Video Game Influence

Hey y'all.  So I was watching a video by Peanut Butter Gamer on Youtube, and in this video, "I Dream of Dreamcast Part 2", he makes a joke about a video game influencing him to go paint graffiti.  That got me thinking.  How much do video games actually influence people?  There are so many opinions floating around that it's really hard to pin down something that's actually concrete and scientific.  I mean, how exactly would Mythbusters tackle an idea like this?


I took a personality test recently, and apparently I'm an INTP, which means that I see logical inconsistencies faster than most, and I like to think.  No real surprises there.  So, due to this nature, I want to create a scientific means for deciding whether or not video games can influence people.

Write Club -- How to Doom a Sequel

Hey y'all.  So I was thinking about it, and there are things that moviemakers do either by accident or by well-intentioned mistake.  It generally doesn't happen as often with books, particularly considering that it takes so long to write a book and publishers seem to care a whole lot more than producers whether or not their product is good.  Considering that movie makers can get away with a lot dumber choices and still make money...well, yeah.

Maybe this is just a personal vendetta from a writer type, but it seems to me that movie people should be punished by lower sales when they make dumb stuff.  Unfortunately, even things like "Jack and Jill" and "Zookeeper" seem to make a crap ton of money, probably because people are bored and movies are there.  Fortunately, making fun of bad movies is entertaining.  A win-win situation, I guess.

Anyway, I just want to illustrate a few things that illustrate what can make a sequel turn bad.  Everybody's aware of sequelitis, where a sequel just doesn't measure up.  Sometimes it's just a matter of not being quite as good, but still being well-made and watchable.  Other times....well, not so much.

Write Club: Respect Characters

Hey y'all.  So I was critiquing somebody's writing online, and the thing I noticed about this particular work they wrote was that it was missing an integral part of all good stories: the love of characters.  The sample I read was a prologue, and it was quite obvious that the characters in it were mere tools to get on to the first chapter.  None of the characters were particularly interesting.  They were merely there to serve a purpose, and then they were gone.

This is not the way a character is to be treated.  A character is not merely a tool, but a little person living in the fictitious world that you made for them.  They are little organisms, based on yourself and people you know.  They are given life by your perceptions, and become more deep the better you perceive.

The trouble is, there are errors with people's perceptions.  Most of the problems with the above writer's sample was the fault of one such error.  He combined.

Write Club -- Which Reviewer Are You?

Hey y'all.  So I was reading this book, "How to Succeed in the Publishing Game" by Vickie Stringer. She was talking about all the different aspects of editing. Apparently in the business there are three types of editors. Copy editors, content editors, and book doctors.

Write Club -- Bigotry and Ego

Hey y'all.  So, as a writer, one should try to be as unbigoted as possible.  It's actually a little easier for the writer, as the writer looks at different kinds of people and is inspired by them.  This, however, doesn't mean that the writer is entirely immune from bigotry.  I don't know how many times I've read a book, only to discover that the author has condescendingly taken an antagonistical character and given that character all the opinions the author disagrees with, merely to use this character as a whipping boy for the author's narrow-mindedness.

Like, for example, the author will take a "Christian" character and have them be the biggest jerks you've ever seen, or make them act so inhuman you have to wonder if they're really aliens from space.  And honestly, how many times is that trite old "the government is always evil" stereotype going to work for some authors?  I'm so bored already!  And I'm even more bored of the feminist stereotypes, who are ridiculously self-righteous and antagonistical to men, even though they're supposed to be the protagonist.  Yawn!

However, there is a time when bigotry and stereotypes are a good thing.

Critic Critique: Jeremy Jahns

Hey y'all.  One of the things I like to do as a nerd is think.  And think some more.  One of the things I like to think about is movies.  So I tend to look around at different reviewers and see if they recommend the latest release.  I like to hear people's opinions.  Admittedly, I love it when people bash a movie, but that's neither here nor there.  Point is, from time to time the reviewers have led me wrong, and encouraged me to see movies that suck.  Or at least, movies that I could not possibly enjoy.  There's a difference.  So then it occurred to me that everyone needs a different critic, one that can answer whether or not they should watch a movie.  Since different people have different standards, there needs to be a critic for every type of person.

Hence the Jeremy Jahns.  I've been subscribed to him on youtube almost since he's been posting videos, and he's been greatly entertaining.  Especially considering that some of his earlier videos are complete bashes, which I love far too much.  However, is he a good critic for you?

Always Hardcore

Hey y'all.  So this is one of the stories that I wrote for the Writer's Digest Short Short Story contest.  Sadly, I have failed.  Not only did I not win, but I didn't even place.  And they had 25 slots.  Ouch.  Do I really suck that bad, or did the competition simply knock me out?  Or was what I wrote simply not something the judges were looking for?  In any case, I have five stories I sent in, and every few days I'll post another one.  This is the first of those stories, Always Hardcore.

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Emily Lewis liked fifth grade. Fifth graders learned more about history, and Emily always liked history. Today, however, that wasn’t the topic. Mrs. Phelps, the middle-aged brunette that taught the class, was talking about jobs. Emily pondered employment options as she stared around the room. The posters were the same as always, ones with cute animals and trite sayings about friendship and education. Emily didn't mind looking at them again. She admired their cheesy eighties color schemes. There were other things to stare at too. Jamesha had a new hairstyle that involved lots of braids. Carter up ahead was sitting in the exact right spot for her to see his marvelous doodling: an apple holding a knife.

Oops, I'm supposed to be thinking about my talents. What am I good at?