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Category Archives: Life

April 28, 2012 So it goes…

I have been avoiding this post, I really have.

January 25th, my dad died. He wasn’t sick or injured, he wasn’t suffering from a terminal disease… he just went to bed on the 24th and never woke up.

There is something you need to understand about this: my father was a good man. Good nothing, he was great. When I think back to anything bad he ever did, anything that could make the hurt less, it doesn’t exist. Yes, I was mad at my father in high school, but who wasn’t?

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December 1, 2011 Audio Project Redux

After leaving the project for a night, i decided I didn’t like it as much as I had originally and went back to edit it again. There’s still some problems, but I’m a bit happier with this version, and I’m going to stop editing it because it’ll just be like trying to cut a straight edge on a piece of paper with scissors: I’ll keep trying and trying to get a perfect straight line, but can’t, and end up with nothing left.

Also known as George Lucasing it.

The second reason is that the class this is due for is in 1 hour and 15 minutes, so I really can’t keep on editing it.

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June 22, 2011 Waiting in the Sun (A true story)

Saturday, Shakespeare in the Park gave out vouchers in Staten Island. Since that’s where I dwell, and because it’s free, and because my mom and I go to Shakespeare in the Park every year, we went, and waited for 3 or 4 hours to get vouchers to go see Measure for Measure.

It was a very uninteresting day of course. I mean, it was a great day, just, if you weren’t there, then you wouldn’t care. The short version is that it was full of clapping and babies.

Anyway. It was hot, and I realized something:

My mom just stopped responding to these things.

 

And you know it’s true. They never had to deal with UV radiation, sun burn, and horrible horrible humidity. Or any weather for that matter.

I think splicers is a small price to pay for that.

And you know what? I remembered sun screen! I did not, however, remember that the sun works in 3 dimensions, and so my back got burnt. Not that bad. I’ve had worse. But it still sucked.

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June 20, 2011 Hey Guys, Guess What? I’m Totally Pro-Rape! (apparently)

Just… reading this back to myself before publishing it, I just want to warn any family members that may read this (And some friends who may not want any TMI) to… uh, not read this… No… seriously, just. Skip it.

While just browsing the web the other night, after the whole Scott Adams thing, I ended up on some MRA sites, and I ended up on a lot of feminist sites.

While there are a lot of things I could say about MRS sites, and MRAs in general, I decided to post something different here.

See, I ran into this post which lists all the warning signs that a man is a rape-supporter.

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June 16, 2011 I Was a Strange Child – Green Lantern Edition

I made this up when I was a kid, having browsed through a Green Lantern comic, seen and then forgotten the Oath. I still think it’s pretty awesome.

In brightest day

In darkest night

No evil will escape my might

Let fools be killed with dynamite

Cause I’m Green Lantern, out-a-sight

 

 

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May 14, 2011 Dear Mr. Anonymousface

I am not talking about Anonymous proper, just a random anonymous person.

On my formspring I received this “question”:

“Lose some weight you weaboo scum. Fat bitch.”

To which I replied:

The only thing I take exception to is being called a weaboo. Srsly. I enjoyed anime at one point in my life and sometimes watch those anime again. I’m certainly not going to glomp you at a con.

Mostly because I don’t glomp, but also because you sent this anonymously… since you’re anonymous I don’t know who to not avoid confronting in a public area.

So, Mr. Anonymous. Gain some balls. Also a face. I think having a face would actually help you get far in life.

(linky)

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May 6, 2011 Games and Movies

There has been a lot of talk recently, and for a while now, about video games vs. movies.

As a gamer (and someone who considers herself a hardcore gamer, though that definition caries from person to person), I can see the trend of comparing video games to movies as troubling: video games are inherently different from movies, and I’m not very comfortable with the idea of comparing them to one.

As someone who studies, and consumes, media however, this comparison seems natural.

Video games, in their current iteration, are necessarily visual mediums. The graphical capabilities of these machines is tremendous, and video games have always been moving in the “more realistic” direction, under the simple idea that a human should look like a human, and the  better something looks, the more immersive it will feel.

This is, of course, not a universal approach, nor should it be. One of my favorite games, Psychonauts, uses a more surreal/cartoonish approach to its characters, allowing a game that should look graphically dated today, as clean and fresh as when I first played it, on the XBox… before the 360 was even announced.

Anyway, back to the point: Video games are a visual medium in today’s market. Because of that, and because we are humans, it is only natural to compare to whatever medium is closest to it. That medium is, of course, movies.

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May 2, 2011 10 Years Later…

Alright, it hasn’t been exactly 10 years, but it’s been close enough. Finally, finally, Osama bin Laden has been caught, and killed.

Now, I understand not everyone is going to react the same way to hearing this news. I expect some people just don’t care. I’m sure he has someone, somewhere, who cared enough for him to mourn his loss, and countless others who have lost a leader will probably react with outrage and anger.

But I am an American. And more importantly, I am a New Yorker. And all I can say is “Fuck. Yeah.”

It feels odd to celebrate the death of someone. And I don’t mean celebrate the way I want people to celebrate when I die: with music and laughter and a party celebrating my life – but properly celebrating the fact that this person is no longer alive.

But I can only explain this by explaining 9/11 to you – assuming you are not a New Yorker, or an American.

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March 23, 2011 Meta-Games in a Socialized Single Player Game

I do this thing called “going back to college after 5 years” so every now and again, I have an essay to write. Recently I had to do an ethnography on gaming, and chose to do mine on Paw live streaming playing King’s Quest VII.

This essay is solid B+ material, and would have probably warranted an A if I had referenced some of the readings we’ve done.

I decided to put this here since, in my view, it was a successful paper, and it might be  an entertaining read for some people… even Paw said it was “Good stuff!” so, my ego bolstered, here you go:

Meta-Games in a Socialized Single Player Game

“It looks like you could use a hook,

Too bad you have an empty book”

Video Games have always been a social experience: crowds at arcades, best friends, MMOs – gamers love to share games, even single player games.  Years ago, a gamer would have the benefit of one “backseat gamer”: someone to tell the player when to jump, refill health, or look out behind them; someone to write down the password, or remember key facts; someone to suggest a puzzle solution. Now, with the internet making it possible to connect with people around the world, people have found new ways to share video games: the live stream them.

“Paw” and “PushinupRoses”, the internet handles of two video contributors for That Guy With the Glasses (http://www.tgwtg.com), decided to stream a play-through of “King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride” – a single player graphic adventure game published by Sierra Online in 1994. Along with Paw, and a few other people commenting along to the game (in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fashion), there was a chat room where friends and fans (roughly 80) could also comment along.

I observed a few interesting things

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March 15, 2011 PAX East Decompression Report

PAX East Decompression Report

For the abridged version of my time spent at PAX East, you could easily just read my tweets from between March 10TH through March 14th, and I would recommend that as well, since I think they are brilliant insights into my thought process and general state of mind at the time of tweeting those. Of course there are long breaks between tweets because I was busy being at PAX East. I would tweet whenever there was some down time, and there wasn’t much of that.
Actually, for a fun fact, I’m typing this on the train home, so I’m likely to tweet during the typening and I’ll put in brackets any thoughts that occur to me [such as: “My ears just popped. I hate that”. Brilliant, I know].
But let’s begin with Thursday, since that’s when this pilgrimage began.
As you may suspect, Thursday was not the most exciting PAX-related day. It was a good day though. If you’ll recall my tweets though, there was a bad smell following me around everywhere, and I would right now like to apologize to anyone who had to stand close to me, since I’m pretty sure the funk rubbed off on my clothes, because the smell was so stuck in the fibers of my backpack that… I don’t know… it was doom for noses from the start.

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