I have recently been thinking about the future, not just what I will have for dinner but much further on. Many reasons have spurred me on to start thinking about the state of the future. First of all the amazing Docu-drama (not the right term but whatever) Death of a President that I caught glimpses of last night. Well told and paced, the story was gripping due to the actual real life instances that influenced this film. The mess that the law offices made when rushing to find the assassin was humorous since the past five years has been full of these gaffes. On the day that both governments mentioned that the Iraq war now has echoes of Vietnam (oh really where the f*ck have you been for ages) it was especially pertinent. I am curious to see how well it does on the film circuit in the states. Even without it’s political message I enjoyed it, by the way I’m also trying to track down and watch the Turkish war movie that brings to life the story of the American troops arresting the Turkish military in Iraq. Another reason for me to look at the future was the 15 year anniversary of sonic the hedgehog. I know its not as groundbreaking to some of you but that character shaped my early life a lot. I remember buying comics and of course playing the game on my mega drive, unfortunately I never finished it. Unlike the game boy its rare to find a game gear and play old games due to sega collapsing. Now I wanted to bring up the fact that sonic back then was a blatant rip off of bart simpson back then. He had catchphrases such as Sayonara and ate tacos, all part of what I presumed what kids back the wanted to be cool California beach dudes. (Check Game gears early games one of them was California games where you played a surfer, skateboarder and bmx rider among other things). Where Nintendo made a hit using a stereotypical Italian plumber stolen from a previous game, sega attempted to make Sonic as much about beating the bad guy as beating an eco warrior. In fact the more I think about it the more I realise that Sega did a lot for the environment and maybe should be commended for it. Remember Eco the dolphin? Of course the Sonic of today is a lot different gone are the stale platform days and simple power ups. Now in is current 3-d form it resembles a hyperactive Japanese kids mind. Bright lights and weird urban platform nestle snugly with volcanos. I guess labour’s dreams of the future. I tend to look at it as a progression of children’s minds. I can not blame the advance in technology but it seems to me as it has hampered the imagination that came with playing video games in the first place. I remember playing Shinobi as a child and then wanting to go out and become a ninja. Not spending the majority of the time trying to get to the next level but just a simple aid in exploring deeper into my own imagination. However Sonic the character has changed over two cartoons, various comics and its subsequent rebirth on modern day consoles. It is less eco warrior and for some reason just a money grabbing (he tries to steal jewels from Dr Robotnik in one of the new ones) thief. I just blame this on the lack of plot; then again what made the original Mario’s work so well is that it was a plumber trying to save a princess. Simple star crossed lover’s story even though I don’t want to know what was going to happen when Luigi got involved. My Little cousins in fact hated saving the princess but loved beating King Koopa which I guess just means that love isn’t as relevant anymore. The characters remain the same but the original flavour has been lost in this fat free, soy milk, lactose intolerant world. I guess it’s just like the Disney code for all game gear games. Round and round on the control pad until your energy falters or the bright light come on.