Colorless Green Ideas

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...

First post.

I'm always at a loss regarding what to write here. I try to map it all out beforehand in perfect, grammatically infallible sentences, which ultimately serves only to mash all of my thoughts together into an incomprehensible orgy of randomness. I suppose the trick is to just let it flow. I'll get the hang of it eventually. Try to keep in mind that this IS my first blogging experience.

Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about what I'm getting into with this degree in journalism. I imagine myself landing a dream job at some music or video game publication where I am payed to write about what I love, when the chances of that actually happening are slim to none. I wonder whether or not I will get caught up in this disgusting web of corporate media, selling lies to the public to cover for those at the top. After all, every journalist who ever made something of himself started out at the very bottom. I'll have to take whatever job I can get, and I will most likely find myself churning out fear-mongering sensationalist bullshit for the masses to feed on. This goes against everything I stand for and believe in.

As a journalist, I am given a certain position of power in society. I'm the link between the believe-everything-I-read everyman on the street and the rest of the damn world, and I have the power to change his perception of anything and everything. I can use that power to make a difference, and bring the truth to the people, or I can fall in line like every other media slave and make sure everyone's brain is congested with worry over SARS, shark attacks, terrorism, the national defecit, anthrax, mad cow disease, or whatever it is they're whoring out these days.

They did a study. I'm not sure who did, but someone did. And they found out that journalists are some of the least respected members of society, right under used cars salesmen. How did we get that reputation? I like to think that I can change all that. But it's hard when the stories we cover are mutilated by corporate sponsors, and the information we work with is filtered through government censors.

This is just one more reason that I'm glad I'm a Canadian. We actually have one of the lowest levels of government media censorship in the world, and that says a LOT about a nation. America, as I'm sure you've guessed, is near the bottom of that list.

Mediacarta.org was founded by the people behind Adbusters, which is a probably the best magazine out there today. They are fighting to bring freedom of speech back to the airwaves, which would completely turn the tables on the corporate controlled media that our irresponsible governments have in place. Go and be enlightened. And sign the damn thing.

We had our first snowfall here today in the city ( Halifax ). There's nothing like snow to remind you that the best months of the best years of your life are behind you again.

This past week has been consumed entirely by schoolwork, and of course, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I have been playing video games my entire life, and I can say that this is without a doubt the single most impressive game that the industry has ever produced. The sheer size and scope of this game is absolutely staggering. It transcends the boundaries of video games. The GTA series is under constant fire from conservative assholes who want to censor everything and would prefer a future where we all live individually in impregnable fortresses and cower in fear as their automated gun turrets shoot down anyone with any notion of free thought. Unfortunately for them, this game has shattered sales records and generated more money than some hollywood blockbusters. The figures make me happy, because they show that video games are catching up to television and movies as a mainstream entertainment medium. It's all because of games like this one. San Andreas immerses you in a living, breathing world, where you are free to do whatever you like - it is literally restricted only by your imagination. You need to experience this game. It gets bonus points for including planes and parachutes. It gets even more bonus points for including Samuel L. Jackson and James Woods. I could go on like this forever and ever, so instead I'll just award this game a billion points, give it the coveted "best game ever" award, and slap its ass on the way out the door. Buy it NOW!

I'm currently rocking the latest A Perfect Circle album, which is a political concept album of cover songs. Yeah, I didn't like the sound of it either. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it doesn't completely suck ( it's actually quite good ). Of course, it doesn't hold a candle to their original material, so make sure you go into it with an open mind. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.

More on music; I had the pleasure of seeing Matt Good live last weekend at the Marquee here in Halifax, and it was an amazing show. He played a good balance of new material and classic Matt Good staples, including an acoustic version of "Apparitions" that was simply stunning. The world needs more musicians like Matt Good. He has an excellent website with a blog, which is somewhat like this one but is innately a million times better because Matt Good writes it and not some random guy like myself. It's very political and VERY liberal, so if you're one of those conservatives that I mentioned above, you can just ignore this and go back to sulking over Steven Harper sucking so damn much. You can also ignore it if you're one of those apathetic morons who abstains from political thought and doesn't vote. Have a nice life, sheep!

That's it for tonight. I have sleeping to do.
-setsfire

posted by Sylpheed @ 9:27 PM