the headline read in black and white, "An angel falls from grace"

Oh! Hi there! It seems to be September.

And (who's surprised, really?) I'm still counting, so--welcome to Day 378!

Caught on a random profile:

Single. Poly. Don't want a relationship but I do want a bunch of friends I'm in love with. We can all live on a commune, take care of each other, and watch horror movies every night.

That's so sweet.

(Also, OMG OMG Wally Darling has a Makeship plush out AAAAAAH--)

Excuse me. What I meant to say is...the not-me aspect of the mesh head business? Is even more not-me than usual, because I forgot this planned EvoX-based avatar had a different base shape (Why? No idea. No, I'm serious, I didn't leave me notes explaining things), so apologies for that.

However. I needed to post about some new/revised items from /Vae Victis\! And Sonder called, in the meantime, so to Sonder I went.



The "Sanguis" Hemophage collar you can see in the above picture, but not really sure how the rest of it is coming across...



...and the other tattoo work may interfere, as well. Argh.

[[Ahem. Insert from the Editrix before publishing, WHY IS IT FIVE DAYS LATER, but also, fairly sure I had another tattoo under the Cultist wristlets? Go me. I THINK it's also Vae Victis, from the Zealot set of things, but...coming back to this later, no idea.]]



...okay. So those are the tears from the "Veritas" Cultist set along with the crest (which, I, um, forgot to put on before starting to take pics). Let's see if I can get a good pic of the "Veritas" Cultist cuffs.



There we go. Everything's in Old Gold, by the way, if I forgot to mention that.

[[Insert from the Editrix, again--see what I mean? I'm fairly sure the eyes belong to the Cultist set, but the hatching, not as confident. Or maybe it's the other way around...]]



Okay, best picture I can get of everything. Let's run it down, there's a lot:

• the "Sanguis" Hemophage collar, BOM layer, in "Blood" on the LeLutka EvoX "Kaya" head
• the bonus 'shadow' cover for the lower body, on Maitreya
• the "Veritas" Cultist crest and tears, BOM layer, in "Blood" on the Lelutka EvoX "Kaya" head
• the "Veritas" Cultist cuffs, BOM layer, in "Blood" on Maitreya

...and I've just now remembered the wrist cuffs were a gift for the event which I think I missed by a handful of days...

[[Great, I mentioned it in the blog. So much argh. Malfunction am me.]]

Onward through the frogs, I guess.



And this is everything listed above, only in "Void".

There are fifteen colors total in the "Sanguis" Hemophage collar, which also comes with the bonus 'shadow' layer for the lower body; fifteen combination crest-and-tears for the "Veritas" Cultist set, with an additional fifteen layers for the crest alone, the tears alone, and another fifteen SLUV layers in all the shades; and fifteen shades, BOM, for the "Veritas" Cultist wrist cuffs.

That is...a lot. Incredible.



(And, since I've done all that, let's do the rest of the rundown. I'm wearing:

• the "Sanguis" Hemophage collar in "Rosedust"
• the "Veritas" Cultist Tears and Crest in "Rosedust"
• the "Veritas" Cultist Tears and Crest in "Rosedust"
• the Wicca's Wardrobe "Laerlorn" tiara in "Black/Gold" [it was a gift from something, but damned if I remember where]
• Olive's "High Priestess" hair, Split 4 RARE variation [from a gacha, so maybe still available on Marketplace?]
• !deviantMind's "Falena" set [just Bra/Skirt] in "Blood"
• IDEALIA's "RAINA" ankle wraps [linking the Marketplace because the in-world store appears absent]
• the Lelutka EvoX skin in "Porcelain" from Enfer Sombre [with additional BOM layering for the elf ears]
• the Lelutka EvoX "Kaya" head
• TREND's Witch Eyeshadow [BOM 10] and Witch Lip [the orange one] from the Halloween Collection 2020 [purchased both on their recent half-off-the-things sale, but honestly, I would have been comfortable paying full price. Lovely set of lip tints and 'witchy' shadows]

...and pretty sure the eyes come with the "Kaya" head.

[[Last insert, I promise--somehow it's EVEN LATER STILL, so going with the 15th as the publish date and AAAAAAAGH and WHY DOES MY BRAIN HATE ME???



[[Past five days. Gah, six days now. Whyyyyy.]]

(And you've seen the pic that this was directing you down here to explain, but nonetheless: the little insert was doing as much as I could to highlight the Rosedust tone. It's like frosted, melted, then refrozen rose gold. Very subtle. Perfect for the Biblically accurate angel in your life. So--hope that worked!)

put your fate in your hands, take a chance, roll the dice

Oh, I have to do this, but this is only going to make sense to those who watch Critical Role.

This list was originally posted on disaster-tiefling's Tumblog, but it was reblogged from questbedhead's Tumblog.

Beau: Life-long jock slowly coming to terms with the fact she’s a closet nerd.


Beauregard by TheAleksDemon; Twitter linked only because I can't find the image on any of the other social media links on which Aleks' name turns up. May or may not be available as a print? Not sure.

Nott: Hard-working mother struggles to balance family bonding with burgeoning love of crime.


Nott the Brave drawn by ae-rie No mention of a shop for prints, but feel free to ask.

Caleb: Black Widow, if Black Widow was also a feral wizard.


Caleb by Ornerine/Ari. (I couldn't track down where she posted this exact image beyond the Critical Role wiki, but that at least will let you get in touch with her if you want information on how to get a print.) Also this is a perfectly apt description of Caleb.

Jester: Lovable scamp patiently waiting for it to be her turn to have a mental breakdown.


Jester Lavorre by LeopardMask79. Also see Ginny Di's amazing videos. I'm linking "When She Cheats" as an example of the level of cosplay.

Fjord: Local man would rather 1v1 eldritch demi-god than inconvenience friends.


Fjord drawn by Anna Janiszewska. She has no prints yet, but I think there's nothing wrong in asking.

Yasha: Buff angel just wanted to be gay and eat spiders in peace.


Yasha Nydoorin drawn by atutcha.

Mollymauk: Flamboyant amnesiac still sure he knows more than you.


Mollymauk Tealeaf drawn by Amber Harris. Also see this amazing cosplay of Mollymauk and Caleb from Hollaback Nerds.

Caduceus: Babiest sibling left unsupervised, wanders off with first strangers he meets.


Cadeuceus Clay drawn by Tess Fowler; you can buy prints of this image on her StoreEnvy page.

Obviously, all rights reserved to original artists, do check out their work.

we've seen the good and we've seen the bad

From a random profile:

"Dominance is not about force or aggression.

"One should merely tell their submissive their desires, with the expectation that she will work to fill them. There should be no need for forcing factors, if there are, then she is not truly yours, nor are you truly her dominant."

I do admit, I like that a great deal.

In the meantime, Tea Time Costuming contacted CassowaryMarie, ChamomileCatastrophe and MarzipanMassacre, and put together a steampunk shoot for some familiar characters. So far, there's Snow White, Red Riding Hood and Little Bo Peep. All outfits were designed around concepts originally seen in NoFlutter's art, so it's quite the collaborative thing.

You can see all the gallery images here.

Also, keep an eye on the Lovecraft Society blog, because 2014's Lovecraft Festival is coming. This year, as with last year's festival, the charity it benefits is the Autism National Committee. (Contact Ms. Rosalie Fleury with specific charity questions, as she's on RL staff of the ANC.) I'll post more information when I get it!

There was some controversy on today's Neverwinter livestream on Twitch.TV. Namely, one of the mods implemented the ROBOT9000 chat moderation code, and...things went a bit buggy.

In brief, what the code does--if you don't feel like the wall of text on the link--is search for words that haven't been said before, or at least, haven't been put together in that way. Those words and phrases, it allows through; all repeat words and phrases it blocks.

Okay, so why is this a problem? Because the community managers running that particular livestream have catchphrases--to wit, to win things like Founder chest packs, signed Forgotten Realms books, t-shirts, stickers, in-game digital titles and other goodies--that people type in to receive a random chance to win whatever's on offer. Today's phrase was #NeverwinterBBQ, which again, wouldn't be a problem, save several dozen people typing the exact same phrase at nearly the exact same time confused the coding.

Which meant the code started preventing some people--whose only flaw was typing too quickly after someone else had entered the phrase--from entering the contest at all.

Now, the chat moderators, after this was pointed out, insisted it couldn't have happened that way, but without knowing exactly what did happen, I'm going by the theory as it looked on the ground--some people got in, others didn't, pretty arbitrarily, and no one apologized. This is a small issue now, but it has the ability to become a much larger one, in time. Hopefully this was just a momentary glitch. We'll see what happens during the next stream.

Finding geeky jewelry is a lot easier than it used to be, considering Etsy is pretty much cornering the market on hipster culture references. But most of those stores offer their geekery in plastic or polymer clay. What if you wanted metal? Better yet, 3D-printed metal? That was suitable for men or women?

Surface Defect has you covered, and there are two additional very cool things: first, this is only the start of their line, and second, they're costume-jewelry priced. Neat!

What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?

And have a very tiny hedgehog,

walk through life, and move ahead to your destination

Remember, every day is a new day. And sometimes all we want is to save the world.

Things that are not steampunk:

• If it just has stripes
• If it just has non-working gears and nothing else
• This entire outfit

Some of my friends with Facebook accounts think some of these ideas are overdue. I agree more closely with the 'even more invasive' concept of all of those filters, and I'm also holding in mind that the Oculus Rift, a technological gaming development/platform that I was very interested in attaining, has now dropped so far off my radar it's somewhere around the core of the planet, once I discovered Facebook acquired the tech because Mark Zuckerberg likely thinks it'll be a fun, "hip" new way to sucker people into further privacy violations. Oh joy.

I'm not alone in thinking this--a great many of the donators who supported the project initially on Kickstarter are clamoring for their money back. They feel as if the Oculus Rift sold them out along with their company's tech, and they're very upset about the whole thing. Markus Persson--the infamous "Notch" behind Minecraft--has gone so far as to say that Oculus Rift support for Minecraft and other games he designs will be nonexistent. Why? Because Facebook "creeps [him] out". I don't blame him in the least.

What's really unnerving me in all of this, how'ver, are the threaded hints given between the lines on the New World Notes article announcing the acquisition. Now, granted, this is me exercising my full reserves of paranoia, honed on extensive conspiracy research, but--Linden Lab has every intention of integrating with the Oculus Rift; Philip Rosedale's new social media efforts are going to, at some point, feature Oculus Rift integration; Cory Ondrejka now works for Facebook's mobile division, and the Oculus Rift will be pairing with and integrating with Android mobile devices...so...at what point on Second Life does a Facebook account and a mobile phone become mandatory?

Because I have neither, and at this point, I want neither.

At one point in my net history, I did have a Facebook account, because a job I was working for at the time recommended it for access. At the time, I didn't use it much, as I was (and this will tell you how far back this happened) more invested in MySpace as a platform that was going places. I never really supported either the culture behind Facebook, or the behavior on Facebook, but discovering that--after over six years of never using that account at all--that I still had an open, functional account because I'd never told them to officially delete it also creeped me out beyond all reason. (Also going through the lengthy, 30+ day process to kill my account creeped me out, because seriously, that's non-intuitive to the point of being obfuscatingly arcane.)

So, yeah. The platform that had the potential to revolutionize gaming, on-the-job training, and person-to-person virtual communication is now something I can only view with suspicion and wary dread. Way to go, Zuckerberg. You've destroyed yet another potentially beautiful piece of the future.

Lastly, sometimes furniture just gets bored. So keep your furnishings entertained, if you can.

That is all.

you're a little bit damaged, I'm a sucker for that

From an anonymous spammer on a very old entry on the blog:

At the least 8-10 candidates were killed from the function-about the political election, and there are others acquired every day loss of life dangers.

Comply with a comfortable diet program that consist even more of proteins and dietary fibre and fewer acrylic, carbohydrates and starchy foods.

The spanish language is usually a gorgeous language to equally converse and take note of and is particularly viewed as by a lot of to get one of the easier dialects to find out.

part similar to the point here [link redacted]

Well. These are surely words of wisdom. I know I will particularly heed the instruction to get less acrylic in my diet. Because I'm sure that's very important.

This next one's a bit more gruesome, but it is that time of year--an urban explorer has discovered the decaying remains of a former veterinary school in Brussels, with what looks like dozens, if not hundreds, of teaching samples simply left behind to rot. The pictures are fascinating but two questions keep springing to mind:

1. Why were all the samples left behind? And
2. Why were most of the samples left uncovered?

I can't figure those two things out, and it bothers me.

Moving to the lands of cute things, how about Hello Kitty eyewear? And by 'eyewear', I mean costume contact lenses.

They seem to be simply tinted violet along the outer ring--where the Hello Kitty heads are printed--so the base color of the eye shines through, but...to walk around with teensy little kawaii kittens on your eyes, do you really care?

And this may be the cutest thing that ever cuted this week. An anime Japanese spirit dances with the animated shoes of Gene Kelly, before he takes her to a showing of Singing in the Rain. It's touching, beautiful, and--as stated--very, very cute.

back into the boneyard badlands we run

This is, quite possibly, the best Borderlands cosplay video in existence. With the kind permission of Gavin Dunne from Miracle of Sound for the song, and the full cooperation of the Jazzhands Cosplay Group of London, it was an impressive endeavor. Humble kudos to all involved.

(Oh, and the song used in that video? It's called "Breaking Down the Borders", and it's from the Level III album, available on Bandcamp or iTunes. The entire album comes highly recommended, but that song in particular, since it was written about and for Borderlands 2 as a game.)

The best preserved mammoth in paleontology? Maybe. The question is, what are they going to do with it now?

Oh, and before I forget:

(from the media album, and the Girl Genius Kickstarter)

The Wulfenbach patch unlocked as an add-on for the Girl Genius Kickstarter. We don't have art yet, but I did have to grab this banner and link it, because with four days to go, suddenly $300,000 seems potentially doable!

Do you have old game consoles and peripherals that you no longer use, that are taking up space? Do you want more game peripherals that are actually useful for more than just taking up space? I have one potential answer for those questions. Turns out an Etsy firm called Greencüb out of Ogden, Utah, is slowly repurposing old controllers, buttons, and power switches for resale to the public. Kind of a nifty concept.

It's not enough just to have dare foods anymore, we apparently have to dare during the dare foods. As Chuck from the Bronx displays, by eating a ghost pepper whilst skydiving. Yes, seriously.

It gets better--there are occasional text pop-ups on the vid that tell us what's going on, and one of them says that he had trouble swallowing the pepper that he popped in his mouth at the beginning of the jump. So it wasn't just eating the ghost pepper (which, for the uninitiated, averages about a million Scoville heat units, per pepper, and remains the single hottest naturally-grown pepper to date), but, it was lightly macerating a ghost pepper against the sensitive mucus membranes of his mouth, then HOLDING IT THERE during most of freefall, enhancing and substantially increasing the burn. Dear gods. No wonder he does not so much land at the end of the video, but slide to an ungainly stop. Dear gods.

If you really like trees--or, more importantly, are a big fan of wood--you may need to buy this book. Published by Taschen, it's actually a reprint of a rare, fourteen-volume set that was researched and compiled in-depth of species at the turn of the last century--many of which have disappeared today. Taschen went to the heart of Romeyn Beck Hough's masterwork, reprinting only the actual photographic plates with their usual exacting faithfulness for color and detail preservation. Since a set of the original works goes upwards of $30,000--assuming a fond reader can find them at all--this is a lovely way to acquire the visual sections for later perusal, without the price tag and expense of tracking Hough's set down.

YouTube now offers a slow-motion post-processing effect for uploaded videos. I still don't know why, but it's now there. Make of that what you will.

And, also from the Laughing Squid blog, Inception meets recursion. You're...welcome?

I've got a heart on my right, one on my left, neither suits my needs

"You can wear it or use it as home decor." The hell you say. (Image NSFW. Text NSFW. Title likely NSFW. Will need to have Adult enabled on the Marketplace to see it anyway.)

Some time ago, I brought up Tony Harris, who aimed a rather high-powered weapon, all things considered, directly at his feet--and shot himself with great accuracy. I know it's been a while, but I felt this was important enough to revisit.

Now at this point, yes, one-third of the men involved in these various misogynistic controversies have apologized (and by that, I mean Dirk Manning, not Harris or Joe Peacock, who trotted out his girls-are-icky speech clear back in July). Which, considering the level of ire, is a good thing. (And that one man has done everything he could to distance himself from the inevitable, and, some would even say, wholly deserved, backlash.)

How'ver, that still leaves Harris, and Peacock, and that specific sector of the male geek population who believes these things are true just because.

First, let's explore some of the divisions. Let's play who's who as a touchstone for this round of dissection:

Which one's the cosplayer, and which one's the 'booth babe'? This one, or this one? The latter actually bills herself as a 'booth babe', but that's partially because she's a professional model for game companies, in addition to being a freelance fashion designer and artist. She also makes her own costumes, which most other models would disdain doing. Like this one, while we're on the topic--which she managed to bring in at under $200, exclusive of wig and sword.

And of course, they're both cosplaying Black Canary:

(from the dolly album, because this is actually the action figure version)

Since that's actually Black Canary's costume, including fishnets, where's the line between sexual titillation and costume accuracy, then?

Or what about this one, versus this? They're both portraying Ivy from Soul Caliber:

(from the dolly album, because Ivy's still pretty much an action figure)

Both Crystal and Belle Chere make their own costumes, too. In Crystal's case, not only did she tear apart and substantially recut the fabric from three separate dresses to make Ivy's lingerie-and-jacket-tails outfit, but she cast the pauldron and the sword. It's not Ivy's usual whipsword, but it was hand-cast by Crystal.

Meanwhile, not only does Belle Chere have one of the most drop-dead perfect Jessica Rabbits on the planet, but she manages to make the Marvel outfit I hate most look decent. And she also made everything you see in the Ivy cosplay, from pauldron to boots, whipsword to dying and cutting her hair.

So what's the dividing line between a "true" geek girl, and a "fake" geek girl, and why does anyone care? Which brings us back neatly to Tony Harris:

Heres the statement I wanna make, based on THE RULE: "Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, you are more pathetic than the REAL Nerds, who YOU secretly think are REALLY PATHETIC. But we are onto you. Some of us are aware that you are ever so average on an everyday basis. But you have a couple of things going your way. You are willing to become almost completely Naked in public, and yer either skinny( Well, some or most of you, THINK you are ) or you have Big Boobies. Notice I didnt say GREAT Boobies? You are what I refer to as "CON-HOT". Well not by my estimation, but according to a LOT of average Comic Book Fans who either RARELY speak to, or NEVER speak to girls. Some Virgins, ALL unconfident when it comes to girls, and the ONE thing they all have in common? The are being preyed on by YOU.

That's a direct quote from Harris' Facebook rant which started the second round of misogyny off with a bang. I corrected nothing, and there's more of it, this is just what I thought of as the "best" extract.

Let's break it down.

1. You're not hot. Bitches.
2. You're more pathetic than real nerds...who are also pathetic.
3. We know you all hate us. Bitches.
4. You're not as smart as we are, either.
5. You're all sluts.
6. Did I mention you're not attractive? You're just thin and ugly, or fat with cleavage.
7. All you've got going for you is boobs.
8. "Con-hot" is an insult, by the way.
9. Almost all geeks are virgins, or severely socially malajusted, and they never speak to girls. Because you're all bitches.
10. Just go die somewhere out of view. You can't be trusted, so go away.

So, what does this tell us about Harris, other than he's a jerk? First, that his starting insult out of the bag for anything regarding the female gender is "you're not hot". So in his estimation, either women are trying to hard--and are damn unattractive doing it--or they're absurdly hot, and thus, not "real" geek girls. Where does this leave costumers who make their own costumes, based on characters they love? Bring up Paolo Horstmann, for instance, and we think he's an amazing guy celebrating the characters and design of a game he loves. We see him at conventions, or out shopping, and we think he does amazing stuph for his fandom. Why does this feeling change when gender does?

Let's bring up Yaya Han, and keep it in the game territory, because she's got a drop-dead stunning Lulu from Final Fantasy.

For those who don't know, this is Lulu, in the strappy "Black Mage" outfit she spends a large part of this particular game in:

(from the dolly album)

And this is Yaya Han's handmade cosplay variant:

(from the dolly album)

Were I Ms. Han, I might have tea-dyed the lace, over hand-painting it in pastels, and that belted skirt looks like it would be heavy as hell. Still, detail by detail, she's close to costume-accurate, and more to the point, she not only has fairly close facial features, but she has the curves of the game character, too.

But according to Mr. Harris, and tangentially, Mr. Peacock, they feel like seeing someone like Ms. Han--attractively garbed in a revealing costume, makeup artfully applied, breasts and legs partially hidden, but still exposed...somehow "cheapens" their enjoyment of conventions. This is the part I don't get. Pretty girls tattooed with NVidia product names in short, black satin slip dresses? Okay, they're obviously cheesecake hires. A job's a job, but they don't have any interest in being there, beyond smiling the appropriate amount of times and trying to interest customers in their client's merchandise. Personally, I find nothing inherently offensive in 'showroom models', so to speak. I know there are folks that do, but I think these hires are distinct and separate from the women that Harris and Peacock seem to be going after.

And that, for me, is the main point. This is also going to spin out into at least one more part.

carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves (part II)

(Continued from part I earlier)

Picking up where we left off, a comment from yet another "Anonymous":

The meme states that if all you've done are X and Y, you are not Z. It doesn't say what the requirements for being Z are, because that's irrelevant. Someone who's ONLY done X and Y hasn't done/been anything else that would make them Z.

Huh. Well, going back to the original meme, then, we'd get this:

Dear girls...		So...yes. We are female. Okay. With you so far.
who take pictures in slutty clothing		Well, some of us do that too. Some of us are actually sluts. Also, there are male sluts as well as female sluts now, though I'm fairly sure you're speaking solely about the female ones. Who then take pictures. Of wearing the slutty clothing.
and glasses		Some of us wear glasses, yes. But again, this makes me think you're speaking about women who wear glasses in these photos with the slutty clothing who don't wear glasses normally. Which is weird to me--how do you tell someone doesn't normally wear glasses?
and label the caption "nerd LOL":		Okay. First real complaint. And this, I will say, is frequently my complaint on the blog about people (of either gender) on the internet in general. I call them "LOLpeople", which in its own way, is just as dismissive, but in my case, I'm not basing it on gender of person, or portrayal of social group, but intelligence. (As in, I think people who use phrases like that--"OMG he broke up with me lol"/"nerd LOL"/"ya you look great lol"--are, overall, just not that bright.)
you're not a nerd;		See, do you get to decide that? And even putting my prejudice aside, simply saying "I'm a nerd" automatically means you're not one? How does that work?
you're a whore		I know I'm being literal about this, but seriously, if the woman in question isn't actually exchanging sex for money, SHE'S NOT A WHORE.
who found glasses		I doubt there are any figures on how many whores wear glasses, versus not, and it's not like that was your point anyway. But based on this breakdown, your entire point seems to be partially "hot girls don't wear glasses" with a brief embellishment of "stop pretending you know me". And wau, does that come off as hostile on your part.

(I had to link that last one because her glasses actually SAID "Whore"; it was from Annie Galicia's blog on the Whore Couture Fair in SL.)

But does this really tell us anything we didn't know? It may not have been the intent of Manning to paint things this bleakly; in point of fact, he's done everything since this whole thing blew up to make the point that he doesn't believe the things that this one image portrays, and he's been daunted by the amount of press that's linking his name and misogyny.

Speaking of...here's "Anonymous" again:

Some of us just don't want the stream of abuse we get from some of the people on your side. Having a name/pseudonym on something doesn't change the content of that thing. Attack the stance, not the poster.

Now, in that point specifically--that of attacking the stance, not the poster, or put another way, revile the idea, not the idiot with the idea--I do tend to agree. We are creatures that label, and it's very, very easy for us to connect things in this way. We see John Doe saying something we don't believe in and make the immediate connection that John Doe is wrong wrong wrong and likely evil and might sleep with chickens and could look at internet porn involving squid and marmalade, and do our best to march in with this sense of offended scorn and lay waste to the man named John Doe, and not to what Doe actually put down in print.

But here's the problem inherent in that comment, too--while we want to keep our communications clear, at some point, if someone says something racist, something misogynistic (or misandric), something that, at the end of the day, is designed to incite or offend or ridicule or insult a particular person or group of persons...Well, yes, obviously what was actually said wasn't good, but at least a little ire should be pointed towards the person saying the thing.

To advocate anything less is to diminish our social responsibility in public spaces. And unfortunately, if you paste it on your Facebook wall? You're posting in a public space. There is zero expectation of privacy.

carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves (part I)

Near as I can figure, all the drama started here, with author Dirk Manning's afterthought of a Facebook meme post:

(from the media album; the teddy that roared)

Okay. On the face of it, purely as a rational notation: humor is variable. Some folks are offended by the same things that others find funny. I personally can't stand the "Scary Movie" style of cinema, in all its infinite, over-the-top parodying-the-parodies splendor; there are others who think they're the height of comedy, and joyfully lay down stacks of cash to own the DVDs and associated merchandise. There is cruel, biting humor out there. There are racist and sexist jokes clad in the thin veneer of 'hey, don't be so sensitive, we're just kidding'.

I get all that. It was a meme, he found it funny, he posted it, people got offended...I get how it worked, a to b to c.

That's not my issue.

My issue was in the comments, afterwards. In Mariah Huehner's open letter to Manning, she had this to say:

I'm disappointed to see you perpetuating the "Fake Geek/Nerd Girl" meme. Sure, it's a repost, but what we choose to share on our social platforms matters. You've endorsed the underlying sentiment of the meme, to the degree that you feel that women who aren't "real" nerds by your definition are "objectifying themselves", pandering to a lowest common denominator, and therefore it's okay to imply, based on how objectionable you find the word "whore" to be in this context, less-than for the sake of humor.

Now, in that entire article, she was disappointed; she was offering her (constructive) understanding of the situation; and she was pointing out the dangers inherent in holding to that position. To wit:

I'm sure it seems harmless and "fun" on the surface, but memes like this are indicative of a much larger and much more problematic attitude within geek culture. Namely: if we don't like how (specifically) a woman/girl identifies as a nerd, or displays their nerdery, based on rather arbitrary & subjective definitions of what being a "real nerd" is, we can label them a whore/slut/fake.

This is a real danger. While I do think much of our society has gone too far over the politically correct cliff, to avoid these potential problems by neutering all dialogue (thereby removing even polite possibilities to debate and dissent), at the same time we need to remain aware of what we're saying.

Another point from her response I want to raise:

What, exactly, is dressing "slutty"? Who defines that, you? Me? How does being a fashion model exclude someone from also being nerdy? Why is it different when a girl poses in a costume then when a guy does? How much cleavage is "too much"? Is being conventionally attractive enough to justify people being suspicious? How are these things mutually exclusive to being a nerd? What criteria must we meet to be a considered a "real" nerd? What are the parameters? Do I go by your definition of "slutty" and "pandering" or some other random internet poster? What about my own definition, does that not count? How long do I have to be a nerd in order to be a "real" one? What nerd activities must I participate in? Can I like Lord of the Rings and not Superman?

These are really, really good questions. I'm thinking that a debate based around these questions alone, let alone everything else she said, would have real merit for geek culture and understanding.

So what were the ragtag crew of geek men saying after Ms. Huehner's letter?

From "Anonymous" (AKA, coward who wasn't going to sign his real name):

Damn bitch, get over yourself you pretentious twat!

Gosh, how insightful.

From "Anonymous" again:

A couple months ago I was at a party where a very attractive (alternative) girl my friend just started dating noticed my Marvel shirt and said "Hey I like comics. I know more about comics than you". I didn't really respond, but a few minutes later she repeated her love for comics so I tried to start a conversation. It went nowhere. The girl didn't know much and rather was more interested in challenging my knowledge than having a discussion. The most intelligible thing she said was "I like Dark Horse" which actually doesn't even make sense since DH has no real brand identity. I brought up many titles across the spectrum of comics and the only she had any clue about was "The Goon" (which admittedly, I've never read).

This one still slays me. Breaking down exactly what he's saying:

• He went to a party with an attractive girl his friend was dating.
• She started to talk comics, and he got offended because she started to talk comics.
• He questioned her for a short time and determined--based on her mentions of a) comics he'd never read and b) Dark Horse as a publisher--that she was stupid, and thus could be sneeringly dismissed.

I have to wonder if he went into the conversation to start with prepared to dismiss anything she knew because she was female, and thus, "not a geek".

From "Anonymous" again:

We're extremely protective of our territory, and yes, we do lash out at outsiders who want to assimilate, but that's because of the rise of nerd culture of the last decade. Is a problem? Sure. Is it sexist? Probably not.

Who declares who's an outsider? What are the rules? And he's saying this is "probably not" sexist? Really?

Maybe if he's speaking purely as a male, he might see this entire debate as not sexist...but then he's artificially restricting yourself to just men, like him, who identify themselves as geeks, with the same general subset of culturalization and skills, and deliberately excluding anyone who's not like him--which would include women, plus anyone who doesn't match his race, his religion, your sexuality, your personal likes and dislikes...How consummately boring that would be.

From yet another "Anonymous":

Again, noble you're standing up for women in comics, but really, you should be on "our" side defending the citadel from the barbarians that simply want to share in our glory.

And now we're barbarians. Well, I suppose it's a step up from "whores", but still.
(Now continued in part II.)

full up with thirst, I drink your light and beauty for always

All right, so we've had part one, and an abortive part two, so now trying to reconstruct where I meant to go in part two, for this part.

I want to talk about gothic and Lolita dolls on SL, I think, but first, a "new" Lolita style (to me; and one I've been mistaking for another well-known style).

(from the dolly album; the Decora-Lolita look)

At one point in the early nineties, there was an offshoot of Japanese street fashion named "Decora". While there are few Decora adherents in Japan as a whole, these days, the style in both eastern and western eyes having merged with sweet Loli, or the overall kawaii look--it's actually one of the older styles, featuring cascading hair clips, ribbons, bows, flowers, chains, loops and adornments. The English word "decoration" inspired the name of the style, and that's your main clue for what to look for.

(from the dolly album; the full outfit of the Decora-Lolita.)

There are places where the lines blur and overlap between Decora fashion and Lolita as a whole. I think the image above, and this image of her full outfit, is kind of a melding of sweet Lolita and Decora. Note the prevalence of stuffed toys (whether actually toys, or repurposed as purses, necklaces, hair clips, or backpack clips), and the face jewels, in addition to other ornamentation.

(from the dolly album; massively overembellished girl. Note the custom face mask and the Daisy Duck toy.)

The key word with Decora for understanding the fashion is "overdone". It's so over the top, it's practically redefining the term on a daily basis. Don't just wear ribboned shoes; add ribbon toe-clips and beribboned socks and rhinestone garters, and make everything saccharine to the point of inducing diabetes.

Don't just wear hair clips; wear seventeen hair clips, sometimes clipped over each other, and add barrettes and dangles and hair bows and hair bands and hair jewels; in fact, dyeing the hair candy colors is something that's also frequently done.

(from the dolly album; complementary colors can be key when one i s trying to meld dots, stripes, lace, and tiny hearts into the same outfit.)

Thing is, this is not just a Lolita fashion; at its height, it was a florid celebration of bright color and accessories. Plus patterns--with stripes, dots, and other "cutesy" patterns, the fashion for wearing three armwarmers, ten bangles per arm, and four pairs of patterned socks pretty much defined Decora.

(from the dolly album; the trademark Decora concepts of layered socks, layered outfits, and extremely ornamented bangs.)

There's even a "dark" variant to Decora, seen on the left in the above picture. Yeah. THAT'S goffick, innit?

In case anyone (beyond friend Serenity), actually wants to reproduce the Decora look (on or off SL), here are a few tips.

(from the dolly album; no makeup, but big hair additions, and I'd be willing to bet they brought the cute shopping bags from home.)

First, don't just throw things together. Contrary to their busy appearance, the adherents of Decora actually put an insane amount of thought into these things. Think layers, think multiples. (In the above photo, the girl on the left is wearing tights under pajama pants, which are under ruffled pink bloomers, which are under a pair of PJ shorts printed with clouds, which are themselves under a bright yellow split skirt.) For example: short miniskirts (with or without flounces) can be paired then with leggings, which can then be paired with OTK socks, knee socks, and anklets. For tops, think simple tees or blouses, then layer on vests, jackets, or capelets (depending on desired look). And keep in mind seasonal changes--it's really easy to layer in the winter, but for summer, think silk camisoles under cotton tank tops under mesh tanks or mesh tees.

Keep in mind the general look you want to achieve, too. Shades of pink, say, or stripes (in various colors), or food patterns, or "cutesy" animal prints. You can mix and match, but it's good to choose a theme and stick with it.

(from the dolly album; layered Decora-chan hit the street. The girl with the bright cherry hair made her own wings.)

For hair, blonde hair, or dyed pink, pastel blue, or pale orange hair are common colors. (In fact, because of the desire to match, many Decora adherents wear wigs far more than their counterparts for other fashion trends.) Big sausage-curl pigtails, festooned with ribbons, are commonly worn, or pigtails in general with big bows or baubles tied to them. Simple chop cuts (long or short) that are then accessorized within an inch of their lives with hair clips in bright candy colors, hair bows, headbands, cat or teddy ears, or even ribbons tied into strands of hair and then braided, bowed, or pigtailed themselves. Think girlish--if you've seen it on a little girl, chances are you can use it as a Decora-chan.

To this end Decora-chan tend to wear faces as bare as possible--while makeup itself isn't forbidden (and is frequently seen on Decora/Lolita crosses), for the most part innocence and childlike appearance are key. Think bright eyeshadow that pops, or glittery lipgloss, body glitter, face jewels, or even tiny stickers. The only strong consistency is mascara, and even then it's either plain black, or candy colors.

(from the dolly album; ruffles and dots and bows and sweet lace wristlets mixed with jogging suits? Sure, why not?)

And do not stint on the accessories. Necklaces, bracelets, bangles, silk wraps with chunky beads, big rings, earrings resembling cute food or toys, LED flashing clip lights, stuffed toys, gloves, mittens, armwarmers, sunglasses with jewels or stickers on them...and Decora adherents tended to be among the most creative in their displays, because most of what they wanted to wear wasn't sold, so many of them ended up making it themselves.

(from the dolly album; note the tiara that's surrounded by other hair embellishments, the shoes with ribbons, and the heavy amount of bracelets on each arm.)

And that's really all you need to know. Coming soon: more on dollplay.

I still press your letters to my lips, and cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss

There are moments of pure fandom awe in my world, where someone comes up with something that is so beyond stunning, I almost wish the original makers of the loved work would stand up and applaud the innovation involved.

This is one of those--a (fairly) historically accurate rendition of Snow White's dress, in a similar color palette. The embroidery is beyond belief, and while it's not the drifting, swirling lighter dress seen in the original animated movie, it's close to something a king's daughter would have worn, at the time (with the lighter, forest-made peasant dresses seen later with the dwarves). And it's absolutely gorgeous.

Last year I was involved with Wear Grey for a Day project, because I still had a store; at that point, I'd been involved with them every year of their existence on the grid. Wear Grey is a two-week fashion event dedicated to raising funds for the American Brain Tumor Association. This is a cause dear to both the organizer and myself; she lost her sister, and I have a close friend who has a brain tumor. Recently, she went in for surgery, and they removed 80% of it, and the prognosis looks good that the rest will go dormant; but, because of where the tumor was location, she still has some motor-control issues, and she lost a bit of memory next to the site of greatest damage.

Unfortunately, I don't have a store this year. While there are feeble reconstruction efforts, they'll take a while to manifest, and I just don't have it together to create an outfit this year.

But others have. Including the House of Rue, who has a lovely set of skins for the event, and Blue Blood, Beauty Killer, Favole, A Netherworld, Discord Designs, Rozena, SN@TCH, Mock Cosmetics, Weather! Or Not, and a whole bunch of others. Wear Grey has an entire sim donated, so for the two weeks that this event runs, believe me, there will be plenty of shopping opportunities.

Go when you can; give what you can; it all goes to a good cause.

A while back, I ran across an article from an educator in Taiwan, on how much she doesn't like Second Life. Now, she is something of a Luddite (she doesn't even own a cell phone, something she and I have in common), but she did make at least one stunningly accurate point.

One of the links led to a screen capture of the new avatar creation screen. This is what she says about it:

Your avatar can be customised later on but I immediately took real exception to the prototype avatars that were presented for customisation. These include a slightly scary rabbit, a robot and lots of white kids who clearly resembled extras from a 90s vampire film. The only black woman present is wearing a short dress with a flower in her hair and high heeled shoes - a very different aesthetic to the white women presented. One of the men has a shirt open to show rippling pecs but generally, the male figures are covered up. For me, it doesn’t represent an acceptable aesthetic to present to students in my care, particularly young women.

There are two strands to my misgivings: firstly the absence of ethnic diversity and secondly, the overt sexualisation of young women, in the Second Life avatar choices.

Now, traipse by the Marketplace any day of the week, you'll find exactly what she means in under five seconds. In fact, there are stores that offer make-your-own slutwear--with templates, texture packs and even full-perm fashion for resale. This is not news. The fact that the avatars to create at login have updated is also not news--though I will admit, the airship avatar still weirds me out--and, for the most part, I don't have a problem with the new avatars. As far as I was concerned (already being a resident in SL), anything that helped newcomers integrate, and didn't cause that sense of separation (like the loss of last names, FOR INSTANCE)--well, that can only be a good thing, right?

But I'm now looking at this image, and it's making me think uneasy thoughts. Your initial choices, logging in, today, are:

• Vampire avatar "Petrik" (white man, chest exposed, otherwise fully clothed in black)
• Robot avatar "Sani" (squat little steroidal 'bot, the shortest avatar offered)
• "Animal avatar bunny" (charcoal grey, red eyes, male, aggressive animations)
• Vampire avatar "Jayde" (white woman, black hair, sheer grey belly shirt over a darker grey bustier, dark jeans)
• Vampire avatar "Xyla" (white woman, black hair, cleavage-exposing short flirty dress, black scrunchy legwarmers)
• "Animal avatar unicorn" (white hair, pink tail, feminine in animation, but generally sexless otherwise, looks like a cross between a cow and a horse, barring the one horn)
• "Female party outfit" (the one black woman in the bunch, dark hair, peach-colored hair flower and cocktail-length dress, tennis shoes)
• "Vehitar Sebastian" (the airship)
• Vampire avatar "Ulrik" (white hair, white man, striped V-neck shirt under a V-neck sweater, dark jeans)
• "Male Goth outfit" (white man in a black frock coat, button-down tan shirt with collar, black hair, leggings and riding boots)
• "Female Goth outfit" (white woman, high-collared black coat closely cut, long half-skirted cream-colored tunic with buttons, leggings and high fetish boots in shiny black leather with laces)

Now, that's if (as the educator did) you just look at "Random". And by her count, there's one black face and no other non-white races represented at all. And this is a game with more international players than American ones.

But what do the other options show?

(from the miscellaneous album)

The "People" tab shows:

• "Female Designer outfit" (white woman with red hair and green eyes, blue shirt, black capris and flats, carrying a large black handbag)
• "Male Party outfit" (dark-haired man of vague and unspecified ethnic descent, wearing a denim-colored button-down shirt and corderoy jeans)
• "Female Party outfit" (the Southern belle mentioned earlier)
• "Male City outfit" (Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, complete with tie, sweater vest, button-down white shirt, and tailored pants)
• "Female City outfit" (white woman, close-cropped dark hair, t-shirt, skinny black jeans, high heels and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" jacket, carrying a shopping bag)
• the "Male Goth outfit" mentioned earlier
• the "Female Goth outfit" mentioned earlier
• "Male Student outfit" (white man, nearly shaved head, glasses, jeans, dark t-shirt and sneakers)
• "Female Student outfit" (white woman, blonde, burgundy sweater, autumn plaid short skirt, grey leggings and fetish ankle boots)
• "Female Rocker outfit" (white woman, brunette, black leather jacket, grey t-shirt, heavy leather belt over leggings and combat boots, aggressive animations)
• "Male Designer outfit" (quasi-Asian male, t-shirt, grey check overshirt, dark grey jeans, white sneakers)

So by my count, that's three non-white faces out of the eleven "People" avatars offered. Wau.

Then it gets weird. Under "Vampires" you'd expect to get a rash of white faces, right? Even though all vampires are not Eastern Europeans with a fetish for blood and pallor. But no, you'd be wrong:

(from the miscellaneous album)

So, counting from the main girl, we have:

• Vampire avatar "Jayde" (mentioned earlier)
• Werewolf avatar "Tsuki" (Large hominid black werewolf avatar, and...um, werewolves are vampires? Since when?)
• Werewolf avatar "Ookami" (fuzzy white dog-like wolf I mistook for a sheep with fangs at first)
• Werewolf avatar "Mahina" (beige hominid werewolf avatar)
• Werewolf avatar "Lykos" (black dog-like wolf)
• Werewolf avatar "Luna" (white hominid werewolf avatar, vaguely female)
• Vampire avatar "Ylara" (albino vampire woman, white skin, white hair, red eyes, white dress, and her animations feature her floating)
• Vampire avatar "Xyla" (mentioned earlier)
• Vampire avatar "Ulrik" (mentioned earlier)
• Vampire avatar "Petrik" (mentioned earlier)
• Vampire avatar "Mitnik" (taller than Petrik, long black hair, low-cut black t-shirt under what looks for all the world like a charcoal grey cropped cardigan, with brown leather belt, black jeans, and brown leather boots)

Huh. I guess vampires and werewolves get grouped together because they're all supernatural creatures? Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not the Lindens.

The "Animals" tab is all animals, and I'm fairly sure they were all designed by Damien Fate; the "Robots" tab is just odd, but they're all robotic; and for anyone who longed to be a mechanical object that wasn't a robot, the "Vehicles" tab features planes, tanks, a short yellow schoolbus, muscle cars, hover cars, the bike from "Tron", and of course, the airship.

The problem comes in the fact that if you're newly registering for an account, and you aren't a white girl who wants to show a ton of cleavage, or a white guy...your options for representative avatars are limited. And believe me when I say this, I'm not blaming the designers who revamped the login avatar choices. I know, for example, that Adam & Eve did many of these avatars--but I also know they had hard-etched design specs from Linden Lab they were told to follow.

Ultimately, the buck has to stop at the door of the Lindens. For whatever reason, they wanted a mostly white world, populated largely by women who don't like to wear a lot of clothes. Now, past the login process, the fashion choices are exactly that--choices. You can dress like a spinster, you can dress like a rubberdoll with a ring gag--it's entirely up to you. But at the login process, these are your choices.

And your choices, invariably, point you towards the underlying message: "It's better to be white."

And I'm with the educator on this one--that is not a good message to send out.

how many rules breaking how many games?

I have no place in my brain for this, so I'm spreading the suffering. Enjoy your Nicolas-Cage-based brain seizure.

Several scattered things today, because I'm too tired to rant about Google+ right now, as much as I want to continue. So, in no particular order:

An archived post from 2008 on the former Virtually Blind blog showed up on a separate search; what it says about copyright and DMCA violations is, unfortunately, still valid for Second Life several years later.

Over on Kotaku, there's a cosplayer who decided Deus Ex's protagonist, Adam, wasn't sexy enough, so gendershifted him. The pictures may be NSFW; they don't show nipples, but they do show breasts. (You'll see what I mean if you click the link.)

Meanwhile, Lifehacker has an article on simple things we can do if we have jobs where we sit a great deal of the time (*coughs*). None of them are exceptionally hard. Consider this the reminder for all of us to move more when we can, because yeah, sitting all day does take a toll on our physical health.

Steve Napierski came up with a beautifully ironic take on video game branding on Dorkly; Twitter wants to hire more people; and Iza Privezenceva is today's definition of awesome. (Also, she looks like the Grangers have a Russian branch of the family, but that misses the point that she's an astounding speed archer.)

In some positive Google+ news, a friend of mine sent me a link to Snorri Gunnarsson's Icelandic volcano photographs, which are breathtaking. (Though really, that could have been on any other service, including Facebook, and still have been breathtaking.)

Meanwhile, there's a 30/70 split on something (for at least me, opinion-wise) regarding MegaUpload. There's a group of people who have decided to band together to declare suit against the FBI because they lost their personal files and did not have backups for them. (Which, okay, look, I've used big file services too to save items I didn't have disc space for, but you have to back up your work, people. Seriously.)

That's the 30% for me; I think it's a good thing for them to band together and declare class-action suits. It improves their power position, and with enough voices (and enough donations, financially), they might be able to power that to a Supreme Court decision.

The 70%? Well, they're calling these groups Pirate Parties. Are you people insane? So, to establish clearly that they have valid concerns and have lost original work that was in no way violating anyone's held copyrights...they're going to identify with pirates?!?

Obviously, you did not think this through, people. Try again if you want people to take you seriously.

mirror, mirror, won't you kiss my cheek and tell me I'll be okay?

Slowly but surely, we creep towards the future. Here's another sign--a seemingly fully-functional heads-up wearable display. It's not perfect yet--there's a long way to go--but it's a good stride forward.

More future signs--Corning has developed a thinner, stronger, more durable glass they've dubbed Gorilla Glass. It can take over one hundred pounds of pressure weight before fracturing. They're hoping to get it into manufacturing hands later this year.

For lovers of costume, here's the Adjutant from StarCraft II. (Here's a shot seen in the game, so you can see how good this costume came out--and if you're curious, here's a full-length shot from the main convention hall, and a shot under stage lights for more of the effect.)

In the meantime, how to make your own arrow-to-the-knee prosthetic (for hardcore Skyrim fans), a lovely leather TARDIS purse (fan-created, not authorized by the show) on Etsy, hope on the horizon for Silent Hill: Downpour, and a sheep in Minecraft who rezzed in the exactly wrong place.

Finally, toss your two cents into one of the strangest comics mysteries yet--two unnamed, specifically depicted cops seen throughout many childrens' comics. They've been seen in uniform and out, fighting crime, standing in the background, action shots and simply posing--and what makes it even stranger is that it isn't just one company doing this. So why are they there? And why are they always the same?

got a glitter drop of fall and I'm on my knees

[Help] Far Shadow: If [your] explore/history plaque hunting, use the instructions and maps on Paragon Wiki, it's not too hard if you're full of smarticles
[Help] Falling Barometer: smarticles is officially an awesome word. I award you one internet, which comes with a dozen cookies of your choice, as long as your choice is oatmeal raisin.

So there's a lovely little round-up of the plain differences between SOPA and PIPA, but more specifically, how SOPA would affect us all (post-passage, assuming that it does pass in the US), over on CNet. I highly recommend everyone interested to read through it; it condenses the issue down to good, solid talking points, and eases understanding of what is a staggeringly overwritten, yet surprisingly vague, prohibitionary bill.

Once upon a time...Wau. That's kind of scary. I've known about the poor ladies in the radium factory for years now, but this apparently is the male version. So...if teeth loosen, and bones weaken, and tumors develop, just from licking brushes dipped into radium paint...what would happen if you had sex with radium condoms?

Actually, don't answer that. I truly don't want to know.

The next bit is going to wander slightly. So, I've been engaged for some time following the exploits of the Women Fighters in Reasonable Clothes Tumblr. Some of what they post is clearly fan art; some's not, and is actually taken from published works, art books, movies, what-have-you, and it's all thrown in this melting pot of mixed genre armors--not what ultimately would work best, but whatever--as armor--would actually work, as opposed to best display more bits of skin than any fighter would, ordinarily.

The topic came up again recently when friends of mine tossed me this link, which eventually leads back to another Tumblr blog, namely the Tumblr of Grace Duval, a fashion designer and designer of wearable art, who was absolutely blown away when Jezebel liked the pictures posted enough for a feature.

But that brought me back to thinking about armor designed for females, and the very next day I found this link, written by a maker of armor, who points out both the ridiculousness and the utility of armor as worn by females. (And I still think the best example is the Gothic plate designed for Elizabeth's character from the film of the same name.)

Just to reach from there a moment, it's not just female characters in armor who are given this treatment. Sometimes women in uniform get the same treatment. That's ridiculous as a working uniform for any gender, unless part of your job involves constant breast-feeding. Come on now.

But I'm still thinking on the topic. Why is this the male armor upgrade for Dynasty Warriors 6, and this the female armor? Or what about Wolfenpride's response in a forum on the same topic? I mean, while I get what what he was saying, does it unnerve anyone else that his first response to the sight of figure-revealing armor is murderous necrophilia? Or is it just me?

And it's not like this is just in one game, or even one game genre; it's broadband and wide-spread.

Fantasy, science fiction, it doesn't seem to matter, it's all the same thing. Even in areas where one wouldn't think it would naturally crop up--for example, the Gunslinger add-on for City of Heroes.

The guys? Got the full-on Wild West treatment: specialty guns, chaps, a rather jaunty top hat, vest, a bolo tie. It's a nice outfit. The duster, especially, was very well done.

But the girls? Got the bar wench. Not even kidding. And there's zero attempt to hide it--if you play a female character, you get ruffles, corsets, and thigh-high boots with spurs. You might as well put out a sign asking for ten bits an hour.

Normally, I won't lie, I'm all for cheesecake in games, but I want it to have some relevance to armor, rather than just being made of metal. (Which most of it isn't anyway, so what the hell?)

(from the random album)

Because seriously. This isn't armor. This is a chick in lingerie--partial lingerie, at that!--with a bow. There's nothing in anything she's wearing that would protect her from a slightly incompetent rodent with a toothpick. Let alone big guys with guns.

and ride off into your delusional sunset

From the Mystara group notices:

Fae Family Fun Time
Tuesday,30 Aug 2011 03:26:28 GMT

In an effor to education children about Fair Folk and Fair Folk about children, the Mystfolk and Kids Group of Mystara are coming together Tuesday, 06.Sep., @ 2pm & 7pm SLT for a day of family fun! Both sides can ask questions and play games, with fae providing supportive, 'responsible' type roles and kids testing the mettle of these Mystarian 'adults'! We look forward to seeing you there at the big field across from the Stromness Village!

Yeah...there are so many problems with this one. Let's list them in order.

1. It should be spelled "effort". Spell-check when sending out notices is a GOOD thing.
2. It should be "educate", not "education". If I ever want anyone to "education" my children, just go ahead and bury me, because I'm obviously brain-dead.
3. That bit with 'responsible' in quotes. Generally, that's considered a distortion of term--as in, I'm telling you we're going to be 'responsible' with your funds, but because I am putting 'responsible' in quotes, I actually mean I'm going to steal them and burn the bank down. So what EXACTLY does Mystara mean by saying 'responsible'? If they actually meant responsible, as a concept, then leave the damned quotation marks off!

Honestly, some people.

In Minecraft news, there's a big update coming--so big and so massive, it's going to be split into two parts for better ease of installation. My problem? The last time Notch and the team said they had a "big" update, it resulted in a psychotically broken game that required me to backdate to a version five release versions behind, just to log in and play. I have dread.

How'ver, there's also some interest, technologically speaking, in Minecraft: namely, what this fellow is doing with interactive projection. Is it sad that I'm now thinking of laser tag runs with blocks you have to tap to get them 'out of the way'?

And mask-making has stepped up a notch--granted, for a more full effect, one would likely want to glue bits down to skin with spirit glue, but beyond that, that's an amazing amount of articulation and expression for a single latex cast! I'm deeply impressed!

I got people underneath my bed

A first glimpse at First Ward, the new Praetorian zone for City of Heroes. It keeps looking impressive--dangerous, feral, destroyed, and intriguing.

(By the way, if you ever wanted to get into City of Heroes, now may be your time--for $1.99, or 1,49€, or £1.29, depending on local equivalents, you can buy in to City of Heroes and get a month of free game play. Keep in mind this offer is for new players, not returning ones; still, it's pretty stellar.)

In other news, Figumate's designer, Yoji Shinkawa, has designed a set of the most twee Metal Gear Solid figures ever made. But this is where the story gets odd--there's a group of cosplayers out there who wanted to make the "sweet" versions their reality. Life is strange; cosplay is stranger.

Meanwhile, back at the Escapist...

dday4you: stay awesome everyone :)


Um. Okay, thanks! Not really sure what that's in relation to, frankly...

Purple Moose: On the ethics of the situation, I am personally of the subjective opinion that the background to this whole Indie Game Fund thing is very shaky and we are a very long, long way from OK. I was extremely wary of this whole thing from the beginning, when the donation was first announced. It seemed to me that sticking a very personal, very heartfelt plea straight in front of a video made under a business contract (albeit one that wasn't being honoured at the time by one of the parties, but I didn't know that then) was muddling things up and bluring what should be very clear lines. I felt that this was a very grey area and could very easily lead to, well, clusterfuck situations like the one we now find ourselves in. It also seemed to me that James was well aware this was a grey area when he started his appeal with something along the lines of "normally I would never do this, but I really don't have anywhere else to turn." So I, personally, while wishing Alison all the best decided I wasn't comfortable donating myself and was going to steer well clear of the whole thing. Call me a heartless bastard if you like, I've been called worse, but that was how I saw things. This may be why the first I heard of this Indie Game Fund was when I came across the front page of this thread.

I also don't think that it's enough to say that 'The Fund is going to be a non-profit organisation, so that's OK.' There are a hell of a lot of questions still unanswered. Right, the Fund itself isn't going to be making any profit, but what about the Indie firms signing up to have their titles published using money from this fund? Are they required to turn over all the profits from this too? Seems a little unfair, after all their hard work and if they end up with a smash hit on their hands, they're not allowed to enjoy any profits from it. Isn't this restriction going to turn a lot of them away? And if they are allowed to keep the profits, well then James might not be making any money directly but I imagine he has a lot of friends in the indie community and does consulting work for a lot of them, and that's one HELL of a conflict of interest right there. Should James be banned from consulting from the firms getting funds from the Fund? Might that not also drive developers away who were looking to benefit from his expertise? Maybe he should consult for free, but then that's one hell on an unfair incentive to work with the fund, he'd have to offer his consulting services to everyone else for free as well, and seeing as he's stated he won't take any money from the fund himself then how would he make a living?

Kopikatsu: To all the people waiting for them to post a new episode on Youtube: They can't. The Escapist still owns the IP, so Extra Credits is dead in the water unless they can somehow get it back.

This was the response:

UnJammerSully: I have no idea why people keep saying that...

...along with embedding the latest episode of Extra Credits. While, yes, we appreciate the sarcasm involved, methinks the point of the previous comment may have been missed. That's okay, though, there's further commentary.

Kopikatsu: That just means Extra Credits is in deep legal shit.

The Escapist owning the IP means that they own Extra Credits. They own everything to do with it.

The fact that the EC crew has moved Extra Credits to Youtube despite The Escapist owning the IP means that they've opened themselves to a legal shitstorm. Basically, they'd better pray that Alex is merciful and doesn't call his lawyers.

Put bluntly.

Ghostkai: Patiently awaiting Mr. Crowshaw to ride in on a flaming tripple-cunted hooker with the lightning-shuriken gun of destiny and end this madness.

With Branston Pickle...

I would apologize, but that was so stunningly, impressively obscene it begged requoting. And thus.

But there was (at least) one comment remaining.

Kopikatsu: I honestly think that Yahtzee will remain aloof and only mention his feelings on the matter in passing after the situation is defused.

Unfortunately, I do too.

Glass Joe the Champ: I'm a bit confused. The videos here are still up, but the new episode on youtube is still called Extra Credits. Who has the right to the IP right now?

I think we're all there. Obviously Extra Credits think they own the IP. The Escapist previously indicated they retained rights to the IP. Simply making more shows using the same name is not an indication of IP ownership, just that they can (until legally ordered to cease) make more shows using the name--in the sense of actual speaking/programming, not legality.

But as of now--the 20th of August--we still don't know who owns IP, and I personally suspect neither does the Extra Credits team.

kyosai7: When you put a project up on Rockethub, you CAN'T put a cap on donations, and you CAN'T end it prematurely. You are REQUIRED to let the deadline come, and then do what you want with the money. EC Expected a good month to build up the funds to help with Allison's injury. They got all they needed and more in SIX HOURS. And the money KEPT COMING. Should they have shut the fund down? Probably, yeah. But they couldn't. Rockethub doesn't allow that. What do you do when you only needed so much, and people are giving you literally 10x the amount, and aren't stopping? That's when the Indie Fund came up, as, as I understand it, EC was just expecting to get their checks from Escapist later on.

It is an intriguing point. Once funded, the fund must entirely close before dispersal of funds raised? Or funds can be assumed to be there and drawn against? Which makes the Escapist's claim of the funds odd, to say the least.

Uszi then asked: Any word on when the emails are being published? Or is that still some unmentioned time in the future.

I want to know that, too. Because as of yesterday, the 19th, the email transcripts still weren't up.

Fiz_The_Toaster: Ok, so they didn't properly read their contract and they went to the internet to let everyone know what happened and what's going on?

Just...COME ON!!

Really? You honestly didn't want a dramatic circus but you guys talked about it on the INTERNET, what did you guys think was gonna happen? Massive amounts of rainbows, glitter, and unicorns of understanding and civility?

*coughs*

(from the media album)

Alas. We move on.

Skylants: When do we get to see those emails?

Still waiting. But in response to that...

TypeSD: When I can put them up.

Um. Still not up. This is bad. But there is another comment from him in response to a tipped word from Matt Wiggins of Loading Ready Run fame.

TypeSD: My take on it

They got a surplus

They proposed the indie game fund

Everyone went along with it. (Seriously, find me an opponent)

Themis Media heard about it

Escapist is struggling with cash.

Logical conclusion is the current storm.

Pretty much, that sums up my understanding of the situation, too, until (and unless) corrected by more meaningful explanations from either side.

Getting down to side points...namely, swag.

evilneko: Ahem. There was no payment for the shirts because the shirts did not cost Escapist a dime.

This is patently untrue. Posit: the Escapist donated prizes they had on hand, that were already in stock (putting aside the Publisher's Club memberships, which are entirely ethereal, hence, 'costing' nothing at the outset, but showing a defined cost after application of the club membership; we're just talking physical goods), thus, as most of us define such, they didn't cost anything additionally to provide.

But that doesn't mean they didn't cost anything. Shirts have to be printed, print houses have to be paid, designers had to design and receive renumeration for their work, and beyond all of that, the shirts had to be made in the first place for the Escapist to buy. None of it came free.

I think it's extraordinarily disingenuous to hold the line at "it cost them nothing". Because it cost them. (At this point, a ton of public opinion, club renewals, and legal fees, but let's set that aside, too.) Just dealing with the shirts, on their own, exclusive of other benefits: they had a cost, and the Escapist expected (not entirely without merit) to be repaid for what they cost.

Therumancer: As far as the latter point goes, I'd still like to hear what Allison has to say about this. James Vs. The Escapist is well and good, but she was still the "face" the money was collected for, even after the goal had been met. As far as I see things, it's her money, people were basically donating money for her medical treatment, and after meeting the goal that money presumably being intended to help her recovery and so on as no other purpose had been stated.

krellen: What if Allison opted to use the money to create a fund to sponsor independent game development?

Excellent point.

FalloutJack: And effectively, because the team discussed and went with the idea as a whole, she did just that.

Game and match.

And as much as I don't want to see a run on the funds...

krellen: If you don't like what Extra Credits is doing with your donation, contact them; Mr. Floyd is willing to get you your money back.

Which, genuine or not, kind of puts this whole thing to bed, dunnit? The fans helped him raise the funds; beyond the cost of Allison's surgery (which has already been done in anticipation of those funds being released), he's willing to give the money back.

This is not the bad guy.

Of course, there's always another side to this particular coin.

grimner: And according to RocketHub terms of service (http://www.rockethub.com/terms_of_use) there are no refunds as a rule:

"We will not reinstate any deducted RocketFuel except in limited circumstances at our sole and absolute discretion after investigation."

Which stands to say that people should be responsible of how and what they donate.

FalloutJack asked TypeSD to drag the mention above to the front of this elongated thread; TypeSD's response?

Buddy, I'm so far ahead of you it's like I've stuck you in a time-dilation field and buggered off through the Stargate.

Hee.

coolkirb tossed this in:


Hee pt. II.

And Sylocat had some pertinent advice for us all: Take a deep breath. Turn off your computer. Go outside. Get some sunshine and enjoy the fresh air (or hear the crickets chirp or whatever, depending on where you live and what time it is). Take a walk around the block or go to a park or something.

The internet will still be here when you get back.

It's so true.

*takes a deep breath and--* Ooh, wait, new info!

antman9000: i just checked the rockethub site, to see if the donations had gone down at all since yesterday, and it has in fact gone up $1,000.

That's...kind of staggering.

But in the background, attacks on Allison Theus had started. They culminated in this startling remark.

rhodo: She evidently wasn't so poor, since she -could- afford a computer, among other things?

I still see the whole thing as fishy. We're not talking a poor homeless individual. We're talking a normal person like me and you, who got the money only because 1) she has boobs; 2)she makes a webcomic.
When I think of all the other people who may REALLY desperately need money for a much worse surgery their whole life may depend upon.... and these people don't get money only because they aren't a female comic book author on the internet... well, I feel pissed.

TypeSD replied: I really don't think "because she's a woman" was in the minds of anyone when they donated. That's just insulting to Extra Credits, Allison herself as well as all the fans who donated.

Ammutseba replied: What kind of computer do you have that could possibly cost the same amount money as an arm surgery?

Carsus Tyrell replied: Cause computers are really expensive and surgery in the US is dirt cheap right? Oh wait...

So basically what you're saying is people in wealthy countries are exempt from help because they're not poor or unfortunate enough? I think I have to echo the sentiments of my fellow Escapist and say don't be a dick. I thought you were just being a bitter cynic with your first post, thank you for confirming it with your second. Also nice dose of misogyny there too, I bet you're a real charmer.

And Andy of Comix Inc replied: SHE WAS GOING TO LOSE HER ARM. When I give blood, is it all going to poor African children with AIDS? When I'm an organ donor, how much of that really goes to "the poor"? Just because it's a charity doesn't mean it can't go to "normal" people. And, keep in mind the current healthcare climate in the United States (i.e., abysmal). To say this was a con is senseless and degrading.

I really don't like you. I give to charities all the time - Child's Play, Red Cross, Beyond Blue, what have you. They help "normal" people who are underprivileged. I'd say saving a young artist's career is a pretty noble cause, with the overflowing money going to help people get into the punishingly cruel entertainment industry. It's not going to starving kids or homeless people, but neither are other charities equally concerning issues. It's like saying it's not worth treating depression because the people with that depression have a roof over their head and access to clean water and food. So? It's still a troubling issue worthy of human action.

LadyRhian replied: And to Rhodo, whence comes all this false concern for the poor over Allison Theus? It's not your decision where other people spend their money, anymore than it is their concern where you spend yours. If you feel that strongly about helping the poor and indigent, go and do it already- start a RocketHub project and solicit donations. Heck, sell your computer and use that money if you feel so strongly about it. But stop the concern-trolling. It's stupid and just makes you look like a jerk of the highest order.

And furthermore, the Rockethub donation fund is still up because they set it to run until 8/31. There *is* no way to close it down until the event has run its course, even if you reached or exceeded your goal for fundraising. It's still up and still open, and you can still make a donation until it ends on 8/31. Stop talking out of your nether regions.

mysecondlife: I find it funny how the rocket hub's money rose about $400 since I checked last night.

It's almost like people want to see the Indie Game Fund happen.

And now we are on the 12th, and we are also on page 83, and that is a good place to stop and go to bed!