Hello World, Welcome To The Conversation...

Figured I haven't updated in awhile, though I don't know how substantial this post will be. More of a sharing experience. That and Shirley requested a blog post since I hadn't in awhile, heh.

Anyway, got linked to this quite interesting video regarding the evolution of media and how it's shaping conversation and culture. It helped me realise one thing in particular that I'd never really taken note of until now in the writing of this blog - namely, who exactly am I writing to?

I mean, I know people read it, as evidenced by the comments, and I know even more just flick through it occasionally and lurk (because they've essentially told me so), but the video raised the interesting point of the fact that... well.. I never quite know who I'm writing to, let alone when or in what context. Here's the video for those interested:

Wesch raised this point that, with the evolution of the media and its inclusion of blogs and vlogs, etc, we're essentially having conversations that, well, aren't conversations. They're face-to-face in the case of vlogs especially, except we have no eye contact or awareness of the context, time, or whom we're conversing to in the first place. The same goes for blogs to an extent; people are reading this, and yet there's no recognition necessarily between myself (the author) and the other person (the reader), to the point where it's a complete 'conversation' that simultaneously excludes one of the participants from any interaction (myself, unless you leave a comment, heh).

It's just a very intriguing notion, that all these conversational barriers collapse when I'm typing to simultaneously someone and no-one, and the same for those with a web cam doing vlogs - talking to someone who isn't even there are the time but is still forever part of the conversation.

Still, there are those who try and reconnect through this odd form of conversation, like he shows toward the end of the video. Particularly, there was that guy.... I forget the name, but I can't be bothered re-watching the video again, heh, anyway... He basically works anonymously under a mask and uses this lopsided conversation as a call for action. He even takes advantage of the fact that the conversation is debatably eternal, until the video is removed, allowing for an endless stream of replies for a conversation that is technically-speaking long finished. Ironically, all these responses in the disconnected conversation, where he asked everyone to write something on their hand, essentially spoke of calls to action for a reconnection of the world, despite this cultural and media shift.

Just found it an interesting thought that I hadn't really considered since beginning this blog. Still, there's plenty more than just that within the video. Seriously, watch it - very intriguing.

Adios.

Trials & Tribulations (& Team Fortress 2)

A pun AND alliteration in the blog entry's title!? Oh this is madness. Truly my wit is absolutely astounding.

Nothing particularly thought-provoking tonight - well, maybe. Who knows, maybe you'll find something of interest at the end of this post? I have no idea. It's 1:00 AM at the beginning of typing this so it's probably going to be a bit of a rambling recap of my absence, heh. Haven't exactly done a 'proper' entry since the music lyrics one, so let's see what happens.

Main reason for my lack of updates, obviously, is HSC Trial Exams, as I'm sure you've all struggled through (or are still struggling through, like myself). Problem is, due to my uber-sexy exam timetable, giving me almost a week's break between the first half and second half of my exams, I'm starting to fall into holiday mode despite still having two more exams PLUS two major works to do. 'Tis not good.

Due to this aura of the holidays engulfing me, I've recently become reacquainted with an old friend - Team Fortress 2. I suppose this post may deteriorate into a bit of a gaming-related ramble but bear with me.

One of the things that always appealed to me about Team Fortress 2 was that, despite mindlessly shooting at each other with no storyline or true purpose, like a lot of shooters on the market, the game actually had a great sense of humour and art style about it. Speaking of the art style in particular, compare it to the following:

Present-Day/Futuristic Industrial Wasteland Vs. Original Eras & Stylised Constructions.

Grizzled Macho-Man Archetype Vs. Characters With *Personality* & Distinct Aesthetics.

Grey scale & Craptastically Brown Surroundings Vs. *Gasp* Colour!

Considering the amount of shooter games on the market, none of them seem to entice me because they're all borderline the same. Aside from the weapons, they're all about grizzly macho-men in grey scale (or brown if they're feeling *adventurous*) industrial present-day or futuristic ruins. That's basically it for 90% of them. Team Fortress 2 is a tad more original in this regard though, with each character having a distinct personality beyond this overly generic isolationist 'bad ass' character archetype that seems to engulf the majority of shooters these days.

Essentially, rather than trying to project an overly 'mature' look about the game, which at this point most end up almost satirising themselves due to the saturation of the market, Valve dared to be a bit different with Team Fortress 2 and achieved this unique, aesthetically pleasing, charming, and humorous atmosphere about the game. The cartoon-ish motif mixed with the altogether insane violence, bodies literally scattering into a collection of bloody-yet-colourful limbs after exploding... It just stands out against this ridiculously over-the-top 'mature' market that most gaming seems to be geared toward at the moment. Though admittedly I've played my fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, none of them held me, simply because they're all so generic at this point. Team Fortress 2 however, even if I take a break, keeps me coming back, simply because it dared to be different in its art style and characterisation - even if the gameplay is still reasonably similar to the common shooter (not completely, but it doesn't completely shatter the genre in any way).

Essentially, I guess I just wanted to get this point across that 'mature' games don't have to be ridiculously 'serious' in their tone, because it just ends up ridiculously bland and generic. Hell, this expands beyond games, really. It's often those multimedia works that develop their own style, rather than just emulating what they think they *should* portray, that appeal to me. Take Tim Burton for example - each of his films have this absolute distinct motif and feel to them that's incomparable, no matter how hard others may try. I'd much rather have things visually interesting than having the developer focus on creating five hundred levels of realism. If I wanted realism I'd just walk outside or turn on the news.

There's no need to completely throw out the rulebook and be different for the sake of different, but I'm glad they didn't fall into stereotypes - things are more interesting if you're a tad original.

Adios.

Another Com Bites The Dust

It seems, after eight years, that our poor little home computer has finally carked it. Sad, I know... I can sense the tears. Eight long years, of constraint frustrations and part replacements, resulting in what can only be described as an aging 'Frankenstein' of a PC. Everything had grown totally mismatched over the years, with the tower in particularly bad shape. Constant whirring and humming, the side slightly coming off at times from the shaking. All I can say is I'm glad I now have my laptop, heh. My brother randomly turned the computer on a few days ago and was met with a myriad of corruption errors and a ridiculously screwed up scene. After restarting a few times it managed to remain stable for a bit. So, of course I rushed in oh-so-heroically with my external hard drive and backed up as many files as I could, or at least those that were necessary. The thing was pretty much dead not long after.

Poor ol' Franken-puter... R.I.P.

But out with the old and in with the new, as they say. Within days we now have a brand spankin' new home PC. Considering I do most of my stuff, gaming included, on the laptop nowadays though, we didn't have to splurge massively on graphics and whatnot since mainly my brother and mother would be using it. Still cost a bit though, especially considering half the house has been falling apart lately. First the fridge, then the dishwasher, then some of the fuses in the back room's wall, and now the PC dying. To quote the Simpsons: "The crapshack is goin' to hell".

Case is quite funky, even if the metallic casing is a bit incongruous with the rest of the setup. Then again, it's far closer than the eight year old beige monstrosity ever was, heh. Because I know you're all just *dying* to see (he says with immense sarcasm), here it is:

Isn't she just positively glowing?

Isn't she beautiful? Her radiant fans... her sleek coat... oh, she looks positively magnificent. The guy at the store was nice enough too - better customer service too. Worked through every option and whatnot rather than just forcing the flashy and expensive on us. Presented pros and cons etc, answered questions perfectly. Also, apparently after the initial meeting when my mother and I went down to order the computer, he seemed to think I was ridiculously nice and well-behaved or something. When my mum went back down today to pick up the PC he was raving about how "well I'd been brought up" and how "nice and polite" I'd been, as opposed to most of the kids he sees come in with their parents, being ridiculously rude and even swearing at them right in front of him. As a result, he ended up giving my mum a free copy of Nero as a reward of sorts.

Guess it's true, good manners go a long way. Never know what will happen.

Adios.