Good to know I'm not paranoid.

Haven't made a post in a while because I haven't been able to think of anything particularly interesting to say. However, I feel that it would be a case of gross negligence if I didn't take a moment to ask, "What the fuck?"

Micro-update: Beck sounds like he's talking about a Disney-style theme park.

Both links are to clips from mediamatters.com's coverage of Glenn Beck's big evangelism stunt today.

Classy

The official website for the Texas GOP is pretty amusing. The front page contains all of the dignity of a tabloid; a huge picture of Bill White (I assume, I don't live in Texas) accompanied with "Keeping up with LIBERAL BILL!"

Also of good comedic value are the comment sections [update - 07/22/2012: removed a link here, they deleted the page it went to] on all of their posts. Every single one has "0 comments" listed. I don't know if it's always been that way, but I'm going to assume that they locked and deleted everything shortly after experiencing the horror of what happens the "t3h 1nterwebz!" speaks its mind.

The best part though is their party platform. There isn't one. They had it up earlier today and you can still find where people have mirrored it. However, at the moment their website remains mysteriously platform-less.

I've been a little heavy on the name-calling so far with this blog and some day I intend to force myself to stop that. Until then may I suggest, however, that the Texas GOP is a bunch of cowards. They spew hatred and intolerance, preaching homophobia and misogyny with pride.

And then they cry and lock the comments when people respond with what's on their minds.

At least they deleted that diseased manifesto they were calling their platform. Otherwise they'd be worse than cowards. If they didn't allow comments because they didn't want people using obscene language and left their platform up for all to read they would be hypocrites .


Edit/Update: Apparently the big banner on their front page is randomly selected every time you load, so you may not experience the delight of viewing the 'LIBERAL BILL' thing until you refresh the page a few times.

Update 2: I was stupid, my original post had a link to Theocracy Watch's analysis of the 2004 Texas GOP platform. My bad.

Yay!

Ok, I'm not going to link to Pharyngula all the time; I just felt like after my last post I should be a wuss and point out some positive things in the world. This is a post which suggests that warfare is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history and isn't something that we're hardwired for.

And also this "Slayer Goes To Church" video, makes me very happy.

It's Here Already

Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Mankind 2.0, courtesy of the wonderful blog Pharyngula.

My reaction can be best summed up using the infinitely wise words of Our Glorious Leader, Ofu Kahn of the band Red Harvest:

(From the song 'Teknocrate')

It's here already
It's after all of us...
you're fucking next
Tekno-logical domiNation
Create or modify TeknoLogical Productions
A constructed pre-defined community

You are programmed to believe
That this is what you want

All things are coded
It's just a matter of construction
Our eyes are changing By (our) Trans-Mutation
...and life keeps slipping away...
Anti-humanized nature
Anti-life Cyborgian conditions
What was human anyway?

(We are) bio computers
Re-Configure yourself
The Teknocrates have spoken

Okay, so I may be a little quick to cry "Dystopia!" on issues like this. It's just that I get paranoid about the possibilities for the future when I start thinking about what will happen when we as a species have the ability to completely reshape what we are. Can you imagine anything more terrifying than a corporation like Unilever or one of the major religions being able to actually create their ideal human being?

Books like 1984 and A Brave New World suddenly seem so tepid and uninspired compared to what I think the human race is actually going to be capable of.

I just wish it didn't sound so paranoid. I wish that my first instinct wasn't always to curl up in a ball and listen to Sic Transit Gloria Mundi a few times.

I feel better after writing this though. I think that blogging is like secular prayer; you don't actually do anything but you feel like you took some kind of action.

Anyways, I want to finish with a couple of side notes. First of all, if you haven't noticed, I really love the music of Red Harvest.

More importantly though I am really addicted to Machinarium (careful, there's music on that webpage) right now. If you're into indie gaming and immersive adventure games, you should at least try the free demo.

Thanks for reading! Over and out.

Gears of Mortal Reach

Since everyone else in the universe is doing it I figured I'd waste your time with my thoughts on that corporate hypefest known as E3 so far.

I'm not a huge Gears of War fan; the chainsaw kills are just barely awesome enough to make me ignore the brain-dead narrative. The new trailer for GoW 3 is pretty cool though. I mention it though because I think it's hilarious that they ended the trailer with "Brothers To the End" and this also happens to be the trailer where they show the first* female soldier in the series.

Also awesome is the new Mortal Kombat they're showing off. I have a friend who's obsessed with the franchise; I hope this game is good if only because that will get him to stop whining about how awful MK vs DC was. Well, that and because Fatalities are fucking awesome.

And finally, if you're a Halo fan this speaks for itself.

That's all, later!

*There's actually a female medic in GoW 2. When you first enter get into the locust tunnels using the drilling pods you can find her down by where all of the cogs are engaged in combat. She has the exact same "A. Carmine" model as the rest of the soldiers and you can only tell by her voice.

Speaking of Rape Apologists.....

I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck. I used to try to stay up to date on his conspiracy theories simply because so many of the male college students I know are fans of him. I gave up a long time ago though and have mostly been living in blissful ignorance for the last few months.

Then I heard that Beck has a novel coming out and instantly I became intrigued. For whatever reason I have an obsession with paranoid literature and apocalyptic rhetoric; so while I'm sure it'll have more in common with the so-awful-it's-hilarious The Turner Diaries than it will with Orwell's masterpiece 1984 I'm certain that The Overton Window will be a thoroughly entertaining read.

Media Matters obtained a review copy, and has already posted aTop Ten List of what they claim are the most blatantly awful parts.

I'll spare you all the details, but I do want to discuss their #1 pick. Quoting from the above link, Media Matters posted (emphasis in the original):

1. Rule number one is: "Don't tease the panther"

Noah and Molly [the protagonists] find themselves in bed together early in the book after a harrowing experience at a Founders' Keepers rally. They agree to sleep in bed together because Molly is too scared to sleep at home, but Molly insists that nothing sexual will take place. Noah agrees, on the condition that she "not do anything sexy." She presses her cold feet against his legs, and Noah responds:

"Suit yourself, lady. I'm telling you right now, you made the rules, but you're playing with fire here. I've got some rules, too, and rule number one is, don't tease the panther."

First of all; That's just fucking hilarious. I'm pretty sure that "DON'T TEASE THE PANTHER!" is going to be my official battle cry from now on whenever I feel like being a jackass in an online game. As far as awful dialogue goes that has to be tied with.... well that has to be tied with pretty much anything that George Bush or Sarah Palin has ever said.

More importantly though I want to take this opportunity to decry to tired notion that females are responsible for any sexual arousal that males experience. I'm not sure which is more insulting, the idea that males are incapable of stopping themselves from fucking the nearest hole when they get hard or that it's female's fault for naively tempting fate simply by existing and seeming fuckable. Either way I'm sick and tired of this bullshit paradigm going relatively unchallenged within our culture, and for that reason I'm adding Glenn Beck to my list of people who officially bear the title of Disgrace To the Entire Human Race (D.T.E.H.R.).

As a side note; how can anyone take The Turner Diaries seriously? The prose is awful, the story lacks drama, and its theory that all Jews and so-called "negroids" are working to overthrow the so-called "white race" is (just like every other racist theory out there) patently false to the point of being laughably absurd. And people have died because of this fucking book.

Know what William Luther Pierce? I'm giving you a D.T.E.H.R. badge too. Wear it with pride asshole.

A Pun About 'Change'

I'm going to be messing with the formatting of the blog over the next week or two until I find a look that I like. Feel free to let me know what you think!