The top 10% of Americans control two-thirds of the wealth. Incomes for the bottom 90% of us have declined at the expense of the top 10% over the past three decades. This isn’t just a matter of fairness. It’s fundamentally unsustainable for all of us, and if we fail to address it, our future will be a bleak one.
Superhero movies haven’t blown the box office away this summer. In fact, R-rated comedies have, somewhat surprisingly, out-grossed the spandex-clad flicks. Just don’t think that means we’re about to see the fall of the superhero blockbuster. Not. Going. To. Happen.
Linear narrative in a single medium is easy enough to grasp, but there has always been storytelling that jumped across mediums and broke apart the simple, linear structure. Yet the concept of telling a single, epic story by piecing together various fragments from a multitude of media still gives some people fits. Why not be excited by the possibilities, instead?
I’ve yet to read a positive write-up of Michael Bay’s latest entry into the franchise. Rather, I should say I’ve yet to read a review that actually made the film seem good. That hasn’t stopped a number of critics from giving the film positive scores.
Mass Effect is a franchise that blends bits and pieces from Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, and probably a few other science-fiction universes. And it’s good. Really good. So good, that the notion only truly original content can be great is completely obliterated in its wake.
The critical darling of the moment, the commercial success, the video game that looks more like a film than any other video game before it, L.A. Noire — it kind of sucks. There. I said it.