Today, Amazon announced that it sold more Kindle titles than actual hard-cover books. They attribute part of this to the fact that the Kindle price was lowered from $259 to $189.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/201628/is_the_99_ereader_on_the_horizon.html?tk=hp_blg
We discussed in my computer science class last semester how digital technology has changed what it means to "own" something. We have documents and spreadsheets saved to our desktops and laptops, but they're really just lines of code. Unless we print out our projects, we can easily save over them (which depending on the case could be a good or bad thing), or simply delete them.
In a similar way, we don't really own e-books. We might be able to carry around a kindle which holds the words of the book, but that doesn't mean we actually own the book. I personally like having a physical version to highlight and scribble notes in. When I finish a book and flip through to see all the marks I made, I feel satisfied in knowing that I was engaged in what I was reading.
I don't mean to say that physical books will disappear anytime soon, (I read in a similar article that this trend applies more to hard-cover than soft-cover books), but as prices for e-book readers continue to drop down, I'll be interested to see how our society's definition of "book" will change. I would love to hear everyone's opinion on this topic, as the main point of this blog is to discuss these types of topics with each other. Until next time, good night!
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Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Song Pick of the Week
Good Saturday everyone,
Hope all is well this weekend. It is saturday, which means that tonight's the night for the song pick of the week. Tonight's song is Laredo, off of the album Infinite Arms by Band of Horses. For tomorrow, I hope to have another post on television, this time focusing on the potential dangers of our society becoming too involved in what we watch, and how this affects how we view politics, education, and even our concept of the truth. This will hopefully spark some comments from you all; as always I'm open to hear what you have to say. Until then, good night!
Hope all is well this weekend. It is saturday, which means that tonight's the night for the song pick of the week. Tonight's song is Laredo, off of the album Infinite Arms by Band of Horses. For tomorrow, I hope to have another post on television, this time focusing on the potential dangers of our society becoming too involved in what we watch, and how this affects how we view politics, education, and even our concept of the truth. This will hopefully spark some comments from you all; as always I'm open to hear what you have to say. Until then, good night!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Science that is a Pokemon Battle
Last week I started a series of posts related to how we can learn useful skills from video games, using Pokemon Red & Blue as my example. Tonight, I continue with a discussion of the preparation, the strategy, and the overall knowledge needed to win a Pokemon battle. While talking about the benefits of video games last week, I also used the book Everything Bad Is Good For You by Steven Johnson to support my claims that the otherwise tedious leveling up of Pokemon is made bearable through new moves that are learned through the leveling-up process. In addition to the reward system, Johnson explains that video games have become increasingly more complex, and how they offer almost limitless possibilities for the player.
In the Red and Blue versions, there were 150 Pokemon available to use in your team (side note: last time I looked there were 493 Pokemon available). A team can consist of up to 6 Pokemon, and while this offers a great deal of creativity to the player, the overall goal of the game is to win as many battles as possible to become a Pokemon master.
If asked what are the keys to a good team, the common answer heard is type balance. In Red and Blue, a Pokemon can be one or two of 15 types, such as fire, water, grass, or electric. Additionally, each move a Pokemon learns has a type. Each type has an advantage over some attacks and disadvantages over others. For a basic example, fire attacks have an advantage when used on grass type Pokemon. On the flip side, a fire Pokemon is weak against water type attacks. While some of these type advantages/disadvantages seem logical, others are not (such as dragon type Pokemon being weak against ice), requiring the player to memorize these odd type balances. Most players agree that a strong team will have six Pokemon of different types to balance their individual strengths and weaknesses.
In addition to Pokemon and move types, every Pokemon has different stats, which are another factor to consider when putting together a team. Again, in Red and Blue there were five stats - hit points, speed, attack, defense, and special (this stat has since split into special attack and special defense). Each individual Pokemon has different stats, and they almost always come with some sort of trade off, such as high speed but low defense. These stats affect the strength and accuracy of the Pokemon's moves. It's true that a Dugtrio will almost always attack first due to its high speed stat, but its low defense means that any damage taken will do more damage than a Pokemon with a higher defense stat, even if they are of the same type.
With types and stats, creating a strong team can seem overwhelming, as there are many factors to consider with seemingly endless possibilities. However, that's not all; once a player thinks they have a strong team to take into battle, he/she must think of the right strategy to ensure victory. Should the player open with a fast Pokemon to ensure the first strike, or use a slower Pokemon that knows a status changing move to poison the opponent (I forgot to mention that some moves can affect the status of the opponent, such as poisoning them or putting them to sleep). Similar to other strategy games, the player must consider the moves of the opponent as well as his/her own. Sometimes, this requires considering several scenarios several turns ahead.
For those of you who never played Pokemon, you're probably thinking one of two things: he's making it seem more complicated than it really is in order to prove his point, or why would he waste his time (and blog post) writing about a game? If you have played the game before, you're probably thinking yeah, it does get this complicated. Yes, I probably did spend too much of my childhood playing Pokemon. Hoewever, I am not so quick to claim that it was a complete waste of time. Mining through seemingly endless data to arrive at useful conclusions is one of the greatest challenges of my generation. The ability to think strategically plan ahead and weigh different scenarios at once are skills valued in the workplace, and just plain useful when trying to make sense of one's own life. Or once again, I'm just trying to justify how I spent my time from third through fifth grade.
Like I've said before, you're welcome to comment on this post. Agree with me, or refute everything I've just said, it's up to you.
In the Red and Blue versions, there were 150 Pokemon available to use in your team (side note: last time I looked there were 493 Pokemon available). A team can consist of up to 6 Pokemon, and while this offers a great deal of creativity to the player, the overall goal of the game is to win as many battles as possible to become a Pokemon master.
If asked what are the keys to a good team, the common answer heard is type balance. In Red and Blue, a Pokemon can be one or two of 15 types, such as fire, water, grass, or electric. Additionally, each move a Pokemon learns has a type. Each type has an advantage over some attacks and disadvantages over others. For a basic example, fire attacks have an advantage when used on grass type Pokemon. On the flip side, a fire Pokemon is weak against water type attacks. While some of these type advantages/disadvantages seem logical, others are not (such as dragon type Pokemon being weak against ice), requiring the player to memorize these odd type balances. Most players agree that a strong team will have six Pokemon of different types to balance their individual strengths and weaknesses.
In addition to Pokemon and move types, every Pokemon has different stats, which are another factor to consider when putting together a team. Again, in Red and Blue there were five stats - hit points, speed, attack, defense, and special (this stat has since split into special attack and special defense). Each individual Pokemon has different stats, and they almost always come with some sort of trade off, such as high speed but low defense. These stats affect the strength and accuracy of the Pokemon's moves. It's true that a Dugtrio will almost always attack first due to its high speed stat, but its low defense means that any damage taken will do more damage than a Pokemon with a higher defense stat, even if they are of the same type.
With types and stats, creating a strong team can seem overwhelming, as there are many factors to consider with seemingly endless possibilities. However, that's not all; once a player thinks they have a strong team to take into battle, he/she must think of the right strategy to ensure victory. Should the player open with a fast Pokemon to ensure the first strike, or use a slower Pokemon that knows a status changing move to poison the opponent (I forgot to mention that some moves can affect the status of the opponent, such as poisoning them or putting them to sleep). Similar to other strategy games, the player must consider the moves of the opponent as well as his/her own. Sometimes, this requires considering several scenarios several turns ahead.
For those of you who never played Pokemon, you're probably thinking one of two things: he's making it seem more complicated than it really is in order to prove his point, or why would he waste his time (and blog post) writing about a game? If you have played the game before, you're probably thinking yeah, it does get this complicated. Yes, I probably did spend too much of my childhood playing Pokemon. Hoewever, I am not so quick to claim that it was a complete waste of time. Mining through seemingly endless data to arrive at useful conclusions is one of the greatest challenges of my generation. The ability to think strategically plan ahead and weigh different scenarios at once are skills valued in the workplace, and just plain useful when trying to make sense of one's own life. Or once again, I'm just trying to justify how I spent my time from third through fifth grade.
Like I've said before, you're welcome to comment on this post. Agree with me, or refute everything I've just said, it's up to you.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
An American Community
Before I get into today's post (don't worry, it's not about Pokemon), I wanted to provide a few descriptions of people whom you may or may not have come across in your lives. Look over them, and keep them in mind as you continue through this post:
- A high school star athlete who lost a scholarship due to alcohol abuse
- Someone who can only express their feelings and relate to others through television and movies
- A divorced mother who must now raise her family on her own
- A wealthy man who has been married multiple times
Do these descriptions sound familiar? Of course, these are not the only members of the study group (I just provided a few for the sake of time), and they each have their own unique background. While watching this diverse group of characters interact with each other is undoubtedly funny, I feel that Community can be taken to another level by proposing that is provides us a unique perspective into the future of American society.
If one looks closely enough at the Spanish study group, they could understand my reasoning for viewing them as a model of America. Yet as I looked closer at each characters, I noticed that each of them could be viewed as either having qualities or backgrounds that are looked down upon in this country. I would find it hard to believe that you didn't think badly of any of the descriptions I provided at the beginning of this post. I admit that if I looked at them without any prior knowledge, I would have felt the same way, which brings me to the question: why do we look down upon these people?
To put it simply, I feel that the lives and experiences of the characters on Community pose a threat to traditional American values. When one thinks of the ideal American family, an image of a mother, father, two or three children living in the suburbs is not uncommon. Similar to the spread out posts of Pokemon, I will over several posts discuss the characters of Community, and how they undermine traditional American values. I emphasize the word traditional because I feel that at the same time Community offers us a perspective into the future of our nation. Despite their backgrounds, each of these characters, from the selfish Jeff to the outrageous Pierce, have their good qualities, and it is these qualities we must learn from if we are to move forward as a nation. This is where I will end for today, and in case you're wondering, the first character I will discuss will be Pierce, played by Chevy Chase (and please check out these links, I guarantee you won't regret it!).
Community page on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_%28TV_series%29
Community trailer:
Hulu link:
http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Community&st=1
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hello everyone,
For those of you who do not know me, I am a rising junior at American University in Washington, DC, majoring in Business, Language, and Culture studies. My interest in popular culture began with my interest in music back in middle school. I soon became an avid follower of Billboard magazine to track how songs performed on various charts. While I was a musician throughout high school (I played the trumpet), my relationship with music was based less on performance and more on how it reflected my life at that particular point in time.
My initial attachment with music laid the foundation for my interest in observing our interaction and understanding of other forms of media. While I do not share the same emotional attachment with music as with video games, movies or music, I do feel there is something worth reflecting on how our society grows and changes with them. A few times a week, I will post on various topics relating to popular culture. Most of the time these posts will be related to a recent book or article I have just read. The topics will be varied - from standardized tests to music to Pokemon - which I hope will make SmartPop more enjoyable for everyone. And although I look forward to posting my observations and opinions, I also look forward to reading what everyone else has to say. Feel free to disagree with me on everything! I already feel that a blog devoted to analyzing Popular Culture will spur some debate. Nevertheless, I look forward to hearing everyone's comments!
My initial attachment with music laid the foundation for my interest in observing our interaction and understanding of other forms of media. While I do not share the same emotional attachment with music as with video games, movies or music, I do feel there is something worth reflecting on how our society grows and changes with them. A few times a week, I will post on various topics relating to popular culture. Most of the time these posts will be related to a recent book or article I have just read. The topics will be varied - from standardized tests to music to Pokemon - which I hope will make SmartPop more enjoyable for everyone. And although I look forward to posting my observations and opinions, I also look forward to reading what everyone else has to say. Feel free to disagree with me on everything! I already feel that a blog devoted to analyzing Popular Culture will spur some debate. Nevertheless, I look forward to hearing everyone's comments!
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