In honor of today's Breath of the Wild release, I present you with Nintendo's incomparable The Legend of Zelda, which, as far as I am concerned, represents the best video game series. Ever.
I originally became entranced by The Legend of Zelda series when the first iteration arrived for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the late 1980s. (Remember the gold cartridge? Ah, the good old days.) It didn't take long for the game to grab my attention and stimulate my imagination. I remember sneaking out of my bedroom late at night, after everyone else was asleep, to solve just one more puzzle, find just one more secret lair, or play through just one more dungeon. Then came The Adventure of Link for the NES and A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo (SNES), and I eagerly returned to saving Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf. While those early games turned me into a series fan pretty quickly, Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 (N64) changed everything and converted me to a true Zelda superfan. The new adventure retained all of the familiar characters and story arcs I grew to enjoy and expect from earlier games while perfectly utilizing the 3-D capabilities offered by the N64 to fully immerse players in the land of Hyrule. (I could even ride a horse!) The puzzles, quests, dungeons, and bosses of Ocarina of Time kept me challenged and engaged by offering the perfect balance between difficulty and solve-ability. By the time I maneuvered through the final dungeons and defeated Ganon at the game's end, I knew I had experienced something special, and from that point on, no matter where Zelda console games went, I was sure to follow. Considering my already-professed love for the fantasy genre (see Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Game of Thrones and The Wheel of Time), I suspect my declaration in support of Zelda throughout this entry is not all that surprising. That assumption may, however, relate more to the order in which I wrote my Countdown to 40 posts than the order in which those featured items impacted my life. In reality, The Legend of Zelda serves as one of the biggest and most important influences to nurture my growing interest in the vast and magical worlds of fantasy film, literature, and video games. And if you are trying to get a hold of me this weekend and don't get a response, know that I'm probably puzzling my way through Breath of the Wild.
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So far I've thoroughly enjoyed examining the elements of pop culture that provide some point of reference in my life. Regardless of their impact, writing about them has been both challenging and fun. The posts about Entertainment Weekly, Schindler's List, Jagged Little Pill, and The Velvet Rope proved especially cathartic and meaningful, as I never sat down to put my thoughts and feelings about them into such coherent reflections before. Considering the depth, gravity, and importance of my three most recent posts, though, I figured the time had come to lighten things up a bit and focus on pure, unadulterated fun. What better way to accomplish that than with Super Mario Bros, one of the all-time great video game franchises?
In their various adventures and iterations, the constantly evolving Italian plumber and his friends provided countless hours of fun throughout much of my life (and still do), accompanying me all the way from my preteen years up into my late thirties. I could always count on them to bring the fun. The best thing about my favorite Mario games? They brought together family and friends for a bit of innocent, good-natured competition. Well, mostly innocent. And usually good-natured. Like with any game that pits players against one another, there were heated verbal exchanges at times, but they were relatively rare and never transformed into physical altercations. Nevertheless, we always enjoyed ourselves and the time we spent immersed in the worlds of Mario, and here I highlight a few of my favorites: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES): The first two Super Mario Bros. for the original Nintendo Entertainment System ruled, no doubt. But #3 brought things to a whole new level by giving Mario and Luigi a Tanooki Suit (aka the Flying Raccoon Suit). My younger siblings and I spent many winter afternoon hours plodding our way through the game until one of us would get frustrated and quit or the game system would unexpectedly shut down. Take out the cartridge and blow--that'll fix everything! Super Mario World (SNES): My best friend in high school, Jonathan of CJJ5 fame, and I played this Super Nintendo game incessantly for a while. Who could blame us? Yoshi made everything more interesting. Plus I had a TV in my room at that time, so who could stop us? MarioKart 64 (N64): A racing game featuring Mario, his friends, AND his foes? Yes, please! I swear my college friends and I played this game for a solid decade, even after new systems and updated versions came out. No new offering could ever beat the Nintendo 64 versions of Rainbow Road and Wario Stadium, though. Only time and skill helped master those boards. And Donkey Kong. He was my go-to guy. Mario Party (N64/GameCube/Wii): As mature adults in our late twenties and early thirties, my friends Dianna, Allison, Kara, and I were known to spend many an evening engrossed in a lively round of this board and video game hybrid. We tended to gravitate toward the mini games, each of us gifted in our own unique specialties. Sometimes frustration with an outcome would prompt a curse word or two to escape from one of our mouths. Normally not an issue, except when my niece and nephew, Brittani and Jordan, were visiting for a weekend. Jordan chided us after a particularly salty evening as he proclaimed, "No swearing!" On more occasions than I can recount, we laughed so hard we cried. New Super Mario Bros. (Wii): I never really got into the open-world concept of the Nintendo 64, Game Cube, and early Wii platform versions of Super Mario Bros. I understood the potential of Mario unbound by the constraints of side-scroll games, but they never drew me in. When Nintendo released an updated version of a more traditional Mario game for the Wii, I knew instantly it would be a hit. Bryce and I spent much of our first summer together mastering every level, going back through each on diligently to get all three coins. I think he was supposed to be working on his dissertation, but neither one of us could resist the throwback nostalgia and infinite fun of the New Super Mario Bros. Such great times and memories over the course of three decades! It's easy to understand why I cherish the Super Mario games to this day. I couldn't think of a more fitting way to officially kick off my Countdown to 40 than with Entertainment Weekly, a publication that has fueled my proclivity for best-of lists and kept me in the pop culture loop for more than 20 years.
After moving to west-central Minnesota from suburban Saint Paul, I felt acutely aware of how rural and disconnected from any sense of culture I was. Sure, we went to the movies and watched television, but as an over-dramatic and angsty teenager, I thought our new geographical location severely limited our access to what I considered the outside world. After all, I thoroughly enjoyed and had grown accustomed to the variety of programming offered by cable television in the Twin Cities area. The four local stations, or sometimes five, depending on the weather and position of the antenna, therefore just didn't cut it. Then there was our town's cinema. Though it gradually increased to include seven screens by the time I graduated high school, only three existed when we moved to the area. Adding insult to injury, many friends and relatives, including my older sister, still lived near our old hometown, and trips to visit them only exacerbated my sense of cultural isolation. Looking back, it's not surprising, then, that I often romanticized living a more suburban lifestyle, which would bring with it many of the cultural opportunities such a lifestyle could provide. When Entertainment Weekly came along, it superficially granted me access to the sense of suburban belonging I so badly wanted, and suddenly I felt much less alone and culturally uninformed. I eagerly anticipated the arrival of each weekly issue, without which I may not have heard about or seen films like Dazed and Confused, Trainspotting, or Velvet Goldmine. Nor would I have given Gilmore Girls or Sex and the City a chance. But the magazine also did more for me and my sense of self than I ever realized at the time, something subtle and perhaps wholly unintentional. In covering all things popular culture and generally throwing its support behind the entertainment industry, Entertainment Weekly introduced and reinforced the idea that being gay was okay, if not normal, and homophobia simply was not. For a not-yet-out teenager--heck, for a not-yet-aware teenager--those sentiments made a huge impact, even if only subconsciously at the time. I still read my Entertainment Weekly every week, though I've transitioned from print to electronic copies over time, and consistently rely on the movie reviews, often agreeing with them before ever seeing (or not seeing) a film. It doesn't hurt, either, that the magazine always seemed sympathetic if not approving of Janet Jackson. Still, the year-end double issue remains my favorite annual EW offering, primarily because it recounts the best (and worst) in the year's pop culture releases. A no-brainer for a pop-culture geek and list enthusiast, right? This March I turn 40. That's right, the big four-zero. An age that greeting cards, popular culture, and American advertising companies would have us believe marks the crest atop some proverbial hill of adulthood. One on which life and life experiences steadily decline afterwards, so much so that when we reach 50 years of age, society declares us officially over said hill. But you know what? I say phooey to that and refuse to subscribe to such an outdated and obsolete narrative. Truth be told, I'm neither nervous nor anxious for March 12th to arrive. Dare I say I'm slightly excited?
I have been thinking a lot about my looming birthday over the past few months--especially as more and more friends from high school and college cross that bridge ahead of me. Curious about their journeys, I like to follow my wishes for a happy birthday with a question about their newly-turned-40 perspectives. They consistently report the view from the other side of 39 is just as good, if not better, and brings with it a clearer vision of one's self. Which makes sense, when you think about it, as meaningful introspection tends to deepen with age. Maybe that's a good thing, too, since navigating the unmapped road of adulthood is singular to each person and takes years to figure out. Still, several questions keep returning to mind: what does it all mean, this aging process? Who am I, and how did I get to the brink of 40? Of course, the answers to these questions are equal parts exceedingly simple and immensely complicated. I am a son, a brother, a grandson, an uncle, a husband, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, a coworker. I grew up in Minnesota and lived there until I moved to Virginia in 2011 with my husband, which also tells you I am gay. I identify as Christian and believe with every fiber of my being that my religious beliefs and homosexuality are absolutely compatible. I think education is the single most important asset to a person's life. My favorite color is orange, my favorite season is winter, and my favorite foods are tacos, popcorn, and chocolate chip cookies. These are the easily identifiable answers to the questions I've been pondering about age, experience, and identity. Each simple answer also forced me to question the assumptions and understandings I held about my sense of identity and purpose. Then, to complicate things further, every time my path seemed straightforward and I thought I had figured out which way I was heading, I hit an unexpected turn. Or a switchback. Or a speed bump. Or a series of potholes. Or a five-point intersection. Maneuvering such obstacles, both seen and unseen, took and takes a certain level of maturity and perspective that only come with age and experience. Along the way, many family, friends, coworkers, and contemporaries helped me navigate the road before me. Sometimes they held my hand. Other times they pointed the way or offered suggestions and alternate routes. I think that's true for everyone, even if not always obvious and intentional. After all, one person never gets very far alone. Many wonderful people aided me on my journey and continue to do so. (A number of not-so-wonderful people pushed me along, too, but I'm an eternal optimist and like to focus on the positive.) There are also many people I've never met--some real, some fiction, some not even people--that helped me along the way as well, and I am not afraid to admit that they, as elements of pop culture, helped me through this life and world, too. Books and publications, movies, music, television, and video games all provided moments of self-discovery, motivation, reflection, and pure, unadulterated joy. It's an attribute specific to our late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century society that popular culture invades our lives, admittedly not all for good. But every once in a while a movie comes along that changes the way you see the world. A television show teaches you the value of friendship. A song tears at your heart, inspires you dance, or makes you believe you have perfect pitch, no matter how often you hear it. A book provides a passport to a world that pushes the boundaries of your imagination. A video game transports you to an alternate yet fantastic reality. An album gives meaning to your struggle and by doing so also gives that struggle a much needed voice. Yes, it is hard to deny the power of popular culture and its ability to shape and reflect our sense of self. And that's where my Countdown to 40 comes in. On the eve of this culturally-defined milestone, I want to take a look back at the movies, books, albums, songs, television shows, video games, and publications that carried me along the way or that I carried with me. So, beginning February 1st I will be reflecting on 40 of the most important, influential, and favorite pop references of my life so far. Then, each day until March 12th, the big day, I will post my thoughts on a particular movie, book, album, television show, video game, or publication that influenced my sense of self and why. Concurrently, I'll be counting down my Top 40 favorite songs of all time (as of January 2017--the list is never entirely set in stone). Because, let's face it, I'm a sucker for a best-of list and couldn't narrow things down to a single countdown. |
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I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
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