Tag Archives: beautiful

Wow

21 Dec

Cross Current

Well, it has been some time, hasn’t it? Two weeks, at least. Gosh, I can’t believe I’ve been gone this long. There’s so much I have to tell you! But I shouldn’t tell, I should show, yeah? Sorry if this isn’t filled with the cynicism you’re looking for, but I go back and forth between that and, well, this.

So, first off, it’s Christmastime, my absolute favorite time of the year. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, yule tide carols being sung by a choir, all that great, great, great stuff. I don’t think any will understand how much I love Christmas. I initiate most of the decorating in my family, I devour cookies and milk throughout the week, I volunteer at any local holiday shows I have the time for (I played the Grinch this year for a bunch of kids; it was splendid). I have a Christmas music station on Pandora, which, from my pocketed iPhone, plays aloud while I shop for friends and family. Every time I go to Starbucks I buy that little snowman cookie, unless it’s unavailable. Then I jut harass the manager for being a moron. My favorite song of all time is a Christmas song you may have heard of (I usually like it best played on a piano). Although, it’s funny, on a strangely placed side note, the aforementioned song is actually being challenge right this second by a song I’m listening to on Pandora called The Planets. Fantastic music, but still just a challenger.

So yeah, lovin’ the winter. What else to talk about? I’m now the Editor of Sci-Fi Bloggers. Long story–which means it’s really a short story I don’t feel like telling. Needless to say I’m having a blast doing that as well. If any of you want to contribute to the site, head over there and click the “contact” button. Throw us an email (or just leave a comment here and I can talk to the people upstairs)!

What? I’m a fiction writer? Oh, here you go.

I guess that’s everything, really. I want to get back to writing Fight Club style metaphors about the world, but it’s been really tough getting around to it. Also, there’s not much more to write about Earth: it’s great, but it sucks, it’s light, but it’s darkness, it’s depressing, but it’s Christmas. Y’know? That’s pretty much the simplicity of it. Go start a business that helps people in some way and you’ll make a difference. Go die, and you won’t. Simple. Everything’s really simple, guys. To add complexity is to distort fact. Just go out, say, “I’m going to help,” and do it.

Merry Christhanawanza, folks!

~D.

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My Thoughts On Heavy Rain

21 Jun

Heavy Rain is a drama. It’s a video game, but a drama nonetheless. It tells a mysterious story with fantastic twists and turns and boldly challenges the way games are made. The music, the action, the timing, and everything else, is excellent. It truly is a remarkable game.

I would actually like to start by talking about the graphics. The visuals in this game absolutely blew my mind right away. I watched some behind the scenes stuff and saw that a lot of motion capture was used (no surprise there) to make the game as rich with life as possible. The environments are top-notch too. The amount of beauty you’ll find in this game (especially at the beginning) is amazing.

And then there’s the “controversial” thing: the controls. Now, a lot of people think this game is just going to be one big “quick-time event” (for those of you who don’t know, that’s when the game just plays like a movie and you hit buttons as they appear on the screen). They’re half right. There are lots of quick-time events in Heavy Rain, but they’re all very well done and provide much tension during the game. There is actually quite a bit of walking around and investigating areas, much like you would in an adventure game. Sometimes this can be quite fun, especially when you realize that the things you find can affect how the story plays out.

And then there is of course that very thing, the story. Now, let me just say right now that this story is one of the most well written stories in a game today. And the fact that it’s adaptable makes it even better. Now what I mean by adaptable is this: the story adapts to the choices you make. So, let’s say a character of yours dies, there’s no “game over” screen. The game just adapts to that death and the story will play out very differently from that point forth. Let me put it this way: my second time playing (and beating) Heavy Rain was way different from my first time. Choice is definitely a big factor in the game. There are tons of possible endings to the game.

Heavy Rain tells the tale of four heroes: Ethan, a father who lost one of his sons in a traumatic accident, Madison, a reporter with chronic insomnia, Scott, an ex-cop now turned private investigator, and Norman, an FBI agent in possession of an A.I. system never before seen by man. He also has a bit of a drug addiction, a key part of the game’s story. They all, essentially, get mixed up in the case of the Origami Killer, a criminal who kidnaps and drowns small boys in rainwater. One day, Ethan’s remaining son, Shaun, is kidnapped, supposedly by the Origami Killer, and he is tested to see how much he’s willing to do to save someone he loves.

The emotions one can feel while playing Heavy Rain are deep. It’s better than many movies I’ve seen in the past couple of years. The game really knows how to make you care about the people in the story. I loved every minute of it, and I can promise you this: you will too.

And a piece of advice to any who might consider playing this: hide in the fridge. Don’t worry, you’ll get it when you play.

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Dylan Alexander on Art

17 Dec

What is art? I honestly want you to consider that question right now and define the word “art” to yourself, from your own perspective, from your own viewpoint. What is it? Where does it come from? Why has it stayed with us for so long? Well, I believe the reason it has managed to stay with us all this time is because there is one thing that makes it different from other things in every way. It’s different from doctoring people, teaching people, working with chemicals, discovering new animals, digging up fossils, building roads, washing cars, solving equations, baking cakes, chopping wood, and many other things, because of an attribute it has, a feature it holds all to itself. You see, each of the actions listed above has its limits. Art’s limits: none.

Art can also be many things, the primary being illustrating, painting, writing, film, drama, and music. All of these are passions of mine. All of these are also dropping like flies from public school programs. Mathematics is important. Grammar (or English, if you prefer) is important. Science is important. P.E. is important. Guess what else is important? Art. Most people have said that this is because it is a way for children, teens, and adults alike to express their inner feelings. Although agreeable, if you think about it, it is also a morale device. Here’s a perfect way to prove this to yourself. Grab a piece of paper, right now. Go ahead and get one. Now that you have this paper, I want you to get a pencil or pen. Do that now. Get it. You have one now? Good. Take this pen, and draw a circle on it. Now it is merely a circle, but you see that you have created this circle. Give it dotted eyes. Now give it a smile, and a nose. Don’t worry too much about how detailed it looks, just do all of that. Now draw small hairs on its head. Just little lines that are like hairs. You make them smooth or make them stick up in the air, it’s your creation. It’s yours. You can even make an afro if you want. You done? Good. Now write its name under it, and be creative with this name. Make it a name you’ll never forget, and one that relates to you or who you want to be. You have that down? Good. Now under his name, give him a title (i.e. Lord of the Lollipops). And you can make it serious, silly, whatever you like. Are you finished? Great! Now in any corner of the page write your name and the date under it. Now, tell me how you feel after that?

I know you probably feel quite pleased with that new creation. And you know something, so do kids, teens, and everyone else on this planet. Art is a piece of the soul. It breathes life into people, and brings them joy. No matter how little or small the joy may be, it brings it. If students were already feeling joyous as they entered a classroom to study, how do think they might do? Well, I know how I feel whenever this is the case: I soar through my courses. If the faculty of schools cutting these classes really gave a damn about the products that they would be getting when their students graduated, they’d be using art to fuel their students, not stripping it from them. And I really hate this excuse, “The students are doing enough art on their own time now, so the art class is useless.” Bull. That’s merely a justifier for taking it from the kids. It isn’t fair to make excuses like that.

I understand that there’s a budget to deal with. I also understand that the other classes are important. But outright cutting art down is wrong. I honestly believe this is just some plot to rid the world’s children of creativity. If their budget’s been cut down than maybe (and I said maybe so hear me out) one could have parents pay a small fee for art classes every months or every few months, and the profit would build up from the amount of kids being given back their art classes on these terms. This would be a nice plan and it would be better for everybody.

Art is a subject that isn’t given enough consideration. It needs more. It needs to be viewed with more importance. And if some suppressive person wants to drive it into the ground, then by God, fight back people! Because this isn’t just education we’re talking about anymore. This is the future. Without good, intelligent, creative, inventive kids to take charge when the adults of today kick the bucket, this civilization will be lost. Without culture, it will die. And that is the cold, hard truth.

Sincerely,

Dylan Alexander, Age 14

Artist

Dylan Alexander

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