Statement of purpose

There are many, many, many blogs out there, most of which don't need to exist. Most of those that don't need to exist already cover the very topics I plan on covering here in this one. So why even bother?

The idea to start my own blog came while trying to explain the proceedings at this year's E3 Convention*** to my roommates, who are somewhat nerdy in their own ways. There were some genuinely exciting announcements about Portal 2 and the use of Steam on the PS3, about Kinect (though it's probably getting a bit overblown), and even Shigeru Miyamoto's demo of the new Zelda game's use of Wii MotionPlus was fun if glitchy, so I thought it was worth bringing up.

As I tried to explain all this, I realized they weren't exactly engaged. They were being polite as I yammered on about video game stuff, but they didn't exactly have the same casual point of reference that I did (try explaining Steam in a hurry).

Meanwhile, I've started watching as many of the AFI Top 100 films as I can before the end of the summer, I'm catching up on the latest Alan Moore comics while keeping tabs on the AL stats. All this while writing my thesis and making it to band practice twice a week.

So it occurred to me...instead of boring my friends with my nerdy thoughts on things they don't care about, I'll get it all out of my system by blogging about it...which is quite possibly even nerdier. But at least it'll organize my thoughts while giving my friends a break.

What I'm not is a "buff" on any of these topics. I'm a fan, but I claim no special authority or insight into a specific medium. What I am is someone who feels that the best video game can be just as meaningful and effective as the best film, that illustrations in a graphic novel are every bit as effective as the written word, and that fans of sports and fans of Sci-Fi have more in common than they may think. There is no contradiction in loving Star Trek: The Next Generation and planning your entire week around catching the NBA playoffs; in having both Miles Davis and Lady Gaga on the same playlist; or in reading Dante's Inferno while playing Dante's Inferno.

Let's see how this goes.



***(The E3 Convention, for those who don't know, is sort of the Iowa Caucuses of the gaming world - nothing that happens there really matters, there are no games actually released, and the whole thing is just one big bellows ready to blow smoke up the consumer's ass. It doesn't actually matter all that much to the consumers, just the industry and the media, much like the Caucuses. The average gamer doesn't much care how much money is spent on Sony's presentation, nor does the average voter care about any aspect of the Caucuses.)