Friday, May 1, 2009

Movies with Buttons

I feel like it's the end of a TV Season or something for me. The summer is about to begin, these God awful exams will stop making it necessary for me to guzzle Red Bull and argue about every little thing, and I'll have to think up a new concept arc for a series of articles. My last exam is Monday and then I plan to catch up on all the blogs I haven't read and produce a ton of copy before my job starts.

As many people can vouch, working a full-time job as opposed to school is a bit of a gear shift. My output is probably going to slow considerably, so I need to get as much of a headstart as possible to get through the summer. Back when I worked for the government I would be so burned out when I got home, I had to start waking up at 5 a.m. and writing for an hour before the day sucked me dry. Once the summer is done I've got one more year of school left and I hope to do something special with that chance to write. I also have to focus on getting a job when school is over and depending on how that goes, passing the BAR.

I'm planning on using this brief window to branch out on the topics I've covered so far at Popmatters. An article on William Gibson's Spook Country, some work with other fiction, some film pieces. I'll be keeping the regular gaming blog posts and plan to produce several columns on games but I just need to stretch my legs a bit. Games are a very rewarding topic to write about but as with my law papers, I thought I'd remind people that I do write about stuff besides video games. Don't be too alarmed though, the main reason I started writing about games 2 years ago was that when I came home from work that was all I wanted to do most nights. Some things just never change.

Gah, it's already getting hot in the South with ladies wearing the short dresses and guy's never quite finding the appropriate pair of shorts. I like a good day on the beach with beer, but heat has never suited me that much. I think it's because I'm ungrateful for it. Since it never gets cold in South Carolina you start to just think of summer as a kind of bully who won't let other people get on the stage. Somehow I've got to figure out a way to live somewhere that has actual seasons.

Oh yeah, I wrote a big essay about how games and movies don't really have anything in common and shouldn't be treated the same way.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Just caught up on your Tweetfest about hipsters. Just so you know, hardcore gamers aren't hipsters. Indie gamers are hipsters. Indie games even have a scene. Art for art's sake and Internet niche popularity. The people who make them swap teams to work on projects over TIGSource forums. They say cryptic shit in interviews. They know videogame history like hipsters know music theory. They dress the same.

But until either hardcore gaming or indie gaming becomes solely about dressing up and going to a dirty house to fuck people who don't look like most of the people you go to school with, neither is really "hipster."

That Adbusters article is fucking ridiculous.

Unknown said...

I think you need to come to Atlanta so I can show you these things firsthand. Actually, I think I could probably show up in Charleston and find some house shows for you to experience. I'll bring you a bandana and some sunglasses.

Unknown said...

Sorry to overload. To reinforce either of our points, depending on how you view Megaman (either the purview of hardcore gamers or the inspiration of indie developers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fJdAnu9MDU

A hipster band from my hometown of Athens. They play NES games without dying while playing the soundtrack. Nothing but hipsters in the crowd.

Kirk Battle said...

Well, I wasn't always in law school y'know. I think most of my impressions from hipsters comes from hanging out in that scene for most of college and afterwards. Hell, I'd have to be a little fragged in the head to write some of this stuff.

Noted about the indie scene, I'll keep that in mind at least to make the distinction.