Am I Crazy?

I'm sure you'll all tell me if I am.

But, on the news the other night was the story of a lad, perhaps 11 or so, who had Guitar Heroed his way into the Guinness Book of Records for playing the video game for something like 62 hours straight. I'm too lazy to look it up. I may be wrong about the time.

For those who don't know it, Guitar Hero is this thing you plug into a gaming console, which is plugged into your TV. Your flat screen TV that should be displaying House or The Office or Jeopardy, but is instead displaying this goofy fake rock concert. A child, or a large manchild, clutches a plastic guitar and rocks out.

You get points for hitting the right little spots on the toy guitar. It's like air guitar without the air. Or real guitar without the talent. Its appeal is actually quite mysterious, except those who love it can convince themselves they have learned a skill.

That's my 'Am I Crazy?' question. This kid is being hailed as a hero - sorry, a Guitar Hero - and they ask if he can play the guitar, for real. Er, no. Not a lick. He says he tried, but it was too hard.

We have Guitar Hero. Somewhere. The kids tired of it after the first summer. Little kids play with it if they come over, but Christer has said he's like to get another real guitar soon. He had an electric guitar for awhile, now would like an acoustic.

But the kid on the news? He said he got 'so good' cough at Guitar Hero by practicing for hours and hours.

Man, am I so old I'm the only one who thinks your kid should be putting 'hours and hours' of practice into something real? A game as a diversion on the weekends is fine, but becoming a world class fake guitar player before you need to shave is a little disturbing.

Isn't it?