Discussing 'Why is violence such a prominent part of entertainment?' and Interviewing Edmund McMillen

Broadcast on KSCO AM 1080, KOMY AM 1340 and KSCO.com Live Stream

Email: ruth@ksco.com   Twitter:  @ruthcopland   

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HOUR 1: Talk with listeners calling in live

‘Why is violence such a prominent part of entertainment?’ Does violent media affect our behavior adversely or is it harmless? Do we have a responsibility to control how violence is portrayed due to the number of recent shootings or are these unrelated? Is there a difference between ‘good violence’ and ‘bad violence’ in media? 

Why do parents routinely disregard 17 ratings for video games and let their children play very violent games at a young age? Do we owe it to our society to take some responsibility for this assault on our senses as we would if it was an assault on our persons? Or is it up to the individual to decide what to consume? Join the conversation! 

HOUR 2: (Begins at 0:53 mins) Interview with Artist and Indie Game Designer Edmund McMillen

Ruth And Edmund McMillen

I interview Edmund McMillen, artist, indie game designer and joint CEO, with his partner Tommy Refenes, of independent gaming company Team Meat. Originally working graphically in the independent comic book medium, Edmund has designed concepts and artwork for many hugely popular indie games including Grey Matter, Coil, Triachnid, Aether, Time Fcuk, Spewer, Gish, Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac. After years of sacrifice and struggle to stay independent, Edmund and Tommy found commercial success with their game Super Meat Boy, which took off in a huge way with millions of sales. Critics lauded the game's precise control, retro artwork, and soundtrack. Edmund and Tommy and the development process of Super Meat Boy are featured in the film Indie Game: The Movie.

Edmund's follow-up game The Binding of Isaac has accrued over two million sales and fans eagerly await the next game from Team Meat Mew-genics which is due out sometime in 2014. For more info go to www.edmundm.com