I Love Penny Arcade

If you don't read it already, and you have any interest in comics, video games, or the interwebz, read Penny-Arcade.

Frankly, I'm not sure anyone with any of those interests doesn't already read Penny Arcade. I mean, with material like this, how could you not?

I Had Posted

An obscenity-filled rant commemorating the death of hate-monger Jerry Faldwell, wishing him a variety of tortures in the afterlife and calling himself and his mother a variety of terrible names.

But now, I am sitting with my front door open, watching the first big thunderstorm of the year sweep into my little ohio town to the (very appropriate) accompaniment of Tom Wait's Rain Dogs, and my prior post seems rather childish, and not terribly useful. I have removed it.

A man has died. He wasn't a very nice man. We all die someday.

hi ho

For now, there are thunderstorms.

Notes on "Notes on A Scandal"

I wasn't terribly well prepared for last year's Oscars. When the award ceremony rolled around, I had only seen "The Departed" and a few minor movies nominated for tech awards. As it was the night of Scorsese finally getting his due, I was able to follow along somewhat. However, I was particularly intrigued by the clips of the Judi Dench / Cate Blanchett vehicle, "Notes on a Scandal," which took me completely by surprise... I hadn't seen it even advertised. I watched it tonight, and was fairly pleased.

SPOILER ALLERGY WARNING - REMAINDER OF THIS MESSAGE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OR HAVE BEEN PROCESSED ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES MESSAGES CONTAINING SPOILERS OR TREE NUTS

Annyway. I thought Judi Dench was just terrific. She really brought her character to life and made you see her the way she sees herself, later in the movie, when it becomes clear that the rest of the world thinks of her as a silly old crone, this comes as a genuine surprise (though obvious once you think of it). I suppose the way her character threatens to resurrect a certain stereotype of the predatory lesbian is very problematic, though at the same time I think the movie shows her character with enough complexity to disrupt the simple stereotype. I also found the way the film took her "impossible desire," if you will, seriously to be brave and interesting. I must confess, I was rather cheering for her because A) Judi Dench on Cate Blanchett action seemed really hot in an odd sort of way and B)because I had some sympathy for her desire for the unattainable, and her frustration at being trapped in a body that made it difficult for others to understand her desire and take it seriously.

And then, I suppose, there is the issue of class. This movie reminded me quite a bit of Fowles' The Collector in its portrayal of a sort of nightmare of the predatory lower class monster, morlock-like, stalking the upperclass, though I think Notes on a Scandal does a better job of indicting the upper-middle class for its own decadence and snobbery. Again, I think the complexity for Dench's character and the sympathy she evokes does a lot to defuse the stereotype. Issues of exploitation proper are absent, though perhaps outside the scope of the picture...

But, yeah, all in all, I really liked it.

Apology Note to Future Generation

Yeah, so... here's the thing. We broke:

-the Ozone Layer
-the Carbon Cycle
-the Ocean
-Honeybees
- [FILL IN ADDITIONAL WORLD CRISES AS NEEDED]

Hey, we also poisoned women's breast milk with persistent organic toxins, but that's not broken you know, babies can still drink it, it might just... you know... cause cancer or destroy their endocrine system later in life. But it also might not! Anyway, all this stuff is our bad. We feel just terrible. Really, geez, what boneheads right?

Anyway, we made a whole bunch of pictures of cats with silly captions and we hope that makes it up to you. I mean, at least we didn't fuck up the tectonic plates!

I mean, you know... yet...

Awwwwwwwwwww

Lookit frog and ladybug and their happy picnic lunch. I wish I had a Picnic lunch. Stupid essay.

WARNING: END OF SEMESTER HAS EFFECTIVELY LOBOTOMIZED ANDY!

The Depth of my Convictions

So I'm working on this paper on radical democracy and contemporary American politics. At about the same time I've transitioned over to using a google portal homepage pretty extensively. Thus abandoning my resistance to using such tools as they are closed-source, server side applications that entice users to abandon distributed, democratic internet practices for ultimately controlled, corporate spaces and tools (blogger, sadly, is another of these tools). What should I be doing, to be consistent between rhetoric and practice? Using my own webspace to participate in open source tool-building and internet-enabled participatory culture... but no, watch my theory and practice diverge. Ack.

And you know what really hooked me? Its pathetic. Google lets you theme your homepage with a little cartoon picture that changes to reflect your local time and weather. My choice this cute little froggy and ladybug seen pictured above toasting marshmellows by the fire. Of course, you have to reveal your zip code to your friends at google for the picture to synchronize correctly. This is the price google paid me to surrender information to the grand network subject formation process: a cartoon of a cute little froggy and a ladybug.

Aren't I a badass motherfucker of a revolutionary?

The saddest part of all? My emotional reaction to cartoon froggy and ladybug is one of adoration and tenderness. I love big brother. Why, I have always loved big brother...

Signing off from the electronic high frontier of hypocrisy,