This was originally posted on the Destructoid Community Blog.
Recently my girlfriend and I planned a trip to our nations capital. I was very excited to walk around the Mall and see the monuments and beautiful buildings. But as we were traveling toward DC on the Metro a funny thing happened. I started to think of Fallout 3 and all of the wonderful hours spent running through the digital version of those very subway tunnels. I started to get excited in a very different way. I was about to explore the Capital Wasteland in real life, but, you know, pre-nucular destruction (let’s hope that never actually happens).
My giddy nerdom really sank in upon reaching the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station. Spending many hours sneaking through the massive hub while exploring the Wasteland, I couldn’t contain my excitement that it was actually real. I’m pretty sure my girlfriend discovered I was nuts as I tried to explain why I was intently studying the Metro map trying to find the ‘Presidential Metro’ (which doesn’t exist, at least not on public maps). When we reached our destination, Federal Station SW near the Capitol Complex, I had to take a picture. The arches were just as I had remembered it. I was slightly in awe of the detail that Bethesda put into the game but was more in awe that I was actually in the place I had spent so many hours. It was a very cool feeling.
As we took the escalator toward the surface, I half expected to see gore bags hanging from ceilings and stumble upon a group of Super Mutants. Obviously that didn’t happen and while exploring the beauty that is the actual Capitol Complex my dreams of seeing the Wasteland quickly disappeared, but it didn’t mean I quit looking. As we walked into the Museum of Natural History I was looking for the Underworld exhibit while my girlfriend looked for talking army men. Upon entering the small Lincoln Memorial visitors room at the bottom of the steps I was looking to take out the head Slaver while my girlfriend was looking for the bathroom.
In the some twenty years I’ve been playing games, I’ve never played one quite like Fallout 3. It was so immersive and so completely — and accurately — detailed, that visiting Washington DC invoked memories of actually having been there before, although in a slightly different manner. It was a very strange but satisfying feeling. Upon returning home I had to fire up the 360 and return to the Wasteland just to roam the deserted Mall and Capitol Building one more time. Considering my experience in DC, I can’t wait to again give myself to Bethesda and their immersive world of New Vegas.
I can remember the first time I was shown the Internet. It started as a harmless game of Sim City complete with a full destruction at the hands of some horrible combination of natural disasters, riots and robot attacks. After the town was completely left in ruins, the host pulled up America Online. We were welcomed upon signing on and played around with some awesome keywords and then, then it happened. He clicked on the button that read “WWW” and there we were, surfing the world wide web.
I now want to play Sim City 2000 again...
A few years later my family got our first computer connected to the Internet. But instead of AOL, we went with a local provider that took us straight to the web without having to jump through any third party’s hoops. I had complete access to the information of the world without the need for silly keywords and could pull up anything that a 56kbps modem would allow. I was living the high life.
With this new found freedom came the desire to claim my own piece of cyber real estate. This desire grew until a Geocities account was procured and HTML became a second language. At this point I became able to bend the Internet to my very whim and developed a sense that the Internet was created to be used in any way I saw fit. The Internet was mine for the taking and no one could tell me how I was to use it.
But as the Internet continued to develop a funny thing happened, it became social. I can’t put my finger on when exactly this pivotal moment occurred, but I do remember being a junior in college when a little website sprung up that was only accessible by people with college email addresses and even then only to a small group of schools across the country. That’s right, I was on Facebook before Facebook was cool.
Facebook was this new and wondrous place where I could connect with friends as close as the room next door and as far as the other side of the country. I could interact with them, share pictures and even poke them if I felt so inclined — though I still have no idea what the purpose of poking really is. It was like the opening of the wild west for the digital age.
As Facebook grew and expanded so did the social web. Comment boxes showed up on everyone’s blog and even some mainstream websites. Message boards become more active and, at times, heated. The web became something demanding interaction and I dove in head first. The Internet became, and still is, all about bringing people together.
But in this new social web something was lost, at least initially. The glory days of bending the Internet to my whim was lost to writing on friends walls and commenting on their blogs. I became stuck in this construct of using the Internet the way it was presented to me. It was ten years ago looking at AOLs gateway access and keywords all over again. I was being tied down and I didn’t even realize it. That was until I started using the star.
I first saw the star on Twitter some two years ago. It was this funny thing that sat next to every post waiting for me to click it. There was a list of “Favorites” that corresponded with the star but no instruction or explanation was given. The star could be anything I wanted it to be. I started staring posts that were funny, overly pointed, or that I agreed with spot on so that I could return to them whenever I desired. The star was the start of my social web awaking.
@ebertchicago
Before long I started using Google Reader to manage my extensive RSS collection and it too had a star feature. Instead of “Favorites,” Google collected the stars as “Stared Items” and again came with no explanation. So I used it in much the same way, collecting stuff I might want to read again or things that I didn’t have time to read while going through all the feeds. The star allowed me to break the construct of using the social web as it was provided. It gave me another option, one that was open ended and unique to me. My staring philosophy is probably different from yours but that’s ok, in fact, that’s what makes the star such a wonderful addition to the social web.
But it didn’t end with the star. I went through a brief period with Tumblr awhile back which allowed me to discover the heart. Like the star, Tumblr allowed marking posts that I found interesting or enjoyed or just wanted to save with a nice little heart. However Tumblr merged the open ended nature that I loved about the star with the closed construct that I didn’t like about the social web: it referred to the heart as “Likes” and also notified the poster that I “liked” their post. I was again being thrown into a box of sorts. But Tumblr’s heart wasn’t the only box a “Like” system would attempt to throw me into as Facebook’s thumbs up would be much worse.
Facebook, the pioneer of the digital frontier, created a “Like” system that gave no control over the information to me and instead only notified the poster that I “Liked” their contribution to the Internet. Ironically Facebook’s “Like” system reminded me of everything I disliked (pun intended) about the social web. I could like it but once that was done I couldn’t ever do anything about it again. Once again, Facebook was forcing me to use the web the way they wanted me to do so.
I don't like this.
And that seems to be their mantra. Their “Like” system is showing up all over the Internet now in an effort to force use of the web in the way they see fit. No stars, no hearts, just arbitrary thumbs ups that ultimately connect everything back to Facebook. I simply have to hold onto hope that, just as Facebook’s creation marked the first major Internet renaissance so too will it’s “Like” system. Though instead of a renaissance that gears my Internet usage in the direction they see fit, I hope the next major revival is driven by a refusal to adapt to Facebook’s will and returns open ended control back to you and me.
Over the last few months I’ve noticed my Facebook newsfeed filling up with links to people’s Formspring page. It’s a concept where people ask you questions anonymously (though apparently you can leave your username as well which completely defeats the purpose) and then you can answer it. What I don’t understand is why.
Why would you do this and why is it popular?
I asked the question on Twitter last night and received this response:
Agreed. Why do people give up their privacy so easily?
I don't want to be this chick.
Interesting question. It got me thinking.
My web domain, twitter username, and Facebook all use my full name, but I don’t feel I’ve given up too much in the way of my privacy. There are only six people who can see my full facebook profile and while I share some details of my life in 140 characters or less, I’d wager to bet it’d be difficult for anyone to put together a complete picture of my life.
So why, then, are people so apt to post details of their sex life, job history, and other very personal details online without thinking twice? And what is our obsession with knowing these intimate details?
I don’t have a solution but it’s worth thinking about, at least for continuing to protect my own privacy.
Check. Check, one.
Anybody?
If you are reading this then that means you’re still subscribed to the RSS feed after, oh, three and a half months of nothingness. Either that or you’re me in which case I’m basically talking to myself. But that’s cool too, everybody does it weather they admit it or not. Anyway, if you are still out there I guess this is a hello but really, don’t flatter yourself because I’m not writing this post to say hello. I’m writing this post because I need to write. I don’t really care if you read it or not. In fact, that’s going to be the way things go around here from now on. If I write something it’s because I had something to say and if someone other than myself reads it, so be it, if not, well that’s cool too.
So there it is. The new blog manifesto if you will. I’ll update it when I have something to say. Could be tomorrow, could be next year. If you want to stick around and say hi, be my guest.
This is it, the final Year in Movies post. Over the last twelve months I’ve watched a total of 71 movies (this includes the movies watched in December) and actually didn’t hate most of them. Note that this number doesn’t include movies that I just caught parts of on TV. If I didn’t see more than 50% of the movie, I didn’t count it. Below you’ll find December’s offerings. Enjoy them, because I don’t know if I’ll do this year long trek again next year.
Lost in Translation
This is a fantastic movie about two people who find each other while both are more or less lost in Tokyo. It’s the movie that re-introduced us to Bill Murray’s hilarity and introduced us to the beauty of Scarlett Johansson’s butt. It’s sweet, it’s well written and directed by Sofia Coppola, it’s a great movie.
Rating: 
Azumi
According to Netflix I enjoy movies that feature a strong female lead, revenge movies, and Japanese movies. Azumi meets all three categories in one film so it’s no wonder that Netflix recommended it. It’s the story of a girl, Azumi, who is orphaned and adopted by a Samurai master and raised, along with a group of other kids, to become the strongest assassins in Japan’s history. The reason? Kill the warlords who are hellbent on taking power and forcing the nation into constant war. Obviously the warlords don’t like this idea and do everything they can to stop Azumi and her fellow assassins. It’s pretty great, especially if you like foreign films featuring stylistic violence. And really, who doesn’t?
Rating: 
The International
This is a “suspense thriller” about a bank that does very bad things. Strangely, a New York District Attorney and an INTERPOL agent are working together on an international investigation. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but maybe it does to you. The movie tries to be way more suspenseful than it is, even uses the cliché piano music to do so. There is a pretty sweet shootout in the Guggenheim, but really, that’s about all this movie has going for it. The plot is convoluted and silly and the suspense is added by the bucket — if this were a comedy there would have been an old fashioned laugh tracked added. It just comes off silly.
Rating:
When Harry Met Sally
Apparently this is a classic movie that everyone’s seen, at least a certain scene from, but I had never seen. It’s cute, it’s got some pretty funny lines, and overall it’s pretty good.
Rating:
Avatar
The mega-hyped, mega-budgeted James Cameron flick about a completely invented world of giant human-like blue people certainly lives up to the special effects and action hype. Surprisingly, unlike all of the reviews, the storyline is very engrossing and solid as well. It’s nothing new and the major themes are all taken from just about everything else out there, but it’s still a really good movie and a really fun ride. I didn’t see it in IMAX or Digital 3D (what the hell is that anyway?) and am glad I didn’t as I’m almost certain it would have given me a headache.
Rating:
Sherlock Holmes
I submit that Robert Downey Jr. is the best actor working in Hollywood today — especially when it comes to rich, eccentric, recluses. While the storyline for Sherlock Holmes is, at times, a little hard to follow Downey’s portrayal is amazing. It was fun and the directing was pretty awesome. The only thing I didn’t really like was the blatant sequel setup at the end of the movie. Can we have quality movies in Hollywood anymore without thinking about a sequel, at least until a few days after the movie comes out?
Rating:
The Incredibles
The Pixar story about a family of super heros who must actually get along in order to stop an evil mastermind is fun and silly and simply enjoyable. The first bit of the movie, explaining the super hero exile from public life, is basically a kid-friendly version of Watchmen. I found that interesting.
Rating:
Sky High
I like movies about super heroes and usually don’t care for things on the Disney Channel, but this is a movie that I actually enjoyed. It’s unique and cleaver and just plain fun. It’s about a high school for super hero kids that are trying to figure out how to use their powers. There’s a class war between the heroes and sidekicks hero support and, well, a real war. It’s fun. Watch it.
Rating:
Elf
See November
Rating:
Older Stuff
twitter | tumblr | facebook | email | wordpress
