Let's Talk Video-Game "Violence"

So I stumbled upon this article today on my Xfinity homepage that I can't seem to/am to lazy to change.

10 Most Violent Video Games

I know, I know. Beating a dead horse. Everyone knows that this argument is still illogical, and putting the 'violent video game' blame on the companies instead of the parents. News Flash: Video games aren't about kids anymore.

Guess the average age of a 'gamer' in the United States. Just a guestimation. Come on.

30. It's 30 fucking years old. And the average time with 'game' experience is 13 years.

But my favorite part of the article? Look at the bottom left corner of every single photo that you scroll through. What's the rating on them? 9 out of 10 (one being an expansion) are Rated M. For Mature. Which, if you brush up on your ESRB (aka it's RIGHT FUCKING THERE ON THE PACKAGE) is 17 or older.

17! This article shouldn't have to tell parents that these are violent video games that they need to keep their kids away from because it says it right there on the box. It's not there for shits and giggles. It's there because Saints Row lets you kill cops with a giant purple dildo. Dead Island (on an ISLAND) has copious amounts of women in scantily clad swim suits. Who are swearing and drink. Because they're on goddamn vacation they can do what they want. They tell you right there on the label why this game is so not okay for your ten year old kid.

And the looks some of the poor Gamestop employees get when a parent scoffs at them when they're informed the game is rated M for mature, for 17+.

Here's another fun stat (thanks, theesa.com!): 91% of games are rated T for Teens or lower (younger, softer, whatever). The game choices for your child are the majority of games available. Even though your child is not the majority demographic game companies are aiming for.

Get your shit together parents. And stop blaming companies for your incompetence. I bet they're the parents who take their kids to an R-rated movie and wonder why they got a detention for saying 'fuck you' to their teacher, and blame the movie industry. If you know the consequences of your actions, then you get to make that choice, but you don't get to push your inadequacy as a parent onto outside sources. There's a reason that even if accompanied by a parent, kids just cannot see certain movies. I am almost tempted to push this limitation onto video games. Because clearly we need to punish the parents and teach them a lesson.

Also I may or may not need a GTAV intervention. I can't stop. And why is the trashiest, dirtiest, most inappropriate character the one that I love the most? I think it's because he's Canadian. We have a kinship.

Regards,
The Peener

P.S: Don't you just LOVE that you're not allowed to make any comments on this article/Powerpoint/slideshow/whatever the hell it is?

Explorations

As I sit here, migraine pushing against the back of my eyes, snot clogging up my nose so I have to breathe through my mouth, panting like a dog, I'm only worried about whether I'll be able to go to Hanging Lake on Sunday. I think I'm past the point of having someone to go with me. I'll go by myself, dammit. It's seriously the most gorgeous looking place and I want to see it in person. Plus its been a while since I've been on a good hike.

I feel like it would be a great place to meditate. Clear my head. Relax my body. (Don't forget to cup the balls). Getting in tune with nature and such. Places like this aren't too far from Denver, and I've been taking the area for granted.

I've been reading again too. Going to finish The Girl Who Played with Fire and then start on Filth. It's been a good few weeks. A bit chaotic with school and work, but I've managed to mostly keep it together. 

Now it's time to turn on the humidifier and doze a bit longer. Sleep fixes everything right? I enjoy sleep.

Amp Up the Crazy

I'm starting to debate the necessity of a therapist. I went to a 'session' today and we didn't talk about anything earth-shattering. Which is fine, I don't need to delve deep into my soul every time. Most of the time, I go because I just like talking to someone. Today we talked about the potential of video games and the industry as a whole, and how it's just getting started. We also went into the topic of art mediums, and I explained how different paints and the stuff with ceramics works. She seemed very interested in it, and she told me as I was leaving that sometimes she likes to just let me sit back and talk. It really does make me feel better. But at the same time, it's so expensive. For whatever reason, the insurance has decided to reset something rather, and it went from $20 a session to $105 a session.

What.

So now I'm concerned. How valuable is this therapy to me? Is it enough to consistently be draining my father of these funds? (If I stay at the weekly sessions, that's $420 a month. Eek!) Maybe $20 a session was, but certainly not how much it is now. That'd be a once a month thing, if that. I know that maintaining a good mental-health state is important, but money is almost just as important in the world, especially for a father who doesn't quite understand what's wrong.

Speaking of healthcare, this is an interesting video (via a great author, John Green):

 

I love it because he also cites his sources. What a good guy.

Blah. This was a useless post kind of. I don't know what the point of it was. I'm gonna go make grilled cheese.

-Peener

Let's Talk About Sex

Oh here we go. A blog entry that's for once not about my mundane life. We're leaving reality and stepping into tangent territory. I mean, I could talk about my mundane life. Like how I secretly love hipster clothes (not so secret anymore, woops). Like seriously. The fun old lady patterns, my new orange pants, droopy hats, Buddy Holly glasses, big shirts to hide muffin tops and fluff. I love it. And it's a relatively cheap style to adhere to. Thrift stores, Goodwill; my orange pants were $10 at LoveCulture (which is kind of a terrifying store to go into alone).

Ugh. Talking about fashion wore me out. How can people do that for a living?

I want to talk about the over-romantization (word?) of sex. They say there's three levels of having sex: Making Love, Sex, and Fucking. I always imagined making love to be like....surrounded by rose petals. Maybe in a bathtub. Some electric candles to set the mood (I've seen too many rom-coms to know what happens when you use actual candles) and light some incense or something for the smell. Then everything is sensual and romantic and there's massage oil and the guy likes to cuddle after and the girl's hair doesn't get in his face when she's the little spoon.

Maybe some of you have experienced that. Good for you. Did it live up to your expectations?

Because to me, sex is awkward. Terribly awkward. Fun, sure. Exhausting, exhilarating, sometimes sensual, mostly exciting. Maybe it's just because I'm an awkward person. I still laugh at fart jokes. My favorite word is booger. If I'm not drunk enough and someone hits on me, 95% of the time I'll be a snarky bitch and get kicked out of the bar/party.

But I mean think about that shit. If you break it down to what it really is, it's a guy sauntering up to a girl (or girl to girl, or guy to guy, or girl to guy, covering all bases here) and being like "I want to ram my dirty bits into your dirty bits and (if this is a male) blow my love stuff into you." Mmmm, so romantic. I mean come on.

Take it for what it is: Two people, after doing the flirtatious tango, are getting naked, and rolling around. There's sweat. There's bumping heads into walls/each other/the cat. There's weird smells. There's funny noises. There's a mysterious wetness that could be a number of things. And above all else, there's never nearly enough oxygen to go around, if you're doing it right.

It's primal. Male giraffes taste the urine of the female to see if they are fertile before mating. Holy shit. Can you imagine if that's what human's did? I'm sure it's not consensual either. It's not like 'Hey Giraffe Lady, can I watch you pee? Also maybetakealittletaste?'

Oh my god. No wonder giraffes are my favorite animals. That's so metal.

Anyways I guess what I'm saying is sex is romanticized by shit like movies, commercials, etc. And that's bullshit. Because romantic sex is maybe dinner and a movie first. Kissing a lot during foreplay. Locking the dog out of the bedroom before you get dirty so he doesn't like your toes in the middle. Having paper towels handy at the bed side. And maybe a candle or two.

Seriously. Giraffes. Hardcore.

-Peener

No rest for the wicked.

So every time I try to start a post, I always get distracted and come back to it almost 24 hours later because I've straight up forgotten I was writing it. I guess I get bored with these things easily unless I have some sort of tangent to go off on or I find some freaky shit in the ocean and post it on here. Either way, I find myself typically more attracted to the short attention span media better. 140 character Tweets. .Gifs of Benedict Cumberbatch of Tumblr. Clicking on pictures on reddit. After that my brain loses interest.

And yet I can spend 3 + hours making sure my Sims have the correct cheekbones. Ho hum.

As I'm doing 3D Modeling homework, I get a call from dad about tuition money and stuff. Asks me if I have a job offer yet. No, sorry, I'm still, you know, trying to graduate and stuff. I suppose with something like computer science and engineering its easy to find a job before you officially get a diploma. And the same goes with art-related things, so you'd think I'd be able to find a job quickly. But, like many other places of employment in the world, lots of people want someone with experience. So as of right now, beefing up my portfolio and crossing my fingers is the best I can do.

I also am contemplating getting an external hard drive to back up my data on my laptop/desktop. Yes it's pricey. Yes I also want Grand Theft Auto V. But if I want to get my shit together, then I need to start early.

Stan took a shit and literally missed the litter box with his butt. I wondered why the apartment smelled awful.

I also had Oreos and milk for breakfast. I'm pretty much cranking out all of that college life in my last year. Oh well. What else are you gonna do?

Introvert or Extrovert?

So Ampa and Joe get to go to stinkin' RiotFest this weekend and get to go camping and see Blink 182 and it's gonna be marvelous and I'm gonna vomit I'm so jealous. But then I get to babysit Stan for the weekend, and I've needed a cuddle buddy at night lately. It will be good for me to just chill out for a little bit, relax, get a good grasp on homework and such. I have a hard time deciding if I'm more introverted or extroverted. I'm an eclectic blend of both, I think. On one hand, I love to hang out with my friends, going out, meeting new people, etc. But then, I thoroughly enjoy reading, playing Pokemon (October 12th is soooo close), browsing reddit while watching Netflix, or playing a one-person game. (Joe has GTAV at the apartment. I may disappear for the weekend).

So when people ask me which one I am, I'm not sure what to answer. Because I can go so far deep into either one. I can be sitting at home, wallowing in self-pity about being alone, or I can have my phone turned off because I don't want to talk to anyone. Or put on pants. Pants involvement plays a big role in whether I'll be social or not.

So almost 24 hours after I started this original post I've become addicted to GTA V and decided I need to buy it with my next pay check.

Life would be grand if it weren't for all these feelings.

So since Xanga is down for the count right now as they rush in Xanga 2.0 (Myspace revival, anyone) I suppose I'll travel over to here for now. School has been in session for two weeks now, and it's already overwhelming. Not to mention that my kitchen sink gurgles a lot and it literally sounds like Satan is gonna come out and strangle me because I didn't wash my plate immediately after I used it. I live alone, Satan, I do my dishes on my own time!

For my Gaming Capstone I have to code a complete game, start to finish, in less than 8 hours. I've used up about 2 hours of it, and it's due by 11AM tomorrow. My brain hurts, I don't know how long it's been since the last time I used Java. But as I started writing it with copious amounts of help from my friend, it started to come back to me. I plan on working on it more during my World Art class.

15 minutes later I've just arrived in class. I love this professor. He has long gray hair and a beard and is super excitable. I imagine this is what Dumbledore would be like in the Muggle world. Eccentric as fuck, and repping flip flops with a suit.

Also I just stumbled across this. Shit is terrifying. Fuck the ocean.


On that cheerful note, it's time to do more coding. Happy swimming!

-Peener