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Well it's the weekend so I figured you'd want something quite light and entertaining instead of some of my more heavy pieces. Hopefully you'll indulge me one again as I splurge about Mad Max Fury Road. Havng got the obligatory discussion of the feminist symbolism and ideas out the way previously I can actually attempt to talk about some of the aspects of the film.
Now these are my views and ideas and the evidence I believe supports them and as will all pieces of media it's my interpretation of aspects of the film and themes of it. Basically what I'm saying may be in truth way off the mark bullshit or absolutely spot on about parts of the film.
So let's start with the society of the Warboys tribe and some of the incredibly messed up stuff there which the film only hints at. So let's get the super messed up thing out the way first. The Warboys as a tribe are infact all the sons of Immoten Joe. We know from earlier in the film Immoten "Warfather" Joe has a large harem of "wives". We also know because of discussions between characters that Joe was trying to get an heir to take over the tribe that didn't suffer from genetic problms. The film shows both his main sons each with their own genetic afflictions however we also know the Warboys suffer a shared genetic affliction too, this explains the need for Mad Max as a Bloodbag to help top up the Warboys. The idea that all the Warboys share an affliction is compounded when one of the brides mentions that the warboys don't live a life they live a half life. The whole idea of the tribe is one of seeing approval from the father figure literally calling him "Warfather" and as such doing acts to try and impress or gain his approval (and get to Valhalla). If we take this theme as right it would also mean the entire subplot involving one of the warboys takes on a far different meaning as it shows him learning to break free from the need for his fathers constant approval of his actions.
Ok so the idea of valhalla previously mentioned nicely transitions into talking about the Aestehtic of the warboys, their society and how their society shows humanity still trying to cling to the last bits of a long gone past age. You see the Warboys "religion" for lack of a better word is that by dying doing an act of bravery (or suicidal stupidity to give term) which benefits the rest of the tribe they will go to Valhalla the Norse heaven as such. Generally before doing such an act they call for someone to witness them (to help spread their tale) and they spray their mouth and teeth with chrome spray paint. Obviously spraying your mouth and teeth with chrome spray paint is not part of Norse mythology yet with the Warboys part of the Valhalla idea is it's the heaven linked to chrome. This makes little sense until you look deeper at some of the vehicles they drive and parts of their fleet. It also explains perfectly why part of their army is a guy with a guitar that shoots fire who play them into battle.
The Warboys idea of Valhalla is taken directly from the hazy memories of Rock and Roll and heavy metal music. No really have a look at some of these Rock and Metal album covers.
Yes that car n the ZZ top cover does look remarkably live the kind of Hot Rod's seen in amongst the Warboys vehicles.
So I know what you're thinking, it's bonkers right, I mean people creating confused interpretations of things in the past. It sounds insane, until you realise the film actually told you people are messing up idea of the past already. At one point two of the other characters, one of the "wives" and one of the elder women, are talking while looking up at the nights sky, the younger woman spots a shooting star and the older says it must be a satellite. The older woman then goes on to explain that satellites were from the worlds past and would bounce messages all round the world. A second older woman then interjects and says not messages they bounced shows round the world and everyone used to have a show. This scene illustrates how ideas and concepts we take for granted now could be interpreted far differently as the knoweldge of them fades away. We know that Satelites both bounce messages and shows around but we know that messages are not shows. The idea of everyone having their own show could easily be referring to none other than things like youtube. incase you're not entirely convinced Historians have found evidence of such things happening in the past as the goddess Neith suddenly became the goddess of Weaving along with her other roles. Historians theorised that people just started to accept that what she was despite no indications of it prior to a certain point. So it's entirely plausible to suggest that the Warboys society and even almost religion is based round half remembered Heavy Metal & Rock Album covers which would explain the combination of chrome and Valhalla as both are regular features of Rock and Metal Album covers.
So E3 is coming up soon, it's a tradition seemingly in the gaming press to make predictions about what we're going to see at E3. Now it's one of my long standing traditions here in the C-Blogs to make really stupid predictions deliberately so and try to justify them. So yeh, I feel like doing a stupid E3 blog.
Ok this is an obvious one especially after last year but it's almost certain it will happen again this year. It's not a hard prediction to make but I wanted to make at least one that had a chance of coming true.
My "evidence" to support this prediction is the style of the trailer for Fallout showing a family laying down their child to sleep as the radio then announces the bombs are coming. It seemed a strange shot to have and being in engine it would seem weird for the baby model and animations to be assets just for a small part of the game.
Evidence: Having spoken to the developer a while ago now and done a bit of a preview piece on the game. Well it's due out sometime soon so it would make sense for Microsoft to show it off with other indie games. Then again this is Microsoft so who knows if they'll manage to do something that sensible.
Evidence: Well um, We haven't heard that much about the new Legend of Zelda on Wii U yet and Reggie is a legend.
Evidence: Well Valve are not scheduled to be at the PC Gamer organised conference which means either A Valve object to PC Gamer (possible)
Or B Valve are already set to appear at E3 doing something else.
It sounds bonkers but with all that's been rolled out recently and Valve having previously released Portal 2 as crossplay on PS4 it's possible there may be more titles coming or even Valve allowing crossplay to be added to existing games.
Evidence: It's Kotaku, Ubisoft not inviting them will most likely cause the whiny pieces of smeg to try and claim that Ubisoft was trying to censor them (when in reality they can still write it's just they're not getting the free gifts & or Food given out at some of the conferences). Kotaku will almost certainly have to try and throw their weight around like some petulant child over this in the hopes that they can pressure Ubisoft into thinking Kotaku is still Relevant to gaming.
Evidence: It's being made and info seems to regularly pop up about it on the PS4 subreddit.
Reasoning: They're asshole and seemingly love to fuck with gaming because they seem to have a grudge against it (I'm guessing they were hardcore Jack Thompson fans or something back in the day) So yeh no doubt they'll try their damndest to annoy people.
Reasoning: Well it has to happen one year or another
Reasoning: Well EA have got to do something that's both amazing and weird to get people's attention. At least while they gut another few studios they've acquired recently.
Reasoning, it's been in development for years it's gotta happen sometime.
Oh and for those who want it I've made some E3 Bingo cards if you want to play E3 Bingo with other people while watching E3 conferences.read
So this article started life after I saw a developer complaining about refunds, this would have been fine because as I'll go on to explain. Now I would be giving the developer a plug here, except the developer chose to be an arsehole to some customers and when I suggested there may be more of a reason behind the refunds I was promptly blocked. The developer has now chosen to protect their tweets as they throw a melt down.
Such a shame really as it was someone who'd climbed out of the XBLIG slime pits, so I do generally like to support them. If they'd waited they might have found out that I was suggesting their games had become a victim of a bunch hustlers playing Steams systems for profit.
The reality of the situation is that while amazing for consumers really, Valve putting in refund policy means people can and will exploit it. So being the kind of person who watches way too many con shows and having a fairly devious mind I've thought up a horrible scam people could do on Steam or more correctly probabaly are already doing it and I'm not the first to think it up. Now just to be clear I have NOT done any of the following things (nor should you), these are only theoretical but if I've thought of them, you can bet others have too. Oh and don't worry, I've emailed Valve about these possible scams already so if you were thinking of trying them, you'll probably be caught now.
The problem with the refund system stems from certain indie games. These indie games meet two criteria. First they are above the price point to activate a Steam account (as to get full features there's now a minimum spend on Steam ironically to cut down on scammers). Secondly the indie games in question must have 5 - 6 trading cards needed to craft the game badge. The price point and the badge requirements combined are the requirements for this con trick to work. The reason it works is with games that have 5-6 trading cards there's normally a certain amount you don't get, thus forcing you to trade or use the marketplace. Here are two such indie games.
It's worth nothing neither of these games are those of any developer who has had a meltdown over steam refunds, just to be clear. Now due to gaining extra features by levelling up your steam account badges became a valuable thing, and as all badges give a base 100EXP it doesn't matter if the game has 5 cards or 25 the badge value is the same. So many people (and I'm sure many shrewd indie developers too) realise that it's far easier to collect all the cards for a game that needs less cards. Thus said games become more desirable and can fetch a higher price from those trying to quickly and easily level up their steam accounts.
So I know what you're thinking, how does any of this lead to a con. Well this is how the con works, laid bare for you. The Hustler makes a new Steam account, they buy a game over the thresh hold price to activate their account, they set up family share, they run the game for the 1 hour 30 minutes required to get the 3 card drops. They repeat this on other family shared accounts meaning they have up to 15 cards. They then apply for a refund, having only played just over 1 hour 30 minutes on their main account Steam issues a refund. With the other accounts activated similarly with other games they then trade the cards to a singular account and place the mass of cards on the marketplace. It seems weird, stupid and petty right I mean the Steam Trading cards have so little value normally, except those on games with only 5-6 cards total where their cards often cost double that of any other game. So in theory on 1 single refunded game a Hustler can bank about £1 in total. Not bad for absolutely nothing.
Now I know what people are thinking £1, really someone would go to all that trouble for £1 free, well that's the thing, previously people were going to a fair bit of trouble to for DOTA 2 items which were £0.50 and took up to 5 hours to get. Valve had to act to disabled selling and even trading DOTA 2 items acquired from drops due to people item farming like this (and also in a large part due to scammers clearing out peoples DOTA 2 items). However to protect the market from plummeting items prices Valve made it so most drops in DOTA 2 can't be sold. The thing to consider are these items farmers are still out there and with Valves new refund policy it's entirely possible they've turned their hand from item farming in DOTA 2 to card farming in indie games. What people may not realise is in some other countries due to different economies etc. Selling items like this and setting up a way to do in on a larger scale pays out quite well in peoples native currency, well enough for this to not only be viable for them but actually very profitable. Consider this a person with a computer running say 5 games at once to card farm, now imagine someone doing this on a bigger scale with say 5 machines each running 5 games. Suddenly that's nearly £5 per one and an a half hours. It's not hard to see how this could easily be exploited.
So in a way, some indie developers might have ended up becoming their own worst nightmare as card with less card drops it means Hustlers can clean out their game of free stuff within the 2 hour period and their cards drops are more desirable as well thanks to Steams systems. So through the new refund policy and previous things indie developers have done to help drive sales. They've not only become the target of those looking for an easy Steam level boost but of those who wish to play and exploit Steams market for some easy money. You want to know the even more shocking thing ? All the developers who have spoken out against refunds or said about the harm they do have games with 5-6 trading cards, 3 drops in the game (so 1 hour 30 of game time needed) and are at a price point about the equivalent of $5 and it's these developers now talking about how they're seeing in some cases a 53% refund rate on their games.
Lets be clear here though I'm not condemning refunds, it's about time Valve did something like this, it's good of them (even if their arm was forced a bit) but in the coming days / weeks / months there will no doubt be more developers talking about high returns etc and while some people might think it's because all these games are under. So to developers out there. Reunds, they're good for consumers, and if you're thinking of putting your game on Steam, at least for the time being maybe consider making sure your game takes more than 2 hours to get all the cards drops.read
"If you didn't go and watch American Sniper you hate our Veterans and shouldn't live in this country anymore."
Honestly that's just the kind of sentiment I've been seeing about (Luckily I don't live in America so yeh, I don't have to deal with people telling me to fuck off).
Hell you think I'm joking here ? Sarah Palin went on a rant about this. (It's only a couple of minutes and the video is at the right area)
It's fucking stupid, from what I hear American Sniper is quite a bland film that doesn't rock the boat or do any moral grandstanding (mainly cause apparently Clint Eastwood as a director is known for making quite bland films).
Oh and I know a few people reading this are going "Nice one stick it to the right wing nutters" no doubt. Except the left wing has it's own nutters now seemingly as I saw on a few sites people proclaiming "If you don't go and see Selma that makes you a racist". I wish this were some kind of joke but this came to a huge head at a recent holiday where the American political far left were pushing for everyone to watch Selma and the Political far right were pushing people to go see American Sniper. That's right, people were pushing others to make film choices based on politics over personal choice, anyone who refused to see them was being shamed either called an Unpatriotic person who hates Veterans and should just leave America, or you were a Racist monster supporting the white supremacist Hollywood patriarchy. I'm so glad I don't live in the US as the way everything is becoming part of a political battleground is getting stupid, the problem is this is spilling over into wider hobbies and sub cultures.
You know what doesn't help the case that the left isn't trying to undertake some huge culture war to force everyone who doesn't share their views out? Maybe writing an entry on your own site about how you're winning the culture war. For those who don't know Ms Laurie Penny you might find this an interesting introduction.
Hell if you're going to say now "OMG you only talk about her because she's female you mysogynist" I and in fact anyone else could turn round and claim the same about any negative thing said about say Margaret Thatcher or the far far more right wing Sarah Palin.
There seems to be a huge push at present to make everything political, that politics should be the be all and end all of our lives. To an extent I can see where people are coming from with the "Everything is about politics" argument here's the thing though, while you can relate everything to politics or a political connection it doesn't always have to be the main thing discussed. The everything is about politics spin has got so bad this happened on the Facebook page of someone I know.
You think this is a one off thing but I'm seeing people claim they can't watch Firefly because Adam Baldwin doesn't share their political views. I've recently seen people claim they can't fap to porn because they heard a rumour that said pornstar doesn't follow the persons exact line of politics. I'm seeing people claim they'd never be in a relationship with someone who doesn't support everything socio politically that they do, and to the lengths they do. I honestly think it must be a US thing with the two party system causing quite literally an US or Them mentality and seeing it happen is baffling to me (and quite how long till you manage another civil war at this rate can't be that far off).
To this mentality you can add the medium of video games which has for a long while strived to be seen and mature and plenty of people from what some consider "The lost generation" being told by the media they need to grow up and start taking things seriously. One of the things often seen as mature and serious is politics. Add to this some people who like to pretend they're super serious real journalists and intellectual critics yet possessing performing arts degrees and never having studied any kind of actual real journalism and you've got a problem. In reality politics is often far from the most important thing ever and while important to know of it's also important to keep it in perspective and not make everything some great political battleground. There is more to life than politics. The people who truly benefit most from politics are politicians who get paid to do this and their job is a hell of a lot easier with you campaigning and doing some of the work for them.
I'd like you to say hi to a Mr Jon Stone a professional journalist from The Guardian whom I recently had a nice old argument with on Twitter. That's right this is not some random twitter nut this is an actual paid journalist at a major news group here in the UK. Yes he is claiming that the game Watchdogs about a hacker who ends up tangled in and fighting against a company with a big brother esc network surveillance system is a conservative game. I'm guessing he thinks this because (and this is just speculation here) he took Animal Farm and 1984 not as a dystopian fiction warning of dangers but as a really cool vision for a future he'd like to live in.
The great bit of comedy being that as politics keeps changing eventually people forget about the politics of the time to an extent and relate the art to the culture at the time and it's cultural relevance. You can see how far it's changed as it's now the "progressives" talking about the dangers and how horrible these violent games are and how bad for gaming and society etc. Very much like Mary Whitehouse did with violent films in the past.
It's quite funny watching recently as people on Tumblr passed round a thing about how the UK government were going to scrap the human rights act. Which is quite funny and shows how much many in the Social Justice Warrior community know about the UK, you see we don't have one as such. I'm not joking the UK subscribes to the EU Human rights act and the basic human rights etc are respected but not written as a constitution like in the US. The closest to a constitution we have in the UK is the Magna Carta and the rights it grants are the right to a trial by your peers and the right to own land, that's it. Funnier still all those campaigning against the UK writing its own constitution and not carrying on with Europe's probably didn't realise we have an in out referendum on the EU coming soon so without our own Human rights act we're going to have none in any way close to relevant if the UK leaves the EU.
Forcing things to be political and always political is exclusionary in itself. To the extent it's being done you could even say it's exclusionary to anyone who doesn't share those exact views. Even more so it's exclusionary to anyone not dealing with the same political system, so a lot of the politicial discussion centres on American politics. How weird are American Politics? Well in the US Obama and the democrat policies centred on reducing the national deficit while the republican party were on about spending out of debt and not making cuts. In the UK the Labour party campaigned on policies of making no cuts and increasing spending to get the country out of debt and the Conservatives campaigned on policies of reducing spending to reduce the countries deficit. It was the conservative lead coalition government here in the UK that legalised gay marriage (after Labout had been in for 12 years). Let that sink in for a moment about how different politics are in different countries.
It was almost comical to see the discussions etc surrounding Battlefield Hardline and some journalists seemingly lamenting the fact it wasn't a harsh political statement upon the state and nature of American policing. The idea that everything must somehow be some great political statement now seems just insane, hell you could now argue Romeo and Juliet is a literal indictment of the harm done by a bi-partisan system and a "with or us against us" mentality. It's funny because people are meant to be games journalists and critics, yet so many want to talk politics and so few seemingly want to talk about other things such and other themes and concepts in narrative works. If something agrees with your politics or not is easy low hanging fruit. If some people want to be seen as grand intellectual games critics maybe it's time to you know actually move beyond the very simple stuff of talking politics and actually try to analyse a work without the political lens. Maybe it's time for said critics to understand that just because it doesn't agree with your politics it doesn't make the media itself inherently bad.
So do you want to talk politics some more? If you answered yes, have I got some fun blogs coming for you.
Well people say it's good to go out on a song, so you know what have a song that went viral here in the UK
So VR eh, the biggest latest gimmick to come to video games hot on the heels of the near death of motion controlled games. With the Oculus Rift expected to cost $150 - $200 allegedly and having already noted my experience with an early build I've got to say I'm dubious. Then there is Steam VR which it's been suggested might require a full room dedicated to it to really use it well.
So I thought it was the perfect time to look at VR technology again and as well as talk about my latest experience with VR I get to talk about some VR tech I tried but never did mention a few years ago.
So first I'd like to introduce you to the Igloo.
So the Igloo is a large dome structure, inside it contains multiple projectors, tower units and technology to track the position of the player and direction they're facing (this is done at least in the demo version by tracking a physical item in this case a gun which is also the controller. So here's a really terrible video filmed on a 3Mega pixel camera in near pitch black. You might notice the shadowy figure standing up moving round an they're actually controlling the game using a gun shaped controller with motion tracking. I was recording this video basically on the floor at the back of the dome trying to hide out of the way.
Now the Igloo is a rather expensive setup but rather impressive. I did talk to the developers (a number of years ago now) and they stated their main goal as such in terms of the technology being public was to try and get the thing in arcades as a sort of premium attraction. Obviously this is not going to be household technology (then again if Vale's VR needs a full room maybe this could be possible). From what I saw it looked good with the idea of moving in the dome changing where the image was projected.
Now I've previously talked about my experience with an early version of the Oculus Rift. Suffice to say I didn't get on well.
This year however I got to try another kind of VR device and one which honestly has wowed me because of how well it worked and the distinct lack of motion sickness that came from it. Unlike all other devices so far this uses technology most people already posses and the cost of the unit to utilise this (in the case of the one I tried) was £20 (About $35) you can get other cheaper or more expensive versions but all do roughly the same.
All of them are a holder for a smartphone with the cheapest known one being the Google Cardboard clocking in at the cost of cardboard and printing the templates out pretty much (no really you can download the instructions etc from google). I was rather impressed with the VR experience and the headset as I said in my full piece on it on my other blog.
So you might be wondering how any of this relates to the blog title as I've rambled on quite a bit (which if this were Polygon and the Rockband 4 preview is seemingly the qualities a senior editor would have but this is not Polygon so I need to get to the point). The point being large and expensive pieces of tech tend to be very much a gimmick that often dies out, I mean just look at the death of the Kinect despite for over a year everyone with an Xbox One having one included. So it seems very likely that VR / 3D could be a fad that dies out fast, and it seems unlikely that we'll all be playing "The World" anytime soon. That is unless you consider a number of things that have been happening in gaming recently.
A number of companies have been working on streaming technology or mobile integration. Sony's PS4 can stream to other TVs via the playstation TV / Vita (or via the streaming app to smartphones and other devices). Microsoft were very big on pushing Smartglass and mobile phone integration. Nintendo made it so you can use the Wii U gamepad as the main screen for some games instead of needing the TV. Nintendo has also fairly recently announced their partnership with a mobile phone game maker DeNA as well. All of this so far screams to me that companies are to an extent hedging their bets and testing out a number of systems a piece of technology which could have more applications down the line.
Just think about it for a moment while not quite as responsive as the Oculus (input lag etc) it would be entirely possible to stream the gameplay footage to a smartphone or such device. A smartphone or such device which most people own, even someone like me who admittedly hates carrying a mobile phone. With the wide availability of smart devices and a companies already offering film streaming to phones, why not have game streaming to use them as 3D / VR headset screens? It makes a lot of sense when the cost of a decent headset to hold a device is about $30 compared to the $150 - $200 it's suggested many of the VR headsets in development may end up costing when released. It would be kind of insane for companies to not be considering this considering the investment and cost of motion controlled gaming which promptly vanished after the boom of the Wii was done. Also using a smartphone has one huge advantage so far over all other proposed VR devices (Except I believe Valve's own) a lack of wires needing to be attached.
So rather than the Oculus Rift, the Morepheous or Valve's VR Lighthouse system HTC Steam VR thing, I'd say the future of VR gaming might well have the very phone in our pocket playing a big part in it.read
So I'm taking a break from doing highly political stuff for at least one or two blogs (Don't worry I know how you all love to talk politics so I don't intend to disappoint you and leave you all out in the cold and I'm sure I'll throw a few digs in about politics.). But for a change I wanted to talk about something vaguely video games related, now I'm in the process of finishing off a nice piece about VR technology but it's not ready quite yet and I wanted to put something out here.
So as I scrabbled round I ended up in my junk folder which contains all kids of bits which I've gathered over time and none of them really are substantial eough for their own entry, so basically enjoy this large ammount of silly pictures I've collected.
First up, coming from reddit was a series of Images called 50 Shades of Fox which references the tendancies of the Smash Bros Competitive scene, enjoy.
So Next up is a couple of images taken from the PS4 Subreddit or more correctly pictures of the PS4 subreddit and the rather comical adverts thaat appeared. I highly suspect one if not both of them were somehow the doing of the PC Masterrace subreddit.
Yes PS4 Gamers grab your keyboards and Mice to join in the E-sports gift exhange ;)
Don't worry Sony aren't quite done, this time bringing the pure insane bonkers things themselves in the form of their merchandise.
Ever wanted to own some Last of Us Marchandise? Ever Wanted to have Lat of Us Cuddly toys? Well it seems Sony thinks you migh and has you covered, at least partically as you can buy an official Last of Us Cuddly toy brick. Yes really Meet Brock the Brick a cuddly toy brick.
The thing is while this might appear like some kind of silly joke I'v cooked it, it's actually really for sale by Sony right on their site.
Next up a little one I spotted which emphasises the importance of indie developers spell checking their Steam Store page before letting it go live. As shwn very nicely with the Tree of Life game offering players survival items including bondage........ yes it's really written on their store page.
Finally with The Dota 2 5th annual international championship starting soon (Qualifiers have just recently finished) and with Kotaku's recent cries of sexism in Mass Effect and Bllodborne over the character select screen, it seems inevitable that soon a "progressive" journalist will pick up this image and wirte a nice piece about how people shouldn't support DOTA2 because of the oversexualisation of character.
Credit or the image goes to the Dota 2 subreddit.
Thank you for reading this load of silly rubbish, none of which was enough for an article in it's own right but maybe as a random pile of junk someone-one found some enjoyment out of it.read
Oh great I'm the English guy so I get to be the one to try and have this discussion and basically mock EA for their insane stupidity again. I know I know "Ohh but diversity". This is where the comedic problem comes in and honestly I will happily laugh at any website that is going to be singing EA's praises over this.
Here's a challenge to anyone about to sing the praises. Name a female Footballer without googling it.
People will be singing the praises over it because diversity and female international teams and players getting recognition. You know the great comedic irony of all this? Fifa 16 is quite literally giving the message that the only way people will care for women's football (Soccer for you Americans) is if it's pushed in there with men's football.
Now I don't play Fifa games but I know plenty of people who do and lived with one for nearly a year. At no point have I ever heard any Fifa fan go "this game is nice but I wish it had female representation".
Is it nice to see womens football represented? Yes.
Is it incredibly shitty that chances are for the likeness and licensing stuff EA will be paying the female teams far less? Yes, however while unfortunate and shitty that's the nature of women's football (at least here in the UK).
For various reasons I happen to know small amount about the politics of the women's football league and how it impacts the FA (Football Association) here in the UK. Many female footballers aren't paid anywhere near the level of the male professionals and as such many also have part or even full time jobs as well, I have absolutely massive respect for them (Which is saying something as I find all Football to be absolute unwatchable crap). I have even more respect for them because a few years ago thanks to pressure from well let's just say social justice warriors the FA proposed a new idea. Every male club would have to pay 25% of the their advertising revenue to the FA as a sort of diversity tax, this would then be given to support women's teams. The FA womens division after consulting with many clubs rejected this. Their reasoning was that just as men's team football had risen up and become a huge thing they wanted to prove that women's football could do the same. They didn't want hand outs etc they wanted to be treated equally to men's football and that means clubs running on what advertising deals they can make and any TV broadcast deals they can sign. It's an industry funded by investors and fans and without those huge levels then the sport isn't reaching the same levels it's literally funded on how popular it is.
For whatever reason women's football isn't as popular as men's. A number of possible reasons exist for this mainly: it's new and as such just like men's football was many years ago it needs to build up it's standing and reputation and in the future may be (hopefully) on equal footing to men's football in terms of pay and money (even if I think football is insane considering the pay vs many other things); the second being that because men's football exists already and is huge they're having to compete against it, hence lower money for advertising deals and virtually no TV deals going for match broadcasts; the final possible reason is weirdly enough social justice rhetoric backfiring as people won't go to matches / watch it because they don't want to be shamed for objectification. What 22 very physically fit women running round in shorts is kind of something..... what it's not like some women's interest in football doesn't span from 22 men in shorts running round. There's a reason this was a thing.
What EA have done is send the message that the only way Women's football can be recognised is by tacking it on alongside mens football. To almost try and piggy back off its success. If EA really cared about Women's football it would let it stand as its own entity not try to package it with men's football. EA have inserted female teams into what for a long while has long only focussed on the male sport because they know , they absolutely know some people won't look at this as a cynical move to gain "Diversity points" and free press by some who will claim this as a great sign of progress. So lets look at what people will be celebrating in brief:
So before you get out the flags and celebrate EA I'd say maybe wait and at best nod that it's a start. But in truth until EA are willing to risk making a game just with Women's teams and not having to rely on the mens league to drive the majority of sales I say this.
"EA doesn't care about women's football, not really, it's taken the minimum possible risk and is hoping (cynically) that many of the media will reward it with lots of free press 'because diversity'. So to EA I say prove me wrong, seriously prove me wrong and make two versions of FIFA 17, Mens League and Women's League and actually show each the same attention, because I can almost guarantee Fifa 16 will still just have two dudes on the cover."
Here's my prediction (as I love doing these) of what some in the press will do.
So to finish off I'll say this, I may not be able to name a single female football player either but if someone tells me they are a professional footballer and are female I have a lot of respect for that because honestly it is more effort at present for far less pay. It might also be worth pointing out my football knowledge means I can maybe manage a handful of male players at best only maybe two of which still play.
In short, celebrate EA when they take a risk to help promote womens football. Don't celebrate EA for this very low risk very cynical play because honestly if you do, EA have played you very well. You want to celebrate women's football gaming press? Start asking where the hell Bend It Like Beckham the video game is? Cause that film was damn good.
but hey I've recently seen the film and I wanted to talk about more aspects of it especially surrounding the present 'controversy' surrounding it.
If you're here to find out if you should go and see it I'll give you the easy version. If you've seen and liked the previous films you'll like this one. If you like films like The Expendables or the Fast and Furious films chances are you'll love it. If you're someone who doesn't like said kind of films and want to know if you should see it to support a socio-political ideology you might be quite badly let down.
Firstly the claims that it's a feminist film and how this has exploded into claims that there's a full blown MRA boycott going on because of it. So let's start at the start and work from there. The 'MRA boycott' actually comes from a single blog post, this one infact if you want to read it.
Now as certain more extreme branches of feminism have labelled MRA as a bad thing. Because you know the fact Male Rights Activists have to exist to campaign against Male domestic abuse and campaign for more shelters etc for male domestic abuse victims (according to studies [1] [2] this is 40% of all physical and 60% of all mental abuse victims, and about 50% in total) it shows feminism up as maybe not working entirely for that equality so many claim it to be. Hey that's not me saying all MRA guys are exactly nice people but then against certain feminist love to say how they want to #killallmen and MRA's kind of seemingly haven't got something as dumb as that going on quite yet. Not to say MRA's havent done equally dumb stuff I'm sure.
Either way feminists (or at least many prominent ones) have seen MRA's as a threat to feminism as showing that maybe feminism has developed a few flaws along the way in a number of the branches is unacceptable. Such questions are merely sea lions. So any chance to take a shot at MRA's has become a thing, the idea of literally sticking it to....... Mens rights in this case lol.
Look I'm no MRA but I can see there are problems not being dealt with for both genders and western feminism seems more concerned with fictional characters than real horrific acts being done to real women in other parts of the world or other cultures. But hey for Social Justice Warriors trying to save someone from harm due to a different cultural practice is racist colonialism and we white people should keep out and let the girl live a life of suffering rather than you know maybe help somehow.
Ok back to the film. Well the claim Mad Max is feminist comes from a number of factors.
First (and weirdly) foremost it having a strong female character. Most of it comes from a single point in the film where having missed twice with a sniper rifle (firing into fog and an object no-one can actually see fully) Max fires twice and misses then the female lead Furiosa uses Max's shoulder and a tripod and with the last bullet fires and hits it. It's quite a compelling set of scenes, undermined a little bit when Max then walks off into the fog and (off screen) kills three heavily armed bad guys and steals their weapons less than 5 minute later.
The second main aspect being the claims of representation, with Furiosa being from what some have described as an Amazonian styled Matriarchal society which is trying to fix the world. This is all well and good until you start toying with the plot threads and seeing where they go. You see the 20 something year old woman suggests that in this matriarchal society there were men around at least 20 years ago. At no point do they ever say they have always been only women. The only indication towards this is them being suspicious of the male characters initially, which considering the brutality of the world of Mad Max and that most raiding parties are largely male, it's not surprising. Also at one point one of the elderly women talks about how she learned to headshot men (who make up the majority of those in the wasteland raiding parties anyway). The idea being these elderly women are meant to act as a counterpoint for the audience to the three main villains and their symbolic representations of typically patriarchal things . The three main villains being: Immoten "Warfather" Joe, implied to be an ex military general at least partly responsible for the nuclear war that turned the planet into a wasteland; The Mayor of fuel town, whom is shown as a vastly overweight man who cares greatly about costs, he's dressed in a stereotypical bankers outfit with the minor change to his suit by having holes around his nipples to which nipple clamps e attached and the head of bulletfarm whom best resembles a regular foot soldier / gun nut. This claim about the representation being how the supposed matriarchal society wins out is, well it's kind of comedic considering all the women from the other society are killed off in the next battle. Yes even the 20 something year old one, all the old women end up dead one way or another leaving only Furiosa and warfather Joe's "Brides".
Next is the argument that it must be feminist because it shows a strong woman helping other women out of sexual slavery. Which it does and when that was done in Watchdogs with a male protagonist it was called sexist. Oh and it should also be pointed out it's only the beautiful ones that get rescued and they make up maybe 1/4 of the full harem with others being well let's just say older and less in keeping with conventional images of attractive women.
You know what, I'll make a better argument for it being a feminist film or having feminist symbolism in it. This is how easy it is to make that claim. At one point Max washes off blood using mothers milk, and no that's not a euphemism. Oh and at the close of the film it's the other brides in the harem which open up the pipes and give the civilians below water. See that's more of an case for it.
It's quite funny really as this is probably the first time ever I've agreed with Anita Sarkeesian in claiming the film isn't Feminist, obviously for very different sets of reasoning though. My argument being that Mad Max depicts a meritocratic vision of the future where people use their skills and abilities to gain standing the film literally says that in the future humanity is reduced to one instinct survive. It's pure Darwinism and survival of the best adapted and skilled to survive. Claiming it's a feminist film for having a single strong character is like claiming the Lara Croft films are feminist masterpieces.
For the most part the brides end up being little more than human shields most of the time. It's rare they fight and for the most part they reflect innocence. Innocence not used to the harshness of the wasteland outside of their comfy chambers (relative to the rest of the world). The brides for the most part don't do much or participate much in the film beyond some subplots. For example Capable is the kind one who may or may not have fallen for one of the warboy raiders (whom has his own far larger arc); Angharad the heavily pregnant one who uses herself as a human shield a few times before ending up under the wheels of a monster truck (no really); Dag the cynical one who learns there may be hope and something to carry on for; Cheedo, whose main thing is her wanting to go back in the hopes Warfather Joe wouldn't punish them and because the wateland is a nasty place compared to the relative luxury of the harem (except you know being a sex slave and all that) and finally Toast who honestly was just there and seemingly had nothing really to do beyond be there. The wives have very little actual part or character development beyond a tiny bit with Dag, which is all of 3 short scenes.
I would try and explain Anita's argument but most of it is kind of bonkers from what I gather involving the idea that violence is inherently male and women are never violent except as a result of the patriarchal influence on society causing repressed misogyny in women........ or something mad to that effect.
You know the best part of all this? It's genius marketing, there are a load of women talking about and celebrating Mad Max which in all honestly would have been called a guy/ dudebro film any other time. It's a film filled with everything stereotypically "guy film" material. You have: guns, big vehicles, monster trucks, large semi Trucks, Suped up cars, lots of violence and hand to hand fights, lots of explosions, a huge lot of car chases and a few bits of semi naked women and a good long scene with an actually naked 20 something women. I'm not even kidding, one of the scenes you could have told me was from the film "The Bikini Carwash Company" and I'd have believed you.
The even bigger bit of comedy being that rather than support Josh Whedon and his film Avengers Age of Ultron a film by someone who claims to strongly support feminism such that he still defended it, while leaving twitter as feminist sent death threats to him because they didn't like that he showed a female character as vulnerable in the new Avengers film. No instead they're supporting the hugely violent film that somehow picked up a feminist label along the way and the studio (smartly) chose not to try and dispel it, because hey you've just widened the films potential audience hugely by letting this, well this myth stay alive.
It's almost an amazing trick that a load of people will go and see this film they'd normally hate simply because some people said it aligns with their socio-political beliefs and as such they must see it to support it.
Oh and I know someone in the comments is likely to say "Oh you only went to see it to write about how it's not feminist" so to you I say, no. I went to see the film because I like the Mad Max franchise and have the box set.
I'm well over 1,500 words already so if you want me to talk about how Mad Max Fury Road stacks up compared to the rest of the films that's another thing for another blog. If you liked the previous Mad Max films it's worth seeing, if you're into films with lots of explosions , cars and gunfights chances are you'll like it, if not then go see something you want to not something you feel compelled to support. Nor really should people be celebrating a film based on personal politics, because if Mad Max were truly a Feminist film technically (as with all films deliberately presenting a strong overt political stance) it would be a propaganda film. That's not to say films or media should be A political but I'd rather not see entertainment media descend into being another socio-political battleground. Especially when we saw the starts of it with people condemning others for going to see American Sniper and not Selma (I saw neither because neither interested me hugely).read
I've been a bit quiet here on Dtoid for week or so, this article now is kind of the reason. I wanted to finish this one before doing anything else.
So I wanted to do this piece for a while and it's taken various forms. At one point I thought about doing it as a video piece as this one is going to be image heavy. However I've decided to do this as written piece and see how it holds up and maybe consider doing a video version later if needed.
So Kotaku found leaked footage for the upcoming film suicide squad (which has since been pulled from youtube anyway) but add to this a huge uproar at Game of Thrones and you might realise this is going to be one of those things I write which may well be controversial, and does relate back to Anita Sarkeesian.
So what am I talking about, well I'm talking about how the bad guy is defined and why context is very important to media literacy. So let's start shall we? The bad guy does bad things. Seems simple enough to understand, the villain of the piece does things that we as a player are meant to find shocking or bad. These actions establish them as the villain because would you look at that they're doing villainous things they're doing things society has taught us are bad. So for example when the villain in Red Dead Redepemption kicks a woman on the ground we're meant to hate him for this. It gives the player a clear reason for the resentment and a reason to want to take the villain down to protect the oppressed. The same can be said of the (now) infamous Watchdogs sex slave auction sequence . Which I played through and holy Cthulhu did Anita fail at realising the context, from the porn filming areas before hand to the security camera feed with a girl sitting draped in sheets sobbing. Hell the mission before that sees you impersonating one of the bidders and being given a girl and a load of Whips, chains and handcuffs, the girl then tries to attack you claiming she knows who you are and what you do to girls (believing him to still be the bidder). Have a look at the three short videos I've taken from that section of the game
Oh and those videos aren't the entirity of the section I missed the girl crying on the CCTV camera in the record.
In the Watchdogs sex Slave auction section, the villain has set up an auction of girls trafficked into the country to be sold as sex slaves. This as I'm sure everyone reading this can easily point out is a bad thing. So why am I talking about it? Well Anita threw up her arms (metaphorically) and in the video Tropes vs Women in Video gaming: Women as Background objects. Anita points out this is bad, however it seems her reason for it being bad is far different to what you'd expect. Anita's claim was that it's bad that this was included in the game. That it's bad that it's somehow meant to "titillate" the player and this content shouldn't be included in games. So this is why I' doing this (and maybe more such articles) to ask if this is a failure of media literacy as what we have is a bad guy being shown doing bad things and Anita thinks it's somehow bad to have the bad guy do bad things. It seems bonkers as clearly you want the bad guy to show they are bad rather than simply being told they're the bad guy and asked to "Listen and Believe", which someone could easily turn into the basis of a story in the future if Wanted hadn't already done it to an extent.
It's weirdly telling about things that in Mad Max Fury Road the same basic ideas of Watchdogs freeing sex slaves are merely gender flipped are being held up (admittedly not by Anita) as a Feminist film. You have a strong female character helping to free a number of other women who were being held as "breeders" essentially sex slaves for the mad villain "War Father Joe".
The Villains motives simply seem to be to produce a son and or family to carry on from him that didn't suffer from genetic deformities and illnesses that all his present children have. The part where you realise it's messed up is when you realise he essentially has a harem of women being kept as sex slaves to try and achieve this end. Is it a Feminist film ? Well not really unless you're taking the most loose possible definition of claiming a film with a strong female characters is feminist. Generally most people tend to call such films you know, well written. It seems far less about the content and far more about symbolism and claiming "This film must appeal to my socio-political stances" even if to make such claims requires some impressive mental gymnastics. No seriously I'm writing this bit having just got back from watching Mad Max Fury Road and well it's a film where a monster truck runs over a pregnant woman. It's a film where a woman is left naked on top of an electricity pylon as a trap. It's a film where old women get shot, killed and savagely beaten. Mad Max is a brutal film, like you'd expect from a series that shows a brutal post apocalyptic world. It's not feminist it's meritocratic where the characters survive thanks to their skills and use of their natural attributes and abilities.
Without adversity there can be no triumph. Without weakness then moments of strength do not stand out.
Just think back to a well hated villain. For example as Game of Thrones has come under fire let's take Joffery as an example . Throughout Game of Thrones he beats and kills innocent prostitutes sent to him, he at one point nearly forces a man to drink himself to death; He makes implicit rape threats against Sansa as well as having his lackeys hit Sansa or harm her at least twice. Joffery is a monster, how do we know he's a monster? Well his actions. People say actions speak louder than words and in such visual media it's entirely true. The idea of the bad guy doing bad things is an easy signifier to the audience that they are the bad guys. The alternative would almost be the Villain giving a long monologue about how evil he is and how he wants to torture baby pandas. Somehow I'd like to think the public is smart enough to understand who the bad guy is without requiring the media to have them almost turn to the camera and the villain announce it. There's seemingly this idea that showing anything negative is a bad thing, well I have to argue that such an idea is stupid even if you wish to claim it could "Trigger people" and as I said in a previous piece The Trigger Man of Utopia, the idea of media not reflecting society but an idealised utopian vision for one or other sets of political ideal is extremely stupid. I'd hope that people are smart enough to realise that the ones doing the bad things in a piece of media, they're the bad guys 99.99% of the time. Without the bad guy being allowed to you know do bad things it would require some kind of blatant villain monologue to the camera as though lecturing the audience (very Brechtian but I don't think as entertaining somehow ).
It's always been the job of the fictional hero to fight for the weak and oppressed. It's almost ironic the weak and oppressed people are fighting for now aren't the real people but for fictional characters to not have bad things happen to them. Somehow people have such empathy for fictional characters they they've turned the creator and artist into a villain for writing these stories. It's a great bit of comedy almost because as much as people hate to admit it, media reflects aspects of our own world and sex trafficking, it's part of it. It's comedic to see people argue against having such serious issues presented in media and or claims it somehow trivialises it to make it into mere entertainment. One big problem with Taboo subjects has and always will be talking about them and like it or not media "trivialising things" helps raise awareness and gets people talking about these things. You can't and shouldn't think you can lecture everyone in the world and they'll all step in line and praise you for your insight (especially if it's insanely missing the point).
So why the hell write all this? Well while I trust people to have basic media literacy it seems like some recent "critics" being held up by some as infallible beacons to look to for some imaginary brighter future are serviously lacking in the media literacy department such that even a Smuck like me can show them up this badly.read
Ok we've had the UK general Election recently (for those of you in the US who may not be aware) We've had months of politics on TV. We've had a majority government formed.
Then we had people go out onto the street and desecrate war memorials because the party they wanted didn't win.
I see politics as something important and I'm aware that engaging in it is to an extent an important thing to do, at least to keep somewhat up to date (Even if most of my engagement is half watching the news and watching Have I Got News For You). What I'm seeing recently is everything becoming a political battleground. As it seems if you have nothing but politics when your politics fails you do some very stupid things.
The idea that everything is political and thus we should talk about politics in everything and forcibly start the debate is dumb. It's not some great show of how we're all mature adults now. It's the reason in the past I wrote the Subjective Brutal Legend Review; it's why I wrote my bit about how I Am Bread isn't inclusionary enough; it's why I wrote my parody piece on Minecraft .
With the insanely huge war seemingly going on over Mad Max (yes really there's ideological wars going on over Mad Max) I thought I'd take this opportunity to point out how fucking stupid this is getting how will I do this you might ask ? Well I'm going to give a list of media or series that have content people could object to if you're the kind of person whose entire life must include you following only pieces of media which do and have always fit your personal politics.
Mad Max - A series which the first film shows the aftermath of an brutal assault and rape of a woman. No I'm not joking, Mad Max 1 is a film few people seem to talk of much but go back and watch and you see a Motorbike gang attack a couple, killing the guy and the girl, well she's left by the roadside extremely traumatised.
Thor - Racism, no really in one of the Thor comic books Thor throws a radioactive villain at China and the Villain then explodes in a mushroom cloud.
Superman - Oh you though DC were all nice? How about their slap a Japanese person campaign
The Hobbit (films) - Animal cruelty. Did you know during the Hobbit films 27 of the animals you see at various points died during filming ? Well they did and not due to natural causes. Causes included a mix of neglect, exhaustion and dehydration. Well done enjoy supporting a film that failed to look after it's animals.
The Passion of the Christ - Anti Semitism
Jeepers Creepers - The Director is a convicted sex offender
It seems any media property which displays anything is now being claimed by people as "one of ours". You think I'm joking I recently found this on a very social justice centric subreddit.
Yes suddenly anything that in any way relates to any of their politics must mean the author unwaveringly supports all the insane ideas tht SJW warriors put forward. Oh and this is including a number of them who want JK Rowling to re-write Harry Potter to include more diversity such and Hogwarts students with severe disabilites because trying to pressure an author to re-write your world view is apparently now fine because "Diversity".
Oh and I can hear it now.
"But this is cultural criticism, how dare you try to supress criticism"
and I'm not trying to, I'm pointing out criticising the political message in a piece of media is low hanging fruit that even a Neanderthal like me can do (see previously linked blogs) . If you want to play yourself off as a high art critic then picking off low hanging fruit is not the way to do it. Hell some would say criticising a piece of art for not having the political message you wanted is downright entitled , exclusionary and close minded. It's almost the most bonkers thing as though people are so uncertain of their politics they require all media to constantly reassure them about it. Or reassure themselves they are somehow not the monster they often choose the paint other people as for "microaggressions" (Which has now been expanded to include: asking questions people don't want to answer, teachers correcting students spelling and being white and sitting in a room). Infact in his near 50 page essay on the subject Oscar Wilde notes that the idea of criticising a piece of work for not agreeing with your own politics is a poor critic who cannot appreciate art or other peoples points of view. Oscar Wilde points out that criticism should be about execution and portrayal or themes an ideas not if you think said themes and ideas are particularly good ones. I mean for fucks sakes here in the UK on a new (as of now most likely dead) attempt to bring video games back to TV audiences one reviewer on the show was lamenting how Battlefield Hardline wasn't a politically charged takedown of the over militarisation of US police. I mean seriously what the hell. When I'm seeing that on TV I have to stop and ask if it's a game you want or a deliberate piece of political propaganda to make yourself feel good while you sniff your own farts.
I want to share an old Churchill quote with you
What do I mean? Well the idea of the great fight for the purest of equality now says parents being good parents and reading to their children is unfair because other parents (you know the ones who don't give a shit) won't and thus one child may be at an unfair advantage. To this I was "Welcome to the world we live in where people do compete for jobs and positions, we don't live in a grand socialist utopia because all people are different. So expecting everyone to simply behave like the lowest common denominator to make things equal is inherently denying peoples hard work and effort." So no it's not equality to attack Notch and then try to get money out of him, it's damn near emotional blackmail.
It seems to some that my existence (and that of many other people) is seen as a crime I should be judged guilty of and as such rely on using that guilt to leverage agreement or even money from me and others who they claim are "privilaged". Is that not just a bit undermining to you know principals of having your work seen as good on its own merit and not trying to get support via guilt. Oh but that would require skill and work and you know, whose got the time or patience to do that when you can cry oppression at any criticism and try to guilt people into supporting you or else you'll try to tar them as a horrible monster. It seems social justice is as far from liberal as you can get as no longer are people free to spend their money as they like. They're being pressured to spend it on certain things with the idea of a terrible "Or Else" hanging over their heads.
At some point people have to learn that the entirity of adult life isn't merely talking about politics and talking politics doesn't make you a mature adult. Stepping back from the politics about being able to laugh is an important thing (that's laugh not merely jeer and mock those who don't agree and claim it's all fair cause comedy, then whine if someone does it to you). Then again I am from a country who had this on TV the night before the election.read
This is the first time I've decided to do this here on Destructoid I'm now putting in video version of what's mostly written below. The video does have adverts enabled so it's up to you if you want to watch the video and give me nice ego stroking views, or read the rest of this article.
"Comic books lead to a rise in youth delinquency". So was the call of a book by psychologist Fredrick Wertham. A book called Seduction of the Innocent which contained a number of claims about the impact of comic books. None of the claims based on actual peer reviewed scientific papers. People merely saw an "expert" and due to social conditioning chose not to question it. This is the basis of almost every social engineering scam known today, it relies on people believing people are honest both about who they are and what they say. It relies on the idea that people do not have a bias and are being honest good and truthful and not questioning things. We don't live in that world. I mean it's almost pure comedy that the same people who talk about the need for critical thinking are the same group who for a while tried push this.
So why after having talked about the comics code authority in the past and the damage done am I again here and again talking about them. Well a psychologist is about to do almost the exact same to video games. Here's an interview taken from BBC Radio 4 with Dr Zimbardo the author of upcoming book Man (Dis)connected.
I'm almost waiting for certain companies to pick up and use to claim gaming needs to change and is harmful etc. (Looking at you Polygon). As you can hopefully hear in the interview at least this time there are other academics etc fighting and challenging the book.
You might have also noticed a similarity between the comments of another individual who objected to violent video games in the not too distant past.
Yes the exact same claim about changing brain activity was brought up once again by this psychologist as was done by Jack Thompson. Yes I thought it was time to give you that again just to remind people of the past. The claim brought up again and again by people is "Media affects people" well yes, it does. Media can make us feel happy, sad scared safe and run the gamete of human emotions. But here's the important piece of reasoning people forget. After a sad film are you permanently sad? Ok are you permanently in a state of terror after a scary film? Putting someone into an MRI machine having just played video games will show changes in brain activity, just like putting someone into an MRI machine having played sport would or having gone to watch Disney's Frozen. So yes media affects people, but are we really going to turn round and say media being able to illicit emotional responses is going to be the downfall of our society? I mean what kind of crazy people would see suppression of emotions and human nature as a good thing.
What you knew I had to do that at some point. But on a more serious note being able to differentiate between feelings and logical reasoning is an important distinction to make in term of attempting some degree o objectivity based arguments. Using logic and reasoning doesn't mean you have t suppress emotions, just don't let your emotions cloud your entire judgement. Emotions such as fear are what has allowed Humanity to survive as a species. So before every-one goes entirely moral panic mad (as many no doubt will when this book releases) I think it only Fair to close off this piece with a clip from Penn & Teller.


text:
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Hello everyone! We have a new Meetup for our September book -- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall. In honor of the book, we are meeting for dinner and conversation at Geckos, which features Soutwestern, Mexican and Native American cuisine. A reminder: Our October book is "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore. Be sure to bring suggestions for our November book at the September meeting. Also, if anyone has any good "spooky" suggestions on where to meet for October's book, send me an e-mail. Hope to see you all at the meeting!
-- Lisa
I decided to start Reno Motorcycle Riders Group because I wanted to be part of a group of people who enjoyed my passion... I was excited and nervous. Our group has grown by leaps and bounds. I never thought it would be this big.
— Henry, started Reno Motorcycle Riders
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I'm interacting with an API for which I have a Python library. The library provides an
APIClient class which provides all the functionality of the API. I want to interact with this API according to some logic, and I would like to be able to test the logic wihtout making API calls (i.e. a mock) as it is transactional.
Clearly I need to mock out (at some stage) some of the API client's functionality, but I'm unsure how best to go about this.
Should I simply extend the
APIClient class, implement my logic and then extend my class again to create a mock version:
class MyClass(APIClient):
pass #Lots of interesting things actually happen here
class MyTestClass(MyClass):
def an_overridden_method(self):
pass #here I implement a method for testing
Or should I pass an
APIClient instance to my class and, when I want to test, should I pass in a mocked out version of the
APIClient class?
class MyClass(object):
def __init__(self, api_client):
self.api_client = api_client
class MockAPIClient(APIClient):
def an_overwritten_method(self):
Or is there an alernative, 'best practice' way for me to implement this?


text:
How safe is that fitness tracker you are using?
You are not going to believe thisJuly 1, 2015 9:22
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HSBC Bank Oman agrees to sell Pakistan business to Meezan Bank
European tour operators evacuate thousands from Tunisia after attack
French group to invest at least $150 mln in Saudi's Kingdom Holding
Gold ticks up from 2-week low as market eyes Greece
Car bomb aimed at UAE officials kills three Somali soldiers in Mogadishu
Abu Dhabi's Etisalat jumps 13.8 pct on looser ownership curbs
RSE, Qatar teaming up to buy stake in Formula One
Qatar building boom proves a challenge for foreign construction firms
Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) plans to add a new production line at its aluminium joint venture with U.S firm Alcoa to produce sheets used in the automotive and construction industries, the firm said on Monday.
March 6, 2012 11:05 by Reuters
The new line will have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year and also produce foil stock sheets when it comes online by the end of 2014, Maaden said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.
Financing for the project will be announced at a later date.
The Aluminium complex is owned 74.9 percent by Maaden, and 25.1 percent by Alcoa. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Firouz Sedarat)


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Astrid, Queen of the Belgians
3 of 10 portraits of Astrid, Queen of the Belgians
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Astrid, Queen of the Belgians
by Vandyk
whole-plate film negative, 28 June 1934
Purchased, 1996
Photographs Collection
NPG x130228
Click on the links below to find out more:
Sitterback to top
- Astrid, Queen of the Belgians (1905-1935), Wife of Leopold III, King of the Belgians; daughter of Prince Carl of Sweden. Sitter in 10 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Vandyk (active 1881-1943). Artist associated with 619 portraits.
Subject/Themeback to top
Exhibitions and displays
- Women and the First World War
Until 25 October


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Article Preview
UPDATE: Perry drops out of presidential race, endorses Gingrich
Published 01/19/2012, Associated Press
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich.Word count: 491
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Program Information
Third summer session begins
312-2270. http://www.oswego.edu/extended_learning/summer_sessions.html
Location: SUNY Oswego
Monday, July 6, 10:46 p.m. - 10:46 p.m.
Rice Creek Ramble
Guided walk showing visitors what creatures are around, what they eat and where they live. Participants should dress for the weather and call 312-6677 the morning of the hike to check trail conditions. Program size is limited; unable to accommodate groups. An adult must accompany children. Free.
Location: Rice Creek Field Station
Saturday, July 11, 11 a.m. - noon
Men's Soccer vs. St John Fisher Scrimmage (Time TBA)
Monday, July 6, 10:46 p.m. - 10:46 p.m.
Women's Soccer vs. St. Lawrence
Tuesday, Sept 1, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
GOLD Third Thursdays
Visit http://www.facebook.com/events/453070221388940 for the latest locations or suggest your own!
Location: Various Cities
Thursday, July 16, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Harborfest Housing Available
Monday, July 6, 10:46 p.m. - 10:46 p.m.
The study of modern languages, literatures and cultures is especially important in a global society, as it helps emphasize similarities and improve communication between people and nations. Oswego's Department of Languages and Literatures, one of the largest in the SUNY system, offers major and minor programs in French, German and Spanish. Learning takes place in small classes of around 20 students, led by faculty who encourage active use of your chosen language. In our new multimedia lab, the latest equipment enables you and your professors to interact using advanced technology that enhances learning.


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Jerking off in the washroom
By: ykdude
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Date: 2 years ago
Runtime: 1:32
Views: 1,351
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Your breathing made me so fucking horny. <3
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The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan said the State Department does not have the training or expertise to take over security operations in Iraq when the military departs at the end of 2011, Gov Exec reports.
"We are now entering into an unprecedented phase of contingency transitioning between Defense and State, and there is no clear guiding policy," said Michael Thibault, the commission's co-chairman.
State has acknowledged it will have to rely on contractors to conduct emergency medical evacuations, remove explosive devices, and to lead convoy security.
State said it will increase its contractor workforce from 2,700 to between 6,000 and 7,000.
This story is part of our daily DorobekINSIDER Must Reads. Be sure to check out the full list of stories.
How the US Mint and NIST are perfecting the money-making process.


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Photos from the Nike+iPod launch in ChicagoNike and Apple today formally unveiled their Nike+iPod Sport Kit with major launch events at Niketown retail stores located in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Some photos from the Chicago event follow.
Before you get to browsing, we'll warn you that the quality of these photos is not up to par with our recent product shots of the kit, but a correspondent was nice enough to send them along — so be nice when posting in the forums.
Niketown Chicago is hosting "an entire day of music" in connection with the adjacent Apple store on North Michigan Avenue between Erie and Superior. Mae performed a lunchtime concert from 12:00pm - 1:00pm. Chicago cover band Underwater People is playing sets throughout the day untill 7:00pm.
Earlier this morning, Niketown New York hosted a special event from 10:00am - 11:00am featuring Nike baseball players Mariano Rivera (New York), Chien-Ming Wang (New York) and AJ Pierzynski (Chicago), basketball player Ben Gordon (Chicago), retired basketball player Cynthia Cooper (Houston), Olympic speedskater Chad Hedrick and Olympic snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis.
At 6:30pm, Apple and Nike will also host a 3.5 mile cross-Manhattan run beginning at Niketown's Midtown store, and taking runners past the Apple Store Fifth Avenue on their way to the Apple Store SoHo.
Niketown Los Angeles is also holding a retail celebration hosted by local personality Carol Lewis and featuring Jeff Garcia from Power 106.
Niketown Chicago
On Topic: iPod
- Promotional images suggest Apple's new iPod colors will launch July 14
- Apple leaks new gold, deep blue and hot pink iPod colors in iTunes 12.2
- iPod's disappearance from top of Apple website signals further slide into obscurity
- Apple's dwindling iPod lineup to see long-awaited refresh this year
- Chess grandmaster hid an iPod touch in the bathroom to cheat during tournaments


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Carhartt Coats
6 Item(s)
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$100.00 Free Shipping 6 Reviews 350
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Carhartt Coats: Men's C003 DNY Navy Quilt Lined Artic Winter Coat
$100.00 Free Shipping 1 Review 350
The number of Rewards Points earned by Rewards Program members when purchasing this product.
Rewards Points can be used to redeem gift codes that are used as currency on a future order.
6 Item(s)
I called into your call center today and had the pleasure of speaking with Teresa. My order had been delayed by the manufacturer. I received a prompt e-mail from your company notifying me of the delay and giving me options. I initially just said okay, I will wait for the boots. Then I thought about calling in to see what my options could be. That is when I reached Teresa. She was very friendly on the phone and quick to assist. She helped me identify what boots would work for me and gave me options to get the boots faster than I thought. She even saved me a little money on comparable boots. This was my fist purchase with your company although I will have to say I am going to start promoting your company to my family and friends. It is hard to find a company which will beat everyone's prices and still be concerned about customer service. You have a great combination there and I wanted to make sure you knew it was appreciated."
J. Rands from Salt Lake City, Utah


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STING IN THE TAIL: Giant Jellyfish found on the beach near Lydstep Caverns. PICTURE: Gareth Davies/Hidden Pembrokeshire Facebook page. (6347655)
Giant jellyfish have been making their wobbly way on to the sands of Pembrokeshire this week.
The massive creatures have fascinated beach-goers at various locations, including the coast by Lydstep Caverns and in Tenby.
The barrel, or dustbin-lid jellyfish (Rhizosstoma pulmo) is the largest of its kind to inhabit British waters, and can grow up to almost three feet across and weigh up to 35kg.
There have been a number of recent sightings around the coast of Wales and the West, and these look set to increase as the weather warms up.
Members of the Tenby Island Project, which opens St Catherine's Island off the South Beach to the public, spotted 20 of the creatures washed up on the beach on Sunday morning.
They advised on Facebook: "Left undisturbed they will simply recover when the tide re-floats them and they will resume their gracious way through the sea. "
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Giant jellyfish wash ashore on Pembrokeshire coast
Mr J Fish looks a suitable type for becoming an IPG County Councillor - no back bone, can be pushed around, no brain, no convictions, believes anything and everything Bryn says - give that pile of **** £30k for a special allowance as a start ;-)
the J stands for Jelly, couldn't believe for a second that PCC might believe it stands for anything else :)
the J stands for Jelly, couldn't believe for a second that PCC might believe it stands for anything else :)


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The Top 10 In Action Sports
01Brick By Brick: Camping Lego Style
02Booze and Bikes: 14 Tours That Let Combine Two of the Best Things in the World
03Who Needs Hollywood? These Incredible Videos Were All Filmed on the Simplest Cameras
04Sam Pilgrim vs. The World: The Champion Aiming To Reclaim His Crown In A New Era Of Biking
05Eccentric Adventures Episode 2: Britain's Most Brutal Illegal Event is All About Cheese
06A Journey Into Darkness: We Went Mountain Biking in the Abandoned Mines of Slovenia
07After the Apocalypse: Inside The World's Most Breathtaking Ghost Towns
08Debate: Let's Stop Hating On Parents Who Want To Raise Adventurous Kids
09Guns, Roses, And Eating Insects: Adventure Cycling in Vietnam
10From Intense Trails to Intensive Care: Dicing with Death In a Mountain Biking Paradise
Horsefeathers: Sunny Days in Malaga
A Skateboarding video by keltron - 18,385 views
This time Horsefeathers team didn't have a tough choice by choosing the trip. A perfect weather forecast: 20 – 25 °C, sunny, not windy, no drizzling, an almost local guide available, one skate spot after another and very suitable architecture for skateboarding.
Arnošt Ceral, Bastien Marlin, Moritz Rech and Matěj Hakl. That was the trip set-up of the first official international team trip to Malaga.
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401 S. Beltline Highway West, Scottsbluff, NE 69363Local 308-632-5301 or Toll Free 800-732-4546Propane Sales & Service 800-658-4457
DTN Weather Summary
Light rain is expected Friday in the Southern Plains and into the Delta and the Tennessee Valley. The Midwest will be dry for the holiday weekend. » More DTN Weather Commentary


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I Haven't Got Time for the 'Paign
Finally, a browser extension that will allow you to filter out campaign coverage until it really matters.
Thomas Piketty Explains Why the Germans Are Being Massive Hypocrites About Greece's Debt
Why Teenagers Love Making Jokes About 9/11
The Last Days of the Great American Showpeople
Will we remember them as megastars or punch lines?
What the Reddit Rebellion Is Really About
The Campus Mental Health Crisis
College-age depression is tied to helicopter parenting, studies show.
Are Cats Really Wild Animals?
Experts clash over whether they count as a domesticated species.
College-Age Depression Is Increasingly Tied to Helicopter Parenting, Studies Show
Are Cats Truly Domesticated? Or Are They Really Wild Animals?
Jul 6, 2:43 PM - J. BRYAN LOWDER - 1M to read Watch This SC Senator Freak Out About Gay Marriage During the Confederate Flag Debate
Jul 6, 1:41 PM - MIRIAM KRULE - 2M to read Evangelicals in Brazil Flock to "Sin-Free" Social Network
Jul 6, 1:36 PM - AMANDA MARCOTTE - 2M to read Michael Eisner's Comment That Beautiful Women Aren't Funny Says More About Him Than Women
Jul 6, 1:18 PM - JEREMY STAHL - 6M to read The USWNT and Women's World Cup Have Evolved Eons From 1999, Are Still Being Held Back by FIFA
Jul 6, 1:13 PM - FORREST WICKMAN - 1M to read Wilco's First-Ever All-Acoustic Show Is Now Online. Download It Here.
Jul 6, 12:22 PM - M. J. STERN & A. KAHN Take the Quiz: Were These Quotes Said in Defiance of Desegregation or Same-Sex Marriage?
Jul 6, 11:55 AM - KRISTIN HOHENADEL - 3M to read Toilet Brushes Are Gross. Can This Water Gun Make Them Obsolete?
Jul 6, 11:45 AM - MARISSA VISCI The Empire State Building and the Grateful Dead Teamed Up for an Epic Farewell Jam
Jul 6, 11:39 AM - DAVID AUERBACH - 6M to read The Reddit Blackout Isn't About One Fired Employee. It's About a Dysfunctional Relationship at Reddit's Core.
Jul 6, 11:20 AM - REBECCA ONION - 1M to read The BBC's Hilarious 1948 Style Guidelines "On Matters of Taste"
- When Fireworks Go Wrong Real-Life Male Strippers Reveal the Songs that Make Women Go Crazy
- What if the Emotions From Inside Out Were in Other Movies? The Best Way To Make A Pie, According To Science
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- Glide Through the Mysterious Glowing Coral In the Red Sea The Secret Stain Remover That's Already In Your Medicine Cabinet
- 1. College-Age Depression Is Increasingly Tied to Helicopter Parenting, Studies Show
- 2. The Reddit Blackout Isn't About One Fired Employee. It's About a Dysfunctional Relationship at Reddit's Core.
- 3. Chat With Dear Prudence
- 4. Why Teenagers Love Making Jokes About 9/11
Dear Prudence Live Chat
For Jul. 6, 2015
The Silent Goodbye
A Question of Art and Commerce
Something Old for Something New
Mom and Dad Are Watching
- 1. This Is What a World Cup Champion Looks Like, America
- 2. College-Age Depression Is Increasingly Tied to Helicopter Parenting, Studies Show
- 3. The United States Wins World Cup. Watch the Insane Four-Goal Stretch That Made It Happen.
- 4. "Pearl Harbor" Trending on Twitter. This Is Why the U.S. Can't Have Nice Things.
- 5. The Artwork of Alien Worlds
- 6. You Won't Be Visiting These Abandoned Amusement Parks This July Fourth
- 7. Watch Abby Wambach Embrace Her Wife—on National TV!—After World Cup Victory
These Dark, Mysterious Photos of London Will Keep You up at Night
You Won't Be Visiting These Abandoned Amusement Parks This July Fourth
The Most Exciting Part of the Tour de France Is the People Who Watch It
These Inadvertent Photographs Give an Unlikely View of a Long Gone New York City
A Seasoned Photographer Captures the Drama of the American Landscape
All the World's a Heavy Metal Stage for These Slayer Fans
These Hypnotic GIFs Show Why Everyone Goes to Oakland to Cut Their Hair
Behind the Scenes With the Guy Who Captures Basketball's Greatest Moments
The Landscape of Civil War Monuments How, when, and where the North and South memorialize the conflict.
- The Checkup Let's Talk About Sex
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- Slate Money Real Men Drink Rosé
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"I can't tell you how good it felt to tell Apple Music I hate Coldplay and know that it will remember that forever." The iTunes Era Is Over
"Only an hour after the Obamacare decision came down, it feels somehow inevitable that Roberts would have decided it this way." Supreme Court Breakfast Table
Greece in Crisis Photos from a nation struggling with closed banks, empty ATMs, rumors and uncertainty
The U.S. Isn't Just Failing to Protect Electronics Workers From Toxic Substances. Their Kids Are Suffering, Too.
The Shortcut
The Easiest Way to Clean Dust Bunnies Banish bunnies from hard to reach places without moving furniture.
The XX Factor
The Latest Battle for Religious Women: Quran Recitation Apps That Don't Include Female Voices
The Digital Demagogue The Greek prime minister's faceoff with Europe is something new: a bold, imperfect, high-velocity form of mass democracy made possible by the Internet.


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Photo: courtesy Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
We love the Notebaert Nature Museum, so it's easy to be enthusiastic when the institution hosts a free party to observe summer's official start (even if the celebration is two days early). This all-ages affair, held both inside and out, lets families meet turtles and snakes, explore native plants, learn about urban foraging and, of course, enjoy the museum's exhibits, including its always-awesome butterfly haven. Craft activities and a bluegrass band add to the fun.When: 5-8 p.m.Where: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2430 N. Cannon Drive (773-755-5100, naturemuseum.org)Cost: Free
CTnow.com, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115
A Hartford Courant website


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An American crime thriller film about an undercover state cop who has infiltrated an Irish gang and a mole in the police force working for the same mob race to track down and identify each other before being exposed to the enemy, after both sides realize their outfit has a rat.
25 views
Who was Dignam working for?
At the end of The Departed, Dignam kills Sullivan after finding out that he was the rat all along and responsible for Billy Costigan's death. Did Dignam do this on his own accord? Or was he part of ...
67 views
When did Sullivan exactly realize who the undercover guy (DiCaprio) was?
When does he find out in the movie? Is it when he says on the phone: "So it is you. Thank God you're all right. We were very worried." And how exactly does he know it's Costigan? Sorry, I've watched ...


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SOURCE: GeorgetownPatch
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Archaeological Dig Unearths Slave History at Georgetown Estatetags: archaeology, Tudor Place, Slave History, African-American
Archaeologists at Tudor Place, an historic Georgetown estate with ties to George Washington, have unearthed artifacts that suggest the former existence of a dwelling for both enslaved and free workers on the site.
A team of archaeologists spent several days in the past week painstakingly digging and sifting through layers of soil in the northeast corner of the Tudor Place garden, in an area called the tennis lot.
"We've been wanting to know about slave patterns at Tudor Place," Jessica Zullinger, director of preservation at Tudor place, said in a phone interview with Patch....
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- David Hackett Fischer wins $100,000 prize for lifetime achievement in military writing
- Russian historian slams Putin
- Historians and archivists say the NY Public Library no longer functions as a world-class research library
- WaPo chastised for ignoring Venona Papers in obit for Allen Weinstein
- In gay marriage decision, Supreme Court turns to historians for insight


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