Meshugger

So explicit admission that your response was actually irrelevant to what you quoted? You're right that you didn't talk about shame or instilling it, I did. I brought it up because you addressed a point about how he is not proud of the fact that most of his readers are male. Should he be? You did a poor job of addressing backbone, character, and integrity, given that with this post he displays that he is willing to stand up against those that try to intimidate and bully him into submission, feels it is important to him, and does it all while not hiding behind any sort of anonymity. Artistic integrity? Selling Out? Honestly, selling out would be him keeping silent and not speaking his mind because it gives him a paycheque (you can critique him about other aspects of this if you like. Ask Zoraptor for more information). This is Walker taking a stand, and whether you do or do not agree with it I fail to see how you can accuse him of not having a backbone nor character for doing so. I could reason some level of a lack of integrity, if RPS hadn't been taking steps towards something like this for some time. Are we really talking about the same thing here? English is not my first language, but it seems like you have vent a bit on a tangent here. The point that I am making is how stupid it is for him to try take pride in the gender of the potential reader of the site, since before it was any reader visiting site, now suddenly the reader is categorised by the gender, thus creating two different types of reader when there's shouldn't be difference to begin with. And how on earth isn't selling out and lack an artistic integrity when you try change a subject, gaming, that should have no connection to gender in itself, into something that has nothing to do with it? It's like a thrash metal magazine trying to accomodate a new user base by trying to add power ballad-listeners. This is sellout to me. His opinion is no way daring at all with the current consensus. Does TV, the news, and all other newspapers talk about the virtues of not having women in gaming and how they should be degraded? No, what would be revolutionary or against the grain in the current climate would be that he feels that women are worthless and should be out of gaming completely. I can wager that he would be pretty much silenced in any major publication, lose his job and be ostracised from the industry for the rest of his life. Does he risk the same by only drumming the same beat as everyone else? Of course not. The only fear is some internet trolls, that might make some one feel sad or even offended if they don't have a skin thick enough. So no, he is not brave at all for voicing a completely harmless opinion in the current social norms. He has absolutely nothing at stake and nothing to lose. So yeah, shutting down the comments is cowardice. He closed the comments because because he doesn't want that particular article to be a stage used by those that wish to silent the debate with their irrelevant discourse. It's a lot like what you're doing, which is focusing on the comment issue rather than the article. Dwelling on him not allowing comments is a tactic in obfuscation and misdirection, by shifting the discussion away from the content itself to something else altogether. It's an attempt to discredit an author through the use of red herring fallacy. Furthermore, Walker also came straight up and said it and why he is doing it, all while dealing with mountains of responses (apparently both supportive and against his position) on places like Twitter, a very public forum. It was actually quite entertaining to see people accuse him of refusing to publicly address criticisms while using Twitter. Spineless cowards are the ones that go and spread their hate over comments and internet forums under the veil of anonymity because they know they won't be held accountable for their actions. It's easy for someone to **** all over something when he knows that the likelihood of ever being taken to task on the things he said is virtually nil. EDIT: It should be clear that I'm not insinuating that you're a spineless coward. I'm saying that the accusation of a public person that can can be easily reached as being spineless holds less water with me than the private, anonymous individuals that gravitate towards these things. Although even then, the anonymity still exists on some level simply because I will likely never meet any of these people, so I can see where you are coming from, even if I disagree with the conclusion you reached. I already said that the article fails completely since there's little to no research at all. What is left is how petty he handles it by narrowing the channels of communication. But i actually agree that men and women should be treated equally and completely based on their character. But i haven't read a good article yet on the causes, the symptons and how it should be handled in any sensitive matter. This article isn't even scraping the surface.

It should be noted he does not say he's ashamed that most of his readers are men. If you look at it, the notion that "most of our readers are men" is not really something someone should be proud of. Ideally, it should be a non-issue. But in his opinion it's not. Furthermore, he was active on Twitter, and openly invited people to send him emails and that he would read each and every single one of them. He encouraged people to write up articles point out that he was wrong, and to even link them to him. Comments are ovestated (and some early studies now showing, perhaps even counterproductive in facilitating understanding). 1) I didn't talk about shame or accused him of instilling it. I was talking about backbone, character, integrity. 2) He said himself that he closed comments because of the possible hateful response. No need for him to try to circumvent the issue, nor is there any shame in admitting cowardice. If he would've have written that comments or not unnecessary or counterproductive and linked to said articles X and Y that indicate it, then i would believe him...barely. If RPS would shut down comments completely in all their articles by the same reason, then i would believe him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067155 I was surprised that this wasn't a topic already.

Nine inch nails probably has one to the best live sound quality that i have heard. Despite being very loud, the sound was incredibly clear. No hiss, no screeching, nothing.

I find a lot of media related studies to be horribly skewed or weak in methodology in terms of generating results worth caring about. I'm not sure I'm against people trying so much as that often it comes down - in my experience at least - to the individuals using their own experiences and what "facts" fit what they think it the case. Most of them don't seem to start life as "How does media "A" do this" but "Media "A" does this and I'm out to prove it". I somewhat agree there.

Tarkovsky's "Stalker" (1979) That was different. While most of his movies do pose metaphysical questions, i think that this one went little over my head. I think i like "Solyaris" much more. Absolutely beautiful cinematography though.

...^which is stupid no matter what.

Socially speaking, we live in good times if political correctness is one of the biggest issues of the day. On the other hand, political correctness is inheritly bad since it is against one the pillars of western civilization: Free spech.

What a ****y article. It lacks any form of depth or substance, nor does even try to adress the problems in any constructive way. Oh my, what ever happened to artistical integrity? commitment to the art itself? That comment alone is the very definition of selling out. If any musician/artist would say something similar, they would be considered a fraud. For example: "While majority of our fans are black/white/sailors, that's not something we're proud of". You spineless little coward. If you can't take heat, then stay out of the kitchen. This is like starting a topic in a debate club, only to end it by "If you wish to comment, please see me privately in my room". I mean really? Where's the analysis on the origins of gaming and the target audience? Where's the research general behaviourism? How about this: do not make a hobby a target for gender studies, since it will only lead to further schism and deviate from the hobby itself, but rather focus on it not being a target of it, thus making it inheritly equal to everyone. And finally, enforce good code of conduct and the ****bags will dissappear by themselves without dragging politics into it.

Fear Agent Starts like a simple comic about a space mercenary named Heath Huston, which is a drunk wise-guy that somehow gets the work done...barely. But later it turns out that this one has a depth that i certainly wouldn't expect from this kind of a comic. The ending is so goddamn perfect that i have trouble expressing it in words. One of the best comics that i have ever read. The Boys Whenever a superhero (and there's quite a lot of them) gets out of hand, the C.I.A. call in "The Boys", who are specially trained to take care of problems such as these. Sadly, the premise is the best thing about this comic. The artwork is uneven from issue to issue, and for some reason, almost every damn superhero is a depraved *******. They try to approach the subject of hunting people that have come on to hard times, but the subject is never handled with any dept. The ending pulls a little twist, but all in all, it is just above avarage. Transmetropolitan Hunter S. Thompson in a Cyperpunk-future. Only read three issues so far, seems ok. The artwork is great though.

Bah, R.I.P.

I think they mispelled "Thug".

Oh come on! You're selling the chinese short here, don't they also deserve recognition for their exploits?

"Feminist Blitzkrieg" Don't worry, those glasses definately gives her the "sexy librarian"-look. Rawrrr!

Fortress of Regrets! oh wait....

"Searching for Sugar Man" Such an upliftning documentary.

It's kinda a cute that the southerners blame the Germans for having a more sound fiscal policy. While being in northern Italy, i never payed attention to why the locals called southern Italy for "Ethiopia". The developments the last year or two has made me understand their sentiments more.

Here you go: It's purrrrdy. Thanks!

My sarcasm detector just exploded.

Epic removed it.

The bicycle thief (1948) Every critic's wet dream, praised to the heavens. Well, it had great actors, wonderful cinematography and pacing. However, and a big HOWEVER, a big **** you to ever wrote it. You must hate humanity and revel in other's misery and torment. The whole point of the story is that life is ****, and even if you get a break and try to be righteous, society is so **** that you will be dragged down with it and become the very **** that you hate. And top it all off leaving the viewer with an open ending without any conclusion. Jesus christ, i have seen a lot of movies that have been filled by misery (Grave of the Fireflies), but instead seing beauty in such sadness, i see pure unadultared hatred for anything beautiful in this one. "Neo-realism", my ***. Give it try if you don't have a soul. Arrietty (2010) It left me with a big smile. Thank you, Mr. Miyazaki.

Simply beautiful.

The architecture in those Bioshock Infinite screenshots is amazing. Cities should be built like that, starting from now.

Looks nice and all, but at the same time, so little actual gameplay And for that matter, I still haven't seen a FPS that does better enemy A.I. than Halo: Combat Evolved :(