I think I missed something there…
Okay... so there's this JC Penney commercial wandering about the webs... and people have called it sexist. Okay, fine.
"ZOMG!! It relies on horrible sterotypes!! It's SEXIST OMG!!!"
Yeah, I can sorta see where you're coming from. It portrays men as not really giving a damn about anything but boobies and butts... But even so it is a kinda-
What do you mean, it's sexist towards women?
...
From there, I just wandered around the net a bit, and most of the articles about it were level headed and downcrying the OneMillionMoms response, but there were still a good portion who also claimed the sexist slant, either siding with OneMillionMoms, or disagreeing with their response yet agreeing with their conclusion. Few were seeing it as using negative stereotypes about men. But, even amongst those few, the general response was "It's only insulting to men, and sexist to women."
So... Uh... I think I missed something here. Maybe the definition of sexist has changed so it can only be applied to things that are insulting to women? Even when... the women part of it doesn't have anything to do with implications or what have you? Just so long as it offends women, its sexist?
See, if there was a label on it that was like "ALL WOMEN CARE ABOUT IT GETTING IN AND OUT OF POOLS WHILE WEARING RED BIKINIS, BECAUSE WOMEN ARE SHALLOW"... See, then I could understand the argument of sexism. But when its playing a clip, from a movie,... not so much. It doesn't make any statements about women. It just shows a girl getting getting out of a pool. And then assumes that a man will be beside himself going "OMG BOOBIES!!"
So... its objectifying a woman? Okay... maybe...? But... that argument is... kinda vague. If she got out of the pool, turned the camera and said "You want this? Shop at JC Penney" then okay, I can agree. But... as it is... if that is objectifying women... then sunscreen commercials are objectifying women, too. ...And beer commercials... And summer vacation commercials, airline commercials, and anything else with attractive women in bikinis... so... what then? No bikinis... But technically, any commercial that uses a woman as an avatar for female consumers is also objectifying women. And from there...
Well,... eventually it all leads to hyper intelligent chimpanzees ruling the world.
So... what? Women aren't allowed to get out of pools? Or is it a video of a woman getting out a pool shouldn't be used in a commercial? Or is it that because the commercial was promoted to men it isn't allowed to show women? Or is it just that OneMillionMoms has a bug up its ass and is pandering to ridiculous things just to keep their name in the news?
Sure, a lot of advertising does objectify women. And some of that is really, really bad, offensive stuff. But when you blur the lines between what actually is objectification, and what's just tasteless... then you end up undermining the the significance of objectification, and turn it into just another mildly annoying condition of commercialism.
--------------- OTHER NEWS ----------------
Uh... I'm building a framework for my first game? Yay? Still haven't figured out what I'll do for Audio yet, though.
Media 180
Just something off the top of my head:
I follow about 10 different news agencies... some local, some global, but mostly national. And, I just noticed something. It may be that I'm missing something, but it seems like there was a lot of new about politics, and about Americans were unhappy with the government, and how fucked up everything is, and bitch, bitch, bitch, moan, moan, moan, etc, etc, etc. And this has been going on for the last two or three years... So much so that I don't really remember when all the ridiculous amounts of political coverage started (hazarding a guess, I'd say the last year of Bush).
And I'm unhappy, damnit!
Oh, but there's always been a ton of political coverage, etc, etc.
But I mean... not as much as the last couple years... where it was like 2/3 headlines was: politicians does this or that, or political scandal, or so-and-so is a damned dirty liar, or Americans unhappy with government, or whatever.
And none of it was so much news as just like... the written equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs.
And then, the last couple of weeks... suddenly...
nothing.
It's like a void.
Now, the only news about politics you hear about is a few mentions about foreign politics in the middle east, and republicans suddenly talking about how they support obama and "it's not their place to tell americans what to think" even though that's exactly what they've been doing for the last 10 months. But even then, it's still scant.
This smells kinda fishy. Kinda like there a group of people who were pushing to get certain things turned into news... like they were focusing on a small percentage of people, documenting their opinions and experiences, and then presenting it as the viewpoint and position of the majority.
Like... this group of people was trying to get something changed... perhaps get themselves in power... and then, they reached their goal... so now they don't have to spend the resources telling us the world is going to end.
...And of course I'm talking about the republican party. Duh. (I'm neither republican nor democrat by the way. I'm a Meat Popsicle.)
Unfortunately... there's a few problems with this: First off, they spent so much time whipping people into an unhappy fury that they've accidentally created a few segments of the population which are inevitably going to cause a backlash against politicians in general. No, I'm not talking about the Tea Party, because the Tea Party was just an objective oriented shard of the republican party, from everything I've investigated about it. I'm talking rather about the offshoots from the Tea Party. The Tea Party people who didn't fit into the Tea Party, or got kicked out of the Tea Party.
Second, unless they're planning on spending resources to convince people that things are better under them, people will eventually realize that nothing has really changed... And then next election cycle, their converts will flop back to democrats.
Blah blah blah. I forgot what I was talking about. Anyways, the talk of the Tea Party made me start humming a song... so... Music Video time!
The Term “Classic video games”
What makes a video game classic? Is it the year they were made? The childhood memories they brought upon Kids? These question are useless. I am going to tell you why ,any of you born before the 1990's believe back then the games were the shit. For those of you who weren't born before the 1990's and are disappointed about no having those awesome games when you were kids, don't be.
Only the good ones are still remembered:
That's right when you think games from earlier on you think Super mario brothers, Contra, Megaman 2, Etc. But remember not all those games we good. In fact a good sum of those were shitty. Anyone remember super marios two? the one where you would get to the end and find out it was all a dream? Did that piss you off as much as me? Am I over using question marks? I think I've made my point.
In 10 years what will be "classic": That's to say if the earth is still around by then. What games would you tell your children about? Maybe games like Halo and Call of duty will be done with production and Activision will call it quits. You sit there complaining about how video games aren't what they used to be. But you have to take account that they just got better, but you and your stubborn generation can't admit that, isn't that right gramps?
Modern people think classic means super old!: We all must admit that the word classic can mean many things but people still have the assumption that it's just age that makes something classic "these fossils are a classic!" (well, they don't say that but you get the point.) All I'm saying here is that a classic is something from before that was deemed popular at the time and has continued to receive some sort of popularity. Fun fact: By 2030 pacman will be gone. The only reason pacman is still praised is because those who played it still live. By 2030 that generation will be gone, leaving halo fans and World of Warcraft nerds alike left to call something classic.
Bad things happen to good people. Why? The victims of Jared Lee Loughner’s insanity
This is a question many people have asked. The more pious ones will reply that it is all but a part of God's will and/or that god works in mysterious ways. The more cynical ones will tell you that there is no reason, God is dead (and we have killed him), and that to believe anything else is sheer utter naivety. Ask a Buddhist and you'll hear of one of the Buddha's more famous teachings, one that goes something along the lines of 'Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.' There are as many different answers to that question as there are stars in the sky, I have listed but some of the more common ones I have heard.
The Coordinates of Teamwork (U, I)
At the very beginning of the school year, in our American Studies history class, we spent an hour or so on an activity. We drew an arbitrary letter up on the whiteboard, and then were told to promptly forget it was a letter, and to think up other objects the picture could be. Together as a class, we were able to come up with many, many more responses than any individual one of us could. And this leads to a pondering of just how much of a role cooperation and teamwork play in an ordinary day-to-day life.
For one thing, most inventions and trinkets that we rely on so heavily would not have been invented without intense amounts of teamwork. For example, let's examine the lightbulb. Here's a direct quote from the Wikipedia about the light-bulb's accredited inventor: "[Thomas Edison] was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory." He was basically the inventor of the factory-line! Another invention life would be dramatically different without is the atomic bomb. It was developed by a crew of scientists working at breakneck speed, but more importantly, a crew of scientists working together, sharing data and bouncing ideas back and forth.
We ourselves go through an incredible amount of teamwork in an ordinary day, though most of it is rarely noticed or paid attention to. Traffic? A large group of vehicles, driven by people, that moves according to a set of orderly and enforced laws. Drive on the right side of the road, stop at stop signs, turn on the blinker lights before making a turn. While this cooperation can be seen as forced and not genuine teamwork, I would disagree. Regardless of why, the majority of drivers comply with these rules of the road, and work together, if inadvertently, to make progress on the road and arrive at their respective destinations. Is there anything that can be accomplished without some form of teamwork?
THQ vs The World 2011!!
Short Explanation: THQ has decided to use a "one time code for online play" for Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. A lot of people go insane. Especially people who prefer used games. THQ then stands up for its decision and says "Hey, we don't really care about people that buy the game used because it doesn't profit us."
Yeah, those guys.
So there's two main camps here: Those that say what THQ is doing is unfair, and those who say it's understandable.
So I'm going to tackle a few of the popular arguments of both sides, just because.
Toy Story 3
Lets face the facts! Most three part (or more) movie series end up finishing on shaky ground. The latest Shrek movie has failed to inspire what the first two movies had, the last Aliens movie was nowhere near as good as the early ones, The Matrix had its two sequels scrapped in production because everyone knew they would be so crap and the less said about the Predator movies the better. So in light of this, with 10 years since the last movie, what can we honestly expect from Toy Story 3? Is this movie really that good?
The Best Part About Volleyball is…
Wilson.
Seriously, I'm not joking. I love that little guy HE should have been the spotlight of the whole movie Cast Away. But this Article has nothing to do with The movie Cast Away, no that's for another time. It's about how much I find watching Sport it's a big snore bore, and well, evil.
He just kicked that Ball!:
With the world cup this past week or so Ive been questioning what all the fuss about this whole sports thing is about. So I traveled to an unknown far away place and meditated with the natives there. But that didn't help so I asked a couple friends what they thought about "soccer" or for you "foreigners" football. I'm not going to bore you with the responses because my mind was made up. So, bear with me here Soccer is fun to watch because every couple of times there's always a groin shot I could bury you with pictures of someone getting kicked in the nuggets but that would be cruel...
Okay, maybe just one.
A Discussion of MMO’s
This week, AbhorrentElms and Thinkertron review, MMO's in general.
AbhorrentElms: To start this off, my opinion on MMO's? I'm a fan of them. A huge fan of them. This is no great secret. I like to play them when I'm bored and when I'm supposed to be doing other important things. (Like writing articles.) It's sorta something to do when you have nothing better to do than sit at your computer and rot away.
Thinkertron says: We probably don't need to review mine
AbhorrentElms: As yours is basically... "All MMOs must die"?
Thinkertron: That's basically it, yes.
AbhorrentElms: Any particular reason as to WHY? Perhaps a traumatic experience? WoW raped your mother and killed your father, perhaps?
Thinkertron: Might as well have. No, mostly it's the boring gameplay. I prefer action gameplay, where both skill and strategy are at play.
AbhorrentElms: Well, have you ever thought that maybe you just haven't tried any MMOs that require both skill and strategy? I've been playing D&D Online for the last couple weeks and, lemme tell ya, you can't just tank through that. It actually takes skill and knowledge to build a decent character. And even then, you'll have to make a decent party with varying skills and abilities to get through the game with any ease, as the quests are so varied. (The fact that I tank through with a +2 Greatsword of God Damn Win means nothing)
Thinkertron: That may be, but I'd still probably give up after a few munites. You see, every MMO that I've tried has similar gameplay. "Click on the opponent. wait. Click again. You win"
AbhorrentElms: Well, what about an MMO with puzzles and riddles? There's a few of those out there.
Thinkertron: Then why not just get a puzzle game? The "MMO" bit feels a bit tacked on, and MMO's are all about the shared experience, this is harder to do with puzzles. It'd be like having 10 people on one Rubix Cube, all trying to turn it at once. Sure, you could give suggestions, but then you're not really solving the puzzle yourself.
AbhorrentElms: I'm thinking some people like a variety of genres in a game. Which is why they'd add puzzles or races or even PvP. Not to make it seem like blatant advertising for D&D Online, but the first few quests have you disarming traps, killing zombies, saving a town from an ice breathing dragon, and solving puzzles not unlike the plumbing from Bioshock.
Thinkertron: Well those are like petty distractions from the real game: Which lacks the reflex and skill tests that I need. People didn't like Bioshock because of the mini-game: it was the story, characters, and atmosphere. Which brings be to another point. Story.
AbhorrentElms: Which DDO has in great quantities. They even have a DM which describes the area of the dungeon. From the skittering of spiders, to foot prints on the floor, to the smell of rotting corpses.
Thinkertron: Ah, but that's just set pieces. Story is a certain amount of events. And even if DDO has good story, most MMO stories amount to "I NEED ITEM X. OH GOOD YOU FOUND SOME." IF they're feeling fancy, they'll add in a reason why, or a second objective.
AbhorrentElms: See, I haven't experienced any item grind in DDO yet. Most of the quests I've gotten in it thus far either want me to go into a dungeon, destroy something, kill a certain number of enemies, or go through and collect some important item. And the item grind quests are optional and for certain classes. (Mostly rogues) And D&D Online is based on a game that's based around STORY. D&D is a table-top RPG. Pencil and paper. It's played for the great story and atmosphere created by a good DM. And since it's the creators of D&D that made the MMO... I'd assume they're good DM's.
Thinkertron: Ah, but that's D&D Online. What about the thousands of other MMOs out there?
AbhorrentElms: Well, in my experience, all the other MMO's out there? Are trying to compete with WoW. In the sense that... Well... They're trying to BE WoW. Which is why I'm not a fan of WoW at all. It's a rather tedious game that's too influential in a genre of games that needs a good influence.
Thinkertron:
Speaking of influence, there are 3 MMOs I'm kind of looking forward to, and I hope they leave a good imprint.
1: Star Wars: The Old Republic
It has an emphasis on story and choice, and Bioware is making it, so it should deliver.
2: All Points Bulletin
It's like an organized GTA online, a shooter with insane customisation.
And finally...
3: The Agency
FPS MMO, need I say more?
AbhorrentElms: I don't think it's necessary, no. My top pick for upcoming MMOs? Dragon Nest. Showed at E3 this year. I watched the trailer a few days ago, and as far as I've seen, the gameplay looks a lot like Legend of Zelda. And the artstyle is really nice and refreshing. But before we get off on a tangent.
We should probably wrap this up.
Conclusion reached?
They're good, not for everybody, but could be better if WoW wasn't such a glory hog. (Looking at you, Blizzard.)
The Brain and other interesting things #1
The human brain (indeed, any brain) is a remarkable thing. Compact, fairly lightweight (about 1.5kg) and slightly larger on average for men (although observation seems to indicate otherwise), it controls everything you do.
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