Source: The Xavierite
In the mid-2000’s, planning entertainment articles for the Xavierite was easy.
You’d have a couple movies, maybe a few new shows for the season, and a handful of video games until the big holiday rush. As for music? I was tracking CD releases and knew what to buy from a physical store.
These days? My backlog of video games never ends, I can listen to any song on my phone, and don’t get me started on streaming. Our current selection of content is endless. You can find whatever suits you, then find an online community to chat with.
It’s really cool.
But it means the entertainment monoculture is fading away. Everyone is getting deeper into their own thing, and I can never guess what someone’s doing on their phone. Are they watching a movie? An obscure anime? Maybe they’re watching a grocery haul video. Or they’re probably just doomscrolling.
Occasionally, appointment viewing still happens and you have something to talk about at work. The new episode of “Ahsoka” or Taylor Swift showing up at a football game. But if someone asks me what I watched? “Uh… ‘Serial Experiments Lain.’” What’d I listen to? “Uh… that tragic song in ‘Shin Godzilla’ where he laments that humans don’t understand his pain. On repeat.”
As I get older, I really stopped caring about being included in entertainment conversations. I’d be a terrible editor now because I’d want to review a “Super Mario Galaxy” album a piano trio from Australia did. Back in the day, a random band might friend me on Myspace and I’d jump at the chance to review their album in the paper. It’d be so exciting. A secret new group that I need to tell the world about. But today, I can discover a hundred new artists tonight because of Youtube recommendations.
In the classic game “Metal Gear Solid 2,” you’re eventually told that we’re going to be bombarded by endless information. All sorts of data, and we can pick and choose what we decide to be true. “No one is invalidated, but nobody is right.” And then computers will tell me what to read? I just turned 16 and had an AOL account in 2002, so none of this made sense but it sounded scary. “In the current, digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible.” Is this article you’re reading right now… is this what MGS2 warned about?
Maybe. Or maybe instead of television stations choosing what we watch, we just have an algorithm now.
It’s not that different, is it?
We have so much to choose from to entertain us. But among it all, we also have the incredible opportunity to create.
I have a Youtube channel of guitar covers (Chris LT. Like, share, subscribe!) My work is on the internet, I play in cafes, and I have albums on streaming services (and physical CD’s, of course). I follow musicians from all over the world, I follow artists on Instagram doing amazing work. You can make a movie and distribute it easily, or make a Youtube channel about making cookies, or create a video game and upload it for anyone to play.
It’s really cool.
It’s been nearly twenty years since I’ve written anything for the Xavierite, and it’s nice to be back for a day. I don’t know if Sunday press nights until 3am are still a thing, but I encourage anyone interested in the paper or the radio to join up. You’ll make friends and create memories that can last for almost twenty years, at least!
Written by: Chris Lichosyt