The internet is really doing its best to alienate me from what should be my people.
I'd like to say the immediate impetus was the whole Penny Arcade bullshit. The worst part has really been the reactions of the Baron Fatterson that draws himself as a black haired stud. It'd still be really awful if he was just some unrepentant /b/tard going "FUCK YOU RAPE CULTURE EVERY SHIRT IN MY STORE IS NOW RAPE SHIRT." He'd still be lower than a piss-submarine, but at least there'd be some sort of missplaced backbone in the whole thing. But instead, he's trying to play both sides of the thing, trying to minimize the hurt feelings while clearly being a total bitchbaby. As the handy debacle timeline has noted, Fatlord Maximus has on one hand clearly inflamed the hordes of his followers who are too scared to venture beyond comics pointing out that HEY SOMETIMES REAL LIFE CONFLICTS WITH HOW VIDEO GAMES PRESENT THINGS (oh that's unfair sometimes they do stuff like showcase their sub-image comics artwork) with his "I am closing this because all these haters oh also here's more rape jokes." Meanwhile, he's carefully trying to control the same stupid people now he's apparently realized that this whole getting them to bombard the primary feminists with death threats may offend Penny Arcade's carefully groomed inclusive image!
Gut Master X, despite being what, forty, is doing that weird gamer thing where, despite operating in a culture that began with your mother giving you cookies whenever your fat mouth bleated and is currently residing in the ultimate hugbox, absolutely flips out when someone dares to call out some wrong-headed bullshit. The weirdest part, of course, is that the comic in question was actually fairly tame compared to how most nerd comics (and nerd attitudes towards real life women) go. I mean, looks at goddamned Shredded Moose. But when they were confronted with angry feminists, instead of going "hm well it just seemed like a dumb gag to us but we'll think about it maybe we can come to a hilarious understanding" like a normal human, the reaction of nerds is clearly "HUMOR IS FREEDOM PRINTING SHIRTS NAO FTW LOFFL."
So yeah. The thing that makes me feel guilty is that my initial reaction to the Kirbyfloffel or whatever was "yeah the comic was pretty gross but this is a little overboard." And then, like avenging angels, tons of horrible children suddenly show me that, no, this is not a little overboard, you are dealing with sheltered babies who think that creating a carbon footprint the size of an Xbox controller (LOL) is rectified by spending ten dollars so a dying kid can finally experience the joys of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 before shuffling off this mortal coil.
Before I move on to the next part, I want to say one more thing. Tim Rogers, I still think you're an awful writer contributing to the delinquent education of gamers, but thanks for at least being smart enough to recognize the whole thing here as pretty creepy and not going the Leigh Alexander route and equivocating "well it wasn't that bad but respect feelings but Penny Arcade STILL PRETTY FUNNY."
(and yeah I know that the last third of the Kotaku triumvirate hasn't responded can't imagine why)
What's really gotten to me is the whole My Little Pony bullshit. I saw the pictures. Read a synopsis. Then saw an episode. And now I'm hooked.
haha got you
No I did not enjoy the show. In fact, the opposite occurred: I can't watch this stupid bullshit anymore. I just tried to watch some clip of Adventure Time, and my system went insane, like when Kurt Russell put the alien blood in a fire. Suddenly I was aware that I was watching stupid nerd bullshit made for obnoxious babymen like me with just enough clever references that I would be placated like a cow as more pictures came. My girlfriend burnt some eggs really badly at the end of summer and still refuses to eat them because of some subconscious physiological reaction, and now I know exactly what she's going through.
This isn't to say that I've somehow transcended stupid nerd hobbies. I watched an episode of Bob's Burgers and was pretty tickled. I always hated most anime, but I still enjoy the same two sub-categories I've always gone for: terrible ultra-violent 90's OAVs and things that would be thought provoking even if not animated (see also: Masaaki Yuasa and Satoshi Kon). So I guess it is to say that I'm kind of over the dumb American bullshit designed to "appeal to child and manchild alike." I've actually been reading and writing again (though writing is just dumb zombie bullshit, what you know, etc.), and working out. I'm still doing dumb video game bullshit, though it's mostly just been limited to Persona 3 because despite Persona 2 and Devil Survivor, I still can't get enough of the whole SUMMON WEIRD MYTHOLOGY angle.
It's all about moderation. I know I'll be playing dumb games for a long time, but I also think I've gotten kind of tired of just passively whittling time away with shit that will have absolutely no effect on myself. I'm not comparing, but holy shit look what's happening in Egypt. That's insane, and meanwhile some nerd on justin.tv is doing a no-equipment run of Breath of Fire, which literally blows me away in its utter uselessness. HAY MAYBE OBAMA SHOULD BE ON JUSTIN.TV TOO high five me here.
We'll see! *takes last drag of cigarette, flicks into shadows, walks slowly down alleyway until gone from view*
next time castlevania: circle of the moon
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