Dyson's Fear 3.0

Huh? Wha?

I've noticed a trend recently, and that's of nerds throwing around the term 'satire' a lot. Like always, they totally butcher the word don't seem to grasp the meaning of it, but it's weird that it's just suddenly started being used.

I wonder why, as it's completely random.

Any clues?

Labels: absurdity, cultural theory, fandumb, geekdom

posted by Jason @ 11:57 PM 0 comments

I ♥ Answerman

From today's Answerman column at Anime News Network:

Why do some fans get so mad about their favorite shows. It seems like some people get really mad if you say you dont like their favorite anime and they fight with you about it. It makes no sense and it makes everyone mad at eachother.

It's pretty simple, really; most people internalize their favorite movies and TV shows and music and books to the point where they perceive any "attack" on those things as a personal assault, as though saying "this cartoon isn't very good" is akin to saying "you're an awful, stupid person who enjoys eating babies if you like this series". It gets completely out of hand sometimes, to the point where any criticism leveled at a series is taken so personally by its crusaders that they're incapable of seeing any flaws in the show itself, even ones that are obvious to casual observers or people who don't have some dogmatic mission to hate on the show. It's a fog that many people succumb to, one that obscures critical thinking, discourages honesty and in many cases makes the crusader come across as someone who takes themselves far, far too seriously.

There's really no getting around this and it isn't only anime fans guilty of behaving this way; fans of everything are like this too. I can understand taking (extremely) mild offense when someone slams a movie or a band you really love, but it's important to remember, they're not insulting you (unless they are, in which case they're being douchebags), they're commenting on a media artifact. If you didn't actually make the show or sing the song they didn't like, it doesn't make any sense to get all up in arms and act like they just called your mother a whore.

Ultimately though I think the worst side-effect of this attitude is the complete inability of some people to be honest with themselves about the things they love. It's as though the ancient cliche "nothing's perfect" doesn't apply to the cartoons they like; it's immaculate, and anyone who says otherwise is attempting to hurt them personally. It really does shut down intelligent conversation about media. I can't talk about what I don't like about [SHOW X] because the guy who does like it isn't interested in actually talking to me about the series, he just wants to grandstand and whine about how he's being oppressed because I don't like his preferred cartoon. At the same time, it makes it difficult for someone to talk about why they did like [SHOW X] because there'll be a bunch of people who hate it so much they'll accuse you of just being a "fanboy" who can't be reasonable about its flaws. Annoying stuff.

It's refreshing to know that at least two other people have issues with certain elements of fan mentality.

Thank you, Zac Bertschy.

Thank you very much, especially after witnessing the Tusken Raider genocide thread.

Labels: asian pop culture, fandumb, web

posted by Jason @ 5:27 PM 0 comments

Just shoot me

From a thread on RPGnet that started off comparing Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, and degenerated into a 'think of the poor orcs' cesspool of pseudo-intellectual geek wankery:

From Gary G.:

Of course the whole Tusken Raiders genocide thing comes right before the Clone Wars kicks off, literally days before. The Jedi may have some doubts about Anakin but at this point they've been decimated and every Jedi available is needed on the frontline which pushes the issue aside. The Jedi Trap might work on more than one level.

From Tom B.:

Wow. Um...yeah. So, that makes it alright to slaughter the entire village? By that logic, it must also be alright to wipe out the entire race. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone attempt to justify Anakin's slaughter of the village.

For me, this removed any possible sympathy I had for Anakin. The rest of the original trilogy seemed to be about seeing how long he could escape justice.

From Wolfwood2:

Oh come on, they tortured his mother to death. If some dudes tortured my mother to death, and I was a superhuman killing machine with magic powers, I might well kill their whole village too. How can I get all cold-hearted and condemn Anakin over it?

From Tom B.:

Sure. And I could see him killing the ones who did it. Not a good choice for a Jedi, but understandable. Killing all of them, though, including women and children, is a whole different magnitude and well into "evil".

'Well, they just would have grown up to be killers anyway' is an argument that his been used too often in our own past to see it as anything close to an acceptable justification. Especially since he gave no indication that that was what he was thinking. He wanted revenge and slaughtered a whole village. No...no sympathy whatsoever.

From Wolfwood2:

Well, you and I differ. I can understand the urge to exact payback by killing a guy's family, kids included, in front of him to make him know what it's like to lose his entire family like he killed yours. Just before you follow up by killing him too. Because if you're going to go for and treat people like things for a night, might as well go the whole way.

From (excerpted) Balthazor:

We see Ripley take down an entire colony of hostile aliens in Aliens, but nobody's calling that genocide. She killed alien children, but nobody called her evil. Is the difference that the Tuskens just simply look more human than the aliens Ripley slaughters by the dozen?

From Tom B.:

I don't see it that way. It sounds too much like the stereotypical view of Native Americans during the 1800s. Do you know anything about their culture or about why they act the way they do? Or are you just assuming that they're "unquestionably hostile" because of what you see the few times they're presented onscreen.

From The Pill:

Well, if we go according to standard Star Wars fanwank, almost all humanoid aliens are representative of whatever race they are. For example, Mandalorians(Jango Fett) come from a nomadic bounty hunter culture. So, using the transitive property, Tuskens are all mindless brutes.

From Vaya:

In other words, George Lucas' world building lacks any actual depth.

From Wakboth:

Although this may be true in general, the blame in this specific case ("All aliens seen in the movies define their races!") lies squarely on the EU authors, and fans, who have exhibited all the imagination of a lobotomized garden slug on this subject.

And, if I'd bothered to actually post my thoughts, from me:

It's all fanwank, no matter which argument you subscribe to, and neither side is more worthy than the other.

The blame lies squarely on the people who take this shit too seriously/personally, get all riled up over their pet obsession with the mistreatment of fictional alien races (and robots), and then go around shitting on otherwise fun topics for everyone else.

Thank you for rekindling my burning sense of loathing towards all things fandom.

Now, does this make things clear as to why I hate internet fandom?

I mean, seriously, this thread compared the treatment of Native Americans to the portrayal of a fictional alien culture in a series of SF movies inspired by Flash Gordon serials and samurai movies about people who zip around in spaceships with laser swords. I deal with this sort of mind-numbing, pseudo-intellectual pomposity every time I try to join in on talking about the things I like with people who aren't the handful of folks I know that enjoy the same things as I.

It may seem like I'm being overly harsh, but this sort of nonsense dominates web fora, and it's very disheartening. It never used to be like this, but it's gotten progressively worse. It's either the pseudo-intellectual toss-offs from above, or else it's the ironically self-righteous indignation that's also known as geek rage.

As for the thread above, can you get anymore insulting?

Probably.

These are the same people who get their panties in a knot over the treatment of orcs in D&D.

Orcs. D&D.

It's a game people, and don't you dare try to pull out the argument of it symbolizing something else, because it doesn't.

Orcs are fictional. Tusken Raiders are fictional. Jedi are fictional. The history of Middle Earth is.... yep, FICTIONAL!

Native Americans are not fictional. The years of mistreatment are not fictional. The stereotyping of them in films is not fictional. (Well, the stereotypes are, but that's not my point.) The history of the Native American people is... yep, you're getting this NOT FICTIONAL!

Why do they not comprehend the difference?

Why do they insist on masturbating in public like this?

As that's what it is: intellectual masturbation. They aren't using their powers of reason for anything other than self-gratification. There are far more important causes in the world to champion than the treatment of fictional beings. The petition to end Uwe Boll's career is a more important cause... and it's not important at all!

Jeez.

I'm going to have some tea now, and maybe take a nap.

Labels: fandumb

posted by Jason @ 3:37 PM 0 comments

The Dangers of Cosplay

This is Aayla Secura. A Twi'lek Jedi, generally considered 'hot', from the prequel trilogy:




This is somebody cosplaying Aayla Secura:



Note the sheer failure. Now, that's not to say that the character can't be successfully cosplayed, as this picture demonstrates:



This one even pulls it off better:



And yet another one:



So, it can be done, and done well on a budget. Smearing on blue crap, and putting funny tubes on your head does not a Twi'lek Jedi make you. Sure, the first one's costume was mostly good, except for the shoes... okay, I'm just being nice as the costume pretty much sucks, but if you're going to show off that much skin, well.... you could at least get the shade right at least, and y'know, a little matte goes a long way. You just look kind of greasy, and well, it makes you look like a fat chick (which I don't believe she is) unsuccessfully trying to look hot. I'm sure that, under that horrible grease paint, there's a very attractive woman there, but the end result is far less flattering. Horrible, even.

Also, the above applies to the various Slave Leias... well, except for the blue crap and funny tubes.

The moral of this story is that if you can pull it off, more power to you. If you can't, then people are just being nice if they compliment you because they know you'll take it personally.

(For the record, the leering and sneering Jedi just isn't pulling it off either. Sure, the robes are decent, but he just doesn't look very Jedi. He looks more like an Alan Rickman villain.)

Also, in case you're wondering, this came about as I was trying to remember what the Jedi's name was. I just finished watching Clone Wars, and it couldn't remember it. I Googled 'hot twilek jedi', then the proper name. The first cosplayer was on the first page.

Labels: fandumb, movies

posted by Jason @ 1:52 PM 0 comments

Ah, geeks...

Okay, it's Friday, I've avoided posting for nearly a week, but I had to share this. I'm not going to link to it, as you'd have to skim through a bunch of D&D stuff, but I just read a complaint from an atheist about religion in fantasy settings.

Apparently, he doesn't like his fantasy settings to be irrational.

Yeah.

(Oh, and Lindsay Lohan defends Paris Hilton. Isn't cute when celebutards stick up for each other?)

Labels: absurdity, fandumb, pop culture

posted by Jason @ 11:17 AM 0 comments

For the record...

I still don't even remotely understand the concept of Transformers slash-fic*. For that matter, I still don't even remotely understand the concept of slash-fic. Why the need** to make non-homosexual characters homosexual and put them into bad porn scenarios?

It boggles the mind.

*In the name of all that's holy, do not click on that link unless you can handle that concept. I've only included the link to prove that it really exists, and isn't a figment of my imagination. (Note: the world would be a better place if it were, but....) That said, the writer of the blog entry has the same response to it as I do, but he quotes it for some insane reason.

** By mostly heterosexual women, to boot.

Labels: absurdity, fandumb

posted by Jason @ 5:18 PM 0 comments

Fandumb, part th... oh, why do I bother?

Okay, here's one of the best examples of geek mole-hilling. While I agree with some of the sentiment, especially about the non-anamorphic widescreen, they just put way too much effort into something that has a simple, simple answer. So, without further ado, I present:

originaltrilogy.com Forums - The "original crawl" on the new DVD is NOT the original crawl! Screenshot inside!

Yes, they're throwing around terms like 'offensive' and 'refuse to tolerate' about the timing of the opening crawl of the first Star Wars movie that appears on the upcoming DVDs. I should note that this is all based on a trailer and a segment from the documentary Empire of Dreams, and not on the actual DVDs themselves. Also, they're using this tiny example to prove their own hypothesis that the DVDs aren't what they say they are.

Yes, you understand that correctly, they're gnashing their teeth over something they can't prove until they actually see the actual DVDs themselves... and it goes on for four pages of text. My person favorite line from the whole thing:

I knew there was a reason to get suspicious when that paragraph mysteriously disappeared for a few hours.

Pure paranoid delusion. Wow. (Note: I say delusion, as these folks are deluding themselves into thinking that any of this is really important.)

What?

Oh, right, that simple, simple answer:

Just shut up and don't buy the damned DVDs.

Who cares what anyone thinks about your little delusional world where the original cut of Star Wars is some sort of holy writ that George Lucas, it's creator, has blasphemed? Suck it up, deal with it, and get on with your lives.

Yeesh.

You folks give geekdom a bad reputation.

Labels: fandumb, pop culture, star wars

posted by Jason @ 4:37 PM 0 comments