Tuesday, February 22, 2011

#famouspeople!

I had no idea who Esperanza Spalding was until she upset Justin Bieber at the grammies (I was entertained and hearted to find actual talent winning out over over-produced hype . . . not to mention a certain amount of schadenfreude over the ensuing pre-teen angst . . . young people :) ). So it's completely strange and weird to me that the soft spoken, shortish woman who walked into my favorite coffee shop yesterday actually WAS Esperanza Spalding, who apparently used to live in Portland and was back in town visiting. This is a shop close to my house, off the beaten path, in the middle of a very quiet portland neighborhood, 6 blocks from my apartment building. And the barista who was working that day was in a recent episode of Portlandia! Of course, in the grand scheme of things, none of this relates to me in any way, other than that I shared their air. Still, random and odd. I find my natural human urge to kiss the ass of famous people is currently at war with my long-time position of not worshipping famous people as gods.

Friday, February 18, 2011

#almostgettingit

What's really funny about today's PA comic is that the conversation between Wolverine and Magneto is essentially the only thing critics wanted on the dick wolves thing. It shows they understand the power of apology in repairing old wounds! I don't think an apology is necessarily owed for the original comic, but I think a genuine apology (not the adolescent, "I'm sorry you're so feminine that you're easily offended and too stupid to get my joke" kind of apology that they've been giving) for their response to rape victims would have pretty much smoothed the whole thing over (no they didn't suck precious metals out of anyone's skeletal structure, but making fun of rape victims for being too sensitive is pretty shitty, especially coming from a gender that doesn't have to worry about sexual harassment or rape AND continually insists that women can't possibly experience such things with any frequency). You're so close to getting it guys. Keep trying! Remember, just because you don't experience fears of rape and sexual harassment yourself, doesn't mean it doesn't happen to women! Maybe you could try listening to women rather than explaining to them condescendingly how their life experience couldn't possibly be different from yours! It's fun and easy!

Also, free advice, try and let go of this "I am technically correct so you have no right to be upset" mentality. "My motives were pure so I don't have to apologize" is something most people grow out of. Learning to apologize when you've unintentionally hurt someone, especially someone you're trying to have any sort of meaningful relationship with!, is a valuable life skill and will make you popular and less awkward at parties. It means you understand part of being in a community is learning to not put yourself and your feelings first in every situation. It also means you're confident enough in your own character that you know one mistake doesn't define you. Restraint! Consideration! Confidence! It's how civilized apes do it. It helps everyone get along better, and it doesn't really cost you anything other than your immaturity. If you MUST be 12-years-old at least part of the time to feel like a whole person, try and keep it to "guys night" okay? And if you need PA comics to be "guys only" why not just come out with that so women gamers can find other, more welcoming gaming communities?

Okay, really ignoring PA (and sadly, by extension PVP) and removing from RSS feeds this time. For reals. Starting . . . NOW.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

#forthatmatter


Why does the deficit suddenly become a matter of extreme importance under a democratic president? I see no compelling reason why the deficit is a clear and present danger now, compared to, oh, any time in the Bush presidency. For that matter, I don't see why anyone let's the Republicans forget that most of the current deficit would have been corrected by letting the Bush tax cuts expire when they were supposed to. This happened 2 months ago, it's not ancient history.

I just don't understand the odd deference to Republicans on matters of war and economics. They've been profoundly wrong and hypocritical on both matters (see Iraq and "Curveball" as well as exploding deficits under Reagan and both Bush's) and no one seems to notice. I'm all for an antagonistic press, I'd just rather they not lose their nerve entirely when a republican strides into a room and announces himself as a big daddy who must not be questioned. There are other responses to that other than meek obedience people. Outright laughter for instance.



#letmegetthisstraight

Wasn't the Tea Party supposedly a grass roots movement concerning government spending/deficit, etc? Why the hell has the first priority of the new Republican congress been restricting abortion? Did they run on that platform at all? Who got played here, the Tea Partiers or the rest of the country?





Wednesday, February 09, 2011

#Takingtheshame

I have re-subscribed to twitter after my epic rage quit. Taking the shame. This time I will try and use it for my little "witticisms" that I've been torturing my Facebook friends with since I quit twitter. Longer stuff I'll try and contain here with a tweet link if I must reference a long thought in the twitter verse. For the record, I'm still irritated at the 140char limit, it seems hostile to anything remotely approaching a complicated thought. And the arguments for seem to be: gimmicks are cool! Anyway, that is all. You may continue ignoring or reading my crankiness at your leisure.

Monday, February 07, 2011

#dickwolveswasastupidhilltodieon

I wrote a huge post on the penny-arcade dickwolves controversy, but have since decided I don't want to get into it. I'm just done with those guys. They had an opportunity to discuss the real issues women face regarding rape and the misogyny issues in modern gamer culture and chose instead to mock and dismiss those concerns. I've been on the fence for a while and after this I'm just done. What type of entitled assholes make a "team raping dickwolves" shirt as a way to stick it rape victims for being too sensitive? The Penny Arcade guys of course! Who doesn't understand that ostensibly "pro-rape" shirts that are really ironic in a hard to explain way aren't a good idea?

Not that it matters because I think I'm done following them, but for the love of god keep Gabe away from the front page on PR issues. Of all the people there he is by far the worst person to address controversy of any sort.

Anyway, I'm moving on with my life. They won't miss me. I don't care.