Sucked into the corporate rock world
Nov. 25th, 2004 01:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2Today's useful phrase is, "We all become Fascists on the freeway." Which I heard on NPR as an aside, but it struck me as very funny and more than a little bit truthful.
However, there are no Fascists in Paragon City. City of Heroes, the game I've been playing for six or eight months now, has decided to remove the enemy group known as the "5th Column". The 5th Column was a bunch of evil German Nazis who were trying to take over the world. Now, what's wrong with beating up on evil Nazis, you may ask? After all, has there ever been a more useful and well-utilized group of bad guys in the history of adventure storytelling?
But of course, CoH wants to market their game in Europe, and they have to comply with laws about displaying anything Nazi related. And so the 5th Column is being taken over from within by some shadowy group known as "The Council". But all this really means is that they get new hats and uniforms and new names, and they can't fly nazi flags in their secret bases anymore. It's a very superficial, cosmetic change.
Still, it'll be sad to not have any Nazis to beat up on. And while they'll still stand on the street corners of the city preaching to the passing crowds, I wonder what their new message will be?
The part that intrigues me the most is that, in one long series of adventures, you work to foil a group of 5th Column who are (gasp!) trying to travel back in time to change the outcome of World War II. You know, a truly original plot that nobody ever thought of before! And throughout the adventures you're being aided by some shadowy figure who continues to pass information on to you, but it's not until the end of the adventure that you find out that the person aiding you is, in fact, Bastion, the leader of the 5th Column himself. As he explains to you in a letter, changing the outcome of WWII would destroy his own evil organizations and his own plans for world domination... so while you may think you've won a great victory, know that you've only aided Bastion in his own present-day plans to conquer all!
Anyway, it was a fun little surprise at the end of this particular story arc, getting a letter from one of the major Arch-Villians. And I wonder how they can possibly rewrite that story arc so that it doesn't involve German Nazis?
U2's Ipod commercial hooked me the first time I saw it... the song, Vertigo, is just a very catchy pop rock tune. It has no social relevance or lyrics of any importance, and therefore some U2 fans are down on the band for not writing like they used to. But I've never been adverse to great pop music. When I first saw the commercial, I checked online and saw that the CD wasn't due out for another month or so. Then on Monday, NPR did a story about the band and their willingness to "sell out", to strike a deal with Ipod and do the television commercial. The story mentioned that their new CD "How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb" was due out Tuesday.
So of course, I had to go get it Tuesday afternoon. It also occured to me that Tuesday was bonus day for cashing in Silver Certificates at Silver Platters. I had a fistfull of the things (169 total, as it turned out), and so I picked up two other CDs for free. Those were "Pressure Chief" by Cake and the Jughead cd that I've been meaning to buy for over a year now (I've had a not-quite-legal version of it for that long, or maybe even longer).
So anyway. U2's corporate sellout commercialism apparently snared me. What can I say, they're still one of my favorite bands, despite things like Zooropa and Pop Mart.
I am highly entertained by stupid people
And basketball player Ron Artest has provided me with a great deal of entertainment lately.
First, there was his request to take a month off from basketball so that he could finish up his R&B record and promote it. He was puzzled when his team said no. "I guess they expect more from me," he was quoted as saying. "I guess they expect me to play every game."
You think? I mean, he's only getting paid $5 million or so a year. The season is 82 games, with several months off in the Summer. But I guess the job's too strenuous for him.
Not to mention, how much money would it cost him to miss a month of basketball? I would guess close to a million dollars. He's not going to get paid for not playing, after all. Did he think he'd make that money back on the sales of his cd?
After this little fiasco, the team suspended him for two games, and he made the equally brilliant comment that he was glad for the rest becuase he was exhausted and needed it. This is seven games into the season, mind you.
So of course you've probably heard the rest of the story, but in case you haven't... Friday night, Artest fouled another player near the end of a basketball game between the Pacers and the Pistons. The other player shoved Artest with both hands to the face. Both teams had a little shoving match/confrontation, but Artest, in a brief display of uncharacteristic wisdom, backed off and avoided the frackas.
That is, until a fan hit him in the face with a cup of beer. Artest charged into the stands, swinging punches at fans with no clear idea of who had actually attacked him. A riot ensued, with other players going into the stands or punching fans who came out onto the floor. Things were very out of control, and the game was called with time remaining. It was quite possibly the ugliest brawl at an American sporting event, certainly in recent memory. Of course, it wasn't exactly European or South American football/soccer brawl, but that's another story.
The NBA wanted to stop this from ever happening again, and so they came down hard to set an example. Artest was hit the hardest -- he was suspended for the rest of the season. After all, if he had not gone into the stands, nothing more would have happened. In fact many have speculated that if it had been a different player than Ron Artest, things might not have gone so completely out of control.
Be that as it may, many have said that the punishment is too severe, and that Artest only did what many of us would have done. And to that, I have to say, Yes, but... I mean, if someone throws a bear in my face at a private party, or at a movie theater, or whatever, I might very well take a swing at them. If someone throws a beer in my face while I'm at work, I like to think I'd consider my actions more carefully before reacting, because my job is certainly on the line.
And if I'm a highly-paid basketball player, then I really hope that somewhere in the back of my mind is the idea that even, say, a 10-game suspension will cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, at the very least. You know, for a few hundred thousand dollars, I'm willing to let people throw a lot of things in my face.
Anyway the part of the story that really makes me laugh is that of the fan who helped start the brawl. After all, it takes two idiots to tango, or something. After reviewing the video, the County Prosecutor had little trouble identifying the man who'd tossed the beer at Artest -- it was one of his former neighbors. Beyond that, the man had a criminal history and as part of his parole agreement was supposed to avoid alcohol.
OOPS
Quite entertaining. ^_^
However, there are no Fascists in Paragon City. City of Heroes, the game I've been playing for six or eight months now, has decided to remove the enemy group known as the "5th Column". The 5th Column was a bunch of evil German Nazis who were trying to take over the world. Now, what's wrong with beating up on evil Nazis, you may ask? After all, has there ever been a more useful and well-utilized group of bad guys in the history of adventure storytelling?
But of course, CoH wants to market their game in Europe, and they have to comply with laws about displaying anything Nazi related. And so the 5th Column is being taken over from within by some shadowy group known as "The Council". But all this really means is that they get new hats and uniforms and new names, and they can't fly nazi flags in their secret bases anymore. It's a very superficial, cosmetic change.
Still, it'll be sad to not have any Nazis to beat up on. And while they'll still stand on the street corners of the city preaching to the passing crowds, I wonder what their new message will be?
The part that intrigues me the most is that, in one long series of adventures, you work to foil a group of 5th Column who are (gasp!) trying to travel back in time to change the outcome of World War II. You know, a truly original plot that nobody ever thought of before! And throughout the adventures you're being aided by some shadowy figure who continues to pass information on to you, but it's not until the end of the adventure that you find out that the person aiding you is, in fact, Bastion, the leader of the 5th Column himself. As he explains to you in a letter, changing the outcome of WWII would destroy his own evil organizations and his own plans for world domination... so while you may think you've won a great victory, know that you've only aided Bastion in his own present-day plans to conquer all!
Anyway, it was a fun little surprise at the end of this particular story arc, getting a letter from one of the major Arch-Villians. And I wonder how they can possibly rewrite that story arc so that it doesn't involve German Nazis?
U2's Ipod commercial hooked me the first time I saw it... the song, Vertigo, is just a very catchy pop rock tune. It has no social relevance or lyrics of any importance, and therefore some U2 fans are down on the band for not writing like they used to. But I've never been adverse to great pop music. When I first saw the commercial, I checked online and saw that the CD wasn't due out for another month or so. Then on Monday, NPR did a story about the band and their willingness to "sell out", to strike a deal with Ipod and do the television commercial. The story mentioned that their new CD "How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb" was due out Tuesday.
So of course, I had to go get it Tuesday afternoon. It also occured to me that Tuesday was bonus day for cashing in Silver Certificates at Silver Platters. I had a fistfull of the things (169 total, as it turned out), and so I picked up two other CDs for free. Those were "Pressure Chief" by Cake and the Jughead cd that I've been meaning to buy for over a year now (I've had a not-quite-legal version of it for that long, or maybe even longer).
So anyway. U2's corporate sellout commercialism apparently snared me. What can I say, they're still one of my favorite bands, despite things like Zooropa and Pop Mart.
I am highly entertained by stupid people
And basketball player Ron Artest has provided me with a great deal of entertainment lately.
First, there was his request to take a month off from basketball so that he could finish up his R&B record and promote it. He was puzzled when his team said no. "I guess they expect more from me," he was quoted as saying. "I guess they expect me to play every game."
You think? I mean, he's only getting paid $5 million or so a year. The season is 82 games, with several months off in the Summer. But I guess the job's too strenuous for him.
Not to mention, how much money would it cost him to miss a month of basketball? I would guess close to a million dollars. He's not going to get paid for not playing, after all. Did he think he'd make that money back on the sales of his cd?
After this little fiasco, the team suspended him for two games, and he made the equally brilliant comment that he was glad for the rest becuase he was exhausted and needed it. This is seven games into the season, mind you.
So of course you've probably heard the rest of the story, but in case you haven't... Friday night, Artest fouled another player near the end of a basketball game between the Pacers and the Pistons. The other player shoved Artest with both hands to the face. Both teams had a little shoving match/confrontation, but Artest, in a brief display of uncharacteristic wisdom, backed off and avoided the frackas.
That is, until a fan hit him in the face with a cup of beer. Artest charged into the stands, swinging punches at fans with no clear idea of who had actually attacked him. A riot ensued, with other players going into the stands or punching fans who came out onto the floor. Things were very out of control, and the game was called with time remaining. It was quite possibly the ugliest brawl at an American sporting event, certainly in recent memory. Of course, it wasn't exactly European or South American football/soccer brawl, but that's another story.
The NBA wanted to stop this from ever happening again, and so they came down hard to set an example. Artest was hit the hardest -- he was suspended for the rest of the season. After all, if he had not gone into the stands, nothing more would have happened. In fact many have speculated that if it had been a different player than Ron Artest, things might not have gone so completely out of control.
Be that as it may, many have said that the punishment is too severe, and that Artest only did what many of us would have done. And to that, I have to say, Yes, but... I mean, if someone throws a bear in my face at a private party, or at a movie theater, or whatever, I might very well take a swing at them. If someone throws a beer in my face while I'm at work, I like to think I'd consider my actions more carefully before reacting, because my job is certainly on the line.
And if I'm a highly-paid basketball player, then I really hope that somewhere in the back of my mind is the idea that even, say, a 10-game suspension will cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, at the very least. You know, for a few hundred thousand dollars, I'm willing to let people throw a lot of things in my face.
Anyway the part of the story that really makes me laugh is that of the fan who helped start the brawl. After all, it takes two idiots to tango, or something. After reviewing the video, the County Prosecutor had little trouble identifying the man who'd tossed the beer at Artest -- it was one of his former neighbors. Beyond that, the man had a criminal history and as part of his parole agreement was supposed to avoid alcohol.
OOPS
Quite entertaining. ^_^
