[July 25, 2011] The Joplin Globe, Mo., Geeked Out column Tweet JOPLIN, Mo., Jul 24, 2011 (The Joplin Globe - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Modern geeks know the cardinal rules when it comes to sequels or follow-ups: --Keep the best elements of the original. --Scrap the elements that don't work. --Don't add elements that ruin what made the first great. These are things to which every geek is attuned, like a compass and magnetic north. What we didn't know by instinct we learned from "Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest" and "Super Mario Brothers 2." Successful examples include the "Harry Potter" movies, the "Madden" football games, "Breaking Bad," "Portal 2" and Christopher Nolan's "Batman" movies. With that in mind, it's easy to see why Rebecca Black's "My Moment" is a failure. She released her follow-up song on Monday, and by Wednesday afternoon scored almost 6.5 million hits. Admittedly, it's harder for musicians to adhere to the geek rules of sequels and follow-ups. Where movie producers, video game makers and authors have to follow the rules only once between creations, bands have to follow it multiple times within the same creation. Musicians are judged between releases of songs AND albums. Still, it's critical to follow them, and Black did not. I know, I know. It's probably wrong for a grown man to harsh on a 15-year-old, but dangit, she's on my Internet, so she is fair game for harshin' on. For those without a high-speed Internet connection: Rebecca Black gained Internet fame with her song "Friday," a pop song with charmingly simplistic lyrics, not-great singing and a video that looked like it was paid for by her parents through a "make my kid a pop star for a day package" (that last part is actually true). Of course, the Internet piled on. With lyrics about the angst of choosing a seat, eating milk and cereal, reminders about the order of days of the week and "Fun, fun, fun, fun," it was a bigger target than Osama bin Laden's eye to Seal Team Six. But Black more than made up for it when she filmed a bunch of segments with the website Funny or Die. On April Fool's Day, Black "took over" the site with a bunch of hilarious clips and movies that let her make fun of herself a bit. That's important, because that made her cool again. (The jury is still out on her cameo in Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" video -- it's either hilarious or unfortunately creepy.) Then she had to blow it with an uninspired song that's all about her, and her haters. "My Moment" is a celebration of Rebecca Black, how she is awesome and how we are not. It's all about how she is getting her 15 minutes and we are not. It's obvious that she's taken some singing lessons, but in her case, that violated the rule about ruining elements that made the first one great. Be honest: How many times did you use "Friday's" lyrics for your own social networking snark? You know you wrote "We we we so excited," "Yesterday was Thursday" and "Which seat should I take" a BUNCH of times on your Facebook page. "My Moment" has none of those kind of lines. There's also no awkward dancing in the video, no inane lyrics. It's the same kind of bland, uninspired pop song that none of us will remember in three months. Or at least, that's how it should work. Going back to the rules above: Following those rules is crucial for collective approval in the geekosphere. But artists have made plenty of money with crap sequels before, and they won't stop anytime soon, because no one is as picky as a geek. Sigh. 'Infamous 2' infectious Speaking of good sequels, Sucker Punch Productions knocked it out of the park with "Infamous 2." I finally got a chance to finish the game last week, and it was worth the time and effort. Like "Infamous," the sequel features Cole McGrath, a bike courier given electrical superpowers by a freak accident. The first game took place in Empire City, which was a pretty good tribute to New York City. The sequel takes place in New Marais, a flood-damaged tribute to New Orleans. It's obvious that the game designers have a lot of love for the cities they re-vision, because -- aside from street design that would make the average urban planner pop a blood vessel -- the little things are there. Part of New Marais includes a cemetery with the above-ground tombs. Another part features a kid-friendly red-light district. The streets never get as narrow as Bourbon Street, but they have a lot of the same touches. The game took some critical heat for those touches -- a reviewer with the Onion A.V. Club dinged the Floodtown part of the city, which features plenty of Cole-killing water (dude is electrified, after all -- he'll never shower again). That part of town was heartbreaking and challenging at the same time. Adding to this sandbox game are the user-generated missions. The first time I logged on to PSN while playing the game led to my map getting COVERED with side missions. Accomplishing them won't give you experience points, but they do let you have fun with all of Cole's abilities -- which are pretty freakin' cool. It's awesome to destroy a large mutant monster by throwing cars at it. To see more of The Joplin Globe or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.joplinglobe.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Joplin Globe, Mo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]