say it still needs work. I believe that any television show, or media produced film, has to have a strong storyline that progresses in a fluid manner. This is what Naruto does so well. It shows to society you may have dreams but in order to get to them, you must undergo other pathways to get to it. Life is not only one specific direction, there are multiple pathways you may take in order to peruse that life long dream. Naruto always pushes himself to get better no matter what the cost and thats what we find in ourselves. We keep on pushing ourselves to get better in life as artists of our own lives. We tend to take the wrong paths in life and stumble across the wrong path, but we get ourself together and learn from those mistakes. Naruto is not only a great anime, but a great lesson that the majority who watches it interrupts. 


   Therefore, as a Naruto fan, this show still has it's great quality and keeps the audience in great suspense to how this series unfolds. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfqDdXgpZoA  


   

GleeK OUT

  High school can be an intresting time for students. Choosing their future, finding an understanding of ones self, and maintaining a reputation for some. For others it can be a downright hard time such as facing or standing up to bullies. The glamorous musical comedy-drama television show Glee focuses on high school issues as well a social media issues. Each episode the class of Glee, remasters various songs in their own way. A few popular songs remasterd are "Somebody to Love" by Queen, "Bad Romance" Lada Gaga, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" The Beatles and "Over the Rainbow" Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. The class of Glee also faces in some may say the antagonist of the show Sue Sylvester played by Jane Lynch.

  Glee is something that sparks the inner good in all of us, espically high school students since they can relate to it much more. It represents something more than just a musical tv show, it represents social issues and shows to students how to deal with some of the problems in a good way by expressing it. One issue that Glee stumbles upon is gay rights. A particular student Kurt Hummel played by Chris Colfer is known to be a gay student in the show. He does get bullied around in the and gets called names due to what he believes in. In society people tend to not agree with gay rights and I dont blame them, they are also entitled to their own opinion. Just a common ideologoy of mine, homosexuals make a huge deal about being who they are and the so called Jesus lovers are aginst it since they say that having love or affection for the same sex is wrong. Well religion also said that loving one another leads to peace, and NOTHING AT ALL IS WRONG PEACE. So I guess if people would stop making such a big deal about others living their life, the gays would stop shoving it in our faces with the whole gay parade now and again...sorry I couldn't put it any other way.

  Glee also pushes on other issues such as bullying which is something huge in our schools. Glee portrays throwing a full cup of slushie in peoples faces. The bullies would often do this to the Glee members. This is to show that sense of inequality among others. But it's not, as the show goes on the bullies put themselves in the Glee members shooes and experience the true beauty of songs that they sing. Through this there is some understanding how bully and victim can understand each other.

  Therefore Glee shows to today's youth that life has many struggles, but by taking the higher road it all pays off in the end. ( And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make)-The Beatles
  

Crazy People

  As I was watching television I stumbled across a popular show called Jersey Shore. I told myself "well if this is what the 21st century teens are watching I might as well too". This show is pretty self explanatory so ill explain it within once sentence. Young adults drinking, going to clubs, talking behind each others backs, felling guilty then getting back together again. The cast includes, Deena Nicole Cortese, Jenni Farley "JWoww", Michael Sorrentino "The Situation", Nicole Polizzi "Snooki", Paul DelVecchio "Pauly D" , Roonie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi Giancola "Sweetheart", and Vinny Guadagnino..such historical people..cough..cough. This show had premierd on MTV of December 9th 2009. The fourth season will be filmed in Italy and will start shooting around late 2011.

  This show exemplifies what our generation is all about, at least the majority. It's hard to pick point the moral meaning to a show like this since what we watch in television do have meanings depening on how we interpret it. As I watched an episode in the third season, it suprisingly kept me intrested. As much as I like to criticize something like this, something about it kept me tuning in every week as if I was a 7 year old kid running downstairs to watch Teletubbies, although I find those "things" creppy as hell. I guess our generation strives upon media like this because out of everything that we take away from it, we can also relate to it too. As young teens, the majority can relate to being in relations and having everything that comes with it. The night life is something also popular and the first thing on teens minds is alcohol when coming to think of it. In my own personal experience I tend to find people who I've know growing up being in these unfortunate circumstances even though they dont notice it. All that said, you can trace this back to Jersey Shore as a so called inspiration to teens these days.

  All in all, Jersey Shore still keeps our generation watching it week after week. Hopefully in the not too far future, we can still be watching shows like this for our own amusement but not take it as literal as we do today.  

Peja's Story

  In a kids life he/she looks up to people who they admire. Someone who they can relate to or has a talent they only wish they had too. In my perspective that person is Peja Stojakovic. Peja who? some may say but I say one of the greatest 3-point shooters the NBA has produced. Peja Stojakovic was born in the city of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Undergoing a civial war Peja and his family moved to east Belgrade. He had always dreamed of playing in the NBA and in east Belgrade this was shown since basketball was popular in that region. This would branch him off to playing in the PAOK BC basketball club. In the 1996 NBA draft Peja would be drafted by the Sacramento Kings. Later on in his career he would lead his country to the 2002 FIBA World Championship and is the 4th all-time NBA three-point leader. He is also named the only European player to win a NBA All- Star competition. As of now he currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks and are championship competitors.

  "Well thats another millionaire" some may say, but I say no. Peja had worked his way up from a poor country at the time undergoing a civial war and made it to the NBA. Nowadays people have to earn that respect in society. People tend to hate or dislike others who are overloaded with money from inheritance from parents or family members. Such as Paris Hilton, the granddaughter of Conrad Hilton founder of Hilton Hotels. She just has a nag to be in jail or in sex tapes, also getting drunk and then story repeats itself..sooner or later, although I do wish her the best. The reason why I brought her up was to compare her to Peja. He had to work where he is now and thats where my respect to someone like him goes to. You can relate this to society. Education is given to you, a roof over your head is given to you, food is provided. All the fundamentals are there it's up to you to take advantage of it and thats exactly what Peja Stojakovic did.      

The Last Resort

  If you've ever had or have a pet dog, cat, or bird like me, you tend to create a emotional bond within each other. "The Last Guardian" tends to show that in it's entirety. This in the works video game is created by one of my favourite video game companies team Eco. Known form a previous video game named "Shadow of the Colossus", The Last Guardian's main plot as seen in it's trailers (link below) is about a boy and a bird-like creature in a huge castle fighting off soldiers. Not only that but it will incorporate adventure elements and puzzles as well.

 I first saw this trailer at E3 09, and the first thing I thought of was Shadow of the Colossus. The twisted storyline concluding to something so out of the ordinary. I also thought of the inspiration that the developers thought of and "The Never Ending Story" came to mind. It also has a huge weird looking creature as a childs or "young mans" companion. Something as epic as this should not be taken lightly and the developers should take advantage of the PS3's full capability. If they do deliver and provide us a great game, I believe other developers and anyone who plays it will be in for a treat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4E0e-ZCn14 

AWW You're So Fluffy!

Happy Tree Friends is a cartoon series created by Mondo Mini Shows. This bloodshed, gore, and gruesome cartoon defines the juxtaposition of cute animals and violence as one is such a perfect manner.

       As for one of their videos "Helping Helps" Splendid the flying squirrel, saves Giggles from the colossus wave that's right above her head. Splendid quickly saves Giggles from being drowned by the wave.As he holds Giggles in his very hand soaring across the air he accidentally decapitates her head across a random tree since he got too close to it. He then uses a acorn and sticks it right in her neck and gives Giggles mother her body.

     What I find so ironic about this episode is that it can relate to heroes. We all know heroes have their faults and fail miserably at times. This episode represents that idea in a clear way. When they do fail they try to cover it up to not lose their reputation. They are build up to such a high standard of being called a hero, that when society witnesses that fault the hero has to earn that trust and respect all over again. That's why Splendid had to cover up that fault in such a way that Giggles mother was dumb enough to fall for it...poor lady..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZZGiF-joM

Goo Goo G'joob!

    " I Met the Walrus" is an animated short film directed by Josh Raskin. The film is based on a 16 year old teen Jerry Levitan in 1969 who interviews John Lennon, one of the greatest musicians of all time, in Toronto's King Edward Hotel. A question that caught my attention was when Jerry asked about the situation between John and the U.S.A. He responded by saying how he was antiwar and that war is big business. The only thing that the establishment knows about is war and how to make money. This is because they do have the money and power to do it, to ultimately create more hectic disasters such as people dying for their country in the military. Something like this is unnecessary. So what Lennon suggests is to protest for peace and do anything for peace. This is because the establishment knows nothing about peace, because it doesn't cost a thing.

   Another interesting point that Lennon mentioned is that people often blame the government upon putting them into war at the time. It's as if they have no choice what so ever. But they do, it's up to the people to protest and take things into their own hands apposed to nagging on the same situation over and over again. In my opinion people are often so religious and ask God for so much. Don't get me wrong, it's good to have some sort of spiritually, but if you keep on dreaming and hoping nothing happens. You sometimes need to take some responsibility into your own hands then everything comes together.

   As the interview goes on Lennon mentions that all of us are a bit of Hitler and Jesus on the inside, that's something that is true in my opinion. We just need to work on the good side of it rather than the bad, since that leads us to nowhere, take Hitler as an example.

   As an including statement for the interview Lennon says that "everything is there" and relates it to a flower. This metaphor astonishes me the most because he said when listening to his songs far after they have been released or recorded, he gets the message depending on how you interpret it. Some may interpret the message in different ways. Such as when The Beatles came out with " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", was used as a metaphor for L.S.D, a type of drug The Beatles used for some time (especially when I am the Walrus was wrote). But this is not true, people tend to work on the Hitler side and find negativeness in one another. But if we work on the good side, things always do come to an understanding, not only in life but to one another to ultimately create peace!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk

   



 

How Should I?

  "Tales of Mere Existance" is a series of animation by Lev Yilmaz. The animation is done by him using his invisible hand drawing cartoons as he verbally explains the story behind it. As for one of his videos 'How I Sit on the Bus" (link below) shows us the everyday uncommon individual in public who appears in an awkward manner or who just looks plane creepy. In Lev's position he crosses his legs in a way a woman would and leans his arm across the seat to show his masculinity. He knows this position is unordinary for  men but feels most comfortable with it. At 0:55 he's in a position in where he has two people side by side him, so he continues to cross his legs and holds his bag in a womanly manner. He describes this to be something negative. This comes to show in society people are mislead into having a certian stereotypical ideology of men crossing legs since this is what a woman does in public with a short skirt and huge legs. As the video progresses, different types of sitting in a position comes into play. Yes, it does sound awkward talking or even making a video about ways to sit. But what this represents to me is when adversity or difficulties come towards you, you position yourself in a way to overcome it or to deal with it, such as when he put his two feet up on the double seater so nobody would even think about sitting next to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpoHEsw9r78&feature=related

Little Big World

"Little Big Planet" is a game created by the creative minds of Media Molecule. Exclusively created for the Playstation 3, LBP2 emphasizes upon user created content as well as the creative levels by Media Molecule for the single player experience. What I found really interesting about this cover is that it shows what the game is built around-user created levels. As the so-called "Sackboy" holds the world in his very hands, it personifies the creative minds in society. When users publish their created levels online, it represents creativity and the creative minds behind average people like me and you. It shows to society that the world is in your hands, your imagination is your limits when you create levels for people to experience. Therefore, I do believe this cover represents what LBP is all about.