An Eye-Opening Experience

After listening to year-old GFW Radio episodes for the past week now, I think I've developed some sort of affinity for Shawn Elliott, and the fashion in which he expresses himself and verbalizes his opinions, which seem to have been ingrained in my mind. I'm getting a sense that I understand him more as a person although I have never personally met him. Strangely enough, I can hear his voice in my conscience and have noticed that my style of writing has been showing similarities to Shawn's style of speaking. I would dare to link this metaphysical connection with someone I have never met before due to the credibility Shawn bears when he changes his tone of voice to a more serious one, and how much more deeply I listen and how I concentrate to truly grasp his message and to learn from such a wise, [seemingly self-taught due to as he describes as an unfavorable youth] and well-read man. I may not try, but I think I look up to Shawn, not as a big brother, but as a role model, as someone to become in my own sort of way. Thanks Shawn for helping me develop a healthy aspiration for such a healthily humorous and humitile person that is well-rounded.

 I imagine how little this means to Shawn -- he seems like a naturally talented speaker with a little attention span, which is equally as juxtapositioned as the fact that he reads articles concerning neuropsychological defects, dillusions, and hysterias, yet laughs at nearly anything, and acts like a complete fool on the podcast, which imaginably is not true outside of the podcast recording.

I subconsciously seem to place a sense of belief behind Shawn Elliott's voice in particular at the moment he says something along the lines of "I think ... is coming to a point where ...", "It's interesting to see ...", "To its credit", "To be fair", or retracting his potentially false or otherwise incomprehensible views by timidly saying "I don't know".
I'm aware of how utterly bizarre it is to say this, but I can even imagine the type of voice Shawn would use to mock me.

These days it's becoming clearer and clearer how in need 1up.com is in of truly articulate individuals who are readers first and foremost, not gamers. There's a certain quality that is present on the Listen Up! podcast in terms of intelligent conversation, but it is never particularly as psychological, analytical, or nearly as meaningful as what I hear on the Out of The Game podcast. And that's fine, but I think after listening to GFW Radio for a week straight and nothing else, I think I'm coming to a point where I am beginning to expect more value from a podcast. For example, on GFW Radio, Shawn analyzed not only the quality of the game, but also the decision-making by the developer that influenced the particular game we know today, while also somehow smoothly diverging into psychological conversation.

7.11.09