Meme
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: with fire
Topic: Human Behaviour

If you follow any internet memes at all, you've probably seen something pop up that you're pretty sure is racist, but you don't want to say anything about it because doing so will point it out and then it will definitely be racist, and anyway, the ethnic group that would consider it racist should probably be the ones to decide that anyway, shouldn't they? It could also be gender biased, and who wants to piss off the entire other half of the world? Besides stand-up comics, politicians, certain religious faiths and other cults, and a bunch of other asshats.

I'm talking about "Sistah."

You've probably seen it. You'll be looking at a Demotivational and out of nowhere, it'll say something like "That's what it is, sistah!" The image may have no reference to any person in it, neither photographic nor in text, not even animals, and it's pretty much a still life piece, and somehow someone thinks it proper to add "sistah" to it, as if the person to whom they are communicating this Demotivational is a "sistah." The reader might be. It's possible. But it excludes every other reader that is not. It's like saying "This isn't for you; it's only for my sistahs."

And it will continue to be overused, and cross meme streams like a Ghostbuster trying to close the portal of Zuul. Eventually, someone at somuchpun will have a pic of Darth Vader saying something like "This is for my Sithstahs." 

Sorry. You didn't deserve that. 

I wouldn't mind it if it were an occasional thing. But today in my RSS feeds I counted it used 8 times. Out of 30 items in my RSS feed, 8 of them made reference to "sistah." That's excessive. It's like someone at icanhascheeseburger.com has discovered the phrase, and is so amused by it that they want to use it whenever they can in as many different memes as they can.

Well, stop it. Just stop it. It's been run into the ground now, it's old, it's done, and you've overused it to the point that it only took 3 days to make it to that point. I fully expect to hear someone's mom use it next time I go get groceries. And I don't mean "When I get home, I need to call my sistah." I mean they'll say "Wow! Look at the great price on these artichokes, sistah!" The scary part is that she'll be alone.

This is why Bond villains want to blow up their own planet.

Fhtagn
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: In traffic

If you don't live in Oregon, you have my sympathy. I didn't live in Oregon for a long time, and, well, I felt your pain. But I moved. You can too.

If you live in Massachusetts, then it can only get better.

One of the differences was made far more plain to me this morning when I went to fill the gas tank. The gas station attendant that filled my car up noticed my Cthulhu fish¹ and commented on how I must be a Lovecraft fan. I explained to him that I'm one of those people that gets stabby when people don't properly spel "fhtagn." I marked R'lyeh on my Google Earth client. I didn't make the bloop², but if you want to go on believing that, I'm willing to let you.³

But that combined with several other events has made it plain to me that there's a lot more Cthulhu per capita out here than there is anywhere in Massachusetts. This is odd. Lovecraft is from Rhode Island. He based most of his stories, and Miskatonic University itself, in Massachusetts. Dunwich, Innsmouth, Arkham and its asylum (which were imported into Batman, for pity's sake), even Boston itself was included in his tales. And even though Miskatonic exists on no maps printed by AAA, its association with Massachusetts is known to any fan of the author and genre he created. And yet, very few people out there think "gug" is anything other than a noise your sink makes after you pull out the drain plug.⁴

I don't know why this is, but such has been my observation. My only theory is that this place is so much more awesomer than Massachusetts.

Move. Seriously.

---

1. How this wasn't an obvious product long ago is beyond me; Chaosium should have been packing these things with every purchase of the Call of Cthulhu RPG.
2. If you don't know what the bloop is, don't worry about it. It's probably nothing.
3. I also didn't start the fire, and neither did Billy Joel; his alibi checks out.
4. You just made the sound in your mind, didn't you. 

Footemaball
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Silly Buggers
Topic: Odds 'N Ends

Today, one of my new co-workers has... what?
Oh, yeah. It's been... nearly 2 years since my last entry.

Well spotted.

Anyway. Some of my new co-workers have been taking football pretty seriously. One of them is angry about how well Detroit is playing (and I assure you that I'm very surprised myself), especially since they defeated his team, Dallas, in a 4th quarter upset that, understandably, has him convinced that bribery took place, or at least created higher betting odds in the 3rd quarter. Or, as he put it, "somebody got paid."

He's not pleased.

I don't get it. It's only football. I told him that. He called my statement blasphemy.
Blasphemy? Really? Considering football to be trivial is blasphemy?
Look, when the whistle blows on his life, if there's a Grand Omnipotent Designer of the universe (hereinafter abreviated to G.O.D. for simplicity), He's probably going to say "Hey, G.O.D., what the heck was life all about anyway?"
When he does, he should not expect G.O.D.* to say "Oh, it was football. Yeah. Well done. Why do you think it was played on Sunday?"

What's more likely is that G.O.D. will lay some seriously heavy Word on him, and he'll be awestruck. "Oh, wow..." he'll say. "That's so profound... and yet so simple! And like all Great Truths, I didn't even see it until now. Like all the times before, I had to be told it before I could truly see it. But why, G.O.D.? That would have been so handy to know when I could have done something with the knowledge. Why must you play Great Truths so mysterious like that?"

And G.O.D. will smile and say "Because, my child. That's how I roll."

And then they'll watch football.

---

*Call him Geo. Everyone does.

Avatar
Let me start by saying that no person able to see the movie Avatar on the big screen should miss the opportunity to do so. Imax is better. Imax 3D should pretty much pop your geek gland's clutch. Seriously. Go watch this movie if you already haven't. The story is excellent and very well told. Sure, some stuff is telegraphed. But I am sincere when I say that I wish I had written it.

That said, you can still put it on the back burner and simmer until it is reduced to wild elves Vs. Warhammer 20 K.

The parallels are basically that. Next time you feel froggy, break out your wild elves rules for just about any FRPG or just use Warhammer equivalent rules. Then put them up against Warhammer 20 K rules, Humans.

That's what the last 20 minutes of the movie turns out to be. It's more involved than that, and I won't give any spoilers. But interpersonal relationships, tactical considerations, personal quirks and character flaws or strengths play pretty strongly during this combat.

But those facets really represent themselves throughout the entire movie. Look, it's a great story. You want to see it, if for no other reason than to remind you why you love Sigourney Weaver. And if you don't love Sigourney Weaver,* then see it to be amazed at the fact that the story is exactly as long as it needs to be, even though that length is 2 hours, 40 minutes. It's worth watching it for that long.

There's lots of little details that are really well thought out, and add just that little frisson of realism to it. The character personalities are consistent. The visuals are...

...are you still here? Go see the damn movie!
Sheesh!

---

*And if you don't love Sigourney Weaver, what the Hells is wrong with you?

Back

Holidays are over. Yay!

I like to read in bed. I don't sleep as much as my wife. So it'd be nice to have a way to read in a dark room. Solution: eReader!

But which to get? The Kindle? Well, it doesn't have WiFi. But I don't even know if I need WiFi. But it does seem to have the best 3G coverage, so there's that. No touch screen, only 2 gig of storage. But that's 1500 books. I don't know if I've read that many in my entire lifetime. The extra storage would be nice for MP3s, but I have an iPod and a G1 phone, holding 8 gig and 16 gig, respectively. If I want music, I have those. Besides, music would just burn the battery faster.

As for no touch screen: one of my pet peeves is a screen with fingerprints on it.

But they use the hard sell. They have at least one web site that has an "independent review" of eReaders, in which they celebrate Kindle and just talk about other devices a bit. Supposed review from consumers seem to actually be their own ringers, posting poor "reviews" that refer to another, earlier "review," agreeing with the negative review, as quickly as 2 minutes after it's posted. Hard sell turns me off. Oh, and there's also the post touting how wonderful Kindle is, saying that they got it on the 25th of February, 2009. The posting date of the review is 13 February, 2009. Apparently, they also got a time machine. That's a review I'd like to have read.

So the Kindle looks like it'd be good enough for what I want, but I don't want to reward that kind of marketing with my business.

Meanwhile, the Nook lets you share your books and has WiFi, with free browsing in any Barnes and Noble. But the nearest one to me is in a place to which I hate to drive, the Nook book selection is smaller, and has poorer 3G coverage. Then again, it has coverage in my home, which is good enough. The screen size is the same as the Kindle's.

Then there's the Sony Touch. I like that you can jot down notes with a stylus on it. It has some features I like and some I don't and blah blah blah and my head is swimming now.

The important question is this: which of them will let me buy electronic copies of my game books, assuming such things are even available?

Hmmmm... let's check Amazon first. Nope. Not in B&N either. Apparently, WOTC doesn't dig eBooks.

Bastards.

I don't know. I'm going to Borders today to see if I can handle a Sony Touch and figure out what to do next.

Worse to worst, I may be able to pick up another Munchkin game.

Apostrophe

People.

Please read, learn, know, and follow this simple instruction that should have been taught to you in Third Grade.

It probably was. 

Consider this a refresher.

And thank you in advance. My headaches are going away already.

I hope.

Encore

Bravo. Just...

Bra-freaking-vo!

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1331

Augmentation

Are you Gods damned kidding me?

Part of me is appalled.

Part of me wants to know where I can get this done.

Relax, family members. I've as much inclination to have this done as I have of getting tribal ritual scars. If I'm going to brand myself as coming from certain subcultures, it'll by by social interaction, not advertising.

Now... if other people want to do this, that's fine with me. It looks kind of neat. But I think it might mess up my chances of getting promoted to Big Kahuna of Major Corporation Inc.

So... it's not for me.

Demographic

According to this page, 60% of all gamers in 2008 were males, and the average age was 35.

Okay.

Pandering to a demographic is how media thrives.

That's probably why the game Bayonetta was made.

Guys like explosions, guns, action, fighting, and, let's face it, hotties. With that in mind, this game has it all... perhaps in quantities best described as "too much." Seriously... a pistol strapped to a boot heel? Just kicking the victim isn't enough; the heroine has to be able to shoot them at the same time? I had to input my age just to log into the game's home page.

And this is Sega; the game company that brought you Sonic the Hedgehog. Remember him? He ran around at high speed collecting gold rings, and also cartoon and comic book franchises. He was kid-friendly, and nice.

You didn't need to input your age to see him.

Now Sega is all about the boobies.

I'd be too embarassed to play this game to find out if it's any fun or not. I considered taking a cold shower after watching the "teaser"* film.

In fairness, I shouldn't assume it's all just sex-and-violence-and-more-sex. It might be really, really fun. It might have amazing game play, with challenging bosses and environments that add an enjoyable element to the experience, with an intriguing story line that hints at a dark history, giving an ultimate goal of redemption and hope.

I'll never know. They sell it with T&A, so it's likely just another excuse to push soft porn to lonely thirty-somethings. That's not worth my gaming dollar.

---

*Har!

Gasp

This is awesome.

Here I was feeling smug because I've got Windows 7.0 Ultimate, 64 bit, installed on my system and I'm now seeing all 8 gigs of RAM I have, and then I see that and know what I really want to have.

Oh. Yeah. I'm doing entries again. I've been distracted.

...sorry.