| NINE FINCH NAILS |
[07 Feb 2010|05:42pm] |
I have kind of a cynical reaction to a lot of contemporary installation/performance art, but I have to say this is both interesting and adorable enough to make me smile uncontrollably.
BIRD ROCK.
Half the hilarity is all the "sounds like sonic youth" jokes and etc in the comments.
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( 1 sip of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| "Aw, isn't that cute, he's trying to claw my eyes out." |
[18 Jan 2010|04:43pm] |
I can understand being hated for espousing certain political viewpoints. I can (for the most part) handle the dislike of random strangers I will never meet, caused by what I believe in and vote for.
What I CANNOT STAND, however, is being treated like my personal political beliefs are some sort of childish delusion that I have yet to grow out of.
"Oh look, they think they can solve the world's problems through idealism and tax hikes, isn't that adorable. Let them enjoy their little stupid fantasy until they grow up and learn what's good for them, and in the meantime we'll have a good greasy laugh at their expense."
At least when you're hated, your opponent (most of the time) renders you the respect that you are due as a mature, cogent threat to their status quo. But when they condescend to you, they act like you aren't even an actual component of the issue that has to be considered. As far as they care, you'll grow out of it by the time you're out of college and get a taste of what "real life" has to offer.
It makes me want to tear my eyeballs out.
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( 1 sip of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| Action Thighs Sarah Palin Doll |
[11 Jan 2010|04:52pm] |
Penny Arcade posted a link to an article that discussed the burgeoning issues of Female Concerns that are inherent in the new game Bayonetta, said issues being the old familiar song and dance of "Is This Exploitative or Not?" Apparently the argument in support of the Bayonetta game is boiling down to "It's so ridiculous that anyone who considers it exploitative is clearly missing the point," followed by the sub-argument that "Women shouldn't be desexualized in order to be empowered."
Usually, I don't give two shits about whatever pair of tits is bouncing around in whatever button mashing thrashfest is coming down the pipe, because I'm really not as avid a gamer as I appear. However, something about the suggestion that Bayonetta is so over-the-top that it is rendered immune to critical appraisal makes me lower my eyebrows in Tommy Lee Jones fashion. My stance on freedom of expression is already a non-issue for those of you who know me: people can say, do, draw, and program whatever the hell they want to as long as its production does not involve harm and exploitation of actual physical people. Personally, I've never felt the need to push the envelope of what that entails, but you should get the idea that I'm not going around censoring library books or draping tarps over lurid fashion ads. Likewise, the programmers and developers of Bayonetta are free to make whatever the hell kind of game they can manage to pump out. But on the flip side of the coin, I'm also allowed to abstain from buying it on the sole basis of believing it, and its hypersexual antics, to be pretty goddamned stupid. Saying my reasons for refusal are wrong because I apparently "can't take the joke" is a guaranteed way to piss me right the hell off.
I do agree that women indeed SHOULD allowed to be sexual beings, free to express themselves in whatever manner they see fit, and that includes giving them the right to dress up as scantily as they please and local decency laws allow. Choice of attire is as much about the wearer feeling good wearing something as much as it is about making a presentation of oneself to others. Furthermore, does the fact that a woman is wearing scanty or provocative clothing somehow magically negate her pre-existing powers of intellect and reason? Clearly it does not, and the burden of delivering proper respect falls on observer irrespective of a woman's attire. Women shouldn't need to be jammed into dowdy pantsuits to be taken seriously.
But that being said, I wonder if it would have been "acceptable" had someone tried to keep Bayonetta's wild outfit, but give her proportions say... similar to my own? It's easy to stand up for a woman's right to wear a latex catsuit when she's Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, but not so much when she's Nikki Blonsky. Should we base the acceptability of attire based on bodily proportions as well? And I'm not going to get into that whole "Well maybe if they TRIED to work out and be healthy they'd be thin enough to wear it properly" issue. Some people are going to be round no matter WHAT they do. This is just a fact of life, people.
So really, the issue is more complex than some of us not being able to Take The Joke. It may just be my personal opinion, but I'm reserving my right to call Bayonetta an indulgent and largely masturbatory endeavor (there is a mode to play the game ONEHANDED, I shit you not). However, that being said, I'm going to try and make sure I don't belittle anyone who DOES partake of it, because Lord knows, we all have our weaknesses.
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( 3 sips of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| Six of one, Half Dozen of the Other |
[23 Dec 2009|10:43am] |
Okay, so. I've been fighting with my computer, because after a night's loss of internet service, I was unable to reconnect to my house's wireless internet. The shortest descriptor of the problem involved being unable to renew my IP address due to an inability to connect to the DHCP server. After much flailing, screaming, and copious alterations in the MS DOS console, I decided to wipe my hands of my current HDD (Unit 13) and finally make the jump to my new one (Wintermute). It's the one that I installed with my new comp build that I constructed in about July when I first picked up TF2. I changed the boot priorities in my BIOS and made the jump. Those of you who are on IRC saw my grand reappearance.
In the attempt to begin feathering my new nest, I started downloading all my favorite security programs, such as ZoneAlarm, AVG Antivirus and the like. I also spent about two hours copying all my music, video art and documents onto my external terabyte drive. However, all these programs refused to install under my current version of Windows XP which did not have service pack 2. I attempted to download the service pack via the normal windows update, but it failed. It was now about 3:30 am.
This morning I decided that now my old data was backed up, why didn't I just reinstall windows XP with the new OEM copy with Service Pack 3 that I had bought with my new comp, just in case I was unable to get multiple registries going? I attempted to install it, but somewhere along the line, things were fucked up, because then the whole Wintermute HDD refused to boot at ALL. In a fury, I switched BACK OVER to my old boot HDD of Unit 13 to attempt to look at Wintermute and somehow reformat it from here, and I find that the internet connection, that had been the source of this whole insane trip in the FIRST place, was back in full, complete working order.
Anyways, now that I have my ORIGINAL connection BACK and all my old files and programs intact, I'm just going through the Wintermute drive with a massive sector scan/reformat by fire. Somehow the whole debacle can only remind me of what life is going to be like for me attempting to move out of the house. Pushed to my wit's end, I attempt to move to a new home, only to fuck myself into a corner with all my natterings, and be forced to return to my original location, sourer, surlier, and with even less faith in my own abilities.
Merry Goddamn Christmas.
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(Death To Socrates? )
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| Get Your War On |
[12 Dec 2009|04:45pm] |
Here is my official position on the Soldier vs Demoman competition.
But in all seriousness (or complete LACK thereof), I have never seen so much yelling and screaming in my life. Inbetween the shriekings about whether one class or another has an unfair advantage, and the new propaganda contest with its prize, the be all and end all of TF2 acquires, a personalized HAT, this is sizing up to be the biggest shitfling since /b/ tried to troll the Tom Green Show.
Personally, as long as I get my Meet the Medic video, I will be a happy hamster.
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(Death To Socrates? )
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| You can't stop what's comin'. Ain't all waitin' on you. That's vanity. |
[30 Nov 2009|02:34pm] |
Sherrif Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) rattles the paper.
...Here last week they fund this
couple out in California they would
rent out rooms to old people and then
kill em and bury em in the yard and
cash their social security checks.
They'd torture them first, I don't
know why. Maybe their television
set was broke. And this went on until,
and here I quote...
He looks through his glasses at the paper.
..."Neighbors were alerted when a man
ran from the premises wearing only a
dog collar." You can't make up such a
thing as that. I dare you to even try.
He peers over his glasses at Wendell who respectfully shakes his head and
tsk's.
Sheriff Bell rattles the paper again.
...But that's what it took, you'll no-
tice. Get someone's attention. Diggin
graves in the back yard didn't bring
any.
Wendell bites back a smile. Sheriff Bell gazes at him over his glasses for
a long beat, deadpan.
...That's all right. I laugh myself
sometimes.
He goes back to the paper.
...There ain't a whole lot else you
can do.
-No Country for Old Men
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(Death To Socrates? )
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| ROBOT REVOLUTION LEAGUE, FORWARD! |
[30 Oct 2009|05:35pm] |
Ooookay.
So I went and saw Astroboy.
You know, there's really not so much that I can say about the movie that can't be explained as "Well, this is how it's done FOR AMERICA." To be entirely honest, I was pretty disappointed. But somehow I don't think all that much more could be expected of it.
The film had to work really fast to establish the pathos of Toby's death in order to keep the movie at a mainstream acceptable Hour and a Half runtime, but it still felt pretty rushed. Also, the fact that the movie was trying to say that Toby was kind of a jerk before he died was entirely peculiar.
Nicholas Cage as Dr. Tenma is more Nicholas Cage THAN Dr. Tenma. The voice is just entirely too disjointed for the character. However, seeing that Nick Cage has no setting between off and uncomfortable, that made a kind of interesting twist for dealing with Tenma's crumbling sanity. Whereas previous incarnations have been more along the lines of Standard Mad Scientist Delusions of Grandeur (2003) or Silent Soul-killing Depression (Urasawa's Pluto), this Tenma is more Hamster in a Pinball Machine sort of crazy, and that's still pretty damn sad. He wanted things to work out so badly that you can almost hear the fuses blowing in his head. But it makes it all the harder to believe that he could pull back from that cliff-edge so easily when presented with the fact that his new robot son is just not what he wants.
I take massive MASSIVE offense to the whole "BILL" thing, but that's neither here nor there. Moving on.
Hamegg was flawless, right down to being played by Nathan Lane, a casting choice I would have bellowed for MYSELF, were I in charge. A perfectly executed two-timing greaseball who can pat you on the shoulder and steal your wallet at the same time, I would change NOTHING about him.
Cora is completely pointless filler, with all the substance, purpose, and visual appeal of a Bratz doll. A gaggle of normal children for Astro to awkwardly attempt to befriend was probably unavoidable plot padding, but having it crystallized into a single effigy of DisneyChannel Teenybopper Mallpunk made it all the more unbearable. The Robot Revolution League fared better, being amusing, british and socialist enough to succeed in appealing to me in the way Robin Williams et al of Robots failed to do. But deeper examination reveals them to be a kind of lackluster attempt at breaching the political commentary of the robot civil rights struggle that the 2003 show examined so thoroughly. Instead, the bulk of the politics was wasted on creating a warmongering "president" who's so one-note that it makes even a filthy Taxachusetts liberal like me roll my eyes. It's a wonder he didn't have a goddamn armband on.
In short, the movie really felt like a Made for Cartoon Network Special TV Feature Film, just with really good production values. Not catastrophically bad, just disappointing. It's kind of a nice jumping-off point for introducing a new generation of fans, but if they really wanted to treat kids right, CN would grow a pair and finish the broadcast of the 2003 series. Then everyone on earth would read Urasawa's Pluto. But alas.
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( 1 sip of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. *NAIL* *NAIL* |
[12 Oct 2009|02:07pm] |
"Arue (R.A.)" - by Bump of Chicken, a catastrophically engrish-named, but undeniably adorable Japanese pop-rock combo that sounds a like a softer edged version of the Pillows. The real awkwardness is that it's a love song dedicated to Rei Ayanami.
Rei is one of those seminal anime characters who somehow creates unspeakable yearnings in certain men. Despite their heartfelt longings, I just can't overlook that she is, at core, a clonal replacement of a self-loathing social avoidant dude's dead wife, designed with the express purpose of becoming a tool for an engineered metaphysical apocalypse.
You could try and be her white knight, but she'd just end up ruining your heart. And your arm.
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( 3 sips of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| Frauleins having Mittelschmerz. |
[05 Sep 2009|03:21pm] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Muse- "Uprising" |
] |
\
WOW. People sure got BUTTHURT over this. I have to admit the thing about giving halos to people who didn't use idler progs is a little namby pamby, but you know Valve, they'd never give up an opportunity for a joke.
Screaming about "Noobs" getting preferential treatment is a guaranteed way to make yourself look like an elitist douchebag. While Valve has a priority to make sure they gain new users, they aren't actively shitting on old ones, no matter what those users would assume. Item drops are randomized, at a rate of about 1 item every hour and 40 minutes. Hats are rarer, with a lower percentage of appearing every 4 hours and 20 minutes.
But they're just goddamn HATS anyways, and they don't do anything for your stats except maybe adding a +5 FABULOUS.
Now we should all stop whining and get back to hoping that maybe they're going to release the "Meet the Medic" video in time for Oktoberfest.
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( 2 sips of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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| Assistanza? |
[16 Dec 2007|08:00pm] |
Livejournal afficionados!
I have a question for those of you who are on my friendslist. I have a very odd problem, where it appears that my friends-locked journals, if not ALL my journal entries, are failing to show up on people's friendspages! If there is any particular reason why this might be happening, I'd appreciate an explanation!
To test if my journals are working at all, please reply, if you can see this journal via YOUR OWN FRIENDS PAGE, and not through my own journal's mainpage.
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( 7 sips of hemlock +Death To Socrates? )
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