On Christmas Eve Jim and I went to dinner at the Golden Unicorn. It is a giant Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. There were no golden unicorns in the restaurant, but there were plenty of golden dragons with glowing eyes. There was definitely a language barrier, but eventually we ate some delicious dim sum and noodles.
After dinner we went up to Bryant park to watch the ice skaters and look at the Christmas tree.
Last Weekend we went with Jim's great aunt to the Christmas service at St. Thomas Church on 5th Ave. The church itself is pretty amazing let alone the all boy choir that lives at the church. It may be the start of a new Christmas tradition.
For Christmas Melissa bought me NFL tickets to the NY Giants & Carolina Panthers game. I have never been to an NFL game, so this should be awesome!
We are going to leave pretty early that day, so we can have the full NFL experience. We will walk to Penn Station, then take a train over to the Meadowlands stadium. It will be an afternoon full of nachos, hot dogs, and mercilessly booing the Panthers.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Chelsea, seen in the first picture. It was pretty good. Then we did a little grocery shopping, walked around Rockefeller Center, and relaxed in Central Park.
This weekend we sold more stuff on Craigslist and packed most of our belongings into boxes. We no longer have a couch, desk chair, bookshelves, floor rugs, etc.
We decided to sell / throw away as much as possible. It feels good getting rid of so much stuff. It makes our transition to Manhattan feel like much more of a change from our life in Syracuse.
I had the single most interesting dream of my life.
As the day progresses details become fuzzy, but general impressions remain.
I was in a large structure, stone floor and walls, but no ceiling. It was an other-worldly complex in which I was being shown or presented some kind of abstract representation of various levels of consciousness.... I think...
At one point in the dream I stood in a room, being shown a large image, some kind of visual depiction of a green-grey geometric pattern, which was associated with absolute destruction. I don't think the absolute destruction was physical; but rather, was psychological. When I woke up at 2:30 in a state of panic, the first thing I thought of was Carl Jung.
I say this because I think that the dream also encompassed a physical manifestation or depiction of other images associated with... or at least interpreted by my dream-state as aspects of Jungian archetypes. Im' not really sure why this is. I think its probably because I have read a few books about Jungian psychology, and thats the closest vocabulary I would have to try explaining an abstract dream like this.
In any event, it was bizarre and terrifying. The odd thing is, I can't think of any specific aspect of the dream that should have been frightening. I wasn't being stabbed or falling off a building, as far as I remember, the terror of the dream was purely derived from internal and subconscious archetypal imagery, far more abstract than anything which should have caused me to wake up terrified. I don't know why or how a greenish-greyish structure of stacked cubes would represent the destruction of my internal self, but apparently it does.
It kind of makes me want to read Jung on Christianity again. Its one of the best books I have ever read.
So, Modern Warfare 2 was released yesterday. I played it non-stop last night, and finally completed the single player game. It was pretty interesting.
For starters, this game series is ridiculously popular. It appears to have sold at least 4 million copies in the first 24 hours, which is insane.
The game is basically like a Michael Bay movie. You play as four different characters who are each interconnected to the same events. To summarize, Russia has invaded the United States, and CRAZY stuff is going down.
The game also has a controversial scene, where you literally play as an undercover CIA agent working in a terror cell in Eastern Europe. Fox News and some other media outlets are trying to spin it as a shocking thing, but I don't really see it. For starters, the game is rated "R." Stores aren't allowed to sell the game to anyone under 17. That being said, you have to treat a game like this on the same standard you would use to critique a rated "R" film. Against that standard, intense violence and psychologically or emotionally troubling content are permissible.
It seems like with this kind of story, media outlets usually do the laziest story imaginable; ie: think of the children! This is a weak argument. Games are just like movies, they have industry-imposed ratings. The FCC reported a study last year and found that among films, music, and games, the three entertainment media which carry industry self-regulatory content standards, video games had the highest percentage of retail compliance in only selling games to those who met the required age. Additionally, the average age of an XBOX 360 or PS3 owner is roughly 25 years, so the notion that this game's target audience is children is again just not true. Thats' like arguing that HBO should censor its content because kids also watch TV, and they might have access to the shows their parent's watch.
As for the substantive argument against allowing the player to take the role of a terrorist and shoot civilians in an airport, in my opinion the key distinction is that you don't "have" to shoot anybody. You can simply stand back and watch in horror as your terrorist comrades kill the civilians. The scenario has a major flaw, however. You can't shoot your terrorist comrades, or the mission ends. The game forces you to play through the entire airport massacre, at which point the terrorist leader reveals that he knows you are actually a CIA Agent, and he thens shoots you. The problem I have with Infinity Ward is that they don't allow you as the player to attempt to stop the massacre. I think it would have made a much more interesting point had they given you the option, and written a separate story progression. Instead, your only choice is to mow down civilians in the airport, or just walk behind your fellow terrorists, and do nothing.
Aside from that, the only complaint I have with the game is that the story was too fractured and chaotic, they don't transition between scenes well enough to give you a coherent idea as to how all the characters will eventually intertwine.
One surprising moment in the game is when Russia fires an ICBM at the United States, which detonates in the upper atmosphere causing a massive electromagnetic pulse (I think) to wipe out all electrical activity on the Eastern Seaboard. You witness this through the eyes of an astronaut as he repairs a satellite. You look up just in time to see an ICBM on the horizon, coming slowly towards the United States. When it explodes, the shockwave destroys the satellite and sends your mangled remains hurtling into space. It was rad.
If you buy this game, you should add me on XBOX Live. I will totally shoot you in the face in multiplayer.
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