Random Thoughts III

I get busy with other things, and suddenly it's been a month and a half since my last post. *shakes head, ponders the vagaries of life and the unstoppable march of time* 

I guess it's time for some random thoughts.

I know, that was lame. Just roll with it.

Actually, I do have a more focused-ish post in the making. Coming soon. But in the meantime...

I've just finished reading The Barbarian Nurseries, which tackles present-day racism in America. A white, upper-middle-class family is, ahem, facing financial difficulties. They're going broke. The morning after a major argument because of this, both parents escape for the weekend, each assuming the other will look after the children. The two boys are left alone with the Mexican maid. Their parents eventually return home to find all three have vanished.

And so begins a drama that captivates the national media, with allegations of kidnapping and parental negligence thrown around, which for many comes to represent the tension between the wealthy whites and an ever-growing immigrant population.

Now, there isn't as much story going on here as you'd expect - the plot wouldn't take long to summarize. What really drew me in were the characters. Though many aren't significant plotwise, the author makes a point of weaving in complex people from all walks of life. The cynical social worker, less interested in where the boys were taken than in why they were left behind. The young Mexican-American student who's come back from college to find she no longer identifies with her community. The naive deputy who fears the maid's art makes her a psychopath. The Mexican girl who speaks better English than Spanish, yet has grown up as an illegal immigrant.

'...carrying a secret so long you forgot you were carrying it, until someone or something reminded you of its existence and you felt the pressure of the words against your skin, and you realized the words were always there.'

I even found traces of myself, to my amused chagrin. In the family's bookworm son, aged eleven, with the 'verbal and reading skills of an eighteen-year-old, and the socialization of a seven-year-old.'

And in his father, who goes to a sympathetic, attractive female colleague's apartment for the weekend - and then spends it playing video games. Seems like something I would do.

Again, the story of the boys' 'disappearance' is thin in and of itself. But the sheer variety of viewpoints it's filtered through more than makes up for that. The maid's most of all. Not always likeable, but intelligent and critical, she offers an intriguing picture of life as an immigrant in modern-day America.

Now, the next entry is a little morbid...all the more because it's true.

Browsing through magazines in the library, I came across the story of Amy Bishop, a university researcher and Harvard graduate. Six years ago today - damn. I swear that's a coincidence - she shot six colleagues with a 9mm pistol, killing three. She is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

This wasn't her first episode of violence, either. At twenty-one, she accidentally(?) shot and killed her younger brother. She and her husband were questioned over the attempted letter-bombing of a ex-colleague who'd gotten her fired. She once attacked another woman in a restaurant over a booster seat. 

This is a troubled individual.

But what caught my attention here was that this woman had long dreamed of becoming a famous author. Before the shooting, she wrote three unpublished novels with clear autobiographical elements. Her heroines, all scientists, are variously haunted by having killed a young boy; frustrated with their lives and careers; possessed of violent dreams and daydreams; struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide. All fantasize about the deaths of those who've wronged them.

Disturbing, isn't it. You can read the full article here. 

All authors put pieces of themselves into their writing - some more than others. But this was the first time I'd come across anything written by a murderer.

But anyway. Lightening the mood.

I've finally gotten a new smartphone, and its performance has been even better than I expected. The camera, in particular, is quite nice.

Pretty.

But what really surprised me was the calibre of games it could play.

Well, I was.

See, while browsing through the Play Store, I came across this.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is, by now, a thirteen-year-old title. No, it's not canon. But being set thousands of years before the movies, while the Jedi still fought a vast Sith organization as powerful as they were, that really doesn't matter. This is still considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made.  

And there have been a lot of Star Wars games.

It was developed by Bioware, one of the big names in the gaming industry, whose two major franchises, Dragon Age and Mass Effect, fantasy and scifi, continue to achieve commercial success and critical acclaim. I enjoyed both. They really are that good.

Now, as opposed to Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy, which are traditionally linear - think novels in game form - western RPGs offer a great deal of choice. Especially concerning morality. You can usually choose to be good, evil, or something in between. 

For example, in the first Dragon Age game, I was a traitorous elf who approached the gathering darkness with an end-justifies-the-means attitude. (Based on a villain from my first fantasy story.) Whereas in the Mass Effect games, I played a heroic female soldier who built bridges amongst the various alien races. (Yes, I play as women too. Why 
not? Who only reads books where the lead characters are men?) In both cases, wildly different approaches are possible. Depending on your actions, the story plays out in very different ways.

Now apply that framework to a galaxy, far, far away, and you get your very own Star Wars experience, in which you can become either hero or villain, Jedi or Sith, saviour or conquerer, following an epic storyline alongside Wookies, Twi'leks and a murderous, sarcastic version of C-3PO.

Interested yet?

No?

*sigh* Well, back to my original point. Apart from the stellar reviews, the developer's pedigree, and the fact that it's, you know, Star Wars - this is from the generation of games I played in my teens. On a TV. With CDs and everything.

Stock photo. I haven't bought it - yet.

This is nothing new, of course. The video game industry has long been milking the cash cow re-releasing classic games on new platforms wherever profitable possible. 

But still. I couldn't help feeling just a little wonder that the bulky technology of yesteryear can now be carried around in one hand.

And finally - 

I just heard this song a few days ago. It's darker than the band's earlier, more upbeat tracks, and I like it. A lot.

I also like the concept behind the music video. They asked fans what the song and the band's music in general meant to them - and then brought in some of those fans to star alongside them. That's pretty cool. Apparently they're well known for this sort of thing.

I guess there's more than one reason they've become hugely successful. 

Ladies and gentlemen: 5 Seconds of Summer.