The Gamer's Quarter

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:41 am Post subject:

it's odd but every so often i find myself arguing the merits of 300 (looked cool) with people i barely know. (in person i mean, not online, where i argue the merits of ron paul making whoopi goldberg look like an asshat)

for someone who a) has no interest in comics (too much work) and b) doesn't really like movies and c) generally doesn't mind fanciful interpretations of works, i am still flabbergasted that anyone could see the conflict between a feminized, hedonistic empire and a small group of all male, hypermasculine warriors willing to die to prove a fucking point as anything other than an endorsement of al qaeda. i mean, isn't half the criticism from lefties and righties that we're too rich, too pleasure-centered, too materialistic? (though both would want to drive displays of spartanism in different directions, flagellation of some kind is generally the end result)

the response to my (What i think is at the very least entertaining) interpretation is always the same thing: "but persians are from iran!"

yes yes i know i know and did you know americans are from sparta?

yes yes i know low hanging fruit low hanging fruit.

but still.
_________________

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Well, if that was your argument then I would just have to go with the "history repeats itself" retort. And if this IS the case and the connection you're drawing is true, then America is certainly fucedk when everyone from the middle east bands together to kick our asses and then turn us into slaves for a good couple of centuries.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject:

except when history doesn't repeat itself (see the white boys, jacobites, etc etc and so forth)

edit: you know who needs a comic book movie adaptation? huegonots.
_________________

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I thought you were going to say Marmaduke.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 1:45 pm Post subject:

no it's probably a pretty bad idea any way, but i've never seen any of the spiderman movies or whatever so the whole thing looks like a very shiny cutscene anyway.

whereas 300 i was llike wow that looks fucking awesome like a painting filled with spears.

also herodotus.
_________________

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:11 pm Post subject:

that would make a pretty neat movie. i'm ok with "history lite" stuff (like herodotus let's be honest) so long as they make an effort to step past history channel style history lite.

unrelated:

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject:

truth

dhex · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:47 am Post subject:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids&print=true

i thought this was pretty resonant. not that things like inherited intelligence don't impact things, but...i see this with a lot of folks, especially younger. actually working at things is pretty frowned upon (yet everyone desires "good grades")

that i don't understand personally. why give a fig about grades?
_________________

dhex · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:45 pm Post subject:

http://www.reason.com/news/show/123782.html
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject:

yeah my senioritis is killing me.

but i guess what i don't get is if you're not into doing work, why are you taking (at least in my case) an MA in b-school lite? that makes no sense, since the whole thing is all about legwork rather than talent. (which isn't a bad thing, really)

also this made me larf hard:

[img]http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d98/sabotabby/?action=view&current=libertarianbingo_big.jpg[/img]
_________________

Mr. Business · . Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 35

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:47 am Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:20 am Post subject:

yeah that can be really rough.

we did pretty good on wednesday, though she said my powerpoint was too wordy. which is true but it looks dope as fuck!

http://conchobar.org/CUNY/SA_group_FINAL.ppt
_________________

dhex · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:48 am Post subject:

my final is undead undead undead

or something.

one presentation and one final to go.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:54 am Post subject:

more like unfairness doctrine eh eh eh?

man i have some great lines for tonight about the public interest of rap battles.

but i found a kicker in the text of league of women voters v. fcc (1984)

dhex · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/10/colorado.shootings/index.html

dhex · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject:

and yeah today is fuck everyone monday.
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

http://chinabounder.blogspot.com/

dhex · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:06 am Post subject:

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

also sergei to make up for posting that horrible russian dude's photo all the time i give you this:

http://www.viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=55&country=us
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:36 pm Post subject:

the hillary nutcracker is old news, bruh.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:07 am Post subject:

speaking of old news:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.52125

honestly, i would have thought the escapist would attract a slightly more highbrow crowd.

(the article that inspired the thread being, of course, par for the course (of course).
_________________

seryogin · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:09 am Post subject:

no.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:56 am Post subject:

i've had like a billion people email this to me in the last 24 hours.

i mean yeah ok that fucking sucks but it happens and man what kinda meta trend is this supposed to be? i'm no fan of squishy multi-culti type thinking that claims to make no value judgments (aside from communism being awesome) but the opposite is thrice as dumb.

yeah let's take a bold, parochial stand that genital mutilation is wrong and stuffing women in cloth bags is not appropriate in most places, but the whole "so what are you going to do about it" thing is paramount.
_________________

seryogin · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject:

I once seriously thought about becoming a muslim fundamentalist to spite my parents. And then I realized that that would be stupid.
_________________

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

It was hard to focus on the article when there is a picture of what looks like a gargoyle is next to it.
_________________
Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Hey dhex, you want to know what's funny?

Back in July, a law was elected over in France that allowed for autonomous universities. Now high school students are rioting to be back under the aegis of the state while complaining about pig fascist policemen beating them up.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:11 am Post subject:

i remember reading about that.

france is an odd place.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject:

from a friend:

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Totally.

I'd add Sean Hannity because he jumped on the Coulter "anti-war / anti-torture types are TRAITORS!" And Barbara Ehrenreich. They actually let her debate economists, it's embarrassing.
_________________

"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:40 pm Post subject:

yeah, that's a good point.

and the asshole who came up with the term "extreme interrogation" - if there's really nothing wrong with torture than why pussyfoot it? i don't know who that guy is but fuck him.

i remember reading nickled and dimed for a class on religion and mass media, actually - it was a supplemental text to give another example of how secular writers/intellectuals/etc deal with religion (that is to say they do not).
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

What about good old Bill O'Reilly?
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

seryogin · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:28 pm Post subject:

Also, all the fucks that really loved 9/11 because it gave America UNITY. The ones who are dying for another one of those.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject:

yeah we're trying to narrow this down to really egregious examples.

though i think i would be happy with a double item of colbert and o'reilly.
_________________

dhex · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject:

the oddity here is not that the communist party usa was renovating their space using recycled materials but that they had 1 million USD to do so.

i wonder where they get their money from...[/url]
_________________

dhex · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:05 am Post subject:

anarcho libertarian v. parking ticket

and

another radley balko story, another botched raid

reason's filled with goodness this week, and it's only monday!
_________________

dhex · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:25 pm Post subject:

me noodling about on the jp8000 my wife got me for my birthday.

all one sequence and one performance (i.e. two patches you can blend together in various ways. it's very much a mid to late 90s synth in some sense, but i'm pretty blown away at how much i could do with no post processing whatsoever. the only downside is the filter tracks very slowly and there's a bit of zippering going on when changing the delay values.
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

This video should interest you, dhex.

Info on the matter.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

video has already been removed...
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Jesus.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject:

ok so what was it?

also dracko: i've finally met your objectivist boogeyman on the internet, and he's hilarious

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123957.html

look for herr beck and check his site and the picture oh god the picture.
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Protests against the sham that is the Treaty of Lisbon.

Hah! I know the sort! Those are just funny, though.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

I particularly like the replacing "God" with "Galt" as in "Galt only knows..."

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject:

related

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22430-21-4093%22&btnG=Google+Search
_________________

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Oh, Samizdata. When will you ever take your own advice and stick your elitist money where your mouth is?

I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing well-off middle-class white people get gunned down by armed police. It would be an amusing change.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"