Being probably preemptively depressed about being jobless again this summer, I've decided it's high time I sit down and actually write something for once in a long while. (This post is very very late due to school. University consumed more of my free time than I thought it would. Also an advance apology for uncalled-for levels of snark that may follow.)
The following is directed at high school students planning to move into a dorm/residence for their first year, university students who have never lived in a dorm and are going to in the coming year, and university students who are returning to a dorm and may have forgotten what it was like because they partied themselves stupid over the summer.
Sable's Guide to Dorm Life:
1) I hope you don't mind LOTS OF NOISE
Even in supposedly "quiet study" areas (like the one I thought I was in) people are going to make obscene amounts of noise. Now, they may not be your neighbours or even the people immediately above/below you (depending on how the rooms are laid out), in fact, these boisterous people are most likely to be strangers that are friends-of-friends of your neighbours or random passers-by.
I had the good fortune to have quite agreeable neighbours overall, except for one group of girls who shared a room on the level below mine. I never really saw much of these girls except when I was trying to find them through the crowd that gathered in and outside their room in an effort to get them to quiet their guests down. I got the distinct impression that they didn't actually know any of these people and that they were friends of the friends that they had invited. Occasionally I also had to deal with people using our hallway as a shortcut of sorts; these people were usually variously intoxicated and/or very loud for no reason.
Bottom line: be a party-er (if you think your grades can handle it) or get a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones (if you're an introvert like me).
2) Leave your musical instruments at home
If you're not in a music program or established local band, LEAVE YOUR INSTRUMENTS AT HOME. I say this for a number of reasons:
-Dorm rooms are small, you're lucky if you find a place to store it that isn't a vital few cubic feet.
-Dorms are very unsecured despite what your school may say, there's a good risk it may be stolen or damaged.
-You're not as talented as you think you are, your neighbours will not appreciate you strumming or caterwauling while they're trying to actually get things done
-Your guitar will not get you laid, so don't even try to fool yourself
3) Pack light, seriously light
You might be staying there for eight months but you don't need eight months worth of clothing. I made this mistake when I moved in and brought way too much clothing with me. Bring maybe two weeks worth of clothing, plus sleep/bumming-around gear (ie. sweatpants and the like), appropriate outer wear (ie. coats, mitts, scarves), and maybe a few nicer things for going out on weekends or whatever you people do. You're going to be re-wearing things several times before you wash them anyways so you don't need as much as you think you will, and storage space is limited. Besides, when winter break, reading weeks and long weekends roll around you can always bring home whatever you won't need for the change of season and switch up your wardrobe that way (provided you can travel back home).
4) Look after your laundry
My residence building had two large public laundry areas. While the rest of the building was kept relatively orderly, the two laundry rooms were a no-man's land where anything goes. People had their laundry stolen, vandalized and even thrown into garbage cans. I'm not exaggerating. I highly recommend you guard your laundry when you put a load or two in. Personally I like to sit on or near the machine with my stuff in it. This is a good opportunity to get any non-laptop related work done, such as textbook readings or note-taking. I got most (if not all) of my leisure reading done while guarding my laundry, it was a nice break.
Another pro-tip: do your laundry in the evening or on Sunday mornings ("morning" is kind of relative, I've been there close to 1 pm and it's been dead quiet), that's when I found my local laundry rooms to be the quietest.
Also you should actually know how to work a washer and dryer, the appropriate amount of soap to use and suchlike. If you don't know these things, learn them ASAP because you really ought to know by now.
5) Endear yourself to your neighbours
It's not that hard, actually, and move-in day is a great opportunity to do this, especially if you move in early compared to other people and plan to stay afterwards. Helping your new neighbours/roommates move things is a great way to bond with them and get an idea as to what they're like. I had a great year with the girls on my floor and I learned a lot about them because we all bonded pretty quickly. Plus it's always nice to have that emotional safety-net close by if you start getting anxious about being separated from your family and other friends (if you've moved far from home).
Another plus to loving thy neighbour is when you need to start borrowing things. I didn't have to but I lent out a few things now and again, just little things, but if you're on good terms with the people around you they won't mind at all if you have to call in a favour.
6) Keep active, you lazy thing!
Don't make the same mistake I made and sit in front of a computer all day when you're not sitting around in class! You may have heard of the dreaded "Freshman 15" from family members, the supposed 15 or so pounds a freshman gains due to a combination of greasy cafeteria food and a sedentary lifestyle. Well, don't let that happen. I don't care so much about gaining weight, I'm concerned more about you casual athletes and people of relatively fragile disposition.
Let me explain: I take karate classes twice weekly, but my university was out of town and I couldn't find any local dojos. To remedy this, I did absolutely nothing, and that was my mistake. I wasn't terribly buff or toned to begin with but I lost basically all of my already meager muscle mass and tenuous endurance. In short, I am now even more out of shape than I was when I left home. My advice, join a sports team or get a membership at the school gym and just do some things to keep yourself active, if just as a break from work.
Another thing you may not know; physical activity keeps you sane, so find something that you enjoy. I get really bad cabin fever if I sit inside too long for too many days in a row, so I took to hiking around the school's arboretum or just going for walks around downtown for something to do. If I had been exercising regularly I don't think I would have gone as nuts as I did (though my dorm room being an underground cinderblock cube with just one tiny window may have had something to do with that too).
7) Make your room your own
Ladies, I'm sure this advice doesn't need to be spoken to some of you, but others and guys, you may want to listen. I lived in a cinderblock cube for eight months and MAN it was depressing at times. Bring a few things to brighten up your room and really make it your own space. Posters, knick-knacks, whatever, just bring something. Potted plants are good too, a little green always brightens up a space. I had the good fortune to have a school that sold potted plants during Orientation Week so students could have one for their rooms. If you're not so lucky, get one or bring one from home. If you know you're hopeless with plants, get some bamboo. I kid you not, that stuff is basically indestructible as long as you keep it watered. I've got some bamboo in my room in a clear glass vase with glass beads to keep the stalks upright and it's been there for years. (Clear glass is good so you know when it's low on water!)
8) People do stupid things. Very stupid things.
And sadly there isn't much you can do about it. We had all of the shower curtains from our floor bathroom stolen; we never found out who took them or where they went. We also had many, many, MANY fire alarms throughout the year, never one before 10 pm. Once we had two in one night around midnight and 1 am-ish. The point is that despite colleges/universities being a home of education, they are the sites of horrible but anonymous crimes of utter stupidity. I don't care how smart you like to think or hope university kids are, they're probably worse (yes, WORSE, I said it) than high school kids.
So I give you fair warning, settled, educated and mature readers. I do not condone these acts of stupidity but rather warn you that they will happen and it's best just to grin and bear them. It's a part of life, specifically first-year life if I have heard correctly. Some people just don't know how to handle themselves when they don't have parents to say "no" to them. For your own good, ignore them.
~
And with that, I bring this rambly blog to a close. I hope the length and attitude make up for my previous several-month hiatus. Oh yeah, and I hope this also helped some of you get a better idea of what a year in a dorm/residence is like. It's not all that bad but there are bad parts, as in everything in life.
As always,
until next time.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
A Pep-Talk and Male Bonding
Gentlemen! Dudes! Young men between the ages of 16 and 25, whatever you call yourselves, come hither and listen! There's no boobs in this post but it's important, so you might want to stick around.
Now this entry starts with an anecdote so hang in there, I'll get to my point once I've illustrated it. Then you can go back to surfing.
Recently a friend of mine came to me over IM and mentioned he wasn't in a very good state, but he didn't really feel like talking about it. So I asked if there was a way we could tackle the issue indirectly but he came out and told me anyways. Honouring the implied secrecy of the private IM chat and our close friendship I won't say his name or issue exactly but he mentioned he'd actually had some suicidal thoughts. (This isn't going to be some preachy teen-suicide blog either so don't worry, I'm just elabourating!)
We chatted it out and I got him out of his rut and he turned in for the night feeling considerably better, and for that I am thankful.
But here's the thing.
Young men...how do I put this? It's going to come off as sounding weirdly sexist but....young men aren't empowered enough! ...There I said it!
You hear a lot about womens' empowerment and how young women have to take control of their lives and be strong individuals and think for themselves and all this wonderful stuff. But you never hear that for young men, and it's weird because a lot of the most concerning issues for teens and young adults statistically affect more males! Suicide, death, injury, violence and drop-out stats are all male-dominated.
That's NOT a good thing, in case you weren't paying attention, gentlemen. I'm trying to help you out here!
Young men in our Western society are in no way encouraged to go out into the world and claim it as their own in the same way that young women are. It's....really weird....I can't place the blame on the feminist movements because I really don't think suffrage and equal wages have somehow emasculated the entire male youth population of the 21st century.
It's just a zeitgeist thing. A weird attitude of our era that makes it not just allowable but IDEAL for young men to be brainless hedonistic slackers. Young women get called some pretty foul names for exhibiting these behaviours. But guys? Nah, it's cool...apparently
So here's my proposal. Guys, you still with me? Hang on to your pants because this is going to come as a shocker...
I want you (yes you, young sir) to be more like a GIRL.
I want to see young men who are driven and empowered. Who are in charge of their lives and know what they're doing with that life. I want to see guys who are honestly social and socially honest; not just guys who put up a front for the crowds just to lie their way into some girl's bed.
(Yes I realize that's important for many of you but consider your life OUTSIDE the bar and bedroom. Just consider it for a moment. What does it consist of?)
Here's another "girly" trait I think a lot of guys should learn. How to pick your friends.
Let's do a little exercise here:
Who's your best friend? Ok, now who's your best friend of the same gender? Do you have a "best man"?
If no, why not? Let me guess, "cuz it's GAY" right? Well no. You're wong and you should be ashamed for being so insensitive, but please keep reading, perhaps we can reconcile this.
Guys, you need to pick your friends the way we girls pick our friends.
*First, you must share some common interests. NOTE: Chicks, booze, and partying are NOT valid interests for exercise. All of these are a given for people in your age group, find somehting else to bond over. Music, movies, video games, shared talents or hobbies. (Yes, you can have hobbies, it's ok!)
*Next, you must share some common ideals, opinions or outlooks; be they religious, political, ideological, philosophical...you get the idea. I want you to use your head that has the brain in it, that's what it's there for. As humans we are made to think and think in depth! Put aside the animal for a bit and be a man!
*Lastly, you must be able to TALK to this person. No, this is NOT "Gay." Think back to the anecdote I shared about my friend in distress. I talked him through his problem. This is something that girls do but it shouldn't just be limited to us. Guys, I know you have feelings too, and it's not "gay" or "weak" to have to share them, especially if they're weighing on you. You'll get a lot more respect for being honest with people than you will putting up a front and acting tough and detatched. (I'll let you in on a secret, it's a lot more attractive too!)
This last point is crucial. Your best friend, your "bro" or whatever you want to call him, should be someone you can earnestly talk to and who can talk to you in turn while still (and this is the imporant part) RESPECTING each other's privacy and feelings. If your best bro shares some deep stuff with you and you go and make fun of him for it with other people you know...Well you're a horrible person and I'd be ashamed to call you a human being. Simple as that. I have no insult for you. You're just a horrible heartless thing.
So guys...be girly! That's the best way I can put it. You have to take charge of your lives, be your own person! I know it's tempting to just be some face in the crowd, it's so much easier when no one knows who you are, but what's the point, then? Are you really living?
Now I'm not telling you to abandon your current circle of friends and strike off on your own. Everyone needs friends, even guys need friends. And sharing your thoughts or feelings isn't "gay", okay? It's a normal human need. Maybe you're just not used to it, so you should give it a try.
Here's my challenge to you. This is a GIRL issuing you a challenge, sir. Will you accept?
Go find your "best man", "bro", "wingman" whatever you call him. Go find your closest male friend and ask him something personal. Not too personal, start with something bygone like a childhood fear. Maybe ask him if he was afraid of the dark as a kid. Were you? Admit something to him, something simple like that. (I'll start you off, I was deathly afraid of spiders as a kid, even the little ones.)
Congratulations; once you've got this exchange going successfully (be persistent if he shrugs you off, maybe try asking while you're both distracted with something, maybe while gaming) you're sharing! Huzzah, your growth as a sensitive and perceptive young adult has begun! How does it feel? Not too different, right? I told you it wasn't gay.
Try striking up a heart-to-heart with a female friend next, you'll find we're easier to talk to about this sort of thing. (If she asks why, say another girl dared you to become more socially aware. She won't get it but it'll help break the ice.) Once you've got some practice with heartfelt conversation, you're well on your way to being more of a human.
Until next time.
Now this entry starts with an anecdote so hang in there, I'll get to my point once I've illustrated it. Then you can go back to surfing.
Recently a friend of mine came to me over IM and mentioned he wasn't in a very good state, but he didn't really feel like talking about it. So I asked if there was a way we could tackle the issue indirectly but he came out and told me anyways. Honouring the implied secrecy of the private IM chat and our close friendship I won't say his name or issue exactly but he mentioned he'd actually had some suicidal thoughts. (This isn't going to be some preachy teen-suicide blog either so don't worry, I'm just elabourating!)
We chatted it out and I got him out of his rut and he turned in for the night feeling considerably better, and for that I am thankful.
But here's the thing.
Young men...how do I put this? It's going to come off as sounding weirdly sexist but....young men aren't empowered enough! ...There I said it!
You hear a lot about womens' empowerment and how young women have to take control of their lives and be strong individuals and think for themselves and all this wonderful stuff. But you never hear that for young men, and it's weird because a lot of the most concerning issues for teens and young adults statistically affect more males! Suicide, death, injury, violence and drop-out stats are all male-dominated.
That's NOT a good thing, in case you weren't paying attention, gentlemen. I'm trying to help you out here!
Young men in our Western society are in no way encouraged to go out into the world and claim it as their own in the same way that young women are. It's....really weird....I can't place the blame on the feminist movements because I really don't think suffrage and equal wages have somehow emasculated the entire male youth population of the 21st century.
It's just a zeitgeist thing. A weird attitude of our era that makes it not just allowable but IDEAL for young men to be brainless hedonistic slackers. Young women get called some pretty foul names for exhibiting these behaviours. But guys? Nah, it's cool...apparently
So here's my proposal. Guys, you still with me? Hang on to your pants because this is going to come as a shocker...
I want you (yes you, young sir) to be more like a GIRL.
I want to see young men who are driven and empowered. Who are in charge of their lives and know what they're doing with that life. I want to see guys who are honestly social and socially honest; not just guys who put up a front for the crowds just to lie their way into some girl's bed.
(Yes I realize that's important for many of you but consider your life OUTSIDE the bar and bedroom. Just consider it for a moment. What does it consist of?)
Here's another "girly" trait I think a lot of guys should learn. How to pick your friends.
Let's do a little exercise here:
Who's your best friend? Ok, now who's your best friend of the same gender? Do you have a "best man"?
If no, why not? Let me guess, "cuz it's GAY" right? Well no. You're wong and you should be ashamed for being so insensitive, but please keep reading, perhaps we can reconcile this.
Guys, you need to pick your friends the way we girls pick our friends.
*First, you must share some common interests. NOTE: Chicks, booze, and partying are NOT valid interests for exercise. All of these are a given for people in your age group, find somehting else to bond over. Music, movies, video games, shared talents or hobbies. (Yes, you can have hobbies, it's ok!)
*Next, you must share some common ideals, opinions or outlooks; be they religious, political, ideological, philosophical...you get the idea. I want you to use your head that has the brain in it, that's what it's there for. As humans we are made to think and think in depth! Put aside the animal for a bit and be a man!
*Lastly, you must be able to TALK to this person. No, this is NOT "Gay." Think back to the anecdote I shared about my friend in distress. I talked him through his problem. This is something that girls do but it shouldn't just be limited to us. Guys, I know you have feelings too, and it's not "gay" or "weak" to have to share them, especially if they're weighing on you. You'll get a lot more respect for being honest with people than you will putting up a front and acting tough and detatched. (I'll let you in on a secret, it's a lot more attractive too!)
This last point is crucial. Your best friend, your "bro" or whatever you want to call him, should be someone you can earnestly talk to and who can talk to you in turn while still (and this is the imporant part) RESPECTING each other's privacy and feelings. If your best bro shares some deep stuff with you and you go and make fun of him for it with other people you know...Well you're a horrible person and I'd be ashamed to call you a human being. Simple as that. I have no insult for you. You're just a horrible heartless thing.
So guys...be girly! That's the best way I can put it. You have to take charge of your lives, be your own person! I know it's tempting to just be some face in the crowd, it's so much easier when no one knows who you are, but what's the point, then? Are you really living?
Now I'm not telling you to abandon your current circle of friends and strike off on your own. Everyone needs friends, even guys need friends. And sharing your thoughts or feelings isn't "gay", okay? It's a normal human need. Maybe you're just not used to it, so you should give it a try.
Here's my challenge to you. This is a GIRL issuing you a challenge, sir. Will you accept?
Go find your "best man", "bro", "wingman" whatever you call him. Go find your closest male friend and ask him something personal. Not too personal, start with something bygone like a childhood fear. Maybe ask him if he was afraid of the dark as a kid. Were you? Admit something to him, something simple like that. (I'll start you off, I was deathly afraid of spiders as a kid, even the little ones.)
Congratulations; once you've got this exchange going successfully (be persistent if he shrugs you off, maybe try asking while you're both distracted with something, maybe while gaming) you're sharing! Huzzah, your growth as a sensitive and perceptive young adult has begun! How does it feel? Not too different, right? I told you it wasn't gay.
Try striking up a heart-to-heart with a female friend next, you'll find we're easier to talk to about this sort of thing. (If she asks why, say another girl dared you to become more socially aware. She won't get it but it'll help break the ice.) Once you've got some practice with heartfelt conversation, you're well on your way to being more of a human.
Until next time.
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
A 3-part Blog: Life Without Television / On Hallowe'en / On Horror Games
At a loss for any coherent topic, I'm splitting this blog 3 ways (also I forgot October's entry, so there.)
Part 1: Life is Better Without Television (but not without video games)
Seriously, it is. Try it.
Living at university in my 10x10 bunker/hole in the ground, I have very little contact with any technology apart from my cell phone (which is not a smartphone) and my laptop. I do not have a TV, and ss such I have had zero contact with television programming since I moved in.
I thought I'd miss it but then I realized there was nothing good on TV anyways, so I've found other ways to waste my time. Other just-as-unproductive but less stressful ways. There's anyways something "on" on the internet! There are a lot of interesting people on the internet too- interesting in a good way as in they're funny or entertaining, not interesting in a "trainwreck, can't look away" or "Why would you DO that?" kind of way.
But without TV I have no video games which, although a petty complaint, is still kind of hindering to my creativity. I write best when I'm gaming. And more habitual gamers will attest to the "game craving" phenomenon where you get a wicked jones to play a particular game that only worsens when you can't. Unfortunately this has been compounded by my habit of watching livestreams and walkthroughs of games I haven't played yet...agh. Oh well.
Part 2: On Hallowe'en
I might be too old for trick-or-treating, but I still went out collecting stuff this Hallowe'en, and let me tell you it was awesome! (Yes, I spell it with the apostrophe, it's technically an abbreviation.)
I was part of a volunteer dealy called Trick-Or-Eat, where a bunch of students from my university went out and collected canned and non-perishable stuff for the local food bank. Even though toting around bags full of cans is a touch painful, we managed to collect ("we" being the small sub-group of 4 I was with) a shopping cart full of stuff. Multiplied by the 6 sub-groups in our team, multiplied by the teams consisting of hundreds of university students, I think we did alright.
It's definitely something I would recommend doing, especially for teens who are a touch sore at losing the cute-factor that let them trick-or-treat in the first place (or those who don't want to get stuck handing out candy). Going door to door in costume in the dark of night was still as appealing as it's ever been.
And also Happy Day of the Dead to my readers south of the border (and to those who celebrate anyways)! I think Dia de los Muertos is something we should celebrate in Canada, I mean, it's just so cool! It's an actual celebration of the lives of those past with a cheerfully mock-morbid spin! I love it! There's a kind of day fo the dead in Buddhism called Obon, but it's not nearly as exciting as Dia de los Muertos.
Part 3: On Horror Games
Ok so....Horror games....I'm not a huge player of horror games but I do enjoy watching others play them. (See above for my livestream habit.) Anyways. I was watching a really neat livestream of an indie Horror/Adventure game called Decay. Now, it was a pretty restrained little game, more about atmosphere and a few jump-scares with the story built mostly through props and text with a few cutscenes.
I won't spoil anything but I will warn prospective players; Part 4 of Decay was a huge letdown. I didn't even see the end, I seriously couldn't sit through it. Puzzles have always been a part of horror games, that I can accept. Whether they're obscure fetch-quest type "puzzles" like in Silent Hill and Resident Evil, or your typical slidey-block picture puzzle, or number/logic puzzles like in Fatal Frame, they're there and they probably always will be. That's ok!
When your horror game becomes nothing BUT puzzles, it ceases to be scary, entertaining and enjoyable all at once with an almost audible CLUNK. This was the problem with Decay Part 4; it was one puzzle after another after another after another, all increasing in ridiculousness, arbitrarity and difficulty. And none of them really even fit with the feel of the first 3 parts of the game!
I suspect there was a change of developer somewhere between parts 3 and 4. The first 3 parts all took place within the same building, the same few rooms with similar kinds of puzzles. There was a minigame here or there but most of them were logic puzzles that spanned the entire environment and there was one particularly neat little sequence where you first had to decode and then descramble a cryptic message. THAT is cool! Fighting with a slidey picture puzzle, then a painful minigame, then a make-a-path puzzle (timed, no less) then a fiddly maze does NOT make good inclusion of puzzles.
I don't even know how Decay ended because I didn't stick around to find out. But the point I'm trying to make is that consistency can make or break a horror game, or any game, and I was sorely disappointed. The best horror games I've seen put strong emphasis on the atmosphere or circumstance, not on jump-scares or gore (I'm looking at you, Dead Space).
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, although I haven't played it msyelf, it probably one of the scariest games I've seen. The atmosphere in itself is actually used as a gameplay mechanic; dark areas put strain on your character's sanity while light areas increase your risk of being spotted and chased down by monsters. Now don't get me wrong, Dead Space is scary in its own way, but it's more of a persistent unpleasantness that comes from having to cut up space-mutant-zombies into boody bits to ensure you've killed them properly. It has a pretty good grasp of its atmosphere; being claustrophobic and dark with flickery lights and obligatory writing in blood on the walls...but jump-scares (and predictable music cues to accompany them) don't mesh well with the slow constricting atmosphere the game already has.
Resident Evil 4 (the only Resident Evil I've managed to get further than 5 mins into) isn't really much of a horror game by these standards but it does make good use of its circumstance (alone in a town of creepy cultists, a bit Lovecraftian really) and it definitely has its eerier bits (see the cutscene after the Del Lago battle, and go ahead and search the REwiki for "Iron Maiden"s, you'll see what I mean.). It's a touch gross in the combat but not as gory as Dead Space, but the weird parasite critters are definitely horrific. (Headbursters, man, they're exactly what they sound like.)
Anyways, end of rant.
Until next time!
Part 1: Life is Better Without Television (but not without video games)
Seriously, it is. Try it.
Living at university in my 10x10 bunker/hole in the ground, I have very little contact with any technology apart from my cell phone (which is not a smartphone) and my laptop. I do not have a TV, and ss such I have had zero contact with television programming since I moved in.
I thought I'd miss it but then I realized there was nothing good on TV anyways, so I've found other ways to waste my time. Other just-as-unproductive but less stressful ways. There's anyways something "on" on the internet! There are a lot of interesting people on the internet too- interesting in a good way as in they're funny or entertaining, not interesting in a "trainwreck, can't look away" or "Why would you DO that?" kind of way.
But without TV I have no video games which, although a petty complaint, is still kind of hindering to my creativity. I write best when I'm gaming. And more habitual gamers will attest to the "game craving" phenomenon where you get a wicked jones to play a particular game that only worsens when you can't. Unfortunately this has been compounded by my habit of watching livestreams and walkthroughs of games I haven't played yet...agh. Oh well.
Part 2: On Hallowe'en
I might be too old for trick-or-treating, but I still went out collecting stuff this Hallowe'en, and let me tell you it was awesome! (Yes, I spell it with the apostrophe, it's technically an abbreviation.)
I was part of a volunteer dealy called Trick-Or-Eat, where a bunch of students from my university went out and collected canned and non-perishable stuff for the local food bank. Even though toting around bags full of cans is a touch painful, we managed to collect ("we" being the small sub-group of 4 I was with) a shopping cart full of stuff. Multiplied by the 6 sub-groups in our team, multiplied by the teams consisting of hundreds of university students, I think we did alright.
It's definitely something I would recommend doing, especially for teens who are a touch sore at losing the cute-factor that let them trick-or-treat in the first place (or those who don't want to get stuck handing out candy). Going door to door in costume in the dark of night was still as appealing as it's ever been.
And also Happy Day of the Dead to my readers south of the border (and to those who celebrate anyways)! I think Dia de los Muertos is something we should celebrate in Canada, I mean, it's just so cool! It's an actual celebration of the lives of those past with a cheerfully mock-morbid spin! I love it! There's a kind of day fo the dead in Buddhism called Obon, but it's not nearly as exciting as Dia de los Muertos.
Part 3: On Horror Games
Ok so....Horror games....I'm not a huge player of horror games but I do enjoy watching others play them. (See above for my livestream habit.) Anyways. I was watching a really neat livestream of an indie Horror/Adventure game called Decay. Now, it was a pretty restrained little game, more about atmosphere and a few jump-scares with the story built mostly through props and text with a few cutscenes.
I won't spoil anything but I will warn prospective players; Part 4 of Decay was a huge letdown. I didn't even see the end, I seriously couldn't sit through it. Puzzles have always been a part of horror games, that I can accept. Whether they're obscure fetch-quest type "puzzles" like in Silent Hill and Resident Evil, or your typical slidey-block picture puzzle, or number/logic puzzles like in Fatal Frame, they're there and they probably always will be. That's ok!
When your horror game becomes nothing BUT puzzles, it ceases to be scary, entertaining and enjoyable all at once with an almost audible CLUNK. This was the problem with Decay Part 4; it was one puzzle after another after another after another, all increasing in ridiculousness, arbitrarity and difficulty. And none of them really even fit with the feel of the first 3 parts of the game!
I suspect there was a change of developer somewhere between parts 3 and 4. The first 3 parts all took place within the same building, the same few rooms with similar kinds of puzzles. There was a minigame here or there but most of them were logic puzzles that spanned the entire environment and there was one particularly neat little sequence where you first had to decode and then descramble a cryptic message. THAT is cool! Fighting with a slidey picture puzzle, then a painful minigame, then a make-a-path puzzle (timed, no less) then a fiddly maze does NOT make good inclusion of puzzles.
I don't even know how Decay ended because I didn't stick around to find out. But the point I'm trying to make is that consistency can make or break a horror game, or any game, and I was sorely disappointed. The best horror games I've seen put strong emphasis on the atmosphere or circumstance, not on jump-scares or gore (I'm looking at you, Dead Space).
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, although I haven't played it msyelf, it probably one of the scariest games I've seen. The atmosphere in itself is actually used as a gameplay mechanic; dark areas put strain on your character's sanity while light areas increase your risk of being spotted and chased down by monsters. Now don't get me wrong, Dead Space is scary in its own way, but it's more of a persistent unpleasantness that comes from having to cut up space-mutant-zombies into boody bits to ensure you've killed them properly. It has a pretty good grasp of its atmosphere; being claustrophobic and dark with flickery lights and obligatory writing in blood on the walls...but jump-scares (and predictable music cues to accompany them) don't mesh well with the slow constricting atmosphere the game already has.
Resident Evil 4 (the only Resident Evil I've managed to get further than 5 mins into) isn't really much of a horror game by these standards but it does make good use of its circumstance (alone in a town of creepy cultists, a bit Lovecraftian really) and it definitely has its eerier bits (see the cutscene after the Del Lago battle, and go ahead and search the REwiki for "Iron Maiden"s, you'll see what I mean.). It's a touch gross in the combat but not as gory as Dead Space, but the weird parasite critters are definitely horrific. (Headbursters, man, they're exactly what they sound like.)
Anyways, end of rant.
Until next time!
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Spreadin' the Lovecraft (a short blog because I forgot last month's entry)
OH MY GOD!
Go read "At the Mountains of Madness"!
Go do it.
NOW.
Stop reading my blog and go go find a copy!! I'll wait for you, I promise. The blog's not going anywhere without you.
(....Not a short read, is it? Sorry.)
...You back now? Read it? Excellent.
***The following assumes you actually read it and some SPOILERS are included!***
Now wouldn't that make a great movie? Seriously! THIS is the kind of writing that needs to be made into films, its length and style lend itself so well!
I envision it kind of like how they did A Series of Unfortunate Events (think what you will about the movie, I don't care whether or not you liked it, I'm borrowing the framing method); with the narrator periodically taking the audience back to just himself writing his account of what happened and occasionally voicing over the action. And think of the fun that could be had with the art style of the deserted city and all the cool CG stuff the latter half of the story would entail. THAT is where big-budget dollars should be going in the movie industry.
Of course someone will find a way to mess it up, obviously. (Yeah, I'm calling you out, HOLLYWOOD) Shoe-horning in a love interest I'm sure, under the excuse of making the otherwise all-male cast "more diverse." Or turning the encounter in the ruined city at the end into some kind of fight scene- or the one at the camp (which I'd allow to a point, so long as the Old Ones aren't seen too clearly and it's not the focus of the movie; what happens at the camp is supposed to remain a mystery until the end) into some gore-fest trying to keep in stride with modern horror standards.
I think that might be what appeals to me most about Lovecraft's work. It's not gross. Or, not gross in the blood-and-guts kind of gross that passes for "horror" in films. (Admittedly "The Color Out of Space" was kind of gross in its own way.) It's subtle and cerebral, it's the kind of horror that makes you want to go "eeeeeeehhhhhh" and whine if you're not reading it in a public place, and grimace in fear and sorrow if you are.
It's that kind of "what if" horror that still stands up today despite the technology gap that can kill other kinds of stories. What if Pluto really IS Yuggoth? We have no way of saying it's NOT. What if Leng and its ruined city really ARE down there somewhere in Antarctica? Who's to say we just haven't found them yet? What about R'Lyeh and C'thulhu? We don't know EVERYTHING about the ocean floor, now do we?
I'm not saying that "At the Mountains of Madness" needs a reboot or modernizing treatment in film; I think keeping to the original era would be much better as would keeping close to the original plot. I'm saying that as a film IT CAN BE DONE, and if done carefully it probably SHOULD be done. (Copyright issues aside, of course, I'm sure someone has a tight hold on the rights to Lovecraft's work). Give the story to one of two kinds of people: either a young unknown or upcoming director who's passionate about the material and just needs the budget to make it work, or an experienced director (Spielberg for example, though maybe not him specifically) who knows how to make suspense and/or era pieces work. And DON'T hire the best-known young faces for the major parts. This movie calls for aged men of science; there are only a few college students mentioned by name and only one who lasts to the end of the story, so don't fall into the trap of say, having Keanu Reeves play Danforth (or whoever, I'm not up on my cinema trivia but you get the idea, it needs people of DISTINCTION, not youth-appeal).
Now I know it's a gamble from the studio's point of view. I know it probably has too much niche-appeal at first glance but just think on it; how many people are now familiar with Lord of the Rings because of Peter Jackson's films? I tell you it's probably far more than BEFORE the trilogy was released. As books, LOTR also arguably held a lot of niche-appeal (and let's face it, they're not an easy read), but by having them effectively abridged into films which (again, say what you will) were pretty damn good in my opinion, they reached a whole group of people who would probably never had read them. It's not the complete story, but it's a lot more than you'd get out of forcing someone to try and read them. I think the same thing could happen with Lovecraft's work; film one or two effectively, and the audience of readers expands as people want to see more of that kind of cosmic horror.
Just my thoughts. I hope you enjoyed your recommended read. And if you didn't; I say "to each their own."
Go read "At the Mountains of Madness"!
Go do it.
NOW.
Stop reading my blog and go go find a copy!! I'll wait for you, I promise. The blog's not going anywhere without you.
(....Not a short read, is it? Sorry.)
...You back now? Read it? Excellent.
***The following assumes you actually read it and some SPOILERS are included!***
Now wouldn't that make a great movie? Seriously! THIS is the kind of writing that needs to be made into films, its length and style lend itself so well!
I envision it kind of like how they did A Series of Unfortunate Events (think what you will about the movie, I don't care whether or not you liked it, I'm borrowing the framing method); with the narrator periodically taking the audience back to just himself writing his account of what happened and occasionally voicing over the action. And think of the fun that could be had with the art style of the deserted city and all the cool CG stuff the latter half of the story would entail. THAT is where big-budget dollars should be going in the movie industry.
Of course someone will find a way to mess it up, obviously. (Yeah, I'm calling you out, HOLLYWOOD) Shoe-horning in a love interest I'm sure, under the excuse of making the otherwise all-male cast "more diverse." Or turning the encounter in the ruined city at the end into some kind of fight scene- or the one at the camp (which I'd allow to a point, so long as the Old Ones aren't seen too clearly and it's not the focus of the movie; what happens at the camp is supposed to remain a mystery until the end) into some gore-fest trying to keep in stride with modern horror standards.
I think that might be what appeals to me most about Lovecraft's work. It's not gross. Or, not gross in the blood-and-guts kind of gross that passes for "horror" in films. (Admittedly "The Color Out of Space" was kind of gross in its own way.) It's subtle and cerebral, it's the kind of horror that makes you want to go "eeeeeeehhhhhh" and whine if you're not reading it in a public place, and grimace in fear and sorrow if you are.
It's that kind of "what if" horror that still stands up today despite the technology gap that can kill other kinds of stories. What if Pluto really IS Yuggoth? We have no way of saying it's NOT. What if Leng and its ruined city really ARE down there somewhere in Antarctica? Who's to say we just haven't found them yet? What about R'Lyeh and C'thulhu? We don't know EVERYTHING about the ocean floor, now do we?
I'm not saying that "At the Mountains of Madness" needs a reboot or modernizing treatment in film; I think keeping to the original era would be much better as would keeping close to the original plot. I'm saying that as a film IT CAN BE DONE, and if done carefully it probably SHOULD be done. (Copyright issues aside, of course, I'm sure someone has a tight hold on the rights to Lovecraft's work). Give the story to one of two kinds of people: either a young unknown or upcoming director who's passionate about the material and just needs the budget to make it work, or an experienced director (Spielberg for example, though maybe not him specifically) who knows how to make suspense and/or era pieces work. And DON'T hire the best-known young faces for the major parts. This movie calls for aged men of science; there are only a few college students mentioned by name and only one who lasts to the end of the story, so don't fall into the trap of say, having Keanu Reeves play Danforth (or whoever, I'm not up on my cinema trivia but you get the idea, it needs people of DISTINCTION, not youth-appeal).
Now I know it's a gamble from the studio's point of view. I know it probably has too much niche-appeal at first glance but just think on it; how many people are now familiar with Lord of the Rings because of Peter Jackson's films? I tell you it's probably far more than BEFORE the trilogy was released. As books, LOTR also arguably held a lot of niche-appeal (and let's face it, they're not an easy read), but by having them effectively abridged into films which (again, say what you will) were pretty damn good in my opinion, they reached a whole group of people who would probably never had read them. It's not the complete story, but it's a lot more than you'd get out of forcing someone to try and read them. I think the same thing could happen with Lovecraft's work; film one or two effectively, and the audience of readers expands as people want to see more of that kind of cosmic horror.
Just my thoughts. I hope you enjoyed your recommended read. And if you didn't; I say "to each their own."
Monday, 4 July 2011
“Hen” vs “Hir” and Gender Ignorance
(Woo, first blog post! Things here will be all over the place in terms of relevance, mood and...well, relevance.)
I present this for your consideration: http://beta.news.yahoo.com/no-him-her-preschool-fights-gender-bias-122541829.html
And then I present you these replies from three different people on a forum I frequent discussing this article:
Poster 1: Equality and tolerance should be achieved through education, not ignorance.
Poster 2: They're not teaching children to accept differences, they're refusing to teach that the differences exist!
Poster 3: Preschool (and school in general) is supposed to prepare you for the future. This probably won't help.
I agree with these people, but I also see the justification behind this method. But let’s focus on how I agree with these forum-folk.
Poster 2 I think has the best point in all of this and let me first give my opinion before I explain why. In our modern society it is now becoming (I can’t say ‘has become’ because some places are still working on it) acceptable for same-sex couples to exist in a legal matrimonial bond, for women to hold corporate jobs and work outside the home (in what was once a strictly ‘male’ field), for men to remain in the home (in what was once a strictly ‘female’ field).
And his is good. We are progressing socially and culturally as a species and this intermingling and even reversing of “traditional” (read: archaic) gender-roles is progressive and beneficial. It’s good.
But this; what’s going on in this article, is perhaps a step too far and, honestly, probably bad. Instead of showing the next generation how things had been and showing them how much better they are now that anyone of any gender or persuasion should be able to hold any station, they’re simply refusing to acknowledge the past. Knowledge is built on history, you can’t have new knowledge without whatever came before it. Then it’s not so much learning as indoctrination. To put it bluntly, this is weird and cult-y and yeah, does seem a little like mind control.
I appreciate they they’re taking steps to show children the liberalness of the new age but…this is just weird. It’s like the old tricky feminism argument that “men and women aren’t different, but they are still different.” Men and women, males and females ARE different; we differ physically, we differ mentally. We are literally “wired” differently in our brains, our thought processes, although they may in the end reach the same conclusions, are often very different. We are different. BUT we are (or at least should be) EQUAL. Equal in social, economic and cultural value. The “difference” in that odd little argument I presented earlier in this paragraph should have been worded as “inequality” way back when.
So what’s going on in this school? To me it seems an overzealous attempt to erase inequality by erasing differences.
WRONG.
And here is where I invoke Poster 1’s reply in my discussion. And there isn’t much else I can really do to back up hir point. (Oh, see that word? I’ll cover that in a bit.) It rather neatly encapsulates itself.
And Poster 3 also neatly explains hirself (there it is again), so I really only added that to back up my own opinion. These kids will have some serious issues unless the whole school system becomes like this, and if it does, we’re ALL going to have some issues.
So, “Hen”, the new gender-neutral pronoun (at least in Swedish). It’s not really a word, as explained in the article, not yet anyways. But should it be? Well…yes, but not in the sense they’re using it in. They’re using it to entirely replace “him” and “her” (“Han” and “Hon” in Swedish respectively) and I don’t think this is quite right. Replacing gender pronouns inherently eliminates a child’s way to differentiate between genders and as I said before, that’s not a good thing.
(Especially later in life when “I’ll be picking hen up for dinner later” will puzzle your friends and make identifying people without naming them kind of hard. As a writer, losing gender pronouns would be nightmarish; you’d have to use everyone’s name constantly making for some hard reading, and people with androgynous names will be completely misinterpreted by everyone.)
So I will turn your attention to something really cool I discovered back in Literature Studies class in High school. The pronoun “Hir” (yes, we’re going to talk about it now). When reading The Canterbury Tales (don’t worry this won’t be a whole English lesson) the class encountered a word it was unfamiliar with: “hir”, and our teacher had to explain it to us. Essentially “hir” is a generic pronoun that can be male or female or ambiguous (depending on the context) but I prefer the ambiguous option and here’s why:
When people try not to be so gender specific about a person, they tend to use the pronoun “they.” The problem with “they” or “their” is that it’s a PLURAL pronoun and as such is grammatically incorrect to use to refer to a single person. (Now granted this has become colloquial and acceptable but it still irks me a bit since it’s technically wrong.) So I consider “hir” to be the singular equivalent to “they”; it’s unspecific (but not in a “HE” AND “SHE” DON’T EXIST kind of way) and by extension it’s politically correct.
It’s just a shame nobody uses it anymore; I’d like to bring it back.
Oh right! You’re probably wondering why I used it earlier to refer to the Posters I quoted. Well it’s like this; on the internet, everyone is anonymous and screen-names tend to defy gender identification. I mean look at mine: Sable Gear. Nobody’d guess that guy’s a girl, am I right? (Plus the “no gurlz on teh internetz” generalization means people would be less likely to guess anyways and just assume I’m male). So since I don’t know who these people really are (I even omitted their screen-names as you no doubt noticed) I used “hir” when referring to them singly to emphasize that they may be male or female.
So let’s wrap this up, shall we? In conclusion:
*Yes; gender inequality is bad and we are now overcoming that (for the most part)
*Men and women may be “different” but they are still “equal” (or they should be)
*Eliminating gender stereotypes and defying archaic gender roles is GOOD, eliminating recognition of gender entirely is BAD
*The “hen” pronoun should not be used to replace “him/han” and “her/hon” entirely, but instead be used in situations where gender ambiguity is preferred or where the gender of the subject is irrelevant (in Swedish)
*The “hir” pronoun should be adopted into daily use (for us English-speakers) in the previously discussed way; where gender ambiguity is preferred or where the gender of the subject is irrelevant
*I didn’t really touch on same-sex relationships because that wasn’t what this article was supposed to be about; but let me say I am in full support of you whatever your preference may be (within your own species, though; I don’t want to get into that other discussion right now)
Until next time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)