Video games to me...

   I don't know about you but I can think back to a time when I could literally spend an entire 48 hours of a weekend sitting in front of a screen completely absorbed into whatever video game I was into at the time. Video games to me are not just and escape and cheap entertainment, they are some of the most fulfilling and influential stories I have ever experienced. One of my all time favorite video games was one entitled Lunar: silver star story complete which was about a boy who dreamed of adventure and went on a quest to find four powerful dragon artifacts to become the next savior of the world. I played this game at a time when I was confused about myself and the direction I was going with my life and i felt a deep connection with the main character. The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the greatest games ever made and was the first game I ever beat completely on my own, I remember feeling an immense amount of pride.

   The thing is is that mainstream culture is only now catching up and starting to realize that games are a legitimate form of media/literature many are just as good if not better than movies but us nerds know the truth. Games have always been a place to get deep, fulfilling, character driven stories that can move you and shape your view of the world. Now I'm not saying you'll get a lesson about life after death and how to eat properly just by eating ghosts and fruit in a game of pac-man certainly there are games that have only the purpose of wasting your time for a few hours but other games like (oh I don't know) Final Fantasy 3- 13, Mass Effect, Fallout 1-3, Baldur's Gate, Diablo1 and 2, Elder Scrolls 1-4, Metal Gear Solid, Dragon Age, Dragon Quest, Red Dead Redemption, Breath of Fire, Secrets of Mana, Fable 1-3, Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Grand Theft Auto 3-4 (that's four games), Star wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, and Chrono Trigger (just to name a few off the top of me head) have rich character driven plots that make you care and become emotionally invested. I myself recall a well of sadness when I messed up my first play through of mass effect and ended up getting Wrex killed (I love that big lizard). You don't have to take my word for it, play a game, make a virtual friend and tell me if there worth your time or not.

The dozens of poems mourning the death of Aries at the hands of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7 can still be found all over the Internet. People care about these characters just as much as people care about characters in movies. Someone told me you won't find a Sophie's choice moment in a video game, wrong, the difference is that in a video game your not watching that kind of choice you have to make it yourself, ask the thousands of people who spent hours just trying to decide who to save Kaiden or Ashley in the first Mass effect.

I'll remember you always Kaiden

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this. -  The Legend of Zelda

Anime: Subbed or Dubbed

   In my opinion nothing is greater then a well crafted, well written, Japanese animated epic that I can zone out and watch for a week straight. Series's like Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion and movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell are master pieces that I can watch over and over and over again. But one thing that is ever debated(at least among me and my closest nerd friends) is whether to watch them subtitled with Japanese spoken or dubbed with English spoken and no subtitles.

  I believe, unlike many, that their is absolutely nothing wrong with dubbed and in fact dubbed is MORE respectful to the art that is Anime. Let me explain, In a live action foreign film it is disrespectful to the work of the actors to watch it dubbed, it also more often than not looks absolutely ridiculous. We've all made the Godzilla jokes so I don't think I'm over stepping when I say you can tell they weren't speaking that language originally. However, actors in live action movies are an immensely important aspect of the film and a movie is often successful because of their ability to properly portray the work of the writers and directors. Not to diminish the work of voice actors because I have certainly watched enough cartoons and played enough video games to know there are good ones and very very bad ones. But, the work of voice actors don't make or break an animated story, it's the animators and colorists that do. It's their work that shines in that medium and pulls everything together and a writers work can be read by anyone of any language so long as the translation is accurate without being absurd. "You have disrespected me harshly and now we will fight" works better in Japanese than it does in English. By watching anime dubbed we never have the neccesity of taking our eyes off the beautiful work of the artists to read text that is disrupting the screen and fluidity of the animation, we also aren't ruining the work of the actors because the actors are just animated characters moving their mouths up and down and when it's done right (which it isn't always) you would never know it was originally meant for japanese dialouge.

   Well animated and well written anime is good anime no matter what language you hear it in and the artists of these great works need their due credit and they get the most without subtitles. That being said I'm really glad I wasn't born deaf because otherwise this entire entry would be moot. (insert giant brow drop /sigh moment here)

I'm not a nerd, I'm a specialist.
Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic!)




 

What is a Nerd?

   The dictionary defines a nerd as

1. A foolish, inept, or unattractive person.

2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.

  I define a nerd as someone who understands life is to short not to obsess about fantasy and fictional worlds. I also consider nerds to be some of the happiest, most endearing and genuine people out there. I am a nerd and I am also attractive (many people have said so), I am very adept at social situations just ask any of my trillions of friends (number unchecked but I assume at least that many) and I am also not foolish (soon to be college graduate yo) but the term was originally an insult. I for one, as many as my fellow nerdom subscribers do as well, wear it as a badge of pride and honor. Were fun people, people who don't take anything seriously (except making sure we get that variant cover that's coming out) and all we want to do is enjoy the world as we see it, a place full of wonder and fantasy fueled by the imagination of both great intelligent people and people who simply appreciate the creations of others.  

   Video games, comic books, novels of both fantasy and sci-fi genres, movies of similar genres, music (cause who doesn't love music), and gadgets of all shapes and sizes are what nerds are all about and that is why I dedicate this new blog to my nerdy brothers and sisters.

  I hope to make everyone who reads this appreciate the same things I do and if they don't then they are not nerds and I feel very very sad for them. It's a nerd's world out their I'm just here to poke loving fun at it.

NERDS RULE!!

Hey A NEW BLOG

 Ok so this one will be short and sweet but I got this sweet new blog with a sweet name I was sure would be taken already but I guess most bloggers are self-centered ego drones who just want everyone to see their name and read about how their cat just did the cutest thing. NOT ME, I am going to rant and rave about new tech and movies and comic books and games and some of my (hopefully) upcoming projects.

  So this is day one, hopefuly their will be alot of subseqeunt days my track record with this stuff isn't so great.

TO LAZYNESS!