2009 December | BringIt Home: Challenge. Play. Earn.

Not so new music

December 7th, 2009
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Here are a couple newish tunes for your ears.

Gossip – Heavy Cross

Garfunkel & Oates – This Party Took a Turn for the Douche

Garfunkel & Oates are a comedy/musical duo from L.A. and also do an audience participation game called Kanye or Hitler.

You can also play this game with the Pope and the Dalai Lama.

Tiger Woods wrote an apology on his web site a couple of days ago,”“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,“ Woods wrote. “I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.””

Allen Iverson is back with the Sixers.

But more interestingly is the sport of Buzkashi. The National sport of Afghanistan, Buzkashi means ‘goat-grabbing,’ although because of their greater prevalence, calfs have recently replaced goats, also the evidently deteriorate at as slower pace than goats. Below is a great 8 minute documentary about the sport, unfortunately the video dies at 6:59 just when they’re about to talk about the Afghan Olympic Committee.

Head of the Buzkashi Federation, Haji Abdul Rashid, told USA Today, “We want it to become an Olympic sport.” Which just isn’t going to happen, despite the various incantations of the sport including an American and European non-mounted version (which frankly seems obscenely lame) although in China they evidently have both a horse-mounted and yak-mounted rendition. From the USA Today article, “”It’s very violent,” says Said Maqsud, who also has seven buzkashi horses. “Animal rights activists wouldn’t like it,”" and he’s right but there are greater problems with mass implementation. There are few people willing to drag a carcass of any sort around (particularly in place where most people are removed from the slaughter of animals whether for food or hides), it’s crazy dangerous, there are essentially no rules and slightly more importantly the massive economic barrier you face in places where horses are either rare or not used as our ancestors intended when they were domesticated.

However, I’ve given this some though and the best way to get both mass exposure and appreciation for the sport is through video games. Particularly in the marriage of a traditional sports game and a game like the Dynasty Warriors series where you have tons of npc opponents, but obviously instead of killing them and unifying China, you’d be on horse or yak back. The USA Today article also says that while there are games where it’s one person vs. everyone else there are also games with 12 man teams. I imagine this game would be highly customizable, horse or yak (clearly I’m picking yak), team or no team, and of course npc or playing over a network. And you could even have different backgrounds/terrains that reflect where the game is actually played, which is not limited to either Afghanistan or China. And eventually, we’d be graced with the Buzkashi Warriors Gundam editions! Where instead of horses you can be thrown out of your Gundam! Later parts of the series would feature GTA style horse/yak/Gundamjackings – I see someone thrown from a horse, climbing onto the nearest steed and punching the guy riding it and throwing him from the animal.

Clearly Buzkashi Warriors would be the greatest fighting/sport game ever!