I’ve talked about the game a little bit before on here, in reference to video game addiction clinics in South Korea, because South Korea loves Starcraft, enough to have television shows devoted to it. In the USA however, that feeling has been somewhat watered down. It’s still loved, but we don’t treat the score leaders like national heroes. We do now, however, offer an honors degree in playing the game.

Yes, you read that right. University of Florida is offering an online course in Starcraft II, saying that it teaches important 21st century skills with it’s quick thinking; adapt-or-die gameplay. Now, while I haven’t seen a degree course this focused in on a single game, I myself have taken a course on the history of role-playing games.

What they managed to do in that 8-week period was actually fairly amazing, and I have no doubt that the same type of scenario exists in this new honors course. Sure it’s based in pop-culture and oozing with slacker all over it, but then again that’s exactly what I thought walking into a videogames course. It was only when I got into the class itself I realized it was more about how human behavior was being projected into a story, and how that type of story evolved with our cultural acceptance of a game as a new form of storytelling.

Which is why I find this particularly interesting, could we use things like this as a jumping off platform for a masters in popular culture? I know that the consulting world could definately put it to use, and if I could have majored in it, it would have been a split second decision yes from my current dual degree in art and writing.

And as out of the box as it seems, I think that pop culture is eventually going to finally find a true place in the education system. Right now entire research teams track down internet memes and even the CIA is getting in the mix by hiring professional and fluent “street lingo and ebonics” interpreters. And of course there’s the other standard, that pop culture changes every day. But nobody ever said that education stops when you graduate.

So here’s the admission: I think this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. However, the same could be said for The Real Housewives, The Hills, Jersey Shore, Heidi Montag’s surgery, Bratz Dolls and Kiddie Pageants. But man, do they sell.

We all deal with a certain amount of stereotypes and lets face it they exist because there is a basis of truth most of the time. As Jerry Seinfeld says “it’s funny coz it’s true!”

So that got me thinking about the Guys & Dolls™ Wave and how it’s all about extremes.

“Give me my power tools!”  “Give me my power frills!”™  is about asserting how manly or girly you want to be, or even feel for a while. Because lets face it, the majority of us don’t want to live in this cartoonish façade of a world. Heck, apparently even Ms. Montag is having major regrets!

So generally speaking this Wave is a lot like the other Waves in the physiological category: guilty pleasures, nothing too deep and lasting, but fun.

As much as I like to portray the modern liberated woman that will never put Carlashes on my car, I will admit that there are times when I curl up with my wine, chocolate, and watch the trashiest “girliest” TV I can find.  But that’s just between you and me, okay?

There are entire television segments devoted to the game, and with the arrival of Starcraft II on the market, the theory of how addictive the game is has been brought up again. Which is why, in this study, they were looking at possible ways to treat an addiction to escapism. And it turns out they think they’ve found something. A dose of Bupropion, a heavy one might I add, has seemingly decreased a players desire to log on by around 35%.

Is it possible that aside from the video game and Internet addiction boot camps seen overseas that a new drug will be rolled on the market for gaming and online addictions? And beyond that, how long before it could hit stateside, after all we seem to love diagnosing every facet of our humanity, why not this?

The first phase would probably be getting people to admit they are addiction to a virtual space; which could prove difficult. But you never know, all that facebooking and tweeting may one day be slowed down not by willpower, but by medicine. Social media may become medicated media.

Now, I won’t really try to tiptoe the generational lines, but they always say generations in a sense repeat themselves, and just as the Silent Generation and Golden Age brought the Baby Boomers, they also brought a select group stuck between for a few short years, called the Lost Generation. Too young for war but old enough to understand it, they were witness to their world without truly being able to take part.

Then came Generation X, and after that what we refer to as Gen Y, or the “Echo Boomers”. What’s interesting is there is once again a group of Gen Y that’s often overlooked, sometimes called the Second Lost Generation, and they were born 1981-1984. This, is my section of Gen Y.

Which is exactly what this new show is aiming at, a group of kids graduating high school in 2000, and a documentary style look at where they are now and how the early years of the millennium shifted everything. The second The Verve started playing on the preview, I knew I had to at least give it a chance.

But personal interest aside, I find it to be very interested for a channel to be making a show targeted directly at the “lost generation Y”, the kids that remember growing up without technology and the internet. Where exactly this is heading, I’m not sure, but for the first time in my life after being 16, naive and into all things MTV I feel like there’s a chance that a TV show can actually become relatable to people my age.

From a generation perspective, there are plenty of things on. The only issue is, Generation Y is split in three distinct groups, but they’re all clustered together in the same market. The difference between someone born in 1983 and 1987 is incredible. The changes in technology, design and entertainment alone separate them, and once again for kids born in the 1990′s.

Which makes me wonder, when are we going to hang up the generational tags, seeing as how we’re moving at a pace faster than the generation marker can keep up with.

4Food decided to let people build there own burgers. These same people would then broadcast these food concoctions throughout Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter.

Let me back up a minute; Customers start by going to 4food.com, where they can build a burger. There’s a list of options to choose from, including the type of burger bun, a beef, turkey, veggie or salmon patty, condiments and more. Customers are asked to pick a “scoop,” which goes into the middle of the burger, from options like avocado and chili mango, baked beans or mac and cheese. Once you place your order, you name it and then go pick it up.

4Food has a leaderboard that shows the most-ordered burger. After you broadcast to your many social circles across the net, you get a 25 cents credit to your account at the restaurant. Now, right now this is merely a promotional event, but imagine if this was how the place worked? Imagine a burger joint with no set menu, the entire thing being created by popular voting of the local Facebookers, Twitterers and Foursquare players. An entirely crowdsourced menu that rewards the most popular and creative people with free food, and guarantees return customers and a fanbase.

Lime Fresh founder and CEO John Kunkel says the certification gives the chain a special distinction: “We are literally the only chain restaurant in the entire United States to offer only 100 percent Certified Humane meats at this point,” Kunkel says.

To qualify for a HFAC label the standards include raising the animal without antibiotics or hormones, and in sufficient space that allows the animal to engage in natural behaviors. Every step in the meat process is inspected for certification, Kunkel says, including the farm, the slaughterhouse, the distributor, and, finally, the restaurant. HFAC is the only certification program endorsed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Humane Society of the United States also endorses it.

Kunkel says that carrying 100 percent Certified Humane meats is the “right thing to do,” but there have also been many unexpected benefits like larger yields and better tasting meat.

“When you stress an animal out, it basically ups the pH in the beef, and you end up with a very different tasting beef than what was intended,” he says.

When thinking about upscaling a national QSR he makes a good point:  “…if the industry moved toward Certified Humane meat in big numbers, Kunkel says big change could come from it. “All it takes for me to convert more and more farmers out there is for somebody like a Chipotle or a large restaurant chain to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘This is what we’re buying,’ those farmers know that it’s worth it,” he says.

We’ve been tracking conscious consumers and labeling trends for many quarters now, so when Mr. Kunkel says “For whatever reason you do it, whether it’s taste, whether it’s consumer demand, or whether it’s your person beliefs, I think that it is a trend that’s not going away.” …We concur.