Beat That Poor Passed on Equine

I have a much longer post in shambles of an outline that this sort of thing was supposed to cover in great detail, perhaps even some sort of mega arc post that would span several pages.

But I came across a post on a friends tumbler and I had a small thought and felt I needed to elaborate on it in some way that was public.

And I know we see these sort of things and this sort of post ON tumblr, twitter, Facebook.
But this is my platform, my soapbox so here is where it shall be.
 Linky link Linky

But the thought that I had was this.
The "fake geek girl" and "Girly geek" and "cosplay is consent" panels . . . yes, they are exhaustive, sometimes it seems like you can only cover the same topic so many times, "yeah yeah, get over it"
But you know what? No.
Keep hosting it, keep discussing it, keep telling the stories and never believe it doesn't make a difference.

When I was growing up we had the anti-drug campaigns. And we got that propaganda drilled into our heads, "say no to drugs" and now that I'm older, I know that certain, perfectly legal things, are arguably, more dangerous than things that are illegal, but I have come to my own conclusions on that as I've grown. But I believe, that as a result of those campaigns, I stayed away from many substances, legal and otherwise, not out of fear, but out of the education of them. The constant discussion, the knowledge, kept me from going down paths I might have explored had I not had that information available to me.

I think it's the same way with Equal Rights (any variation thereof, and there are a lot. some more relevant to this conversation than others) and that the more we discuss these things, the more conscious we will become of them, and that others will stay conscious of them, and those who grow up after us will look at these things and say "wow, look how silly they were back then. Well, some of these things are cool, but dude, did they have a skewed perspective" much as we do to our past today.

So I guess it comes down to education, as much of my life is centered around. Education and the nurturing of critical thought. Otherwise you are an ignorant animal controlled by emotions, not the enlightened creatures we masquerade as.

Banging It Out

My own issues with "The Big Bang Theory"

When I first started watching it, I saw some of the later episodes of Season 1 and fell in love. Oh man, this show was the best. Nerdy, smart, funny, comfortable (thanks to the sets from Friends and the cameos from "sitcoms past" like Roseanne & Cybil) and cameos aplenty from Nerd luminaries & heroes abound! It was mainstream and I knew people who I thought were "cool"-yet-nerdy who loved the show and fantasized about the characters.
But then, every know and then, I would see a random episode that would piss me off. Or a certain gag would be funny, I won't dispute that, but would feel dirty to me, or cheap, like they took the easy way out for the laugh and it felt insulting to me.
In short, I tell most people, I love it 4 out of 5 times, and hate it 2 out of 5.

I haven't spoken up about it since I had this revelation as I felt maybe it was beleaguered already and kind of old news and that honestly, what influence do I have over anything that my opinion matters.

I remember some short flurries on twitter about (terribly poorly paraphrased and not quoted at all to original authors) "how BBT is like black face for nerds!" and replied with "STFU the actors are nerds and know what they're doing!" As well as having read some blurbs here and there about the issues of watching the show as a nerd especially if said nerd has really deep seated emotional recall attached to their psyche in regards to being ridiculed for their nerdyness (isn't that all of us, really? as nerds?)

But then I saw
THIS POST linked through The PA Report and read it all the way through. I'm sorry, here's homework and it's a juicy post so if you were hoping for lighthearted quick fare from me, today is not that post, I'm sorry, come back later, it will be here, I promise you.

Read it? or at least skimmed through and got the gist? Well whatever, here we go.
I'm gonna start with devil's advocate as I was, and still feel I am very capable of becoming, a ragging asshole douchenozzle of slavering mad adolescence and low self esteem. I mention that as most humor I enjoyed and still do to this day, is self deprecating. I think I might be trying to generalize.
In high school one of the preferred forms of entertainment among my social group was to insult each other. Through ostracizing and belittlement we further ingrained ourselves into each others company. This was our normal mode of communication. Angry, mean little bastards (in some cases nigh close to literally) and we vented that frustration at each other. I feel it's given me a lot of perspective through my life to never take myself too seriously, to always question everything, and always be thinking critically as a result of years of learning to pick out or intuit the most hurtful and shameful of details in anyone and anything.
I tell you all this because that's why I think I still watch The Big Bang Theory and think it has potential to be a shining beacon of Nerdy awesomeness we want it to be.
Or maybe that's why it's still being written by the people who write it and "are X" whereas "X" is whatever the person being represented is, be it nerd, hip, foreign, gay, straight, actor or person of disabilities. They write/produce/act the show because they are who they are. Trying to make money, doing what they love, making sure they get the laugh, reaching as broad an audience as possible.
As someone who has done A LOT OF THINGS on A LOT OF SHOWS I know how many people it takes ( and how many people you SHOULD have) and how many different dynamics there are between those people and where conflicts arrive and how differently different people at different times those conflicts are passed over or resolved. I don't know if any of that made sense but I'm trying to cut  some slack to the folks who make the show as a fellow entertainer.
The people who make this show, combined, are not amateurs at their craft, nor your everyday nerds. Their popularity is a testament to great creators of television. I also don't doubt the nerd cred of the bulk of the people on the show, yet DO doubt how "legit nerd (WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS)" some of the cast/crew are.
(Real Nerd? Legit Nerd? I think I will have more of that in another post, but effectively, lets agree that this means someone who is like the people who read & write this blog, eh?)
This means that the majority of the time the show will entertain and make you feel warm and fuzzy through the crews antics and you will come to appreciate the characters. BUT once every now and then, and perhaps even the occasional episode, will make real nerds (or maybe just me) angry and sad that we are still living in a world where Tri-Lambs can only be awesome after a montage. (Speaking of which, I will try much harder to have vocal opinions of THIS later)

Before posting this particular tirade I considered canning it one more time, but the discussion showed up in my feedsm once more due to one of thier most recent episode trailers

In context here, I can see how it's offensive as I have worked for & know personally 3 women who owned & managed comic shops as well as an additional 2 who worked there, and am/was friends with . . . easily almost a dozen ladies who regularly go to comic shops for COMICS (DC, Marvel, Image, Top cow, Oni) since before 2009 (when I met them, some have been going, I'm sure, since before 2000).
BUT, just watching the promo objectively, I think to myself, "hahaha, that's funny. The common stereotype is that girls NEVER go to comic shops, even though I know that's not true. Look at these caricatures enact that stereotype even though 9/10 times I believe these are actual human beings." I most likely think this reflexively because I, and many of my female & male geek/nerd friends, use self deprecating humor consistently in our every day lives. Being able to joke about ourselves and complaining/laughing at our plights and proclivities.

For more fuel and other points of views IM SURE you can FIND SOME all over the intarwebs.

And so, in summation I will take the easy way out and not give any sort of "solution" as I don't have one really. There are too many unknowns as to WHY they "take the easy laugh" and it can't be because they "hate nerds" because many of them ARE nerds and many "nerd stars" who would NOT put up with a bullshit nerd-bash show REPEATEDLY GUEST STAR on the series.
So, I will continue to watch it on reruns, maybe even watch it marathon from episode 1 to end one day to get all the jokes. But I will also know to don my "nerd armor" to protect my heart against jokes that go too far or make me rail at how these characters should REALLY handle a situation with dignity and pride, and then remind myself of all the crap I wrote above.
I guess after all that I am glad I'm not a Neilson home because I would honestly have a difficult time deciding whether or not to give them the ratings as a nerd.

Vanilla Fun

As in "Vanilla World of Warcraft" no, not like . . .in the bedroom, although that is where my computer is . . . not for that, specifically . . .
But on to Wow.
As most of us know, on Tuesday Sep. 25th, The one race EVERYONE thought should have been in WoW, whether they wanted it or not FINALLY came to Azzeroth, after four expansions. I was on "the wows" that day and was delighted to discover SO MUCH of the content was available without the expansion proper, such as being able to roll Panderan (not as a monk though, that required the Xpac), and the new Pet Battle system.

So, of course, having never seriously played or owned a copy of Pokemon, or Digimon, Or Monster Rancher, I was instantly addicted to the Pet Battle system. (I also weakly justified it because of the vague potential to acquire a geode pet which, T1nk expressed that she wanted. although now I think you can't trade that one so I will have to farm it off Elementium, but, anyway). My buddy Moose was also on and was chatting with me a bit about the PokeWow, as I realized I had dinged the "Big City Pet Brawlin' - Horde" I saw the Alliance Version as well as the "Multicity" version and knew I had to do them!
So I told Moose to meet me and we flew off to Darnassus on our Horde Toons, ready for sneaky cross faction Capitol Poke-WoW. It was a blast, flying up into Darnassus, forgetting how to get to Exodar and then dying repeatedly because all the guards are 90 now, escaping a hunter in The Deeprun Tram by just hopping on the Tram even though I guess he thought he could take a raid spec'ed Tank & a PvP geared Frost Mage by himself, corpse dropping through IF where we REALIZED the guards had been buffed, and then corpse dropping through SW, avoiding ALL THE WARLOCKS ON THE SERVER (Ally side) and watching allies who DEFINITLY COULD(crazy, most recent season PvPgear) take me and moose not even realize we were only a few miles above them, waiting for the boat to Darn, then Exodar.
 It wasn't until the next day till Moose texted me while I was at work "Dude, we could have just done the battles on Alliance toons and gotten the achievement." To which I replied along the lines of, "yeah, that sounds right, but FUCK THAT! That would have been cheating"
Wich reminds me of a anecdote I often recite:
"Back in my day, we used to grind 15 hours in Winterspring, Uphill! With a 40% speed mount and a .05% drop rate. And we were happy for it! None of your silly cross-realm auto Queues. We had to WAIT for BG's & FIND PUG's and then you had to LIVE with the consequences of your actions and those of the idiots you grouped with CAUSE THEY WERE THERE! EVERYDAY, in Orgrimmar, on top of the bank, yelling about how they were the savior of the Horde and would lead us into victory against the disgusting alliance with their more attractive females, even though they weren't even max level and never really left the capitol city, nor was part of a Guild."
(For more, "ol' Man Ribeye" Rants . . . Hang out with me.)

Ol' RibeyeJack has hunted above his weight class on numerous occasions . . . Back when hunters had mana.

It was shortly after that text I realized a certain TYPE or feel of fun had left WoW, or had to be found, instead of an integral part of it. I have lamented certain changes in the past HERE, and there are a number of posts discussing other aspects of the game. Funny enough, I read a couple old posts and realized some of the information was no longer relevant due to many changes with different patches & expansions.
But here I talk about the power slip and the drop of the challenge curve.

Neutering of pets, where you don't have to go train others and then learn their abilities, no feeding, normalization where all pets are created equal, even more so NOW that you can spec whatevr pet you like the way you like. WHich I think is cool, but I like the idea of "hunting" and "tameing" and THEN if you like "re-training." Having played a hunter with a LOT of RP during Vanilla, and even on into today, these are small things I miss.
Bigger things it seems really began with what I've heard dubbed, and what I call, EZ-Patch, a few months before Lich King came out, when many things in Wow changed numerically. NPC's and mobs were nerfed and the amount of XP to get to 60 (cap was 70 at the time) was reduced at each level. At the time, the raiding guild I was with, was having serious issues pushing past certain content in a couple different Raids, but as soon as that patch hit, I was able to see a LARGE amount of content I thought we would spend a month or so on. And although it was very cool, it felt a bit cheapened, because I had hard won 2 peices of raiding gear and then with a couple nights of  rushed wipes, I had half a dozen more pieces of various tiers.
More recently with the achievements, titles, pets & mounts going cross-account. Once again, I like it in so far that certain things I want to be able to access no matter what toon I'm on, like ultra rare pets & mounts such as the Lil' T.K. & my Blizzard Blizzcon Bear mount. But with OTHER super-rare items, like Time-Lost Proto Drakes & Emerald Whelplings, a player puts in serious time and energy on one character, I think that's sort of a unique vanity that the character you accomplished it on should be able to sport, not just having a level 12 run around with a critter who's the same level as him.

We came out of the sea and strode through town, desolation in our wake. They killed one of our own attempting a quest that came too near their border, there mightiest(read: lvl 70's) then ran raids into our settlement. Our retribution was swift and sure.

It sort of feels like WoW evolved a lot like consoles did. I mean like how, when some of us were younger we played games on the NES or Sega, I'll even include PS1, and at those tween/adolescent years, those games were HARD. Then you go back to them almost a decade later, and realize, yeah! they were difficult. That's why there were cheats & bugs & game genies. But now, as consoles & the games have evolved, they are still hard, but it's no more "you need a lantern to get through there or you die because that should make sense to you. There is no sign post or multiple ways to light up the area" now the challenge is the AI, other players, more complex styles of play than just the inherent game itself in the form of achievements & awards.
The traditional way to do huge things in WoW was to get a 40 person raid together, and if you didn't have a massive guild, you had to find alternate ways to do things. Sometimes just for the shiggles of having done it. For example, I STILL need to get a 5 man together of level 20 somethings, corpse drop through SW and do Stockades, cause that's not cheating.

"Back in my day, Tarren Mill didn't even have ground! And we were thankful for that lack of floor!" Yay rendering bugs!

Well, I think I've made my point, but then again, I am really looking forward to this expansion because of the story promised by devs & designers, maybe some of that old flavor will creep back in. Time will tell.

Holdups

Imma shoot straight with ya H47ites. I know I'm behind on my 3rd 4 t3h nrrd, even though i have one researched, & I know my updates have been spotty and random. I know it sounds like I have a serious case of the Piro's Disease (see Trope  ) but honestly, Life has hit me in the balls harder than usual.
Dead car, sick grama, feeble mother who can't perform tasks needed to quell grama, rehearsal, fight directing at rehearsals, building set for rehearsals, work at a job where we HAD full strength but 3/4 of staff now have second jobs that prioritize over this one, leaving myself and the manager with the most flexible schedules, AND I HAVE A SHOW, plus trying to find time to take the CBEST so I can start a "real job" while I start on my Masters Degree. Oh yeah, and we're going to Comic Con next weekend and literally only have 1/3 the funds to pay for it all.
Sorry for the rant, but as per Joesky's law, here are cool things

HAwkings, has a sense of humor . . . .



The music itself lacks the "UMPH" of the original, but I do enjoy the whole thing on its own.


and . .  something I would have probabaly done if i'd had a camera when I was that young, cute

"Arrested"

I have no doubt that if SOPA or PIPA were to be implemented my entire presence on the internet would be deemed in violation of federal law and would make a criminal on a national government level. Most likely all of my favorite sites and dear friends would also be deemed unlawful elements on the world wide web.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout-sopa-and-pipa-lose-three-co-sponsors-in-congress.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/under-voter-pressure-members-of-congress-backpedal-on-sopa.ars

http://gizmodo.com/5877000/what-is-sopa

Contact your congressperson, talk about it, spread the word. Do more than go camping in a public park, and as always, vote!

The Third Tale

Fable III was a blast, accept for that damned main storyline.

You might have read some of my previous impressions about this game, but I finally powered through it and "finished" it.

First of all, Zero Punctuation has got my back on this one, almost verbatim.

Only a few differences in my case, instead of playing the Real Estate Game and letting it run overnight I maxed out Blacksmithing and made swords till I couldn't see straight. Seriously, if everyone in Albion had three hands, men, women and children would have had two extra swords, yo.
And then, when I'm finally in the black (instead of -500,000 because you say "yes" to all the stuff that ISN'T blatantly "this is Reaver's idea to make you evil" with no third options that make sense) I realize I have to raise MORE money in order to save lives, and the little monkey with an abacus in my brain says "dude, that's like 1,000 a head, or something, I don't wanna do the actual calculation, that would be hard." So I go and make some more cash to start buffing out my coffers. I actually manage to open a door that GIVES me a crap-ton of gold, and try to do a few achievement quests or quests that are unique but don't have an obvious time-line/main storyline ti-ins.

The main storyline is prompting me to do stuff, but I remember 0-Punctuation Guy saying there's a "time limit" till the darkness comes, "oh, there it is 'days left: 151' sweet, I have some time." So I start the main questline and it throws me straight into "Darkness here, you're all kinds of fuct!" And then, Guess what!?!?!? It was in Walter the whole time from that stupid fucking "itsa Trap!" cave, so, now that your Holy Wheaties Avenger of Light (or Babies for Breakfest, Puppies for Desert, Tea with Hitler-Evil) you get to have a showdown with the creature IN YOUR TOWN SQUARE! Not in some epic castle, or wind-swept awesome battlefield, or anything, no, right there, next to where that guard, gave you that repeatable quest and you hit on that guy once to get a gay admirer.

BULLSHIT!

HA! The suck doesn't end there, you get your ending where everyone QQ's over Walter and Jasper drops a bomb on you that even though you managed to be a paragon of Awesomeness (in my case) By giving everyone everything they said they wanted, (accept for reduced casualties, whoops, my bad, whatever) that a bunch of people STILL hate you. I get the impression he doesn't just mean Reaver, Bandits, and that one guy who writes the crappy smack talk mail to everyone.
Um, I'm done with this game at that point, it leaves you open to keep playing and get everything else in the game, but I had started griping at T1nk by this point, hoping the end credits would have some fun stuff on them, ah well, guess not.
And where the hell are the quests that give you a crap ton of money because you are a good person? There was like, one, and it MIGHT have canceled one of those hard decisions, but not nearly on a scale to get a favorable ending, only if you entered the game ready to make money, or (as is sometimes the case) you are a brilliant savant with money in video games.
OR, another possibility that this game made me consider, I'm bad at video games, that's how much this game made me wonder.
And where the hell are my top hat and goggles, steampunk/industrial revolutionary style/oliver twist like video game!?!? Every Tom, Denise, and Harriette and vaguely effeminate Reaver are wearing rockin Makers Faire ensembles, and the best I get is the bandit's outfit!?! Gah!
So, if you're still reading this, if you have a chance to borrow this game or have a game fly account and want a new game, go ahead and play it through. Honestly, I think Lion's Gate should make a full blown MMO or just a super-RPG like a FF or KH, because just RPG-ing in the universe is a blast, the combat is fun but not terrible, the system's were okay, and the worlds are immersive. I would love to maybe even Table top an Albion campaign (say hey, that's a good idea, hrrmm..) So, yeah, I love the work they do and the voice acting was crazy ( mean, come on, a Python & a Doctor? Fuck yeah) but they really needed to work on that main storyline for me. I've heard others praise it like mad, but, not my cup of tea, sorry.

Work to Work

Working while working to get work done on things we'd rather work on. Maybe I should have started with a "yo dawg" meme?

I think what I am trying to articulate, is the interesting setup our society has placed on creation and/or being productive.

As a part time employee, a full time student, a regular actor, a citizen of the internet and a human being on this earth, there are many things I wish to accomplish and many things the institutions I am part of wish me to undertake. The obligations to these institutions often conflict with the things I want to do privately, or even through the institutions in cases of programs I wish to control.

Specifically, I want to write my blog, write stories, plays, put on shows or workshops at school, run convention booths for my work or just play video or table top games (things I find just as important in my life for a multitude of reasons). I also want to make money at work so I can pay for these things. I want to be educated and a man of letters which only completion of this academic institution will give me. I want to become independently stable financially through my brain power and creation alone, getting paid to write or design or storytell.

I know, that is a whole mess of "I want" but lets be honest with each other, the satisfaction of our desires are usually very high on our lists of priorities, and I don't find any of the above immoral or belittling or problematic as a healthy functioning human being.

I guess the point of all this rambling and for H47 gettin' heavy, is that (and perhaps I am nothing more than a product of my generation, culture, and upbringing) I would like to live in a situation where I could put something on hold while I complete another project I had stuck my nose into. But alas, you can only do that with private projects. And, by the time you complete the compulsory projects assigned to you, it is often too late or moot to attempt them in tandem with your organization.
I apologize if this sounds like a frustration rant, it might very well be easily seen as one, but perhaps it's also to share. As young people, or even a universal theme, let us all work for a change, perhaps help others, or should we find it in our power, to pave the way for others, and facilitate the ability to create something beautiful, or even just some spare time, for others, and ourselves.
As for answers, I don't have them, and when I do, I try to live them as oppose to postulate and throw them around. This is just something I felt the need to ruminate upon and think others who read this blog might relate to and understand, perhaps help articulate things they themselves felt but had not yet voiced.
Thank you for your time,
...[+]
H4773r

Allies, WTF Mate?

A letter to Alliance concerning XR raids:

Why?

This is a question I ask a lot in life, but especially in WoW.

Ever since the early years of vanilla and definitely since I can remember, Crossroads, in northern Barrens is constantly set upon by max level Alliance players.

This makes no sense to me in any conceivable way other than to be a raging dick. And that might be reason enough, but it doesn't make me less upset.

If no one has guessed yet, I LOATHE PvP servers. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy PvP, mostly BG's and worthwhile world objectives (killing faction leaders) I even totally understand Arena (even though I don't play). BUT!! Incorrectly, I was led to believe there was some sort of etiquette that if you / wave to an enemy player, they will probably leave you alone if you are both questing out in the world. Nope, red = dead for you or the other player. I had a warrior on a pvp server for, two years? I BARELY got him to 64 over that time because every 7 levels, I would get ganked, repeatedly, rage quit and not return to that server for 3 months, like an Alzheimer patient. No level difference is too great nor bag not douche enough that another player will attack you in flagged areas. I had toons 3 levels lower than me openly try to gank me on that server. What about that makes sense? "gee that 52 war who is clearing 3 mobs at a time is flagged. I'm running to somewhere across the zone and he's ignoring me, and I'm not even 49 yet . . I ! MUST! ATTACK!"

So, once again, why? Boredom? I have several high end toons. Even if you ONLY do PvP, do you have this stash of unlimited gold that you cant be farming for mats for enchants or gold to buy mounts or whatever? Have you "beat the game" so completely that you must resort to decimating a town that has guards 20+ levels below you? Even back in vanilla the biggest threat was the 60 elite hunter who is there. Now, 4 years later you can probably solo her at 60 with some nice outland greens. How is this any sort of challenge or even noteworthy achievement?Go to northrend and clear out Agmar's Hammer or if you wanna be a real beast, Warsong Hold with two RP bosses. Just Soloing? Try an outland city where no one will bother you. Want people to bother you? Try hanging out outside Ogrimmar gates, someone will humor you. Too many people humoring you? well . . . Fuck off then.
I can maybe understand the enjoyment of being able to clear something out that is established and integral, that sounds fun, but not when it is so easy.

Crossroads is just a central example, and I've seen hordies attempt to do the same to Westfall, as well as the constant war between Southshore & Terran Mill (which actually makes sense on occasion as levels 25 through 45 travel through there, this is okay since the guards are about that level) but when you're character has no reason to be in that area or can solo 5 of any mob in the zone or more, it becomes silly.

Am I the only person who thinks this? Am I a crotchety noob QQing into the wind because I am not l337 enough to understand how fun running into Northshire Abbey as a full PvP geared frost mage and killing every NPC AND mobs for a good half hour until someone informs another 80 in Stormwind and then running off, is?

I may be preaching to the choir, but this has been rattling around in my brain for a while, thank you for humoring me.

Hard Core Nerds Who Aren't "Nerdcore" prt. 1

(Lords of Nerd . . . and other kinds, of Rapping)

It has come up a couple times when talking about my Blog (Mr. W. Awesome, I'm looking at you) that I do a monthly focus on a Nerdcore artist, you might have even read one or two, and when asking others who I should focus on next, the names MC Lars and MC Chris have been mentioned.

No, I will not do a 3rd 4 t3h Nrrd on either of these artists. Why? Because they are not Nerdcore, they do not self identify as Nerdcore, and although I enjoy both artists and may do a normal update about either of them, they will most likely never be a focus of my monthly spotlight.

Some hullabaloo has circulated around both rappers about their stance on & as Nerdcore rappers, and being a dutiful rumormonger I made sure to root around and hear the words from the horses mouth. Below are MY impressions of what occurred, I might be off, neither of them have EVER talked to me about the subject and I can only hope that if you have any doubts or suspicions about what is addressed here that you go seek out the events yourself. They are still very well documented around the IntarWebs.

------------------

A while back MC Lars put up a post on his blog titled "RIP Nerdcore 1998-2009" and proceeded to expound upon how the "wave" of Nerdcore hit the shore and began to recede. Also saying how many fledgling "Nerdcore artists(I use the terms loosely)" have been sending him horrible, cheap, copy cat samples. Understandably this was disheartening and did not impress him as legit musicianship in the Nerdcore world. He then listed a few rappers (Nerdcore and otherwise) who he thought make great artists as well as his favorite hip hop influences. All throughout asking starting musicians to strive to pioneer and move the music forward.

A backlash swept through the nerd rap community and well, shit exploded, more like it. Eventually there was a 6 page thread on MC Frontalot's BBS (some very mature and thought out arguments there) and a few threads on Rhyme Torrents Forums as well. Some not as well articulated, but definitely vocal. Hipster Please also put up a take on what Lars was talking about, and after a few days Lars chimed back in to clarify his intent.

Apparently the title was a joke off of another hip hop album, that combined with the less than flattering content that sounded like it was aimed at the entire Nerdcore Community, the damage had been done. The apology helped, but less people on the Nets care about "sorry" than thinly veiled geek bashing.

While I'm on the subject, Mr. Horris has been hosting a discussions on his site as to whether or not Nerdcore is racist. This was in reaction to an off the cuff comment he made in Metro (yes, NorCal-south bay readers, OUR Metro) and he wanted to clarify his statement. A 5 page thread ensued with some cheap shots from both sides of the argument, I think both sides took the jabs in stride, and finally, The Great MC Front, came to the rescue, again, and helped Lars go over some key points on the issue and better clarify his opinions.

MY SUMMARY: I agree completely with Lars in that it is ignorant, and even potentially racist for the CONSUMER, the LISTENER, (and not the Nerdcore artists themselves because every artist I've ever looked into has at least a working knowledge if not a fanaticism for traditional hip hop) to dismiss roots of an art based on it's current popular incarnation. I assume, why he said that Nerdcore was, was a goof on his part.
I agree that you need to continue to move forward, and continue to develop as an artist, regardless of your genre.
I DISAGREE with the idea that Nerdcore compares itself to traditional(or otherwise) Hip Hop hardships. NEVER!, NNNEEEVVAAARR!! have I heard a song from a Nerdcore artist that even came close to this. but . . . . oh yes, I have a but . . . I like to think it is a big, budonkadonk butt, yeah . . sorry. (I'm paraphraseing here, shoot me, but my readership is so small I don't really care, if I blow up because -I'M RIDING THE COATTAILS OF NERDCORE AND MC LARS- well then, sweet, i can start paying some bills and write 2 blogs, do an interview with metro and have 3 5-page threads to explain myself, eh? (sorry, its late and I'm getting snarky) " comparing getting a wedgie to having the south Bronx ruined by an entire train system." anyone who has taken a basic critical thinking class can see this is a fallacy in gross generalization. To be honest, I love them and have used them. But to use it as part of your explanation on CLARIFYING the intent of your statements, not a great idea. So, Let me expound, okay, nerd life is no where comparable to the African American experience. No argument from me, that isn't the point.
*takes a second to collect thoughts*
Let me try again. Have Nerds/geeks/dorks been persecuted on the scale African Americans have? NO, not at all, I'm not drawing that parallel. However, fuck you (that's a "fuck you" in general, not to anyone specific) if you don't believe we don't have hardships. Where the hell did all those nerd empowerment films come from. Where have all the stereotypes and jokes originated, if not from actual events. Social disorders, estrangement, depression, suicide!? These are not legitimate issues for one to address in their chosen art form because someone who has come before you had it worse? Well damn, than only the ancient Greeks have license to produce art as I'm not sure how much worse you can get than slavery, incest, rape, wars and the disenfranchisement of peoples. Does this not fit the argument?
Because the plight of the African-American is on such a grand scale, the plight of nerds will always pale in comparison. This should not belittle the experience of the minority, it is just as real and just as influential. To use an analogy, its like saying a rape victim shouldn't be so upset because she's not a Jew that suffered through the holocaust.

To be fair, I don't think Lars had that in mind at all. But that would be me putting words into Mr. Horris's mouth, and I'm sorry. It sounds like he is a real cool guy, always kind, but he's not naive by any means either. I think the popular consensus at this point is that he needs to think before he speaks, but then, what fun would that be?

L2 Con, Blizz!

(this post is brought to you by This Lovely Lady's opinion on what my next post should be. Biased? Do I care?)

"Gee h47, that's a lot of people milling about, where's that?"
THAT IS A LINE OF PAIN AND ANGUISH THAT COILS TO AND FRO LIKE A NEFARIOUS FIEND'S FECES ONLY TO END IN A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY AND AN EXCHANGE OF TOO LITTLE GOODS TO TOO MUCH MONEY!!

In a less irate tone, that was the line for the Blizzcon Store at the 08 Con. I don't know what the con was like at the first 2 Blizzcons or so, nor the latest blizzcon, but if 08 was ANY indication, Blizzard needs to seriously rework their con staff and allocation of resources.

Hint one, was when we had to partake of the ticket buying debacle. We had heard the year before that tickets sold out within days of going on sale. So, we were poised ("we" being myself and T1nk) with a couple days off and mouses on "buy" option. Then, the amazing happened, the site went down.These two images are the avatars of pain and suffering to Blizzard addicts everywhere and were stared at for nearly three days straight while Blizzards store servers went down from the ruthless pummeling it had taken from the droves of rabid fans.

This did not need to happen. The previous years traffic should have indicated that the interest was large enough to warrant a third party ticket seller or that servers needed to be fortified for the onslaught. These are things that are inferred or speculated upon through various circles I move in. No? Not enough of an authority?

Very well. Servers went down, QQ, people started buying out tickets left and right. Just like the year before and the year after, tickets sold out in less than triple digit hours, approximately 3 days. The reason the tickets sell out so quickly is the drastically limited space at Anaheim convention center to the massive volume of fans who are willing and have adequate funding to attend. One of my favorite phrases I heard at least twice at Blizzcon 08, paraphrased was "10 million people play WoW alone (at the time), not to mention the hardcore Diablo and Starcraft players. The convention center holds 9100. round up or down very graciously either way and that's still less than ONE PERCENT!"

Aright, maybe Blizzard has done this on purpose so that only the most dedicated and serious people will make it to Blizzcon and they prefer to keep it as intimate as possible with such a large fan base. Fine.

T1nk and I got to the con, waited a while after it opened in order to not need to stand in line to get badges and swag, then entered the con a few hours after it had started.
As soon as we walked in we saw the above mentioned line for the Blizzcon Store and T1nk decided to get in it just in case, because T1nk has a healthy concern for practical things like that. We then spent the rest of the day exploring the con, seeing the booths, watching events . . while T1nk stood in line. Then we explored more, stalked The Guild, and perused the itinerary for the next day.

Admittedly, the line died down considerably the next day, but I still stood in line for a good hour to make my shirt purchases and they did not sell out of anything that year. Line rush from day one uncalled for? Due to sellouts in previous year? I honestly don't know.

After less than 9 hours total at the con, we left EARLY to go to "The Magic Kingdom (don't actually click that link, just MOUSE over it. oooh, I know.)"
The next day, we hit Blizzcon 08 hard with a clear plan of what we wanted to do and see.
I played the Wrath of the Lich King preview (not yet released in beta at the time) as well as the Starcraft II preview, for my thoughts, see Hitler!

We tried to get seats as close as possible for the ending concert and Patton Oswalt, but succeeded in getting about 3 screens back, approximately 50 yards back from the stage.

All told, it took us less than 15 hours to see and do everything we wanted at Blizzcon 08, including line time, with one small exception, while I was standing in the store line, I believe the WoW Q&A panel started and I did not know until that moment I wanted to see it. So, Oh well.

All told, I gave Blizzcon 08 a solid "C" grade. From all the fail that we encountered and all the win to make up for it, the ultimate experience was totally whelming(yes, I used the correct word for my thought). Personally, I need a Con to be B grade in order to justify attending and was only slightly heartbroken to not attend Blizzcon 09. Only because I have gained a very rich experience of Blizz's products in the last year (finally beat the Starcraft campaigns and most of the way through Warcraft 3. I know, I know, blasphemer, I only ever played the LAN games with friends every day for a whole academic year in our Cisco Networking class. I finally bought the battlechests last year.) am I much more aware now of what Blizzard's products are and what to be interested in.

Gruh'nug, Who's favorite phrase is "build more TREES!" shares my feelings . .

Dangling From the Wagon

Well, devoted readers (all 3 of you), I managed to keep a steady stream of deliciousness up for about 3 months before I flagged. This is a blog about the status of the blog.

Lament or rejoice (however you feel) this is not defeat, only an update, the blog will march on. I am theatre person and the "show" must go on! (Shakespeare In Love, "It will work! How? I don't know. It's a mystery." On a total shameless tangent, in my Science, Religion, Magic, class, one theorist proposes that humans first result to science, then religion, than lastly, magic. Theatre is a great example of this. How do we put up a show? First, we set up and follow the instructions by the book. Something goes wrong? We pray and hope it will get fixed. Still no? Finally, we resort to superstition and strange rituals to explain and resolve. *looks around* Say hey, look where we ended up. Okay, back to the "not being able to write" portion of this essay . . .)

I currently have about 3 to 5 blogs sitting in the edit file, all of them succulent and juicy, ready to be devoured by you (all 3 of you) the hungering reader.
Subjects include the story of my Proposal to T1nk, an in-character narrative, an observation on RP geek superstitions, as well as reviews on "Melody of Oblivion" & "9." (heh, looky that. Five ideas. Cool.)

Anyway, nerdlings, thank you for hangin' in here with me, and if you havnt already availed yourself of some of the back log posts, I highly reccomend that you partake of them . . . all except for T3h R4n7s. stay away from those. Bad tings mon, bad tings.

-H47

Old R4n7 (4-17-08)

R4n7 4-17-08

as for me, lord, where to start. well, horny beyond belief, but thats nothing new, damn hormones . . . im only in 2 classes this semester and im still finding it hard to go to them regularly. screen writing is interesting, im working on a semi-autobiographical script chronicling my break up with my ex as well as the rekindling of my love for thaetre, very deep, meaningful and dramatic . . . I HATE IT! i lived it, i dont want to relive it again, thats why i play warcraft and D&D and play dress up no less than 3 times a year.

Speaking of Warcraft, good lord am i addicted. and now, 2 of my friends who dont even play WoW are hooked on the card game, its like Magic The Gathering, only for WoW and they want to play constantly. poor guy, one of em, (The Blave), has played all the original Real Time strategy versions of Warcraft, so he knows all this back story, but he's never played WoW so hes always like "but hat makes no sense in the old games, this and this was this way" so Tink(theatreg33k) and I have to explain to him "NO! no making sense anymore, WoW has ruined any semblance of plot the game had, get over it!"
But yeah, WAY too much time spent playing that, ive got my 70 mage doing dailies constantly, and a 65 hunter im finally getting up to 70, and a 42 war i need to get up to outland so that guild can get raiding.

THE OTHER class is advanced acting, and well, it should be "excersices and coaching for acting" cause all we do is read scripts, listen to the proffesor, do scenes and play acting games.

I am sound designing for not only a high school show (the odd couple, female version), but for a "real" theatre company, Arclight Theatre and i'll be doing the sound for Twelfth Night, so that should be fun.

ALSO, i recently got a job at Armor-geddon, and i should start monday, that's gonna be interesting. It's gonna be like working at a corporate comic shop, the guy who hired me is really gun-ho about making the store into something great and caring about the store and the product, as well as making sales, in order to keep the store afloat. so more of a commitment then i was looking for in a store, but thats okay, it should be good for me, and i like that in a management staff.

so thats whats up with me.

Old R4n7 (the first)

As afore mentioned i owe housing a ton and as such there is a hold on my account and because theres a hold i cant add classes, and if i cant add classes i cant get aid AND>>>.... i cant pay the debt until aid comes in.. isnt beaurocracy wonderfull.
p.s. I dont sp43k in l337 t00 much, i simply utiliz3 it.
so that should sum it up...
More R4nt later.... (posted before april sometime.) (before 08 even eddit:09)

An old R4n7 (4/16/09)

R4n7 4-16-09

Damn, I want a childhood. maybe just for a year would be nice. Have someone else pay the bills and not feel guilty about it. Maybe have an allowance, or even just keep my paychecks for myself. Then I could buy all these goodies I want so I could be sub-culturally awesome, such as nerdcore albums, ACTUALLY support music I want to support instead of pirating from musicians I want to give money to, as well as buying equipment and clothes, for everyday as well as construction on various costumes, and . . ah yes, a lightsabre.. It would give me time to work on several projects I've neglected for almost a decade now, not to mention the ones more recently to find a home in my skull. Do some shows without having to worry about when I'm getting up for class or whether or not I will be able to do homework during rehearsal.
I don't often sit back and realize, that I am a full time student with two part time jobs trying to live on my own. and yet, I still live with SOMEONES parents, and am barely able to keep my bills in check. High school needs to teach how to survive, or something. My fiance is as smart as any person i know, but shes had a seven year head start on me and shes in even deeper than I am. Quite frankly, this is bullshit and i want a cheat code, or a reset button, or something.
Alas. this real world stuff is crap, but its something we all share in common. some-odd billion people do it everyday, why does it feel so difficult to me?
It's also a challenge to try and pull yourself half way through your social circle. I never considered it when i was in high school even, but ever since college, it hit me that I was lower-middle class at best, eating weenie soup and thinking it a grand event any time we took recycling in because that meant MickeyD's for lunch. Now I'm very good friends with people who have no idea what it's like to live with your grandma, your aunt, your mother all in a two bedroom apartment on the shady side of town, with your grandma sleeping in the living room on the coach even though she's the one paying the rent, having her pain pills wear off at 530 AM so she takes two more, gets up and goes to work, where she deals with other KIDS problems, inner city misfits worse off than me, and attempts to put them on career paths. Seeing your mothers face drop into blanch shock as you blab "what about grandma? she lives with us?" when the social worker asks her if anyone lives with the two of you because answering "no" would mean more food stamps to feed you. Than not understanding why there wont be a treat of The Golden Arches or even the hot dog cart out front, because you told the lady something wrong. taught me children were to be seen and not heard, not that i had screwed myself and my mother for the next year. ah well, when you're young, you learn differently.
Oh damn, i rambled. anyway, i guess that's why its a rant, well. Geoshities is going down soon, so this will most likely go up on . . i dunno, *shudder* maybe myspace, hopefully a REAL site, ty to epyon avenger.
-H4773r done . . . for now