Stuff White People Like

A popular blog called "Stuff White People Like" is something that you should read if you are not aware of it yet. It's made me realize how white I truly am while at the same time making me laugh a lot...and of course it has never offended me - I guess they should make a post about "Poking fun at ourselves." It's also proven how, like it's done for music, the web can be a great outlet for writers - it got a book deal. The book, aptly titled, "Stuff White People Like," will be available next week on July 1st.

This concept of making a blog into a book has obviously been met with criticism, especially for its environmental impact (note: this guy may be a bit extreme but he made the analogy that the publisher of this book is the poison monster from Fern Gully - awesome). I slightly agree that simply transferring something that's online into lots and lots of paper isn't the smartest thing to do, but at the same time admire how the writers got the deal. Also, the trend toward making a lot of reading materials digital just won't fly with everyone. I read pretty much all of my news online but I'm definitely not jumping to get a Kindle...I enjoy physically flipping through books and magazines too.

Anyway, Stuff White People Like had a contest for its readers to come up with their own post, the winners of which would receive a free copy of the book. I failed to win them over, despite my 0.7% chance of winning, but thought I would post my entry here. Enjoy:

Beating Video Games

White people have been striving to beat various video games for a long time. Beating games quickly is the ideal - preferably as close to the release date as humanly possible. "Did you get a copy of GTA IV yet dude?" "Oh, GTA IV?...yea, I picked it up at Midnight...I beat it already though...only took me 14 hours straight." A response like that can gain an enormous amount of respect (atleast until the next edition of that game comes out).

One trend that stormed through the world of white people was timing how long it takes a person to beat an original NES game. Admitting that you never were able to beat Super Mario Brothers when you were a child will usually be met with roaring laughter. That will lead into a competitive discussion about who was able to recently beat it in the shortest amount of time. Professionals have released their performances on YouTube.

This leads to what systems are proper to play - you can either go original or new. For example, you can either play an original NES system or the latest Nintendo Wii. Playing "Jet Moto" on the original Playstation system is so not cool anymore.

Being able to brag about completing a video game took on a whole new meaning when Guitar Hero was released. For some reason, being able to play "Free Bird" on Guitar Hero on Expert is way better than being able to play "Free Bird" on an actual guitar. Real guitars are for chumps nowadays. The real rockstars are out there in their apartments at 3 AM every night, perfecting their finger response to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

The Nintendo Wii has thrown white people for a loop with the Wii Fit. Apparently the point is not to beat the game but to regularly use it as exercise. Chances are that that the honor in this game will be in the amount of time committed to playing it. Stay tuned for updates.

Obviously this is just my effort toward the apparent genius of other bloggers. For any publishers out there that may be reading my other posts though...I'm quite open to the idea of a book deal :)