Rock Band 2 Ready to Roll

The battle of the music video games continues with the Harmonix, Electronic Arts, and MTV announcement for Rock Band 2. According to the folks behind the new game, the Rock Band 2 was designed to be completely compatible with the first game which allows players to use music, instruments, and song downloads from the first game.

 

Featuring new online modes, more instruments, and enhanced functionality, Rock Band 2 is upping the ante for music video games by delivering an action-driven music platform that should keep gamers happy for quite some time.

 

Rock Band 2 has plenty of hype to live up to already. The first installment of the game won 40 awards including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007, so there is plenty of pressure to generate another hit.

 

According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigipulos, the new game was designed specifically for Rock Band fans. “As successful as the original Rock Band continues to be, We’ve now had the benefit of the last eight months to listen to our fans’ requests and to buld upon that foundation.”

 

Rock Band 2 is scheduled for release for the Xbox 360 in September.

Are You a Young Urbanite?

According to a recent ReportBuyer.com report that provided analysis on the U.S. urban consumer market, hip hop music has become a part of mainstream culture. They base this on the fact that as consumers, young urbanites are a highly influential consumer group and they have a big impact on the economy.

 

Although hip hop originally started as a philosophy and lifestyle of inner-city youth, the report cites hip hops’ massive infiltration of the suburban landscape. The website also asserts that 57% of what they consider to be urban youth are ages 12-34 and white.

 

The report says that the roughly 37 million young urbanites will make close to $684 billion by 2012, with the majority of it being spent on luxury items. Citing the group’s ability to influence friend’s purchasing habits and the demographics’ willingness to be the first to try new things, urbanites are a driving force in today’s economy.

 

The study also claims that youth shoppers place a high priority on brand loyalty and that the brands that have found success have hip hop artists or rappers as spokespersons. It also suggests that sales of products that are featured in hip hop or rap songs often do very well in the marketplace. That should come as a surprise to no one considering the success of clothing lines such as Sean John and Roca Wear

 

The last thing that sticks out about this report is that the report claims that tens of millions of 12-34 year-olds connect with hip hop and rap. I completely agree with this assertion as I know people from across the age spectrum that love hip hop.

 

According to this report, I have one more year as a young urbanite since I’m 33, and to be honest, I’m not going to go blow my cash by buying a bunch of brand name stuff and a lot of useless shit that just came out. I think there are a lot of intelligent hip hop fans out there that would agree with me on this and although we may be in the minority when it comes to young urbanites, I can’t imagine being like everybody else and following the crowd like a sheep led to the slaughter.

Breathe In, Breathe Out. Release.

Let others take their own way, and I take my own.

Japanese proverb

 

Modern society bombards us with ridiculous amounts of information, both relevant and irrelevant. So when it comes to navigating our way through this life, we have to be able to look at what is being presented to us so that we can take what we need and release the rest.

 

With so much happening in the world around us, it is easy to become distracted from our individual paths and we need to work to figure out what is important to us. Once we learn how to do this, life becomes much easier. 

 

The world’s greatest philosopher/teachers believed that carrying fruitless burdens of the mind ultimately stops us from achieving our real desires and dreams and to overcome this reality, we must free ourselves from useless thoughts and concepts. To do this, you must understand that this is your experience and yours alone. Once you realize that you control what goes on inside your head, you can begin deciphering what is really applicable to you.

 

If this sounds like a difficult task, especially when you consider how we are inundated with promotional campaigns that tell us how we are supposed to look and act, don’t give up hope. In fact, re-double your efforts to find out whether or not these qualities truly define your very being.

 

Don’t be afraid, you are not alone in trying to free your mind and separate yourself from the rest of the pack. The most interesting people on this planet walk to the drummer’s of their own beat and they don’t care whether people around them understand them or not. The more you figure out what works for you, the more genuine you will become in everything you do. This honest interaction with the rest of the world will give you a newfound clear-headedness that will enable you to see the world in a whole new light and it may put you on a path to self-fulfillment.  

 

Be a scientist of your experience. Take notes. Look, listen, and learn from everyone and everything that comes across your path. Make sure to realize that what works for you might not work for someone else and that there is a beauty in that. Who the hell wants to live in the Valley of the Dolls or a world filled with Stepford Wives where everyone acts the same? It is our individualism and our beliefs that make us unique.

 

By consciously examining your experience, you will quickly learn what truths you must follow to be happy and although it sounds strange and may appear to be contradictory to what we have been told throughout most of our lives, there is freedom in learning what confines you. You have to learn how to play by the rules in order to learn how to break them. Once we let go of our negative thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, we are then free to let our true essence come to the forefront of our being and enjoy the happiness that comes with it.