This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
In this video, I recount and discuss my experience with the Drug Resistance Awareness Program (DARE) when I was a kid. For many people my age, DARE was a big part of their youth. It was in schools, on TV, and part of many major social programs. It had a simple message.
Don’t do drugs. Just say no.
But in the grand scheme of things, was it all that effective? Did it really teach me or anyone else my age not to do drugs? The answers here are mixed. And I offer my perspective on the whole experience, as well as what it means for current issues involving drug abuse. Enjoy!
It’s relatively common these days for someone to claim certain news or announcements will “break the internet.” The fact you’re reading this and the internet is still intact demonstrates how much that sentiment has become cliché. And given how many dumb things end up trending for dumber reasons, it’s perfectly reasonable to roll your eyes at the very concept.
This event might not have “broken” the internet, but it has perfectly demonstrated how the internet can reflect the hype and excitement for something. Whether it’s a game, a movie, a TV show, or a big moment in sports, there’s something powerful about how it reveals the interest and popularity of something. It’s just as powerful at highlighting the controversies surrounding it, even when those controversies are dumb.
In case you missed it or just want to watch it again for the hundredth time, here’s the trailer to Grand Theft Auto VI.
Unless you’re familiar with video games and the gaming industry, as a whole, you probably can’t appreciate just what a big deal this trailer is. Even if you’ve never played a video game in your life, you’ve probably heard about the Grand Theft Auto games, but not for the reasons you’ve also probably heard of Mario.
Grand Theft Auto is one of those gaming franchises that has always been in the news for the right and wrong reasons. This is the franchise that helped popularize the concept of open world games. You’re not restricted to just going from one point to another, completing objectives in a mostly linear manner. You’re free to explore an entire virtual world. And the Grand Theft Auto games are among the best at creating those worlds while also putting a unique twist on them.
But it’s that freedom to explore unique worlds that has also led to the many controversies surrounding this franchise, going all the way back to the early 1990s. As the title suggests, one of the major activities in these games often involve committing crimes and following stories that involve any number of criminal activities. From robbing banks to doing heists to assassination plots, there’s all sorts of devious activities to be had in these games.
Naturally, that has always drawn the ire of the anti-fun puritanical whiners from all ends of the political spectrum. Grant Theft Auto was among the franchises singled out by some of the industry’s most vocal critics. And it’s still often cited as the embodiment of the worst elements of modern video games, from how it glorifies violence to how it presents female characters to how it satirizes American politics.
But despite all these controversies and crusades, there’s no denying one critical detail. This franchise is insanely popular. It is one of these most successful franchises in the history of gaming. And its developer, Rockstar Games, is one of these most successful and respected video game publishers in the world. They may not be iconic in the same way as Nintendo, but make no mistake. This series and this company are among the greatest success stories in the history of video games and media, in general.
To understand the breadth of that success, you need to look beyond the simple sales figures of those games. Granted, Grand Theft Auto games tend to be among the highest-selling video games of all time. Both Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold over 20 million copies in the early 2000s. And they put up those numbers, despite some controversies that threatened to pull them from store shelves.
But even these sales figures pale in comparison to the success of Grand Theft Auto V, the current gold standard of the series. This game, which was originally released in 2013, has sold 190 million copies worldwide across multiple platforms. For any game or any media product of any kind, that is not a trivial figure.
But it’s the revenue generated by Grand Theft Auto V that’s truly worth noting. As of December 2023, this game has generated approximately $8.3 billion in revenue. This includes both sales of the game and the money generated by its online features. That’s not just a lot of money by most measures. That kind of revenue makes this one Grand Theft Auto game one of the most successful media products of all time.
It made more money than every Avatar movie.
It made more money than nearly every TV show or series.
It made more money than any musician, band, or artist.
Unless the franchise involves Star Wars or Marvel, this one game probably out-grossed it all. Even with it being the biggest target among anti-gaming critics, it has become one of the biggest success stories in the history of modern media.
And now, Rockstar is preparing to give us a sequel. It’s been in the work for many years, even while Grand Theft Auto V was still generating plenty of revenue. It’s also expected to be one of the most expensive games to develop of all time, with costs expected to range between $1 billion and $2 billion. But to anyone who has watched the trailer and knows Rockstar’s track record, it’s clear they’re putting that money to good use.
I don’t claim to know how much money this game will make. But it’s worth noting that, when the trailer released, it generated over 100 million views within the first 36 hours. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the trailer for Grand Theft Auto V has generated over 12 years. These are figures that rival that of the Avengers: Infinity War trailer or a Taylor Swift music video.
With all these numbers and perspectives in mind, what does this ultimately mean for this game and the millions of gamers looking forward to playing it? Nobody can say for certain. While Grand Theft Auto might not be my favorite gaming franchise, I have played these games. I understand why they’re so popular and why they’re so controversial.
The popularity of these games may not be as obvious as packed concerts or crowded movie theaters. But the reaction to this trailer, both in terms of raw figures and the discourse surrounding it, should offer some insights into just how popular this series is. And if it’s even as remotely successful as its predecessor, it’s certain to generate more reactions and controversies for the right and wrong reasons.
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video highlights and celebrates one of my favorite Christmas themed comics, Deadpool #7. Like movies and TV shows, comics occasionally do Christmas specials. Most are all in good fun. They offer plenty of quality holiday feels. But a few do stand out.
And few characters stand out as much or as violently as Deadpool.
Deadpool #7 is just one issue from his 2018 ongoing series. But this one issue offered a simple, concise, and gloriously bloody Christmas story that’s sure to get anyone in the holiday spirit. Enjoy!
We live in strange, tense, and frustrating times. I know you could say that about any point in any era. But it feels like we’ve been saying that a lot late. I know I have. Just look at some of the posts I’ve made onor near Election Day in the United States. But as someone who lives less than two hours from Washington DC, I tend to feel the politics of these times more than most. And I’ve been around long enough to see some strange and troubling trends.
Then, there are certain acts or phenomena that are just plain stupid on a level that defies parody.
I generally try to empathize and understand where other people are coming from, especially if they have a different background or ideology from my own. There are just some instances where that’s not possible. The breadth of the stupidity is just too great.
That’s exactly how I feel about book bans. For reasons that are too fucking idiotic for me to paraphrase, there are real people living in real places in the United States of America who are advocating for book bans. Some are going so far as to burn them.
Again, this is not 1933. This is happening in 2023. That point is worth belaboring.
Now, I don’t want to name names or organizations. But you don’t have to look far to see who are advocating for book bans. You also don’t have to dig too deep to uncover what sort of ideology they ascribe to.
Here’s a hint. It’s the same ideology the requires stormtroopers, secret police, and prison camps.
But all you really need to know is that these efforts are usually the ones the villains in every TV show, book, or movie get behind. They see people reading books with ideas they don’t like. They worry that those same people, which include children and young adults needed for factories and war zones, embracing or identifying with those ideas.
But rather than confront those ideas, the book banning advocates would just prefer that people never know about those ideas in the first place. The evil, sadistic logic is that if people never read about it, then they can never think about it. And if they can never think about it, then they’re easier to control and guide.
That may not be the reason book banning advocates say out loud, but that is the effect. They’ll usually frame it as “protecting children” or “combating obscenity.” But don’t fall for that. At the end of the day, those who seek to ban books just want to eliminate ideas and stories they don’t like from the public consciousness.
That’s not conducive to protecting children and fostering a healthy society.
That’s a tactic for fascists, authoritarians, dictators, and general assholes.
Now, those tactics were certainly damaging in the past. Until very recently, books were the primary source of important information. If people didn’t have access to books, then they didn’t have access to knowledge, stories, and new ideas. Finding or preserving banned books used to take a concerted effort and many brave individuals put their lives at risk to further those efforts.
However, what makes modern book bans especially stupid is the simple fact that the internet exists. Libraries and book stores are no longer the lone repositories of knowledge and stories. Anyone with a smartphone can access more knowledge in five seconds than an entire university of academics could 50 years ago.
At this point, trying to ban books is akin to trying to censor telegrams. All they achieve now is raising the profile of these books they’re trying to ban. Hell, the book banning advocates might as well identify as free advertising because sales of banned books tend to spike whenever they bitch and moan about certain titles.
So, in addition to being a dick move, as well as tactics used primarily by fascists, it’s completely counterproductive. It wastes time, money, energy, and has the opposite effect of what’s intended. With that in mind, I have just one last message to those who still think banning books is a worthwhile endeavor.
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
In this video, I revisit the misanthropic world of Daria Morgendorffer to highlight one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, Lucky Strike. This episode wasn’t just a high point for the series. It marked a major turning point for Daria’s sister, Quinn. It even found time to cast new light on modern education, everything that’s wrong with it, and how Daria found a way to make it not suck.
Yes, this episode did a lot. It’s a big reason why it’s one of my favorite. And for those who endured high school like Daria, this episode will definitely resonate. Enjoy! Enjoy!
In general, I enjoy shopping. I know that’s an odd trait for a straight male, but it’s just how I am. It may or may not stem from how often my mother took me shopping when I was young. But regardless of the reason, I like to think my enjoyment of shopping has trained me to shop smarter and not harder.
Having established that context, let’s talk about Temu. And let’s try to talk seriously.
Because if you’ve been on the internet for any amount of time for the past year, you’ve probably seen ads for Temu. They’re usually very targeted and they stand out in particular ways. You’ll often see products you’ve never seen at a store and at prices that seem too low to be real. Some look like brand name products. Others look like something somebody assembled in their garage.
Whatever the product, the ads are so ubiquitous that they’re almost impossible to avoid. And during the holiday season, you probably saw even more of them. Hopefully, you didn’t just click, sign up, and buy without thinking. If you did, then you might already know why I’m making this.
For background, Temu is a relatively new ecommerce site that launched in late 2022. It’s similar to Amazon in that it sells a wide range of products, but unlike Amazon the site and the interface are a lot more gamified. It has all these widgets and gimmicks that resemble an online casino. And using these features earn you special tokens that you can use to buy products on Temu. But in general, you’ll be buying things the same way you buy them at other sites.
However, as low as the prices seem and as great as the deals appear to be, there are a lot of red flags surrounding this site and the Chinese company that runs it. If you need a comprehensive breakdown of all of them, Snopes did an in-depth investigation on the many issues surrounding it. I highly recommend reading and re-reading this piece before you even visit the site.
In general, Temu is a site that offers tons of cheap stuff, but a lot of that stuff is cheap because it’s a rip-off, a knock-off, or low in overall quality. And what you see on the site isn’t necessarily what you end up receiving. And what you receive is rarely a product that will last. That’s an important detail because Temu’s return and refund policies aren’t nearly as forgiving as most.
Basically, if the product breaks within 90 days of purchasing (and that counts how long it took to ship), you’re out of luck.
That, alone, should give you pause before shopping at Temu. Cheap or not, you won’t get much value out of anything there if it breaks within a few months of purchase. However, there’s one another important detail to consider. It has to do with the potential malware and spyware included with the app.
That means that if you download the Temu app, you’re very likely giving the app and the company behind it access to every photo, contact, text message, and browsing history that’s on the device. Whether they use that data to extort you or just target you with more ads is entirely dependent on the whims of the company. But just be aware that there is a price to pay for lower prices.
That’s a lesson my mother often instilled in me when she took me shopping. It wasn’t just the old mantra of you get what you pay for. If you see cheap prices, there’s usually a reason they’re cheap. And that reason often comes at a price you can’t always put a dollar figure on.
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This festive video celebrates “The Christmas Chronicles.” It has become one of my favorite holiday movies and it’s something I find myself watching often during the holiday season. It’s a newer entry into the crowded world of Christmas movies, but I genuinely believe that this movie has everything you’d want in a modern Christmas movie. Enjoy!
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This is a CreepyPasta that I wrote and narrated myself. I wrote it knowing full well I would be releasing it just a few days before Thanksgiving. Enjoy!
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