Courage

The Death Of Rock Band

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

76181_166540390043728_7807469_n“I’ve got next on Rock Band!”

When I first stepped onto the job as youth pastor at The Hill Baptist Church five years ago, this was the call I heard every time a student would arrive at church.

Literally every Sunday and Wednesday before and after church we would spend at least an hour playing “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “Alive” (or at least pretending like we were playing them). We themed 2 Lock-Ins after our Rock Band and Guitar Hero addiction.

I even spent one Saturday afternoon with two students playing through the ultimate setlist of every song on Rock Band 2 in one sitting. We played through half of the setlist before I accidentally tripped over the power cord to the Xbox 360. So we turned the machine back on, started from the beginning, and played through it all again.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero were obsessions for this group of students and for so many teenagers across the world. Which is kind of crazy, considering how nonexistent Rock Band and Guitar Hero are just a few years later. Continue reading →

Reality Interrupted

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

“The Joe Schmo Show” might be the most incredible reality television experiment of all time.

This is not your typical competition for a million dollars filled with wannabe actors. “Joe Schmo”  asks the question, “What if there was a reality show where everything was fake except one contestant?”

The Joe Schmo Show

bostonherald.com

On the surface, it’s hilarious. Seeing a dozen trained improv actors (and, inexplicably, 90s celebrity Lorenzo Lamas) dance around one unsuspecting mark as they parody all your favorite reality tv tropes is an incredible hour of television.

Underneath the over-the-top parodies, though, “Joe Schmo” gives us a picture of how to adapt to reality.

The rouse is on the poor Schmo 24/7 (who, to be fair, is rewarded with $100,000, luxurious vacations, and other prizes for his troubles). To accomplish this high wire act, the cast spends months getting into character, rehearsing their roles, memorizing backstories, and creating a script to work from.

The cast knows all it takes is one slip up, one drop of an accent, one stumbled line, and a million dollars and months of hard work would be washed away. Perfection is essential.

Of course all of this preparation is thrown out the window when the wildcard element of the Schmo enters the picture. Continue reading →