Leaderboard

Ha. It's funny when you put them side by side, but to be fair, if you actually read the article - https://killscreen.com/articles/nintendo-still-wont-make-link-girl-theyll-put-him-dress-and-call-him-linkle-2/ They're taking issue with the fact that Nintendo made this a new character, instead of simply a different incarnation of Link. It's the difference between making a version of Thor that happens to be female, vs. making a character called Thorina. Now, is that a dumb distinction? Personally, I think so. Though I think the name "Linkle" is dumber still.

Andy, I do think there's a line between criticism and advocacy (or, on an extreme end of the spectrum, propaganda)... criticism would be primarily interested in the merit of a work; advocacy would use "critique" of that work to further a given ideological agenda. It CAN be a blurry line, I admit; here are some questions one might ask to try and suss out the difference on a case-by-case basis: Is the criticism in general primarily focused on how the specific work being criticized could be improved, OR is the "criticism" more interested in how that work confirms/supports a larger ideological point? Does the criticism allow for uncertainty or plurality of possible interpretations while asserting a single interpretation as merely preferable (or more firmly supported), OR does it mandate its own interpretation as being self-evident and mutually exclusive with any alternatives? Is the tone exploratory or dogmatic? Is more time spent on the personal effect/impression of the work on the critic, or on the perceived (or worse, guaranteed as being inevitable) effect of the work on an imagined public? I've highlighted what I view more as criticism in green and what I view as advocacy in red. You (or Radiowar, if he were still contributing!) might respond that the explicit role of cultural criticism IS to advocate and that the above list makes that impossible, but I would counter that EVEN so-called cultural criticism has an obligation to focus on the work first and foremost, to maintain an exploratory/analytical emphasis, and to avoid too much certitude regarding the inevitability of the work's effect on others. It's worth asking yourself these questions. Bottom line: Is the work being informatively analyzed on its merits, or is it being opportunistically used for its (perceived) flaws? Hopefully my list makes sense to you... it's all free speech, either way, but I respect & reserve the word "criticism" for discourse that meets more of these criteria than not, because I tend to see advocacy as having an ulterior motive that puts the work second (or dead last) and puts the "message" first, which results in highly compromised analyses - the "critic" is obligated to apply an active filter to anything that doesn't fit with the paradigm and to use a persuasive tone at all times. It doesn't matter if I might agree with the message or not, because I respect art enough, and indeed criticism enough, to not admire the former being used as a tool, under the guise & protection of the latter, for what amounts to rhetoric in the service of a third party who is ultimately disinterested in the work - SAVE for how it can strengthen their thesis. You want more variety for female characters in games? So do I... but we both also want video games to be recognized as art, right? Advocacy that uses games to articulate an agenda & only pays lip service to the idea of criticism diminishes the idea of games as art, because it doesn't respect them enough to give them the actual analysis that would be afforded films, novels, songs, or most other art forms. It is a trivialization of the medium, in the transparent & opportunistic service of dogma. You can't be okay with that JUST because the dogma in question resonates with you, in its distilled & most benign incarnation. Done. I feel pretty good about this post, because I was able to express most of my objections with clarity for once. Plus colors are neat & ordered lists are cool.

Count me in to at least try to convince you to claim one!

Count me in on Timaeus' quote; did check the tracks but only Kairi inspires me and that one is a bit scarce in material to work with. But I'm happy to collab if people need me. Maybe I should just bribe Eino and Tuberz and do a Maverick Astley collab

Hey man, I got your pm. I'm gonna give 'Arabian Dream' a try and see how it goes.

I must be stupid to add something to my plate during holiday season while I'm working retail. Give me "Hand in Hand".

Classes got canceled today for a severe windstorm. So I can get going on the ones I have now!

Thanks I plan to release another video before the end of the year! In the meantime please check out the albums soundcloud - you can see all previews from the album. If anyone has a preference of which track they'd like to see a video for, please let me know!

Sounds great! When I first heard this in the Workshops, I agreed with Kristina that the lead was pretty meandering. Now I actually think that it is much less meandering (still a bit at 1:56 - 2:11, but not nearly as much) and instead evokes a feel of frantic dizziness.

if you want an xbox one, there's a sale on thanksgiving starting at 6pm that dell's doing where you get an xbone 500gb, the Gears of War collection, an extra controller, and Fallout 4, for 300$. the gow xbox bundle normally costs 350, so this is 50$ off plus about 100$ worth of stuff. i'll be buying that. i'm playing fo4 on pc already, so i don't really need that for the box, but i can sell it for cash for close to what it's worth in-stores. it'd be worth it even without that game, honestly. also, it's online only, so no stores required. gonna need to find copies of the master chief collection and halo 5 now.

Uh-oh, I find myself agreeing with Meteo and nodding my head reading his post... getting worried Since I'm a word freak: there's a difference between something BEING responsible for something else, and something being HELD responsible for something else. Based on your "scientifically proven" comment (it's more that it hasn't been proven that causation exists, not that it's been proven that it doesn't exist, FYI), I'm thinking you meant BEING responsible, not being HELD responsible, right? Also, conservatives have had their share of demonizing art & asserting its causation with undesirable behaviors; it's a bipartisan hobby Here's my point: I'm interested in good art. If that art speaks to the human condition, explores new ideas, and asks me to face complexity and think about things differently, we're all good. Even if that art CAN be "scientifically proven" to increase violence in 5% of the population, over a short period of time after consumption, what then? Even if it IS responsible - to whatever extent - should it ever be HELD responsible? Also, what other effects are you studying? Maybe there's a compensating short or long-term benefit? Difficult to know... you don't really want to go down this road, as it doesn't lead to nice places w/ regard to artistic expression. Anita walks all the way down the road, stops at the big door at the end of the road, and ALMOST knocks... but then reminds everyone that she's NOT advocating for censorship OR saying that the games she criticizes shouldn't exist. Therein lies the problem: the "reasoning" all fits a certain pattern, but it's being excused because of a repeated disclaimer, which seems disingenuous given all the vitriol & certitude... He's... not wrong; NativeJovian seemed to give objectification an "out" as not inherently being sexist, but only if that objectification was for characters that weren't JUST window-dressing. Well, either you're okay with mindless sexual objectification or you're not... you need to decouple those issues. Is all pron sexist? Only some? In some ways, as Meteo points out, it's WORSE if a meaningful, well-written character is also inordinately voluptuous... it was a rather meaningless stipulation, in my mind...

This was introduced to me by Armoured Priest on another forum, and I thought I'd hop over here and share it with anyone interested. Basically, the story is that the guy behind all of this found a bunch of Alvin and the Chipmunks records, along with a record player that can spin at 16 RPM. The end result is this... https://soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp/tracks There's more to his story, but I'll let you read about it here. My personal favorites so far are "Walk Like An Egyptian" (I could hear this playing in the background as the gates of hell open ), and "Keep Me Hangin' On" (think NIN folks). It's weird to hear, but it's pretty cool as well. I don't know how many more are coming, but there are plenty to listen to now, so hop over and give it listen