Consumption Journal: Week Two

My media consumption for Week Two, since Monday 1/12, consisted of: movies, broadcast television, cable television, Internet (computer), newspapers, and video games. This week I watched the films Tommy Boy and The Usual Suspects on DVD. In addition I went to the theatre and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I watched various programs on broadcast television which included ABC World News, NBC local news, and an episode of The Office. On cable television I watched King of Queens, Everybody Loved Raymond, South Park, Family Guy, and numerous programs on the Discovery Channel. 

Last week I spent time on my computer completing assignments, emailing, checking websites, and listening to music. I was viewing such websites as Google, Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, Pandora Radio, and Youtube. Once again I spent a large amount of time listening to music on my laptop's iTunes library, discovering new music and listening to my usual artists. However, I did not spend time listening to the conventional radio because I did not use my car. This past week I chose to read the Chicago Tribune's Red Eye in the mornings, however, still gathered some of my news from websites such as AOL and Yahoo. 

Unlike Week One, I played video games. Although I do not own my own system in my apartment, I occasionally play with my friends who have XBOX 360 and Nintendo 64. For XBOX 360, I played such games as Call of Duty 4 and Halo. For the Nintendo 64 I played Mario Kart and James Bond: Golden Eye. 

Video Games were such a large aspect of my life growing-up. I have two older brothers and we were completely obsessed with them. We basically purchased every console that came out on the market at the time. These included: Nintendo (original), Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, Playstation 3, Game Cube, Xbox, and Xbox 360 (apparently we aren't a Sega Genesis kind of family). It's pretty ridiculous looking back, however, it was definitely a great time and also a way my brother and I would bond together or fight over getting beat in a game. 

I have memories of some of the great original video games for Nintendo that involved running on a pad for some Olympic game (sort of foreshadowing Wii) and shooting at the screen at ducks with a gun that would seem ridiculous to kids now. We would get totally involved in trying to beat a game and would also continue to play one even if we did. As we discussed in class, this is not the case these days; this is most likely due to the fact that there is just an overwhelming amount of choices. Kids cannot be blamed for wanting to always try something new. Back in the day there was just one system for a long period of time that kids would focus there attention on. Although we would constantly buy new systems we would continue to play the "older ones" and sort of switch around. Even today its awesome to pull out the old Nintendo and blow in a game for hours in order to get it to work. 

Another aspect of video games growing-up was arcades. I remember going to a couple around the area. There was one in Arlington Heights' Town & Country Mall and another in Mount Prospect's Randhurst Mall (now both defunct). There is just a generation that will never be familiar with these "simple" pleasures which is both somewhat sad and scary.