I'll Tumble 4 Ya

"Theory: “Hardcore gamers are the ones who spend hours and hours mastering a game.” But my Mom spent..."

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:02:46 -0800

“

Theory: “Hardcore gamers are the ones who spend hours and hours mastering a game.”

But my Mom spent hours and hours mastering Lemmings. She saved so many little green-haired dudes that those lemmings should have been building shrines to her as their hero. Is my mother a hardcore gamer?

Theory: “Hardcore gamers play games that require excellent hand eye coordination, like first person shooters”

World of Goo requires coordination. Slinging goo balls takes skill — ask any kid with an especially large booger attached to a finger and ready to flick. But I don’t hear many people saying that they’re hardcore because they got the Obsessive Completion Distinction (OCD) flags in World of Goo.

I had this great conversation with a student the other day. I asked him what he felt defined hardcore gamers:

Him: “Oh, people who play lots of different types of games”
Me: “Oh, I play a bunch of different genres.”
Him: “Yeah, but a hardcore gamer has to spend hours mastering them.”
Me: “Do you *know* how many hours I logged on WoW?”
Him: “But WoW isn’t a game for hardcore gamers…”

I find it fascinating that as we drill down further to the definition of a hardcore gamer, it feels a little like the core answer is “not you.”

”

- Geek Feminism Blog

"Among the gaming press there’s still this pervasive, unintelligible notion that a review must be..."

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

“

Among the gaming press there’s still this pervasive, unintelligible notion that a review must be “objective.” No. What does that even mean. You are not objective. No one is. You never were and never will be. When you say objective, you often mean “what a lot of people who I think represent the dominant societal discourse are saying.” Stop talking about it.

A review should prove that you are a thinking, opinionated individual who feels a certain way about a certain game. You might discuss common discourses on the game, but only so much as they a) relate to your argument, and b) are relevant to the public discourses surrounding the game. Even then, you don’t need to address anything, for any reason. Address it because it is relevant to your argument or because to not address it would be misleading to your readers. Give it the weight and time it deserves, not the weight other people give it. So mention the price/development time thing. Tell people it’s a pointless argument, and they can either pay money for the game or legitimately (but foolishly!) refuse to pay a seemingly “too high” of a price. See what I did there? I voiced an opinion! I do it in my reviews all of the time! I have never melted into a puddle lamenting my beautiful wickedness as a result of such opinionated reviewing.No one does. In fact, it makes their reviewing fun and worthwhile. It makes me respect that author. If someone discussed the L4D2 time/pricing issue voiced their own opinion about it, I would listen. I would respect them for thinking a certain way about something else and then informing me of their thought process. Repeating what (par of) the Internet says does not = having an opinion.

”

- Delayed Responsibility

"If he [Barack Obama] can do it, why can’t you? Whenever a homeless white person asks me for change,..."

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:02:45 -0800

“

If he [Barack Obama] can do it, why can’t you?

Whenever a homeless white person asks me for change, I always sneer at him and say: “You can’t be serious. You’re white. Look at Bill Gates. Why don’t you go invent an operating system instead of trying to freeload off of society you lazy white man.”

Oh wait, I never say that. Because that would make me a giant prick.

Sadly, since Obama’s election there have been way too many white people that are using the President as proof that structural racism no longer holds people back. Of course, these people have always felt that way. There simply are some white people who don’t want to believe that anything in America can be attributed to racial oppression. It’s just that now they are using the President as a data point. It is really annoying.

”

- It’s Been a Year Since Obama Ended Racism in America (via Resist racism)

"…Same-sex marriage and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people shouldn’t be..."

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:02:45 -0800

“…Same-sex marriage and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people shouldn’t be up for a vote. The United States is not a pure democracy, and our government was set up as a constitutional republic with checks and balances and an independent judiciary for this exact reason: So that the majority cannot do harm to the minority at will. We also already have a law that pretty well covers this issue. The fact that the courts have generally been too cowardly to draw the obvious conclusion does not mean that voters should be given carte blanche to strip away minority rights.”

- Feministe (in Exile)

fuckyeahbritain: tobeeornottobee:meltinyourmouth:here

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:01:45 -0800

fuckyeahbritain:

tobeeornottobee:meltinyourmouth:here

Rachel Maddow addresses White House fight with Fox News

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:03:44 -0700

Rachel Maddow addresses White House fight with Fox News

fuckyeahbritain: classics:gkojaz:kapi: St. Paul’s Cathedral...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:03:45 -0700

fuckyeahbritain:

classics:gkojaz:kapi:

St. Paul’s Cathedral through The Millennium Bridge, London.

Lot 18 House-Modern and Unique House in Malaysia by Arxitek Axis...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:03:44 -0700

Lot 18 House-Modern and Unique House in Malaysia by Arxitek Axis (via materialicious)

Alila Cha-Am Resort by Duangrit Bunnag Architects

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:03:44 -0700

Alila Cha-Am Resort by Duangrit Bunnag Architects

fuckyeahtea: (via wehadthestars)

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:03:45 -0700

fuckyeahtea:

(via wehadthestars)

tiff: Growlingbelly | More skull cakes

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:03:45 -0700

tiff:

Growlingbelly | More skull cakes

j-p-g: piknik (via `swinspeedx)

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:03:44 -0700

j-p-g:

piknik (via `swinspeedx)

gauntlet: mandalay: siddman:grapedrinkseventy:smashton:jaggedf...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:03:44 -0700

gauntlet:

mandalay:

siddman:grapedrinkseventy:smashton:jaggedfragments

Beauty makes the world go round. Also, money. -M

j-p-g: Traffic Lights (via Xax)

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:02:44 -0700

j-p-g:

Traffic Lights (via Xax)

"And this is the entire history of feminism and anti-rape activism: the history of people introducing..."

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:01:45 -0700

“

And this is the entire history of feminism and anti-rape activism: the history of people introducing ideas that are seen as prudish and crazy and extreme until they are understood as common sense. Or, in some cases, law.

Here’s a history of some of the crazy ideas advocated by the feminist fringe: that rape is still rape if you were dating or married to your attacker, since knowing or even loving someone does not necessarily make it impossible for that person to hurt you. That a woman’s prior sexual history should not be used as evidence against her in a rape trial, since having consented to sex in the past does not mean that you have implicitly consented to all sex thereafter. That rape is still rape if a woman does not or cannot physically resist her attacker, since it is generally unwise to require that all rapes come with an accompanying beating. That some rapists use no physical force whatsoever, and employ intimidation, coercion or intoxication as weapons, and that it is still rape if compliance is forced through these measures.

All of these ideas were once radical. Indeed, there are still many people who regard some or all of them with deep hostility. But most of them have become central to our understanding of sexual assault, and that understanding is often reflected in the changing rape laws of the last 40 years.

”

- Sady Doyle (via gauntlet)

j-p-g: sturm / storm (via f2b1610)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:45 -0700

j-p-g:

sturm / storm (via f2b1610)

gauntlet: lfar: ilovecharts:graffer:via...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:44 -0700

gauntlet:

lfar:

ilovecharts:graffer:via infobeautiful.s3.amazonaws.com

I hate the phrase “chicks rule,” but this is a cool graph.

"Underlying every complaint of “PC” is the absurd notion that members of dominant..."

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:45 -0700

“

Underlying every complaint of “PC” is the absurd notion that members of dominant mainstream society have been victimized by an arbitrarily hypersensitive prohibition against linguistic and cultural constructions that are considered historical manifestations of bigotry. It’s no coincidence that “PC”-snivelers are for the most part white men who are essentially saying, “Who the hell do these marginalized groups think they are to tell me how I should or shouldn’t portray them? I’m not going to say ‘mentally challenged’ when it’s my right to say ‘retard’, goshdarnit there’s only so much abuse I’ll take!”

…

Simply put, the great “PC” cliché, as commonly deployed in mainstream discourse, is cultural propaganda designed to befuddle and misdirect while defending the current power structure. All politics deal with power relations, and in the debate over America’s alleged climate of “political correctness”, there’s a stark asymmetry of power between the defiant megaphone-wielders who complain of being constrained by humorless hypersensitivity from below, and the under-represented people of color, women, LGBT, disabled, poor, and otherwise marginalized or dispossessed people who have no choice but to absorb the linguistic, cultural, and physical barbs of the ruling class. The former feel psycho-emotionally oppressed by their inability to crack puerile ethnic jokes without criticism; the latter simply are oppressed.

”

- The Greatest Cliché: The Unexamined Propaganda of “Political Correctness”

dtamas: random afternoon by...

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

dtamas:

random afternoon by ~loLO-o

This picture involves two of my favourite things: tea and autumn.

Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:45 -0700

Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced:

Five helpful tips for dudes.