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I’ve had Super Mario Galaxy for a little less than a week, and so far it’s been pretty much everything I hoped it would be. There are still times that I can’t get used to walking around on the bottom of planets, but that’s a small detail. In almost every respect it has been totally awesome. I’ve picked up about 35 stars so far, so I’m a little bit more than a quarter of the way through everything. Despite her reluctance, I even got Amber to help me a little bit with the co-star mode.

The game is one of the best looking I’ve seen on Wii. The art style is very well done and the game has an unrivaled level of polish. This just goes to show that those other developers releasing games that look like ass aren’t trying very hard. Perhaps they’re working too hard trying to figure out more ways to waggle the controller? It’s kind of sad.

So I haven’t really been paying too much attention to this writers’ strike thing up to this point, but I guess I really should be. For one, a bunch of shows I like to watch are affected. The premiere of 24 has been indefinitely delayed because FOX wants the season to air uninterrupted. Family Guy has one finished episode, and a whole bunch of unfinished ones; since Seth MacFarlane is walking a picket line in LA, there’s a good chance they’ll stay that way for a while. The next season of Lost is only half finished. Jon Stewart announced on last Thursday’s Daily Show that they wouldn’t be on the air this week. I’m sure the list goes on.

Now the second reason I should care. A big part of why the writers are striking has to do with “new media” a.k.a. the internet. With all kinds of content showing up on line (paid and free) there’s some money involved. The writers don’t feel like they’re getting any benefit from this new stuff and they want their share. This is the kind of discussion I find interesting.

The problem is I don’t know which side I come down on. On the one hand, I understand why the writers might want a piece of the new media pie, and I would even say they are probably entitled to their cut. However, I think they may be grossly overestimating how much money studios and producers are actually making, especially with many networks now offering shows online for free with minimal to no commercials. At the same time, NBC was one instance of a network seemingly doing well selling the shows you can watch for free on TV. Then they go get greedy and pull away from what seemed to be a successful partnership with Apple selling shows on iTunes and what are they making now? C’mon people - get it figured out and stop punishing your audience by keeping their favorite shows off the air.

My Chemical Romance - Dead!

This is apparently my newest nickname, bestowed upon me by my sister. Although I guess it could be worse…

I was going to link to her blog, but it’s been over 6 months since her last post. What a bum.