Monday, April 27, 2015

Op-Ed: Little Green Men in the West Desert

Little Green Men in the West Desert.

Recently I was reading an article in a local entertainment magazine which had an eye-catching front cover design and featured the phrase "Utah's Area 51."  OK, so it wasn't too recently, as I had not updated my blog in some time when I read that, and this was back while I was still attending college.  So at least a couple years have passed.  But in interstellar time, that's nothing at all!  Therefore, I'll stick with my "recently" claim and go from there. 

The article in question spoke of how there are off-limits areas in the Utah West Desert, out past the city of Tooele (pronounced 'too-ill-uh,' and not 'tool-ee'), where secret things take place.  For those of you not in the know, the region being discussed is a fairly vast and sparsely populated piece of real estate that stretches from the shores of the Great Salt Lake outward into the state of Nevada.  My own personal experience with it is limited to the occasional excursion out to central California via US Interstate 80, heading west for a fourteen-ish hour drive.  Now I am given to understand that some folk go this stretch of highway out to Wendover Nevada in order to gamble.  From my few forays through that town, I'd never have known that it held anything more exciting than a gas station and a burger joint or two (and just to make you aware, thinly-veiled sarcasm dripped from my typing fingers as I entered that last, as anyone who travels through the Nevada side of Wendover between dusk and dawn can't miss the casino lights glaring across the wide expanse of alkaline desert landscape - you'd have to be either sound-asleep or stone dead to miss them).

The Bonneville Salt Flats, on the way to Wendover.  It's a pretty desolate view for an hour or more.  Then you get to Wendover and the view is only minuscule improved. / Source: Utah.com

Friday, February 13, 2015

Op-Ed: Why I Don't Own a "Current-Gen" Video Game Console.

Why I Don't Own a "Current-Gen" Video Game Console.

OK folks, I'm going nerdy today.  And I do realize that most of my current small audience doesn't care about my interest - or supposed lack thereof - in video games.  So if you are reading this far and are wondering whether this will be a silly "gamer" rant, let me assure you  that the answer is: yes.  Yes it will.

Still there?  Ah, come on.  You can find better things to read, or watch, or do, I'm sure.  But in my opinion, the chances of that better thing you'll be doing being a modern video game...  not too great, in my opinion. 

This whole rant of mine actually has its genesis back in 2012.  Perhaps you've noticed that my blog has languished in obscurity for awhile.  Well to be fair, greater obscurity than when I actually post to it, I mean.  I've been otherwise occupied with life for awhile.  But this doesn't mean I haven't been reading, writing, or most especially - thinking.

The article that first spurred me to write this Op-Ed about video games was found on Wired.com.  The article's title: "Video Games Can't Afford to Cost This Much."  The graphic above comes from that article, and shows the average video game budget since the business took off in the early '70s. / Source: Wired.com/Elisabeth Caren