After much discussion and rallying from both sides of the issue, the Boy Scouts of America have finally voted to lift the organization’s ban on admitting gay scouts. Finally, boys who are gay will no longer be under threat of being kicked out of the organization or having their achievements stripped away.

Sadly, this announcement comes with a number of conditions that still marginalizes the gay and bisexual scouting community.

Most prominently while the ban on gay scouts has been lifted the ban on gay scout leaders hasn’t, meaning that there’s a timer on a person’s acceptance in the organization. The BSA is, quite literally, punishing the kids who love scouting enough to become a leader in the organization by forcing them to stay in the closet indefinitely.

In addition to this, scouts are prohibited from various things like, say, wearing their uniforms to LGBTQ pride events under the guise that scouts don’t “show support for any social or political position,” despite the fact that scouts constantly show support for a variety of political and social positions both as individuals, troops, and as an organization. If they didn’t then you wouldn’t see scouts at parades, you wouldn’t see them protesting laws, and they wouldn’t have had to lift a ban on gay scouts.

On the legal side of things, the BSA should be required to change its policies by law, seeing as the organization receives multiple benefits from the United States government. They should, by now, be admitting all LGBTQ scouts as well as women and atheists, seeing as that’s what is legally required. You know, because of those whole non-discrimination laws that affect organizations receiving government benefits?

The Scouts always seem to get the blind eye from the government, however, meaning the ethical argument is the only one that holds any weight in the organization. And, ethically, it’s only right to stop the discrimination. The organization, though religious, is not focused on religious doctrine and conviction outside of having a few words about god in their Oath and Law and receiving support and funds from religious groups.

Rather, the point of Scouting is to develop leadership skills and personal strength, neither of which is exclusive to religion or dependent on sexual orientation, gender, or creed. Why would an organization prevent children from joining their organization for such superfluous reasons when those reasons aren’t the central point?

Though it’s great the BSA has taken the first step toward greater equality, they still have so far to go. Maybe as time goes on they can take a hint from the Girl Scouts and enter the generation of acceptance. One can only hope.

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And that’s not a bad thing necessarily. It’s just…a thing. While some acts can release an album every few years and keep their fans happy, with their hits lasting for many, many years after their initial release, Daft Punk just can’t. I mean, how many times have you gone to put Technologic or Around the World back on your iPod?

In spite of this, however, the duo has enjoyed continued success, releasing albums in spurts while often accompanying them with a movie and a lot of hype. And now, in 2013, they’ve done just that. Following the success of their Tron: Legacy score, Daft Punk has released their latest studio effort, entitled Random Access Memories. Does it live up to the hype?

Daft Punk – Random Access Memories – MSRP $14.99

To be honest, it really doesn’t. Right from its opening track, Random Access Memories doesn’t feel at all like the Daft Punk we’ve come to know and love. While the songs are certainly groovy, they contain hardly any of the digital funk that makes the duo unique. Even their lead single Get Lucky doesn’t sound electronic at all until over halfway through, and that lasts for only a tiny fraction of the whole song.

The album just never feels like any of their older efforts, which is more than a little disappointing. Artists do change, however, and even if it feels a little deceitful, sometimes it’s for the best. That’s just not the case here.

The biggest problem with Random Access Memories is that it is excessively boring and never really captures your attention. Sure it sounds nice, but it’s the type of nice that only works as background music, with each song bleeding together into an bland mish-mash of groovy sounds. It’s the perfect Daft Punk album to play in the elevator of a hotel, but its uses past that are minimal.

Promotional Art for the Album and It’s Lead Single Get Lucky

The album also puts a strong focus on guest vocals which, surprisingly, works to its disadvantage. The vocals on every song just feel unenthused and uncreative and, as such, they have no lasting effect. There’s nothing interesting or powerful about them, they’re just there.

Random Access Memories just isn’t a compelling album. Nothing stands out and nothing is really worth listening to. Is it bad? No, absolutely not, the songs are very listenable and are fine in the background. The issue is that they shouldn’t be in the background. They should be center stage, entrancing us with the classic Daft Punk charm that made singles like One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger so great.

The truth of the matter is that Random Access Memories doesn’t work because it tried something new. Should it discourage other artists from changing? Not at all. But it should encourage Daft Punk to go back to what made them great.

Final Thoughts

Random Access Memories is a boring album filled with songs that feel uninspired and lack the sound that the electronic duo is famous for. It may be great for an elevator, but it doesn’t work as a Daft Punk album.  There are no standout tracks.

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After becoming a YouTube partner and registering their copyrights on the website’s database, Nintendo began flagging content containing certain amounts of recognizable footage from Nintendo properties. But instead of forcing the video creators to take their work down, a move Sega pulled previously regarding some of their classic titles, Nintendo opted to place ads on the videos in question, meaning that Nintendo would make money on any advertisements playing before, during, and after the video in question.

While at first this may seem like a cut-and-dry case of a company gaining revenue for someone using their content in a piece of media, it gets quite a bit more complicated for one simple reason: the fact that Nintendo gains all the revenue on the flagged video that could or would have gone to the video’s creator. And yes, it sadly only gets more confusing from there.

Wait, So WHO Gets To Make Money On These Videos?

Andre Segers is a video game journalist. He used to be a writer for IGN and GameSpot and since then has gone on to create and head GameXplain, a website dedicated primarily to covering Nintendo titles. And, though some coverage comes from simply spreading Nintendo-published content, the bulk of Segers’ work involves something a little bit different.

Unlike most gaming journalists, Segers makes a point of creating a variety of content for the site, from reviews and videos sharing his and other GameXplainers’ opinions on recent gaming news to full trailer analyses, videos showing off interesting, little-known facts about games and even full gaming guides, all edited to be as easily consumable as possible.

Thanks in no small part to the high quality of his content and the steady schedule he maintains, Segers has been able to turn his passion for gaming into a full-time, independent profession. And GameXplain is not a stand-alone case.

It’s Not Even Debatable, There’s a Lot of Effort Poured Into GameXplain

Many YouTube content creators, from gaming commentators like ChuggaaConroy and Josh Jepson to critics like The Completionist and PeanutButterGamer and many others in-between have been able to turn their love for games into a way to make at least some amount of money, with many being able to turn their video creation into their primary, or only, job.

And for many of these people Nintendo games have provided a huge basis for their content over the years. Whether it be them reviewing, playing, examining, or simply talking about The Big N’s titles, Nintendo’s long history, nostalgic content, and continued dominance in the gaming market has made them a prime choice to make videos about.

With their recent move of flagging videos, Nintendo has made a choice that puts both content creators and the content itself in jeopardy, and many people seem to be perfectly fine with this. Nintendo doesn’t own gaming videos, however, and this move may end up costing everybody in the long-run.

NormalBoots, a Former Website Dedicated to Quality Gaming-Based Video Content

Legally speaking it’s hard to say if Nintendo is in the clear or not. While YouTube’s terms of service do give Nintendo the right to flag content, it doesn’t differentiate between videos that are using Nintendo footage legally and videos that aren’t.

Thanks to the United States’ Fair Use doctrine, a certain amount of media footage may be used without the copyright holder’s express permission for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, and teaching, among other things. Though this acts as an exception to the law and not an explicit privilege, there is enough definition to its wording that it should provide enough legal proof for a variety of gaming-related content on YouTube.

If that wasn’t enough, however, gaming also has a special place in legal discourse thanks to its nature of being interactive. Unlike a film or television show, footage of a video game is, by its design, a transformative work. The experience of playing will be different for everybody and, as such, individual playthroughs of a game are owned by the player. Combine that with the video’s other content, such as a Let’s Plays commentary or a review’s…well, review, and it’s clear that Nintendo doesn’t have a right to take all of the video’s revenue.

Viewers Don’t Own Recordings They Make of The Dark Knight because the Movie Doesn’t Change. They Do Own Their Playthrough of Batman: Arkham Asylum, however, because the Act of Playing Transforms the Work

Despite both legal arguments in the content creator’s favor, however, it is true that legal proceedings on the issue are rough and, should a case on the issue be heard, the courts could come down in support of either party.

Legality isn’t the only argument in support of the YouTuber, however. Aside from providing a large amount of enjoyable content, the videos produced outside of Nintendo’s own media teams benefit the company in distinct ways that could not be replicated by The Big N itself.

Along with promoting Nintendo’s products and building hype for their games, YouTube content created by people who love Nintendo help cultivate a community and commentary about their titles that wouldn’t exist otherwise. YouTubers help create a constant dialogue and pleasantness around the company’s consoles and games that helps sustain Nintendo’s older, more nostalgic fanbase even during major changes within the gaming industry.

Would People Still Be Talking About Older, More Poorly-Recieved Games Like Super Mario Sunshine if it Weren’t for the Large Amount of Great YouTube Content Made About Them?

And Nintendo absolutely realizes this, often sharing videos by people like The Runaway Guys on their social media channels and even enlisting the talents of YouTubers to create videos for the company. They understand the benefit of having quality videos made about their games, but they seem to think that it’s okay to prevent content creators from making any money on the videos in question.

Quality content takes time to make and the best way to reward people who pour a lot of time and effort into making videos about Nintendo is to let them make money off of them. Even if you require a licensing fee or only allow content creators to monetize their videos through a YouTube network, it’s essential that Nintendo allows the people who love your products enough to make videos about them to make some money and, in turn, have even more time and resources to make videos with. It is absolutely an investment worth supporting.

It’s clear to see that Nintendo is at a rocky place financially, with their profits down, the used games market still causing them issues, and their newest video game console not doing nearly as well as their last. However, the answer is not trying to squeeze undeserved money out of their most loyal fans. Nintendo doesn’t own gaming videos on YouTube and, if they continue on this path, they may lose them all together.

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Their work is designed to a high standard and it shows, especially in the older titles in the series that still hold up fantastically well. And as such, unlike most of the disposable hash constantly cluttering up the Top Downloaded section of the App Store, the work of ZeptoLabs have always been a digital breath of fresh air.

And now, after nearly two years of waiting, the company has released the third title in their Cut the Rope series, aptly named Cut the Rope: Time Travel. Does this new game meet the high standards of its predecessors, or has the franchise finally reached its breaking point?

Cut the Rope: Time Travel – MSRP $0.99-$2.99 – Available on Mobile Devices

Cut the Rope: Time Travel follows franchise hero Om Nom as he is transported through time and forced to complete a variety of puzzles themed after different time periods ranging from the Stone Age to the Renaissance.

Fans of the series will be immediately familiar with the simple, addictive gameplay of Cut the Rope: Time Travel, which involves manipulating a variety of objects in order to transport a piece of candy to Om Nom.

This time around, however, you have a second person to feed as well.

In each time period, Om Nom meets an ancestor that must also be fed in order to progress. Despite making the game feel like it’s copying the story of recent PS3 title Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, having a second creature to feed mixes up the series’ gameplay just enough to make the puzzles feel new and fresh, differentiating this title from both games that came before it.

The Ancestor System Makes the Game Feel New and Distinct

Though the game certainly has some fun new mechanics to play around with, especially in the later levels, the real joy of the puzzles this time around comed from using classic Cut the Rope objects like trampolines and rockets to complete the new dual-candy objective. It’s a blast thinking about these familiar mechanics in new ways and, as such, each puzzle holds the player’s interest really well.

The biggest problem with Cut the Rope: Time Travel is that the game isn’t very hard. Even with 90 puzzles to figure out, it’s more than possible to complete the game and collect every star in a little over an hour, with only a few stages providing a legitimate challenge. Though the title is still fun, those seeking something really mind-bending may want to look elsewhere, at least until ZeptoLabs releases some harder level-packs.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a great addition to the franchise that both meets the high standards set by its predecessors and refreshes the gameplay just enough to keep things interesting. Fans of the series should waste no time in picking this title up and newcomers may find the ease of Time Travel a great introduction to the series. ZeptoLabs, you’ve done it again.

Final Thoughts

Though it may be too easy for some people, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a fantastic game that meets the high standards of its predecessors while changing up the gameplay in ways that make it feel fresh. The title is a lot of fun and shouldn’t be skipped.

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The latest game hoping to capitalize on the runner phenomenon is Sonic Dash, a title from Sega that, while initially released at a premium, recently went free-to-play in a move directly mimicking Temple Run. And, like Temple Run, it’s a head-on 3D runner, this time swapping out temples for Green Hill Zones and explorers for the famous blue blur.

Does the game hold water as its own title, however? Or does this runner fall flat as anything but a blatant Sega cash-grab?

Sonic Dash – MSRP $0.00 – Available on Mobile Devices

Paper Mario: Sticker Star – MSRP $39.99 – Available on 3DS

Sonic Dash plays just like any generic 3D runner you can find in the App Store. Players control Sonic’s movement along three straight paths as you jump and duck to avoid enemies and obstacles and collect the game’s form of currency (in this case, the classic Sonic rings).

The game does add a few twists to spice things up, most notably the peril of losing all your rings when hit and the ability to either bank your rings, fill your dash-meter, or change your environment after each stretch of track, but none of these make much of a difference in how the gameplay feels.

Sonic Dash is essentially a median of all the currently available mobile endless runners, taking little chunks of each and combining them into a “new” Sonic game. The whole title was designed to be a cash grab and, seeing how the game originally launched for $2 and currently has lots of microtransactions in its free state, it’s hard to ignore that.

Note: This Is Not Sonic Rush. Sadly.

That doesn’t mean the game is all bad, however. While the gameplay is generic it is still fun, utilizing the best trends in the genre to create levels that are both relaxing and engaging. None of the enemies feel overly stale and because of the game’s achievement system experimentation feels rewarding.

The game’s biggest advantage, however, comes from its many Sonic visual touches. The blue blur’s dynamic environments lend themselves perfectly to the genre and add an extra level of adrenaline to the experience, especially when conquering huge loops or sprinting across winding tracks.

As a whole Sonic Dash doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from its competition. It is a cash-grab and there’s no way around that fact. In spite of this, however, it is still an enjoyable, if generic, title and worth checking out if you need a new endless runner to dig into. It’s just a shame Sega didn’t try harder.

Final Thoughts

Sonic’s first endless runner is a very generic but fun experience worth checking out if you can ignore how blatant of a cash-grab it is.

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According to information from Ellen and director Andrew Stanton, the movie will feature returns from many characters, including Nemo, Marlin, and the tank gang, while the story will take place a year after the original and follow Ellen’s character Dory as she reconnects with lost family.

Finding Dory is set to be released in late 2015 and, while many people are quite excited about the project, I have sadly found nothing but reason to be concerned about this upcoming Pixar sequel.

The Official Confirmation from Ellen

Pixar has had a problem recently with two things: their sequels and the tonal consistency of their films.

For sequels, despite the fact that many people enjoyed it, Toy Story 3 didn’t receive the praise that its predecessors did, becoming the only film in the trilogy to receive negative critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. An even better example can be seen in Cars 2, a film considered so bad that it was panned harshly despite following what many considered to be Pixar’s weakest film up to that point.

And as far as the latter goes, just about all of their films following Ratatouille have had an issue in keeping a consistent tone throughout. Wall-E had a tone break upon his arrival on the Axiom about halfway through the film, Toy Story 3 kept changing from a warm-hearted family comedy to a schlockfest every time the characters entered the daycare center, and Up, the worst offender of the bunch, transformed itself from the most touching love story of the year into a children’s comedy within the first 30 minutes. Some people even feel Brave, their most recent film, changed its tune midway through the movie.

What does this have to do with Finding Dory, however? Well, more than it might seem on the surface.

Why Couldn’t All of Up Be Like This?

At least from my perspective, the reason Cars 2 was as bad as it was stems from one sole mistake: making Mater, the goofy sidekick from the first movie, the lead. And because Mater was put in the spotlight for the whole time, his schtick became a lot harder to swallow. He went from being a lovable goof to an annoying idiot in a move that mimicked when Jack Sparrow was made the pirates in Pirates 4 (instead of a very large supporting character to Orlando Bloom’s character), albeit with more resulting damage.

It may seem obvious to make the supporting character everyone loves the most in a movie the lead in the sequel, but when their entire original purpose was to play off someone else’s relatable, dynamic story arc, it often doesn’t work, resulting in a character that either looses their original charm or has their charm pushed up to the point where it becomes insufferable.

Since the focus of Finding Dory is going to be on, obviously, Dory, the film has the potential to fall right into the same trap that Cars 2 did. Dory is a goofball to the core of her design, right down to being essentially made for Ellen and, while her character is easier to sympathize with than Mater, it’s hard to see her holding a full film on her own.

Yeeeeeah No

As stated earlier, it’s been confirmed that the film will feature Dory reconnecting with her family, allowing the audience to find out why she was all alone in the sea that day. While I could be wrong, that sound like a topic designed to pull on some heartstrings.

How then are they going to make that work with the comedic Dory as the lead? Will Stanton be able to make it work, or will the film move from comedy to drama in really jarring ways, creating a lack of tonal consistency like in his last movie, Up? The whole premise just sounds like they’re making a movie aimed at kids, hence giving Dory and her humor the center stage, while trying to give it a little gloss of drama to make its lack of “Pixar charm” pass by unnoticed by general audiences.

While I certainly won’t judge the movie until it’s released, I simply can’t get excited for Dory’s new adventure until these worries are put to rest. I’ve been far too disappointed by Pixar’s previous issues with sequels and tone to give a blank approval of the project. Hopefully their upcoming prequel Monsters University will put some of my nerves to rest, but for now I can only hope, wait, and see.

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This intrigue has led me through his first two albums, the simply titled Bastard and Goblin, which both feature outstanding intros that sadly taper off later on, with songs getting less interesting as each album progresses. This isn’t enough to kill the intrigue of Tyler as a character, however, and still paint the story of his therapy sessions with Doctor TC very well.

His new album Wolf promises to wrap up his trilogy of introspective albums as well as experimenting with different, more drug-inspired beats. And, after a long wait, it’s finally been released. So, does it live up to the hype?

Tyler, The Creator – Wolf – MSRP $9.99

It’s immediately apparent just how different Wolf is from Tyler’s last to albums, opening with a piano track instead of the deep beats he’s become known for. It also doesn’t start off in a therapy session with Dr. TC but instead with the doctor introducing a child named Wolf to another named Sam. And, from there, it spirals off into a variety of songs odd tracks Odd Future artists have become known for.

And honestly this is a fantastic idea. Where much of Tyler’s recent work has sounded very similar, Wolf sounds immediately different and, when peppered with Tyler’s unusual rapping style and always interesting lyrics, it creates something unexpected that really works.

Even better, the album gives a greater look into Tyler’s psyche, creating songs that are almost all presented from a different person’s point of view, often feeling like we’re either seeing different parts of Wolf Haley’s personality or, at the very least, how he views certain other people and processes their existences. This becomes especially apparent when contrasting tracks and seeing just how different the subject of Cowboy sounds from the one in Domo 23 and, subsequently, how different that character sounds from the more insecure subject in the album’s ending track Lone.

It almost feels at times like we’re accompanying Tyler on a field trip and that the songs are like a direct line to his inner thoughts. It is a trip, but maybe not the exact kind Tyler was intending. And that’s what makes the whole thing so interesting.

Tyler Performing at SXSW

The problem with all this comes in the fact that Wolf was advertised as ending a trilogy of albums which, honestly, it doesn’t. If anything it feels more like the musical equivalent of a side mission in something like The Legend of Zelda, something that doesn’t progress the story really but is invaluable at providing a break in the norm and creating even greater atmosphere.

On top of that the album never reaches the highs Tyler’s work hit with some of his past songs, especially in the two-track punch that started off his Goblin album (including his biggest hit Yonkers). Thanks mainly to the more lofty, less bass-heavy beats, nothing feels as scary or interesting as his past work and it definitely leaves something to be desired.

And while Wolf doesn’t quite make up for those fact, it does provide what is probably Tyler’s most consistently good album to date. So long as it’s not taken as the end to a trilogy, Wolf is a wonderful release from one of rap’s most engaging figures. And as such, despite a few flaws that make it feel a little underwhelming, it’s hard not to recommend.

Final Thoughts

While it doesn’t work as an end to a trilogy of albums and doesn’t quite reach the bar set by songs like Yonkers, Tyler, The Creator’s latest work is his most consistently good album to date and features good beats, good rhymes, and interesting ideas that makes it hard not to recommend. Standout tracks include WOLF, Domo23, and Cowboy.

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It’s also essential that he led a sinless life, that being what would allow him to take on the sins of everyone else and essentially pay their way into Heaven. These, among other specifics, are what the story of Christ relies on to hold any weight in reality. Without them it is literally nothing more then a very famous and influential story in the vein of Greek and Roman mythology.

The validity of the story is not what I’m here to talk about, however. Rather I want to talk about a few of the specifics the Christ story, specifically ones celebrated on Good Friday and Easter, that are essential to the Biblical tale’s validity as a literal tale.

The Story Doesn’t Really Work If Jesus Was Lying

The story goes that Jesus was arrested by Roman officials for declaring himself to be the King of the Jews. After a trial he was mocked, scorned, and crucified. Then, three days later, he rose from the dead as foretold in scripture and soon ascended into Heaven, fulfilling prophecy and opening the gates to Heaven for anyone who believed him to be their savior.

Throughout time, both out of reverence for the sacrifice of Christ as well as religious extremism and fundamentalism, the highly devout would often participate in flagellation, the literal whipping and harming of the body, as a form of religious discipline. And, while it’s hard to see the act as anything but pointless self-harm, this idea of pain for religious sake has taken a new, far more extreme turn.

According to RT, many Catholic men in the Philippines have taken to crucifying themselves for Easter-related reverence. And no, I don’t mean that they’re acting out a stage show or live performance. The are literally being tied down to crosses and having nails driven into them, eventually being hoisted up and, quite literally, crucified.

Believe Me Yet?

There’s certainly something to be said to going to such lengths for something you believe in so deeply. There is a big problem with doing this, however (and I don’t just mean the medical issues sure to arise). Does doing this not trivialize the sacrifice it’s supposed to be paying respect to?

One of the major themes in the story is just how much suffering Jesus had to go through. Some groups of believers even believe he literally descended into Hell before rising from the dead. And, though there’s no doubt he went through a lot in the story, does it not trivialize the event to have multiple people (18 this year) go through the same thing each and ever year? One man said he’d been doing it for 14 years and was actually pretty used to it. Statements like that sort of lessen the tale’s impact, do they not?

Joseph Stalin said that “a single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” The more people go through a crucifixion willingly the less impact it has in being the ultimate torture and sacrifice it is described as in the story of Jesus and, while it doesn’t make it have no impact at all, does it not bring it down a few pegs?

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I’m seriously asking here. With all the artists doing exactly what Lil Wayne is doing only better, why has he stayed so consistently supported by the general public? Is it his recognizable style? The fact that he’s been around for a long time? A mixture of image and nostalgia?

Regardless, however, he has officially released his latest album, entitled I Am Not a Human Being II, to what already appears to be commercial success. Is it worth the price of admission, however?

Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being II – MSRP $8.99

The problems with Lil Wayne’s latest endeavor start right at the album’s title: I Am Not a Human Being. What could have been an intriguing  trip through one man’s psyche turns out to be little more than a crass attempt at dressing up Wayne’s usual schtick. Work from people like Tyler, the Creator invite the listener on a trip through an odd and often damaged psyche, creating a place that, more than anything else, is simply fascinating.

Lil Wayne’s “non-human” mind, however, is anything but, at least if I Am Not a Human Being II is to be believed. His raps about shooting guns, shooting up, and shooting loads have no substance to them, not once finding an interesting angle on the subject that hasn’t been beaten into the ground by himself and others and very rarely even supplying a cool or unexpected rhyme. The mind of Lil Wayne presented here is simply not a mind worth hearing about.

Because of this, the album’s whole concept comes off at best as forced, similar to songs like Rihanna’s S&M and Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed. At worst, however, it seems like Lil Wayne is pantomiming for a lack of any creativity whatsoever, the musical equivalent of a boring person sharing a Facebook photo with the words “Share This If You’re Crazy and You Don’t Care” on it. It’s a facade hoping to convince fans that they’re not just listening to him talking about fucking and smoking for an hour. The problem, however, is that’s exactly what they’re doing.

A Million Tattoos Does Not Make One Interesting

This becomes especially apparent on the track God Bless Amerika, one of the worst attempts at social commentary in recent musical memory. Feigning as a criticism of some aspect of American culture, the song is pumped full of ideas that might fit perfect in an actual criticism of anything from the criminalization of drugs to the broken American dream. Lines like “It’s Judgement Day or a fire drill” and “Used to say fuck the police, now I say fuck jail” could easily be utilized to great ends by artists like Lupe Fiasco or Hopsin, for example.

The fault lies in the fact that Lil Wayne never seems to have anything to say. He never utilizes the lines to any end whatsoever, creating what amounts to a shallow millionaire whining about how mean life is to him. He might as well have put a heavily scratched System of a Down CD in a near-broken Discman and wrote down whatever lyrics he could make out as that is basically what this track amounts to. Hell, that might have even given him a better song in the end.

The only other songs of note here are Love Me, which presents future rappers with a perfect example of what happens when you have too many redundant guest-artists on a track and when your lyrics lack meaning to the point where they contradict each other, and Gunwalk, in which Wayne practically parodies himself by creating a 12-line verse in which every single line ends with the word “nigga.” Seriously.

Lil Wayne Performing Live at SXSW

Every other track on the album sounds like little more than Wayne repeating lines about his bitches, his gun, his drugs, and his money over and over again. It’s what Favorite Things from The Sound of Music would have sounded like if it had been written by a rich drug addict with lots of time and no writing skills.

Lil Wayne may be decent at the technical art of spitting rhymes but he’s not nearly good enough to garner praise and he falls immensely short everywhere else. At this point, just about every artist on Billboard outclasses Wayne, from his own proteges to new breakthrough successes like Macklemore. Carrie Underwood could probably out-rap Wayne, that’s how bad of an artist he is. And hey, at least she’d have a team of people to make sure the lyrics were swallowable.

So where does that leave I Am Not a Human Being II? Well, I can certainly say that it’s not worth the asking price. In fact, it’s not even worth a listen through streaming services or illegal torrents. Your time is far more valuable than the hour or so it takes to listen to what amounts to the incomprehensible groans of a rich rapper with lots of drugs, lots of “bitches,” and lots of money, but nothing interesting to say. I can only hope that this won’t clog up the public consciousness for too long.

Final Thoughts

Lil Wayne’s latest album contains a lot of songs about drugs, guns, sex, and money, but none of them have any interesting to say. It’s a journey through the mind of an uninteresting rapper or, in more direct terms, a complete waste of time. Avoid this at all costs. There are no stand out tracks.

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Video games are a spectacular outlet to allow the mixing of reality and fantasy into intriguing and enduring experiences that frequently stand the test of time and allow individuals to mold and shape their ways of life. And, more than many others, the Metroid series fits in perfectly with this idea, taking what we know to be true in the real world and twisting it with a bit of science fiction.

While the series as a whole has generated mostly positive acclaim by both gamers and critics alike, the most recent installment – Metroid: Other M – has drawn a lot of harsh criticism for what I feel Team Ninja and Nintendo hit right on the mark more than anything else: how the character of Samus Aran should be portrayed.

“Badass” or Believable? You decide.

Getting right into the controversy, throughout the game there are events that unfold that allow Samus to be authorized to use her various abilities and weapons by her former commanding officer Adam Malkovitch, a plot mechanic that acts as an attempt for the bounty hunter to respect the wishes of the person closest to her as well as the Galactic Federation.

Later on she faces her arch nemesis Ridley and during the cutscene before the battle Samus freezes out of fear and disbelief after supposedly watching one of the few friends she has in the universe falling to his death.

While these two things have been widely criticized as demeaning to the character of Samus, who is portrayed wrongly by gamers as a “pathologically emotionless man-hating ice queen” according to ScrewAttack.com, the inclusion of these two crucial driving forces make Other M seem far more realistic and overall a better experience than previous installments. For the sake of this article, I will be focusing on the latter point.

Father figure and CO, Adam Malkovitch

Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to one’s self or someone else, or to one’s own or someone else’s physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual’s ability to cope.

Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal (such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hyper-vigilance).

Formal diagnostic criteria requires that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. And, though no official diagnosis has been made, I believe Samus undeniably qualifies as a victim of PTSD by realizing how to diagnose it.

How Could You Not Be After This?

But first let’s take a look at Samus’s backstory. She was born and raised on the mining planet K-2L, and when she was a child the planet was raided by Space Pirates, led by Ridley, in an attack that killed both her parents and destroyed the planet. The orphaned Samus was then found by a bird-like alien race known as the Chozo, who brought her to their home planet Zebes.

Samus was infused with Chozo DNA to give her a strong resistance to foreign environments, then trained as a warrior and given one of the alien race’s artifacts, the Power Suit. She enlisted in the Galactic Federation, eventually leaving due to disagreements between herself and them.

Samus then started working as a freelance bounty hunter and is called on by the Galactic Federation to execute missions “because of her superior skills and sense of justice”. Most of her missions revolved around getting rid of unsavory elements such as the mysterious lifeforms known as Metroids, who can drain life energy and are frequently used as biological weapons.

Spoiler, Kinda

Let’s take a look at each factor of diagnosing PTSD and see if they can match up with events the bounty hunter has been a part of or has had to go through, stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV.

Exposure To a Traumatic Event 

Space Pirates blew up her planet. Ridley killed her parents right in front of her. There is no question that Samus suffered a loss of integrity, and she was only a child at the time, which means she was at a higher risk to suffer PTSD. This is clearly shown when Ridley appears in front of her in Metroid: Other M, causing Samus to have a flashback in which she appears as her child self, crying in front of Ridley before the actual battle begins.

Persistent Re-Experiencing

Flashbacks have been a staple of the Metroid series ever since its SNES installment Super Metroid. Other M’s first cutscene is a dream in which Samus re-enacts the final battle with Mother Brain on planet SR-388 as she watched the last Metroid die right in front of her, sacrificing itself to save her. Samus has also killed Ridley multiple times; imagine someone avenging the death of a loved one only to realize later that havoc is still being wrought at the bidding of their arch enemy.

The Eternal Struggle

Persistent Avoidance and Emotional Numbing

While Samus is no ice queen, it is clear that her emotions and reactions, unless extremely provoked, are diluted to give the illusion of calmness and stoicism. She is also generally a quiet individual; she doesn’t say much about her past, most likely in avoidance of it, a fact reinforced by Samus’ traveling habits and her multiple mentions of her “taking the universe’s problems on her own shoulders.”

Persistent Symptoms of Increased Arousal

This most likely happened very early on in Samus’ life, and every so often in Other M she would have an exclamation of some sort that could be seen as an outburst. I would also imagine that, included with the job of being an intergalactic bounty hunter, Samus would be a little more jumpy than usual and possibly easily startled, though constantly performing her hunting duties may make dilute this with time.

Especially Without Her Power Suit

Duration of Symptoms

Many people get depressed. It is, sadly, a fact of humanity, especially in our modern world. Since Samus most likely developed her PTSD since her childhood, it’s a pretty safe bet that thirty days have elapsed since the day her world literally came to an end. And even then, Metroid has been around for more than twenty-five years, so I don’t see how this isn’t possible.

Significant Impairment

Again, Samus’ decision to leave the Galactic Federation and become a solitary individual to dole out justice solidifies the fact that she also has a difficult time functioning as a regular member of society. Interactions between Samus and other individuals are either quick and easy or through motions and actions. All of her mannerisms show incredibly regressive behaviors, signifying PTSD.

People? Time To Fly Away!

There is the question of why Samus has only expressed emotions of this caliber in Other M and not other games, but before the Wii game was released, there was a glimpse into this during Metroid Fusion during elevator sequences with internal monologues and when interacting with the AI of the ship, who she dubs Adam.

Even then, tying in with PTSD is the penultimate reaction of freezing completely as if to confuse your predator instinctively. Before most boss battles in the Metroid series, you can’t move Samus. It could either be limitations of the systems, emulation of her iminent fear of the unknown foe before her, or it could even be both.

Discounting Samus’ behavior in Other M as being too effeminate or weak while she clearly has PTSD would be the same as walking up to a war veteran and berating them for having trauma that one couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It discounts the entirety of her character. While Other M isn’t perfect, it’s far better than people give it credit for, especially in the area of Samus’ character development.

Images Used under Fair Use for the Purpose of Commentary