Dude, I've changed.

As I struggle to type this on my phone to get these thoughts to digital paper, I sit and realize that my forced evolution in the last year has changed many things that I did not initially realize.

 I posted a status update on Facebook regarding my current state at San Diego comic-con:

"Comic-con, it's not you. It's me. I got old"

That statement rattled in my brain as I lay here on my air mattress in my hotel room. What really had changed in my head that should make this theoretical "nerd nirvana" not so anymore.

The first thing is that after wrecking my car on November and having to purchase my pretty new blue one (along with the exorbitant increase in my insurance rate) I really had to readjust my spending. In particular the amount of money I spent on frivolous shit. I would recklessly buy DVDs/blu-rays every week and buy games that would never see the light of day in any of my systems because I foolishly thought "one day in the future, I will have time to consume all of this when I really do 'grow up'"

That very fallacy in my head had to be crushed if I was to move forward on my new financial struggle of new debt piling on top of old debt. So I have been resolute in restricting said spending, yes I still allow a few things past the goalie so to speak, but overall the budget has been more balanced than in the past of my epic deficit spending.

The reason of this tale is the reason I came to the conclusion of my current displeasure of con. The very first thing I thought as I first burst through the doors of the convention center into the show floor was, "I really don't need any of the shit they are selling here"

Seriously. I walked by all the exclusives and trade paperbacks, the toys and art. What would I do with this if I bought it? I look back at all the shit I already own and think, "what the fuck is wrong with me? I would be out of debt if I had not gotten so much crap"

Don't misunderstand me, there are many things I do NOT regret. My comic books for example are something that I do treasure dearly, not only for their content bit their ability to take me back to that time I bought them and reminisce about the past.

But overall, I think of all the random things I have collected over the years of my misspent youth and I cringe at my irresponsibility. Time has brought me a harrowing vision of the future and what I have done to damage it.

This convention now represents what I have been trying to escape for the past 6 months.

Spending on wants instead of needs.

This is the very reason I know that I am the problem and not the con. The con is still what it's supposed to be. I am just not the person that I was before. Older and weary now. It's not sad, it is just a grim reality that I need to accept.

-Dre

Return of the Dre.... Again

Soooo. Yeah I'm here again. I cannot post on a regular basis. This has been proven time and again over the course of the past 3 years.

The only thing that can rouse me from my writing slumber is sadly some form of nerdrage or annoyance. Obviously this has occurred.

Yesterday marked the release of the Star Wars edition of the Xbox 360, another exploitation of a long beloved property that nerds/geeks will hand over their hard earned cash for. This blatant exploration is shockingly NOT what brings me here today.

It's the annoying reaction of said Star Wars fans to the proliferation of SW merch that bothers me. The constant harping about how their childhood is being ruined or "raped" (which is an obvious tasteless overstatement). Maybe I'm just getting old but all this bitching over this kind of nonsense is annoying.

Yeah, you heard me. I don't care anymore. I am tired of people thinking that a reboot or a revamp has somehow erased or removed the happy memories of what you liked of the original property, be it Star Wars, Transformers or the current target of hate: the revamp of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, the new stuff is CRAP. The quality of many of the new things is very questionable and that is something I will not defend. BUT it's existence does not make history GO AWAY! That stuff you loved is still around!

You DO NOT need to buy or watch the new crap! IGNORE IT! Instead of giving this crap attention just let it go away! Not saying anything at all will do much more damage than making some sort of protest or angry campaign against it. Vote with your wallet! Don't go see the movie, don't buy the merch and let it fail on its own.

Do not let it consume you! Bitching and whineing about it means that the "enemy" has "won"! They are in your head and that was their goal. You complain about it to everyone you know and one of those people may want to see it for themselves to see if you were right. You just gave then free advertising.

Sometimes I think Hollywood and other forms of media are doing this shit on purpose. "What dedicated group of fans can we piss off to create buzz about something? " Look at the transformers movie franchise, each has been worse than the next, yet droves of people are going to see it regardless of the quality. They recycle and reboot shit because it somehow makes money!

Back to my original point. Look at the smart move by Microsoft and Lucasarts. They slap an R2-d2 paint job on an Xbox and string together a bunch of star wars motion games and all the fans, WHILE BITCHING ABOUT IT, go out and buy these things, even if they already have one.

They do this to us for one reason and one reason only, because they can.