Day: May 5, 2010

Take it from Snee: What isn’t art

In the weeks following Roger Ebert’s tweet (ugh) about video games never being art, I decided to try something new. Instead of instantly reacting and writing, I thought. And read. And observed. And then I thought some more. I may have also masturbated to a Michaelangelo. But, then I thought about that.

Point is: you can call this a slow reaction to a story that everyone has already had his or her say on. I call it deliberate.

You see, Ebert brought up an excellent idea, perhaps without realizing it (though I wouldn’t put it past the cheeky booger-monger). What do we consider art, and more importantly, why isn’t it? Video games can’t be the only field that millions of people–including the artists that work on them–mistake for art.

So, after a lot of revoked library cards and expulsion from every major art gallery with a listing on Craigslist, I have come back from the wilderness, not to tell you what art is, but what isn’t art. Continue reading Take it from Snee: What isn’t art

A hunka burqa love

A Muslim woman was fined by police for wearing presumably nothing but a burqa outside in Italy.

This and a proposed French law to ban the sexy, sexy garment has prompted a serious debate about gender norms, taboo and religion as the world’s cultures are increasingly mingling in romantic destinations like Tuscany, Paris and Detroit.

On the one hand, women could be wearing anything under a burqa: thongs, lacey pushup bras, cut-off daisy dukes or even nothing but a bomb vest.

On the other hand, she could be ugly. Or a dude posing as a woman to get favors like not driving and ditching school. If we get aroused by that, then what does that say about us?

So, while we see the reasoning behind this police action, we would like to remind Italy that if you never outlaw the burqa, you’ll never have to ruin the fantasy underneath.

Blow in the cartridge to disable it

In more video game related news, a Game Boy and a cell phone made up a bomb-like device that caused the evacuation of a Florida high school. But not just any Game Boy-the chunky edition (we’re wildly speculating).

A concerned student discovered the device, reportedly consisting of the Game Boy, a mobile phone, and some protruding wires, taped to the underside of sink in a restroom at Pensacola High School Monday morning, immediately reporting it to school officials. Fearing the device might be a bomb, authorities evacuated the school. Many students waited patiently for an hour until the all-clear and then went back to class. It’s estimated that three-quarters of the student body were either kept home by concerned parents or opted not to return to class. Snow day, woo-hoo!

Authorities have arrested 18-year-old Lars O’Mara, who allegedly admitted to making and placing the device in order to gain popularity and get people out of class. Lars is facing felony charges for manufacturing a hoax explosive device, using a Game Boy.

People, let’s be frank here: never, EVER, trust a guy named Lars. Have we learned nothing from Die Hard?

Wii would like to be generous with taxpayers’ money

A state minister from Victoria, Australia has been publicly rebuked after personally campaigning, in parliament, for one of his constituents to be given a Wii.

Gordon Rich-Phillips, a member of the Liberal Party and Victoria’s Assistant Opposition Treasurer, got up in parliament and asked that Victoria’s WorkCover Authority (the worker’s comp guys) pay for “a certain rehabilitation aid” for a man that claims he’s been unable to work for four years due to a “work-related injury”. Oh sure, that might sound reasonable, but he only made the plea in parliament because WorkCover had already knocked the man’s claims back, on the grounds that this “rehabilitation aid” was in fact a Nintendo Wii console and a copy of Wii Fit.

“Gordon Rich-Phillips is saying we should spend WorkCover money on video games when the claim has already been assessed and knocked back,” WorkCover Minister Tim Holding said.

The man asking for the Wii, meanwhile, says that it’s necessary for his rehabilitation because, in addition to his injury, he also suffers from severe panic attacks, which presumably keeps him from both the physio and the gym. Sorry guy, but I haven’t seen them make a WiiTherapist yet.

What else are they supposed to do?

In Canada, a controversy brewed when video of a 10-year-old age group hockey team showed several members of the team drinking beer. What’s shocking is that 10 is not the legal age to drink in Canada.

Apparently, the country does not believe that beer after a hockey game is what should be going on for these kids. If it isn’t, then what was the women’s Olympic team doing after they won the gold medal?