Things you're not allowed to say

So let's mix it up a little by going back to my old friend ONTD_Feminism.
Last update: July 12.
Feminism is hard ;_;
Da Roolz:

2. No personal attacks. There is a difference between calling an idea stupid and saying the same thing about a member. And you know it. 

Yeah but telling a Commie in EVE Online his build needs improvement maybe isn't quite the same as calling him a shit-eating pig farmer.

Something that is really being talked about in my state of Texas is the prevention of a bill that would restrict abortion. 

... Speaking of shit-eating pig farmers, what's going on in Texas?
That really was the perfect segue. I didn't even plan that.
I couldn't have planned that.

It was supposed to be voted on but what happened was that a state senator named Wendy Davis stopped the bill from being passed by filibustering for 11 hours straight. She wasn't allowed to sit down, lean, eat or go off topic when discussing the bill for 11 hours. The midnight deadline was narrowly avoided and Repbulicans tried multiple times to get her off the stand. 12 minutes before the deadline Republicans were to start voting but there was so much cheering and raucous from protesters that they didn't (couldn't?) vote.

The effect this had:
delayed the vote by 24 hours.
Goooood.

The endless parade of serial-killer dramas on TV today raises an uncomfortable question: What does it mean that we as a society seem to find violence against women endlessly entertaining?

Violence period is endlessly entertaining, apparently.
Why else would all this shit sell?
Since the 10,000s BC that shit has sold.
One of the first professions you could be that wasn't hunter-gatherer was storyteller.
Most of the stories told?
Heroes killing shit dead.
A man that produced nothing except entertainment was one of the first jobs to rise out of the agricultural revolution and the barter economy.
Think about it.
The two species most related to us are chimpanzees and bonobos. Our behavior is a perfect compromise between the two.
Chimps are violent
Bonobos bang everything
welcome to the species with STDs constantly at war.
People sure don't think a lot about shit.

 The show is not subtle in its embrace of feminist themes. It purposefully paints male characters as both limited and flat. The hollow men, the stupid men who think largely with their cocks, the men who delude themselves into thinking that somehow they are worth more or are just better than women, are shown not as fully sympathetic human beings, but as dumb, or violent, or impetuous men.

Feminism: we're fighting for our equality.
We're achieving this by making men seem like violent brutes.
But we want to be equal, honest!
It's different because we're oppressed! We're allowed to say bigoted things because that's just us giving power to our gender!

You are a slave to your desires, you have no control at all, you are weak, impotent, you think you are some kind of artist, but you are not… you try to dignify what you do, but it’s just misogyny, age-old male violence against women.

In this story I'm kinda working on probably the most sadistic and violent character is a woman.
It's partially that way just so I can gauge ONTD_Feminism's reaction afterwards.
The goal is absolute moral ambiguity.
The people she hurts are thugs and criminals but she's every bit as cold and malevolent as they are.
I'm a big fan of the theme. Becoming your enemy to beat them and at what point can you no longer justify actions like that?
How much collateral damage is too much?
See good stories start with a premise like that. They don't just say "hurrr muh freedms and muh sogyny."
I'm looking at you, Tom Clancy and ONTD_Feminism, respectively.
And that's just one lesser theme in a web of statements.
At no point will it even beat you over the head with it. It's all just a facet of a larger picture I'm painting.
You see the fact is this character could even be a male. The gender is incidental to the development of the character.
Real character development stems from what a character thinks and does. Not what they look like.
The character is female for a different reason. The story necessitates her being a woman.
That's another important thing to note: make sure you develop your characters in a way that they could be no other way. Most people aren't arbitrarily nice or an asshole. They're that way due to genetics and upbringing and shit.
If you just say "hurrr wahm character because feminism" then you're a shit author who needs to stop.
When developing characters don't ask "what are they like?" instead ask "why are they not another way?" and if you don't have an answer it's a detail you don't need to include or need to rethink.
Character development is less about you jerking yourself off and more of a torturous thought experiment into the true nature of man.
This is incidentally why fanfiction sucks.
Look at that question I just asked: "why are people not other ways?"
Do you have any idea the hours of research and debate that leads to?
That's why so many authors claim all of the story came in a sudden bolt of inspiration. That's just the pieces falling into place. More than likely all (good) stories have been a 10 year internal dialogue.

Yet, the show then runs into the same problem it creates for viewers. This argument forces the viewer to ask: If violence against women is nothing more than violence, plain and simple, then why is it at the center of this show? Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to send this message while entertaining us with violence against women?

That'd be a good question to ask if the show didn't clearly suck.
Kind of self defeating, too, because the only conclusion is "wow we are complete assholes."
I know what my first question would be: "why is violence against men normal but violence against women horrific?"

Creepshot is dedicated to posting pictures of women in stages of undress taken without their consent or knowledge, basically.

Don't undress when people are around.
Check your surroundings.
A post about the existential angst of multiculturalism causing misogyny-- (OH NO)--

This was inspired by a question on my Christianity & Sexuality exam about the detrimental effects of pornography on society.
Because pornography elevates the levels of the same chemicals also activated during drug use and falling in love, porn can become an addiction for those who use it. Addictions are harmful not only to those who suffer from them, but to the friends and families of the addicts as well. Addicts tend to isolate themselves, and curing addiction is a long, arduous, and often painful process - but it can be done. The viewing of pornography does have everlasting effects, however, and those who view pornography - both women and men - view women differently than those who have not used pornography.

Oh yeah I remember these debates in pussy sensitivity.
Also Christianity & Sexuality are you fucking kidding me?
There's a wasted tuition if I've ever seen it.

Simply put, pornography encourages the ongoing objectification of and violence toward women. Women in the sex industry are routinely viewed as sexual objects created for men’s pleasure. Real sex is devalued by the viewing of pornography, because no actual sex could live up to the air-brushed fantasies that porn presents as reality.
It’s not like being a porn-worthy bombshell is any better. Women from the sex industry are viewed as a lower from of life and degraded by both men and women for their perceived “choice” - although in many cases there is no alternative, or the alternatives are just as bad if not worse.  

Never mind the Youtube channel with literally millions of views devoted to talking to porno whores and how most of them agree it has been a positive experience for them.
I guess they're fucking liars or delusional because they don't agree with your petty gender politics.
I don't judge them.
Hell some of them are even college educated.
You get ahead however you can.
They're not traitors or cowards so I have no problem with them.

Men and women both not in the sex industry view it as their right to pass judgment on prostitutes, call girls, dominatrices, escorts, and porn stars. Apparently holding any one of these jobs means you have given up your right to be treated as a human being.
And yet the Madonna-Whore Complex is enforced, not just by pornography but by the media. One has only to look advertisements of any medium to realize that sex sells - and not just any sex, but female sexuality. Girls must not actually have sex, yet somehow be an expert on the subject in the bedroom. They must appear moral and innocent, yet have a kinky wild side.

Let me be the first to say: I don't give a shit what you do or think. Just shut up about it.

"Dead Island: Riptide is the sequel to Dead Island, the survival horror video game that has players stranded on a tropical island with a zombie outbreak. To promote the game, publishers Deep Silver are offering a special “Zombie Bait Edition” which includes the console game, artwork, a weapons pack, and a statue of a woman’s bikini-clad torso with her head and arms chopped off. And so help me god, they’re comparing it to the Venus de Milo. The graphic image is after the jump [at the source] and probably NSFW.

Zombies don't care about your feminism m8.

Why Are There No Women In Tolkien's World?  

Uhh.

I did not read The Hobbit or the The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a child, and I have always felt a bit alienated from the fandom surrounding them. Now I think I know why: Tolkien seems to have wiped women off the face of Middle-earth.

Uhh.
I do like how you say you haven't even read it and yet you're an expert on feminism and The Lord of the Rings.
Here's another important woman character.

I suppose it’s understandable that a story in which the primary activity seems to be chopping off each other’s body parts for no particular reason might be a little heavy on male characters —

>No reason
>prevent the conquering of Middle Earth by the devil
Yeah that's true no reason at all.

although it’s not as though Tolkien had to hew to historical accuracy when he created his fantastical world. The problem is one of biological accuracy. Tolkien’s characters defy the basics of reproduction: dwarf fathers beget dwarf sons, hobbit uncles pass rings down to hobbit nephews. If there are any mothers or daughters, aunts or nieces, they make no appearances.

Except Galadriel whose lineage the book spends a protracted amount of time describing.
She gives up her immortality when Gil-Galad dies?
It's kind of a pivotal moment in the story.
Your knowledge of this story really is breathtaking, though. I see you spent a lot of time studying this and didn't just say "I don't like it because muh sogyny."

Trolls and orcs especially seem to rely on asexual reproduction, breeding whole male populations, which of course come in handy when amassing an army to attack the dwarves and elves.

Trolls are, as I recall, depicted as reproducing through unknown means and possibly just split like amoebas.
Orc women are depicted as sex slaves and that's a large part of the reason Orcs are deemed evil and misguided.
Really you're on the same side if you'd stop being unreasonable for two seconds.
I found three women in a cast that is quite large but has relatively few major characters and all of them are fairly big players.
What the fuck more do you want?

Named /= significant character. In the movies, there's really only Eowyn, Arwen, and Galadriel. The only other one I can think of offhand is Goldberry. 

>Only three
>Number of important male protagonist (because if a woman had been evil they'd be crying harder so we won't count that): nine
3:1 ratio don't bitch.

Also it's one thing to name a female character and say she's important to the world. If they are never given lines to speak, it's hardly worth mentioniong. Also, tt's another thing to include 15 main characters in the Hobbit (13 dwarves, a hobbit and the wizard, basically) and 10 or so in the LOTR and NONE of them are female. That lack is keenly felt as a young female reader, let me tell you.

Apparently you haven't read it either because we just named 3.
KEEP UP WITH THE CONVERSATION.
That's it women aren't allowed to read books.
I am banishing you all to illiteracy and bare feet.
Deal with it.

Saudi Arabia implements electronic tracking system for women   

You say primitive barbarians I say forward thinkers.

21 THINGS TO STOP SAYING UNLESS YOU HATE FAT PEOPLE

I hate everyone.
Part of everyone is fat people.

1. Stating a specific size, shape, or weight that’s less okay.

Example: “Women who are a little bigger are more attractive, but 400 pounds? No.”

Example: ”It’s okay to be plus-size as long as you don’t have fat rolls.”

Nope.
A woman over 105 pounds is not a woman for me.
Can't possibly be under 105 because you're 6'0"?
Keep walking.

Fat acceptance is for all fat people. If you draw a line – 400 lbs, 500 lbs, “apple”-shaped, people with mobility issues, etc – and say that people on one side of the line are okay and people on the other side aren’t, you are part of the problem.

The line is drawn at over 5'3" and over 105.
Deal with it.

18. Focusing on (usually heterosexual) attractiveness in general.

Example: “At least being bigger means you have bigger boobs, too!”

Example: “It’s okay, honey, men like women with a few curves.”

Not me.
I have two words:
"fuck"
and "off".
Welcome to why I was popular in pussy sensitivity.

At a recent presentation, I asked all of the gay male students in the room to raise their hand if in the past week they touched a woman’s body without her consent. After a moment of hesitation, all of the hands of the gay men in the room went up. I then asked the same gay men to raise their hand if in the past week they offered a woman unsolicited advice about how to “improve” her body or her fashion. Once again, after a moment of hesitation, all of the hands in the room went up.

HOMOSEXUALS.

First there was the "Bic for Her" pen. Then there was the Fujitsu "Floral Kiss" lady-computer (complete with a built-in scrapbooking app and bedazzled keyboard!).

Honda just took things to the next level by producing the Honda Fit "She's" — a pink car made specifically for women that's marketed as "adult cute."


The $17,500 car, currently only being sold in Japan, has loads of lady-friendly features. 

Japan.
A nation with sense.

Apart from pink aesthetics and a dainty heart to replace the apostrophe in "She's," design features include: A windshield that helps prevent wrinkles, and a "plasmacluster" air conditioning system that Honda says will improve skin quality.

If you don't like the pink tone, don't worry. A Honda executive told Yomuri Shinbun newspaper that it's also in brown and white, to match the driver's eyeshadow.

10/10.
Would laugh again.
What's wrong with wanting a car that matches your eyeshadow?
That might be important to Japanese women.
An article on how awesome Dredd was (even feminists agree!)--
Ehh I think I'm done here.
I certainly don't miss Livejournal.

BLURGH BLARGH

Had to miss Wednesday but unlike usual I have a good reason.
I was busy reinstalling Windows.
You know how those hard drives are, man.
One minute you're sitting there and the next you realize your hard drive could die at any second because the writer head is that worn out--
ha, ha, computers.
I also took the opportunity while I was in there to upgrade my graphics card because it's starting to show its age a little bit. Also I wanted one that ran cooler than the temperature of a small sun.
Currently I have two instances of EVE Online open, Youtube, FFXIV and Guild Wars open just because I can and the hottest thing in there is 51 degrees centigrade.
I am awesome.
Also all of these things are running at at least 30 FPS-- except FFXIV which barely works anyway--
aaaaaaaah.
I blame the new event in FFXIV, honestly.
I don't know what they're doing. I guess they figure the game is basically shutting down in a month for 2 months so they better go out with a bang but they're giving away shit I had to really spend a lot of time getting.
Kinda makes me wonder why I bothered in the first place.
At least with EVE Online I know the company that makes this game, CCP Games, hates its players as much as I do so I know they'll never do something like this.
In other news, unexplained phenomena with my new install of Windows:
all music randomly cuts off after about 3 minutes (iTunes skips to the next song without prompting, a problem of the back up itself I suspect) aaaand Youtube likes to buffer endlessly.
I can't add this gay Korean girl band music to my iPod because then I'll look gay so I have to listen to it on Youtube. Come on, help me out here.
I seriously suspect it's a problem with Youtube and this is all just a huge coincidence.
Oh right, blogs.
Ha, ha--
Today I'm doing something a bit different.
We're going to ONTD.
Yes, the shithole that spawned it all--
Amazingly this entire blog is basically pop culture news yet everyone is as whiny and self-important as ONTD_P. It's really kind of breathtaking.
I don't know why but I honestly didn't expect this level of pretention about Carly Rae Jepsen.
... If you don't know who that is you might think you're living under a rock but believe me, it's a rock worth living under.

Rapper Tweets About Driving Drunk Minutes Before His Death

Too bad the world lost this brain trust.

At 1:40 a.m., McKinness died in a crash in Ontario, Calif., at Creekside Drive and Haven Avenue when the 2005 Nissan Sentra ran a red light, skidded out of control and slammed into a wall, according to the San Bernardino County Sun. The car wound up in the backyard of a home. Marquell Bogan, 23, and Dylan George, 20, both of Ontario; Jonathan Watson, 21, of San Bernardino; and JaJuan Bennett, 23, of Rancho Cucamonga were also killed in the crash.

Oh man, come on, now. Fucking up a guy's yard?
That's fucked up.

Sherlock Holmes gets his zillionth update, this time with Jonny Lee Miller (“Eli Stone”) playing Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless sleuth as a recovering addict whose British tycoon father ships him off to Manhattan for rehab.

Lucy Liu plays Dr. Joan Watson, a disgraced former surgeon who’s been hired to act as Sherlock’s 24-hour sober-living companion after his detox.

Lucy Liu playing Watson--
I'm going to ignore I've never run into an Asian person with the last name "Watson"--
Are you really adding anything to the character by making him a woman?
The point of Watson was he was this smart, cultured dude without much of a personality who could be the reader's everyman in the story.
You know, like when everyone is this autistic super sleuth or master thief--
you kind of need someone who knows what's going on but is more like the person reading it to explain it in a way you'd understand--
changing the character's entire makeup is really distracting and entirely unnecessary.
I can't believe I just implicitly stated "really smart and cultured" means the average reader.
But you get where I was going.
I guess if you're reading Sherlock Holmes in 2012 you're either a dumbass fangirl of this shit show or you are of above average intellect so I guess it almost stands.
No it doesn't.

TBH, (and I say this as a huge BBC Sherlock stan) there are parts of Elementary's interpretation of Holmes that I like better, and feel are closer to the actual ACD canon Holmes.

by "actual ACD canon Holmes" she means "the guy who wrote the actual fucking books and not this hack drama".
If you're going to get an Asian chick to play Watson (and believe me I can see the logic in replacing some aging British dude with an Asian chick) why not get a hot one?
Wishing no offense to Lucy Liu (like she's reading this) she's kind of the safe white person option for an Asian best friend.
I have a list of way hotter women you could have easily picked from.
I even have some older ladies if you (for whatever reason) have to cast an older woman.
And before any of you chucklefucks argue "they wouldn't draw viewers like Lucy Liu" I doubt seriously she's drawing much of a crowd in the first place so shut up don't even do it.

Cops are alarmed by the pics we posted today showing Amanda Bynes behind the wheel and smoking what appears to be pot -- and several patrol officers tell us they're now on alert because they fear her driving habits have turned deadly.

... But I see no reason to prevent her from driving.

The officers we spoke with -- who don't want to be named -- say the pics explain a lot about Amanda's alleged hit-and-runs. One cop with many years of experience as a patrol officer tells TMZ, "She's on the same road as my wife and kids and I'm scared about getting a call in the middle of the night that my little one is dead."

...
BUT I SEE NO REASON TO STOP THIS.

Carly Rae Jepsen is not a one-hit wonder; "Good Time," her happy-go-lucky duet with Owl City, has already washed that fear away, and new single "This Kiss" has a great chance of finding the same success.

Color me surprised.
Not that "Call Me Maybe" wasn't as brilliant as it sounds but come the fuck on.

With Sylvester Stallone's laughable take on the 2000 AD lawman still fresh in the memory, Karl Urban's Dredd strode purposefully into UK cinemas last week – and wouldn't you know it, he punted Stallone's Judge helmet-first into oblivion. Could Dredd be the form guide that shows how you really pull off a reboot? Let's break it down, step by step.

All right, look, ONTD. So far you're being far less insufferable than ONTD_P (because I'm avoiding the comments) but don't underestimate your ability to get on my tits. I still don't want to hear your evaluation of the grim darkness of the far future.

Sylvester Stallone's drokking awful Judge Dredd movie took everything about the 2000 AD character that was great and ignored it; in other words, it was the perfect example of what not to do when it came to giving Dredd another run around Mega-City One. If Stallone had never squared up against Armand "LAWWWW!" Assante back in 1995, we wouldn't realise how great the 2012 Dredd movie is in comparison.

Oh boy, there's a statement that just fills me with confidence.
"If the 1995 Judge Dredd movie wasn't such shit we'd have no way of knowing the 2012 one is good!"

A reboot should be your chance to put right what once went wrong, not just another excuse to milk a popular franchise. Most studios will ignore this point in favour of cashing in on brand recognition – that's the cheap and nasty way to make a reboot. If you're serious about wanting to make a proper fist of it, read on...

... Yes, because the "cyberpunk and dystopia nerd culture" is positively bristling with popularity these days.
It was a thing that was vaguely popular in the 80s and is more known for its influence than popularity.
Because, you know, I'm sure everyone is plenty familiar with 2000 AD magazine.
And Warhammer?
Ask anyone and they'll tell you all about what's up in the year 40,000.
Or fuck, name drop William Gibson and see where that gets you.
Blade Runner?
Tons of people have seen this CLASSIC MOVIE.
I'm not making fun if it, either. People should be familiar with these things.
William Gibson is as influential to scifi as Wells, Asimov and Herbert but still this is hardly the type of thing, as marketing executive, that I'd say "oh yeah here's something I can sell to the average idiot."

Step 2: Listen To The Criticism
This shouldn't need to be said, really. If you've followed Step 1 and are rebooting something in desperate need of a new paint job, then you're going to want to make sure you figure out what was wrong the first time around so you don't make the same mistakes. For example, in Danny Cannon's Judge Dredd movie, Stallone was accompanied throughout by 'comic relief' Rob Schneider – a man so unfunny his profession has to be listed in 'sarcastic quote marks' at all times. 17 years later, and you can count the number of jokes in Karl Urban's Dredd on one hand. You live, you learn.

... You should be able to count the number of lines of Karl Urban's Dredd on one hand.
Or fuck it, let's simplify: if the helmet comes off they missed the point.
I'm going to this shit and the second I see that helmet coming off I'm walking the fuck out.
I expect to be in the theater for fewer minutes than dollars I spent on the ticket.

Similarly, Stallone's Dredd spent more than half the movie with his helmet off – sacrilege for fans who'd grown up with the character since 1977. Fast-forward to today's Dredd, and all you can see under that helmet is Karl Urban's chin – which manages to out-act Stallone all by itself. This time around, the filmmakers knew how to treat the material because they'd listened to the criticism of the first movie and started their version off on the right foot. You've got no excuse for not listening to disgruntled fans in today's online world – Lord knows they have enough channels through which to vent their frustration.

...
YOU WIN THIS ROUND, MOVIE.

Part of the reason Karl Urban got the role of Dredd was because he understood the necessities of the character (the helmet MUST stay on); part of the reason Alex Garland wrote the script was because he's been a fan of the comics since he was a boy. These are people who care if the source material is mishandled – no one here is taking the money because they want their names and faces plastered on the sides of buses. Trust in talent and, hopefully, you'll be rewarded with a movie that sells itself. And hey, interesting actors are usually much cheaper than popular ones. Speaking of the budget...

Still not sold.

Words cannot express how deeply skeptical of this movie's quality I am.

The temptation when rebooting a movie is to flex your muscles – to go bigger, brassier and bolder than what's gone before. However, throwing money at your movie is not always the right way to do that. Danny Cannon's Judge Dredd had a budget of $70 million (pretty pricey in '95) and saw Stallone flying through CG cityscapes on his bike, dodging exploding buildings and fighting giant, animatronic robots. All of that for a 15% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fancy special effects and pyrotechnics count for nought when your entire movie is a punchline.

Because nothing summarizes cyberpunk or dystopia more than "big, brassy and bold".

So what I'm getting from this review is "it didn't miss the point of Judge Dredd as hard as the Stallone movie" but that still doesn't tell me if it's any good or not.

Oddly for a visual medium like comic books Judge Dredd never struck me as a comic that could handle the transition to the big screen well.

A lot of the symbolic value in Judge Dredd is lost by having it in motion and in color (and no, not even black and white film would have helped) and I know I sound like a huge nerd talking about the symbolism of Judge Dredd but fuck off if you care about this movie in the first place you're a huge nerd faggot.

... Apparently Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 91%.

91% from critics, 95% from the idiot audience--

the greatest movie of all time got a 94% and a 92%, respectively, so that means by this logic it's one of THE BEST MOVIES EVER.

No, not buying it.

What kind of fucking guy gave "For A Few Dollars More" a rotten rating?

What kind of immense dipshit hates that movie?

The fact that this film is constructed to endorse the exercise of murderers, to emphasize killer bravado and generate glee in frantic manifestations of death is, to my mind, a sharp indictment of it as so-called entertainment in this day.

Holy shit.

I guess that's the kind of immense dipshit. 

Oh right, off track. Comments about the Judge Dredd movie:

well, i think the point is that it stayed true to its comic bookiness. like... comic books are pretty ridic at their core. i think the recent batman movies have led to a trend towards self-seriousness in comic book movies, and that's a pretty bad trend.

Did you just compare Judge Dredd to the Chronicles of Riddick you vapid twat?

EXCUSE ME, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDIC (SIC).

Also I just noticed the full name of this movie:

Dredd 3D.

3

fucking

dimensions.

Here's a thought for cinema in 2012:

How about instead of making the movie 3D you make the characters fucking 3D?

I saw this movie when it was called "The Raid". it was p awesome

Oh no way, man. The makers of this shit wish they could make a movie half as awesome as The Raid.

I saw that movie based entirely on "I didn't know Indonesia had electricity, let alone a camera" and I was pleasantly surprised.

Fucking
blogging.
Fuck.

GET READY

Let me preface this.
There's this thing called Jump Start and it's basically a website devoted to begging. People beg for money to do something, like make a video game, then people give them money and the product turns out shit because people have already paid for the product.
Some woman named Anita (something or other) raised 150,000 dollars to "raise awareness of sexism in video games". Quite why this takes six figures is anyone's guess and why she's choosing to raise awareness in a niche audience instead of tackling a larger aspect of the issue is a mystery as well.
At this point the denizens of the internet are basically calling her a thief because she just robbed people of 150,000 dollars which is a good enough point but if people are dumb enough to give her money in the first place to make Youtube videos then fuck them.
And now people are butthurt-- especially ontd_feminism.
THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY GAMERS ARE UPSET THIS BULLSHIT FINDS ITS WAY INTO VIDEO GAMES.
Gee probably because they get enough of this bullshit in their daily lives. They don't need to be reminded it.
ontd_feminism is awesome in its own way but I found a blog through it instead.

Let me preface this: I'm straight. I'm not vanilla, and I'm probably not entirely heteronormative, but for all intents and purposes, there has never been a question of the legality around my being able to marry whom I wish.

k.
Even straight people online have to be special snowflakes by prefacing it by saying "BUT I'M NOT VANILLA, GUYS" whatever that means.

I feel so ridiculously full of love and happiness for all the strangers who had their love legally legitimized last night by this decision. I really wish I could be there. It isn't my fight, and this decision doesn't change my legal rights in any way. Even if I was gay, I'm Canadian, so it _really_ doesn't affect me. That I feel so profoundly moved by this is strange.

It really is. You need a hobby.

Some have pointed out that Canadian politics isn't something to be proud of these days and so who cares. But I refuse to be apathetic about it. Apathy solves nothing. It only serves to let assholes get away with treating people like shit. Apathy is a luxury only the privileged can afford. Even if this doesn't affect me on the surface of things, it does affect me. At the risk of getting into slippery-slope arguments, if one group of us takes a hit without any response, then who's next? Women, children, First Nations, the poor, the elderly?

Shut up, Jesus Christ.
Also your eternal crusading solves absolutely nothing either and meanwhile my apathy has gotten all sorts of other shit done.

So today, even though I'm a straight white woman who's allowed to marry who she wants, who can move with relative freedom in this country, who can vote, own property, pay taxes, buy birth control and have an abortion if she wishes, I'm celebrating for those who won the right to marry the person they love. I don't care if this makes me naive or an optimist--even if it does, I'll own that proudly. I never want to become a person who doesn't care. And I will fight side by side with strangers to defend their right to live and be happy.

Together, we're stronger. Happy Pride.

Oh brother.
Don't come into my store today, incidentally. It's going to be rough and I can't hold your hand through the organic section.
I really should have paid more attention to this blog because it ends here.
That is, after I skipped four or five entries about knitting.
KNIT A BEAR FOR STARVING AIDS PATIENTS IN AFRICA.
DOES IT HELP?
NO BUT AT LEAST WHITE WOMEN CAN FEEL LIKE THEY DID SOMETHING!
That is 90% of all charities in the West. "At least white women can feel like they did something."
I'm sure there's some dubious argument about providing comfort to people who have nothing and I guess I'll allow it but I hardly doubt a knitted bear is going to be much comfort when you're dying in the jungle of the fucking Motaba Virus.
Anyway let's wander incoherently through ontd_feminism.

*~*I'm not like other girls*~*

Says one poster.
That's not an exact quote because she messed up her HTML tags and I had to fix them or I'd never be able to post this due to HTML errors (Blogger is especially fussy) so I cleaned it up.
Anyway:
"I'm not like other girls"
- most girls

There are some people who don’t want to have kids. Then there are some people who really don’t want to have kids. As we learned in a recent Double X series of essays exploring this choice, some men and women never heed (or even feel) the tick of the biological clock. But others are more proactive. Monica Trombley is in the latter camp. As described in her piece, Trombley decided at the age of 26 that permanent sterilization by tubal ligation—a procedure colloquially called “getting your tubes tied”—was the right choice for her.

And she's mad no doctor would do it because holy fuck the insurance.
I'm sure all the doctors came up with some bullshit "but you might want kids!" excuse but the real reason is because every time a doctor performs surgery now it's basically a gamble against himself where if he wins he gains your welfare money and if he loses he loses everything he owns.
Or to put it another way: winning isn't winning big but losing means losing huge.

But as Trombley quickly learned, many gynecologists disagreed. After consulting a number of doctors who tried to dissuade her for what she describes as “paternalistic” reasons, Trombley finally became so exasperated that she actually considered inventing dangerous and unavoidable family members in order to convince a doctor that she could not live in an environment fit for children. (In the end, she found a specialist who required less cajoling.) 

Or you could buy condoms which are basically free.

“Why should an adult woman be forced to lie to her doctor about why she wants to be sterilized?” she asked.

Trombley’s article inspired many, many readers to write in with similar tales of medical odysseys. Often, these women complained of being referred from physician to physician, only to receive a version of, “You’ll change your mind” or, “You’ll regret this later in life.” While some were ultimately successful in their tube-tying quest, others simply gave up, settling for a partner’s vasectomy or contraception. 

"I couldn't get my tubes tied so I need you to get a vasectomy."
That's a compelling argument. How about I dump you and find a girl who knows what birth control is?

When I first wrote about the sexist abuse of women online, collating the experiences of nearly a dozen writers, the response was largely positive. Many hadn't been aware there was a problem; they were shocked. Others had assumed that they were the only ones whose every word on the web was greeted with a torrent of abusive, threatening comments.

Recent exchange in my FFXIV LS:
"hey guys I'm a girl"
"shut up no one cares"
I've never been prouder.
In fact, that's largely the reaction women get online.
Who cares what you are in real life because in game you're a shitty white mage so please heal.
HEEEEEY-OH.
It was especially inappropriate that time because HOLY FUCK WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SIEGE SITUATION I NEED YOU TO SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR TAMPONS AND DEAL WITH THE 10 FOOT TALL LIZARD MEN.

 But a few reactions stood out, among them that of Brendan O'Neill, the Telegraph blogs section's resident contrarian. He wrote that feminist campaigners pointing this out was a "hilarious echo of the 19th-century notion that women need protecting from vulgar and foul speech". We were, he said, "a tiny number of peculiarly sensitive female bloggers" trying to close down freedom of speech.

That's kind of a good point.
You wouldn't believe the insults I hear on a daily basis from my own friends in online games.
It's part of playing an online game.

That's because they're guys and don't hear the remarks you'll hear if you're a woman and have the audacity to speak. I do play with people online, but a) my name is the same as here, so my gender is ambiguous and b) where I do play online, I tend to have a male on my ID card and play as one, so nobody really talks to me. The fact that I feel safer for those reasons is a pretty huge sign that maaaaybe, just maybe, it's not just guys "trolling" us poor, insensitive feminists. 

Says one commenter.
I usually make female characters and I can't say I've ever run into a problem with sexism.
I mean by this logic if playing a male character shields you from sexism playing a female character should open me up to all sorts of horrific harangues and threatens of rape but it hasn't.
In fact it has opened me to the exact same threats and taunts as playing a male character.
In fact threats of violence were visited on me yesterday because I tried hamlet defense for, what, the third time and got the item everyone has been fucking grinding away at hamlet defense for literally weeks.
Did I let that bother me?
Fuck no because I'm +10 HQ find chance now, baby.

Pfffft, that Lego video is my favorite video and I don't think it's just a "fuss over nothing." Gendered toys just rub me the wrong way and I'm glad I didn't have to really grow up with them (probably because it was a money-saver to buy toys that both me and my brother could play with). 

GENDERED TOYS OH NOOOOOOOOOO.
 If I were a girl I'd be pissed about toys too, though.
Have you seen the girls section at a toy store?
Oh what do you want, a static pony statue with 0 points of articulation or a fucking Gundam with 800000 points of articulation?
SOMEONE GOT RIPPED OFF.

I know it probably doesn't change much or make the trolls go away, and I didn't get to donate any money to her, but after seeing all this I was compelled to write to her on her contact form. 

I'd just like to point out we're making a fuss over trolls.
On the internet.
Not real life trolls that eat people and regenerate health and have to be set on fire to properly kill but people online who say mean things.
Know what you can do if meanie heads online get to be too much for you?
Stand up and walk the fuck away.

The fact that there is even this much uproar over a woman proposing a game that brings awareness to all the harmful tropes women characters are subjected to in gaming (and subsequently all other forms of media as well) and some guy even went as far as to create a game that encourages violence against a REAL person speaks volumes about the degree of misogyny that exists in the world and further emphasises why it's important to address these issues. 

 HARMFUL TROPES.
But it's okay because Edie Hart is an empowered womyn.
Oh yeah some of these feminists spell "woman" as "womyn" because it takes the man out of woman.
Because--
I have no fucking idea but anyway that's a real thing.

What the creator of the beat-up Anita game doesn't realise is that his game not just "fictional violence" done for "fun." Violence in any form is first of all NEVER funny and has real harmful consequences even when not directed at a real person. 

Sorry Edie, guess you're a violent psychopath then.
THERE ARE HARMFUL
CONSEQUENCES
IN REAL LIFE
TO KILLING IXALI.
Remember that time you killed that den of cultists?
Holy shit girlfriend. Those were people, not lizard men.
THAT GUY WAS MISGUIDED. YOU DIDN'T NEED TO LIGHT HIM ON FIRE AND CAVE HIS HEAD IN WITH A ROD.
I guess that makes me an awful person too because I'm the one guiding her to do all these horrific things.
I've dominated and manipulated a poor womyn POC (person of color!) into acts of murder.
I am basically Hitler is what I'm trying to say.

Games such as these have the harmful effect of both normalising and desensitising people to the fact that real violence does happen to real people and repetition even further encourages real violence to happen to real people (i.e., "she was asking for it").

Well to be fair they are trying to steer a giant satellite death laser into the planet.
Imagine if our own moon was pulled into our orbit.
The moon is in our orbit.
Never mind.
IMAGINE IF SOMEONE CRASHED THE MOON INTO THE PLANET FUCK YOU.

 Reiterating what Frogg said, encouraging violence against people who speak up against issues that negatively affect them is a bigger threat to free speech than someone who calls out the prevalence of hate speech on the internet. 

Yeah.
What about all that shit with Ala Mihgo anyway?
Those are irl refugees basically.
Even though they're fictional people in a video game--
from a city that doesn't exist on a continent that doesn't exist on a planet that isn't real--
Wait, what was the problem again?
Here's a post about someone who said tranny on Youtube and everyone is upset--
here's a post about some politician's wife--
Something about that new Tomb Raider game--
The part I find offensive about this is it's 2012 and people still think Tomb Raider is relevant.

How's this for timing? The day after the hoo-hah over Anita Sarkeesian's project to expose stereotyped women in computer games, and the makers of the new Lara Croft game are ready to assure you that she's not just a walking jiggle any more. Oh no, she is a sympathetic lady who will engage you emotionally.



How are they going to do this? By having her beaten and subjected to an attempted rape.

Didn't that already happen in Final Fantasy VII?
Wasn't that like 15 fucking years ago?
If you want the controversy points, Eidos, you need to--
hey wait, isn't Eidos owned by Square now?
What the fuck, Square? You didn't get any controversy points for this shit 15 years ago. What happened?
Oh right, women started playing video games.
But women love Final Fantasy-- I thought--
No wait, they love any Final Fantasy after the icky sci fi one. My mistake.
Also not including XII.
Or XI.
Basically they like the fan communities of Final Fantasy and not the actual games.

 Lara Croft and rape stories: breaking down the bitch
Why is rape seen as a reasonable way to "strengthen" female characters?

A few weeks ago, a viral blog served up a refreshingly compassionate interpretation of privilege for the Portal generation. If life were a video game, the writer John Scalzi explained, "straight white male" would be "the lowest difficulty setting there is".

So a poor white guy living in a trailer has it objectively easier than a wealthy black kid.
K.

"This means that the default behaviours for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise," wrote Scalzi. "The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get."

My leveling up threshold comes easier--
meaning what?
It scales better?
XPs are easier to gain?
Isn't this implicitly stating white people are better?

Keep that in mind, because we’ll be coming back to it. For now, let’s talk about the shit storm broiling over the pre-release material for the next Tomb Raider game, in which the protagonist, Lara Croft, is retconned as a survivor of sexual and physical assault. This experience apparently made her the hypersexualised, mindlessly violent killing machine – sorry, "strong woman" – we know today. 

As opposed to all the men in shooting games who aren't mindlessly violent killing machines.
Does this article have a point to make?

This is a story, like so many epics, about being, and about becoming. What’s made pay dirt so far for the small horde of pop-gender-crit writers commenting on the topic is the question: why does Lara Croft, like so many female heroes, need to be re-imagined an assault survivor in order to be a strong character?

Rape is usually a difficult thing to overcome?
I dunno.
All right fine she's a mindless blow up doll like before.
Eidos apparently isn't winning either way.
NOW DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS A STORY OF TRIUMPH.
Also stars a mostly male cast.
By some sheer coincidence I'm sure.

frankly, the fact that Nerd Culture exists as a concept at all is what's wrong with it.  

How so?
Oh, someone vaguely intelligent even asks why as well and she responds.
A REAL DIALOGUE.

because a culture based around what people consume is fucked to hell, and makes it incredibly hard to critique it without a bunch of angry neckbeards in fedoras and N7 t-shirts sending you thousands upon thousands of death and rape threats.

Except--
nerd culture isn't really about what you consume, you know.
You have a very shallow grasp of the subject.
I mean ultimately we can break any subculture down to what the people buy.
That's what marketing is?
Never mind.

I clarified above. But to further elaborate, I feel like the concept of Nerd Culture has been this thing that allows people who otherwise have a lot of privilege in their lives (usually straight white dudes) to take their possible past alienation and make Nerd Culture something immune to critique, and calling them out makes you WORSE than a sexist.

it happens in all areas of my life to a certain extent? but never to the amount of hatred and bile I've seen amongst gamers, for example. 

You're telling a primarily hateful group of people to be less hateful then arbitrarily assuming it's because you're a woman and not because you're a whiny cunt.
Really?

I think the point the article was trying to make was how unrealistic the intended portrayal of sexual assault is. With that and mind, I'd just say that I wouldn't trust the gaming industry to make a game that dealt with the subject matter in a realistic or respectful (to the victims) way. 

AM I THE ONLY PERSON
WHO PLAYS THESE GAMES
TO HAVE FUN?
Oh new Tomb Raider game?
Oh Lara Craft was raped in it?
That's a tragedy. How's the gameplay?
Not to be too callous here but frankly what happens to the vagina of a virtual and fictional woman is really not something I'll be losing sleep over. How does it play?
Are the controls still awful?

Additionally, I'm not sure I'd see what the point of a game like that would be -- and would probably be wary of the person who wanted to...play it... 

Oh well I'm guessing it might be in the title somewhere.
Maybe about a chick who raids tombs?
I have no idea.
What's the point of playing a game?
I dunno. Fun?
No can't be that-- must be about the empowerment of marginalized groups. Fun?
What's fun?
I had fun once and it was awful.

Going to be honest: I love Lara and Tomb Raider. I have since I was 11. Lara has always been a hero to me--a strong, confident, smart person who goes for what she wants without apology and who happens to be the same gender as I am. Growing up, I wasn't exacted surrounded by strong female role models (none, if you want the truth), so having Lara in my life was important to my development, especially as a feminist. 

 Oh that's comforting. A woman who runs into other countries' sacred places and steals everything not nailed down and kills tons of people is a positive role model for a burgeoning feminist.

BTW: on the subject of "protecting" Lara....Eidos (now Square, I believe?) has tossed around that term concerning how male gamers feel about playing TR since the games first came out, and I've always hated it because Lara doesn't need anyone to protect her. Besides, I never feel like I'm protecting her (as that quote claims gamers do)--I always feel like I'm adventuring alongside her.

... Do people really feel like they're protecting a woman in a game?

Unless that's the mission, or something, I never felt like the women I was controlling in a game needed me specifically. Most of them shoot force lighting out of their hands. I think they have this situation under control.

 Anyway I gotta go now.

WORK AND SHIT YO

KEEPING THE WORKING MAN DOWN

GRRRRRL GAMERS

YES I PLAY VIDEO GAMES
AND I'M A GIRL
DON'T HIT ON ME SILLY BOYS xP
Today is a spotlight community that is Women Gamers.
Many posts seem to be based more or less around the notion that GIRLS ARE TOO GAMERS AND WE CAN DO ANYTHING BOYS CAN DO IN VIDEO GAMES which I'd fucking hope so because it's not like it actually requires physical prowess to do something in a video game.
You're not actually decapitating people, women.
One thing guy gamers can do that women can't do, though, is shut up about their gender in relation to their hobbies.

I was wondering if anyone has any good resources for building your own gaming rig at home?

Newegg.

I'm at NewEgg right now watching their tutorial videos, and was thinking it might be good practice to watch a few different tutorials, if only to get a good idea of how everything goes together in general.

Seriously it's round peg goes into round hole level logic assembling a computer.
It's not that difficult I promise.
The only way you can possibly fuck up is if you buy the wrong type of processor but even that's made trivial when Newegg lists exactly the types of processors a socket will take.
Also before you ask the stupid question (that all newbies seem to consider for a moment): no, Intel processors don't fit in AMD motherboards.

I also wanted to gauge which parts I should be investing in and what the differences are, as flat-out reviews have a lot of technical speak that is just getting me all confused.

TEE-HEE ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY SURE IS CONFUSING.
What are you trying to play? Just copy someone's build that plays the game on max.

We've had a series of PC crashes around the house this week and so are in the market for some new PCs. I don't paticularly want to shell out another $1000 for a laptop with mediocre performance and would much rather use that money to invest in a rig that I could upgrade/wouldn't have a bunch of prepackaged software/might live longer than 3-4 years. But I've never built a computer myself, and the only person who I know who has is 3 hours away (sister's husband).

We can do anything boys can do in video games except, you know, when it gets really tricky we have to rely on men.
DO YOU SEE WHY THE GUYS ON YOUR FAVORITE TEAM FORTRESS 2 SERVER MAKE FUN OF YOU?
You're involved in a community that is dominated by white men who are almost fully anonymous and feel they have something to prove in fantasy land because many of them are not successful in real life.
This is the one realm in their life where they feel fully competent and to them, you're a threat.
Here's a review of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
That "new" "MMO" by Bioware. Its major claim to fame is it is the most expensive video game ever developed in the history of man and also it's fully voice acted.
The implication there being the voice acting cost lots (in which case they got ripped off, because I've heard the voice acting and me, a non-actor, could do about a million times better without trying) or it's the first fully voice acted video game in history.
I don't actually know what the first fully voice acted video game is but I know for a fact Assassin's Creed 1 was fully voice acted and it definitely came out before 2011.

Character: Jedi Knight named, you guess it, Jakia.

- Character creation: sadly lacking CC options. I have a feeling that, playing the main game, I'll probably run into more than one twin of my character.

MOST EXPENSIVE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT CYCLE IN HIIIIIIIISTORY.
But those pre-generated face assets were over budget.
I've never run into a clone of Edie, incidentally.

You can't go in and fix the face exactly the way you want to like in Dragon Age or Mass Effect--you pick a preset and edit their hair/makeup/skin color and go from there. Which is fine, I guess, but I'm used to having more control over my appearance.

Your first MMO, clearly, because I can count on one hand the number of MMOs I've encountered that let you control facial details to that degree.
Phantasy Star Universe (first and last time you'll hear me say something positive about PSU)
aaaaaaand Age of Conan.
Both games were shit, but they did have fairly in-depth character creators.
There's your character--
she's definitely more masculine than I am.
Maybe you wanted the tough chick look with a clitoris she has to tape back, I don't know, but either way she's hideous.

You start out choosing between the Sith or the Jedi, which disappointed me at first because, well, what's the point of RPing then?

Errrr--
Who roleplays in these games outside of mutants, honestly?

Ten minutes into the game, though, proved that choosing the Jedi didn't mean I couldn't be the biggest asshole/dark side leaning Jedi ever, which is so lulzy. I love it.

I like to roleplay but my main goal is to violate the rules to the entire underpinning of the Star Wars franchise.
QUALI-T ROLEPLAYING HERE.

I'm just going to say it: I love voiced protagonists. This game has a voiced protagonist. This pleases me. ^_^

I'm at bullet point five and I have yet to hear mention of gameplay. I suppose I could cut some slack because it is a first impression so maybe she's tackling these subjects as they come up but really, come on.

The game does suffer from the same problem Dragon Age/Mass Effect suffered from, though, in that the dialogue you click on is only a summary of what your character will say.

Bullet point six. Maybe you spend the opening of the game talking a lot?
Far be it for Bioware to open their game with heart pounding action and intense combat.

For example, one mission I was on I needed to talk the villagers into helping me. One option (the bottom one, which previous knowledge of Bioware games tells me is the evil/"bad" choice) had me ask "what do I do if they say no?" which I thought was a legit concern.

I remember in Mass Effect when I was trying to get in that blue bitch's pants and I was playing it cool so I picked the "maybe we can talk about this later WINKINGEMOTICON" option and it translated into "I AM VERY BUSY RIGHT NOW PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE."
Thanks a fuck ton, Bioware.
Turns out she hates the cool approach anyway and the clumsier and creepier my advances became the progressively more turned on she got.
Apparently I don't understand women or video games.
It's not that the dialogue tree just summarizes the actual dialogue (which wouldn't be a problem) it's that often what's written differs drastically in tone from what's actually spoken.
But I shouldn't be surprised considering the lead writer at Bioware was hired based of the strength of her fanfiction (no shitting).

Clicking on that, however, had my character pounded her fist into her palm and went "so how many skulls do I get to crush if they say no?" Which, no, THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY! Misleading dialogue is misleading at times.

Sounds like what I meant anyway so okay.

I love conversing with NPCs and hearing them talk. It's so BIOWARE. If you don't love Bioware, chances are you aren't going to love this game, because so many Bioware tropes are in this game.

There you go. Review in one sentence.
Avoid this shit.

First piece of usable loot I picked up? Booty shorts. Apparently this only happened to me, because no one else is running around in booty shorts, but I am. "The Force is strong in this one!"

Does this game have gameplay or is it really just a gossip and dress up simulator?
I legitimately wouldn't be surprised either way with Bioware.

Graphics aren't the world's best, but they aren't bad, either.

BULLET POINT NINE. NO MENTION OF HOW IT PLAYS.
I'm sure one might argue that doesn't matter as much for an MMO because you know what to expect but I've heard some frankly shocking things about TOR in the gameplay department considering it's the most EXPENSIVE VIDEO GAME EVER MADE.

That said, there are some things that I have a problem with, and they are big enough that it may keep me from actually buying the game until said things are resolved:

- Combat. Combat is AWFUL.

I have problems with some things.
THE MEAT OF THE GAME IS BAD.
"You know, this restaurant was really good. The ambiance was nice and the wait staff was very kind if you can excuse the fact they served me a cat turd on a plate."

There is no auto-attack button, and clicking on someone does absolutely nothing. I click on them and then I have to MOVE and manually attack them. It feels like 10 steps back from KOTOR, and it's annoying because I get slaughtered before I can hit anyone. I've played for maybe two hours, and I keep getting killed because it won't let me auto-attack. VERY frustrating.

No auto-attack isn't instantly a bad thing, you know. There's such a thing as skill in video games and manual attack can facilitate that because it becomes a balance between dodging and striking, you know.
Except I've seen the combat in TOR and there is an auto-attack button so I'm afraid she's mistaken.

The camera! The camera is terrible! It's very difficult to manipulate, and it's almost too sensitive at times, causing it to zoom in/zoom out and zoom around the character while I'm trying to do something. It's terribly distracting.

How in the fuck do you have a bad camera in an MMO?
These games don't require precise camera control so when a bad camera in an MMO becomes noticeable it's something of a problem.
Especially considering it's the MOST EXPENSIVE VIDEO GAME EVER DEVELOPED.
I cannot overemphasize that enough.

the Bioware "female characters have sashaying hips" is in effect full-force. Which was never a problem for me in other games, but it is in this one.

Well you did make a tits and hips monster of a character, to be fair.
I imagine in real life she'd have a very sashaying walk.

The game is very, very laggy. I went into an almost empty server and the game was still laggy as all get out. And I know it's not my computer--based on the system requirements, With the game lagging, no auto-attack, and my character's swaying hips, basic movement from place to place is terrible. I run into walls, I run into other players, I run directly into enemies and then it takes me ten minutes to attack them and by then, they've killed me.

We spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing this game but we decided against buying good servers.
The shocking thing I heard was there's no combat log.
You know, the thing that tells you details of your fight?
The thing that has been a staple of every graphical MMO ever and was included in the very first MMOs, like Nexus, Meridian 59 and Ultima Online?
This game cost as much as some Hollywood movies and you don't have simple, simple basic shit like that?
What'd you spend all that cash on?

Overall, I think it has the makings of an EXCELLENT mmorpg one day, and it sucks you in in a way WoW or Galaxies never did for me. I just don't think it's ready to be released yet.

"Makings of an EXCELLENT (her emphasis) MMORPG"
"I spent a vast majority of the time crashing into walls and getting killed."
World of Warcraft really has ruined the MMORPG genre.

So I bought Skyrim today and have loved the experience so far. I only have one not so tiny problem: I am in the process of completing the golden claw quest (yes I am in the beginning). I have made it all the way to the snake, snake, whale puzzle. I have used every combination of them to try to get the metal gate to open. I even looked in the strategy guide that came with the game (it was a gift).

I CANNOT SOLVE A PUZZLE EVEN WHEN THE ANSWER IS GIVEN TO ME.
Dipshit: click on the claw. The solution is literally stamped on the claw.
You're using the wrong claw's code.
Or is it that other puzzle where you have to rotate the pillars?
Either way I have never had problems with this.

It tells me that when standing in the doorway facing the gate the pillars should read : snake, snake, whale. I thought maybe it was a game glitch and reloaded my last save only to have the same issue. This is one of the main plot quests and I have to get this gate open. Help!

Oh, that one.
It goes the other way, I'm pretty sure.
I don't remember, honestly. I just kind of fucked around with it for a minute and the door popped open.

Hello everyone. I'm currently looking into buying a Playstation 3, and I wanted to pick your brains about PS exclusives.

Generally what I'm into are non-turn based action/adventure games, but I'm fairly particular in what I like. I'm not into "realistic" war games that draw from historical events (such a WWII), and generally steer clear of shooters (third person included). However, I make exceptions for games with amazing stories and unique gameplay. I just prefer sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat, or magic, to killing with a gun.

Final Fantasy XIII sounds right up your alley since I'm guessing you hate fun.
I know that isn't exclusive but who gives a shit.

Series I enjoy:

Zelda -- I like the simplicity of the stories, the puzzles and the boss fights.

To keep this simple gameplay is mentioned exactly twice and "simplicity and starting a family" is mentioned more than twice, as well as colorful graphics and lots of different environments.
So--
What games does she think she'll like?

Demon's Souls/Dark Souls (I know Dark Souls isn't an exclusive, but I kind of want to play Demon's Souls before Dark Souls)

What does Wikipedia have to say about Demon's Souls?

Praised for its dark fantasy art design, variation in combat choice and integrated online multiplayer, the game is particularly notable for its high difficulty level with many critics noting it as a genuine challenge.

Dark fantasy art design (AKA dark and gritty) and high difficulty level.
Sounds like a good match for someone who enjoys simplicity and colorful graphics.
And starting an in-game family.

So I just found out something from my partner today and I thought I would share.

So my partner and I have been together almost 2 years now and we are engaged to be married next year. When we met he knew I was a gamer-girl ( I grew up playing video games on consoles like the sega megadrive, nintendo 64 and the original playstation) and he appreciated that as he too was a gamer.

Well if we're laying out our gaming credentials I'm exactly one generation older than you in terms of gaming so I'm not impressed.

So he went to work not long after this and told one of his fellow male workmates that I was a gamer and his reply?

"Chicks dont game."

They don't, generally. If they did they wouldn't need special communities.

When my partner told mr this I latterly threw a tantrum. I was told the guy (only 17 years to my 23) thought himself to be pretty cool with gaming since he started playing and could beat any girl, so he reckons.

I'd like to take a time out to remind everyone that she's offended by the comments of a 17 year old.
Also I'm older than both of you so shut up and listen to me.
I have more gaming experience.

But that was not what annoyed me. The fact that he said that girls don't game an ultimately suck or are lousy absolutely annoyed me!!!!

Comments?

Yeah, I got a few comments.
1. Who gives a shit?
2. What's up with your boyfriend? Surely he told you this knowing it would bother you.

A large launch party and LAN for Battlefield 3 is being held in Texas, and women are disallowed from attending in order to protect them from misogynistic insults.

Ha, ha wow. Only in Texas.
That's like some I, Robot thinking.
TO PROTECT HUMANS FROM EACH OTHER WE MUST KILL ALL OF THEM.

Nothing ruins a good LAN party like uncomfortable guests or lots of tension, both of which can result from mixing immature, misogynistic male-gamers with female counterparts. Though we’ve done our best to avoid these situations in years past, we’ve certainly had our share of problems. As a result, we no longer allow women to attend this event.”

This is the high technology, adult version of a "no cooties" sign on your club house.

Could there be a more perfect example of privilege? I'm not exactly a social justice warrior but it is nothing short of disgusting that males who cannot prevent themselves from making sexist comments or behaving in a misogynistic manner are being catered to. This behaviour is akin to victim blaming, and I for one will not be purchasing this product.

No, they're saving you from the mean comments.
Because if they let you attend I'm sure I'd be reading MEN ARE SO MISOGYNISTIC comments.
Either way they can't win.
Ohhhh, man.
I so don't care about this Texas LAN event thing, incidentally. Normally I could dredge up enough interest to take a side but I really don't care.
So what have we learned from this blog?
I learned games with bright, colorful graphics, cheery atmosphere and good dialogue are winning combos with the woman demographic.
If you can slap a marriage and child-rearing segment on your game then you have it fucking made.
Also they don't understand why male gamers are threatened by female gamers-- ignoring for the moment most people who would self-identify as a "gamer" have little practical experience with women-- when the three colors in an average male-oriented video game are gray, brown and khaki, the story most likely revolves around war, death and depression and the first question when the phrase "children are in this game" is "can I kill them?"
My ultimate conclusion is gamers really are a juvenile bunch of twats, irrespective of age, gender or other affiliations.
This is the 21st century equivalent to playing house and playing war, respectively.
Only my understanding of gaming is superior.