Hello, folks! Here’s another post from the lovely and talented Mei Ling!

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Bees and ants live in hives where the great majority of the individuals are female.* But CG movies of late have wholly ignored this. A Bug’s Life has something of a romance between the lead male character and the princess. Antz… does the same thing. I haven’t seen Bee Movie (and don’t plan to, because it’s more like a “C Movie” according to Yahoo’s user reviews), but the lead is, surprise, surprise, male and in fact, based on the trailers and promotional clips, a great number of the population seems to be male.

What about something that exploits the gender disparity instead? “Oh, all men ever do is sit on the couch and drink beer nectar!” “Men are so helpless! You know they’d never survive if we women didn’t take care of them!” “You know men only have one thing on their minds.” There’s a lot of humor to be mined there, right?

Okay, okay, back to reality. Without a male protagonist, movie makers are generally shooting themselves in the foot as far as target demographic is concerned. And hey, it’s fiction, plenty of films take liberty with facts. But even if the protagonist isn’t a bee or an ant, they could have some other male creature interact with more accurately depicted bees or ants. Portray the bees as Amazon women, for instance.

So, am I alone in being bugged bothered by this? Or do you think utilizing this aspect of bees and ants in movies would result in a commercial flop, and thus, justifies this practice?

*I’m aware that this is a generalization, as there are many, many, many species of bees and ants with all kinds of behavior and social structures.

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Nothing huge here, folks.  Just an appearance by the Great and Mighty Hawk himself! He kindly said I could toss this up  here for all to see.  Link, as usual, will be in the sidebar till I remember to change them. 

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Early October brings…

Fall is in the air and affordable fishnets are at your local mall!  Early October brings a lovely advantage for us cosplay addicts in the form of seasonal Halloween stores and the resulting post holiday blow out sales. Normally finding the perfect costume accessory is a potentially traumatic ordeal, but Halloween stores and sales make it a great deal easier, and often far more affordable. While not EVERY accessory can be found at such a store, enough can that its worth the look.

The seasonally established Halloween stores usually start to go up in late Sept or Early October (and they seem to be getting earlier and earlier with set up each year). The main advantage to such a store for cosplayers great and small is that you can go and browse, and then buy things, all without having to pay shipping charges. True costume stores are few and far between, so normally looking for even things as easy as exotic eyelashes and fancy fishnet tights would be a difficult feat, and would likely involve the aforementioned shipping charges. During the pre-Halloween extravaganza, its easy to find variety at your local seasonal store. Halloween stores are great for tights, gloves, makeup, hats, shoes, masks, props like swords, fake body parts, fake blood, fake scars, and body makeup mods like non-pierced but pierced looking jewelry, pointy ears, fangs, and funny noses. Oh yes, and wigs. Cheap wigs usually, but wigs non the less. And there are times when our budget is more important than our pride… right? (Some fake wigs actually don’t look that bad though, they just aren’t as likely to last as long or be as able to be styled.)

Every Halloween I generally go to my local mall seasonal store and stock up on fishnets (admittedly a habit I picked up when I was on my college cast of Rocky Horror- and if you don’t know what this is, shame on you, go look it up)  and other stockings, things that you really can’t have too many of and that generally get trashed pretty easily at conventions. Anything that fits this description is a really good idea to pick up when its local and shipping free, not to mention possibly on sale. There are sometimes pre-Halloween sales if you go to these stores really early, and there are most certainly post-Halloween sales. The only problem with the post-sales is that you have only what’s left to choose from, and what’s left may or may not be slim pickings.

If you’re becoming an avid cosplayer, its often a really good idea to write down a list of things you need for your cosplay costumes for the next year or so, with the deadlines you’d like to finish each costume. Write all the stuff you’ll need to get, and whether you think you’ll make it or buy it. It might make sense to buy one thing, but build another. Keep the list of what you’ll want to buy with you when you go shopping, and you may be able to pick up your accessories throughout the year as you find them on sale, rather than buying them last minute at frantically overpriced or overnight shipping cost levels. If you know what you’re going to need, take advantage of the Halloween sales, it will help your budget immensely in the end, promise.

-Santineao

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I love shmups. Shoot-em-ups. Galaga, Asteroids, Defender, Robotron, Gradius, R-Type, Dodonpachi… if it involves a plane, big explosions, lasers, gruff sounding announcers and a P-Capsule the size of a city bus, I’m there. It’s because I watched a LOT of Stephen J. Canell shows growing up. I think the pentultimate shmup has to star Tom Selleck and feature Airwolf as an unlockable bonus. A Gradius is fine too. They’re the essence of men’s videogaming — no involved multi-layered fantasy plots, no sturm and drang of military history over the barrel of a virtual gun, no Grand Theft Auto quasi-’realism’ of smacking down an innocent bystander. Just you in the game’s environment, navigating the terrain and reacting instinctively to any threat that emerges… with a giant quantum explosion.

-Crybringer

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Sorry guys, I got nuthin’. I have been super busy getting issue 3 ready to ship and working at the theatre that I haven’t had time to even think about something to write, let alone write it up! So, instead, I have another treat for you- guest blogger Garth over here from Comedity! Sure, he’s a creative storyteller, yeah he is an amazing artitst, but did you know he also knows his product design? Well, here’s your chance to find out! -Katy

Apple’s Lost the iPod Touch

Recently Apple launched their latest iteration of their amazingly successful iPod media player. But can Apple continue to ride their iPod wave forever? Based on Apple’s latest offering, the answer seems to be a sad and resigned “no.”

Apple has offered a variety of iPods over the years, and like any director not seeing fit to leave his masterpiece alone, Apple continues to revise and improve their line. That is all well and good, but seeing the current line up, one has to wonder just what Apple was thinking the improvement was.

Currently, Apple offers the ultra portable $79 1GB iPod Shuffle, the $149 4GB iPod Nano, the slightly more expensive ($199) 8GB model, the $249 80GB iPod Classic, its big $349 brother the 160GB Classic, the $299 8GB iPod Touch, and the crème-de-la-crème 16GB version for a scant $100 more.

This season’s iPods (except the Touch) all favor light, pastel color brushed aluminum finishes, though based on the images Apple has on its site you would be more inclined to believe they were made of frosted glass. They really do look far more like aluminum in person, and the colors aren’t quite as atrocious. I have nothing against the brushed aluminum look. It’s hot, and it doesn’t take finger prints nearly as easily as my first gen Nano’s glossy black face. But I have to wonder about the new colors. Kudos to Apple for being able to actually anodize pastel colors into aluminum. I’ve never seen it before. Bravo. However, just because you can do a thing, doesn’t mean it ought to be done. The previous season of iPods all had brilliant colors. They were bold, and vibrant, they said “I am electronic awesomeness wrapped in an aluminum shell! Fear me!” Even the ugly lime green ones. The new colors are all sedate, placid, blending in more than standing out. The original iPod was white, and for a very long time all you could get was white. It was like a model T in reverse. Part of the iPod’s charm was that it was white and stood out amongst the sea of black electronics. And now the iPods sport ho-hum colors, as if they felt they needed to be muted. Shouldn’t our music be vibrant and alive?

Apple didn’t mess with their designs for the iPod shuffle (not that it needs it), or the iPod Classic (which I guess is a classic because its design hasn’t changed too terribly much since the gen one iPod), but Apple did mess with the ultra sexy Nano. The gen one Nanos were hot. Smoking hot. The gen twos got a slight proportion tweak to the sexier and came sporting those hot aluminum shells. And then Apple screwed the pooch. The gen three Nanos are almost square. Not quite, but almost. Sure, they’re about 3 credit cards thick and you can play video, but they’re now squat little buggers. What used to have sleek, tall, elegant proportions, is now about the size and shape of your average condom. I half way expect an iPod Nano commercial to go “Not sure when the moment will turn into the right moment? Keep a Nano in your wallet and always have music to set the mood. iPod Nano, keeping you covered.” Gah. Just what is so flipping awesome about watching video on a two inch screen that Apple felt the need to go and completely bork the Nano’s proportions? I don’t get it. Video isn’t worth it.

The iPod Touch does have the fun feature of a touch screen, and we all love our touch screens. However, the Touch fails to be an iPod and instead sits comfortably with the title of iPhone Lite. It’s an iPhone, but without the phone part! How awesome is that? Way to go Apple. I love the idea of an iPod with a touch screen interface. I don’t love the idea of it being a less functional version of another device. Make an iPod, or make an iPhone. Don’t strip down one to make another. It looks cool, it may even be cool, but it feels far too gimmicky to me; almost as if it exists only to tempt potential customers into buying an actual iPhone.

This season’s iPods are a distinct let down, primarily because Apple is capable of being so much more inventive. They’ve done it before, and I’ve been impressed, but not this time. It feels as if Apple’s marketing team said “we must have new iPods!” but their design team was feeling lazy. And so we, the consumer, got a mediocre offering: pastels, iPhone knockoffs, and condom mp3 players. The iPod wave seems to be crashing.

-Garth Cameron Graham

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In a slight departure from normal, not only do I suck a lot at this waking-up-on-time-to-post thing, but also our guest artist has prepared less of an art submission, and more of a philosophical statement upon the subject of being an artist. Ok, so it’s less philosophy and more rant. Anyway, here it is!

I think this says it all for this week. Check the art post below — it’s a little hodgepodge of stuff of the past week that I think you all will enjoy.

TOP TEN THINGS I ***HATE*** ABOUT ART ~ ABRIDGED EDITION
(In order of least to greatest irritation: check out the full meandering edition on http://crybringer.deviantart.com)

[10: Broken lead.]
For people like me who use lead holders, there’s nothing worse than the inch & a half worth of wasted lead that either gets lost in the carpet, or (if you’re like me) is saved in the lead cases, even though you KNOW it’s worthless. Burns me up.
(Lesson learned: That’s the reason my lines are so crisp. I am a soft friggin’ touch on the page.)

[09: The “new technique hangover”.]
When you find this SWEET new technique; you’d studied and practiced and you finally GET it… Ready to deploy the newest piece of your arsenal, you pull out a new sheet of paper and… nothing. Back to square one. What a pain!
(Lesson learned: I’ve got a DS Lite. Fills in the time gap.)

[08: BAD art days.]
When you sit down and draw/color/create and for whatever reason, even though you know EXACTLY what to do, when to do it and how… you just zonk out and the art turns to garbage. There’s NO WAY to tell when it’ll happen, but when it does, it ANGERS me.
(Lesson learned: Save your progress and come back with more exp.)

[07: Error blindness.]
You’re just CERTAIN everything is in it’s place! You practiced, you sweated, and you just flew past that trouble spot you were just banking on giving you a migraine. It’s done! The picture’s done, and you move on… then a week later, you come back and EVERY SINGLE ERROR stands out like a sore thumb. What a waste.
(Lesson learned: Carry a blindfold. Then you can brag to your friends that you draw blind and call each good part a “happy accident!”)

[06: The stink of stigmatism.]
There’s just some people I CANNOT show my art to. It’s worse when you give them something you’d assume is “safe” and they treat it like dirty, dirty porn. This is mostly regarding the non-artists out there, or people unfamiliar with your work in general. Navigating that “new viewer minefield” makes me sweat bullets.
(Lesson learned: Fly over the minefield. Be really guarded about who sees the work… but then it’s on the Internet — Doh!)

[05: Understanding the ‘art’ of ‘high art’.]
The disparity is so immense… between the need to know and exercise technique, form & function… and yet look like you threw it all out the window. The need to make your work sound meaningful and hide the alarmingly simple, even accidental process of developing art… The battle against didacticism and cliches and trite work, but employing didactic, trite and cliche forms… It’s headache inducing! I just wanna draw Gradius stuff sometimes!
(Lesson learned: I like the Vic Viper.)

[04: “You draw cartoons… so you can draw ANY cartoon!”]
And really, you can replace “cartoon” with anything else that applies to you, audience. Someone who’s unfamiliar with you and your work, asks you to draw something REMOTELY related to what you do, but it’s SOOOOOOOO far outside your skills, and worse, there’s no reference provided, that you have to awkwardly explain — “yeah, I draw; I draw well… just not THAT.” Embarrassing.
(Lesson learned: Raise the commission rate. Make it worth the extra headache if I’m asked to draw the Winnie the Pooh. Again.)

[03: Perfectionism.]
I’ll never forget this. one of my best friends once said after some guests praised my work: “You know, I don’t think we see the same work that he sees.” Really, I don’t mind a critique. I ignore obvious insults and jabs, but when someone gives me a good critique, I appreciate it — because I’m REALLY hard on myself and sometimes grind to a halt if the work just DOES NOT pass inspection. It just plain sucks!
(Lesson learned: Must… relax… but leg muscle… not… right…must fix!)

[02: Explaining the obvious to the audience.]
It’s like explaining a joke. All the meaning, all the fun, all the excitement of what you’ve spent so long creating — gone. It’s particularly bad when an artist will list the EXACT FRIGGIN REFERENCE they’re using in their comments or discussion. So, read the comments. Be in on the joke! Please?
(Lesson learned: Ummmmm…)

[01: The style arguement.]
This will go with me to my grave. Read my journals. I don’t believe in anything but the natural, true “style” that EVERYONE manifests. You can ape ANY kind of technique. You can copy any sort of image with enough effort. But what makes you, you is unmistakeable. I personally look at
everything, I take the stuff I like, I incorporate it with all the hard knowledge I’ve earned, and hope like hell it holds up. That’s something to admire in an artist — their personal footprint of what they like, what drives them to create and what they’ve done to make the work their own. Their style, their individual, true vision will tell you about the artist — truly “art speaks for itself.”
(Lesson learned: I love art sometimes.)

-CB

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Jack Thompson. There. I said it. I invoked him. Now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, I can freely finish this piece whilst I wait for the incoming cease-and-desist to my email inbox.

I invoke JT early, because love him or hate him, he’s successfully become the figurehead for a movement that is based by and large on misconception and hot-button rhetoric. That’s right. A movement. He’s not alone in this, although the average gamer with a mind to stand up for their favorite activity has no idea about any of the other principle players. Lock and load, guys and gals, because that in and of itself should scare you.

Still in the dark? Just recently, California State Sen. Leland Yee tried to introduce a law in California aimed at the control of video games containing “any objectionable and/or violent material”, with such restrictions and judgment of material being in the hands (by and large) of the government of California. Let me backtrack, as “tried” is incorrect here. The bill BECAME LAW. However, in a move to strike down what was shaping up to essentially be an anti-ESRB mandate, the law was deemed as unconstitutional. This isn’t without precedent, as other laws were taken out by eight other jurisdictions, including three appeals courts, which all deemed said laws to be unconstitutional. Victory for common sense, yes? Oh the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune! Here comes Ah-nuld, the Governator himself, to appeal the decision. Feel free to simulate the sensation of slamming your head into your desk at any time. Conan the bloody barbarian is putting his foot down against game violence.

How about the 11th hour ruling 2001 ruling which blocked an Indianapolis law banning violent coin-op games?

Let that sink in for a moment. That’s just two states. Two of fifty and a few territories of just lil ol’ U S of A. Let’s check the globe, shall we? Prime Minister Brown of England is currently launching an offensive into strict regulations concerning video games. Germany has a long standing history of out-and-out banning certain titles, adhering age limitations and deciding what (if any) stores may carry or sell these items.

But I digress, and tend to fly off my intended target. We were chatting about the United States here. So, concerning the upcoming Presidential election in 2008, are there any candidates that vouchsafe ol’ JT’s ramblings? Oh. My. Yes. Democratic runner Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton decided it would be a stroke of brilliance to introduce the Family Entertainment Protection Act in November, 2005. The act in and of itself would have hit retailers with extravagant fines for not being on the ball. I’ll point out, that no such act/consequence exists for movie rental stores, theaters, galleries, museums, grocers, or concert venues beyond the distribution of controlled substances. Brilliant and savvy move by the body politic, that.

How about that hot-and-spicy violence issue, eh? It’s a favorite of pundits, and is laden with the most up-to-date information from any number of unbiased specialists confirming beyond any shadow of a doubt that videogames are little more than Orwellian brain washing offerings placed lovingly into devices which give us an interactive Two Minutes’ Hate.

Mario is ALWAYS at war with Pacifica.

“But Xero,” you may ask; “what proof is out there that proves the bleak Mad-Max future videogames will provide for our babies”? Well, let us have a peak into what the best and brightest of science have to offer! Most recently, it was proven that the VA Tech shooter was the byproduct of years of behavioral conditioning at the hands of bits and bytes. Oh wait. I’m Sorry. According to a investigative panel appointed by Gov. Tim Kaine , he wasn’t. In fact, the panel appointed by that state’s politic found no evidence whatsoever of a connection between video games and the horrible violence that ensued that day. It still didn’t stop some people from leaping to their pulpits before the blood stopped pooling. No video games programed Seung Hui Cho into Charles Bronson. Unless, that is, there was a secret FPS level in Sonic the Hedgehog that I managed to skip. Sonic. Not Shadow. We’re talking pre-hedgehogsploitation here, folks.

But that’s not enough. Let’s go to a previous study by Villanova University, led by Prof. Patrick Markey, which clearly illustrates the sinister subliminal commands issued by the ruling Technocratic- what?

What’s that?

The results were that the measured responses of 167 students who were asked to play violent games like Doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein as well as tamer titles such as Tetris Worlds and Project Gotham Racing did not produce violent tendencies? Well, ok. Sure. Surely it made them all angry and ill-tempered, however. It’s painfully obvious.

Oh.

Wait…

The titles only produced noticeable spikes in anger with people who have documented anger management issues. Huh. Well for the sake of campaigning, we’ll allow the politicians to merrily obfuscate any connections between offenders and documented histories of mental ailments. Consider it the grown-up version of plugging your ears with your fingers while chanting “I’m not listening,”.

With that in mind, it’s up to the government to wax hegemony and tell parents how to raise their children, in every minute regard concerning every intimate detail of parenthood. Once you have a child, you see, your DNA magically restructures itself so that your higher brain functions cease upon entering a Game Stop or Electronics Boutique.

You shamble along the aisles with your offspring in tow, drooling and moaning the protestations of a wounded animal that’s been absconded out of the familiarity of it’s natural habitat. Your eyes are a fogged-over remnant of sentience as your mind reels and is incapable of taking in the myriad of bright colors and flashy fonts that assail you from every gleaming box on the shelves.

Upon reaching the register, your fight-or-flight mechanism has taken complete control of your adult mammal body. The strange world and it’s denizens inside the store frighten and confuse you to the point where you gladly hand over a wad of cash without a second thought to the consequences, let alone the physical act of turning over the box in your sweating hands to check a rating.

Parents aren’t to blame. One can not stave off the collective voodoo of the Videogame Industry and it’s dark workings on the fragile and easily-tricked mind of your average parent. Parents, ye be warned. Here there be monsters.

Thankfully, such a mental metamorphosis never occurs when taking junior to the local cinema. No sir. Thank the powers that be for a Government that is staffed with individuals who understand that your average parental unit is a moron and your average child is little more than a sponge that takes in any and all information through a process of osmosis that is currently unclassified by modern scientists.

When you get that power-up, the terrorists win.

It’s dangerous to go alone, take these bureaucrats.

Only you can stop frags.

Winners say no to unlocked achievements.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s gamer score.

We will win the war on the electronical entertainments.

So what’s the underlying reason for this kind of knee-jerk campaigning? In a word: games. Games are for children. We’ll ignore the current demographic of 16-35 year olds, because we know what the word “game” means, thank you very much. Additionally, video games are not art; and we’ll gloss over the fact that said issue was once applied to books, movies and music. Video games, at their core, are aimed at turning our rosy-cheeked youths into mindless killing machines. We’ll ignore any research that points to the contrary. There are no bad parents. There are no bad children. Everyone can be trusted, except the ESRB, a self-governing entity designed to answer the threat of non-artistic murder simulators such as *shock and awe* Mortal Kombat. Thanks, Senator Lieberman. I owe you a coke.

Ideally, we consider ourselves a government of the people. Sadly, as is proven time and time again, that means little if the people aren’t informed and vigilant. If you consider yourself a defender of the media; a minuteman (or woman) who’s ready to stand up against ignorance and political vice aimed at your lifestyle, then you owe it to yourself to be aware. Read. Learn. React. Find out who up on the podium REALLY has your interests at heart.

Try Game Politics, ECA, Videogame Voters, and even Kotaku and the Game|Life blog at Wired.

Insert vote. Then insert coin.

-Xero Reynolds

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