One of my guilty pleasures is a fun book that I enjoy, even if it is far from great, The Guns of Two-Space by Dave Grossman and Bob Hudson. One thing that shines through in that book and its predecessor are a love of poetry and beauty. From TGoTS – the second book – > It violates the First Law of Art, Carmack’s Law, which says, ‘If I can do it, it’s not art.’ How many years of art school did you have to go to to learn to splash paint on a canvas like that? If someone studies music…
When I was growing up, listening to reel-to-reel recordings of the many albums my parents had accumulated, one of my favorites was Fiddler on the Roof. It was catchy, etc. It wasn’t until many, many years later, seeing the movie version, that I came to appreciate exactly what a poisonous and subversive work it was, cloaked in a pleasant and even “happy – ending” coating. If for some reason you haven’t seen it, and care, there are spoilers coming. The story opens with a paean to tradition, and…
A pretty interesting article on video games, and whether they are “art” [http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2016/09/no-video-games-arent-art-were-better.html] .. > The Last of Us is a truly great game. Many have written about it, including me. I recommend it very highly. But here’s what bugs me. The cutscenes of The Last of Us told a very good story. Those cutscenes, all together, would make a solid B+ zombie movie. But when bloggers wrote about it, they treated the actual game part of The Last of…
This is not going to be the last post that could be subtitled “damn you John Ringo, my wallet hates you.” Yes, the Didact [http://didactsreach.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-last-stand.html], and even Vox Day, have had an impact on my musical tastes above and beyond the classical, broadway and country and western (“both types of music”) I was raised on, the classic rock and metal I fell in love with, and the new wave, industrial, and goth scene I fell into. But few have been so consistently painful t…
Two verses contributed by commenters at another blog – can’t remember which one…. > I am the very model of an English-major liberal; I know the Marxist jargon and can deconstructive-gibber all Week long in teaching sessions with my fellow SJ warriors, Without a shred of guilt at wasting time in these tutorials; I spend my days at protests waving largely misspelled signs around And rant about the copious injustices that still abound In every institution that the Western world did once revere, (…