Prop 8 - The Musical

Oh Prop 8, you were so wrong. And leave it to the community to develop a musical about gay bashing. Am I surprised? I'm not sure if there is much left to surprise me anymore...

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Desert Bus For Hope

Back from last year, the desert bus kids in Canada are at it again. Last year, they raised 22,000 dollars for the Child's Play charity, a fund raising event to help get games and consoles to children's hospitals worldwide. Thus far they have raised over 50K this year.

What makes desert bus great is that to raise this said money, they play the game Desert Bus for as long as people continue donating the requisite 1000 dollars and hour mandating they continue. This is a veritable hell because to call the game (if you could say it was a game by any stretch of that word's definition) monotanous is doing it an extreme disservice. The game goes as follows: In real time, you drive a bus at 45mph from Tucsan to Los Vegas. There are no cars on the road, there is no scenery apart from the occasional tumbleweed. The road is absolutely straight, but to ensure you don't tape down the control button, the bus leans slightly to the right. This forces the player to constantly tap the left button. The trip takes 8 hours, and when you arrive in Los Vegas you score 1 point and are given the option to return. If you go off the road, a tow truck comes and toes you back tot he nearest location, in real time.

For more information see desertbus.org including the live bus cam!

A bit of silly

I have 3 half written posts and a bunch of stuff, I'll be back once I have a chance to breathe. In the mean time, if you like original Star Trek and/ or Monthy Python this is both hilarious and awesome:

America: DO NOT FUCK THIS UP

Turns out Starbucks is kind of Awesome

Let alone the fact that they are giving coffee away. I wonder if I tell them I voted 2 days ago I'll get TWO cups of free coffee.

I wish my physics exams were scantron

...just so I could put this theory to test. So to speak! (ba-dump-shh!)

At last! I know who I'm voting for!

And, related:

Mail Goggles, Revisted

I heard you could set Mail Goggles to different difficulty settings as per the mailer's choice, but I cannot imagine how very badly one would not wish to email someone to set one's filter at THIS potency:



It would seem Randall Munroe, however, does.

Apple supports Vote No Campaign on Proposition 8

I think this is about the coolest thing ever. Apple just donating $100K to the Vote No campaign in California, opposing same sex marriages. This is copied directly from apple's hot news page:

No on Prop 8

October 24, 2008

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

That's positively rockin'.

A Red Letter Day

A couple of months ago, a husband and wife team opened a tea house just off of State Street. I'd heard about it being really fun and had been meaning to go, but I hadn't been presented with an ideal opportunity until this afternoon.

I'll return to that in a moment, but I think for the sake of today's story I should talk about recent events first. This week I've been feeling good. All of the pieces I submitted in my application for this semester's BFA show were accepted, which is absolutely GREAT news for me. I felt I was emerging from a rut I've been in for a few weeks, mainly fueled by my total and perpetual state of exhaustion.

This morning I got into my painting course and started setting up my stuff next to my friends Sasha a Scott. Painting is my least favorite class this semester, ranking even below my Physics class. It's required and I'm TERRIBLE at it. I'm terrible at physics too, but at least I don't have to submit my physics homework for general review by all of my peers and defend it every week. I'm bad with paint, I don't understand how painting works and I'm used to being GOOD at line control in my drawings. The class has been overall a demoralizing experience and has really contributed to my general unhappiness this semester.

Like I said, I was actually feeling all right as I set up my stuff. The project we're currently working on in painting actually interests me and I don't feel like I'm sucking too bad. At this point my TA came up to me and asked me to move my stuff away from my friends, as she feels we've been socializing too much in class.

Now, wait just a minute.

One of the GREAT things about art classes is the relaxed feel. Work days are enjoyable because it's a group of people hanging out, making art, and chatting about things. It's relaxed, it's fun, and conversation is one of the few things preventing me from stabbing my eyes out in painting. So, I make the huge mistake of respectfully arguing that it's probably not in my best interests to be sent to the corner to hate myself alone, and that conversation is really beneficial.

I then was taken into the office like some elementary school kid on step 3 and balled out about how bad my work has been, how poor my behavior was, and how she is considering not writing me a recommendation letter because of this. Let's get a couple things straight: 1) While I do talk, I don't go over the line. I'm conversational, I'm friendly and I don't bad mouth people. I chat with other people in class because, as I said, it makes things nice. I'm NOT alone in this. 2) My work has sucked, but I have been trying. I've nearly been in tears the past two critiques, and despite the fact that I have 35 hours of work a week and 4 other classes, I've been coming in on the weekends to work on these projects, even though I HATE them. I've honestly been trying to listen to her criticisms. 3) This TA has had me in 3 other classes before this one. She has never said anything negative about me or my work before, in fact she has openly praised me in class and used my work as examples to other students. I've been to her house to do matting. It's not like we're not close.

So. She balled me out, said that I was acting "high school-ish" (what does that even MEAN?)and that I needed to take my work more seriously. I don't know how nearly bursting into tears in critique isn't considered serious, but there that is. This was a pretty big slap in my face, and I moved away from my friends to spend the class contemplating my inadequacies and pretty much feeling worthless and shitty. I don't mean to be melodramatic, but I really work hard to make well executed, interesting pieces. To be told that I obviously wasn't trying and then have my character attacked was pretty harsh. I'll be working harder in the class in the future, but mostly I'm just... tired. I really don't have a good way to express how it feels, but it does feel pretty bad.

After class I went to the wood shop to make canvas stretchers with a couple other students (I had to take off work to do this) for our next painting project. The wood for this cost me over 20 bucks, let alone the 5 hour shift of work I missed to make these things. I'm obviously a total slacker.

When I finished that, I was on my way home generally hating myself when I remembered the tea house. I thought that a tea house was exactly the sort of place I should go to try and shake off the overwhelming sense of negativity I'd been doused in, so I went there instead of home. It was absolutely great- a Japanese style tea house together with shoe-free compartments and a menu of teas that was an inch thick. I had some hummus and a pot of green tea and thought happy thoughts for about an hour. It really helped... I just keep telling myself that all I can do is my best, not everyone will always be happy with who I am. You simply cannot win them all, and sometimes you don't get the luxury of locking yourself in your room and crying like a baby- you just have to take the slap in the face and keep going.

I don't have time to let those things hurt me. All I can do is get to the end of the semester, and I'm going to do that, even if I die shortly afterward.

I can't pretend though... it still hurts. Everything in art is so personal. I don't get why people can't relax.

Epic Fail.

The saddest balloon launch for orphans, ever.

Sick of regretting the email you drunkenly send?

Thank goodness, then, for google labs' new addition, Mail Goggles. Now, when you drunkenly email your mother/grandmother/ex/ex's mother at 3:00AM, gmail will ask you to complete a series of math problems before you are able to send! Drunk mailing, people. It's the new drunk dialing.

I really can't believe this is a real feature, but I think it's hilarious and know at least three people who should enable it immediately.

Iron Man is better than Batman

I follow PvP, but it doesn't normally resonate with me as a strip. Today's offering, however, sums up countless conversations I have had on this subject and I advice you read it to understand my point vis-a-vis this pressing issue.

TELL EVERYONE.

In my life I've never been able to say that there was one day in a year that was honestly truly more important than any other day. Until this year. Election day MATTERS. Vote!!

Things I Hope America Will Remember This Election

In celebration of the elections (and my coupon for a free rental at the video store around the corner) I rented The American President this evening. It's always been a favorite movie of mine, Aaron Sorkin is a great writer and Michael Douglas is so good in it. But as I was watching it I was thinking a lot about current events and the decisions people in this country have to make this year.

It's fantastic that so many people who have never taken a keen interest in the electoral process are tuning in for this election. I'm 22 and I can say with conviction that voting and current issues are not core concerns with many people in my age bracket. Instead, I spend my days trying to finish all the work I have to do- school work, job work, commissions for friends. Remembering to SHOWER is often a chore. Making money, paying bills, staying on top of my train wreck life, those are the things I generally spend my time considering, and I don't think I'm out of line when I say that many people my age feel similarly.

Often I have talked with my friends and speculated why "kids" today don't get worked up over things like they did in the 60's and 70's. We thought perhaps our level of disaffected-ness could be attributed to over-stimulation by computers, internet, etc. (why get worked up about it in real life when you can shout at the cloud online?) Perhaps, we thought, it was due to the lack of a draft for the Iraq war. It's hard to say why people my age have seemed to care less and less in recent years, but for the first time I can say there has been so much more visible interest in politics on this campus than I have seen before, even during the '04 election. It's not even Obama support necessarily, it's both sides. And I think that is great. I think people our age have GOT to take interest, because we can actually DO something about the direction we take the world. We each have a say, and I think so many young Americans underestimate that. They underestimate the good they can do. Last Sunday a history major knocked on my door asking if I was registered to vote. I am wildly enthusiastic about this election and I don't even want to spend my Sundays that way. But she did.

Near the end of The American President, Michael Douglas gives a wonderful speech against his opponent (played by Richard Dreyfus)about character. With the way our own election has been going, the words Aaron Sorkin wrote really resonated with me, so I'm going to quote what I think is a pertinent excerpt:

"I've known [Bob Rumson] for years, and I'd been operating under the assumption that the reason [Bob] devotes so much time and energy shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong, [Bob's] problem isn't that he doesn't get it; [Bob's] problem is that he can't sell it. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, [Bob Rumson] is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.
You gather a group, of middle-age, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family, and American values, and character..."

Myself, I like playing a game where I substitute the name in <> with "John McCain." Personally I feel that McCain has spun his platform by the day if not by the hour, telling Americans not what he believes, but what he believes will get him elected. He's not interested in telling us about his plans, I don't even know what his plans are because he's alluded to so many, constantly changing, vaguely formed ones that when I try to put the pieces together I get confused. Mostly I feel that he is praying on our fears- about Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, and now the economy. And when things go south for him he blames the problems on other people, other groups, other countries. If John McCain admitted some wrongs in a self effacing way, if he offered some explanation for his errors humbly I would be less upset, because accountability is an extremely presidential quality. (I really think politicians forget this) But all I hear is from one side of his mouth that Obama/ foreign countries/ Americans are to blame for problems while from the other side he says we need to stop playing the blame game. In the words of Sarah Palin, "it makes me ill."

I don't pretend to assume Obama has all the answers. But for the first time there seems to be someone who honestly cares about sacrificing himself for the good of others rather than sacrificing others for the good of himself. I can't say what kind of president he will be, but he is intelligent and has the ability to motivate. He is respected internationally, if not by his own peers. I think it's time that America rose to meet its espoused idealism, rather than pandering to the lowest common denominator. We must move forward, not backward.

Even if you aren't going to vote for Barack Obama, at least vote intelligently. Look at the issues, check the facts and don't blindly accept what a candidate or reporter tells you, no matter what "side" they're on. Because if the past 8 years has taught me something, it's that you can't trust anything- you've got to verify it yourself. Be smarter than the politicians think you are, America!

So it's official.

...I'm a total nerd. This quiz is really fun, take it if you want some amusement.

Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam...

Starfleet Crewperson

63% Intrigue, 63% Civilization, 60% Humanity, 51% Urbanization.

As Mister Spock would say: Fascinating. It seems you've managed to hit the edge of the curve on all metrics. An extraordinary life is almost certain.

According to your answers, you want it all, you want a lot of it, and you're willing to do what it takes to get it! Adventure! Romance! Technology! Challenge! You love civilization. You like people. You love the complications and joys of a big, weird crowd of humans plus lots of other beings wandering into dangerous and complicated corners of the galaxy.

There is an ideal place for you, and you are ideal for it: Welcome to the crew of the starship Enterprise. Captain Kirk would have welcomed you aboard himself, but his head was too big to fit in the landing bay.

Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy

The Question of Hadrons

On the question:

Has the LHC destroyed the earth?

Autumn is Upon Us

It occurs to me that autumn is fast approaching. Normally this a jubilant time of year for me, since summer is my least favorite season and autumn is really my favorite. But after that arduous winter last year and the extremely short-seeming summer I'm just not ready to let go of 70 degree weather yet. Maybe those are my Alaska roots growing a little weaker, but I just don't WANT to endure sub zero temperatures on a weekly/ daily basis anymore. Especially when I walk and bike everywhere. You can bet that I'll be savoring every last warm day down to the bitter end this season.

In other news it's a small world after all. The girl who makes the delicious sandwiches I referenced in this post is in one of my drawing courses this semester. I haven't spoken to her yet, but she does the cutest little inkings of ninjas. Leave it to art majors to double as secret sandwich preparation geniuses! Art FTW!

In the artsy vein, I've decided to try to keep my drawings this semester operating around a central theme. I always try to do this, I find it prevents me from getting creatively exhausted. This semester I am working on establishing a Sci-Fi world based around my ideas of the future of genetic enhancement. My first piece is going to be a city view, and I've drawn off a lot of good concept artists to solidify the look. In one way I know that means I don't get to say it was fully my idea, but the whole point of learning is practice. Or so I tell myself. It's going to be more Star Wars polish than Firefly grit.

Also: trying not to get re-addicted to coke. Not sure if I am currently winning or losing this battle. *sips coke*

Wordle!

I came across Wordle a few days ago when I was browsing some political blogs. Threat Level had used wordle to create a visual display of the word count for the RNC and DNC speeches, something which I thought was really great. It turns out you can do it with any webpage. If you're into stuff like this, it's a pretty fun little program. I did one for the (almost) current incarnation of this blog below:

Evil Apple (again)

And just when I was riding that Genius high. Can you see me? I'm taking a deep breath and rolling my eyes furiously. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but to see these privacy/ security violations makes me insane, I just have to write about them. I'll post some lolcats or something later to atone.

Just had a gander at this Wired article, but I'll basically sum it up below:

The iPhone (and by association I assume the iPod Touch) take screenshots of everything you do, then stores them. When you think of how the minimize function works, it's actually not particularly surprising or alarming. What IS both surprising and alarming is the fact that these screen captures are not immediately deleted by the device when the minimized window is closed, but rather saved.

According to the article this glitch(??) has been so well documented that it has been used to apprehend "criminals who have been accused of rape, murder or drug deals."

The icing on the cake?

"There's no way to prevent it," Zdziarski [hacker] said during the webcast. "I'm kind of divided on it. I hope Apple fixes it because it's a significant privacy leak, but at the same time it's been useful for investigating criminals."

THAT^. THAT right there is what frightens me about this article. It's one thing to know these problems exist, it's one thing to discover these flaws and point the angry finger but the minute we start balancing the importance of our personal privacy against the useful investigative nature of these glitches for apprehending "criminals" is when we close our eyes and let our civil liberties melt away. Because one day in the not so distant future you could be one of those "criminals." Just remember that for a moment.

It makes my blood boil.

On Genius.

I'm exactly the type of person who will say "When it's possible, don't let anyone have access to any personal information of yours, no matter how mundane it may seem." Which is why programs like iTunes' new genius function make it so damn hard to maintain my resolve.

I've been WAITING for this function for years. YEARS! Have you ever had that time with your mp3 player when you could just swear the device had some mystically creepy intuitive capability? Well, welcome to genius. The mystical is real, the creepy is real, and you know how those people stay in the haunted house with the killer ghosts/ dolls long after EVERYONE knows they should leave because, well, it really is such a sweet little town and it's probably all in their heads... right...? Well everything I know about evil corporations tells me to turn this app off and I just can't do it. I've been rediscovering my music all evening because itunes has been pulling out songs I didn't even know I had.

Damn it apple, why can't I quit you?!

Hooray for Hadron!

... I almost spelled tat "Hardon." I think that is funny little slip. Yes indeed.

Today, in honor of the birth of the Large Hadron Collider, I'm posting CERN's Large Hadron rap. Not only is it funny, it's informative! (Now with extra quarks!!) It's nice to see those guys to more than play with their abacuses all day.



...I still get tickled every time I hear the crazy people talk about the black holes sucking us up. Learn to science n00bs! I'm pumped to learn about what they discover, this could be the beginning of an era of really exciting physics. This collider is really a victory not only for science, but for humanity- to think that we came together and made this amazing machine for the purpose of learning more about the world. It's things like this that really inspire me and give me hope.

Suspicions Regarding Google Chrome

There's been a lot of comments flying fast and furious across the tubes regarding Google's newly released internet browser, Chrome.

When I heard about it I was intrigued, but cautious. Given their history of an extensive go-getter approach to data mining, the idea of using a browser hand-handcrafted by them set the conspiracy theorist Big Brother alarms off in my brain. So, after checking out the download page, I decided to hold off and see if any chatter came out in the following days.

I was not to be disappointed.

I'd been foolishly concerned about some spectral-keystroke-capturing-spying... thing. I don't know, my concerns were vague and incoherent, but I was more preoccupied about being monitored by google than what's come out so far, that google's license agreement was basically hand tailored to seize rights to any creative/ intellectual properties users dealt with or uploaded in the course of browsing the internet with their app. The exact wording in the EULA read:

11. Content licence from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content, you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

After overwhelming outcry from users Google quickly retracted the offending language for the following:

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

There are many holding the opinion that this may have been an oversight, or that this is simply google's standard EULA for all of its programs. My opinion is that a company like Google does not make idle mistakes, certainly not in legal documentation. However, I think their response that this was their usual EULA and that it hadn't occurred to them to change it may have been true. Nonetheless, this instance should draw to everyone's attention that extremely clear, no-nonsense wording in Google's license agreement. This agreement applies to almost every program google oversees. So often we scroll through a EULA without carefully looking it over, it's important to remember to take a careful look at what rights you're keeping/ throwing out the window. Despite the fact that they've changed their wording to something slightly less ambiguous, I won't be using Chrome anytime soon.

In today's age of blogs, tweets, vlogs, p2p, online word processing and email it is essential to maintain the rights to your intellectual property as well as you can. Furthermore, even if intellectual property isn't an interest of yours, at least know that if someone else owns what you're doing, they can also see what you're doing.

It's easy for people to know what you're doing online. Don't make it easier.

Penny Arcade Expo Rundown

Well, I've been back from PAX for a few days, and I'm in grips of some primordial beast of a plague which I am choosing to directly blame on Wil Wheaton, but I think I will take a moment to try and describe some of the experience I enjoyed there.

First of all, this was my first time at PAX, or any convention in general. I was floored by the sheer volume of humans present. (I hear it topped 55,000) While I was taken aback at first, the friendliness of nearly everyone I met made what could have been a very overwhelming experience into a warm shared one instead. I often chatted with strangers in lines I waited in and it was really fun being able to talk about things like Stallman without having to explain what I was saying. (Or add some hypertext, for that matter)

There's so much that I did it's hard to sum it all up, here are some highlights:

Watching the Penny Arcade Q&A and Make a Strip panels, and meeting Mike and Jerry.

Buying a book from Wil Wheaton and getting to talk to him.

Meeting Jonathan Coulton and getting the Thing A Week series.

Chatting with Shawn from Mega 64.

Watching Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, Scott Kurtz and Wil Wheaton play a game of the 4th edition.

Being in the front row at the Jonathan Coulton/ Freeze Pops concert

Getting a Red vs Blue shirt from Gus

There are so many other things- panels I attended, Ken Levine's keynote, chatting with the guys making the new Strong Bad game, playing Afro Samurai etc etc. It was a really fun time and I have no regrets that I went. Looking back, I'm only amazed at how close I came to not going at all, and that would have been the greatest shame. To everyone I met there and everyone who was there thank you for creating a community where the internet can take a tangible shape and people can unite for the soul purpose of playing some games.

A Little More Doctorow

I thought I'd post a link to Cory Doctorow's recent Cambridge Business Lectures talk on "Life in the Information Economy". It's a really interesting talk about security online as well as the inherently flawed nature of regulation.

On the Issue of Troubleshooting

As someone who works for tech support, and someone who has recently been doing a lot of trouble shooting regarding technological problems I don't necessarily understand, this small quote from a Chicago Tribune interview with Cory Doctorow really resonated with me:

"Do you know who Don Norman is? Norman and Jakob Nielsen are co-owners of this big user-interface firm. An important Norman book was called "The Design of Everyday Things," essentially a jeremiad against designers and in favor of engineers. He repudiated it 20 years later in a book called "Emotional Design." He starts from a premise that all technology is inherently broken, that at a certain level of complexity everything is nearly not working. Our capacity to make it work is entirely dependent on our ability to be calm, take a deep breath, feel good about ourselves and work out what the answer is. And that has a lot to do with our relationship with our technology, and it s a kind of feng shui arrangement with our technology, and he says that’s why beautiful things are more functional. So I’ve become a Normanist."

This really does make a fair and excellent point. It is not what you know or what you don't know, it's not what you supposedly can or cannot do, it is patience, calmness and resilience that allow people to solve computer related problems. I am of the school of belief that if you simply take a deep breath and see the issue at hand no as a sinister technomological doohicky problem and rather as an actually problem solving issue you will go a long way to making these issues solvable.

Because I constantly am talking to people with computer issues at work, I've really begun to understand the 2/3 of the problem is overcoming your own innate fear of the unknown. People so often will, even subliminally, say to themselves "Oh, it's technology, I'll never get it," whereas if they simply rallied the information they knew and used common sense they would be able to fix many daunting problems themselves. I know this, because I am constantly dealing with problems and issues I have never seen before, know nothing about, and do not understand. When this happens, I close my eyes and remind myself that I am capable, that people made this technology, and that there is no reason I shouldn't be able to figure out what is going wrong. 9 times out of 10 I am able to fix my problems, and the skills I learned go into helping me with new problems when they arise in the future.

Recently I've found that young people (and by young I mean 18 and below) are having more and more computer related problems, similar to the sort that "old people" might have. These problems are generally related to connecting to the internet, getting email configured, browser troubleshooting etc. After a conversation with a good friend of mine, we arrived at the conclusion that perhaps younger internet users grew up in a time when they weren't constantly HAVING to troubleshoot. If all you can remember is broadband, then why on earth would you generally have to configure things? If your parents knew how to do it and have always done it for you, why should you yourself know or care?

To me, as someone who has been dealing with computers on one level or another for over 15 years, this was sort of stunning. Like I said, I'm no wiz at all, almost all of my friends are more skilled than me. But like our grandfathers knew how to fix a leaky faucet and our great-grandfathers knew how to dig a cellar, I take it for granted that there are troubleshooting things that I know as inherent truths. And I also know that with common sense, deep breaths and concentration, anyone can know what I know. It just never occurred to me that the next generation might know less than I.

I can't know for sure if this is a coincidence or the beginning of a trend, but I DO know that the advice offered above is sound and it should be heeded by anyone, no matter how experienced or inexperienced with computers they may be.

The Root of the Problem

Today I was sitting at work, waiting for phone calls from unfortunate souls with computer troubles, when I got a call on my own phone instead. My caller ID said it was my mother. I've been recently trying to do everything short of whoring myself out to get out to Seattle for PAX this year, so I wondered if she had some insight on the situation.

Me: Hello?
Mom: Hey I didn't think you would pick up at work. I just had a quick question.
Me: What's up?
Mom: Maggie and I were wondering if you could bring GTA when you come home this afternoon.
Me: I'm sorry, I can't. It's my roommate's game remember? I don't live with him anymore.
Mom: (disappointed) Oh okay then. Sorry, I'd forgotten.
Me: You're welcome to buy it for me if you like!
Mom: Oh sure, I'll get right on that.

This exchange just amused the heck out of me. Quite a few weeks ago I'd gotten my roommate at that time to lend me GTA 4 for a few days. My mother has always enjoyed watching me play video games, and with memories of my sister's drunken warthog handling still fresh from the previous Christmas, I thought everyone might get a kick out of it.

I'd underestimated what a hit it would be. Myself, I've never been overly fond of the GTA series, but this one from what I'd seen, really seemed different. I'd actually enjoyed the protagonist and wanted to try it out myself. I had no idea that, from drunk pedestrian pancaking to republican space rangers my mom and sister would really enjoy it as well. I'd thought they would get a kick out of it, sure, but I didn't really expect to get a request for me to bring it back.

Thinking about this really makes me laugh after all the Jack Thompson-Hillary Clinton "Video games R bad" crap that surrounds each GTA release- those staunch arguments that games like these are the root of evil in our society, refuge of delinquents and the gateway to a lives of murderous rampages and crime. And yet, as a rational person who, on a good day, has no desire whatsoever to mow pedestrians down on sidewalks with an oil tanker, I have derived hours and hours of great entertainment out of this, with my mother and sister laughing with me.

I think the majority of people in this country need to get a grip and learn to laugh at the ridiculous. Perhaps they may even have to learn how to reinterpret what the "ridiculous" is, but it should really be clear that these games aren't the seed of Satan here.

Some days my job is great

One of my coworkers just came up to me:

Him: "Were you just working with a Lori ***** regarding symantec?"
Me: [hesitantly] "Yes..."
Him: "She wanted me to transfer her to you, but she has a message for you."
Me: [concerned] "What would that be?"
Him: "She says, 'You're the queen.'"

AWESOME.

What does this look like to you?

Are they lighthouses? Because that's what they're supposed to be...

Awesome.

On Sandwiches and Being Nice to People

Often times when I work at my tech support job, I will get lunch from Subway. It's close enough to be reasonable ("Hey guys I'm going to run to subway, be right back") but far enough away to have an enjoyable walk in the sun and a refreshing break from the incessant glow of fluorescent bulbs and computer monitors.

I've noticed, in my pattern over the past few months that a new girl got hired at our Subway and she will occasionally be in the queue to make my sandwich. When she does, the sandwich is always neat, and she doesn't do something crazy like load it up with 2 gallons of mustard- it always tastes pretty good.

Well today, before lunch, I'd been chatting with a friend of mine and he had reminded me of PostSecret, a really neat website where the blogger asks people to send him postcards with their secrets on them and he anonymously publishes them. I read a bunch of them, got hungry and went to Subway.

On my way there I was thinking about all the little things people have in common- the things we think about that seem private, but really they are just things that everyone thinks to themselves. For instance, whenever I go into the cinderblock basement of the building I work in to get a soda, I always wonder if an atomic bomb will explode and I will be saved because I had the good fortune to be in a bunker. Now, even to me that seems strange, but I assume that people all over think of many similarly bizarre things all the time.

All of this was going through my head when I walked into the Subway to see this girl waiting to take my order. I ordered my sandwich and watched her judicious application of my sandwich components when I suddenly blurted out:

"This may be strange, but I work nearby and I just thought you should know that you make a pretty good sandwich."

She looked up with a bemused expression.

"I mean to say, that a lot of people put too much mustard on, or whatever, but when you make the sandwiches they always taste pretty good. I hope you don't think I'm psychotic now."

She laughed and said she was glad I'd said so and that it made her feel good.

Now I am hoping that she actually did feel good and that she doesn't think I'm some sort of sandwich psychotic killer, but I really do think it was a good thing to say. We always come in and do our jobs and we don't talk to each other about things or mention that "Hey, I don't know you or anything, but this is something good you've done." and I can't help but think that maybe our lives would be slightly improved if that happened more often.

Ah well. At least I've got this tasty sandwich.

Arghhhh

Overslept/ didn't hear/ forgot to set(?) my alarm this morning. Late for work= less money= no food= vagrancy= dying young in a work camp.

On the other hand: these blueberries are delicious!

Customized my twitter page, if blogger was allowing me to reinstall my twitter widget (ahaha, that's fun to say) it'd be easy to get to from here.

Next step: customize blog. But it doesn't seem nearly so easy as the twitter. Hopefully I will be mistaken.

Sweet Sweet Sellers

Peter Sellers does his version of A Hard Day's Night delivered in the style of Lawrence Olivier performing "Now Is The Winter of Our Discontent."

Wherein Molly undertakes a great journey and is rewarded

It's been a while since I made an actual post. Quite a few things are/ have been afoot, so I think I'll take some time and talk about what's been going on.

This summer has been extremely rewarding. I ended up taking 8 credits of courses, only put a chisel through my hand ONCE (oh relief print-making, you joker, you...!), made a good amount of money and managed to get a trip to Washington DC in.

The trip was particularly harrowing. Since my plane's tragic collision with an extremely large air pocket over Japan 2 years ago I've been extremely un-fond of the whole air travel experience. However, not the sort of person to let fear rule my life, I've been traveling by planes in effort to conquer this problem. I was ill-equipped, however, to deal with the RAGING THUNDERSTORMS over DC, and as we were forced to circle over head for an hour I contemplated a great many things, including the ground, and how many pieces my body might be in when we next met.

Finally the plane was diverted to Pennsylvania, which meant another 3 hours of waiting followed by another jolly take-off and another jolly prance down Thunderstorm Lane. I'd like to say I'm a better person after it all, but I'm rather more inclined to say the fruit of that labor may be more along the lines of an ulcer.

DC was fantastic though. Having been there to visit my father a number of times, I don't normally do the whole monument thing, but this time I took a day and hit them all on a long walk. With the current political spirit it was really quite moving going to each one (apart from the actual walking, which was also moving, one might say, ba-dump shh!) and thinking about the great things and the not-so-great things that people have done in the name of the United States. Seeing the monuments really helped remind me about the things that make this country unique and wonderful, and the fact that those things aren't gone yet, not as long as there are still Americans who can believe in that dream. This election is going to be a fork in the road, and I believe the decision we make here is going to have some strong historical significance for us all - I hope at least this time we can choose well.

The flight back was much better and I arrived home in one piece, so all's well that ends well. Since then I've been working to earn a little cash in hopes that I can get out to PAX. I've never been, but I would so like to go. Money isn't stopping me, but unfortunately I've got no place to stay and sadly, every hotel I can find is pretty much booked. So barring a miracle I may not be able to go after all. I suppose there are other years but... well, I would be disappointed to miss it.

Here's looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

Finally.

I got the three Patron Saints cleaned up and in their final versions.

At least until I decide they need tweaking...

It's true...

Sometimes finding directions online really does screw you right up the keester.

Click the pic if you're in the mood to be amused.

Just Another Compelling Reason to Lay Off Meat

People ask me why I don't eat red meat anymore. THIS is why. I'm begging you. Look at this article. This stuff is real and it's scary.

Sweet Jesus.

The Continuing Battle For Net Neutrality

Looks like Comcast was rebuffed by the FCC for trying to dictate to it's internet subscribers where they could and could not go online. Sickeningly even a landmark win isn't a real win these days, and Comcast is already on the rebound twist the FCC's words and calling cavalry in for round two.

Read the article here:

http://www.freepress.net/node/42937

Holy cow.

Music that I like

Recently I've been into some new music. I love stuff with a really nice beat to it, but that doesn't necessarily mean electronic. Well, maybe it does. Here are 7 tunes I've been listening to recently that are pretty great. Some of them, like the song by Brad Sucks can be heard for free online off of the artist's site. Every single ones of these songs I first heard through Pandora, if you don't use it I strongly recommend it. Any radio station that guesses what I want to hear is OK in my book.

"Making Me Nervous" by Brad Sucks
"Los Angelos" by the Firebird Band
"Tribulations" by LCD Soundsystem
"19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)" by the Gorrilaz
"I Want to Love You in My Room" by Irving
"Where You End" by Moby
"Island in the Sun" by Weezer

James Can Dance And So Can YOU!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird

It's nice to know that if I die alone in my apartment people may not in fact find me half eaten by wild dogs.

Jacko goes down...

I saw news of this at work yesterday and was reminded by the new PA comic this morning. Florida courts are recommending that Jack Thompson be disbarred.

Jack Thompson is famous for his reactionary stance against video game violence and even more famous for being a psychotic douche-bag. I don't use that term lightly, the man is not only off his rocker, he is both aggressively outspoken and overwhelmingly ignorant. Until recently the most troubling thing about him was that many people seemed to respect his warped opinions, increasing the negative attention being given gamers/ game developers. Hopefully this decision will help put his remarks into perspective and take some ammunition away from politicians and nay-sayers.

But really, who can say?

Severn Suzuki's speech from 1992

I thought this was extremely touching. It's as true today as it was 15 years ago.

A serious sense of work ethic.

The fire alarm just went off.... It didn't make any noise, it was just flashing. I heard one of my colleagues go up to our supervisor and say "The alarm's going off. Should we leave?"

He responded, "Are you dead? No? Then you're FINE."

We apparently take work here quite seriously. Yes indeed.

Blah Summer Blah.

School got out about a week ago, which was a bit of a shock to the system, really. When you're used to being so frenzied, it's really, really hard to just wind down. I'd find myself sitting on the couch and thinking "I need to do something." I went home and saw my mom etc. Ended up doing some chores she wanted (like sweeping the birch crap off the drive way which was completely futile since it thunder stormed and blew even more down the next day than there was originally... thanks, mom.) I celebrated my birthday a little bit with two new games I've been eager to play: The Orange Box and Viva Pinata. If you don't care about games skip the next two paragraphs.

The Orange Box is interesting in that it contains a LOAD of games: Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode 1, Half Life 2 Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. I wanted this game solely for Portal, which it took me about... 3 hours to beat? Maybe 4. I'm proud of myself because I didn't cheat by looking online for anything . The days of the 8-year-old me, taking 3 weeks to beat the first part of the Infocom text based Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy because I didn't know what an analgesic was are long gone... these days not using the net to crack a puzzle it takes me longer than 5-10 minutes to muse over is a serious exercise in will power. Portal is EXCELLENT, hillariously dark, yet creepy in a way that still leaves room to be playful. It was witty and unlike anything else out there.

The other game, Viva Pinata, can mostly be described by saying that its target audience is probably...8 year old girls. Your goal is to make a garden and improve it with the sole purpose of attracting pinata animals, which you can either coerce into doing the "Romance Dance" to make more pinatas (giggady giggady) or beat them to death and watch in horrified glee as all the other pinatas eagerly devour the insides. I particularly enjoyed naming my pinatas things like PSYCHO DESTROYER and Mr. Gnads. I know, I'm really really mature.

Other neat things I got - the book "House of Leaves" which is supposed to be a very good read, the first bit of Transmetropolitan (a comic I've been hearing a lot of buzz about) and Penny Arcade's Dark Mantle.

I also set up a flickr account with a bunch of my art uploaded, mostly stuff I've done for classes. I'm working on locating a copy of dream weaver and setting up a site as a summer project.

Anyway, my do-nothing woes are decidedly over. For the next 3 weeks I'll be attending classes from 8-5 Monday through Wednesday, having exams on Thursdays and working tech support every possible hour in between. Farewell free time, Hello writhing agony.

It's okay, it's dark and I like it in here.

And I didn't even know.

I had always thought that I had no living extended family on my father's side apart from my grandmother and uncle. I'd never heard about anyone really, except some allusions that my grandmother had siblings, but it turns out I had a great Aunt. And I only found out because she died. Strange.

I guess that says something about how close my family is.

Why the Internet is Better Than Television

I was surfin' the tubes this afternoon and found a short, insightful piece by longtime internet activist Professor Clay Shirky. He wrote the article in response to an interviewer he spoke with earlier. Upon his explanation of the remarkable social and informational media we've created through Wikipedia she said, "Where [does everyone] find the time?" The article is about how people are starting to leave the television behind in exchange for more interactive forms of entertainment. People of today WANT to be entertained, but they're no longer satisfied with mindless absorbsions like Giligan's Island.

"So that's the answer to the question, "Where do they find the time?" Or, rather, that's the numerical answer. But beneath that question was another thought, this one not a question but an observation. In this same conversation with the TV producer I was talking about World of Warcraft guilds, and as I was talking, I could sort of see what she was thinking: "Losers. Grown men sitting in their basement pretending to be elves."


At least they're doing something.


Did you ever see that episode of Gilligan's Island where they almost get off the island and then Gilligan messes up and then they don't? I saw that one. I saw that one a lot when I was growing up. And every half-hour that I watched that was a half an hour I wasn't posting at my blog or editing Wikipedia or contributing to a mailing list. Now I had an ironclad excuse for not doing those things, which is none of those things existed then. I was forced into the channel of media the way it was because it was the only option. Now it's not, and that's the big surprise. However lousy it is to sit in your basement and pretend to be an elf, I can tell you from personal experience it's worse to sit in your basement and try to figure if Ginger or Mary Ann is cuter.


And I'm willing to raise that to a general principle. It's better to do something than to do nothing. Even lolcats, even cute pictures of kittens made even cuter with the addition of cute captions, hold out an invitation to participation. When you see a lolcat, one of the things it says to the viewer is, "If you have some sans-serif fonts on your computer, you can play this game, too." And that's message--I can do that, too--is a big change."


You can read the whole thing here, and frankly I found it really interesting and insightful.

I'm really tired people using the media to criticize us as a do-nothing generation of idiots. First of all, no generation is without its healthy number of morons and I won't be made accountable for them. But just because you're too ignorant to recognize what we do as something meaningful, that doesn't give you the right to stand on rooftops screaming at the top of your lungs to publicly denounce it. Not when past generations are just as (if not even moreso) guilty of wasteful recreations like boob-tube watching.

I've always considered myself a person who appreciates that no one generation of humans is fundamentally different from the next. I don't stand for the adolescent "You just don't GET me!!" argument. But I have arrived at the place where I am willing to accept that technology is going to shape humans in a new way, IS shaping us in a new way. It's something that hasn't been available to us before and it's something which we're adapting to, some more quickly than others.

If you don't get it yet, just close your mouth and watch. Don't condemn what you don't yet understand. Because if you let us show you what we're talking about maybe you'll see what an amazing world you can be a part of.

Students of Today.

I had to add one more Wesch video up here, they are so very good. This one is about the lives of today's students. It's hard for me to really know, but I assume that college students throughout time have always procrastinated, multi-tasked and BS-ed their way through class. I can't know, but I have to assume this is so, as it is true not only of myself, but absolutely everyone I know.

While we can assume that human nature does not change, much as surrounding geography manipulates the course of a river, technology funnels our human nature into different avenues and changes the way in which we react to situations. It's hard to explain what I mean. Students have always been busy, but the omni-present nature of technology in our lives has created a static halo around all of us, almost like an essence of "busy-ness" that is reflected in how we go through daily life.

People say that the youth of today are impatient. I wholeheartedly agree. I have no patience for things that I find unnecessary. I spend my life multi-tasking, getting the maximum amount of information through the minimum amount of effort. My relationship with the internet has taught me that this is acceptable, and I consider this stream-lining of my existence to be highly positive.

In class, when professors drone on and on rehashing concepts I understand, I feel no compulsion to pay attention to them. When they assign readings that I can understand by briefly skimming the conclusion, I will not read them. And my test grades and current GPA verify that this way of approaching education not only works, it is highly successful. Many of my friends only attend classes for the midterms and finals, of them I consider myself a very good student.

Do I feel badly?

The answer is no. Anything I want to know I can (and do) learn myself. If I want to know something the answer is only a few clicks away. If I have a question about a lecture I'll email the professor. Students of today have been changed by the technology and media they interact with, and have interacted with since they were born. If academic institutions want to maintain their control over students' attention spans then they are going to have to evolve with the times.

Our own brave new world

I found this fantastic video talking about the nature of our relationship with computers and the net, and it really expresses my feelings toward technology. As people we need to spend less time focusing on the negatives about being "chained" to technology and instead embrace it for it's positive qualities. Through the remarkable development of modern technologies we have the capability to expand our culture to a new level of interaction previously unfathomable.

Technology doesn't have to be the enemy. People as a whole need to learn to see it for its amazing possibilities.

Politics + Video Games = Infuriating

Preempting the Inevitable Devastation that is the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 today, there has been a lot more than the usual wolf crying

I'm not a particular fan of GTA games myself. This is completely unrelated to the stealing of vehicles and the stabbing of hookers thereof. (who ISN'T into that??!) Game play wise, I just find it to be boring. Games with plots that are too open feel to me like a waste of my time. If I wanted to do anything in The Whole Wide World, I would, I don't know, live my life. At the risk of betraying my barely-hidden elitism, I'm playing a game for that certain je ne sais quois, that certain sense of escapism that fuels the heart of many a casual gamer. I find games with linear qualities really give the medium a chance to shine, artistically as well as entertainment-wise. Simply being able to do ANYTHING to me is almost like a way for a poor writer/ developer to cover their ass, a shield to protect them from the usual arsenal of un-originality/ bad dialogue attacks. I can appreciate shining exceptions (coughAssasin'sCreedcough) but generally speaking I find the genre under-developed and misrepresented. < /tangent >

But! That really wasn't supposed to be the point. My point was supposed to be that despite my personal taste, GTA 4 is a widely popular title, projected as another shining example of the original GTA's Illustrious Lineage. And when droves of power- hungry politicians and lawyers team up to gang bang the genre and project an attitude of fear on an unassuming (and generally ignorant) body of the public, well, as Wil Wheaton would say, "I get a little stabby."

Politicians shouldn't get to dictate how people raise their children. People have kids, and it's their responsibility to bring them up. It's not my fault if Mr. and Mrs. Bringing My Three-Year-Old-To-See-Die-Hard-Four raise little Timmy to be a psychopath. It's theirs. And both fortunately and unfortunately for us, it's their right as United States citizens. Politicians don't get to tell kids what not to do, parents do. I get so angry when I hear about more laws that are being passed to protect the miserable plebians from themselves. Mind your own damn business.

Don't get me wrong- violence is the bread and butter of the modern video game. Frankly, it was the bread and butter of the precursors to modern video games as well (Mario anybody? No one ever tells the story of that subjugated mushroom race). I'm not here to judge the goodness or badness of that fact. But to argue that violence in video games leads to real world violence is to me, the same as arguing that being friends with a gay person will make you a gay rapist. I love first person shooters. I've spent many an hour slaughtering aliens and personal friends alike. I am not a homicidal maniac. And any homicidal maniacs who have played such games, well maybe they enjoyed them BECAUSE THEY WERE RAGING HOMICIDAL MANIACS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

*pregnant pause*

Wil Wheaton made a poignant, far better entry on this subject just yesterday. I urge you to go read it, if you happen to be game-curious. In fact, it's an over all good article, you should look at it anyway.

And just an aside, but in light of the fact that the median age of a US gamer is 34 years old, isn't it about time politicians started laying off the "It's killing our children!" line?

Oh you crazy Japanese...

Every time I start to think maybe I attribute too much of the world's bat-shit-crazy to the country of Japan, something is brought to my attention which reinstates that view. Case in point, my good friend Erin has brought it to my attention that Japan has come out with a line of goods to foster awareness for and make a quick buck off of the G8 summit. Check it out at her blog. No, seriously, you won't regret it. Well, actually you may, but it's worth it.

You Has Fail

Some amusing fail images I found using stumbleupon while killing time before Art History:
















...Look at that last one closely.

New Addictive Game etc.

Thanks to the Digg, i've discovered this new ridiculously addictive game called BoomsticK. Play it if you dare, I've limited myself to only playing once a day. When I close my eyes I can still see those menacing polyhedrons closing in on all sides...

Been quite busy lately. I've been practicing work with my new tablet. It takes a lot of work not to draw like a spatially-challenged 6 year old, but I've finally started being able to draw shapes that might be discernable as, well, things.



I'm sort of excited about it.

This week in life drawing: starting my supercoolI'msoexcitedaboutityoudon'tevenknooooow project. I'm excited about it now anyway. I hope I don't mess it up, that'd make it less cool. For 3D digital we're designing games, and that's also pretty much awesome as well. Coming up with ideas for games is something I've basically been doing since I started playing them, so to get to do it for a class is my idea of pretty much The Best Thing Ever.

w00T w00T.

Oh work.

The student boss's response after being asked a question by one of the help desk phone agents:

"You know, I haven't seen God in a while. Maybe that's because you MURDERED him."

It's a steep learning curve out here.

I love my job

I have had a job working as a computer help desk employee for the past 2 months and I can say completely unabashedly that this job is amazing. Let me try to explain why this is:

1. My job as such is providing phone support for computer and software related problems occurring on campus. So, I set at my kiosk outfitted with 3 monitors and receive phone calls from people experiencing various problems (OMG MY INTERNETS HAS BROKEN), resetting passwords and trouble shooting other problems.

2. These calls come fairly frequently, but I can say that 8/10 of them are from kind or at least civil individuals who are not abusive, but possibly (generally) incompetent. But, as long as they're nice about it, it doesn't really matter much to me. Average phone call: about 6 minutes of my time.

3. I can eat and drink here. Around All These Computers. I'm not sure how this has been alive, I'm attributing it to some sort of miracle.

4. The real reason: when I'm not on the phone (70% of them time) I'm allowed to do nearly everything, from constructing elaborate machines from the desk supplies, making terrible jokes with my colleagues, watching TV on the internet, playing games on the internet, checking email on the internet, finding all the dumb stuff that gets put up here on the internet etc etc etc.

5. I get paid to do this.

And now another silly thing:

The 10th dimension

I don't know if I honestly find what he's talking about plausible, if I just like the clean graphics or if I'm lulled into a trance by his soothing voice, but this video is captivating.



Also: the awareness test

This^ made inhale half a can of coke into my nose.

Hail hail the D&D

This is one bizarre flow-chart Wired put out for post-Gygax consumption. It amuses me greatly, although it's integrity as a flow-chart is somewhat dubious. The article isn't half bad, either.





Also, this is absolutely awesome:

This is ridiculous.

Back on the blogging train

So I just saw the advertising video for Patapon. I don't think I'd ever buy the English release of this thing, but if I had the means, could I really resist purchasing the Japanese title? I think I could not.

I imagine there are existent titles more indicative of the Japanese gaming philosophy than Patapon, but I'll be damned if I can think of one off the top of my head. Only in That Country could a group of people sit together in a room and say "Hey, let's make a game that won't stop singing at you for the duration of play, and have you fight people by creating drum sounds pushing buttons in ryhthm! Yeah, people will love it. No way that shit's gonna get old."

And what's bizarre is the game actually looks sort of amusing. Maybe it's just my art side kicking in and saying "Wow, that 2D style is really snappy" but if it was in Japanese I think I would go for it, despite the fact that the incessant PATAPATAcrap would probably unnerve There's just something about it, where if the title is in Japanese I can forgive what I'd consider in English to be unforgivable transgressions against my sensibilities. This is probably some sort of blatant bias, but what can I say? I guess I'm just a horrible person.