Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

...and he returns

I know.

I know.

I deserve it. I abandoned you all for the better part of three months. Inexcusable.

Let it be known, I have not sat idle.

Have you ever heard of hitrecord.org?

It’s a collaborative art experiment that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has put together. He also has a show called hitRecord on TV. His vision is to gather artists of all mediums together to collaborate on a number of different themes.

Well, after I saw the show, I decided to join. I was truly inspired.

Aside from this humble apology, I will be posting two pieces for you today.


Enjoy.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Elevated Nickels



We live in an instant gratification society. We like to be told what to like, told what to think, told what to do, and told how to do it… and we want it fast. It really has become fascinating watching our culture turn into drooling idiots that spend an average of 7.5 hours a day staring at one type of screen or another. You’re looking at a screen reading this. I was looking at a screen writing it. When I get done writing this, I will answer some text messages, and when I get home, I will watch TV while looking at a tablet.

And so on
And so on.
And so on.

Surprising that Japan is so low on the list.

As a matter of fact, even the information that we receive on those screens has changed to the growing need to have instant access. Now, THIS phenomenon is something that I have just noticed in recent years. It started by me just noticing it on websites or blogs on geek-culture, but it has become more and more mainstream.

Heck, even I dabbled into it here on Happenings and Happenstance, which can be read - HERE.

I am sure you have figured it out by now. I am talking about the “Top 5 List.” 

Ah yes, the fan favorite of little nuggets of information presented in a way that is fast, informative, usually funny, full of opinion, and a way to engage the audience. In fact, there are even Top 5 or Top 10 lists that explain why Top 5 lists are so popular.

Soak that in. 
A list to tell a person why they like lists.

Worlds within worlds.


We have truly entered into a Bizarro world, where on the surface, it appears that we have abandoned all reason and rational thinking. It scares me to even entertain the factuality of that statement, but there it is.

So, in truly Bizarro fashion, I think I will join with my fellow mouth-breathers and provide some helpful assistance.

The Top 5 List Of Topics You Can Find Top 5 Lists For! 
(abridged version)


1) Top 5 “Pop Culture Anything”

For all intents and purposes (yes – it is not intensive purposes), this particular type of Top <blank> list can be glommed together with movies, music,video games, or really any type of entertainment based media.

These types of lists run the gambit from the Top 5 most violent video games, to Top 10 dumbest movie plot twists, or even Top 10 most underrated prog rock albums. The categories are endless. If you want to find any information concerning any type of entertainment, I guarantee that there is a Top <blank> list to outline it for you.


It's like seeing who can out-cool the next person.
Here’s a crazy thought though, why don’t YOU decide what the most violent, underrated plot twist is?


Well, we all know that isn’t going to happen, so when you get a free chance, check out the website WhatCulture.com

This website is almost exclusively lists based on entertainment media or entertainment themed subcultures. When I was checking this website out, it almost appeared that this website alone has created the template for short attention span blogging. I just googled "whatculture" and got:

Ranking Blink-182’s Hit singles from worst to best
10 Superstars that hit rock bottom after WWE
The Cure’s Top 20 songs
10 YouTube celebrities who earn more money than we ever will
25 best Alex Turner songs

Blah, blah, blah….kill me!



This website even gets more absurd with: 10 Movies that are one mistake away from being masterpieces. Give me a freaking break! It’s websites like these that encourage the sentiment that one opinion matters, but another doesn’t.

One of the movies that was “one mistake away from being a masterpiece” was Prometheus. I got some news for you Mr. Writer Guy, that movie was so disjointed and pointless, even fixing one mistake wouldn’t give it “masterpiece status.”

Next thing you know, this guy is going to try and tell me that The Graduate is overrated. Oh wait, someone just beat him to it: Smiling LDS Girl's Blog: Ten Most Overrated Movies (yes The Graduate is on her list)

How can this ending shot be anything BUT genius?

Don’t get me wrong, expressing your opinion is great, but when did an anonymous blogger become an authority on what is or is not overrated?

I want to be perfectly clear on this, I encourage making and speaking your opinions. I do it myself, and I support the blogging community. What I am attacking is this societal ideal that if you read something, it must be taken as an expert opinion.

Maybe that’s a blanket statement, but make your own opinions! Don’t let strangers make them for you.


2) Top 5 “Random, Useless, Garbage”

Have you ever thought to yourself that some people seem to know everything – well, what I really meant to say, people who think they know everything? Yeah? Me too.

Or, have you ever watched Jeopardy and thought to yourself, “How in the heck do they know that?”

His Jeopardy swag is FIERCE!

Do not worry your pretty head, dear reader. 

There is a Top <blank> list to help raise you to the status of those fortunate individuals who have an endless supply of potpourri uselessness filed away in their heads. 

So much uselessness, that it appears to be useful.

I know that this may be a shocker for most of you, but there is a website called…wait for it… Top5.com. This was the freaking mother-lode!!!!

It was everything that I ever wanted right at my fingertips, and right at the top of the page, there it was. It was a shiny beacon of hope calling out to me to explore everything that embodies "Top 5": AMAZING FACTS.

Not only were these facts amazing, they were broken down into history, science, and RANDOM!
 random AND amazing???
It can't be, can it?
Yes!
Top 5 things you didn’t know about gold
Top 5 most garish celebrity graves
Top 5 strangest things found in the belly of a shark
Top 5 most terrifying roller-coasters

And my personal favorite…

I just LOVE the judgmental, indignant tone of that last one. The mere idea that the opinions of whoever wrote these lists is espoused as credible or noteworthy takes narcissism to a whole new level.

The authors of that blog.

Not all lists that purport to provide the reader with amazing insight to useless information are as bad as I might be painting them out to be. Take, for example, the website Buzzfeed.com. This website can actually make the reader become dumber for wasting time on it.

Their list, 23 useless facts that you totally need to know is a lighthearted piece that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is literally 23 useless facts

In a lot of ways, it’s hard to take Buzzfeed seriously at all….even their attempt at news.


3) Top 5 “I have traveled to this place to make you feel jealous”

Ah, travel! So many do it, so many others wish they could. Did you guys hear about that Dutch student who faked an exotic vacation “as a project” for her university? It was all done through Photoshop. She simply took pictures of exotic locales and shopped herself into them so well, that the pictures looked extremely authentic and believable. Her reason for doing so was to demonstrate how our online lives can be manipulated to become anything that we wish. We can do or be anything without anyone being the wiser.

Doing it right!

As a point of research, this experiment is really fascinating to me, and true with anything that goes viral, not only this project became a meme and joke unto itself, but it created a trend of fakecationing (like what I did there – with that portmanteau of fake and vacation?)

It actually created a nice Top 10 list, Ten ways to fake the ultimate summer vacation.

So this presses me to ask a question: Why is it necessary to create the illusion that our boring, mundane, 9-to-5 lives are filled with glamorous retreats to exotic destinations?

Simply put, because everyone else is doing it.

The website HomeAway has an incredible Top 10 list called “The 10 best vacation spots you may not know about.” 

How exciting would that be? You and your loved ones or your closest friends taking off to a place that is so incredibly awesome that the only people that know of its existence are its residents!!!

I tell you what. You would have plenty to brag about on Instagram and Facebook.

This list includes such exotic locales as Charleston, SC; Orange Beach, AL; and Lake of the Ozarks, MO. When did South Carolina, Alabama, and Missouri become places of interest?

We don't take kindly to city-slickers.

The Nest's Top vacationing spots list is a little more what you might think would be traditional locations to truly want to go to: Paris, Brazil, Greece, Hawaii, etc. But hey, why bother even going?

Purewow’s 8 Easy ways to go on vacation without leaving your home can give you that perfect experience without stepping on a plane. Once you choose the right filter with your Instagram account, you will be painting your friends’ faces GREEN with envy from all of the pictures from the exciting adventures you have been on.


4) Top 5 “Things we noticed, because we don’t get out enough”

I think that it is funny how something that is made of plastic with children’s candy hidden inside has become synonymous with “kitchy-meta-reference.” My friends, I am talking about the easter egg! 


Not that one.

Lately, it seems that movies and video games (especially video games) have really made a lot of effort in providing little inside jokes or clues to let the viewer or player part of the inside joke. It isn’t anything that is new, but it just feels like it is becoming more and more common.

It is agreed upon by most that the first easter egg was in an Atari game called Adventure, where a programmer secretly inserted his name in the code, so the player could find it if he or she wanted to spend the time looking for it.

Yay! You found it, now go outside and play!

There’s the rub. If they wanted to spend the time looking for it.

So there are two things that are possible here. Either, gaming journalists have extensive teams constantly seeking out any possible easter eggs in video games, or there are waaaay too many people with toooooo much time on their hands.

                                         



I say this because easter egg lists are everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE, and they are extensive too.

I went to Gamespot.com and simply typed in the words “easter egg” with the ‘articles’ filter selected and got over 50 articles with talk of easter eggs, including the list: The Greatest Easter Eggs in Gaming.

I tested it against Google, simply typing “easter eggs” with quotes around it. This search yielded pages and pages of video game and movie hidden secrets that I’m supposed to be impressed and amazed by.

The 5 most elaborately hidden video game easter eggs
All the ‘Jurassic World’ easter eggs you may have missed
17 amazing Google easter eggs
10 Skyrim easter eggs that will make you want to replay it immediately
11 amazing Marvel movie easter eggs you never saw
The 50 best Pixar easter eggs

The list doesn’t end…ever.
It’s like EVERYTHING has an easter egg now.

"What do you mean by - everything?"

There are so many easter eggs available to learn about, there is even an online archive that lists them all ranging from movies, software, games, TV shows, and books!

Why do we as consumers care about or enjoy these things? Well, without doing any research whatsoever, I think it’s because we all like being a part of something. 

We enjoy being “in the know.” We like being “in on the joke.” And, with the creation and popularity of social media, many of us like being the first to know the secret to either share it or brag about knowing it.

I actually tried digging up any reason as to why we love easter eggs so much, and yielded no results - only more lists, and a few instances mentioning Adventure and how it was the first one.

This damn game again!

Is it a cultural phenomenon??? I don’t know.

Being a gamer, and a lover of all things geeky, these are some lists that I love so much. The funny thing is, I never look for them, and if I find one, I don’t even realize it.

For example, I love the Fallout series of games. They are spectacular open world adventures, which place you in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As with any Mad Max scenario, weapons are a must. 

There is one weapon in Fallout: New Vegas that is an exact replica of Harrison Ford’s laser tube from Blade Runner. In the game, it is referred to as “That Gun.” When I found it, I didn’t even realize that I had found something special or what “That Gun” was even referring to.

Wasn't impressed.

The gun sucked. I dismantled it and used it for scrap parts. Then, one day, I’m on WhatCulture.com (that site is addictive), and I see it on a list of Top easter eggs from Fallout games you may have missed, right there at number 8.

Truth is, I didn’t care. Having that gun didn’t change my experience playing that game, nor did I feel compelled to tell a friend that I had discovered it.

It just…was.


5) Top 5 “We know you like lists, but we can’t think of anything to make a list of, because anything about everything that can be put in a list has already been put into a list”

Here it is. This is the end all, be all of lazy writing and complete garbage being fed to us as consumers and denizens of the internet, and also, I’ve been trolling you this entire time.

The Original


You see, my wife told me that while she enjoyed the content that I posted about Seven Lions and the story surrounding that, she really couldn’t get that deep into it. She wanted more variety and topics that were beyond what I was pigeonholing myself into. 

I spent so much time thinking about new and different content that I ran into a pretty hefty bout of writer’s block.

This, but with less paper.

I promised you, my faithful readers, a post that was not Seven Lions related, and I struggled at what that could be. My initial thought was to create a list of some sort, but why? 

The more I researched, the more I realized that there are very few topics that have not been delivered in list format already.



If I were to provide you with the “Top 5 most action packed car chases” because I was just inspired by the complete awesomeness that was Mad Max: Fury Road, it would be no different if I posted the “Top 5 most incredible episodes of Game of Thrones” just because Season 5 just ended.

Those lists already exist.

They exist, because we demand them to exist. We demand them, because that has become the norm in blog-based journalism.

You deserve more from me.



That is why I gave you this.

I hoped you enjoyed our exploration of this topic. I think I provided you enough links and options to satiate your list craving for some time. But, take this into consideration – there is no reason why you can’t make a list of your own. People love them! Why not be on the end of providing something unique and spectacular or some form of insight that was never thought about before?

If you don’t think American cars are crappy, then make the “Top 5 reasons why the guy who said American cars suck is wrong.” Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's does. Express it. Don’t just take what some anonymous talking head on the internet said as the bottom line.


Unless that anonymous talking head is me!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

New Look; New Everything

Just a quick heads up, I am in the process of finalizing something interesting, but as you may notice, I did some remodeling around here.

Not only are the colors a lot more striking, but I have cleaned up the tabs to be more cohesive with less repeat offenders. I had one post that was tagged with four different labels. No matter what I did, I kept seeing the same post.

No wonder you folks have been griping at me on my email.

Also, to those of you who like my FB blog fan page, I saw these instructions online and duplicated it for my own private usage. It’s a way for you to keep up with my posts by getting notifications, rather than you risking having them get buried under your feed.


Getting Notifications Puts You In The Game!

To the right, there is the FB widget to share this page. At the end of this post is a FB widget to share this post. Take your pick, either or both…I won’t mind.


Go ahead...click it.

If you have g+, feel free to add me in your circle, etc. etc.

This blog is about to take a turn with something really spectacular (if I must say so myself), and I wouldn't want any of you to miss the content.

Always, feel free to comment either on the post, FB, or on G+.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

I Don't See the Big Deal

One word for you: Coulrophobia. 

In case you haven’t heard of this thing. It is simply the fear of clowns. This is a funny topic to me, because I personally don’t suffer from it. I figured since my last post was skirting around the different things that we as a society or culture might refer to as nightmare fuel, I might as well just feet first into something truly fascinating. Truth be told, someone very close to me does have a legitimate fear of clowns, but I have never known what it came from. I mean, I really don’t see the big deal.

How can this possibly be scary?

According to Wikipedia (which we all know is 100% believable), the term coulrophobia only started to appear in the 1980s, and has really only developed into the modern lexicon through its usage online. Bringing to the attention on whether this is a legitimate irrational fear or a made up irrational fear.

I think my head just exploded as I wrote that. Did I really just commit that sentence to paper? To the fray!

I should point out. I am NOT a psychologist, and I do not possess and degrees in psychology. This is a just an educated opinion and social commentary of this topic. Besides… lighten up!

Five Reasons Why the Fear of Clowns has Grown and is Perpetuated by Pop Culture

1. Clowns are a Popular Plot Device for Scary Stories
It is no secret that many scary stories use clowns as a plot device to make the unknown seem even more frightening. Stephen King popularized this trope with his iconic novel It. The popular thriller television series American Horror Story just recently had a “killer clown” as a character. To continue, there are many films where the villain wears a mask to hide his identity, but he isn't a clown specifically: Jason from Friday the 13th (hockey mask), Michael Myers from Halloween (plain white mask), Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as many others.

This guys looks like a plot device unto himself.

Even more famously, Batman’s ultimate nemesis is the clown prince of crime: The Joker. His portrayal has ranged from being a manic misfit, such as the original television series, Batman to a truly menacing agent of chaos, like Heath Ledger’s iconic performance in The Dark Knight.

This is so true!

Having a villain where his face is hidden really taps into a primal fear that exists within all of us. The unknown is always more frightening than the known, and a villain covering his face just makes it that much scarier. I really think that is what the appeal to using clowns as bad guys holds. Not only can you not see the face, but it is juxtaposed against an ideal that has traditionally been in settings that are meant to bring laughter or joy. With the brain trying to process what is unfamiliar and reversed, the viewer begins to gain a sense of uncomfortable dread. Much like what is caused when human perception enters into…

2. Clowns Enter into the Uncanny Valley Spectrum
 There it is again, that dang uncanny valley. It has been mentioned by “researchers” that because of clowns exaggerated features, determining a clown’s true emotions becomes difficult. Specifically, those who are afraid of clowns can’t tell if the clown is happy or if it is about to rip their face off. “Researchers” have also said that physical slapstick comedy that involves stunts that would normally cause pain confuse some people’s perception of the act because the clown’s face is painted with a smile while they are being “hurt.”

He's hurting me actually.

Now, from my previous entry, I talked on how the uncanny valley is becoming more and more acceptable by society with the over usage of CGI in movies, the inclusion of AI such as Siri in our phones, and dependence of robots in our day to day activities. So, why the hang up on clowns? Does it more fall into the “Zombie” realm of the dip

I couldn't really tell you… I’m not afraid of clowns, but I am terrified by some of those lifelike androids being cranked out of Hong Kong and Japan.

3. John Wayne Gacy
Pogo the Clown. I am not really going to give this man or what he did much attention. This was a sick man who did horrible things. It is not up to me to rehash or describe any of the monstrous things that this scumbag did, especially using a children’s character in the process. Google him if you must. 

The mere knowledge that there was a real life “Evil Clown” is enough to legitimize this fear, but let’s face it, we are talking about a fringe incident.


4. Clowns are Associated with Uncomfortable Circumstances
You know what movie I never really liked? Patch Adams. This is a stinker of a bio-pic that starred Robin Williams as a doctor who brought joy to his pediatric patients by dressing as a clown. The film currently holds a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, this is one of those movies that either a) you have never seen, b) have no desire to see, or  c) regret seeing it in the first place. To those of you who enjoyed Patch Adams...my condolences.

Still though, while a certain amount of joy can be brought to a sick child through the use of clowns, I am going to touch on something different.

Who can remember going into the doctor as child, or parents, when can you think of the last time you took your child to the doctor – and saw this:

I really do actually love this icon.

This is Happy the Clown by Arthur Sarnoff. This image has been reproduced so many times and in so many forms, that it is a part of Americana. How is a child to feel if every time they get poked by a needle or need to get some nasty medicine, they see this image? Well, quite frankly, that image is going to be associated with the pain or discomfort.

I mean, I get it, but I don’t understand it.

5. There are No Reasons -  People Just Feel How they Feel
I guess that is it really. I just wanted to try and understand why this is.

Let me ask you a question reader: 

Are you afraid of clowns, yet you still read this?


Are you still scared of them?


Do you think that you could ever get over the fear?


At this point, are you getting irritated that I am just posting pictures of clowns for no reason or point what-so-ever?


I just don’t see the big deal.










Friday, May 1, 2015

Where Do We Go From Here?

A couple of things first. I have added a Facebook Like/Share button on the left there to open my fan base up and allow you to know when I update. Please click it. I would really appreciate it. Another thing, I enabled Anonymous comments to be allowed. This means that you…yes you, can make a comment here without having a g+ account. I am in the process of incorporating Facebook comments for the site, so if you do follow me on FB, you will be able to comment and it will be posted here.

So much work!!!

Well, I have been covering race relations and Baltimore with the last two posts, let’s do something a little lighter hearted. I mean, it’s Friday, it’s May Day – and I’m in a good mood.

One thing I have noticed in popular blogs these days, is that everyone LOVES lists. They are concise, they can be funny, and they keep your attention to a certain limit without boring you to tears.


So here we go: 
THE TOP 5 REASONS WE ARE CLOSER TO LIVING IN THE MATRIX

Before I really get into this. We need to explore the idea of how technology is being more and more integrated into our lives, almost to becoming a necessity. It was just recently reported by numerous sources that the heart monitor feature in the iWatch was being disrupted by wrist tattoos. The heart rate monitor is actually a smart feature that allows the iWatch to shut itself off when not in use, or when it doesn't register a heartbeat. To those of you that may have sleeves or wrist tattoos, this function won’t work properly. Basically, you just dropped $400 on a worthless device. Apple’s response – suck it!

No really, Apple said, “Hey, we don’t have a solution, but if you want to purchase some Bluetooth chest straps and monitor your heart that way, go ahead." Steve Jobs just rolled over in his grave.

YOU RUINED MY LEGACY!

Regardless your opinion on the First World Problem that is the defective iWatch, you can’t deny that technology is here to stay, and may be poised to take over.

5. The Uncanny Valley is Getting Smaller and Smaller
There is a phrase out there called “The Uncanny Valley,” and it is basically defined as: a hypothesis in the field of aesthetics which holds that when features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some observers. The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of beings as subjects move toward a healthy, natural likeness described in a function of a subject's aesthetic acceptability. Examples can be found in the fields of robotics and 3D computer animation, among others.

Basically – nightmare fuel.

It’s illustrated by this graph:

I would hope that we are repulsed by zombies.

The more a moving likeness of something that looks human but isn't human, the more it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. With UltraHD TVs, High Frame Rate movies such as Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and the extensive use of CGI to create realistic characters in our entertainment, our brains are getting more and more acclimated to the idea that something that was once repulsive, is now acceptable. The “dip” that creates the valley is a lot shallower and narrower now. I mean, Andy Serkis has made his entire career playing CGI characters such as Gollum, Caesar, and King Kong.

4. CGI No Longer Looks Like a Cartoon
Who here remembers Ang Lee’s Hulk? Who here remembers the unholy creation that was Tom Hanks in Polar Express? How about the entirety of Beowulf? There are countless examples of how CGI, in its infancy, was just a gimmick. It was perfect for Pixar or Dreamworks movies, such as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek, but anytime it was used for feature films that needed photo-realistic renders, it just fell short.

Hulk SMASH!

As fake as it used to look, using CGI now is a standard in film making. We would not be able to have the sequel generating monstrosity that is Marvel Studios if it were not for CGI. I remember a time where if you were to say that they were going to make a movie about Thor without it looking cheesy, I would have said that you were out of your mind. And yet…..

Not only does it LOOK real, but it feels realistic. It almost feels so realistic, that if you watch older films where practical special effects were used, it looks fake. FAKE!

For example, if you were to watch Jaws, you would instantly be able to tell that the shark was robotic, and (not taking away from the genius that is that film) it would almost look comical. Our brains have to come accept that the artificial is the new reality, and that is the new standard.

3. Robots are no longer a thing from Science Fiction Novels
Check out these headlines:

“Experts predict robots will take over 30% of our jobs by 2025 – and white-collar jobs aren't immune”

“This humanoid robot can recognize and interact with people”

“The UK government is refusing to rule out building killer robots”

“A robot just started her job as the receptionist at Japan’s oldest department store”

That last one gives me the chills most of all. The headline actually personified an object by recognizing it with the pronoun “her” instead of the appropriate “it.” All four of these headlines come from BusinessInsider.com, which is a business and technology website that has been around since February 2009. I mean this is a fairly legitimate source for tech news and how it relates to business.

There was a time when robots threatened to take over the assembly lines of auto manufacturers, and it was disputed that it would never happen. Until it did. There was a time when the idea of having a robot in your home as a maid was only something in The Jetsons, until it wasn't (can you say Roomba…DJ Roomba if you’re hip!).

Pawnee was always using innovative technology to stay ahead in the game.

Not only have robots become a part of our lives, but we have started to accept the presence of them doing daily tasks that used to be jobs for people. Even our phones contain a robot in them that answers our questions when we need help. Apple even programmed certain responses and phrases into Siri to have conversational functionality. How soon before we become like Joaquin Phoenix in Her? Oh just for fun, click this link http://www.macworld.com/article/2915908/siri-says-the-darnedest-things-50-questions-for-apple-s-virtual-assistant.html and you will get 50 fun conversation phrases and lighthearted banter situations that you can have with Siri. She is adorable…I will admit that!

2. Virtual Existence is an Accepted Counterpart to Reality
About a year ago, Forbes reported that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft raked in over a billion dollars in 2013. Now rumor around the campfire is that WoW subscriptions have been dipping, but even so, that is a chunk of change. On ebay, while it has become a violation to sell virtual items for games such as WoW, the virtual reality simulator Second Life is not considered a game. Listed on ebay, there are literally hundreds to thousands of virtual items usable on Second Life available for purchase with real currency

Wrap your head around that for a second. 

Spending real money for virtual items. Items that you will never, ever use IRL (in real life). Well let me paint it through a different prism. How many “in game purchases” are on almost every game app out there. Buying more turns in Candy Crush Saga is not so uncommon. Video gaming and virtual existence has become so broad and accepted by most everybody in 2015. It is no longer just a hobby for neckbeards who live in their mother’s basement.

Selfie!

Many A-listers such as Mila Kunis, Vin Diesel, Dave Chappelle, and Mr. T have all confirmed that they have virtual lives within the realm of Azeroth. Even standard console games, such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Fallout have become so in-depth in their RPG aspects. Living in these worlds can involve gambling, earning money, and even getting married. With the upcoming release of Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda Softworks looks to give WoW a run for its money in creating a virtual realm that is accessible by the more mainstream console platform.

1.  We Don’t Care
Let me give you some stuff that cannot be unseen, which will haunt you for the rest of your days to come.



I bet you didn't realize until the end of the video that “Emily” was a virtual creation. I’ll let you watch it again. I’ll wait….

Now you notice the flawless skin, those dead eyes, and the facial expressions, that at first viewing made you wonder what you were watching, later chilled you to the bone. This video was made in 2008, and the tech is even better!  I watched an interview with the designer, and explained that the goal was to erase the uncanny valley. 

Terrifying!


Chew on this one now.


KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Kudos if you actually made it all the way through that one. If you didn't get to at least half, then you missed the pan of the camera.

This appears as if it is in a mall! AAAAAGHHHH!!!!!! Look at all of the people watching. Being entertained or fascinated…or I don’t know.

The pieces are already being put in place for artificial intelligence to take its next shape. I really hope that we end up having Frankenstein’s Monster turning against us.