On Toys That Ruined My Childhood

A happy Sunday, my darling readers!

The other day, my mother posted a link on my Facebook Timeline (yes, my mother has a Facebook and, yes, I have Timeline...these are both old news, get over it), that Hasbro is re-introducing one of their most popular toys: Furby.

I was 6 years old when the original Furby released in 1998, and like everyone I knew at the time, I wanted one, because they looked so damn cute, and also I secretly wanted a Gremlin (seriously, have you SEEN Gizmo? He's like the cutest thing to ever exist).


How can you say no to that face?

 But what Hasbro appears not to realize is that while Furby may have made them more money than Lincoln Logs could ever possibly hope to be worth (which, by the way, is complete crap, because Lincoln Logs were the definition of awesome), no one actually liked their Furbies.  What appeared to be an adorable, fuzzy knock-off of the pet every child born after 1984 ever wanted was actually a demonic, bird-like doll from Hell that most of the world was intent on destroying.

   

The look on its face says "I will destroy everything you love."

The freaky little thing had a ridiculously sensitive light and motion sensor which often caused it to wake up in the middle of the night, scaring the crap out of anyone and everyone in the room.  And then it would croak out "Furby huuuuungry..." and you'd have to feed it with the tip of your freaking finger, like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.  The damn thing was one step short of demanding human sacrifices.

Hasbro, if you're listening, I'm begging you not to release these little monsters back into the homes of children everywhere.  I, for one, gave mine a proper burial in the bottom of my closet for many years before finally getting rid of it.  And if you don't believe that I'm not the only one who has a reason to want them gone, I suggest searching YouTube for the phrase "death to furby."  There are guys there with firecrackers and drills who would gladly vouch for me.

Having nightmares about the Furby Apocalypse,
Rachel Leigh

On Gaming

I hope you know what TED is. For the good of all mankind, I hope everyone with internet access knows what TED is. If you don't know what TED is, I hope for the good of all mankind, you go to this webpage (http://www.ted.com/) immediately and find out.

For a quick synopsis, TED is a website devoted to three things: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. The goal of TED is to promote the spread and growth of ideas through brief (usually 20 minutes or less) lectures on anything and everything related to technology, entertainment, and design.

Last year, one of my classes began to integrate TED lectures into the lesson plan, to help foster ideas and generate informed and empowered discussion. And, God, it works. Today, we began watching a talk by a female gamer (yes, they exist, as a matter of fact, according to a study by the Entertainment Software Association in 2004, they make up 34% of all gamers, and 43% of online gamers) who talked about the importance of playing video and online games in mental development in problem solving.

Jane McGonigal, PhD, the Gamer Girl to whom I am referring (smart, beautiful, AND a video game designer), said that she thinks the world's problems could be more easily solved if, worldwide, we spent 21 billion hours a week (that's approximately 1 half-hour per person) in search of gaming's fabled "epic win." This means, of course, that if all 6 billion people on the planet are expected to get their game on, we need...more Gamer Girls.

And this, my friends, is my point: if you know me at all, you know that I think girls can kick ass. From a young age, I was started on video games: Duck Hunt when I was very young, FPS's like Goldeneye 007 as I got older, Super Smash Brothers and its more developed counterpart, SSBB,... To this day, I frequently transport a device I call "The Brick"... a 1989 GameBoy, which, combined with Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, and Pokemon Yellow, served as my childhood.

There's some stigma against girls who play, especially in "guys games" like FPS's and, one of my favorites, Grand Theft Auto. It's almost like we've been relegated to games that need to have fairies or elves or princesses (though Link is pretty awesome and Peach kicks butt) in order to not be looked down on as inferior.

We don't need to be 34% of the gaming population, ladies. When women make up 51% of the WORLD population, we should be making up 51% of the gaming population...though maybe not WoW. I've seen too many people disappear down that path.

Girls...stop the mind games and pick up the video games. You'd be surprised what you can do. And if Jane McGonigal is right...maybe we can even save the world.

Stop reading and start playing,
Rachel Leigh