Lest I make too much fun of the gamers who immerse themselves in WOW and other online RPGS, I should point out that users from several games are collecting donations for Hurricane Katrina victims, both in-game and otherwise. And to be fair, an online games is really an ideal setup to get a lot people from very disparate backgrounds and locations to help in a common cause, so good on ’em.
Apparently (and man, I’m getting top-heavy with NYT articles) World of Warcraft has managed to succeed where other games have failed and gained a substantial mainstream audience. I personally witnessed a friend devote his every waking hour to the game, which put me off ever playing it. But evidently I’m in the minority on this one, as many and various people seem to like running around being wizards and ganging up on monsters and whatnot.
Hurricane Katrina seems to be the tipping point for Bush and his administration; all of his deception and incompetence is being exposed while poor Americans die the same way the Iraqis under America’s thumb have; alone and largely ignored. David Brooks points to what he calls the bursting point, where American frustration at their own institutions reaches the breaking point, and Frank Rich toes together New Orleans with 9/11 and Iraq as just another example of Bush’s incompetence as a leader.
Apparently last year Microsoft’s chief poobah Steve Ballmer, while doing an exit interview with an employee, lost his friggin’ mind about Google. Ah, it’s a beautiful display of profanity and paranoia.
Matt Wells, a BBC correspondent in the States, cuts through the crap and says flat out that the American response to Hurricane Katrina, particularly in New Orleans, is completely pathetic. Apparently the American media has actually grown a set and is starting to criticize the Administration as well. I wonder how long it takes until Bush blames the hurricane on freedom-hating terrorists?
Last year, one of the greatest meeting of musical minds in the history of the human race occured when Henry Rollins sang a duet with William Shatner. Now Rollins does his trademark ranting and riffing on the experience, so take a listen.
And if you’ve ever wanted to hear the rap stylings of Kanye West mixed with the Beach Boys (and who hasn’t?) here’s your chance.
(culled via Accordion Guy)
The NYT has an a surpringly clueful article about the world of movie stealin’. To the surprise of no-one, it comes out that people grabbing movies off the Net isn’t hurting box office yet.