Let's just stop trying to define art, especially in relation to the eternal video game debate, shall we? If you try to slap a single, rigid definition of what constitutes as "art," you're entering yourself into an endless, headache-inducing rabbit hole of having to debate whether Donkey Kong, Transfo… Read full post »

Something just occured to me -- the kind of thing that seems really profound when blogging at 3:30 in the morning, especially when you have to completely a certain number of blogs under a short deadline. I was thinking about the presentation I did in class yesterday about surveillance in our… Read full post »

One of my classmates recently wrote a broke post about how she is "breaking up" with technology after an Open Salon blog that she diligently worked on mysteriously and irreverisly disappeared after she clicked the "Publish" button. The entry made me laugh -- not because I sadistically get off on seei… Read full post »

The other week, I went to Game Craze, a local chain in Rochester (I believe) that specializes in old-fashioned video games and consoles, for the first time in many years. I was incredibly excited to make this trip, as it was to cater to my recent, unexpected re-obsession with the N64… Read full post »

In my Digital Media class the other day, we were discussing the importance of race in video games. When discussing one of the most notable controversies related to the Grand Theft Auto series -- a cut scene from Vice City ordering your character to "KILL ALL THE HAITANS!!!/… Read full post »

Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog post agreeing with an essay by Jodi Dean that discussed how online activism -- blog posts, petition, activist groups -- do not actually have an impact in the real world of politics, and how the Internet comforts people by catering to every imaginable niche… Read full post »

I'm sure that many people, upon seeing my titular question, have probably already launched into preparing a thesis answer in their head, complete with at least 50 different games to cite. Well, I'm glad someone can think about it so thoroughly: I am, admittedly, not anything like a gamer. Gamecube wa… Read full post »

"When you're communicating with like-minded souls, you feel like you're accomplishing something by arguing out the smallest details of your perfect world, while the imperfect and actual world takes no notice, as it its custom" (40).

 When I read that line in Jodi Dean's dense but surprisingly in… Read full post »

Response to Chapter 19: "Falling for the Gap: Whatever Happened to the Digital Divide?"

 This chapter discusses how America's digital divide -- that is, the societal separation between people who have Internet access and the unfortunate ones who don't -- might actually be an outdated, incorrect… Read full post »

I've read a few too many essays in my short life proclaiming the "death" of film criticism. Some of them date as far back as the 80's, and some were written just a few weeks ago, but they all state the same exact thing: Film reviews have been totally dumbed down… Read full post »

Every music lover, at some point, dreams of one day writing for Rolling Stone. And, from what I've seen, every music lover, at some point, grows completely sick of Rolling Stone and abandons it for good. From what I've heard from older readers, people on the Internet, etc., few magazines seem… Read full post »

The 60 Minutes documentary "The Monster That Ate Hollywood" details the blockbuster effect that Hollywood has been obsessively chasing for over 30 years. As detailed in the documentary, "Jaws" is the movie that changed the way movies are made, marketed, and consumed forever. Spielberg's summer blockb… Read full post »

In my freshman year of high school, I took a class called Music in our Lives, which was basically the biggest blow off class my school had to offer (rivaled only by study halls, but perhaps not). But I remember there was one big mindfuck moment from that class: Our teacher… Read full post »

Q: USING MUSIC OR TELEVISION AS AN EXAMPLE, IDENTIFY A PERFORMER OR PROGRAM YOU ONCE LIKED BUT BEGAN TO DISLIKE AS YOU GREW OLDER AND YOUR TASTES CHANGED. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS HAPPENED? DO YOU THINK YOUR EARLY INTERESTS IN POPULAR MUSIC AND TELEVISION HAVE HAD AN IMPACT ON SHAPING… Read full post »