TotD: Dear Tillers,

If my soil is being occupied, does that mean I'm part of the 1%?

Thanks,

TotD: It's a Man's World

I'm kinda indifferent on Kristen Stewart's talent - the whole debate over it's existence or not is largely fanboy driven - and the whole fiasco circling her and Patterson right now is just background noise one expects in a gossip driven industry these days but...

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the sequel to June's Snow White, which starred Stewart, Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, is being reconceived as a spinoff movie [starring Hemsworth's character only]. It's unclear whether director Rupert Sanders will return, though one source with ties to the production says he will.

... this would be an entirely one sided asshole move by an old school "blame her for spreading her legs" misogynist bean counter if she's booted and the later comes to pass.

TotD: The Problem Facing Modern Bookstores...

... is that in becoming these giant, sprawling, megastores with comfy chairs, Starbucks Cafes, and welcoming staff they're often now treated as libraries by the customers; someplace to sit and read. In a setting like that, it's no wonder magazine sales are down: there's no grumpy old lady getting cranky or signs on the racks saying "No Reading Allowed!" anymore and folks just loiter. This attitude has spread to the books as well with just as many people sitting around the stacks as there are down by the mag racks.

You honestly have to wonder how many people are there to buy vs read sometimes. Which then makes you wonder how much of a loss leader that is and how long they can continue to support it now that everyone online has stomped over their turf, claimed huge sections of it, and run off entirely with the DVD and Music sales they were supplementing with.

TotD: Dear Marvel

How did you manage to publish this? On what planet did we need a Black Cat/Wolverine comic where they spend half the thing implying how much sex they're having off panel (or want to have off panel)? It's like a bad slash fiction with the Wolverine as the Author's Mary Sue and Black Cat shoved in as the bondage gear wearing B-Lister you were willing to let slum to service his fantasy.

More importantly, did anyone actually buy it? 'cause it's shit and the fact that there's even a hardcover edition, scares me. For the love of god, not everything with "Wolverine" in the title needs to get to the bookstore....

TotD: When the Alien Archaeologists...

... sit down to try and read through the collective remains of our civilization's records the thing that will throw them for the greatest loop won't be the number of languages or dialects. No, what's really going to throw them is trying to figure out which half of the planet reads left to right and which reads right to left.

And then they're going to find the languages written in vertical columns...

TotD: Sherlock S2

Moriarty never intended to kill Sherlock, just make him disappear in the most debasing way possible.

The running theme of the season is Sherlock's rise to fame, starting in Scandal and peaking in Reichenbach. Can you be an effective private detective if everyone knows who you are? Sherlock answers that question himself in a throwaway line in Scandal that could be conveniently summed as: "No". Just as importantly, from Moriarty's point of view, can you fight a shadow war with someone the press keeps the spotlight on? Hell no: that's bad for business and if your business is criminal you don't want to be the known enemy of someone playing centre stage of a media circus.

So, you'd want them off the board but... if that's the case... what's all the talk of an IOU about? Despite the malicious posture, Sherlock's never really stopped Moriarty from doing anything of note yet - he's been more of a thorn - so what's he owed outright for? Well... lets go back to Scandal: it's established in the opening and towards the end that Moriarty and Irene Adler have a working relationship of sorts. Given the outcome of that case, could Moriarty feel that he owes Sherlock a favour? The character's always been designed around a twisted morality when it comes to such things.

So, could he feel that he needs to help Sherlock regain his anonymity to clear a debt and let them get back to their private game? If so, how can he do so thoroughly and without looking like he's trying to do Holmes a favour? Destroy his reputation with extreme prejudice and then rig his death?

Hell, working out the mechanics of that while staying a step in front of Holmes might just be fun too...

TotD: Avengers Makes $447.4M

No, this does not mean you're getting more Firefly. Seriously: do not remotely get your hopes up.

The odds that there are any Studio Heads saying anything other than: "Well... Joss is nice and all... but you could give that lineup to Uwe Boll and get a similar result", are pretty slim.

PS: Joss - you killing people is becoming expected. Find another trope to run into the ground. Thanks.

TLU: They're Not Alone...

Him: Indeed. I've seen religious wingnuts (of the Muslim variety, at least) argue that women get raped for dressing down.
Me: err, we've had Toronto Police Officers state this; how do you think we ended up with Slut Walk? This preconception is not remotely a Muslim only issue.
Him: Yeah, but Muslims...
Me: I'm sorry, before you go any further I have to ask: have you missed every single "Family" TV show/movie in the history of North American Television? Of the ones that have kids growing up, how many are there without a very special episode/segment where innocent little Tina turns 15 and decides it's time for Mini-Skirts, Tube Tops, and makeup* and dad doesn't go apeshit while mom tries to talk him down.

The opinion that what you wear somehow influences your chance to get raped is not remotely limited to race, religious creed or culture no matter what spin you want to put on it. Hell, from the strict perspective of a risk analyst - that one is increasing their visibility over someone else who "fits in" - there may even be some validity to it. But, as a society we need to throw that line of thought out because the simple fact is that there can be no acceptable justification for the act of rape and when we think otherwise is when we risk going back to the days when "look at her, she was asking for it" saw guys walk because the people in charge of protecting the victim agreed.

* Or the "scandalous" thing of the day - for example I seem to recall an ad for Degrassi:TNG episode all about the "appropriateness" of visible thong strings in the middle of the Thong Song craze

TotD: Really?

Actual Headline: "Police handcuff, charge 6-year-old girl after kindergarten tantrum"

I'm sorry: what planet do we live on now where you call the cops because someone you can likely pick up with one hand is throwing a fit? I understand we exist in a world where discipline by schools has come under scrutiny but come on: be a fucking adult and do your job...

TotD: When it Comes to Brothels...

... Politicians won't legalize someplace they'd have to risk being seen walking in and out of; it might cut into they and their friends ability to order out.

TotD: On Real Money Auctions and Diablo 3

People sitting around complaining about service fees to auction virtual goods for real money in Diablo III need to wake up to the following reality about how this system works:

You get to play a game where, on occasion, something may drop during gameplay that someone else is likely to be willing to pay real cash for.

At this point, you can place it in a store operated and maintained by Blizzard, to be presented to willing customers for sale that Blizzard's been kind enough to bring to the store , and then Blizzard is going to do the really messy part of actually getting the money and putting it in your account.

In other words, all the actual work of selling your item is being done in the background while you're more than likely kicking around a dungeon still having fun. No one's going to do that for free and it's really no different a situation than you showing up at a consignment store and being told "This is going to be our cut of the final sale for doing all the hard stuff, take it or leave it". You always have the option to walk at that point but if you want to play you're going to have to play by the shop owners rules. Otherwise, you'd best be prepared to do all the actual work yourself.

Given the reputation of most third parties that have been doing "the actual work" in the past, good luck with that once there's a "legitimate" channel...

TotD: Kickstarter Fever

We've had two successful Kickstarter projects now and much fanfare about potentially being able to revive classic PC gaming genres, or even titles, through crowd source financing. The first is Double Fine Adventure; a project that sees to reunite Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert to make a classic old school adventure game and saw the public donate just under $3.34 Million to get it off the ground. Meanwhile, immediately on the coattails of this Brian Fargo has successfully raised the minimum required to see to it his project will be funded to create Wasteland 2: a sequel to a classic apocalyptic RPG from the late 80's.

So, a few thoughts today:

a) Kickstarter makes financing these things possible, but it's digital distribution avenues like Steam that makes them practical. Without this advent, these companies would run into the simple reality of finding themselves with a product but hindered by a distribution model that requires them to get buyers to be willing to purchase it. Steam eliminates corporate buyers and lets you go straight to the consumer; a good thing when you consider that Kickstarter just ate Gamestop's Pre-Order money to finance making the game. We'll get back to that later reality in a minute.

b) While these projects have been successful, they're both backing either noted creators and/or existing IP fan bases. While smaller projects have been financed through the method, we're still waiting on the new IP/unknown creator lining up $1M+ to make something that "can't be done under the studio system".

c) I'm hoping the DFA Pitch Video doesn't become the template by which all others are created because the Wasteland one shows you where copying it can go wrong when Comedy isn't your strength. Also, one suspects you're only going to be able to go "Big Gaming Hates You!!!!" so many times before the audience is going to tune you out. I'd like to see some different videos that play to the strengths of their creators and focus more on selling their game than bitching about market realities.

d) The truly interesting question here is this: are we simply letting Pre-Order money flow to the creators instead of Gametop, and putting it way up front instead of after the game is in the home stretch (Duke Nukem Forever notwithstanding), or will there be substantial purchasing power that remains on the backend. I'd say the answer will likely turn out to be 50/50 and likely comes down to how well the games are received when they are released. Which makes for an appendix question: if the end product turns out to be "crap", what effect does this have on people's willingness to continue participating in this "front end finance a game" model in the future?

Those are questions we really want to be able to answer to determine the long term feasibility of this business model but really can't until products start to ship.

TotD: TIFF Bell Lightbox...

... is doing a Ghibli Festival in which they note Grave of the Fireflies is a masterpiece of the house, but won't be showing it.

Guess suicide insurance was too expensive.

TotD: On Iran and Nukes.

If Israel bombs Iran to "stop them from getting nukes", it will likely start a significant period of unrest if not outright war in the Middle East with a high risk of uniting the region against them.

If Iran gets Nukes and uses one against Israel, turning several important Muslim holy sites into dead zones for the next decade or two, does anyone actually think the outcome is going to be celebration in the region?

Your answer to this likely depends on whether or not you're in the school that Muslims are what I'd all "classical" anti-semites (i.e.: they hate Jews for nailing Christ to a cross), or have their own current reasons (i.e.: they kicked cousin Paly off his land), that are just reinforced and referenced by dogma as is wont to happen when people get angry and political/religious leaders look to assign blame.

My answer is this: if Iran, or any of their proxies, turns those religious sites "into glass" they have more to fear from their own populace and the rest of the Muslim nations than they do from Israel and they damned well know it. This is why, while the idea of a nuclear Iran doesn't remotely thrill me at all from a "world needs less capacity to destroy itself, not more" perspective, it doesn't particularly scare me either.

At the end of the day, self preservation has always been a startlingly effective deterrent when it comes to these things.

TotD: You Know, I'd Really Like That...

... but not if I have to pay taxes.... or extra development fees... or tolls....

Fuck it, think it we can Kickstart a Subway?

TotD: Douchebagicus Gameramus

Easily identified by their frequent use of the word "Casual" as an insult without any sense of irony or the impression of self-absorbed asshole they're giving out. This animal is often found screaming to high heaven about "how easy the game is!!!!!!" whilst hiding behind a level one alt softly nuzzling their links to Elitist Jerks in the belief that knowing where it is and having read it somehow makes them similarly 'l33t, despite never stepping foot inside a raid.

Mostly harmless- unless you invite them to a run. Then they will likely die to their own stupidity and inability to follow instruction or accommodate the current situation whilst cursing you all as "fails" for not keeping their awesome rotation tunnelling skills alive. As such, best avoided and left in the corner where you found them, quietly mumbling about events that either never happened or are now filtered through nostalgia glasses 30' thick.

TotD: You Know...

... with all the whining, kvetching, and general "Everyone's in fear for their lives!!!" headlines leading up to Rickey Gervais' second run at the Golden Globes quite possibly the biggest joke he could pull would be to walk out on stage and be unbearably nice to everyone.

Or would that be too meta?

TotD: People watching the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas Special...

...need to watch it while remembering the following subtext, which I will white text for everyone's protection should they wish to avoid it:

River Song has been "dead" for years now. The Doctor watches her die in the Library. He's travelled with her and her parents for an extended time now without ever telling any of them this.

There's reason for his monologue with the Widow: he knows the day when he must do so is coming. Do not expect the news to go over well. The road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions and knowing Amy and Rory, his position as "son-in-law", the secrets he's already kept, and his promise to keep her safe once he "finds" her, he will likely not be able to justify this...

There you go. That ought to give folks an "oh, shit" moment or two...

TotD: Someone is sooooooo screwed.....

... they just added Pokemon to WoW.

TotD: Not Remotely Shocked.

Strong winds, rain cause power outage at Jane and Bloor

Used to work this area as a phone tech.

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If the Power network is as archaic as some of the phone equipment was in this area I'm surprised it's not down more often. There were quite literally 1940's/1950's Pole Terminals still in use here for the phone lines a few years back. Boy, that was fun to work with.... especially with the stands they were on...

Had these old school seat brackets we were warned against using because no one was doing maintenance on them anymore.