$8.25 gets you ten minutes of amazing, mind blowing, filthy………..gaming. With a girl.

The service is only for the Xbox 360 at the moment, so anyone want to take bets on how long it is before someone sets up achievements for this thing?

To me this seems like exactly what Jesse Schell at GDC 2010 was talking about. He fears for our culture because it sounds (and even feels like, in my humble opinion) that we’re hurtling towards a Brave New World scenario, one where our lives begin to be dictated by the scores and achievements set by corporations and companies. “The 21st century will be a war of attention,” he says.

“We will have to choose sides.”

UPDATE: Apparently the demand has been so high for this borderline prostitution that plays on the social insecurities and stereotypical desperation that gamers have been working so hard to rid themselves of that the service is currently unavailable.

He raps.

He does semi-cheesy rap songs that look like they’re created on Sony Vegas on his laptop at home. His lyrics are clever and laden with pop culture references, and the beats sound like they were produced on a Casio keyboard.

He’s also quarantined in a hospital room for antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

Many people would curl into a ball, cry, get depressed, demand more drugs-hell, any number of things other than create rap videos.

This guy has taken exactly what life has given him and made the most of it. So what, exactly, is stopping hospitals from fostering this kind of growth? Create hospital based YouTube channels for patient content- hospitals could actually create revenue based off of this. Make the program voluntary, obviously, and allow for a limited number of outlets- Maybe even some classes to learn how to do it yourself. It would not only promote disease awareness (and perhaps indirectly, disease prevention) but also create a better understanding of what people go through within the hospitals. It could be something as little as a video diary, or something as big as a rap video.

The technology is out there, and I’m sure there are people spending the day in bed, wishing there was something else for them to do. Why not embrace it? Why not invent an entire new way of coping and dealing with time at a hospital?

Here’s Christiaan’s video. Enjoy.

So what’s the solution?

If the plan goes through, The city of Detroit will bulldoze 1/4 of it’s roughly 139 square mile metropolitan area. The other interesting thing is that, since no new industry is breaking down their door to get in, it will most likely get turned into agricultural land. Detroit will go from being the Motor City to a larger farming community. This would change the face of Detroit, as well as open new avenues for other cities. Desolate and blighted areas would be seen as opportunities instead of urban failures and rotting carcasses.

As for the people, they would get moved to newer areas where the city can actually afford to police them and put out fires. They effectively get a new beginning in a place that isn’t so……dead.

The American mythos is the narrative of the individual. The words independence, liberty, personal freedom, and individualism come to mind when we characterize core American values. That is why that when we see people making drastic changes to their lifestyle due to economic realities we have to wander; are we witnessing a fundamental change in American culture?

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle reports on the growing trend of people deciding to find a roommate, rent a room or share space in order to cut costs and make ends meet.

Here are some statistics and facts from that article:

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey showed a jump in cohabiting in 2007, the most recent survey year. In California, the number of “family households” with a roommate stood at 228,500 in 2007, up 9.6 percent from 2006. In “nonfamily households,” 674,000 reported having roommates in 2007, a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year.

9.4% is nothing to scoff at!

Craigslist, the online classified ad giant, says that its roommate-wanted postings over the past 12 months are up 60 percent for the Bay Area, and up 85 percent within San Francisco.

We have heard the stories from our grandparents…6 kids in one bed…my grandfather claimed that his family was so poor that they had to sleep in their Cadillac…Groooaaan! But, this is happening in the here and now.

There is nothing insignificant about Americans giving up private space and independence just to get by. True, in other parts of the world people have become accustomed to living and crowded conditions, but here in America, even the carpool lane on the 405 is conspicuously empty.

Let’s face it; there is no prohibition like financial prohibition!

If the economy doesn’t turn around in the near future, most economists are becoming increasingly cynical these changes will be lasting. For better or worse our culture is re-examining itself. It is important to take stock of the many ways the recession is impacting the cultural landscape in order for us to understand the ways that our businesses and services must change to accommodate the needs of the new American lifestyle that is currently evolving.

The American consumer is hardly recognizable in its current form; thrift conscious, cash starved, coupon clipping, bargain hunting, and just plain doing without, a new animal has emerged. It’s not all bad news though, consumers, now more than ever, are willing to venture into retail territory that they would have considered demeaning a few years ago.

McDonalds “Premium Coffee” has shown there is an opportunity in offering items that deliver value and higher quality. Targets, limited run, designer collections enjoy a cult like status. We will not list them all here, but, there are many other examples that illustrate the growing opportunity in affordable, “premium”, offerings.

This is not only an opportunity to increase sales, it is also the perfect space for a brand to change consumer perception and expand their offerings.

Case in point…

An article titled, Denim sales still going strong in the LA Times, outlines how the popularity of premium denim is leading to sales growth, even in market that is just plain ______ (insert favorite four letter word here, extra points for adjectives)!

Everyone knows there is no substitute for a good fitting pair of jeans, and when you’re working on tight budget there is nothing more versatile or practical.

Jeff Labell, chief executive of L.A.-based True Religion Brand Jeans, tells the LA Times,

“(Jeans) are a value purchase in a tough economy. Jeans are not the kind of thing you wear once, like a formal dress. They just get better with time.”

But, it is not necessarily back to basics. The hot market is the premium jeans segment.

A pair of Premium jeans can easily run you $250, but, with sales of premium brand jeans growing 17% during 2008 and 2.3% from December to February 2009, discount retailers are more than willing to throw their hat in the ring. Target, always fashion forward, has several low priced options, as well as American Eagle, but Gap is the definitely the most notable entry.

Gap has struggled the last few years, forcing the brand to close a number of retail outlets and ask serious questions about its future and their place in today’s market.

Gap has thrown away their tired old designs and stepped up, full force, with an entirely new collection of premium denim, “1969 Premium Jeans” that looks to make them a contender for a share of the premium market and knock the dust off of their brand identity.

Gap’s venture into the premium segment is perfect illustration of how this strategy can be executed.

Pricing for the collection is $59.50 for women and $54.50 for men, making the designer look affordable for customers that want premium, but can’t justify $200 dollars for a pair from a higher end retailer. With 14 men’s and women’s styles to choose from, premium look and feel, and a price that’s affordable, ” 1969 premium Jeans”, is the right move at the right time for a retailer who has been trying to find itself.

Will premium denim alone, restore the Gap brand?

No, but, it is certainly a move in the right direction, and that can be enough to get customers give you second chance or reconsider their preconceived notions.

Alex Light, a laid off real estate contractor turned personal trainer decided to offer free fitness classes to help others stay positive regardless of their economically dim circumstances. Bringing the unemployed together to share experiences and offer one another support is about as belonging and filling the void as a piece of life evidence could possibly get. When there’s nowhere to go, and nothing to do, something has to help get you by from day to day. For some it may be tarot cards and booze, for others, it’s going to be physical exersion and laughter. Calling it “Bad Times Bootcamp”, this social enterprise may become more than just physically and emotionally therapeutic, it might actually help those with dire networking needs once things take a turn for the better, as we all know it will!

In light of both the political and economical circumstances surrounding the sudden surge of recruitments, Filling the Void takes on a much more serious human condition here. The marketplace is chock full of products that Americans are using for surrogate relief, those substitute that replace our old habits in order to feel better about something lost or unattainable. But filling the void is not limited to products or experiences that only satisfy us for an hour or day. As we see here, Filling the Void can be as life changing and long as the minimum number of years required to fulfill a military contract.

Last year was the first since 2004 that all active-duty and reserve forces met or passed recruiting goals…For December, the Army signed 860 new active-duty soldiers, 115 percent of its target number of 750 enlistees. The Army also met or passed goals for October and November, meaning it has done so for the entire first quarter of budget year 2009. -via

The military may be happy as hell it won’t be spending anywhere near the $600 million dollars it spent in handing out monetary incentives to entice recruits this year, in fact, coupled with unemployment, and Obama’s pledge to pull out our troops from Iraq, people are all too willingly to sign up. But the motivating factor behind which those people are picking that pen up and raising their right arm is the simple and sad truth: When you’ve got mouths to feed, sick to tend to, an aspiration to attend college, or a certain lifestyle you don’t wish to flush down the toilet along with everything else in the economy, you do what it takes to get by. And that’s just life.

Once a thriving business, wealth and the relatively cheap price of goods, has drove the shoe repair industry to the edge of extinction.

“There are just 7,000 shoe-repair shops left in the U.S., down from more than 120,000 during the Great Depression, according to the Shoe Service Institute of America, a trade group.”- WSJ

The idea of repairing a pair of shoes would not have occurred to most Americans a year ago, but as wallets shrink and belts tighten, consumer culture is getting a rethink.

“It’s better to pay $40 to fix them than $500 for a new pair,” Says Lawrence Sutton to WSJ, as he drops off a pair of Prada pumps off to be repaired for his wife.”

What this story tells us is that Americans are learning to do something that they may have not had to do in decades, how to survive. We have gone from keeping up with the Jones’s to being happy with the fact that we have not gotten sucked under.

We hear every day about how hard this economy is on the “Average Taxpayer” but all this is said with the expectation that at some point everything will go back to business as usual. But, traumas like losing a home, job, or seeing relationships crumble in the wake of financial turmoil will not be erased if Ford posts higher than expected earnings next quarter.

To say that the American consumer that will be there at the end of this recession will be the same one that went into it is naïve. The ideas of value, practicality and saving will be much more present in the minds of the consumer than they have been in the past.

Secret sharing, of course has always been around, but the fact that its spun into a trend on its own is quite impressive. The newest addition to the family is Omegle. Omegle is a chat system that connects you with a random stranger, without being able to choose screen names or anything, you are simply connected as stranger and stranger.

With total anonymity you can reveal your darkest secrets, or screw with people’s heads, whatever you chose to do really. I’ve been on the site twice and both times it has seen 4,000-5,000 active users, and the conversations are usually very personal. Lives unfold, stories that can’t be shared with family members are up for grabs, and you don’t even have to worry about footing a bill for advice.

We found this to be quite the bittersweet story. It seems that attendances at libraries throughout out Massachusetts are up, drastically. With circulation at some libraries are up as much as 33 percent, librarians are both shocked and thrilled.

This was no surprise to us of course, given the state of the economy and high unemployment. The books, DVDs, audio, periodicals and online internet access that libraries offer work not only as pacifiers, but valuable places of hope and study. But the best part: It’s all free.

“…for the unemployed, libraries have become something like an office, with computers, Internet access, and even classes that teach how to write a resume and peddle it online. In a tough time, it seems, people are returning to a place where whispering trumps shouting and no credit card is necessary.”  –Boston Globe

We don’t know what stats and percentages of people checking out literature pieces or romance novels in comparison to those wanting to educate themselves in a skill or conduct job searches. But we do know that motivation driving more people to libraries’ doorsteps – it’s called getting by.

Whether library attendees are looking to forget or improve, it signals an active part on the consumer to fill voids in an economically smart way. While we cheer those doing so, we can only hope that states like Massachusetts won’t make libraries one more victim of budget cuts.