Gone
September 16, 2009 § Leave a comment
It gives me chills to think about how quickly life can disappear. I didn’t know her, but her face looks familiar, most likely from badminton — and there are a lot of mutual friends. I didn’t know her, but I’m still emotionally moved by the loss. She may be rejoicing in Heaven now, but the ones she left behind are coping. I’m glad they know her soul was taken care of.
I feel humbled and pensive. Am I blessing others with my existence? Is God pleased with me?
Can’t Beat The Original
September 13, 2009 § 3 Comments
What the heck are Spectrobes, and who do they think they are, trying to [poorly] mimic the timeless awesomeness of the Pokérap? The awful commercial jutted into the episode of anime I was watching, and I just shook my head in pity. Seriously, any kind of animal/monster/card-collecting game/show that came out after Pokémon is doomed to live in the shadow of the wildly successful franchise [suck it, Digimon]. I’m surprised people still bother trying…
The Games We Play
September 11, 2009 § 2 Comments
In Sociology of Gender class yesterday, we had a heated discussion of whether Super Mario Bros. is a gendered game. It was fascinating for me because of my love for the Nintendo franchise as well as my penchant for reading about video game culture. A male student argued that the Super Mario Bros. games are gender neutral, but my teacher pointed out that Princess Peach simply sits around waiting for Mario to rescue her.
Other female students went on to talk about how nobody wanted to pick Peach in Mario Kart because she was the slowest and weakest one, to which a couple of male students objected, saying that Peach was actually one of the fastest.
Frankly, one of the reasons I love Nintendo is because I’ve always felt that it’s more girl-friendly. I’m not saying that as an objective or true statement; it’s simply the feeling I’ve gotten because I love Mario Kart, Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. and never felt alienated by them like I did while watching boys play Call of Duty or Warcraft.
It is indeed true that female characters have been shafted in Super Mario — Peach can hold her own in more recent games, but in the old school Mario Bros. [and even in titles like Super Mario Sunshine], she was pretty much a victim. I never really noticed as a child, but it’s just another example of socialization of traditional gender roles.
With the Mario Kart comments, however, it is quite clear that those girls [and their playmates] never even tried using Princess Peach before jumping to the conclusion that she wasn’t as effective because of her gender. In actuality, Peach is a very good character choice not only in Mario Kart but also in Mario Tennis, Mario Party and Super Smash Bros., to name a few — she’s my first choice for all of those games.
It’s apparent that those people had been socialized to see Peach as weak because of her gender, which is unfortunate as well as sexist. In some video games that I’ve played, such as wrestling, the female characters are rather terrible, but I will defend Princess Peach to the very end.
Chocolatey Peanut Butter Goodness
September 10, 2009 § Leave a comment
As I sat down on the couch on Monday with my breakfast/lunch of Reese’s Puffs in skim milk, I glanced at the back of the box for any interesting reading material. It featured a checklist of “18 Things To Do Before You Turn 18.” I didn’t realize cereal could be age-ist…eighteen seems like so long ago.
I turned on the TV and noticed that Fairly OddParents was playing on Nickelodeon — my favorite cartoon! To my delight, it was an episode I hadn’t seen yet. During a break in the program, a commercial for Reese’s Puffs played, starring two teenage boys consuming the breakfast food. It was then that I realized I was watching cartoons geared toward pre-adolescents while enjoying a cereal I am officially too old for. A sad revelation, but not one that stopped me from eating my fill while finishing the show.
I’d also like to note that Reese’s Puffs has more vitamins & minerals than the Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal I was eating before. Sure, there’s a lot more sugar in Reese’s Puffs, but I was surprised that the Kashi cereal [despite having all those whole grains] did not have any more vitamins than the paltry bit it contained. Therefore, I shall stick to my sugary indulgence!
auradis 