5 Button Rocker, HSM and Film 2000 and Crap!!

Ok just a few random thoughts today, starting with the brilliant but money eating computer games of the last few years and still to be released. So my problem with the Wii, Guitar Hero/Rock Band, the PS3 wand thing and the 360’s Kinect, is when will it end! I am a pretty big fan of the Guitar Hero series, and I probably will never play the guitar, but like a lot of people I have been known to jump round to rock music throwing my arms round pretending, very very badly, to play air guitar, so the 5 button plastic guitar is like a step up from the air guitar. And you know what? It is a good laugh. I do not take it that seriously (I have had it for 2 years and I can only just about play the medium setting), and I know that it is no way as skilled as the real thing, but it is great to just sometimes put on the tracks that you love, and pretend to play along! What I’m unsure about is the new version of Rock Band being released at the end of the month, now including an updated drum kit, a keyboard and the “real” guitar. I think the drum kit is a cool idea as the old Rock Band one did not have cymbals, and the keyboard is something that I knew would be released at some point, but the guitar confuses me. Why buy a plastic guitar with a hundreds of buttons on it and what looks like some strings, when you could go out get a cheap REAL guitar and learn to play! I do see a small point to it, it will teach you very simply how to play the chords, but only to the songs on the game.

I think “South Park” has it down to a tee. In one of their episodes Randy, Stan’s Dad, shows the boys that he can play a track the boys are playing on guitar hero, on a real guitar. After playing the song note prefect the boys look in shock and tell him that it was “Gay” and “Stupid”. I think it goes to show how important technology is today for kids and that makes me sad. I am not saying that when I was a kid I was really active and I would go and run and play sports, because that would be a total lie, but I did spend a lot of time at the park outside with my friends. I remember one year we even got more then one days worth of fun simply by just jumping into a crash mat we made out of cut grass! And as years go on the games get even more life sucking taking away a child’s imagination, just look at Xbox 360’s new invention, “The Kinect System” which is a hands free controller. It uses a camera and sensors to pick up your movements and put them in the game. Ok I know that is pretty active and better then just sitting on your arse and playing “Halo” or “Grand Theft Auto”, I just feel it is taking something away from going out and exploring the outside, even if it is the boring task of helping your father pick up sticks or fallen plums from the plum tree, it gets you out and into the world! So all I am saying is calm down Sony, take it easy Microsoft and have a rest Nintendo, let us not forget the real skills of learning a hobby or what we can find in own back gardens!

Ok I went off on one there; I have two other things I want to talk about for a couple of lines. The First being a mouse house creation, the wonderful world of the musical, but manly “Why am I put in such a great mood when I listen to songs of High School Musical”? I wonder if it is the up beat pop sound or the really cheesy lyrics, I just can not understand it, normally something this shiny and clean would make me cringe, but I just can not help clapping along and feeling all warm inside when they all realise that they have each other at the end of each film. Please someone help me understand, I am sure I will talk about this in more detail at a later date.

And finally, what the hell have the BBC done with Film 2010? What was wrong with the set up of the last series, of just one man sitting behind a desk and telling you his thoughts on the up coming releases? At least he sounded like he knew what he was talking about; I hope Mark Kermode had a good enough reason to turn down the role! Why the hell would you give it to a woman who can not even open her eyes all the way, looks like she has been dragged through a hedge backwards and seems to have no idea what the hell she is talking about! I do not think I could do a better job but I am willing to give it a go, so watch this space!

Youtube = Happy Memories

Until about 3 months ago I really did not see the point of youtube. Yer, I’m one of those people who goes on it a lot and manages to waste hour after hour watching dancing bears and ninja cats. But lately it hit me, what a pointless waste it is! What is so amazing about a kid who sings like Barry White, a sneezing panda bear or a guy wasting probably thousands of pounds/dollars to dance around the world! Then about 3 months ago after having a conversation with my housemates about old school television, I finally saw what the point of youtube is, and my good friends the answer is to re live those lost programmes that no one will release on DVD. And the programme that made me realise this? “Are You Afraid of the Dark”. An amazing programme that was both entertaining and scary as hell. Then I moved on to something that I know both me and my girlfriend loved as kids, “The Demon Headmaster”, and I jumped straight into series 3, and damn the acting really is as bad as I remembered!

About now I bet you are wondering why I’m telling you this, well I am trying to open your eyes! Take a minute, close your eyes if it helps, look back into your past and remember the things you watched, the things that made you happy, scared, excited, sad and just wanting the days to go faster till the next episode. Maybe I just watched too much television when I was a kid, but I do not care! Television, I think, is a key element to where I am today. Ok maybe I am in a shitty job and not sure where I am going, but I am truly happy. One of my great memories growing up was the joy of a Sunday night, sitting on the white wool rug in front of the fire, my parents behind me on the sofa, waiting for the Sunday family drama to start! “The Borrowers”, “5 Children and It” and “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” are to name just a few of the brilliant programmes that we would watch. And that is one of the reasons why I took up the decision to study a course on film and television, and maybe one day I will write something that at least one kid can sit at home and watch on a Sunday afternoon, in ore of the magic, adventure, romance and gripping cliff hangers at the end of each episode.

So please use youtube for the right reasons, do not waste time, use it to remember and have that warm feeling. Maybe it will not be good as you remember but I am sure it must bring back a good memory or two! I’m off to watch “The Last Train” and “Noggin the Nog”!