Steve, the main character from Minecraft
Yes, the default sprite for the player in Minecraft is named Steve. Technically he’s called “Steve?” but I’ll accept it. When I get a new video game, I usually fall head over heels for it (unless I hate it right away) and I play nothing else for weeks. Minecraft amplified that feeling three-fold and I fell really, really hard for Minecraft. Never before had I seen a game combine creativity with adrenaline surging fear. I liked that the whole world pretty much wanted to kill my character while I was just trying to collect building materials. It made creating things all the more satisfying whenever I finished anything. I would sketch designs on paper and plan out building projects. The simplistic graphics did not make me any less afraid as things waited for me in the near impenetrable darkness.
There’s not much character inherent in Steve? so I can’t really relate to him. I will say that I loved and still love to build safe bunkers in Minecraft which slowly morph into basement apartments that just happen to be connected to gaping underground murder tunnels. For larger projects I always went with castles. I love castles so much and designing my ideal castle is still one of my favorite evolving projects.
Steve, The Italian Job (2003)
The Italian Job was a movie that could really have been mediocre. After all, it stars Marky Mark himself, a guy who is very hit or miss as a movie star. It is also a remake of a late sixties movie which I never saw but I assume it was at least decent. I really liked the movie and I thought that much of it was very cleverly done. Without giving too much away, it’s a pretty straightforward revenge/heist movie. Marky Mark actually pulls off a good performance and makes a pretty convincing honorable criminal. In fact, so did Donald Sutherland, Mos Def, Seth Green and Jason Statham all of whom are usually at least entertaining. Then there’s a perfectly competent Charlize Theron to round out the cast.
But wait, we’re forgetting about the antagonist who is named Steve with no last name mentioned so basically he’s like Cher. He’s played by Ed Norton who I’ve been a fan of since I first saw him way back in the nineties. He’s a fellow Baltimorean after he was saved from the fate of growing up in Boston and raised in Columbia. I always feel a greater respect (or shame) for a celebrity when I find out they’re from my area. Steve is a manipulative, intelligent but definitely a bit of an asshole. He gets the upper hand pretty early in the movie and keeps it through to the end. I wish I could be five steps ahead like Steve is through most of the movie but without the asshole part.
Stone Cold Steve Austin
I was born in the early eighties and I became a pro-wrestling fan in the mid nineties so I was in the correct demographic for the rise of Steve Austin in the WWF. I didn’t follow his career in WCW when he hung out with Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blonds. I did watch it later and I was impressed with what the guy could do as a fairly young talent. He arrived in the WWF after a stint in ECW and they instantly made him The Ringmaster which was ridiculous. They wasted a charismatic guy on a dead-end character with a dead-end storyline and he didn’t even get to interact correctly with a legend like Ted Dibiase when the opportunity was right there. Eventually the Attitude era hit and Stone Cold Steve Austin was unleashed.
Steve ran rampant over the whole company as soon as he embraced his Texas-sized attitude and fought every single member of the roster. Eventually, he found his ultimate opponent in Vince McMahon. He fulfilled the wishes of every disgruntled employee in the world who at least occasionally wanted to torment their boss and kick his ass. Steve made few friends and a whole laundry list of enemies. He never backed down from a fight and neither the law nor injury could keep him down for long. I try to harness some of that energy and attitude for good. I should probably stand up for myself a little more.
Wolf of Words 