Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer may remember the Buffybot from ‘Intervention’ (B:TvS S5E18). The lifelike robotic creation of the misogynist Warren, the Buffybot was created for Spike because he…I wouldn’t say he loved Buffy (though he thought he did at the time)…perhaps ‘infatuated’ is the right term? ‘Lusted’, even. That’s probably more accurate, because for Spike, the Buffybot was a fuck machine. And that’s one big reason the robot was creepy to me. The idea of a man creating a robotic facsimile of a woman he desires takes objectification to a new level. From street harassment to sexual assault to sex trafficking, women around the world are accustomed to men viewing them as objects. Not as human beings, but as objects to be bought. Objects to be sold. Objects to be traded. Objects to own. But at least building an artificial creation that resembles an actual living human woman is something that only exists in fiction, right? Not any longer.
Pop Culture
Monday's Maddening Meme 11.2.15
Monday’s Maddening Meme 11.2.15
Monday’s Maddening Meme 8/3/15
In an attempt to dismiss the anger many people have felt over the killing of Cecil the Lion at the hands of Dr. Walter Palmer, this meme gets a couple of things wrong:
Monday's Maddening Meme 8/3/15
In an attempt to dismiss the anger many people have felt over the killing of Cecil the Lion at the hands of Dr. Walter Palmer, this meme gets a couple of things wrong:
The Fabulous Art Of: James Hance
Are you looking to get lost in some amazing art? You ought to check out Behance, My Modern Metropolis, This Is Colossal, Artstation, or Contemporist. These sites are timesinks in the vein of TV Tropes, where you can gaze in slack-jawed admiration at the skills of so many amazing artists. From woodworkers, sculptors, and metalworkers to graphic designers, traditional pen and paper artists, and photographers, I have come across some talented individuals. One such individual is artist James Hance, whose prints bring together pop culture characters in a series of awesome mashups:
Music that moves me 12.24.14
So I’m just sitting here on my day off, catching up on news, checking out social media…that kinda thing (yes, I’m fully prepared to be depressed about the state of humanity). In the background, I have Pandora set to alternative radio (for a short time I had the radio blaring away Xmas music, but damn, I’m sick of religious-themed Christmas music…there are a lot of us non-theists and many of us sure would like to have some non-theistic holiday music to listen to…hmmm, maybe I’ll go looking for some). Next thing I know, I’m jamming to a song I’ve not heard of before. ‘Flaws‘, it’s called. By an English band called Bastille. It’s pretty darned cool.
Are laid out one by one
A wonderful part of the mess that we made
We pick ourselves undone
All of your flaws and all of my flaws
They lie there hand in hand
Ones we’ve inherited, ones that we learned
They pass from man to man
There’s a hole in my soul
I can’t fill it I can’t fill it
There’s a hole in my soul
Can you fill it? Can you fill it?
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve
And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground
Dig them up; let’s finish what we’ve started
Dig them up, so nothing’s left unturned
All of your flaws and all of my flaws,
When they have been exhumed
We’ll see that we need them to be who we are
Without them we’d be doomed
There’s a hole in my soul
I can’t fill it I can’t fill it
There’s a hole in my soul
Can you fill it? Can you fill it?
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve
And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground
Dig them up; let’s finish what we’ve started
Dig them up, so nothing’s left unturned
Oooooh
Oooooh
When all of your flaws
And all of my flaws are counted
When all of your flaws
And all of my flaws are counted
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve
And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground
Dig them up. Let’s finish what we’ve started
Dig them up. So nothing’s left unturned
Oooooh
Oooooh
All of your flaws and all of my flaws
Are laid out one by one
Look at the wonderful mess that we made
We pick ourselves undone
(and of course I just found out that this is the same band that performs ‘Pompeii’, which I like as well)
Want to prove your homophobe credentials? Play 'Ass Hunter'
The above is the ad for the game Ass Hunter, a top-down shooter game in which players hunt and kill gay men. Existing as an online Flash game since 2006, the game has been available from Google’s Android app store for weeks. With more than 10,000 downloads and more than 200 5-star reviews, this game is every homophobes dream come true. Finally they have something that allows then to engage in their homophobic desires. Marriage equality got you down? Download this game and put gay men down for the count. Think God wants believers to fight a holy war against homosexuality? This game allows you to be a warrior for Christ.
Oh, and then there’s icing on this shit-cake. From the description of the game:
Popular game hunting on gays is now on android! Play and do not be gay! Legendary game, where you are hunter and your mission is to kill gays as much as you can or escape between them to the next level. Gays may be hidden in bushes and unexpectedly catch you. Remember! When they catch you they will do with you whatever they want 😉
Not content with a game that simply allows players to act out their bigotry and prejudices, the makers of Ass Hunter decided to play upon the unfounded fears of homophobes that gay men secretly want to rape them.
Lovely.
Thankfully the Google Play Store bans apps that contain hate speech or violent/bullying behavior, so no more Ass Hunter from Android. The bigots will have to continue playing the game online.
::Spits::
Want to prove your homophobe credentials? Play ‘Ass Hunter’
The above is the ad for the game Ass Hunter, a top-down shooter game in which players hunt and kill gay men. Existing as an online Flash game since 2006, the game has been available from Google’s Android app store for weeks. With more than 10,000 downloads and more than 200 5-star reviews, this game is every homophobes dream come true. Finally they have something that allows then to engage in their homophobic desires. Marriage equality got you down? Download this game and put gay men down for the count. Think God wants believers to fight a holy war against homosexuality? This game allows you to be a warrior for Christ.
Oh, and then there’s icing on this shit-cake. From the description of the game:
Popular game hunting on gays is now on android! Play and do not be gay! Legendary game, where you are hunter and your mission is to kill gays as much as you can or escape between them to the next level. Gays may be hidden in bushes and unexpectedly catch you. Remember! When they catch you they will do with you whatever they want 😉
Not content with a game that simply allows players to act out their bigotry and prejudices, the makers of Ass Hunter decided to play upon the unfounded fears of homophobes that gay men secretly want to rape them.
Lovely.
Thankfully the Google Play Store bans apps that contain hate speech or violent/bullying behavior, so no more Ass Hunter from Android. The bigots will have to continue playing the game online.
::Spits::
More than meets the eye
The Transformers were a big hit in the 1980s.
Optimus Prime. Ratchet. Wheeljack. Bumblebee. Ironhide. Omega Supreme. Brawl. Megatron. Starscream. Skywarp. Soundwave. Ravage. Laserbeak.
Autobots vs Decepticons in a battle of good versus evil played out on the small screen for several seasons and a beloved (by me anyways) movie that wrecked my world by killing Optimus Prime (from what I’ve read, a lot of people were not pleased). Director Michael Bay combined his love of mindless explosions! explosions! explosions! with a wafer thin plot, a dash of sexism, some really horrible dialogue, characters acting in ways that are completely nonsensical, and those robots in disguise to bring the Transformers-live action versions no less-to the big screen in 2007 (thus far with four movies, and a fifth on the way).
The Transformers were created in a joint effort between the American company Hasbro, and the Japanese company Takara Tomy as a line of toys in 1984. As a kid, I remember those toys being quite popular. Everyone wanted to own the Transformers toys (I was partial to the combiner robots, such as the Constructicons, the Predacons, or the Protectobots). For all that the toys were fun, the young me wished that cars could really transform into robots. But of course such things are fiction, no?
Maybe in the 1980s, but not in 2014.
Two Japanese companies, BRAVE ROBOTICS Inc., Asratec Corp. and Tomy Co., Ltd. have created a prototype robot that transforms into a car.
Cool huh?
In robot mode it can move 1 km/hr while it can achieve 10 km/hr in car mode. This robot is only the first step. The companies aim to finish completing a 5m tall, full scale robot by 2020.