Media Hijinks: This week in mediocre

This week’s industry news has been mostly dominated by an endless series of new trailers, posters and other shiny, pretty things to get people all jazzed up about the dozen-or-so releases in the next few months.  But these things are hardly news worthy and best left to the marketing department to spread to the masses.  Instead, I've ended up gathering some of the other stuff going on.  Unfortunately, none of this news is really good news, though I guess that depends on your point of view?

First up, a quick announcement: They are officially making a Fast and Furious 7.  That’s right, the franchise that just won’t die is still breathing, albeit on life support at this point.  Seriously, can this really be called a franchise when every movie is pretty much the same as the others?  Someone put me out of my misery…

Next up, a bit of news that should be the best but turned out to fall a bit flat.  Microsoft has announced their new entry into the console wars, the XBox One, and now they’ve given us a tease about what to expect.  Reviews and opinions on the subject have been less than amazing for the new console.  It adds a few new features and promises a bigger, faster and meaner machine, but how successfully can consoles fare against PCs?  For serious gamers, the home computer is the machine of choice.  Personally, I’m interested to see whether consoles will even be able to survive another decade without becoming hybrid computers and joining the club.  If you’re interested in what XBox One has to offer (along with a comparison of its features with the new PS4), head over here.

Another piece of news that will either cheer you or make you despair, it looks like Community has been renewed for a 5^th season.  Since Dan Harmon left, there have been some very harsh criticisms coming from (former) fans about the continued viability of the show.  The 4^th season saw a few good moments, but the general consensus is that it nowhere near measured up to the glory of the Harmon years.  Personally, I think that if the current writers stopped trying to imitate the style that Harmon was known for and just put together something new, something unique to them, we might see a revival of Community.  Otherwise, Season 5 will be little more than another reason for die-hard fans to flee this sinking ship.

And finally, it looks as if one school has decided that kids should not pretend to be super heroes.  In fact, they feel so adamant about it that they sent out some mailers letting people know that such imaginative play will not be tolerated.  Check it out below:

Aside from blatantly crushing kids’ imaginations, this move makes little sense to me.  If you want your kid to not burn himself with fire, you explain to him why fire is bad, you don’t lock him away in a closet every time you need to turn on the oven burner to make dinner.  Come on educational system, use the brain you’re supposed to have (and use spell-check, for God’s sake…).

Community still courtesy of screencrush.com

Anti-hero flyer courtesy of nerdbastards.com