Rock Climbing

During the Thanksgiving break, I had a chance to go rock climbing with my cousins. We went to the Rock Spot Climbing in Lincoln, RI and it was a blast. This was my first time rock climbing and I'd have to admit that it was difficult. The staff was nice and accommodating and took their time teaching beginners the proper technique. When I first walked in, the sight of all the rock walls and pegs were sort of overwhelming but the feeling soon passed as I started signing the waiver form in anticipation of tackling my first climb. The daily rates were $24.00 to rent the harness and climbing shoes for the entire day. Although, they do offer special rates for events like “ladies night” where women only have to pay $10 for the same equipment rental.

After signing the waiver form, they gave my equipment and I was off. I had to get used to the harness as it tended to ride up and found the climbing shoes a bit uncomfortable to walk in. When climbing there's usually a spotter or belay person. This person supports the climber with a rope on a pulley system to prevent the climber from injury during a slip or fall. The Rock Spot Climbing had another option for solo climbers, they could rig up to an auto belay system that automatically supports the climbing and descends them gradually during a fall. The pegs on the rock walls are color coded and rated for difficulty. The higher the number means the harder the climbing route. Beginners normally start on a rating of 5.2, which means there are more secure holdings for the climbing and an easier climbing path. Each rock wall have many grip holdings on them and the challenge is staying on the color coded path and not using grip holdings of another color.

I consider myself an athletic person and I'm confident in my ability to handle situations that require physical strength. Rock climbing is harder than I though! At first I relied mainly on my upper body strength and quickly realized the amount of strain that was put on my fingers. In my first run, I managed to complete the 5.5 route easily and was running off the high of accomplishment and literally the high of being that high off the ground. I decided to try the 5.8 route with a protruding ledge. I literally spent 2 hours trying to complete this route, I must of slipped and fell about 10 times. At this point I realized the addition of the sport and understood why people liked to rock climb. I used to think that rock climbing was a boring activity and couldn't see how people enjoyed it, but that changed as I stared at the 5.8 route. I was frustrated and annoyed that this wall was beating me so I took a few minutes to evaluate the route.

As I mentioned earlier, I relied mostly on my upper body. After watching a few experienced climbers, I noticed that they used more of their lower body to push upwards and used their upper body to keep themselves balanced. I gave my forearms a rest and when it felt better I returned to the 5.8 route, this time with a new game plan. Prior to my new found knowledge, I kept falling at a pivotal point where there's a protruding ledge halfway up the route. Usually at this point, my forearms are so exhausted that I don't have the strength to advance up the ledge. This time I took my time, using my legs to primarily push myself up and only using my arms to balance myself. This time around, I had enough strength reserved to make it past the ledge and eventually made it to the top.

This was probably one of the hardest and most demanding sport I've participated in. The stress on my fingers and forearms is something I'm not used to and I found this frustrating but I would imagine with conditioning that frustration would pass. I give tremendous credit to these climbers that go free climbing without a support rope. This is a difficult sport and I look forward to going again. The feeling of accomplishment is great and the act itself is a great workout. It's a good activity to incorporate into your workout routines.

Rock Spot Climbing

Rock Climbing Workout Conditioning

Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing Rating

Tips and Techniques

Thanksgiving Stuff

It's that time again, Thanksgiving is less than a week away. As with most Americans, I look forward to this holiday because it's a day spent with family members. I'm going to be honest, I actually look forward more for the food then my family, I mean, I see them everyday and only get this much variety of food a few times a year. All kidding aside, my family usually invites extended family members so I'm actually looking forward to that. There's usually 20 family members that meet and everyone brings something different. My aunt plans to bring over a fried turkey, I've had my first fried turkey while in Seattle on Thanksgiving vacation a few years ago. It was delicious, more specifically, it was moist. Another aunt plans to bring a glazed honey ham and butternut squash. Her butternut squash runs out quickly so it's wise to always grab some on your first plate. Most of the food fare are the usual ones in most American homes consisting of turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry and gravy but one of the benefits of having so many people is that they each bring something different. It's also a good way to catch up with everyone and just more enjoyable with a full house. After the smorgasbord, the men usually claim the basement where we relax watching football and taking naps while the women watch television in the living room. Most of them rather not watch football so we retreat to the basement. Along with watching football, I could always remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory being aired. To me it's not Thanksgiving unless, there's family, butternut squash, turkey, football, and Willy Wonka. This year my cousin is making the trip from Brooklyn to be with us for Thanksgiving. She moved to Brooklyn from Seattle earlier this year so this trip to Rhode Island will be a much needed vacation. She's one of three sisters and lives by herself so it'll be nice for her to have a house full of family.

Along with food and family, the next biggest thing about Thanksgiving is the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. Some items are marked so low that it's ridiculous. This years lowest product price are televisions. Best Buy is offering a 42” LCD 1080p Sharp television for $200, granted there's probably only 10 in stock and you'd have to wait in line but if you were in the market for one, it's worth it. This year a few stores are changing the hours of operation as well. Some stores are having a midnight opening for Black Friday instead of opening the next day like they normally do. Best Buy is even taking it a step further and starting their Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving night starting a 10pm. Regardless of when you plan to hit the retail stores, there are plenty of good deals out there. I'm a huge golf fan and play regularly. I go through one glove per season and Dicks Sporting Goods is having a special 3 gloves for $10, which is great seeing that they usually sell for $7.99 each. Blu-rays and DVDs are marked down considerably as well. DVDs are listed for $1 and Blu-ray's for $5. Being a film geek, I play to check out these bins, although the selection is limited. Retailers are trying to make shopping for consumers easier and evidence can be seen as they're changing the hours that they're open. I plan to buy a TV, gloves, and some movies.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite Holidays. In my family we usually rotate where we have the family gatherings and as a kid my aunt usually had it at her house. I love the variety of food and hanging out with my cousins. It's nice to catch up and watch television with them. Another aspect that makes Thanksgiving great is Black Friday and this year if you're looking for a new TV, retailers are offering some phenomenal deals.

Thanksgiving Stories

Fried Turkey

Thanksgiving Recipes

Black Friday Ads

Best Buy Black Friday Ad

First Person Shooters

              Modern Warfare 3 was released this past week and it's highly rated by game reviewers. MW3 is a First Person Shooter and its theme revolves around military combat. As I mentioned in my earlier blog post, I'm a recreational gamer. I only play games every once in awhile and usually play when I'm hanging out with friends. It was at a friend's house that I played Call of Duty for the first time, back then it was Call of Duty: World at World. That game impressed me then and its newest title, MW3, impresses me now.

              The thing that impresses me about these games are their ability to develop agency between player and character. The FPS aspect alone allows the player to see the game world through the eyes of the character. Also, the peripheral view is limited in FPS, this forces the player to be alert of their surrounds. In contrast to 3^rd person view which usually positions the camera just above and behind the character. 3^rd person allows for a wider view and by seeing the character, the subconscious separation between player and character is involuntary. FPS also allows the creation of three dimensions in the game world. The use of space is more developed. Compare this to previous 2D games like Super Mario Bros and the 3D aspect of FPS allows for a more rich experience.

              Another aspect of games that allow agency between player and character is the highly developed narrative. Games allow the creation of not only plot sequences but also creates narratives through the game world. For example, in the game Fallout 3, which is another FPS, we walk into an abandoned school to proceed in the main narrative. As we progress we see dead bodies hanging from the wall. Upon closer inspection we see that there are knives in the eye socket of the corpse and empty bags next to the corpse. Now this is a great example of spacial narratives, the elements that make up the game world conveys a narrative that us separate from the narrative of the game story.

              Today's game technology has advanced greatly from games in the past. The most obvious advancement is in graphics. Developers are able to use programming software to create highly rich game environments. These rich environments take up a lot of storage space and with products like blu-ray discs, these developers can store more on them. Games along with HD televisions are working hand in hand to deliver the best game experience to the players. Games now are available in 1080 and 720 resolutions, delivering the best quality.

              Games are essentially puzzles and the puzzles in today's games are well integrated into the game's story. For example, in MW3, the puzzles are presented to players combat scenarios. Players must figure out the best strategy to advance in the level, in some cases the puzzle element involves the element of time. This makes the puzzle that much more interesting as players must negotiate between time spent over figuring out the best strategy.

             MW3 is a great game, ever since I played Call of Duty: World at War I was hooked on the FPS type games. The ability to connect and feel as if I was actually in the game world impresses me most. Developers integrated story really well into game play and their ability to develop highly rich environmental elements allows player to develop agency. Puzzles in video games come in many forms and range in difficulty according to skill level. These aspects of game play are all evident in game design and it's amazing to see how games have changed over the years, both mechanically and aesthetically.

Modern Warfare 3

Fallout 3

Game Mechanics

First Person Shooter

Game Technology

Reality TV

     There seems to be a lot of reality television shows on now a days. Earlier this week, I came home and turned on the television and Dancing With The Stars was playing. I changed the channel only to find another reality based program called The Sing Off. I changed the channel again, but this time to The History Channel and IRT:Deadliest Roads was airing. I never really noticed it but many programs being aired consist of the reality theme. I tried to think back to the first reality program that I can remember and it seems to be Survivor. I did some researching and found out that the show is on its 23^rd season. I thought about this a little more and now I understand why there are so many of reality programs, profit. Television networks make money by selling advertising commercial space to companies.

     These commercials are only effective if people are watching so television programs get viewer ratings or more specifically a count of how many viewers watch that particular program. If the ratings are high, then networks seek to make more money by creating different variations of the successful program, which creates a cycle. Other networks see the success and copy the program's format which leads to many channels having similar themed programs or content homogenization.

     Checking the FIOS program menu it was interesting to see how many programs were reality based, programs like American Pickers, America Restoration, Pawn Stars, Swamp People, Kate Plus 8, Jersey Shore, The Braxtons, just to name a few. I thought about why people like watching these kinds of program and I think that people in general are voyeuristic, we gain pleasure from viewing others. Reality TV allows us the ability to view people in a “raw” state. The actions supposedly are not scripted so it appeals to viewers that want a form of escapism after a long day, viewers find pleasure in living life through a reality show personality.

     Reality programming also allows the viewer to constantly evaluate and compare their lives based on the conflicts in the programming. It's funny how many people deny watching reality shows but someone's watching them cause there's so many of them on air. These reality personalities are now considered celebrities and people get annoyed by the stupid things they do, like the Kim Kardashian divorce. I personally, like informative reality shows like America Pickers and Swamp People but I can't stand shows like The Jersey Shore and The Real World. I feel that the The Jersey Shore and The Real World offer nothing good to the viewer. Viewers that like these shows often internalize the messages these shows send which causes a problem for societal values. I can see evidence as many students are referring to women as “grenades”. What annoys me most is that people like Kate Gosselin and Kim Kardashian develop these huge egos which to a certain extent sends a message to viewers that their actions are okay.

     We live in a capitalistic society, so the profit motive influences decisions made about programming content. Right now it seems as reality based programs are getting one of the highest ratings so the vicious cycle continues. Viewers, as a whole, find excitement in watching these shows and until we find more pleasure from information based programs we are at the mercy of the reality shows.

Reality TV

Rating System

Survivor

Kim Kardashian Divorce

Why Reality?