Really love Dolly Parton. Today is Dolly Day!!!
Les Miserables - I haven’t been a fan, and I hadn’t known anything about the story.
Until the beautiful Anne Hathaway’s voice.
I wasn’t even an Anne Hathaway fan until The Dark Knight Rises.
Now I’m completely lost down the musical Le Mis rabbit hole…. like I needed another fandom :D
Another way to look at Le Mis - Fex urbis lex orbis is a Latin saying, meaning “Dregs [classical Latin faex] of the city, law of the world”.
In other words, the desires and needs of the lowest class of citizens actually determine how the world works, by the sheer force of their numbers.
Sexism and Game Design
Watching the #1reasonwhy tag explode on Twitter over the past day has been both heartening and disheartening.
I’m a gamer. I love video games. I have in my collection a Play Station 1, 2 and 3. But not a large collection of console games.
Know why?
Because out of the games I own, there is only 1 game where there’s a lead female character. Now this maybe because I like action, role playing games. I may have limited myself genre wise (Sims maybe? pffft), but I’m not into ‘fit’ games or ones which are family friendly.
But it took Square Enix thirteen installments before there was Lightning (aka Claire Farron) and Fang. The two kick arse, strongest characters in the latest edition of the Final Fantasy (FF) franchise. I’ve been playing FF games for over a decade. There have been notable female side characters, but none who were driving the story.
I also play titles such as Assassins Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Canis Canem Edit, Lego Star Wars and Little Big Planet - all where the default characters are male.
I wish I could pick up a game where a character like Sarah Connor out of Terminator 2 or Ripley from Alien were featured. A fully clothed, capable, fighting, unapologetic, non-sexually assaulted (ahem, Lara Croft?) lead character. I wish they were the default option. Where someone who I can identify with and am represented by actually does the world saving, instead of being the prize or catalyst for the adventure.
The #1reasontobe feed is inspiring as even though the #1reasonwhy shows the dark side, the shit women put up with - the #1reasontobe show WHY they do what they do.
The numbers add up - even though the industry is dominated by misogynistic boymen (read some of the verbal and physical assault stories from #1reasonwhy and I feel sick. Assault happening at events like E3 - not to mention the dismissal of women designers, journalists and creatives) - if you ignore 47% of your buying market then no wonder AAA game studios are on the decline.
The Entertainment Software Association lists:
- The average game player is 30yrs old and has played games for 12 yrs
- The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 35yrs old
- 47% of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) then boys aged 17yrs or younger (18%)
The myth of video games being only for boys has had light shone on it and I’m hoping the industry wakes itself out of its adolescent phase. I hope the industry grows, becomes more inclusive and recognises the game playing market is older, gender diverse, colour diverse and smart.
The Geeks have grown up, so why can’t the industry?
Update:
For further reading check out -
Female Perspective in Game Development by dgaider (lead writer of Bioware’s Dragon Age game series)
Slates article by Fruzsina Eordogh
MITs Centre for Civic Media, Dr Ernest J Wilsons article on Digital Societies and those at the Bottom
Cuppycakes (from The Border House) sharing of her harrassment
Giant Bombs take on the whole shemozzle
Star Wars Virgin teaches me a new trick…
Discovered yesterday though Alison Keene at Collider you can watch Star Wars in a completely different order than the original cinematic release, or chronologically.
Its called Machete. Its a revelation.
As Alison says “[Machete] suggests the watch order should be IV, V, II, III, VI (and leave out Episode I). Ignoring the brush off of Episode I (which I think you might as well watch just as part of the canon)“
I hadn’t thought about the big reveal in Star Wars. How watching in an order other than what I’d grown up with or what was conventional could actually add to the story.
Rod Hilton gave it a LOT of thought which essentially removes one of the most loathed characters in the Star Wars universe - Jar Jar Binks. Taking out Ep 01 also removes the midichlorian explanation (feel yuck just thinking about it), and no immaculate conception of Anakin.
I’m yet to try out the Machete sequence. I’m intrigued enough and the thought of loosing most of Jar Jar Binks is reward enough to give it a go…. hope you will too
Love anime. Koike makes unreal stuff - check out Stokely’s suggestion:
Takeshi Koike is my all time favorite animator, hands down. This is from his series of shorts called TRAVA: Fist Planet. Such great characters and animation. I believe they have some on Youtube, they’re worth checking out.
Trava and his partner also appear in Redline, the first feature that Koike directed which was released last year. Also VERY much worth checking out, it’s stellar!
(Source: nothingforkings)
Best Beloveds nick name for me is currently Squirrel.
Have a feeling this will be a hard name to shake….
(by oxoxAJxoxo)
To follow on from the last disheartening video, watch two octogenarians try and figure out how to use a webcam.
Then watch them try and figure out Face Time. Gives me hope for working out tech when I’m 60yrs older than I am now. Fantastic people.
I’m truly ashamed of people who call themselves Australian and then exhibit such blatantly racist, demeaning and downright crazy behaviour.
To the poor French girl in the video - I hope you don’t stop singing in that amazing accent of yours. To the racists in the video - I hope you see yourselves and feel ashamed of your behaviour, there’s no justification.
An Echidna taking a dip has surprised and delighted a team of on Tasmania’s Maria Island - cutest thing I’ve seen for a long time.
