Scene: The GAP. Charlotte and I, like the advertising driven easily manipulated young consumers we are, decided to check out the newest Madonna/Missy Elliot Cord-Jeans that are supposedly some grand clothing innovation.
Chris: Hey, this is stupid. These are just cords! There’s no jean in this pant at all! Missy! You cheated me again! First the Adidas tracksuit, and now these damn form fitting Cord Pants!
Charlotte: Hrm… I think I like the brown or grey ones…
Charlotte’s cell phone starts beeping furiously!
Charlotte: Oh no! It’s six o’clock! I’m missing the furniture sale at Tom Nooks!
Chris: Oh crap, we’d better get home!
We scoot out of the mall like-minded. No corporate advertising can stop us at this point
Tom Nook is the store owner in the Cube game Animal Crossing. In the game, you just hang around in a town, plant flowers, befriend your townmates, run errands to earn money, and the most enjoyable part of the game: decorating your house however you want with various wallpapers, floors and pieces of art and furniture. The Cube clock keeps track of the date and time of day, and having missed Tom Nooks 50% furniture sale, we now need to wait until this time next year for furniture savings.
Just one of many instances of this game running my life. It’s seriously the crack version of videogames. Only slightly more addictive.
The only reason I have time to type this at all, is because I’ve distanced myself from my anchor, by giving the game disk to Charlotte. Now she’s addicted until she gets her own copy of the game and gives mine back. When I start severing myself from any human contact whatsoever, you’ll know when that’s happened.
Until then, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 is one damn hype game.