Stardust Speedway 047 - (Reading List: Capitalism: A Graphic Guide by Dan Cryan; Sharron Shatil and Piero)

Well; this is it; the last piece of research for this dissertation and the end of the research which I have been doing since May. This was not going to go in as I have only just picked this book up from the Borders closing down sale (RIP) called Capitalism: A Graphic Guide.

This book is a detailed history of the entire history of Capitalism and has provided a good read; I thought that it would be going over old ground but has provided me with more information than before and also it is like a comic book which for a geeky person like myself is a good thing.

The current plan at the moment is that I am going to start writing my Dissertation

Stardust Speedway 045 - Reading List: (The Motorcycle Diarys by Che Guevara)

Well; the time has come for my third Dissertation Meeting and I am going over everything with a fine tooth come for tomorrows meeting. I have planned to have my first Essay Draft planned and complete for tonight so the adding of new material begins.

The next piece of research that I have added was reccomended to me by a friend and has become my latest read of choice. The book in question is The Motorcycle Diary's by Che Guevara.

Everytime I read an essay about Communism; the name Che Guevara come up again and again and for good reason he is the single most influential and successful Marxist in existence and his famous picture taken by Alberto Corda has become one of the most recognised pictures in History; so this book will help me find out more about this legendary figurehead.

Stardust Speedway 043 - Reading List (Game On - The History and Culture of Video Games by Various Authors)

Recently I have been looking more at the culture of videogames and I have found a few good books on the subject which I found on Ebay for not much money. The first book is called Game On: The History and Culture of Video Games and is more a collection of individual book/journal entrys about various aspects of video games and has been a good read so far.

Some journal entrys which have been highlighted for this project was one about Pokemon wrote by Masuyama (First name not given) but I am note sure if it will become a valid contribution yet so will put it on here for now anywhey.

Stardust Speedway 035 - Reading List (The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels)

Well; due to advice by my Tutor Tamara; I have been looking at both the culture surrounding the subjects my Dissertation is based on and also looking at the flipsides of the arguments as well.

So the next entry in the Reading list and the start of Wave 2 of my research is by reading the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Now this document was the birth of the entire Communism party when it was first written and published in 1848 so is the most ideal document to read when looking at the flipside/counter argument to Capitalism.

So I am going to sit back and read this now while doing some more research

Stardust Speedway 031 - Reading List (The Cultural Politics of Pokemon Capitaism by Anne Allison)

Now I am not sure about this one at this point of the project as It has nothing to do with Sonic The Hedgehog; but the one thing that I do like about this essay is that it sees capitalism within the whole Pokemon Franchise and sees how it started and became the phenomenon that is has become.

Now the plan for this is that I am going to read it a few times once again and see if it could be used; but I am going to put it in for now in the reading list.

The Link for the essay is at the following URL:

http://web.mit.edu/cms/Events/mit2/Abstracts/AnneAllison.pdf

Stardust Speedway 021 - Reading List (Awsome Sega Mega Drive Secrets by J.Douglas Arnold)

The second book that I am entering into the official reading list tonight is Awesome Mega Drive Secrets by J.Douglas Arnold.

Now this is another book that I have accumulated over the years and it has a lot of Sonic secrets in this book and while reading it today while the council fitted a new kitchen; I was having a quick read of it and thought that there would be a lot of useful information that could be carried over.

So that makes five for now; with some more to follow hopefully

Stardust Speedway 020 - Reading List (Stay Sonic: The Official SEGA Handbook - Mike Pattenden)

The latest entry in my Dissertation Reading List is Stay Sonic - The Official SEGA Handbook by Mike Pattenden.

Now I have had a copy of this book since it came out and have been looking for my copy for years as it has been lost among many of my belongings; and now that its been the Bank Holiday spring clean at my house; I have finally found it and at a good time as well.

This is basically a printed version of the Production Bible that I discovered a few months ago with a few more details and lots of pictures as well; so it will come in handy for later on in the project.

Stardust Speedway 018 - Reading List (Sonic The Hedgehog - Production Bible from SEGA of America)

I have only just discovered that this was not in my reading list and not sure why it has taken this long to do that, but here it is.

This is the second draft of the Sonic The Hedgehog bible from 1991 for use exclusively for Sega during the development of the game, so how I have got a cop I do not know.

It contains the full back story of Sonic the hedgehog for the original title and lots of useful information for the dissertation.

Stardust Speedway 011 - Reading List (Sonic The Hedgehog as a Individualist Hero by Iain Smedley)

After a bit of research on the internet (Once Again); I have turned up a small Journal entry from an Magazine called Campainer in the USA by a man called Iain Smedley. He discusses the effect that Video Games had on the early 90s and how it affected culture in various ways such as Sales for a company or how they joined the Playground together in a mutual hobby.

But it also discusses how Sonic (and also characters like Mario) are the individualist hero; how they work by themselves and answer to nobody; but at the same time in the game for themselves.

I have decided to include this within the research because it does discuss some valid points when talking about the character and also how individualism is heavily connected with Capitalism as they both focus on the individuals rights.

The link to the essay is as follows:-

http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/cultn/cultn033.pdf

Stardust Speedway 006 - Reading List (Capitalism: The Unknown Idea by Ayn Rand)

Well I have nearly finished my first book of my reading list and I now have a basic grasp of Capitalism (in some form) So I am going to jump into another book as quick as I can and this has been highly reccomended by various people.

Now, I have read Altus Shrugged by Ayn Rand which took me a long time and alot of determination to do before the release of Bioshock to get more of an understanding of the game; but her opinions of the society that the characters live in can be seen within various points of the book. So I have decided to read this collection of essays about Capitalism and various other themes to get a more deeper understanding of the subject.

So once it has come from Amazon; let the reading begin.

Stardust Speedway 003 - Reading List (Capitalism - A Very Short Introduction)

Well; I do watch a lot of topical news quizes such as Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week and I do live in a Capitlist society; but I still do not understand the subject to a full extent. So I went out this morning and bought the following book (Capitalism - A Very Short Introduction) bu James Fulcher.

Now when you look at the title; you cannot have a very short introduction to a vast subject; but this series of books are very detailed and I have used them before when researching subjects like Terrorism with my Paper on Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. So I am going to use this book as a starting point for my research and see where it goes from there.

Also; I have nearly finished my playthrough of Sonic CD for the project and I am going to write up a games post mortem report to discuss what I found within the game (as long as I get past the Wacky Workbench level)