I've been on a continuous shopping-spree this past month, partly because I'm trying to compensate for not taking a summer vacation, partly because, when I feel blue, I shop. And when I shop, I buy DVDs and console games, and very little else. Lately, there have been lots - too many - of them. But I loves my movies, and I loves my games - why else would I be a game designer with scriptwriting and directing aspirations? Why indeed.

It's all about the love. (And not the fifth element known as love, because I hated that movie with a passion and a fury that can never be fully communicated.)

It's all about what you - and by "you", I mean "me" - love, what drives you, what gets you up in the morning, what keeps your clock ticking, your heart beating, and your brain working through the small hours. For me - and by "me", I mean, uh, "me" - it's creating. Whether it's a game, a novel, a short-story, a screenplay, a scribbled idea on a napkin or a piece of toilet-paper (yes, that has happened), it's about creating, dreaming, a vision, a desire to shape and make and share.

Games are great in that way, because they involve the audience - the players - in completely new and surprising ways, and that's why I love making 'em, and that's why I love playing 'em. I can live inside a game, if only for a brief time, and feel completely enveloped by the world and the setting and the game-play. If the game is good, mind, and not if it's a piece of crap, because then - even if it manages to envelop me - all I want to do is get back outside.

But I digress. Point is, the fact that I spend my money - waaay too much money - on DVDs and games is a Good Thing, really. It's about the passion. It's about learning and understanding more of my craft(s) through the handiwork and artistry of others.

Besides, it's a good excuse to spend more cash on frivolities. Come Friday, there's another box of DVDs arriving from Amazon, and it's nice to not have to feel guilty about it.  ¶ 14:59