Aaron R. Davis

Last week Sony made a big announcement introducing the PlayStation 3 Slim. It’s 120-gigabyte system that’s 32 percent lighter, 36 percent smaller, and uses 34 percent less power. The tighter configuration will bring down production costs, which allows them to carry a price tag of $299 and still feature the Blu-Ray player. Sony thinks this is a brilliant game changer that allows them to compete in cost with Nintendo and Microsoft, whose consoles are less than $300.

Was the PlayStation 3 really that much more expensive? Hells yeah, it was. I’ve never upgraded my PlayStation 2 because, frankly, I own a flatscreen LCD television that cost less money than PlayStation 3 consoles did when they were first released. A PS3 is like a month’s rent for me. But setting aside the sheer number of stories I read about compatibility issues on various versions of the PS3 platforms, I’ve always thought it might be nice if someone would put out a lower cost model that I could afford to buy.

This is, on the face of the way they present it, a good move on Sony’s part. After all, the Nintendo Wii costs $250, and a Microsoft Xbox 360 will set you back just $200, so the $500 160-gig PS3 never really looked like the better deal, even if it did come with a Blu-Ray. Sony only sold about 121,000 PS3s last month, which is less than half of what Nintendo and Microsoft managed to push in a recession. Sony has sold 23 million PS3s to Nintendo’s 52 million Wiis. So repackaging and cutting the costs did make a lot of sense.

But what was nearly lost amid Sony’s fervent flag-waving for the new PS3 Slim is that the machine will not be compatible with PS1 and PS2 games, the way the first PS3 consoles were. And that just feels like a kick in the face.

See, I’ve got an entire library of PS2 games sitting in my house. Why would I bother to upgrade to a new console that won’t play the games I already have? It’s not like it’s an entirely new platform, like making the leap from Atari 2600 to the NES, or even from the SuperNintendo to the Nintendo 64. This is just the newest generation of a console that already exists and which I basically have a lot of software for.

And now you’re telling me the affordable version of the new generation console is completely incompatible with the games I already have?

I think this is kind of a dick move. I’m not sure what I gain by upgrading to the PS3 if I can’t play my older games on it.

Let’s look at it this way: it’s not like they’ve stopped making games for my PlayStation 2. Not only that, but since the introduction of the PS3, brand new PS2 games are released with cheaper retail prices. My wife and I bought G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Ghostbusters: The Video Game a couple of weeks ago for just $19.99 apiece. So, you could say that the existence of the PS3 has actually made owning a PS2 much more advantageous. It’s unwittingly created a massive savings on video games.

It’s especially nice because our PS2 is one of the few pieces of electronics hardware that we own that has never once had some kind of problem that needed to be fixed. It’s dependably worked for years. It’s filled in for our DVD player when our DVD player didn’t work. It’s a reliable machine, something which couldn’t be said of our last platform, the Nintendo 64.

So why would I want to upgrade from something that’s treated us so well and for which the video games now come cheaper, in favor of starting all over again?

This has become a constant theme of mine on this column: businesses today are trying too hard to make as much money possible. I don’t mind paying for something that’s worth it. But I do mind being tricked out of my money, especially when the companies aren’t even doing anything to hide it. Am I getting a deal when the PS3 Slim will cost about $200 less than a thicker PS3? Or are they getting a deal by forcing me to buy new games and replace my old ones?

You didn’t think they weren’t going to try and make up the money somehow, did you?

I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something here. Maybe the PlayStation 3 is like looking into the high definition face of God and I just don’t know what I’m talking about. (Although, frankly, I’d like to think that God would let me play my old games on his new video game console because, frankly, this is my fantasy and in my fantasy I can do whatever I want.) Maybe the exact same platform with a higher resolution processor is some kind of revolution in video gaming.

But if they really want these things to fly out the door at Christmastime, they should remember that compatibility with the first PlayStation was the biggest selling point of the PS2. Do right by the customer and put the processor back in that allows it to be compatible with the games that people already have.

Even if it adds a little more to the price, people will pay for something that’s really a deal instead of something just pretending to be.

Aaron R. Davis lives in a cave at the bottom of the ocean with his eyes shut tight and his fingers in his ears. You can contact him at samuraifrog@yahoo.com.

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• Murphy’s Law – NUads, a new way to force commercials down your throat
• Murphy’s Law – Things that piss me off
• Outside of the In-Crowd – Things Assholes Like: The first in a series

Yesterday, HoboTrashcan turned four years old.

Like any proud parent, I’ve been really excited to watch this little site grow. It started out as a tiny weekly e-zine and has grown into a daily blog with a nice backlog of columns, celebrity interviews, feature articles and DVD reviews. This site has just grown up so fast and I’m so proud of the little tyke. Before you know it, HoboTrashcan will be borrowing the station wagon to take a date to the prom and will have screaming matches with me where it tells me that “I don’t know what it’s like to be a teenage pop culture site.”

But I digress …

Four years might not seem like a long time, but a lot has changed since the site launched. In the year 2005, the price of gas was a mere 23 cents and the average annual salary was $4,130. Polio shots were given in schools for the first time. “Only You” by the Platters hit big on the music charts. Both James Dean and Albert Einstein tragically passed away (and you thought 2009 was a tough year for celebrity deaths). And, of course, personal computers and the Internet hadn’t been created yet, making it incredibly difficult to run a pop culture website.

But somehow, we persevered and evolved into the site you all know and love (or, if not love, then at least read on occasion). So I want to sincerely thank you all for supporting the site over the years and I want to thank Brian, Courtney, Aaron, Hobo Stu and all of the other former writers and contributors to the site for all their hard work. Obviously, I couldn’t have done this without all of you.

Thanks for a great four years and thanks for all of the love and support. You guys rock. What do you say we do this for at least another four years before I sell out to the highest bidder?

- Joel Murphy
Editor-in-chief

P.S. – If this post has you feeling nostalgic for the good ol’ days, here are a few links to some of our previous anniversary celebrations:

• 2006 – Murphy’s Law – Year One: A look back
• 2007 – Hobo Tara returns
• 2008 – Overrated – HoboTrashcan

  

Courtney Enlow

Sunday night, Ryan Jenkins was found dead in a hotel room, having most likely killed himself after murdering his swimsuit model wife and mutilating her body.

This story is completely horrific on its own, but it’s found its way into international news due to the fact that this sadistic, evil piece of shit was a contestant on the VH1 show Megan Wants A Millionaire.

Like the Nancy Grace be-fascinated part of the problem I am, I’ve been following this story since it broke (Google for the details, but be warned, it’s completely effed). I’ve been disgusted by this man’s actions against this woman. I’ve been saddened by the fact that yet another woman, obviously desperate for love etc., gave herself to a man who abused her without ever walking away. I’ve been many things … but I’ve never been shocked.

How many of us watch shows like this, completely entranced by the obviously unstable contestants and stars? It’s so easy to find these people hilarious, the fun kind of crazy. We’re so jaded to “reality” television being quote-unquote reality that we never believe that any of it’s real. But what if these people aren’t acting?

I have a theory that not a single reality show personality is the slightest bit mentally sound or healthy. Not a one. Each and every one of them is so desperate for money or fame or attention that they will do whatever it takes. And it works. We have helped all of these horrible heinous individuals right into their mansions and handbag deals. Which is all well and good and annoying, but we have yet to see the ramifications of all this. The reality show boom may have started in the 90s, but the famewhore boom is still young, and we haven’t seen a true burn-out yet. Paris Hilton, those Kardashian people, Tori Spelling and her husband, those Hills twats, they’re still riding the wave. But at some point, we will get distracted by some new pop cultural shiny thing and move on and they will be nothing. And that’s when things might get scary.

We’ve seen how these people have fought for fame so far. Anyone who will release footage of their vaginas being penetrated probably aren’t the most scrupulous people on the planet, and Paris Hilton taught us that sex tapes are merely the tip of the whoreberg. We’re watching as Jon and Kate completely destroy their children’s lives on a daily basis. The day is coming where Spencer actually lights Heidi on fire for the cameras. And you can’t tell me that creepy foot fetish guy on The Bachelorette doesn’t have bodies stacked in his basement.

We lap up every ounce of this. We watch as steroid-filled, spiky-haired douchechills and orange anorexic bimbos with Adderall dependencies throw themselves at the chance to be on TV. The prospect of a person going on reality shows to find fame is scary enough, but it’s even scarier to think that they’re really after love. But the latter is what audiences pull for.

Megan Wants A Millionaire featured Megan Houserman, star of Rock of Love 2, I Love Money and Charm School. She’s hideously annoying and only wears bikinis and has a retarded chihuahua. That’s literally all you need to know about her. Her own personal Flavor of Love (I bet it tastes like Sun-In, Alli poo and tanning oil) was to feature her as she looked for a man to let her be his trophy wife.

Now let’s stop there before things get murdery, because it’s really bad enough. I need to get my own prejudice out of the way here – I hate anyone whose personal mission is to be a trophy wife. If you’re reading this (and I suppose I should applaud you for attempting to read the big words), you’re an idiot and completely worthless, and how dare you celebrate the fact that you’re such a pointless waste of life, unable to function on your own, that you need a man to give you allowance for purses and spray tan. Now that I have that out of the way, we’ll move on.

I love VH1. They have a complete life pass for the I Love The series as far as I’m concerned, and dammit if I didn’t love that Adrienne Curry/Peter Brady program. So for this reason, I will point out that they were not producing MWAM. A separate company was making the show, so this company is responsible for their dropping the world’s biggest ball on those background checks.

But did they? I mean, I would imagine that reality show background checks have to be the most vague perfunctory things in the world. “Let’s make sure no one’s killed anyone yet, but we NEED crazy.” It’s not like they do proper psychiatric evaluations on every contestant, because all of them would get stamped with a big red “this bitch is loony” all over their foreheads, and there would be no show. And maybe that’s the best thing.

Look, as I said before, I’m part of the problem. I kind of love these shitshows. I watched all of Rock of Love, the first two Flavor of Loves, I Love Money and I would probably give up my commemorative travel spoon collection (that I don’t have) to bring Surreal Life back. But I would give all these shows up to stop the crazy.

We don’t need American Idol to find great singers. We don’t need Jon and Kate to show us how to raise kids. We don’t need America’s Got Talent to keep The Hoff off the wagon. So let’s just stop. Because seriously, if Heidi and Spencer, in an effort to get a spinoff, actually reproduce, we’re all fucked.

Courtney Enlow is a writer living in Chicago and working as a corporate shill to pay the bills. You can contact her at courtney@hobotrashcan.com.

Similar Posts:

• Outside of the In-Crowd – Reality people don’t count
• Outside of the In-Crowd – Spencer Pratt, you magnificent bastard
• Outside of the In-Crowd – I’ve got a theory
• Positive Cynicism – Reality TV show finally loses its sanity
• Outside of the In-Crowd – The boy in the plastic balloon, a.k.a., Famewhoring: The next generation

When HoboTrashcan launched on August 23, 2005, it featured an interview with Michael K. Williams (Omar on the best show on television, The Wire). It helped put this site on the map and through the years it has continued to be one of our most popular interviews.

So if you still haven’t read it, here’s your chance:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2005/08/23/one-on-one-with-michael-k-williams/

Hobo Stu

Hello everyone,

This week, we are lucky enough to bring you a long interview with the lovely Lisa Lackey. (Alliteration rules!) Lackey plays Janice Parkman, the wife and baby momma of the mind reading Matt Parkman on Heroes.

I highly recommend checking out the interview, even if you aren’t a fan of Heroes. Lackey is incredibly charming. She also does a great job clarifying some common misconceptions about Australians and even provides an interesting theory on why Heroes’ ratings have struggled lately. It’s a very entertaining read.

Of course, all of the content on the site is great this week. Seriously, HoboTrashcan is awesome. You should read every word. (At least, that’s my completely unbiased opinion.)

Here’s what’s new on HoboTrashcan.com this week:

One on One with Lisa Lackey
In a world of superheroes, it’s tough to be an average citizen stuck at home caring for your superbaby, especially when your mind reading husband is still harboring resentment over the fact that you slept with his partner. All that aside, Janice Parkman does her best to keep her chin up and roll with the punches.

Playing Mrs. Parkman on the hit show Heroes is Lisa Lackey, an Australian actor who has been trying to balance her profession with raising a family of her own. We recently talked to Lackey about working on Heroes, accidentally serenading David Lynch and how being Australian is nothing like what you’ve seen on TV.

Murphy’s Law – The happiest place on earth
Disney World may be an incredibly fun place for tourists, but it has become a death trap for employees. Three Disney World workers have died on the job in the last seven weeks. Joel Murphy looks for a common thread in these accidental deaths.

Note to self – F#$%ing Favre
Like herpes, Brett Favre just keeps coming back again and again. And while most sports writers can’t get enough of Favre’s latest comeback, Brian Murphy has finally had enough of it. This week, he breaks out the stats to prove that Favre is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.

Outside of the In-Crowd – Why We Hate: Seth Rogen
In the debut of her brand new feature entitled “Why We Hate,” Courtney Enlow attempts to figure out why America has decided to turn on the once beloved Seth Rogen. She charts his career to see where it all went wrong.

Positive Cynicism – The announcement that launched a thousand torrents
To combat dwindling DVD sales, Warner Bros. announced it will now make Netflix and Redbox wait until 28 days after they’re released to receive new movies. Aaron R. Davis explains why this desperation move is destined to fail.

Hobo Radio 96 – Ecstasy-induced, hungry, aggressive, angry sex
For two weeks, Joel Murphy and Lars Periwinkle have been M.I.A. from their weekly Hobo Radio podcasts. Their dozens of loyal listeners have been concerned, wondering what happened to their favorite podcasting duo.

This week, they return with answers. Joel is too distraught to recount the details of their time away from the show, so it is up to Lars to fill you all in on the specifics of their harrowing story. It’s an amazing tale, one filled with heartache, pain, self-discovery and ultimately redemption. We promise you won’t want to miss it.

What is this amazing story? How will Darren Aranofsky make one of our adolescent fantasies come true? Is Batman: Arkham Asylum the greatest video game ever made? The answers to these questions and more are in this week’s podcast.

- Hobo Stu

Hobo Stu’s Weekly Recap is also available as an email newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter to ensure you never miss an update, send an email to newsletter-subscribe@hobotrashcan.com.