this (and ann coulter) are why I don't watch the news.
I was watching something about school shootings other night on Anderson Cooper, but never wrote about it. Since it's Saturday night, and I'm sitting at home watching last night's "Men in Trees" that I TiVoed*, I think it's about time to write about it.
So Anderson was interviewing a former school shooter about what was going on when he did it. He said that, you know, everything he learned about death came from video games, and that when you die in [whatever video game he was talking about], you don't die, but come back to life and keep going. So he figured that, he'd just shoot people and they'd be fine because that's what happens in video games.
Seriously.
It took me a good five minutes to pick my jaw up off of the floor after hearing that. The kid looked about eighteen, so I figure he was at LEAST 12-13 when he shot up whatever school he was at. What 12- or 13-year-old doesn't know what death is? Who hasn't read a book where someone died, or learned in a class about some important historical figure being killed? Or have we as a society become so afraid of upsetting a child's perfect little world that we don't want to teach them the harsh reality of life; namely, that we're all going to end up as rotting corpses at one point or another?
I'm sure that we're just going to blame video games for this; video games make shooting people look so cool, and nothing bad ever happens, so of COURSE kids are going to think that life is exactly like a video game.** In reality, though, it seems like the problem would be the adults who refuse to sit down and talk to their children about important things like death and the difference between fiction and reality. But why would we want to blame ourselves when we can shift blame to someone else?
And then I got to thinking (before I changed the channel to something that didn't infuriate me nearly as much)...what if that's what this kid's lawyer told him to say? I mean, what better way to get out of a homicide charge then say that you didn't know any better and point to the evil video games that the average suburbanite (read: your jurors) likely think is too violent anyway and want to see taken down? Yeah, I know it's a long-shot, and sounds more like the plot of an upcoming "Boston Legal" episode, but... I guess if it looks like an idiot and speaks like an idiot, it's too much of an idiot to understand the consequences of it's actions.
*I am almost embarrassed to admit it, but I really enjoy "Men in Trees"...and not just because James Tupper is hot. It's a really funny, cute show - so much so that it almost makes me forget about the fact that it stars Anne Heche, and she's insane.
**Kind of like that episode of "Futurama" where Fry wishes life were more like a video game, except with fewer opportunities to smell Donkey Kong's loincloth.
Labels: t.v., video games
bringing joy to the law school, one sad soul at a time
The other night, my sister sent me a link to this website that offers about 600 original Nintendo games, available to play for free whenever you like, and told me that I would never, ever pay attention in class again.* So within minutes, I did the only thing I could think to do: I sent it to a friend that's in my Trusts & Estates class.The next afternoon, in T&E, my friend told me that she sent it to another friend also in our class, and that they had been playing all afternoon.Cut to this afternoon, when I see the second friend from T&E, who told me that she had since sent the link to another dozen or so of her friends...and that every time Mario died, the girl behind her in class gasped audibly. I, surprisingly, have surprisingly avoided playing games in class; rather, I have been waiting until breaks (or, like, now, playing games at home instead of doing my writing assignment for Prosecution). Today, I displayed so much restraint that I waited until the break in Evidence to whip out the Ms. Pac Man (way more awesome than regular Pac Man. Don't ask me to explain why). Five minutes later, the guy behind me was asking for the link. After discovering one of his favorite games on the website, he gave me the following quote (for posing on the blog, of course):"You just saved my semester." So for the rest of you out there that hadn't already been sent this link through the law school IM tree...you're welcome. And don't say that I never did anything nice for anyone.*I give it three months before someone finds this and makes the webmaster take it down because of some sort of copyright issue. Labels: classes, hilarity, video games
but at least i go to class...
If a professor is writing so much on the board that his handwriting is too small to see if you're sitting more than 5 feet away (i.e., if you're not the professor), then isn't it time to waste a tree branch and print 25 handouts?
I don't know about the rest of the people in my class, but I spent the bulk of my formative years playing Mario 3, and I can't see anything that's more than 3 feet away (and that doesn't involve a power-up of some sort). This is the sort of thing that makes me say "Well, if I can't read it, it must not be important."...and then go back to my strenuous routine of e-mail and Solitaire.
And since I've mentioned Mario 3, I'd like to add that this is the most awesome wedding cake I've ever seen:
Labels: classes, video games
another viewer (reader?) poll!
Since exam time is upon us once again, I got to thinking about what's in store for yours truly over the next few weeks. Being that I spent most of the semester with (and recovering from) bird flu, I think it's safe to say that the only grades for which I will be competing are the lowest grades in my classes. That begs the question: in lieu of a final bluebookesque (yes, that's totally a word) exam, what sort of exam would be more likely to garner me an A in my classes?(a) Take-home essay exam, which would allow me to do the work when I do it best - at 3am whilst hopped up on caffeine and watching X-Files and Gilmore Girls DVDs(b) Old school-style Tetris, in which I play four games (corresponding to my four classes), and get an A every time I get the Kremlin to launch at the end(c) Dance Dance Revolution, but only if I can be pitted against K-Fed(d) None of the above, because there's a law school conspiracy afoot preventing me from getting AsLabels: finals, gilmore girls, the dickey conspiracy, video games, x-files
