Wanna BANG?
I feel amid the increasing accessibility of the web and our perpetual addiction to our mobile devices, we have become progressively impatient. We have inadvertently fed our need to know now. We (and by we, I mean I) check our email at least ten times a day or hop on Facebook to check if we got any new messages even though we sign up for email notifications from the aforementioned site. Redundant? You know it. Addicted? I think so. Seriously, when was the last time you went without internet for more than a week? Been over a decade? Me too.
Why the huge bash on technology? I remember a time - I can't believe I'm saying this - when we didn't have direct access to the net, when we had to actually CHOOSE between using the phone or going online via dial-up. As I'm writing this, I have three devices that can do both, with some fiddling and to varying degrees but I no longer have to choose. How convenient but highly unnecessary. Granted, this the progression of our society and I'm okay with that since I am a gadget nut. But once upon a time, when we didn't have technology to continually inundating our senses, we relied on our own imagination, our own creativity, to enjoy ourselves. When I was 6 years old, I used to play fort with the sofa seats using my blanket as a roof. Or how I used to play war games with my blocks solders made from Better Blocks. Yes, I had Better Blocks. Most importantly, I remember a time when I looked forward to the times I could sit down with my brothers and play boardgames.
So's visit brought me back to that childhood place where we didn't rely on our gadgets, where we're playing Scrabble with actual blocks and not on Words with Friends. For some unknown reason at the time, she was extremely ecstatic about this game called BANG. It's a Western inspired version of Mafia where your objective to shoot your adversary based on the cards that you draw. It took a bit of time to learn the nature of the game but once we got it, I was helplessly hooked. For the first time in a long while, I was genuinely enjoying myself without being glued to my Touch. Surprise surprise.
So here's a tribute to the type of entertainment that make my childhood so enjoyable and hopefully a resurgence of tangible games.
And the socks? I just so happened to have picked them up while I was shopping around Namdemun in Seoul. Cute, aren't they?
Location: TeaStation, Alhambra
Gear: D700, 50 1.4
DCHU Photography
