Todays links are numbered two, for it turns out to be rather difficult to decide which posts actually stand out above the rest. It's a lot of anger, fear of the future, desire for a better world...it starts to blend together more than a little. I guess it's good that this blog has been - if nothing else - consistent over the span I've read through so far (I'm presently somewhere between posts 100 and 150).
First link is to The Viennese Winter Ball, because now more than ever it seems as though it happened in a dream.
The second is to this, my response to the Virginia Tech shootings. What I like about this post is that I really did resist the temptation to scream angry things at the assholes who were all too ready to blame videogames for a tragedy that they couldn't understand (although I won't say I was entirely uncritical). While Etarran made a good case in the comment thread that times of tragedy are a good time to discuss important issues, I think I stand by what I said then: there is a time for debate, but first there is a time for mourning - new policies can save lives, but they cannot resurrect the dead.
Showing posts with label Countdown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Countdown. Show all posts
Friday, January 08, 2010
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
A Retrospective, Part 2
Say what you want about the internet, the narcissism of our wired - and now indeed wireless - generation (oh man are these names going to be dated the next time I do something like this!), but the peerless historical records of our day-to-day lives (as long as we remember to back them up) are going to be indispensable when, long after we're dead, someone wants to know just what the hell we were thinking back before cars could fly and the internet became a sentient being. To wit: rummaging through my archives is even now a very telling look into my experience of the Bush years and the war on terror. If you undertake this yourself, you'll find the writings of a young man who looked around and saw the noose of theocracy sliding down around the throat of his beloved secular society, a noose wielded by twin excecutioners: the jihadist boogeyman, and the evangelical zombie. By no means, of course, has the mere election of Obama fixed what ailed the word back then, but neither Pope nor Ayatollah is calling the shots where I live, so clearly the future hasn't turned out as darkly as I imagined it could have (yet...?)
Etarran has charged me with being every inch as dogmatic as the faithful whose beliefs I ridicule, and indeed even the most cursory of glances through my archive reveals this to be more true than I'd like. A particular gem: "If [deeply religious people] cannot, or will not [entertain dissent and discussion], how are they different from common herd animals?" Really? I wrote that? REALLY? Did the apparent resurgence of religious power during the early-to-mid 2000s antagonize and apall me to the extent that I felt the need to dehumanize my political opponents? I should stop before I accidentally invoke Godwin's Law, but there is perhaps a lesson in this that I ought to be intent on learning someday.
With that sobering realization out of the way, I present you with new additions to my retrospective:
Here is what I would like to think is a fairly reasonable argument in favour of reduced meat consumption.
For similar reasons (what I think is a good argument) I like this post as well. It also has a brilliant comment by Etarran that you should read.
Finally, I was going to stop at two, but I reread the first entry in my long-dead SF serial story, and actually liked enough of it to call your attention back to it.
-LOUD!
Etarran has charged me with being every inch as dogmatic as the faithful whose beliefs I ridicule, and indeed even the most cursory of glances through my archive reveals this to be more true than I'd like. A particular gem: "If [deeply religious people] cannot, or will not [entertain dissent and discussion], how are they different from common herd animals?" Really? I wrote that? REALLY? Did the apparent resurgence of religious power during the early-to-mid 2000s antagonize and apall me to the extent that I felt the need to dehumanize my political opponents? I should stop before I accidentally invoke Godwin's Law, but there is perhaps a lesson in this that I ought to be intent on learning someday.
With that sobering realization out of the way, I present you with new additions to my retrospective:
Here is what I would like to think is a fairly reasonable argument in favour of reduced meat consumption.
For similar reasons (what I think is a good argument) I like this post as well. It also has a brilliant comment by Etarran that you should read.
Finally, I was going to stop at two, but I reread the first entry in my long-dead SF serial story, and actually liked enough of it to call your attention back to it.
-LOUD!
A Retrospective, Part 1
Originally I had intended posts 191-200 to be a top-10 list of my favourites from posts 1-190. So much for that. I wouldn't consider this a "top 5" as I intend to browse through my archives from beginning to end, and I may find 5 posts I like well enough before I'm quite through. 5 might be a better number than 10, a less self-indulgent number perhaps (but not by much).
Turns out the first post that I would even consider for this dubious distinction is the one in which that I argue against the term "murder simulators" for violent videogames, and yet argue FOR the definition as a direction in which videogames should move in order to gain respect as an artistic medium. It's one of the first posts on this blog that I can re-read without cringing (too much), and notably without the miserable self-pity that I SWEAR did not seem so irritating when I wrote it!
I still like the idea that someday, a game will challenge me to kill a character that isn't just a faceless enemy. I worry, however, that it can't be done: that we as gamers have been conditioned to think of things in such black-and-white terms that even if a beloved character turns traitor we would not hesitate for a moment before pulling the trigger. Consider, though, that Half-Life's G-man - probably the only interesting character ever to appear in an FPS - came about when Valve realized that there was value in playing with our preconceptions about friends and foes. Game developers: play with them some more!
I will post again with non-recycled content later in the day. For now, fire up the way back machine!
-LOUD!
Turns out the first post that I would even consider for this dubious distinction is the one in which that I argue against the term "murder simulators" for violent videogames, and yet argue FOR the definition as a direction in which videogames should move in order to gain respect as an artistic medium. It's one of the first posts on this blog that I can re-read without cringing (too much), and notably without the miserable self-pity that I SWEAR did not seem so irritating when I wrote it!
I still like the idea that someday, a game will challenge me to kill a character that isn't just a faceless enemy. I worry, however, that it can't be done: that we as gamers have been conditioned to think of things in such black-and-white terms that even if a beloved character turns traitor we would not hesitate for a moment before pulling the trigger. Consider, though, that Half-Life's G-man - probably the only interesting character ever to appear in an FPS - came about when Valve realized that there was value in playing with our preconceptions about friends and foes. Game developers: play with them some more!
I will post again with non-recycled content later in the day. For now, fire up the way back machine!
-LOUD!
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