As I got home form work, I did one of those little things I normally do--hopping onto IGN, Gamesradar and/or Gamepro to see what is new in the magical land of gaming. Surely enough, I saw on Gamepro the one thing that not everyone thought would see coming. No, it's not so much Rock Band 3 but what it will do that will game music gaming forever. It isn't the Keytar, or the triple voicings you can do with your friends with three microphones. It isn't even the drumset getting expanded to assemble much like a real drum kit. The guitar. The new controller. It has strings. All six of them. With the new Pro Mode, you'll be forced to play like a real guitarist. You'll be forced to play drums like a real drummer. Five-piece kit with cymbals. Just to entertain the horror of trying to get through a song on guitar in Pro mode, Crazy Train by Ozzy will be in the game. You read correctly. Once you're bored with expert mode and you want something to challenge you, in Pro mode, you'll have to play like Randy Rhoads. Guitar solo and rhythm included.
Ever since I got into Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the one thing I felt would really create a sense of awesomeness would be to play it as though it were the real deal. Crazy enough, Guitar Hero II and III are monumental in terms of how I write songs these days. This is plain bananas, as Larry would say. This will separate the men from the boys. I think this will be the source of inspiration for a new generation of guitarists. Guitar Hero 1-5 and Rock Band 1 & 2 have nothing on Rock Band 3. I'd like to see what Activision will pull in favor of Guitar Hero 6 now.
I remember having a conversation with Melissa and her dad about sacraments, religion, spirituality and whatnot. While I did not delve into too much, it made me really remember what the Bible tells me about what being a Christian's all about. Love. Self-sacrificing, looking out for one another, familial, no-nonsense type of love. I think at some point, a whole flock of Christians have been swimming into rules, regulations, dogmas, politics and traditions to the very extent that a lot of them live for and represent anything but Christ. Many have strayed from that core principal, the very core of the Church's life. You can destroy all the church buildings on this planet. I personally could give two craps less. That doesn't mean God's been killed. If the Earth is God's footstool, why do we act as though the church building is his limit? It really makes me question how much faith do Christians really have in their God, that they limit him to only one location. As I read once in one of Frank Viola's books, we're probably walking past the true organic body of Christ. We've probably walked past the real Christians and not realized it just because they don't speak Christianese nor appear like your average lawyer and Wall St. stock buyer.
One thing that makes me realize this even more is the fact that up there, in Heaven, since June 12, 2008, my sister Bernice is up there, having the time of her life. To the average, self-righteous, penguin-suited Christian, her soul wouldn't make it to the gate. She dressed like a hip J-Pop/Rock fan, read funny books, watched anime with me and damn it, she was learning Back in Black by AC/DC. Yet in all of that, this was a young girl that, in spite of her rough situation, she still had some faith in God. It may have been the size of mustard seed, who knows. She made it past the gate. She showed a heck of a lot more Christ-resembling attitude than a lot of Christians I've known over the years. For those who never bothered reading the lyrics, Back in Black is about someone being let loose and given a second chance right when they were about to get hung. Hence the lyrics, "Let loose from the noose".
These days, I find myself resting, keeping my head up and living life, if only one breath at a time. Some things just don't matter-- what you look like, your favorite pastime (so long as it doesn't result in self-harm or the harm of others), favorite song, favorite book. The only thing that matters is the core of everything that embodies who, what, where, why and how you are. So what's in your core?
No comments:
Post a Comment