I was only eleven years old when my parents bought me a video camera for Christmas. I wanted to make movies with my friends so I could be like the older kids in my neighborhood that made movies too. The movies my friends and I made were all very similar and focused on the adventures of James Bond. Scene 1: James Bond gets a call from HQ about his new mission. Scene 2: Bond embarks on said mission. Scene 3: Bond fights evildoer and saves the world. The End. No storyboards, no script. Everything was improvised. After a while we lost interest in making movies, and my camera collected dust for years. That is, until the older kids wanted us to help them with their new movie about 1920s gangsters. My best friend Graham was cast as the mob boss and I played his right-hand man. The movie, entitled “The Grahamfather” (a mix of Graham’s name and the popular mobster movie “The Godfather”) was our best movie and the only one to generate a true sequel. Unfortunately, the sequel saw several characters get killed off as the actors that played them left the neighborhood for college and other callings in life.
Several years later, I found myself in college and feeling the need to make movies again. After watching the Grahamfather, I decided to go about making the third and final installment in the series. Failed attempts to round up the original cast, though, left me wondering if a new Grahamfather movie was even possible. It was then that I realized that not only was it possible, but the possibilities were practically endless. With a script now written and new kids in the neighborhood willing to work on the movie, all that’s left is to film it and provide my own take on “The Grahamfather”.
Word Count: 305
The Point: Sometimes picking up the pieces and reflecting on the past allows new stories to be told.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Old Memories and New Beginnings
I was only eleven years old when my parents bought me my first video camera for Christmas. It was just a basic camera, but I wanted to make movies with my friends so I could be like the older kids in my neighborhood that made movies too. Being fans of the videogame “Goldeneye 007”, the movies my friends and I made were often about James Bond saving the world from one incompetent villain after the next. After a few years of making the same movies, the older kids and I decided to go in a new direction with a movie about 1920s gangsters. It told the story of a failed assassination by a mob boss and his struggle to keep his gang together amidst threats from other gangs and defections by his own men. The movie, entitled “The Grahamfather” (after the popular mobster movie “The Godfather” and my friend Graham, who played the mob boss) was our best movie and the only one to generate a true sequel. However, the sequel saw several characters get killed off as the actors that played them left the neighborhood for college and other callings in life.
Several years later, I found myself in college and feeling the need to make movies again. After watching the Grahamfather, I decided to go about making the third and final installment in the series. However, after my attempts to round up members of the original cast provided me with only the help of my brother, I was left wondering if a new Grahamfather movie was even possible. It was then that I realized that not only was it possible, but the possibilities were practically endless. Instead of listening to the older kids from before, I was given the freedom to create a new story, introduce new characters, and give the series a proper sendoff. With a script now written and new kids in the neighborhood willing to work on the movie, all that’s left is to film it and create another chapter in the series that keeps on giving.
Word Count: 342
The Point: Sometimes picking up the pieces and reflecting on the past allows new stories to be told.
Several years later, I found myself in college and feeling the need to make movies again. After watching the Grahamfather, I decided to go about making the third and final installment in the series. However, after my attempts to round up members of the original cast provided me with only the help of my brother, I was left wondering if a new Grahamfather movie was even possible. It was then that I realized that not only was it possible, but the possibilities were practically endless. Instead of listening to the older kids from before, I was given the freedom to create a new story, introduce new characters, and give the series a proper sendoff. With a script now written and new kids in the neighborhood willing to work on the movie, all that’s left is to film it and create another chapter in the series that keeps on giving.
Word Count: 342
The Point: Sometimes picking up the pieces and reflecting on the past allows new stories to be told.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Videogames and Board Games: Separated at Birth
On the surface, videogames and board games may seem like very different kinds of entertainment. Obviously, one is played in a virtual world and the other is played in real life. In addition, Steven Johnson asserts that while board games provide clear rules on how to play and what the objective of the game is, videogames fail to do this and instead force the player to figure out the rules by themselves. However, this claim is not quite true, as board games and videogames share more similarities than one may think. For example, the game Monopoly clearly states its rules and informs players that their objective is to bankrupt the other players. This is not unlike videogames like Halo, where the objectives are laid out before the game starts. Videogames may be played through a different medium, but at their core they’re no different from board games and in many ways are simply modern adaptations on the basic strategies derived from board games.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Legitimizing Laziness
Competition has always been a large part of American culture, and usually new and exciting types of competition have been welcomed into the fabric of sports played in the United States. In the past, these new additions have consisted of sports like skateboarding, freestyle BMX, and freestyle motocross. These sports may be new to the mainstream, but the keys to victory that are needed don’t differ from established sports like baseball and football; that is, certain physical attributes and a strong will to constantly get better are what warrant success. Recently, however, a new type of sport has started gaining momentum in the United States, but it doesn’t quite follow the traditional model of what a sport is. The sport is known as competitive gaming or cyber sports, and it consists of people playing videogames against one another, often in tournaments for cash and prizes. I believe that new sports should be welcomed by society and given a chance to prove their worth, but this is going too far. Competitive gaming, unlike traditional sports, serves to legitimize a lack of exercise and social contact because players are rewarded for their efforts in the virtual world instead of the real world.
Monday, February 16, 2009
...Of G.I. Joes and Stinkin Park
I would love to say that I’m somehow unique because pop culture hasn’t influenced me or that I’ve found some hobby that completely goes against the norm for someone my age, but I can’t. For most of my life I’ve followed what’s been popular among my friends and peers. Whether it’s cartoons, videogames, or music, I’ve rarely strayed from the beaten path of what’s considered cool.
Growing up, I’d say that my childhood relationship with pop culture was typical. My brother and I watched cartoons like G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on a regular basis. Whenever we had money to spend, we used it on action figures so that we could have massive battles like those seen on the show. After a few years, I had come up with an original storyline for my soldiers, which included but was not limited to: characters deserting their comrades, characters being reincarnated, and characters gaining super powers after accidently falling into my fish tank. I spent countless afternoons after school setting up battles and coming up with stories for my figures to live out, but they were usually cut short whenever dinner was called.
After I had grown out of playing with action figures, I gained a deeper interest in videogames. Games like Street Fighter and Goldeneye became my main source of entertainment, and my friends and I played them constantly. When Halo came out for the Xbox in 2001, my neighbor and I started playing and became obsessed with the game. We’d drive across town to play with some of our friends from school on the weekends, and have a great time hanging out. While at my friend Danny’s house, I heard a band that would change my exposure to music forever. That band was Linkin Park, and after hearing them I immediately went out and bought their album entitled Meteora.
Following my discovery of Linkin Park, I started listening to other bands that my friends suggested, like Nickelback, Staind, and Three Days Grace. However, upon reaching my freshman year of college, I learned that those bands were not considered cool by my new group of friends, who enjoyed classic rock groups like Led Zeppelin and King Crimson and playfully mocked my love of “Stinkin’ Park”. This was perhaps the first time that I went against the music that was suggested for me as I went about finding my own taste. Over time this led me to a variety of artists that I liked, from Angels and Airwaves and Paramore to country artists like Trace Adkins and Taylor Swift.
I may have only recently decided for myself what kind of popular culture to engage in, but I’m glad that I have after so many years. In a society where so much of my life is already chosen for me, it’s nice to know that I still have some say in it.
Word Count: 481
Growing up, I’d say that my childhood relationship with pop culture was typical. My brother and I watched cartoons like G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on a regular basis. Whenever we had money to spend, we used it on action figures so that we could have massive battles like those seen on the show. After a few years, I had come up with an original storyline for my soldiers, which included but was not limited to: characters deserting their comrades, characters being reincarnated, and characters gaining super powers after accidently falling into my fish tank. I spent countless afternoons after school setting up battles and coming up with stories for my figures to live out, but they were usually cut short whenever dinner was called.
After I had grown out of playing with action figures, I gained a deeper interest in videogames. Games like Street Fighter and Goldeneye became my main source of entertainment, and my friends and I played them constantly. When Halo came out for the Xbox in 2001, my neighbor and I started playing and became obsessed with the game. We’d drive across town to play with some of our friends from school on the weekends, and have a great time hanging out. While at my friend Danny’s house, I heard a band that would change my exposure to music forever. That band was Linkin Park, and after hearing them I immediately went out and bought their album entitled Meteora.
Following my discovery of Linkin Park, I started listening to other bands that my friends suggested, like Nickelback, Staind, and Three Days Grace. However, upon reaching my freshman year of college, I learned that those bands were not considered cool by my new group of friends, who enjoyed classic rock groups like Led Zeppelin and King Crimson and playfully mocked my love of “Stinkin’ Park”. This was perhaps the first time that I went against the music that was suggested for me as I went about finding my own taste. Over time this led me to a variety of artists that I liked, from Angels and Airwaves and Paramore to country artists like Trace Adkins and Taylor Swift.
I may have only recently decided for myself what kind of popular culture to engage in, but I’m glad that I have after so many years. In a society where so much of my life is already chosen for me, it’s nice to know that I still have some say in it.
Word Count: 481
Monday, February 2, 2009
Producers and Consumers
I would characterize my experience with Web 2.0 as typical for someone my age. I use social networking sites like Facebook to stay in touch with friends and I update my profile regularly so they can see how my life is going as well. I use sites like Wikipedia and YouTube for information and entertainment, but I don’t contribute much to these sites. Unlike Facebook, I don’t think that the content I would contribute to Wikipedia or YouTube would stand out in any way from content someone else could contribute. I feel like spending my time making videos for YouTube or working on an article for Wikipedia can be spent better elsewhere, and I don’t have enough free time to spend hours each day doing work for those sites.I think that sites that encourage user-generated content are becoming more widespread, and I’m glad that they are. These sites allow people to access information quickly and easily, as well as be entertained. YouTube also provides the producers of the content with essentially a worldwide audience. However, the videos they submit need to stand out from the rest, which can be very difficult to do. Although money and other resources are not required to make a memorable video, they can often help someone’s chances of having their video become a hit. Sites like YouTube provide opportunities for people to become famous and get recognized by others, but more often than not the person making the video will not achieve a high level of fame.
It is because of this that I primarily stick to Facebook whenever I have something to contribute. I know that whatever content I add will be exclusive to me, and the people that see it will be friends of mine that can use the information to learn more about me. In a place where an increasing number of websites allow for user-generated content, I feel like I consume more than I produce, but I think that most people are that way. It’s nice that the opportunity to submit content to the Internet is there, but for now I’ll refrain from doing that, choosing to consume instead.
Word Count: 359
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