Watching two kids once a week, I get to see what's happening in the world of children's media. Yesterday it was an interactive video game called "Dream Life". Well, apparentlya dream life for a young girl in 2006 revolves around makeovers, clothes, and using those two things solely to get boys to like you.

As I was playing this with a little "Ma Vie En Rose" future Castro-dwelling brother of the owner of said game, he delighted in the cliches even as I lamely attempted to dispel them with choices that the game, to add insult to injury, punished. The point of the game is to rack up friends, money, and a boyfriend as you go from school to mall to salon to gym. The game awards points based on your selection of suggested conversation sentences. When I selected, "What do you know about reptiles?" as my conversation topic with cheerleader "Kayla", rather than "Are you in my ballet class?" or "Your hair looks lighter today", the virtual "friend" answered, "Ick! Gross! Nothing!" and I lost half of my friend points. I shit you not. My "best friend" in the game advised me to "Study hard and do well in school so your parents will let you go shopping more." I am not kidding. Good to know young girls (or an effeminate boy in this case) playing "Dream Life" won't miss the true value of an education!

I asked my little friend if I could spend my accumulated money from a "part time job" (a choice of babysitting, doing makeovers, or dog-walking) on anything besides fashion, like music, books, or sports equipment. "No," he said, "Just clothes and accessories, at the salon, or to decorate your room." Right. Cause what else could budding young ladies possibly be interested in? Besides, of course, "Brad", "Andrew", or "Steve", the dreamy teens gazing aloofly out from under their surfer blond locks. I presume they're expected to cover the tab for everything else in "Dream Life", between getting buffed out in the gym, repressing their emotions, and working on their cars with their natural ability for such things.

 

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