I like to think that I’ve gotten less judgmental as I’ve gotten older, less willing to look down on others because they enjoy things I don’t. I’m still happy to look down on people for the way they act, the things they say, and the things they do, but my days of calling people assholes for listening to bad pop music are gone.
Last weekend, while spending time with my extended family, my nineteen year-old cousin Mark spent a goodly while berating my thirteen year-old cousin Kara for her obsession with Twilight. “Those books suck. That movie sucks. It should all be destroyed! It’s terrible and stupid and I hate it!” First of all, there isn’t much honor in telling a thirteen year-old that what they like is stupid. It’s your job at thirteen to like stupid things. For example, I used to carry around a suitcase filled with all my Phish bootlegs. But more than that what’s the point in judging a person based solely on what they like? When I asked Mark why he hated Twilight so much, he answered, “Twilight ruined Hot Topic.”
Yeah.
I still can’t bring myself to judge Mark, though. So the kid likes Hot Topic? Who cares.
There is one hobby that I will never be able to condone. I cannot abide people into celebrity culture. Whenever I see someone reading an issue of Us Weekly, I want to rip it out of their hands, roll it up, and hit them directly on the nose with it. You like movies? Fine. Great. Awesome. Movies are awesome. You do not need to pay money for a magazine about which actresses eat frozen yogurt. You do not need to know which of them are pregnant. You are stupid. Stop it.
Today, I’m the hypocrite. While browsing headlines over at Edge Online, I saw that Goichi Suda, otherwise known Grasshopper Manufacturer’s Suda 51, the man behind No More Heroes, has started his own blog. I geeked out. Couldn’t wait to look at it, especially when I realized that the blog had nothing to do with videogames. You see, Suda says in his inaugural post that he’s going to spend his time writing about Japanese action figures. Suda 51, like his creation Travis Touchdown, loves him some action figures. All I could think after reading that was, “Oh snap. This is going to be the best blog ever.”
So now I’m sitting at my desk judging myself. Suda 51 makes incredible videogames, games which I happen to be fascinated by for their unique art and their focus on discomfiting you while playing. There’s nothing else like a Suda game. Why should that make me interested in his life though? Why should I care about the man’s action figure obsession? Isn’t that as bad as reading commentary on the size of Meg Ryan’s thighs or Harrison Ford’s increasingly droopy boobs? Just because it’s related to videogames, that makes it okay?
Clearly I am over thinking things. This isn’t celebrity mongering. I’m okay.
Damn. Least I don’t shop at Hot Topic.
Catch Suda 51’s new blog right here.
Related links:
Interview Round Up: Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Mikami’s Replacements on Resident Evil
MadWorld: Actually a Pretty Even-Keeled World
Ceci N'Est Pas Une 1-Up: The Surrealist Future of Postpunk Gaming
John’s Games of 2008: Year of the Open World
Derrick's Top 13 Games of 2008 - Part 1