Distilled alcohol (rum and later whiskey) served a vital function in the agrarian economy of the pre-Civil War United States. The virgin soil west of the Appalachian Mountains gave farmers crop yields four times what could be expected from the poor soil of the east coast. However, the bountiful yield of the American West presented its own problems. Farmers grew more than they and their families could ever hope to consume in a year, and, cut off from trade with the east by the Appalachians, were unable to ship their products to a more profitable market. Grain farmers could, however, convert surplus grain into distilled spirits, thereby multiplying the value of their crop yields. Spirits, unlike grain, became more valuable with age and could remain profitable even after the long haul across the Appalachians to the eastern markets.

hi wedge55!
(vector_black is distilled)

His comments are gone… I never even had the chance to properly break them.

mourn.

public sympathy for me.

(vector_black has eye)

I have a feeling this is going to be long, and if all goes well, rambling. So bear (sober) with me, kids.

Final Fantasy VIII sucks. There, I said it. Most people take this as fact, often following the statement with something along of the lines of “BUTT FFVII ROXXX OMG CLOUD,” and while I certainly don’t agree with the second statement (I try not to play games that make me want to die), I once proudly stood defiant in the face of the first. That is, until I got the crazy notion of playing Final Fantasy VIII for twelve hours, from ten at night until ten the next morning, a couple Saturdays ago, vector_black in tow. I scored the final blow against Ifrit long after my fond memories of a Final Fantasy game which dared to go against the series’ norms had been completely torn to shreds by the game’s unbearable suck. Less than an hour of playtime had quickly transformed what I had believed to be my favorite Final Fantasy game into my most hated entry in the series. Other than VII, that is. And II.

Thankfully, Final Fantasy IX was quick to not only hold up to my equally fond memories of hours battling against evil queens and final bosses introduced three seconds before being forced to fight them. If anything, the game’s better than I remember it. Or maybe I just like crystals coming back more than I like men plunging their mighty souls into battle. Either way, the game’s fantastic dialogue, light hearted, upbeat storyline, and completely likeable battle system make me smile. Few games make me smile.

As with any sane person, my immediate reaction was to jump on my PC, boot up ZSNES, and start a new game of Final Fantasy VI. I have never played Final Fantasy VI beyond the first boss fight. However, after watching those three magic mech things (one italicized word per paragraph k thx) strut their stuff over the frozen tundra of whereverthehell, I then jumped once more, this time landing at eBay, and quickly bought myself a copy of Final Fantasy III (OR SO THE CARTRIDGE SAYS WTF).

TRANSITION!

I spend a lot more time playing through my library of old games than I do playing new ones. In a perfect world, I ‘d like to purchase a single new video game a month and spend a good week or two playing through it. Then I’d like to spend those next two weeks revisiting several games which I feel need revisiting, the Turok 3s and Hexens Symphony of the Nights and Secret of Manas of the world. However, this world we live in is far from perfect. I don’t buy a new game every month (though that new James Bond game looks pretty appetizing), and am instead forced (willingly) to repeatedly play through my collection of games. There are certainly worse fates.

However, the order in which I play through the games can best be described as haphazardly random. I rarely finish any of these old games I start. I’ve played through the mortuary of Planescape: Torment half a dozen times in the last year. But none of that is important and those last three sentences should be deleted prior to my uploading this mess. But I know they won’t be. Did you see what I did there? I told myself to delete them, knowing full well that they should be deleted and replaced with something less stupid (we’ve got quotas to fill), but with no intention to do so. In fact, I defiantly told myself so. Then I explained what I did, thinking it could only add to this failed paragraph. It’s like meta-fiction. Except not. Let’s try this again, shall we?

We shall! I am nothing if not a creature of association. You say “System” and I say “Shock.” You say “Ape” and I say “Escape.” You say you have a chemistry midterm on Monday and I say “System Shock.” Again. Sorry, folks, it was the only game I could think of that definitely has some of that newfangled chemistry in it. Double clicking on a bottle labeled “Li” while a research timer counts down next to an image of a monkey’s brain counts as chemistry. I wanted to say Resident Evil, Mel Gibson’s Jesus knows I did, but I just wasn’t certain enough. I’d be a damned fool if I trusted this memory. And I do.

For example! I read through A Clockwork Orange recently and besides finding the violence rather tame and telling my professor I could totally see myself doing exactly what Alex did if I lived in his world right before he explained to the class that it would be totally OK if we found ourselves unable to deal with the horrible acts portrayed in the book and were unable to finish it, the novel also gave me an irresistible urge to play some Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

(Lengthy aside, in case we haven’t had enough of those for one update: If you don’t know why A Clockwork Orange would inspire someone to play Conker’s Bad Fur Day it’s probably because you’ve never seen Kubrick’s film of the same name (A Clockwork Orange, not Conker’s Bad Fur Day) and/or have never played Conker’s Bad Fur Day. In the case of the former, no real loss in the grand scheme of things. In the case of the latter, I like to think of Rare as a very Shiny-esque company which produces an equal number of games that are absolute brilliance and utter garbage. Pro Tip: BFD is not garbage.)

I played myself some BFD, an abbreviation I should have adopted much earlier in this update, and it was good. However, I had hardly finished rolling a giant ball of dung up a hill when I developed a sudden urge to play some Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues (because it’s crap! HAHAHA HA HA ha ha�). Actually, my desire to play JP2:TCC stemmed from a conversation with my roommates concerning whether or not a Jurassic Park 3 did or did not exist. It did. And does. Jurassic Park 2 led to Killer Instinct, where I promptly discovered I am no longer able to perform 50-hit combos with the utmost of ease.

Now, there’s a clearly defined theme running through that haphazard, but organized, disaster which you (assumingly) just read through (parenthetical statement). I could easily state my thesis here, explaining that I view reality through terms and experiences largely defined by the video games I’ve played and that my everyday life experiences inspire me to replay my older, beloved games which in turn inspire me to play my other, but no less beloved, games in an endless cycle of love and loss. But I’d rather leave that up to you. Except I just did. Explain myself, not leave my explaining myself up to you.

The end?

Also: totally not ruining the ending of Marathon Infinity for LeadPipe.

That was either the best update I’ve ever produced or the worst. I sure hope a kindly reader informs me as to which it is.

I wrote an essay on M*A*S*H for a useless English class I’m in. This site has also not been updated for four days. Therefore…

The distinction between high culture and popular culture often blurs, as objects which begin their existence in obscurity become integrated within the popular milieu. Likewise, that which unexpectedly bursts into the popular consciousness can just as easily fade from memory. Few entities which make the transition from popular culture to high culture, or vice versa, rarely shift back, but M*A*S*H, in all its myriad forms, from novels, major motion pictures, and television programs, continually shifts between being a work of popular culture and one of high culture. From an obscure novel to a moderately successful and critically acclaimed movie, and a television show which up until recently had been all but forgotten by the majority of television viewers, M*A*S*H is a work which refuses to die.

Originally published in 1968 to critical acclaim, Dr. Richard Hooker’s semi-autobiographical novel, M*A*S*H, follows the comic exploits of a trio of surgeons drafted into a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. Though the novel initially received positive reviews, and has since been compared to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, the novel was not an immediate commercial success. The absurd humor and social commentary which saturated the book, most of which directly targeted the U.S. military, managed to remain unpopular even during the one of the most politically turbulent periods of American History. Hooker’s attempt to vocalize a nation’s fear and mistrust over the Vietnam War through his highly satirical novel were lost on the general public. As a result, Hooker’s novel was left to drift aimlessly in obscurity, recognized only by critics as a worthwhile text.

Robert Altman’s film adaptation of the novel faired much better, earning $81.6 million dollars and its place as one of the top ten grossing movies of 1970. The film was also nominated for five academy awards, but only managed to secure the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Whereas the novel was unable to break into the mainstream, garnering praise only from critics, the film was quick to secure its place in popular culture, thanks largely to a direct military decree stating that all enlisted men and women were forbidden to see the movie. Most people will go great distances to acquire something they have been told they cannot have, and military personal flocked to the theaters in droves to see Altman’s anti-military, satirical comedy. Although the film quickly integrated M*A*S*H into popular culture, it just as quickly returned the body of work to a high culture-only status, lost to the populace in the shadow of larger war films of the same year such as Patton and Tora! Tora! Tora! Though it occasionally shows up in critics’ top film lists, and holds a place on a shelf in nearly every video store, the movie rarely receives any airtime on television and is remembered and respected as a film classic only by film enthusiasts. The general population is quick to point out other, larger budget, approachable war films along the lines of Apocalypse Now and 1970�s Patton in place of M*A*S*H as fondly remembered wartime narratives.

When the television series of the same name first aired on September 17, 1972, the film had long since faded from popular culture�s memory and was not enough ensure to the program’s success, despite the changes which had been made. In an effort to sanitize the work for a mainstream audience, many of the aspects of the film were downplayed, as the film’s dark comedy was thrown aside for a more traditional, sitcom approach and the lyrics to the opening song, Suicide is Painless, were removed in an attempt to broaden the show�s appeal. However, the series still finished its first season on CBS at 46th in the ratings. It wasn’t until the summer after the series’ first season that M*A*S*H begin to pick up steam, attracting viewers uninterested in other network’s rerun programming. M*A*S*H remained one of the top ten rated programs for nine of its next ten seasons, lasting nearly four times as long as the war on which the series was based, and remaining extremely popular throughout its eleven year run. The series was unquestionably a part of mainstream popular culture, spawning numerous action figures, board and video games, and even its own line of M*A*S*H-themed beer. Besides tie-in merchandise, the series also gave way to several short lived spin-off series, including Dr. Trapper, M.D., W*A*L*T*E*R, and After M*A*S*H, but none of them managed to repeat the success of their parent series.

As the show’s popularity increased, the series began to draw fire for its anti-military sentiment. However, it was this very theme which accounted for much of M*A*S*H’s popularity. As the war in Vietnam drew to a close and public opinion continued to move against the war, M*A*S*H’s anti-war themes struck a cord with viewers, the majority of which were beginning to share, or already shared, these same ideals. For most people, the series’ anti-war stance was not a deterrent to watch, as opposing the war had become an integral part of the popular culture of the time. Even supposedly objective news anchors, including CBS’ own Walker Cronkite, had publicly expressed their objections to the war as Larry Gelbart, one of M*A*S*H’s producers famously asked, “If Walter Cronkite [can] be against the war on the news at 6, then why [can't] we at 8 or 8:30?” The question was a moot point as television viewers sat firmly glued to their television sets. The combination of a cleaner, and much less edgy version of M*A*S*H, in conjecture with the still present, if slightly less offensive, anti-war stance, propelled M*A*S*H into an uncontested position in popular culture. However, as time passed and the Vietnam War, along with the public’s stance against it, became nothing but a memory, the series slowly grew stale, and after 251 episodes CBS finally honorably discharged M*A*S*H.

The series ended on one final high note before drifting back into obscurity. The series’ two-and-a-half hour long finale, titled Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen was viewed by over 125 million Americans, 77% of all television viewers that night. To this day the episode remains the single most watched non-sporting event on television. But as the years passed, and the impact of Vietnam died away, M*A*S*H was again forgotten. Richard Hooker wrote twelve more M*A*S*H novels in an attempt to capitalize on the series’ success, all of which were moderate commercial successes. Ultimately the television series dwindled on in syndication, airing while most American viewers were asleep, remembered by a select few not as a classic television comedy, but as a ground-breaking, innovative, and award winning series with strong political messages. While most television viewers found new enjoyment from shows such as Cheers or The Cosby Show, only a few continued to support and discuss M*A*S*H. With the advent of the Internet, small fan sites began to sprout up across cyberspace as fans found an outlet through which to discuss the finer intellectual points of the series and swap old video recordings of their favorite episodes. While the series was no longer popular, it was far from dead, remaining alive in the hearts and minds of the few loyal fans who saw the series as more than an ordinary sitcom. But just like the wounded soldiers whose lives were so easily saved at the hands of Hawkeye and Trapper, M*A*S*H 4077’s star surgeons, so was M*A*S*H about to receive some much needed resuscitation.

As television writers who watched M*A*S*H in their youth came of age, the series became a popular parody on numerous television programs with younger target audiences. M*A*S*H found parody on successful FOX television shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy, exposing a new generation to the series and reminding viewers who had enjoyed the show of their fond memories of the series. When Twentieth Century FOX released the first season of M*A*S*H on DVD in 2002 as part of a celebration of the show�s thirtieth anniversary, sales soared. The DVD collection remained one of amazon.com’s top ten best selling items for months and even today remains one of the most sought-after items the website offers, managing to remain in the website’s top 3,000 a full two years after its original release. Newer seasons have likewise repeated the first season’s success. While new audiences were able to find relatable content in the series, so were old fans able to experience their favorite moments all over again. However, the political aspects of the show, specifically the series’ strong anti-war sentiment, were no longer the driving aspects of the series’ popularity. Original viewers were able to watch the series for its intrinsic nostalgic value whereas the newer viewers were drawn not to a series which captures their feelings concerning a war most of them know only through history classes, but by the strength of the series’ narratives and characters. With the DVD release M*A*S*H merchandise is quickly making its way back into the mainstream, as mouse pads, trivia games, and non-fiction books concerning the series find their way to consumers. After two decades, M*A*S*H is making a comeback and reintegrating itself back into the popular consciousness.

This entity which has existed as both high culture and popular culture for nearly forty years, continually shifting between the two, is once again returning to the mainstream. How long it will remain there is anyone’s guess, but with FOX releasing two complete seasons on DVD a year, the series will remain a part of popular culture for at least three more years to come. Though it may drift back into obscurity once more as the final season sees release, and become a topic for intellectuals and academics once again, one thing is certain: the multimedia entity which is M*A*S*H will once again work its way back into popular culture. It’s only a matter of time.

I try not to capitalize too much. Proper nouns, sentence beginnings, other thingies — only when I absolutely have to, really. However, I’m always careful to capitalize “I.” I figure that’s allowed since I’m the second most important thing in the universe. What’s the most important thing, you ask?

Why, that would be you.

You are my favorite.

(vector_black reads text)

Hiroshi Yamauchi: “if [the Nintendo DS] succeeds, we rise to the heavens, if it fails, we sink into hell.”

We’ve missed you, questionably-translated old friend.

I don’t want this pen anymore. If I try to hang on to it, I will lose it. And with it will go my mind.
…

You are my favorite.

(vector_black lives the sticky life)

I don’t know what is about the release of a new Metroid game which instills an unfightable desire in me to play through every subsequent game in the series. If I had to guess, I’d say it was excellence. Admittedly, the only other time I’ve done this was two years ago with the release of Prime and Fusion. Then again, that was the only other time I was paying enough attention to even notice the release of a Metroid game other than Super Metroid. As always, it’s you poor suckers that have to deal with this.

Though I’m fighting the urge to replay Prime and Fusion until after I finish my second playthrough of Zero Mission, I’m desperately in the mood for a little Super Metroid lovin’. Unfortunately, my Super Nintendo is in Vacaville along with my collection of SNES games. In the mean time, I’ve been making due with watching Red Scarlet’s one hour, 100% Super Metroid playthrough which is lovingly hosted over at Planet Quake. Though he uses his fair share of glitches and exploits (the Mother Brain fight is ridiculously cheap), don’t accuse him of artificially increasing his speed with a little help from ZSNES (though that would have no effect on his overall gametime). The videos are simply fast-forwarded to allow you, the lonely viewer with nothing better to do on Valentine’s Day than watch Metroid speed runs, to watch a one hour playthrough in thirty minutes. The increased speed also helps to make Red Scarlet look infinitely more badass.

While we’re at it, let’s work a few more links into this update. For example, Metroid 2002: lots of crazy videos highlighting sequence breaking, speed running, and a general destruction of the entire Metroid series. Ignore the atrocious site design.