Mature Audiences Only

Every night I watch yesterday's TIVO'd taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Nothing makes me laugh the way this show makes me laugh. Sure, its the same stuff hashed over and over, and its all very predictable after a time, but there are certain people that just cannot be made fun of quite enough. And Stewart's "News" team certainly does a good job of that.

The night before last, Jon's guest was Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan. I know its wrong to think of Pakistan as a third-world country, given that they aren't (I mean, having nuclear weapons earns them the right to sit at the table with us, doesn't it?). But I couldn't help being impressed with how well-spoken, articulate and thoughtful this former General was. Now, I'm not pointing at anyone in particular, but it sure made me nostalgic for the days of articulate and thoughtful leadership.

Last night's guest was Tom Waits. Even if you cringe at his performances, you simply have to admire his writing. He must be one of the most covered artists on the planet. Plus, he appeared in one of my favorite Jim Jarmusch films, "Down By Law", and he wasn't bad. Anyway, seeing him being interviewed was a treat.

One of the great things about TIVO is that you can fast-forward through all the commercials, and therefore you can get through a half-hour show in just under 10 minutes.. sigh. Last night, I was occupied when the commercial break began, and caught just a little of the first commercial. It was for a new XBox video game called "Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball". Given the name, you'd imagine some Mad-Maxish take on the sport, played in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian beachfront landscape. Nah, its just the real game, played by what appear to overdeveloped, underaged girls, wearing next-to-nothing. A disclaimer was given at the end of the commercial - this video rated "M", for mature audiences only. Hm. Naturally, I was curious to see what elements this game had to offer a mature adult such as myself.

I checked out the game's description on the company's website. The basic premise is that a handful of girls have been summoned to a private resort island by a rich patron. The girls are actually characters from another of the company's games, "Dead or Alive", which is a violent fighting game - pointless male violence always attracts beautiful girls as spectators, doesn't it? In the game, you choose a girl character and take her through a 14-day vacation on the island. One of the biggest elements of the game is shopping for things like skimpy bikinis, jewelry, handbags, hair clips, shoes, wristbands and hats. So of course its important to get to know your character's inner-most secrets, like her favorite color, her hobbies, her most embarrassing moment - all of which is available on her profile page. Once you get to know her, you take her shopping and then dress her up for her big day at the beach, playing volleyball with the other girls.

And that's.... pretty much it. You do this for 14 days, and then you start the game over and do it again. So it made me wonder, just exactly how mature do you have to be to play this game? And that made me wonder about the audience for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

And that made me wonder about me.