Media Consumption during a Pandemic

I was originally going to write some more focused thoughts on some shows I have been watching lately, but my brain just wasn’t up to it. Trying to watch something and have some insight into it has become more taxing as the stress of not going outside out of fear of catching a disease that many people in your neighborhood don’t seem to know or care about exists. I saw a woman with no mask on in a grocery market talking to two older people who did have masks on gathered closely together and talking about visiting grave sites. Not only was this breaking the rules that the grocery market themselves established, but the irony of talking about visiting graves while potentially spreading a disease that could kill the two people you are talking to was too much for me to bear, but I digress.

I have found myself less focusing on something I need to think deeply about, and watching things that are more pleasant, more surface level appeal. I was going to write about City Hunter (a popular anime from the 1980’s), and how it is a reaction to more women getting jobs in the late 70’s and 80’s, but Ryo Saeba’s sexual harassment “antics” I could only endure for 3 episodes before I tabled it. I tried to formulate my thoughts, but at some point I didn’t really want to do the work to form a concise thesis about it. Instead I have been watching Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama?, an anime that takes the popular mascot character, and anthropomorphises them to follow them on their various adventures (here is the trailer to get an idea of what I am talking about). It is a silly show, and a lot of logistics that come with how they try to switch from a properly proportioned human, to a cute cate or dog mascot, that I can’t decide is brilliant or dumb. In the end, it is just cute people/animals doing cute things. It feels like all my brain can take right now.

Which is a little sad, as working from home has given me more free time, it should be the perfect time to be able to sit down and really focus on analysis. The very idea that I would be able to do a 40 hour a week job, and do 2 blog entries a week was born out of the naive belief that I could just get through all the stress the outside world is bringing, and just focus on writing. I consider myself more of an inside person, but living with many of my outlets no longer available has been harder on me than I anticipated. As much as I would love to sign up to the Criterion Channel and watch some thought provoking media (especially as I got my tax return and can afford it) but I know in my heart of hearts that most likely would end up feeling more like work than something I would enjoy. As time goes on, I may just bite the bullet, but it is just harder than it should be. The worst part is that it isn’t like this is going to be over soon, and the world doesn’t seem to be getting better, so relief feels like it will need to come from the inside.

Unfortunately, just like I don’t have any insights in the media I have watched, I also don’t have any insights into how to get through this crisis with your mind intact, but I figured that writing about it and getting it out there will be the first step in trying to confront it. Hopefully, this will encourage me to do something more productive, but even if it doesn’t, as long as I keep writing, and someone enjoys it, maybe it is worth writing something. Either way, I am going to keep doing my best, and see what I can cook up for next time. Keep safe, and let’s get through this together!

Entertainment Log Blog 5/16/2020

They say if you want to be a writer, you should practice everyday. Write anything, even if it is just a grocery list. I am not sure if I will ever be a writer, but I certainly do write things for a living, granted most of them are either helping people with technical problems or telling them we can or can’t do something. I figure that is more productive than a grocery list (as it pays for the groceries) but I figured I would go the extra mile and start up this blog again.


I don’t do a journal anymore, and I have a poor memory, so I figured this will be a entertainment log blog, for one because the name “log blog” tickles my fancy, and also because my brain just has too many thoughts about the stuff I consume and I have no outlet for it, so here we go!


Hatsune Miku Mega Mix


I have written about Hatsune Miku before, and here is a link if you are curious. But just in case you don’t want to read that whole thing, Hatsune Miku originally was a mascot for a music creation program (the name Hatsune Miku is a portmanteau/play on Japanese words roughly meaning “first music creation”) and has now become the face of a cultural phenomenon where people from all over the world use her image to create a world of music, music videos, and their own fanfiction. I say fanfiction, but the big difference between Hatsune Miku and many other popular characters is that since Hatsune Miku and her band of vocaloids are mascots of a music creation tool, the fan created works can easily become as official as anything from the original creators. Things that now define Hatsune Miku such as the Nyan Cat song, the Ievan Polkka, and even the trademark leek she carries is all from fan created songs and videos.


So the Hatsune Miku video games are effectively vehicles for Sega to take all of this fan created material, and a good amount of their own creations, and sell it to consumers in the form of a music game. There are several issues with taking fan created content and then selling it back to them, but unfortunately, I don’t really have insight if the fans who created this music is being paid (or if they were secretly employees of Sega or Crypton Future Media all along) so I will have to leave that alone for another day. The music game itself plays like a digital karaoke. Instead of singing the songs, you tap certain buttons to the voice track. If you miss a button, the vocal track goes silent until you press the right button again. It is a simple game that if you really break it down amounts to just just pressing buttons when the game tells you to, but learning the track, getting better with the timing in chorus with the music and video end up being as fun as a silent karaoke can be. It helps that the music is pretty good, and the music videos are entertaining. This new Switch release is a paired down version of the enormous PS4 release, but gains the most important X factor that defines the Switch, which is being able to switch from TV to portable. Being able to take this game anywhere, and play with a good set of headphones makes it so that, even if it has less content than the PS4 release with all the DLC, being able to play anywhere is as integral as being able to play music anywhere. Being able to go anywhere and play, especially when you have over 100 songs, is the ideal way to enjoy all there is to Hatsune Miku Mega Mix and I heartily recommend this game, or at least try the demo. There is so much to play, listen to, and customize that I see myself playing this game for a long time.


Final Fantasy 7R


Apparently I also wrote a blog about Final Fantasy 7 nine years ago. Boy, does time fly. Spoiler warning, but here that is for your reference. One thing I was worried about with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake is that it would sand down all the edges of the weirdness and quirkiness of FF7, and become more of an idealized version of FF7 that is more boring for the sake of being “cool.” I have gotten to chapter 9, and I can say that FF7R is wacky and inspired in its own ways, and is just a joy to play. Barring some side quests here and there, FF7R is everything I wanted from a remake of a game that is now over 20 years old, and still manages to be fun and relevant today. There are a couple of great surprises that show off FF7R’s humor (in particular one of the fights in the coliseum), but it also brands itself with its own narrative weirdness that I am not sure what exactly is happening yet, but I have a couple of good guesses. Either way, FF7R is continuing to be full of delights and surprises, and I am just glad they didn’t mess it up.


Animal Crossing New Horizons


I have heard someone say that this isn’t just the game of the year, but potentially the game of the generation for what it provides during this pandemic we find ourselves in. Only time can tell, but it is hard for me to disagree. I have put 80 hours into this game, and while most games at the 80 hour mark I get tired of the bad pacing, and wish they would end, but  Animal Crossing is a game where I wish there was just more. Most games try to be compelling by giving you a challenge, or something to save or protect, or even just levels and numbers to progress through, but Animal Crossing is compelling as it is a kind, nice world that allows you to go as quickly or slowly as you need. Even things that I was worried about before like paying off loans, or keeping my villagers happy, have sort of melted away as I just want to hang out around a place where everyone does their own thing. I can only really improve things, rather than fear that I will do something wrong. Animal Crossing isn’t just a great game, but it is a refinement and a reminder that games can be so much more than we allow them to be.

Well, that is all for this time. Next time I'll write about some animes. Have a great day, and keep safe!