In the comments of this post I found out about Shamus Dark, which is about the most awesome name for anything. Ever. He’s a singer, but I’m not going to try and categorize him. You’ll just have to look and see for yourself. Check out the off-beat sense of humor he has.
I love it.
The tagline on this site claims “Geek culture ephemera”, but obviously there are many aspects of geek culture I don’t cover. I really only concern myself with a little corner of the subject. It’s just too broad, and any blog that really tried to write about all aspects of geek culture would be too unfocused. The world of geekdom is larger and more inclusive now than it was twenty years ago. Part of this is likely due to the fact that the term “geek” hs changed a great deal.
The original geek was a carnival performer whose act consisted of bizarre or grotesque feats, like biting the heads off of chickens. The term was roughly analogous to the term “freak” as we use it today. It was often used as a cruel slur to denote someone who was socially inept, repulsive, or otherwise unlikeable. From there the term lost some of its “freak” overtones and came to mean people who were simply social outcasts. Then it came to mean a very particular type of outcast: someone who avoids or shuns others because they are too busy with a cerebral or esoteric pursuit. Now geek is a label applied to many differing types of people who have no other common thread besides their interest in using their brains to amuse themselves. The “outcast” meaning is all but gone, and all that’s left is the stereotype that geeks have trouble dealing with the opposite sex.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “What’s in a Geek?”
Den Beste is at it again, this time fencing with some lunatic Castro supporter in a metafilter thread.
The Castro fan is going by the name “Mayor Curley”, and he has some posts that are both shocking and hilarious once you realize he’s dead serious. To simultaneously champion the cause of the little guy and support Castro is quite a mental challenge. I can’t imagine the sheer force of will required to bend one’s thinking unil understanding is so totally at odds with perceptions. This isn’t like trusting flimsy economic data or anecdotal evidence. This isn’t buying into urban legends. This isn’t starting with a false assumption. This is believing that the sky is pink and everyone who claims it to be blue is a mindless brain-washed puppet of The Corporations. He’s not just divorced from reality. No, he divorced reality, then reality got the house, and took out a restraining order against him. His posts would be less alarming if he just wrote “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over and over.
I know I said I try to avoid politics, but I don’t think I’m going to offend anyone here by saying that this guy is screaming, poo-flinging, drooling, howling-at-the-moon, raving, loco insane.
Good luck with that, Steven. And don’t get any on you.
Having given us the basic premise on the first two discs, the next disc is another variation on the same established theme.
Sousuke is still rigid, stoic, and fun to watch. He’s spent most of his teenage years as a soldier, so he doesn’t really know how to be a teenager. This makes him a bit inept socially. His attempts at being a gentleman usually go awry or are misunderstood.
Kaname is still tiresome and uninteresting as a female lead. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Full Metal Panic, Disk 3”
The world in Oblivion is really big:
Well, it’s big for a computer game world, anyway. It’s portrayed as a continent. The map makes it look like one, and the inhabitants talk about it as if it was one. There is a mountain range to the north, swamps in the south, and a costal region to the west. There are different cutures and climates within Cyrodiil and the game does a pretty good job of pulling the player in and getting them to think of the place as a large country.
But it obviously isn’t. It couldn’t be. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Oblivion Mod: UnLocate Cities”
I did this last week, and while it didn’t spread as a meme, I still think it’s a good idea. Pete agreed. So here are three more people whom I’ve never linked before.
Bonnie Burman Photography – Bonnie is a family friend who runs a photoblog. I really enjoy her work. I suppose it helps that my kids are subjects in a lot of the shots on her site. She specializes in child photography, which is one of the most challenging areas of photography in my book.
Byzantium’s Shores – Kelly Sedinger has been nice enough to send a few links my way and I’ve been remiss in not pointing out that the place is a goldmine of geek culture links and musings.
I just discovered this post by Jacob Pederson which talks about “gaming degrees” and working in the videogame industry. A great read for anyone who follows this subject or anyone thinking of getting a “gaming degree”.
LATER: Fixed the link to Bonnie, which linked her studio page and not her blog.
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This should not be taken as a sign of narcissism. I enjoy reading the bios of other bloggers, and I’m assuming I am not unique. So, it is for the benefit of other curious folks that I offer this collection of personal trivia.
I’m Shamus Young, a 34 year old software engineer and a happily married father of 3. I’m a Christian, although some might find me a bit unorthodox. In my free time I tend to play videogames, watch %Anime, play D&D, and write software of dubious value. I also tend to write about these things here.
You can probably extrapolate the rest by just looking around the site. I’m a stereotypical nerd. I’m also the author of this Cyberpunk novel.
Ten useless facts about myself:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Author Bio”
A wild game filled with wild ideas that features fun puzzles and mind-blowing environments. It has a great atmosphere, and one REALLY annoying flaw with its gameplay.
Let's do some scripting to make the Starcraft AI fight itself, and see how smart it is. Or isn't.
A look back at Star Trek, from the Original Series to the Abrams Reboot.
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
How did this game avoid all the usual stupidity that ruins remakes of classic titles?
Obviously they are. Right? Actually, is this another one of those sneaky hard-to-define things?
A programming project where I set out to make a Minecraft-style world so I can experiment with Octree data.
Remember the superhero MMO from 2009? Neither does anyone else. It was dumb. So dumb I was compelled to write this.
No, self-aware robots aren't going to turn on us, Skynet-style. Not unless we designed them to.
Game developer Jon Blow is making a programming language just for games. Why is he doing this, and what will it mean for game development?
T w e n t y S i d e d
