Hi World.

I was rather hoping that 2015 would be a good year. You know, less crap like GamerGate, like Ferguson and related incidents, like all that just plain crappy stuff.

You have disappointed me.

 

Happy new year.

So there’s something that’s been happening for the last couple of months and which I have seen crop up again on my facebook feed. It’s called GamerGate. I will not talk about GamerGate because it is in fairness, only part of a larger issue which has been baffling me for a long time, and I am quite sure that some of you out there will be all too ready to explain it to me.

Now, just so that we have the same idea about it, let us have a look at some examples.

Person A loves something, person B doesn’t. Is it normal behaviour for person B to abuse person A because of that? I hate cabbage and I have never been shy about it; need I fear for my life? Would you threaten someone who hates pizza, just because you love pizza? Would you hit someone in the face because that person prefers to swim and you prefer to run? So why would one bash a man’s head in because he loves another man? Why would one stone a woman for loving another woman?

And no, I can’t accept the whole religion thing on this one. Religion gives you no right over the life of another. It never did. It never will. Anytime people have professed the use of violence in the name of a deity, they have abused your trust, they have taken you for a fool. Are you a fool? Do you not know better? Do you not want to know better?

 

Let us look at another example.

Person A and B love the same thing, but they don’t do it the same way. For instance, some climbers prefer to boulder than to cliff-climb. Don’t they still hang out? Some artists favour watercolours, but do they start beating up those who prefer acrylics? It is because you do something differently, that you’re doing it wrong? Is it because the prayer is different that it is worth any less?

 

Indulge me by looking at another example again.

Person A and person B love the same thing, but person B knows that that thing is not perfect. Two people like beef stew, but one may improve upon the recipe by adding a different spice. Medical procedures are improved upon by finding out what could be better. Engineers constantly design better systems, better machines, by finding out the faults and fixing the problems.

Surely, a surgeon would not abuse another for suggesting the use of different sutures?  Surely, engineers would not beat each other for pointing out that there might be an issue with the car’s carburator? Surely, computer programmers would not run each other out of each other’s houses because one suggests a function which may make the other’s code run better?

If you love something, if you enjoy something, would you not want to take any chance to improve it? If you love something, would you not want to share it with everybody? Would you select those you share it with simply on the basis that they think like you? Would discovering different things not enhance your experience of the thing you love?

 

I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. I simply cannot comprehend how violence or abuse can be an appropriate response to something one doesn’t like.

So this is the end of summer, and I sit at my desk a little melancholy.

Not because the end of summer brings about the start of term, with a new load of students. I am actually quite looking forward to this. Indeed, this year, I have added responsibilities. And project students to supervise. My first time supervising. I am delighted to have the opportunity to supervise projects.

No. It isn’t so much that it’s the end of summer. It’s the summer it’s the end of, really. Indeed, this summer had me going to Loncon3 (http://www.loncon3.org/index.php) and Shamrokon (http://www.shamrokon.ie).  Both conventions were fantastic and to be honest, overshadow most of the rest of August. Even though, the month did bring about a very interesting research avenue for me. Something I just might bore you with at a later date. Because I find it really cool. Obviously, the aftermath of conventions always make me want to write, draw and read. So I’ve been catching up on some graphic novel reading (Lucifer, Constantine, Avant l’Incal, La Licorne, to name only a couple). I’ve also tried to reduce the amount of TV I’m watching. Because in fairness, binge watching Revolution may not have been the smartest thing to do (although I’m pretty sure that it’s the only way I could’ve sat through both seasons, I could write a whole book on what’s wrong about this show, and NO, I do not mean the science, which isn’t even worth mentioning).

It’s September and I won’t go home before Christmas; I won’t see my boyfriend before Christmas. So I will have to content with reading and drawing and perhaps a little writing if I find the time for it. I will eventually decide to catch up on Doctor Who and see where Peter Capaldi has taken the role. I loved Matt Smith’s doctor so much that I haven’t been able to face the change yet. And after all, ThoughtBubble (http://thoughtbubblefestival.com/) is still to come.

This is a very disjointed blog post, but I am also trying to have one out every week and I am already failing miserably. ^_^ Perhaps another reason, I sit at my desk a little melancholy.

 

I went to see Sin City 2 : A Dame to Kill For, last night. I must admit, it didn’t blow me away as I expected it to. One thing which bothered me all the way through were the graphics. I went to see it in 3D which really advantages the movie. That being said, the 3D on the edges in the background were fuzzy; at time4s, I even wondered whether I was seeing them without the glasses. Now, I am four-eyed, so perhaps that issue rests with me. After all, lack of focus is something which commonly bothers me in 3D movies. But it also means that I am less likely to enjoy the movies as much as it is intended.
Another thing that bothered me was the timeline. Now the story is supposed to take place four years (afair) after the previous one. Which is all nice and well, don’t get me wrong. I just find it very confusing to deal with the characters of Marv (who is executed in the first movie), Goldie and her sister, who are now alive and well,  Dwight who I just cannot place with regards to the first movie, especially vis-a-vis his relationship with Miho and Gail. I guess it makes sense to people who first of all, have read the comics. Fair enough. Perhaps, it makes more sense to people who are used to a multiverse, to non-linear timelines or to stories somewhat imbricating.
The story spends considerable time on Dwight and Ava, but most of the time spent with Ava is spent with her stark naked, which does build the temptress character in her, but cheapens it too. Surely, a woman has other ways than her body to have power on a man? As powerful as she is intended to seem, she ends up being very one-dimensional; even after she claims she won’t have to play the whore to get what she wants, she keeps doing just that. This makes Dwight a lot sappier than he had been in Clive Owen’s skin.
Similarly, Marv has become a mere instrument of violence, manipulated by Nancy when she decides how she’s going to take Roark down. Roark, whose character has been very simplified from the first movie. He’s lost his son Junior, so that’s it, he’s just the bastard, the enemy that has to die. Period. Fair enough. After all, Nancy has a reason to do it.  Her character is perhaps the one who has evolved most since the prequel. Or maybe, she just speaks to me more (I still claim that the first kiss between Nancy and Hartigan is perhaps the most beautiful I have seen in movies). I find it a bit odd that after Roark decides to take an interest with her, he doesn’t do anything.
Other than that, the movie is good. I thought we’d see more of Johnny, I love Christopher Llyod’s character. Sadly, it suffers from the second-movie effect.