The fact that people are using ADD as a general term for stupid and lazy is itself another perfect example of deterioration of intellect. ADD has no clinical stupid or laziness factor, so shouldn’t be associated with those in any way.

I definitely know that ADD (the clinical diagnosis) isn’t caused by TV or internet use and that most people diagnosed with ADD are extremely gifted in many ways.

With that said – I should probably have just said ‘short attention spans’ rather than using the ADD term. Lesson learned.

There was a glimmer of hope a few years ago with MTV2, with fresh headbanger’s ball and everything, but guess what? They never showed the quality metal that was out there. You had to watch an entire 2 hours to catch one Mastadon or Dillinger Escape Plan video. Fuck that.

I’ve resolved myself to tivo’ing (is it a verb now?) 120 minutes reruns on VHI classic. It’s a strange juxtaposition to be able to fast forward through the program!

Keep hope that the kids will be ok, but I’m not so sure.

I once met Rudi Vranckx (for the non-Belgians: that is probably the last reporter making intelligent TV in Flanders). When I asked him how he could get away with making non-stupid news items, he told me that it was because he is reporting from Iraq and Somalia and there’s just no malls to do stupid vox pops.

(P.S. BBC world service radio is available all over the globe and it is pretty good.)

And thanks for posting that DLC trailer for Mirror’s Edge. I would play that game on its own! Which says something, given that I rarely play games any more. Especially Fallout 3, which kept crashing. A shame, cuz I was digging it. Maybe I’ll try to make it work again someday.

“Mirror’s Edge” is good example of experimental content from a major entertainment company. Be it a Hollywood studio or book publisher they all take a gamble on highly experimental work and ideas from time to time.

It’s never a simple reason as to why though. Sometimes it has nothing to do with financial success but to earn a certain credibility and cache that will open certain doors. Hollywood does that with its prestige and art house pictures every year.

EA is the closest the gaming industry has to a Hollywood like studio next to Ubisoft and the King Kong behemoth that is Blizzard (or Activision Blizzard technically.) To its credit EA did push a lot of boundaries in their usual fare with Mirror’s Edge. It had a style, gameplay mechanic, and design not common with their usual projects. Unfortunately the game itself fell flat with most gamers due to it’s design choices in terms of gameplay. It had some pretty key flaws that are hard to ignore. Still it may see more success when the title hits $30 and under. Oddly it’s bonus content looks far more interesting than the main game itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo2NAQ7-DFc

Like anything creative sometimes it just takes time to really reach its full potential. Hopefully EA’s love of sequels pushes the next game closer to the trailer above.

I’ll spare the CH readers an extended list of games that push the boundaries of art, gameplay, and design…but it should be noted that of ALL the major forms of modern entertainment…NOTHING comes anywhere near what modern gaming is approaching in terms of merging so many technical and artistic genres together. Animation is probably the closest but unlike gaming you’re not an active participant…and that’s its real power. That’s something TV has tried many times in the past to achieve…if a bit gimmicky at times (The first person M*A*S*H episode being a prime example…something strangely Orson Welles wanted to do with his adaptation of Heart of Darkness…thankfully he did Citizen Kane instead. If I remember right Quentin Tarantino ended up doing this with the ER episode he directed also. )

It is very much a situation of self-perpetuating cycles that Alana Ash and Tequila pointed out very eloquently. The thing is that as much as many people crave for genuine intellectual content, challenging stuff just doesn’t bring in the cash. Reality TV has such low overhead that even if its overall ratings are lower than a show like BSG or Lost or whatever (which isn’t always the case – see American Idol), the profit margin has gotta be a lot higher. It also seems likely that TV execs and producers don’t get to where they are by hemorrhaging money.

A vaguely related case-in-point in video games is that EA game “Mirror’s Edge” that came out recently. I haven’t played it – but my understanding is that it’s got a lot of pretty interesting ideas, and borders on experimental at times. It’s a game made with creatives playing a bigger role. Except… that it didn’t do as well as EA’s other tripey garbage, so that kind of game probably won’t be made again – or not without a fight. (I should add, though, that apparently its gameplay is kinda mediocre, so it may just be a situation of form without substance.. or.. substance without form.. or something.)

Smart and challenging content has, sadly, a niche audience. I think it’s one that Coilhouse reaches very well – but as a rule it’s hard to do. It’s gotta be harder to make good smart content than sellable insipid stuff. (Though that may be wrong – it must be a challenge for smart people to slog through making a piece of trash that’s watered-down just enough to sell well.)

Also: that Dance Theatre piece at the end was rad.

As you were.

Also, obligatory quill-bristling, many people with ADD/ADHD are very bright, and ADD probably isn’t caused by too much TV and/or internet surfing (any more than, say, clinical depression is caused by listening to too much sad music).

…So, this is maybe not the best subject material for my First Comment Ever at Coilhouse, if I want to make a good impression (and I do).

Abruptly changing the subject, I’m too young to remember the heyday of MTV and don’t watch the channel now, but I like the Kafka ad a lot and I can attest to the fact that you wouldn’t ever see a television spot that highbrow now. Sad. :(