"The Giant 50" - Mag Ranks PlayStation 3 Most Important Entertainment Trend

Riding the New York City "C" train home from work last night, we were flipping through the November issue of Giant mag. This month's cover touts a feature titled "The Giant 50." The sub-head teaser boasts "The most important people and trends in entertainment--right now!" That's pretty compelling; Giant had our attention. Naturally, we dove right into the thick glossy pages.

The Giant 50 is probably the least predictable "Top-(insert number here)" list we've ever come across in the universe of media fluff that is most entertainment coverage. The list defies expectations more often than not with so many oddball, off-the-wall inclusions, though this very quirkiness seems to lend it some kind of barometric pop-cultural credibility and authenticity--as if the editors and over-consuming entertainment cool hunters at Giant really do know what they're talking about and aren't "just spittin' hype" (as our Web producer-buddy Ivan would say).

Anyway, all we need to tell you is what made the number 1 and 2 on the list to prove our point:

Number 1 is the Sony PlayStation 3. We, mean, for chrissakes, it won't even be released until 2006! But that's the whole point. By making the PS3 number 1, Giant recoginizes just how massively major the whole video games culture and industry (and the underlying technology for them) really are. From that perspective, it makes sense that it would be on the list, even pretty high up on the list. Ok, and, maybe, maaaybe, arguably, number 1. It also reflects the anticipation (going on several years now) and import of the follow-up to the global category-ruler in the video console wars that the PlayStation 2 has been. The coming of the PS3 is a cultural event. It will be--as shallow and pathetic as it may seem--a defining moment for more than one generation of gamers. (We're not kidding.)

And number 2? Charlie Murphy. Ahem ... we said, Charlie Murphy ... CHAR-LIE MUR-PHY. That's right, Eddie Murphy's brother, who in just a couple of years has gone from total obscurity to being the genius behind one of the funniest, instant-classic comedy sketch series in the entire run of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. But, c'mon! Number 2? Ok, Giant. We're going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this. Look for Charlie Murphy to be a major comedic force within a few years.

Essential Links

Sony PlayStation 3 [Wikipedia]
Charlie Murphy [IMDb]
Giant Magazine Website

Posted by Thurston Ali at November 18, 2005 01:28 AM