Not every Occupy Wall Street type wants to violently stick it to The Man, although an alarming number embrace such a solution.

An upcoming video game takes that branch of the OWS movement to its most radical conclusions.

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A snippet of the upcoming game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: The Patriots,” which won’t hit stores until 2013, was played over the weekend during the Spike TV Video Game Awards. The game casts the players as anti-terrorism agents squaring off against a group which believes the government and corporations are corrupt and must be taken down.

And if that means hurling an evil banker out the window, so be it.

Here’s a quick rundown on the video game’s plot:

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The next time you take out a baddie in a video game you might be conditioning yourself to commit actual violence, according to the Red Cross.

The 31st International Conference of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent expressed its collective concern about the war games people play on their computer and gaming systems this week.

Some initial reports suggested gamers could be in a world of legal trouble for not following Geneva Conventions during video game play. The Red Cross quickly squashed those reports, but the group admitted it’s worried violent video games activity could have unintended consequences. And the international group may start leaning on video game makers who peddle violent titles.

Members of the committee said the Movement (note the capital M) is concerned about humanitarian law and how it should apply to video games, but is primarily concerned about how violent video games affect individuals and whether the International Red Cross/Red Crescent should pressure video-game makers to tone things down …

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Kyle Smith Wonders if  ’J. Edgar’ Is the Disappointment of the Year

Kyle and I may share a similar political philosophy but we rarely agree on films. I sense we might agree on this one:

…but as “J.Edgar” sits at an astonishing 39 percent it would be disingenuous not to notice that this film is getting hammered by critics. Despite its Oscar-winning director, writer (Dustin Lance Black) and Oscar-nominated star Leo DiCaprio, it is at the same approval level as “Immortals.” This is a disaster for a serious, highbrow, historical drama. The thought of critical reception didn’t occur to anyone on the set of “Immortals” but “J.Edgar” was made to win critical hosannas and Oscars.

[…]

Oh, and “J.Edgar” is terrible and I predict pitiful box office and zero Oscar nominations.

Ouch.

Kyle’s a superb writer. His blog is here.

Blu-rays for Under $10

My policy regarding Blu-ray purchases has shifted… again.

It started with “No freakin’ way am I replacing DVDs with Blu-rays.” to “Well, if they’re cheap enough I can always sell the old DVDs on Ebay.” But after they wouldn’t sell on Ebay I went back to, “No freakin’ way.”

What I’m discovering now, however, is that not all DVDs are alike. The ones I purchased when the format was first released 15 or so years ago look like crap, not much better than VHS. A perfect example was Kubrick’s “The Shining,” which looked so awful I had to shut it off after 15 minutes. The picture was blurry and not even in widescreen. So picking up the Blu-ray for $8.00 made sense.

Thankfully, most of my DVDs look perfectly fine. This includes copies nearly a decade old.  Even the hundreds of black and white films I recorded on DVD off of TCM (before TCM installed the blocking device) look good. Any new films I purchase will obviously be in the Blu-ray format but only from the five-for-$20 previously-viewed bin at Blockbuste — not that there’s much to choose from these days even at that low price.

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FOXNews.com:

Here’s the vision for this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference: Outside, Lou Dobbs is waxing cranky on the country’s economic decline. Inside, the hip crowd will be playing video games, watching movies, eating snacks and listening to rap music. 

In a bid to make conservative chic, organizers of the annual meet-up of Republican Party faithful and right-wing firebrands are taking pains this year to gear their summit toward students and the under-30 crowd. Added to the menu are a slew of new media workshops and an entertainment lineup befitting a college campus. 

Organizers say the conference, which kicks off Thursday in Washington, has had a large college-age contingent for years now. But they are making an extra push to attract and entertain that crowd with youth-oriented talks and the addition of something called the XPAC Lounge — a room one organizer dubbed the “hub of fun.” 

That’s where the video games and the junk food will be.  (more…)

Nidal “Gary” Hassan – All-American boy was haunted by memories of Gitmo, ‘Nam, Hiroshima INEVITABLY, ANOTHER SOLDIER SNAPS Distraught pacifist conscientious objector tormented by horrors of war, as far as you know Newsroom experts: stress, violence, stupidity, tragedy a way of life for GIs Former M*A*S*H stars say it’s finally time to disarm the military Hollywood insiders: Sean Penn early favorite for lead in planned Oliver Stone biopic

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“In fifteen minutes, everyone will be famous.” —Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol also spoke that jewel of wisdom, presumably demonstrating a sense of humor in referring to his most famous quote.  Or was it, perhaps, prescient, albeit unintended foreknowledge?  Pity he’s not around to toy with Twitter.

Bridge as visual metaphor, Media as bridge, Pittsburgh.

Looking back at Part 1, we considered a couple of insights into Andy’s Pop Life with the aim of solving some problems surrounding Mr. Breitbart’s incisive assertion that conservatives must come to terms with popular culture, and more, use it to advantage, or fail catastrophically in countering the negative effects of said culture and restoring public confidence in fundamental ideals.  Narcissism, amorality, and an attitude of entitlement, as examples, speak poorly to the future of democracy, while the virtues of valuing others, the practice of ethical discernment and choice, and the elevating ideas of individual liberty and self-reliance are greatly to be desired in the body politic, and traditionally set America apart from typical “statist” governments around the world.  Evidence abounds of the former set of attitudes in common currency as reflected in pop culture; the latter set, highly prized by conservatives, goes sorely wanting for attention in movies, TV, music, etc. (more…)