eclectika

I saw this cheerful image (courtesy of the RIAA ) and found myself smiling. "When you pirate MP3s, you're downloading COMMUNISM"—the very thing erroding our fine society today. The U.S.S.R. didn't dissolve, they simply became hackers and have secretly been uploading 'communism' to the internet. What began as a 'hippie' open-source mentality was really communism striking back at our capitalist way of life. Linux was really developed in Siberia as guards with AK-47s paced above the programmer's cubicles. Use FireFox and take a bite out of that big anti-big-business pie with all yer other red friends. Remember that each time you download that pirated copy of Gigli we're one step closer to having our own 'Checkpoint Charlies' between states. Seriously though, the various industries out to protect their gifts to the world (music, film, software, etc.) are kind of going about things the wrong way aren't they? If you look at the lit...

I remember looking at old photographs of my father and laughing at how silly he looked. His response always began with, "well back then..." or "in those days..." And I'd laugh some more as he'd patiently explain that it was once considered 'cool' to look that way. I can clearly recall lecturing my dad on the perils of black socks and tennis shoes as I made swishing sounds pacing in my parachute pants—nothing says 'cool' like a million zippers to nowhere. My son may laugh at my 'Miami Vice' look or scratch his head when trying to figure out why his father wore 18 outfits at the same time to achieve the ultimate 'layered look,' but he will not laugh at my music! That's right. We're talking about Debarge ! Just look at them. These guys are cool. The curly mullet, the shoe-string ties and up-turned collars. Is the guy on the right wearing a karate outfit or a band uniform? I don't know and I don't care—Debarg...

Some days you're untouchable. If the enemy is careless enough to run near your crosshairs, you arrange their personal face time with God. Other days, you spend more time in the great beyond than on the battlefield. Regardless of how well you do, a losing streak melts away the moment you make that impossible shot or pull off an unbelievable maneuver in a vehicle. For those moments when the teamwork just 'clicks' or you're the one that captures the flag when all others fail, Battlefield 2 truly makes you feel like the hero of the hour—even if your score is the lowest on the server. It is a remarkable mix of weapon and vehicle balance that allows players to play on their own terms and have fun with wildly different play styles. I like to fly choppers (the AH-64 specifically) and am happiest swooping down on enemy tanks, hovering over flag capture points or simply providing a steady platform for my gunner to mow infantry down. When I'm not flying, I'm sniping—yo...

Ever since PONG, I've been fascinated and sometimes obsessed with video games. At one point, I remember long summer nights in front of my IBM monochrome monitor exploring the mysteries of Colossal Cave . These days, games have become so much more sophisticated that entire worlds are fleshed out for our curious alter egos to explore. Games such as Guild Wars (pictured here) offer up a long and engaging story to work through while other titles simply present a vast world for you to discover at your own pace. No matter how cinematic or sophisticated the gameplay becomes, however, the thrills, immersion and wonder of that old Cave still haunt me. What has been lost since the days of the old text adventure? Is it that we've allowed our creative minds to become lazy and therefore require game designers to fill in the blanks with more polygons or do we simply lack the patience to fully adopt each new world's mythology? Perhaps the problem it is the abundance of these games wh...