Gripes Regarding Social Media

For anyone that actually reads my crappy content on a regular basis, I apologise for not updating the blog in a while. I've been working on my Black Ops II review and that will be out when I finish editing the campaign portion of the review. For first-time readers, welcome and leave while you still can. Really, there's nothing of value here.

Today, as a placeholder for any actual content, I'd like to go on a long-winded rant on social media. While I understand that social media and sharing your life on the internet has become ingrained within the global consciousness, I cannot comprehend how people act on social media. While I do believe that people should be able to do as they please, it does not mean that I condone things that they do. Sure, some people may call me hypocritical but I just like to think of it as real freedom. Where I let people express their freedom to do whatever they want within the limits of the law while I express my freedom of speech by highlighting my disagreement about it.

Maybe I'm being dramatic but I really hate people who overshare. People that update their statuses constantly, or post a picture of themselves every few hours or even check in wherever they are. While it is nice to share your life with other people, there is such a thing as sharing too much. I do not need to know that you were just in the toilet and had a stellar dump. I do not need to know that you went to some random place to have dinner. I do not need to see you relaxing on a beach in some island paradise. Okay, I lied about that last part, that's actually kind of cool.

The problem I see with some people is that they are narcissistic and basically bragging about how awesome their lives are. It makes me feel bad about my own boring existence and does leave me with a distinct sense of envy. In this case, I will recognise that it is my own fault for giving a damn about someone else's highlight reel. Yet at the same time, there is this sense that some people are doing it to stroke their own ego. Great. Cool. You're having drinks at a trendy nightclub. Wow, you're so hip and cool. Then, their friends who were there or wished they were there will swoop in, sing praises and comment at how great everything was. If you want to stroke your ego so badly, find a room and just keep it to yourself. Also, please clean up after yourself afterwards. Look, I understand that people may have legitimately enjoyed something they share and that's fine. However, there are people out there (I'm embarrassed to admit I am friends with some people like this) who literally talk about how EVERYTHING they have done/experienced/went to was awesome. That's great for them but they don't have to share everything. Then, there's the subset of the attention-seekers who post something vague as their status obviously so that someone will ask them what's wrong and they have someone to complain to. If you have a problem, feel free to talk about it, don't be coy and try to get people to pay attention to you.

Alright, I'm a bit jealous because of how cool all the things they do seem and maybe I'm just an intensely private person, I'm willing to concede that point for the last argument. But not for this one. The second problem I see with social media is security and privacy. As in people who don't alter their privacy settings and ensure that their whereabouts, personal details and parts of their life that they choose to share on the internet is open to random strangers. Sure, not everyone is a crazy stalker or really creepy internet pervert but it doesn't hurt to tone it down a notch. It's especially bad for someone who has lax privacy settings and likes to share a lot. Social media is a fantastic intelligence-gathering tool when used against these people. Within a few clicks of a button, I can learn where a particular person lives, who their significant others are and possibly even where they've been if they're prone to checking in to every location they go to. I mean, come on, you're basically doing a stalker's job for them! On the privacy note, I really don't need to know that Person A just had the best bowel motion ever. It's just disgusting. Also, as someone who is intensely private, I extremely dislike it when friends tag me in photographs or events. I just don't like the idea that someone I may not know can see me or know what I've done.

Another gripe I have regarding social media is the discussion of controversial topics such as politics or religion and how it becomes a full-blown flame war. Granted, this happens in real life when people get together to talk politics or religion but I personally believe it's far worse on the internet because of the lack of actual physical contact which I feel possibly makes people more brazen and less likely to be polite about their views. Admittedly, not all discussions become heated and not all people will be empowered by the relative anonymity provided by being behind a computer on the internet. But think of all the (relative) freedom you have when discussing the most controversial topics. I'm sure you have seen some pretty antagonistic stuff coming in the form of a tweet or a YouTube video or a YouTube comment. To use the pejorative so popular on the internet, keyboard warriors are protected by the sense of anonymity afforded by the internet, allowing them to push boundaries and be pretty terrible human beings without the fear of physical retribution or punishment.

Sparknotes version: I dislike social media mostly because people that dominate social media are really overbearing narcissists, people that don't understand the concept of boundaries and god-damned keyboard warriors. Or, I'm just an opinionated bastard who hates most things anyway. Either way, that's my take on things.

Pitch Perfect Review

Considering the overwhelming video game content in the last few posts, I thought I'd switch it up a little by doing a movie review. Today, I'll be reviewing the musical comedy Pitch Perfect directed by Jason Moore, written by Kay Cannon and starring an ensemble cast which includes Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Ben Platt and Adam Devine. Honestly, I went into the movie expecting it to be a movie version of the horrible hit TV series Glee but I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of being a cheap Glee rip-off, Pitch Perfect is actually a fantastic movie featuring brilliant a cappella renditions of songs performed by an extremely talented cast.

The plot follows Barden University freshman Beca (Anna Kendrick) and her experiences with her cohorts in the all-female a capella group, the Barden Bellas, as they compete with their rivals, the Barden Treble-Makers, to win the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). Along the way, strong friendships and relationships are formed as the Bellas stumble from one hilarious situation to the next. With each outrageous situation comes gems of dialogue like “Could you please get your head out of your ass? It's not a hat,” or "You guys are gonna get pitch-slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave," which help to make Pitch Perfect one of my favourite movies of 2012. What makes the movie great is that it resorts to a wide range of comedy from outrageous physical situations to subtle jokes to brick jokes. Each scene is punctuated by a bucketload of laughs with the exception of one or two scenes that are played straight, making this a brilliant piece of comedic filmmaking.

While the writer, Kay Cannon, and director, Jason Moore, deserve a lot of credit for making a great film, praises must also be sung (see what I did there?) for the cast of Pitch Perfect. Anna Kendrick is fantastically subtle as Beca, bringing a lot of warmth to the character as well as being able to deadpan and deliver snarks coolly. Rebel Wilson deserves a huge mention because she is frankly brilliant as Fat Amy, an outrageous Australian who calls herself Fat Amy so "twig bitches don't call her that behind her back," and is also the "best singer in Tasmania ... with teeth." Skylar Astin is also great as the inexplicably nice guy Jesse and delivers great musical performances throughout the film. Brittany Snow also deserves a mention because she is just great as the extremely quirky yet very amiable Chloe. Honestly though, the whole cast is brilliant and each performer excelled in their role, making their characters believable and extremely likeable. However, special mention should be made to John Micheal Higgins and Elizabeth Banks for their brief but side-splittingly funny appearances as the commentators for the ICCAs, delivering more gems like "This number is like an elephant dart to the public's face."

The single most fantastic thing about this film though, is the music. From the great a cappella rendition of the Universal Studios introduction to the improvised musical battle of the riff-offs to the polished performances of the various groups during the ICCAs, Pitch Perfect features awesomely rearranged songs that sound a lot better than their originals, which isn't hard for some songs like Just the Way You Are or Party in the U.S.A, but is quite an achievement for great songs like Since U Been Gone and Don't You (Forget About Me). The remixes produced by Beca on her MacBook (rather obvious product placement, by the way) are also great pieces despite being played for literally 30 seconds.

I do have a few gripes with the movie though. Characters-wise, I'm unsure as to why Beca's dad and Luke, the station manager are actually in the movie. Beca's dad does serve to advance the plot a little but he's not really that important or funny or particularly memorable. Luke is put forward early on in the movie as a possible competitor with Jesse for Beca's affections but just suddenly disappears near the middle of the movie. My other gripes are less with continuity and character development and more with music. One complaint is that some of the music is not long enough such as Chloe and Beca's rendition of Titanium or Beca's remixes because they are just plain awesome. Additionally, I felt that the movie could have showed other groups' performances during the ICCAs to make the film feel more realistic and also to showcase more awesome a cappella songs.

Score = 9/10