dexfarkin

Stacey Rambold, a Senior High teacher convicted of raping 14-year-old Cherice Morales, who later committed suicide, was sentenced to spend just 30 days in jail. The judge justified his decision in part by saying he listened to recorded statements given by Morales before her death and believes that while she was a troubled youth, she was "as much in control of the situation" as Rambold.

Emily McCombs does a very nice job putting things into perspective here - http://www.xojane.com/issues/stacey-rambold-cherice-morales

I had a minor dustup on tumblr not long ago regarding a meme that was bouncing around about DC's refusal to seriously push a 'Wonder Woman' property into development for television or movies because it was 'too complicated' to build around a female protagonist. Meanwhile, Marvel's new "Guardians of Galaxy' movie not only had two female leads (one a WoC), but includes a talking raccoon, thus lampooning DC's excuse by pointing out a talking rodent wasn't as complicated for Marvel as a female protagonist was for DC. There were responses that pointed out Marvel's 'Black Panther' being stuck in development limbo for several years now with the excuse of the film being 'complicated' is analogous to DC's excuse regarding a WW property, and I rebutted it. However, it did get me thinking it over whether I was playing apologist for Marvel (because of my own preferences) and I did a bit of research on the respective companies approach to film and unearthed some stats.

( Rambling On )

Quite a nicely depressing piece by David Atkins regarding something I've been talking about for a decade now, how the corporatization of the global economy is actually creating conditions in which traditional capitalistic structures either fall apart or turn into poisonous death spirals. The link, so to speak, between Main Street and Wall Street is shattered at this point, and the grim hold on old supply-side economics causes further damage when applied to a system it was never meant to be applied to. Worth a read.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2013/08/the-link-between-wall-street-and-main.html

Adam Gopnik (man, wouldn't that be the best name for a hard-line conservative advisor?) has posted an article called 'Abraham Lincoln and the Birth of Stand Your Ground' which analyzes the growth of duelling in the US and how it informs modern day Stand Your Ground. It ties in a speech by Lincoln on vigilante violence and it's effects on democracy. His call for “Reason, cold calculating unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense.” is a strike at the unpinnings of laws like Stand Your Ground which essentially legalize subjective judgement and passion as the root justification for action.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/07/abraham-lincoln-and-the-birth-of-stand-your-ground.html?mbid=social_retweet

First off, to my friends in the Great Satan, I hope you had a good holiday of over-eating and then blowing shit up. Being that it is now July the 5th, allow me to direct you to a speech on that day from the esteemed Frederick Douglass, which makes a nice reminder that the symbology of the day aside, freedom has and will always be a process, at times enlarged and at times constrained, and rarely equally distributed or enojoyed. With the recent developments with the VFA and assaults on the reproductive freedoms of women in numerous states, it rings perhaps a little louder and more relevant than in some other years - http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html

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I've made not secret on the fact that I'm not terribly happy in my current job. Without going into grand detail, the TL:DR summary is that I have all the responsibility for anything that goes wrong, and virtually no authority to drive making things right, which is just not a sustainable state of affairs. So, I've hung my shingle back out and snagged an interview for Tuesday with another company - a position with more money, more authority, and more focus. Hopefully, I'll be able to land it and make a smooth transition. If not, it's a very encouraging sign for further, future opportunities.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/paid-sick-leave-florida-disney-alec

Now I kind of want to write a peace where the US actually saves the world from mass zombification because the sickness is spread so quickly by the workforce being unable to take time off during the first symptoms manifesting that once they turn, it is such a huge percentage of the population to automatically crash the entire infrastructure at once. It gets contained by the evacuation/adbandonment of Canada and swaths of UN peacekeepers pouring into Mexico and ironically manning the other side of the high tech border security to wipe out roaming packs. We could make the final statement - Zombie Fast Food - over one billion eaten.

So, the reports so far are that the Playstation 4 and Sony sidled up to Microsoft and the X-Box One in the middle of the convention floor, shived them in the kidneys, and left them to bleed out and die amidst the discarded leftlets and power bar wrappers. Because all great corporate struggles for market share are best described as scenes from 'OZ'.

Seriously though, it seems like Microsoft has doubled down on the same kind of nonsense that they flashed with Windows 8, trying to bully their marketshare into improved profit, without any consideration that other options remain. You have to question whether or not their board understands how much the market has changed, and that the more heavy handed an attempt to force control happens, the more likely others are to adopt alternate platforms as a form of self-defense. To use an old analogy, the main driver behind the rise of Napster, Kazaa, and the other music sharing systems was the constant price fixing of CDs by the music companies themselves, demanding the same unsustainable profits from when they controled production and distribution. When people realized that paying $28 for a new CD (almost 4 hours work at minimum wage at the time) was ridiculous, they went hard for other options. How many X-Box gamers are going to take a serious look at Steam or the PS now?

The most worrisome aspect for me personally is that the X-Box One is yet another company moving increasingly to erode the idea of ownership, demanding usurious licensing fees for any use with specific conditions attached to them. I'm old and thus a dinosaur waiting to be put down by younger predators, but the idea of ownership and private property is a core element of personal freedom. As more companies demand that their customers become users as opposed to owners of their product, the ability to accrue and disperse goods at one's own wishes is challenged. There have been several cases already about people with not inconsiderable e-book collections passing on, discovering that their heirs had no claim on them. In some cases, we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars simply being deleted from an estate.

It also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the secondary market, and that ignorance is actually a pretty severe danger to creators. Most authors have long been supporters of used book stores, understanding that secondary sales eventually drive new sales. Game developers should be equally strong supporters of the secondary market, as systems like X-Box Live and PSN allow for tertiary sales for DLC and related materials. But they fail to understand that the secondary market drives new business, and it is ultimately self-defeating to try and hamstring it. At least half of the video games I own have been purchased because of either playing a borrowed or rented game and later purchasing it, or buying a used game and purchasing later installments in the series. Many of those are games that I would have never paid full price for in order to try them. By relying on the direct market and advertising/demos, the X-Box One is disconnecting itself from a powerful sales tool in a way that will ultimately hurt their direct market sales. It is myoptic and ill-considered, and thanks to Sony, puts them at a major disadvantage in next-generation consoles.

I know no one thinks I have a soul any more in any case, and this is just helping things along, but man, the intertubes reaction to the Red Wedding in GoT last night is just... delicious.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/05/21/rob-ford-where-were-we/

Thanks to Gawker, it very much looks like Rob Ford is in the centre of allegations of smoking crack with known drug dealers and making a series of incredibly foolish comments when encouraged to do so. At this point, until the tape or file containing the video can be foresnicly analyzed, there's no proof beyond 'gotcha' media to substantiate anything.

However, the incredibly weak response by the Mayor, his own history of substance abuse issues, and his general disregard for moderating his behaviour proves a deep, fertile plain on which conclusions can grow. I don't know whether or not it is Ford in the video, but it would not surprise me greatly if he was.

As Americans grapple with the idea of a crack smoking Mayor of Toronto, making racist and homophobic screeds to a camera phone, with the general reputation of Canadians, remember some core items. Ford's political bread and butter are a deep belt of suburban voters; older and less tolerant with Canada's general multiculturalism and inclusionary approach. They are decidedly anti-urban, resenting green initiatives like bike lanes and expanded recycling, the implementation of toll roads, and expanded public transit in favour of tax reduction. As William Gibson so aptly described it, Ford's election as Mayor was 'as if New Jersey residents were able to vote for the Mayor of New York' in terms of his representative nature of the city.

He's been likened to a political version of Chris Farley, but the dead comedian would have a serious effort ahead of him to out-embarass himself against Ford's record. After Ford's election, he immediately axed a major and much needed public transit overhaul plan in favour of expensive and limited subway expansion that he did not have funding for. Now the city is scrambling to replace it after the provincial and federal governments both told Ford they would not fund his own plan, leaving him losing vote after vote as the current TTC chair slowly re-authorizes the compenants of the former plan piece by piece. His constant repositioning on the downtown casino has condeemed the 'Pro' side that he supports, as an organized opposition has knocked out support one vote at a time. Finally, his buffoonish media gaffs, from reading in his car while driving on the freeway, starting an infamous weight loss challenge with other Mayors only to bail on his own three months in after being photographed leaving a KFC with a bucket of fried chicken under one arm, drunken public appearances, and his own near removal for misuse of civic powers add up to a failed joke of an executive.

While his allies attempt to protray this all as a media assassination by a left-wing paper, the reality is that no one assassinated Rob Ford's career; he put the gun in his own mouth. The question is mostly likely when, not if, the video surfaces and pulls the trigger.

Acceptance and tolerance are the proper expectation in any polite, civilized society. Understanding, on the other hand, is the product of shared empathy; the responsibility of both parties to the process of personal education. When either side abducates that responsibility solely to the other, no matter how valid the reasons, acceptance and tolerance remain all that you can reasonably expect.

Also known as 'Why Dex will never be a BFN on tumblr.'

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It's been a stunningly good half year for concerts and public events. I've been to see the Tragically Hip, the Arkells, Leonard Cohen, Garbage, Jonathan Coultan, several Jays games, and the last four exhibitions at the AGO. Coming up is Dylan Moran, Dr. John, and Kevin Quain. Who knew that a busted ankle encourages one to get off the couch?

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Just finished Sean Howe's 'Marvel Comics: The Untold Story'. Kind of weird reading it after deciding to take up collecting monthly comics again. Most of the intrigue I knew, although having the specifics are interesting. It actually makes Todd MacFarlane look like an even bigger douchebag, which I didn't even think was possible. The book is mostly focused on the 1950-1975 years, and clips through the last three decades way too fast. You can also tell which stories he got the most access to, focusing on Steve Gerber's career long past the point that Gerber was really relevent and beating the Kirby/Lee Feud to death. However, if you weren't engaged when a lot of the first historical articles on Marvel's history came out in the 90s, it's an excellent way to jump in.

Overall, it's a worthwhile book despite its flaws, and it will surprise the casual fan just how popular comics once were and the personalities behind their (often accidental) creation.

In the same vein, still ctaching up on my comics. It's a shame that X-Men: Legacy's relaunch is focused on David Haller in a riff not dissimilar to Ellis/Grant's reworking on X-Man during the Counter-X series. Haller's crazy now involves harvesting his hundreds (thousands) of ridiculously named alien-like multiple personalities to grab their powers for use in various situations. The art is weak, but Spurrier's writing has a nice flow, even if it feels like a repeatative and his handle on Haller is improving. It is a shame because prior to the relaunch, Legacy was producing some excellent work with Rogue, really getting a hold of her as an experienced, mature leader who has found herself suddenly one of the leaders of the modern mutant movement and trying to adapt to that.

In general, I've been enjoying the new X-titles. The writing is usually good, and even when the stories get a bit shakey, there's enough innovation to at least keep clunky plotting from dragging down the book. As a Cyclops fan, I'm enjoying the final exposure that Scott has been basically insane since they got him back from Apocalypse and is able to slide into Magneto territory without the self-delusion that Erik relied on for so many years. I haven't gotten into the All-New X-Men yet with Bendis - I have to catch up on X-Factor first - but so far, this has been the most consistently good period of writing on the X-Books that I can think of since the Seagal/Casey days around Zero Tolerance.

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Finished the final book of the Wheel of Time last week. Still not sure how to feel about it, since the sense that its done and over is so very odd. For the most part, I think Sanderson did a good job tying most of the floating plot lines and prophecies together, although even if the fans would have revolted, a book between the last two might have smoothed out the pacing. That being said, I've been reading this series since I was 15 years old and it is finally done. That's a very strange feeling.

I will say that there were more then a few times that after that long a set-up, the actions of certain characters earned a geninue 'Fuck Yeah!' while reading. The book certainly has flaws; some glaring. But the fucking thing is done! Going to dwell on just that for a while.

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Are there any decent games coming out this year? I'm excited about Lego: Marvel Superheros and GTA 5 and that's about it. DA3 hasn't been announced yet and I'm pretty leary of Faffains Creed IV: The Curse of the Black Pearl or whatever the fuck it is. Is there anything else?