TC Tim's blog

Just tonight, I spotted a really interesting article at the website GamePolitics.  A certain man with a career in interactive entertainment named Jason/Jace Hall, has written a rap song called I Play W.O.W.  This song targets and speaks to everyone who loves to play video games and can't stand being labeled by the mass media, legislation-crusading politicians, culturally-biased scientists, overly concerned parents, and anyone else who doesn't understand the culture of video games as lazy, desensitized, anti-social couch potatoes who contribute to childhood obesity and unprovoked violence.  The song is now available on iTunes.  Although I am unable to buy the song from it, I managed to listen to two samples of the song, one explicit and the other clean.  From what I can tell by listening to the samples, it does ring the gamer's soul in me.  For more information abou

As you may remember in a few of my previous blogs, I mentioned the book Grand Theft Childhood by Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson when I wrote about the video game violence debate.  I have been intending to read it for sometime but was not able to do so until recently.  I read it as part of doing a research paper on the psychology of playing video games for my Psychology 101 class at Quinsigamond Community College.  Now the time has come for me to express my personal impression on the book itself.

The book begins by debunking the myth that playing violent video games had led to or played a significant role in the tragic shootings at places like Columbine.  The authors briefly show that an FBI investigation of the Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, had mental health problems, the former being significantly depressed and suicidal, the latter being a sociopath.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ever since the video game magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), was shut down in January, I more or less wondered what happend to my subscription for it.  Then, I noticed something unusual in the mail sometime about six months later.  I found a copy of Maxim magazine with my name on it.  Before I go any further, I better tell you what Maxim is.  It is a popular men's magazine most famous for its revealing pictures of women, most notably cover pictures of female celebrities from the movie, music, and fashion industries.  It is also known to be involved in quite a few controversies surronding its content and topics.

For over a month, I’ve been doing research on the issues surrounding autism, the science examining it, and the proposed treatments for it, using websites like Skeptic, Skepdic, and Quackwatch. Some involve early intervention and others claim to “cure” or make patients “recover” from autism. Ever since reading the most recent eSkeptic article on the autism/vaccine controversy early in June, I have realized that the whole issue is far more complicated and disturbing than I have imagined until recently. Because autism is such an emotional devastation to some families, they desperately seek information on the disorder that is simple, easy to understand, and provide at least a positive future for their child. Due to such desperation, they are unfortunately being fed by information from the Internet, many books, TV shows, and a few movies based on what Harriet Hall, aka The Skepdoc, calls a ‘manufactroversy.’ In her words, it is:

For centuries, there have been debates that continue on to this day, including those related to science, religion, politics, and economics.  One of the most recent debates to come up involves video games and their effect on society.  A few basic questions on the minds of some members of the general public are: “Do video games desensitize players, mostly young people and children, to real-world suffering and violence?  Are those games making these said people commit unspeakable acts of violence, such as murder and suicide?”  Most mainstream news outlets that covered such incidents, some researchers who think video gaming is a problem, and politicians who know very little or nothing at all about video games, tend to say yes.  As an avid video game player myself, I beg to differ.

Last Sunday, I have read an article about a musical that is going to be played in Boston tomorrow from April 28-May 24 at the Colonial Theatre in Boston.  That musical is called Spring Awakening, based on a controversial play written by a German dramatist named Frank Wedekind, which is also going to be shown at the Boston Center for the Arts in Boston through May 8.

You may be wondering "What is Spring Awakening about?".  "What makes it controversial?".  The story is about puberty and sexual desire among adolescents in a socially repressive 19th-century Germany.  The musical, first adopted from the play three years ago, touches on the modern topics of sex that we usually don't talk about honestly and effectively.  It has gained popularity among young people over the years, mostly for the issue of parent-child relationships and sexual identity.

Since today is Earth Day, I would like to ask a question regarding the issue of pollution and littering.  Why do we still continue to do it on a daily basis?  I don't usually walk on the dirt road near my home, the sidewalks of my hometown or the highways along Worcester without finding trash just lying around without anyone picking it up.  Why do people keep tossing out a used can of soda or beer, a piece of plastic that used to be a bag or a sheet, a piece of cardboard, or a toy like a stuffed animal and just leave it there?  Is it because that people don't know what else to do with their trash when there is the option of recycling?  Are they thinking that they don't have time to clean up the mess they are making?  Is littering considered to be an acceptable part of society?  These are just a few of the many questions of pollution and littering that puzzle me.

On a Friday night last week, I read a Telegram and Gazette article on autism that gave me a provocative inspiration as an autistic person.  It discussed a Jujitsu instructer who is running a martial arts program designed for very high-functioning children with autism.  He started it because he basically wanted to put his autistic son in one.  The full article can be read after a click on the link below:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090403/NEWS/904030401

Tommorrow, a horror movie called The Haunting in Connecticut will be released in theaters.  It is said to be based on true events, regarding a family's alleged encounter with the supernatural in the home they had moved into, which turned out to be a former Victorian funeral parlor where communications with powerful demonic forces took place.  That story was first featured in a nonfiction book called In A Dark Place: The Story of A True Haunting written in 1992 by Ray Garton, a novelist who specializes in horror fiction.  Why would a writer of fictional horror novels create a nonfictional book based on paranormal events that supposedly took place in real life?

Recently, there had been a debate about a video game being charged with racism.  That Game is the latest title in Capcom’s long lived survival horror franchise, Resident Evil 5.  The journalists and social commentators who raised the issue based the charges on a few trailers and gameplay clips, which they say indicate racist stereotyping and seem to portray Africa as a purely violent continent.