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I have no interest in playing the new Mad Max game, Jim Sterling summarizes the hollow shell that is this game:
“Mad Max feels like the embodiment of everything Ubisoft has been building with its own dire stable of open world games – a pure saturation of nebulous “content” that offers nothing of substance but simply litters a massive map with repetitive busywork so it may display a facsimile of “value” to its audience.
It’s just stuff. Exhausting, tiring stuff. The very opposite of a game like Wander or Submerged. While those games present a massive vacuum of things to do, Mad Max drowns its player in endless scarecrows to tear down, snipers to kill, encampments to dismantle, and scavenging posts to loot. None of it compelling in the least.”
Yeah… So… Why write about a shitty game Arbourist?
Glad you asked faithful reader because I think that Mad Max the video game shows exactly how ubiquitous the deference to the status-quo is in the triple A gaming market.
The makers of this video game overlooked one unique aspect of the movie that made the movie so awesome.
Oh you mean the protagonist in Fury Road that got shit done? What was her name again… Imperator Furiosa?
The game is centered around Max – the boring protagonist of the movie, while Furiosa the character with motivations, emotions, and speaking lines is relegated to the background in the game.
This would seem to be a bad decision at the very root of this particular game. The choice to go with Blandy McBlanderson in an attempt to court the supposed appropriate demographic (youngish white dudes) resulted in a lack lustre, been there done that game, whose mechanics have been done with more polish and better execution in a game released last year – Shadow of Mordor (even in SoM you have the option to play as a female character).
What would have garnered my attention rather than another sandbox fetch quest grind, featuring Blandy? Maybe a story where you get to play as the female bad-ass of the movie, where we could learn more about her and her backstory. A game that featured Furiosa would almost write itself as you might get to see her move up in the ranks, how she lost her arm, why she makes the choices that she does. All interesting shit.
But nope. Let’s go with ‘safe’ and staid Blandy and let the chips fall where they may.
The chips have fallen, and yet another cookie-cutter grindfest is the result. Way to go Triple A publishers. :/
An interesting lesson in patriarchy.
Men can be gay and want to get married.
Men can’t get pregnant.
[Source:Radicalfeministuprising]
It was nice.
I was on a lovely sabbatical, my time was restful and chock full of repose, languidity, and tranquility. I was defended from hearing about the woes of the Oppressed Christian Majority in the United States. My ire toward the loon-factory that is organized religion was at an all time low. It was going well until the farcical fail-o-tron of delusional christian nonsense headed by Kim Davis, remorselessly yanked my sensitive secular antenna and thus, sadly, my attention back to this specious example of ‘secular oppression’ being visited upon the goodly religious folk down in Kentucky.
What is going on here? Well, you can see the video for yourself here, but Ms.Davis has thoughtfully(?) summarized her position for us with this quote:
Holy bullshit BATMAN! Quick! To the delusionally-religious Derp-cave!
Kim, you are state employee. You must carry out your duties in accordance with the law, no matter what your particular sky-bhudda has to say on the issue. Government is a secular institution. For those of us who subscribe to reality this case was over before it even begun.
Do your job or get fired. End of story. Or is it?
Get out your funny hats and squeaky shoes ladies and gentlemen as the candidates from ongoing republican clown-car-collective are not letting this grave affront to religious liberty rest. That would be reasonable. And we all know “reasonable” in repub-lingo means ‘siding with the terrorists’ – and NO SIR! – we will not let the terrorists win.
” But two possible future presidents, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Senator Ted Cruz, disagree. They have declared #ImWithKim in what they deem a battle for religious liberty.
Huckabee wrote an open letter on his campaign site calling for Davis’s release that his supporters and others can co-sign.
The letter, which is addressed to U.S. President Barack Obama, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Judge Bunning, calls for Davis’s immediate release.
“Exercising religious liberty should never be a crime in America. This is a direct attack on our God-given, constitutional rights,” the letter signed by Huckabee reads.”
Okay if the first sentence doesn’t make you want to make a mess of your undies, you are made of much sterner stuff than I. Brave Clown #1 and #2 are quite passionate in their defense of ‘religious liberty’, yet it would seem they understand very little about what the term is, and how it works in secular society. Let’s humour them as they are not done digging yet. Huckabee was clearly not satisfied with containing his insipid brain-flatulence to his own website so then our vainglorious Chucklebee took his important case to twitter:
“He said the judge’s decision to jail Davis “removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity” in the U.S. and called on others to “defend #ReligiousLiberty!”
Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country. We must defend #ReligiousLiberty!
He wondered who might be jailed next for refusing service to same-sex couples. “Pastors? Photogs? Caterers? Florists?” he asked.
Proud of #KimDavis for standing strong for her beliefs. Who’s next? Pastors? Photogs? Caterers? Florists? http://t.co/fYxFEng5gH #ImWithKim
The decision “undermines the Constitution” and the “fundamental right” of religious liberty,” he wrote.
This reckless, appalling, out-of-control decision undermines the Constitution & our fundamental right to #ReligiousLiberty. #ImWithKim
Chucklebee saved the very best for last.
“Judges, Huckabee believes, “cannot make law. They can only make ruilngs.”
Five, unelected Supreme Court lawyers did not and cannot make law. They can only make rulings. http://t.co/fYxFEmYup9 #ImWithKim #KimDavis
http://t.co/fYxFEng5gH #ImWithKim #KimDavis #ReligiousLiberty pic.twitter.com/MoTRHmmffo
Yep. Those rogue SCOTUS lawyers are undermining the Constitution and fundamental religious liberties at *every* turn. Who does the SCOTUS think they are?
I would comment further on the qualifications of this potential future President, but my irony meter just gave up the ghost. Chuckles closes with this:
“”I may stand alone, but I am absolutely faithful to the issue of marriage. Not because it’s politically expedient, but because it’s the Biblical position, the historical position and the right position. We must defend, protect and preserve traditional marriage,” he wrote on his site.”
Oh battle on brave christian warrior! Your oppressed majority pines to be released from the secular hell they encounter every day. Worship is banned, churches dismantled, people imprisoned for the mere act of practicing their faith!!!
Wheeze, ka-chung, *gurgle*:Irony meter destroyed. :(
In the CBC news article there is a whole section on the tepidly-parviscient, wet gym-sock, that is Ted Cruz, I suggest you read it if you enjoy having your brain bent and have not had your “no fuckn’ way’ quotient filled for day (week, year(?)).
So much stupid said with so many words. But all is undone with this simple statement gleaned from the comments on said CBC article.
“Religious freedom does not mean that you can ignore portions of your job, administer only the portions of the law that you like, deny services to the public based on your personal beliefs or infringe on the rights of another.”
That is all.
[Sources cited: cbc.ca #1, #2]
Snapped at a red light on the way home last week
This ad only makes sense in the presence of the following cultural subtext:
Women’s anger is not valid in the same way that full adult humans’ (i.e. men’s) anger is valid. You don’t need to get to the root of the problem and address it; just spend the right amount of money to show you love her. She couldn’t possibly be having a reasonable reaction to being treated badly, she’s just feeling insecure or jealous or maybe on her period.
It’s quite rare for me to listen to death metal vocals and I listen to cutesy j-pop songs even less. I find it difficult to rock out to unintelligible growling and overly cute things just annoy me. But what magic could be uncovered if these two extremes were somehow combined? It could be a delicious juxtaposition, just the kind of oddity that could tantalize my delight in the irregular. But, really, who, if anyone, could pull off such an unlikely merger? Who could possibly tap into that seemingly unreachable potential, achieve balance to the force, and produce something truly amazing?
Ladybeard, that’s who.
Ladybeard is an Australian. An actor. A pro wrestler. A martial artist. A metal singer. A cosplayer extraordinaire. And now, an international pop sensation. I am most pleased to present to you Ladybaby, a group comprised of Ladybeard, Rei, and Rie, and their 2014 single, “Nippon Manju” – which translates loosely to Japanese Sweet Rice Bun – a song about all the fun and awesome things to be found in Japan.
The delight I feel watching this is difficult for me to express. There are just so many levels of expectations and norms being absolutely destroyed in the name of spreading joy, fun, and happiness. I can think of no nobler pursuit. The global celebration of Ladybaby can only make the world a better place.
If you’d like to see more fantastic images of Ladybeard, here’s a link. Here are my personal favourites:
Autumn approaches; the obnoxious university ‘Week of Welcome’ orientation drones are yelling insipid, yet inclusive, chants at each other; and of course, more stupid post mostly made of straw languidly emerge from the turbid depths of the wordpress “patriarchy” tag. Like appreciating the subtle fireworks of the turning of the leaves, one can appreciate the flawed assumptions and ignorance on display over at A Reasonable Faith. But Lo! The coming of Fall and the exudation of a steaming pile of Herp-Derp always leaves one gasping for breath at the enchanting majesty of nature in all her glory in the first case, and in wonderment at the raw-stupid on display in the other. (hurrah for awkward parallel sentence construction!)
Two concepts that will help us in our merry cavalcade of fail will be that of the (1.)Naturalistic Fallacy(with due consideration to Hume) and the concept of a (2.)Social Construct lets define them:
- The Naturalistic Fallacy – […] the term is sometimes used loosely to describe arguments which claim to draw ethical conclusions from natural facts. Even more distantly, the term is used to describe arguments which claim to draw ethical conclusions from the fact that something is “natural” or “unnatural.”
- Social Construct – A social construction, or social construct or a social concept is an invention or artifact of a particular culture or society which exists solely because people agree to behave as if it exists, or agree to follow certain conventional rules.
Most of the problems with the post I’m about to critique will default to a lack of understanding of these concepts and how they work in our society. I would be remiss to also point out that there is, of course, a generous helping of strawwoman arguments that serve to undermine the authors arguments and credibility.
So let loose the doges of war, and we shall have at it:
“If there’s one truth that would impact culture for good more than just about any other if it were more male-female-brainwidely believed, accepted, and embraced, it’s this: males and females are quite different from each other. We are. And not just anatomically but physiologically and emotionally”
Sounds good right? Too bad its almost entirely bullocks. Let’s take a peek at what people who study sex and gender differences have to say:
“A 2005 analysis of 46 meta-analyses that were conducted during the last two decades of the 20th century underscores that men and women are basically alike in terms of personality, cognitive ability and leadership.”
Hmm…it would seem that the some of the research directly contradicts your claim..but wait!!! There might be hope, there are differences!!!!
“Only a few main differences appeared: Compared with women, men could throw farther, were more physically aggressive, masturbated more, and held more positive attitudes about sex in uncommitted relationships.”
Whooops… you’re still wrong.
“Hyde found that gender differences seem to depend on the context in which they were measured. In studies designed to eliminate gender norms, researchers demonstrated that gender roles and social context strongly determined a person’s actions. For example, after participants in one experiment were told that they would not be identified as male or female, nor did they wear any identification, none conformed to stereotypes about their sex when given the chance to be aggressive. In fact, they did the opposite of what would be expected – women were more aggressive and men were more passive.”
We could simply drop the mic here and be done with this piffle (flawed assumptions leading to flawed conclusions and all that), but where is the fun in that?
Let us soldier on brave readers! Bewarned and wary, forward we must go fellow travellers(of the loquaciously impenitent persuasion), to further reconnoitre this curiously(willfully?) ignorant realm.
The late Chalmers Johnson knew how to write a pithy introduction:
“American leaders now like to compare themselves to imperial Romans, even though they do not know much of Roman history. The main lesson the United States ought to be how the Roman Republic evolved into an empire, in the process destroying its system of elections for its two consuls (its chief executives), rendering the Roman senate impotent, ending forever the occasional popular assemblies and legislative comitia that were at the heart of republican life, and ushering in permanent military dictatorship. “
Yeah, first paragraph, first chapter. Boom!
I just started this cheerful read of a book, catch the review here. I’ll probably need something a little more uplifting after this one, the next on the list is The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…