Thursday, August 19, 2010

Things I've Noticed: It is not always cool when life mirrors a video game

I think we've all experienced a cool cut-scene or finale of a video game and thought - wow, that would be cool, I wish I could be in that game - saving that princess or squashing that mushroom or whatever.

The problem comes when you don't get to choose which game.

Today for instance, I woke up, rode my bike to work (a 45 minute ride which is awesome by the way), and everything seemed just fine. The air felt good, the sky was overcast, and there was a nice breeze (an arial view of the downtown core of my city below).

Throughout the day however, my world started resembling that of a video game - unfortunately that video game was Silent Hill.

Now before you start thinking about the horrible monsters that fill the game, or ghosts reflecting the sins of my past, I'm mostly talking about the weather. Due to forest fires in British Columbia my entire province is being covered in smoke - smoke which has dramatically reduced visibility, and for the bike ride home, had me heading across bridges where I couldn't see the other side - my pathway seemed to simply get swallowed up in the smoke. (the same area - notice the domed top of the Delta hotel, this afternoon, below).

It's kind of funny, I always assumed that the monsters and music of Silent Hill were what made that game scary, but after having my entire city covered in a cloud of oppressive smoke, I've got to say, the weather has a much bigger effect than you think.

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