The Book I am currently reading is Sir Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. It was originally published in London in 1902 from which it made 150000 shillings. It was originally made into a movie in 1939, later in 1959, and most recently in 2002. So far I am enjoying reading the book. While the prose is certainly complex at parts, it is not too hard to understand. The plot is the main reason I like the book because there is a ubiquitous air of mystery and it is fun to see all the details Sherlock Holmes notices and how he is able to construct them to form elaborate ideas and schemes. I'd rate this above most books I've read in school, although I wouldn't say it is my favorite. When asked if we can learn just as much about writing from reading a blockbuster bestseller like The Hound of the Baskervilles as opposed to "classic" novels. Despite the fact that bestsellers often make more money and are commercialized than "classic" novels, it would be a grave mistake to assume that little could be learned from them. At the very least a writer can learn how to write a book that appeals to the masses. But more than that, at least regarding books like The Hound of the Baskervilles, your skill and sophistication as a writer, as well as your reading strength can greatly improve too, just like reading a "classic" book, sometimes not as much, but oftentimes about the same.

Captain Underpants - The Most Abhorrent Book of Our Time?

Did you know that Captain Underpants is one of the most banned books of the 21st century, even more than Fifty Shades of Grey. If you didn't know, the Captain Underpants series was written by and illustrated by Dav Pilkey from 1997 to 2015. The reason it was banned, according to businessinsider.com  was for its "offensive language", "partial nudity", "violence", "misbehavior", and "blackmail/threats." I think that these points should be disregarded because, for starters, the content is not as serious as the titles suggest (ie. "offensive language" but the worst word in the books are poopy) and every aspect of the book is used to create a comedic effect and is not meant to, nor could it, be taken seriously. Furthermore, shielding kids from "offensive" words like poopy is not only ridiculous, but in fact this is terrible parenting, as this is not a healthy way to raise a child for the real world, where much harsher words and actions are inflicted, and not only that, but you are stopping your child from getting into and enjoying reading, which in itself is a feat of despicable parenting.

Favorite Book of All Time

When I heard we were asked to write about a favorite book we've read, my mind immediately went to The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedic science fiction novel written by Douglas Adams. While reading the book I found myself laughing out loud at certain parts as well as in deep thought and speculation in others. Overall, I would greatly recommend reading this book, especially if you like aliens, science, and comedy. 

Video Games - Good or Bad?

Anita Sarkeesian released a YouTube video titled "Damsel in Distress: Part 1 - Tropes vs Women in Video Games" (which I would recommend watching, if only for the amount of buzz surrounding it.) This video sparked enormous controversy in the gaming world as it called to question the misogynistic and violent nature of many video games. The main point in the video is that a lot of video games undermine the power of women, for example putting them in the role of damsel in distress, in order to create objects for the "strong" male character to save and claim upon victory. Sarkeesian goes on to say that these misogynistic representations of women have real world consequences as men now feel superior to women who also feel a new sense of inferiority.

Personally, I think that the misogynistic nature of games does not create a misogynistic society, perhaps reinforces and certainly reflects that society, but rather misogynistic games are merely a product of a misogynistic society. In all honesty, any dislike for women that is produced from video games is created ten fold by women who complain about misogynistic aspects of those games. In regards to video games as a whole, some may claim that violent video games lead to violent tendencies, while supporters say that they inspire creative qualities in kids, but I find that both of these arguments deal with insignificant subtleties and that for those who really wanted to effectively attack video games, you could criticize their addictiveness and why that's bad. But here's my counter: fuck off, I need something to make this shitty existence more enjoyable. 

Uh Video Games

In all honesty, I don't think I've ever been shocked by a video game, song, or TV show for it's violence, racism/cultural insensitivity, or misogyny. Call me desensitized, but I am only shocked by things that actually directly reflect the writers views, so some news outlets or YouTube videos, or perhaps an unsuccessful joke, but I find that most games, music, and TV shows fail to do this. Part of the reason why I am yet to be significantly offended by such things is perhaps because I haven't watched/listened to the most controversial video games, songs, and TV shows. I think that almost any joke is good if it is funny enough and that almost any joke will offend someone or another.

Games and media are made with one purpose, to entertain, while making profit of course. Part of this entertainment requires controversial images and representations to be presented. Personally, I disagree with calling video games sexist by portraying women with "unrealistic proportions." This is simply because I find that for just as many unproportional women in video games, there are just as many overly muscly men. If anything these representations of men and women alike only cause desire for a healthier and more fit body. Now I could go into a whole argument countering myself but I'm not going to because I like video games.

I guess one final note is that any complaints people have with video games should be directed at the inner workings of society and not the games themselves. For it is us as a culture that designs and determines the acceptability of all video games.