Letters to the Editor
geeStar
Published Letters: 11 Editor's Choice: 3
-
This is no protest.
[Read the article: "Booth babes" fight back!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It would be cool if this were some kind of grass-roots protest thing to make us think about sexuality, gaming, free speech, etc. In fact, the booth-babe 'protesters' are just advertising an E3 afterparty:
"Niki and her co-protester, Roisin Taylor, were not spontaneous protesters, but were actually hired by intellivisiongear.com to promote their after E3 party. The signs were a joint idea between them and their company to help attract attention."
from
http://www.gamesfirst.com/?id=1312#imageGallery
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about booth-babes being made fun of for profit...
-
bachelor/ette with a twist
[Read the article: Bachelor, meet bachelorette party]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I join the ranks of broadsheet readers who have participated in bachelor/ette parties. Our friends asked to have strippers, but didn't want some random people coming by to make everyone feel awkward. So we, the friends and wedding party, did the stripping. Granted, it was pretty PG-13, but we all had a good time, and gave us a chance to make the happy couple feel the love from their friends. Plus, it added that element of pre-wedding naughtiness that some crave in these events.
Turns out I can rock out standing on a bar, dancing to George Michael...
-
Is this economics?
[Read the article: How many Katrinas in a lifetime?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ever since reading 'Freakonomics', it has occurred to me that the word Economics has become synonymous with 'sober accounting of statistical facts as whole, as they apply to humanity'. Isn't this just statistics?
J.E. Goldston
-
The tubes
[Read the article: Got skirt?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Around my crowd we've been using "the tubes" or even "the 'lopes" for a similar piece of jargon. It's a little more bizarre and obscure and it does point out the strangeness of associating various pieces of reproductive anatomy with courage. For something gender-neutral, let me remind you of the WWII-era (?) "guts" construction.
-
It sucked me back into the hard version too
[Read the article: Hasbro, Mattel fight Facebook scrabbler Scrabulous]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I very much enjoy scrabulous, and it sucked me back into the hard copy. Hasbro should settle (in the legal sense) for some free advertising on the various webpages and rake it in. Killing it just lowers their profile.
I hope the point is to build a case that they are owed something by scrabulous (which the most definitely are) and then to keep it going collaboratively.
-
meta-economy?
[Read the article: Britney Spears is stimulating the economy (for real)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How much do we think the Britney meta-economy is worth? As you point out there has been quite a bit of traffic generated by the Britney-economy story. And while your at it, how about the Britney meta-meta-economy?
-
Indeed.
[Read the article: And now we must praise Tracey Ullman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mmm, trolls: the mark of any good feminist blog. A validation of sorts.
Anyway, I say dead on. I think what we are seeing is the usual hard-line gender normality that get expressed whenever the culture gets distilled down to something like CNN. We all had that chick friend in high school who wasn't afraid to be her ugliest on clash day or gross people out on halloween, and it was frickin' hilarious. So from that angle, we shouldn't be shocked by the antics of Tracey Ullman (or, indeed, Amy Sedaris). Somehow, though, when it gets processed though mass media culture, it's avant garde and kah-razy.
-
don't assume I'm gay...
[Read the article: T-shirt: "I was raped"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There was a kid in high school who I looked up to who had a shirt that said "Don't assume I'm gay" on the front and "don't assume I'm not" on the back. I also have a rather burly male friend who sports a "this is what a feminist looks like" tee. Both of these shirts had an impact on me and started many interesting conversations.
I like the idea of this shirt a lot, but I too balk at it. Part of the power of the "don't assume" shirt is that it undoes some assumptions, rather than confirms or disconfirms them. I'm not sure "I could have been raped" really makes for a more successful version, but there might be a kernal of something more emotionally balanced in there. I do think bringing the dialog to everyday life through a tee can be a great step towards de-mystification, and rape certainly needs that.
-
another nice feature of circular polarization
[Read the article: A look at Disney and Pixar's 3-D movie technology]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In theory circular polarization has the added advantage that you don't get variable leakage depending upon the angle of your head as you do with linear polarization.
-
A misunderstanding
[Read the article: Prepare for the assault on "Grand Theft Auto IV"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is simply a misunderstanding as to who video games are for. If we told casinos that they couldn't serve liquor at the poker table, on the theory that games are for children, we'd be laughed out of town. Some parents don't realize that video games are no longer targeted at the youngest set, and that 18+ men (and women) spend a lot time and money on such games. I think this is the fundamental misunderstanding being exploited by the censorship groups.
On the flipside, the gaming industry is not doing a very good job self-regulating. Many game shops ignore the labeling, and the game companies do nothing about it. While I strongly disagree with the way the MPAA acts, I think they do a good job of controlling their outlets.
-
Yay Sarah
[Read the article: Girl crush: Sarah Haskins]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I went to undergrad with Sarah - she was one of the funniest people in our school's actually funny "Immediate Gratification Players" improv troupe. When I saw the yogurt thing a week ago I very pleasantly surprised - I'm always happy when cool things happen to cool people. I recommend keeping an eye out for other IGP folks, like Justin Krebs who, last I knew was doing some kind of New York-based theatrical thing.