Why the big fuss about Michael Vick anyway?

Don't get me wrong. I think dog-fighting is awful. But honestly, aren't most of us who are outraged by Michael Vick just being a tad hypocritical?
Those of us who've ever eaten or used any animal product scarecely think of where all these products come from. I'm not talking about controversial, high-profile products like veal or foie gras or mink coats. I'm talking about the usual stuff... frozen chicken drumsticks, eggs for decorating at Easter, Nikes, dog-food, ice-cream...almost all of the animal-products we consume come from places where animals' lives echo the words of Hobbes: nasty, brutish and short.
Sure...liberals, left-wingers, tree-huggers, hippies...we talk about it, we think about it. But this regular mass brutality towards animals rarely generates the sort of outrage that Michael Vick's actions have.
The mainstream is quite happy getting outraged by one or two cases like this, while everything else is swept under the rug...it's convenient to not have everything around us prick at our oh-so-sensitive conscience.

It's dark. You may be eaten by a grue.

I'm back after a three-ish month hiatus. What with exams, weddings of putative brothers, and sheer laziness, it is already the middle of July. Not only have I not updated my blog in a while, I have not read anything seriously academic since...let's see...the middle of May? Panic wells within me as I gauge the consequences of my unconscionable procrastination; and I hear a steady voice close to my ear say, "It's dark. You may be eaten by a Grue."

Of course, this wonderfully understated and yet deeply disturbing threat does not claim my imagination as its point of origin. Credit goes to the creators of the Zork series of games. Many may be unfamiliar with this series. A pity, that... for these games are by far the best interactive-fiction/role-playing games ever made. They were created under the Infocom/Activision label sometime in the '80s. (Incidentally, I also believe that these games, along with Douglas Adams, Star Trek: TNG and Rick Astley, redeem the otherwise dispensable decade of my birth.)

They are a totally text-based game. That's right, a video-game with no video...or audio, for that matter; just an introductory manual, a map and your imagination. All of the games--Zork 0, Zork 1, 2, 3, 4 (I've lost count), and other related games like Enchanter, Sorcerer, Planetfall etc.--make up for the absence of graphics by being witty, intelligent and just plain peculiar. You take on the role of a wily explorer in these games and make your way through enchanted castles, cursed underground kingdoms, and abandoned realms. In your journies you seek treasures, cast spells, match your wits against evil wizards, clever dwarves and cunning theives, and explore a world you can only imagine.
Alas, I do not believe these games are available on the market anymore. But, there is the Internet, and there are die-hard fans who want to make the Grue a household name. Seek and thou shalt find.