As a writer who came of age during Beatlemania, I was wary of musical video games. It seemed to me that the plastic guitar-like shells resembling Fender Strats sold with these games mocked the dedication it takes to master the real thing. Games don’t encourage learning chords or intricate finger picking. I remained skeptical.
Then came 09.09.09, the release of Beatles Rock Band. The Beatles and Beatles heirs who agreed to allow the music to be used predicted the game would introduce Beatles music to an entire new generation. Time will tell how effective this will be, but here’s what I do know.
On a recent trip to Liverpool, two days before the Beatles Rock Band release, I witnessed young gamers demo-ing the game on stage during a festival of Beatles tribute bands. The players were quite enthusiastic as they played “Day Tripper.” In their minds, they were reliving a ’60s Beatle’s show.
Watching these young performers, I had a flashback to playing my saxophone along with 45 rpm records in my bedroom in the ‘60s. Today, when guitar-playing young people get tablature instantly on their laptops, or learn Jimmy Page’s “Stairway to Heaven” solo by printing out the notes from music websites, the appeal of these music games hit me.
A music game isn’t sophisticated enough to replace the real deal of studying and mastering an instrument, but it does uniquely encourage music appreciation. These games move an entire new demographic closer to the music—and isn’t that the important thing?
Human beings reveal themselves in all sorts of unforeseen ways.
We each have a dominant sensory modality—the sense we rely on most heavily to give context to our world. Some people look. Some people listen. Others rely on touch. By examining the words people unconsciously choose—their sensory predicates—we’re able to identify their dominant modalities. When we then match our predicates, our language, to theirs, we create an instant but often unrecognized connection.
Can I show you how it works?
Someone whose sensory predicates are visual may ask, “Does that look right to you?” or “Let me show you what I mean.” An auditory person may say, “That doesn’t sound right to me” and “Just hear me out.” A kinesthetic—someone who relies on touch—uses expressions like, “I can’t seem to get my arms around that” or “It feels like it’s the right thing to do.”
In a world where relationships seem to develop and end in an instant, any communication tool that helps us establish quick rapport is an advantage. Sometimes it’s a simple as speaking the same language, but it always starts with listening.
See what I mean?
Super Bowl XLIII is over, and for once, the action on the field was more exciting than the commercials. Many times, the game is a foregone conclusion by halftime, but the ads keep viewers glued to their screens. This year, however, I don’t think the commercials lived up to the hype.
The Bud Light spots just weren’t funny. The Clydesdale ads fell short. Even the Castrol commercial featuring chimpanzees, which I consider to be advertising gold, failed to garner laughs. I’d mention a few other ads and how they disappointed, but to be honest, I don’t remember them. I couldn’t tell you what companies spent their $3 million on. The only bright spot was the Doritos spot created by Indiana amateurs, which topped USA Today’s Ad Meter rankings and earned the unemployed admen a cool $1 million.
Companies sunk a lot of money into production values, but I think the content simply fell short. Was it just me? Were the ads great and I failed to see it? Is the economy making companies play it safe? Too safe?
Am I alone on this? Did you have a favorite ad? Or did corporate America blow millions of dollars on completely forgettable marketing?
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