I started this blog exactly 10 years ago with a very short, weird note and the music video by David Shrigley for Blur’s “Good Song” from the vastly underrated “Think Tank”.
Since then, I wrote a gazillion times about The Maccabees and the Decemberists, compared a thousand artists to Kate Bush and/or Peter Gabriel, switched languages once too often for good SEO, had to disable a horrible Google “feature” that drained clicks and also let a leaching site copy my articles for far too long because I didn’t know any better.
But this was then and this is now. I was 24 years old and knew absolutely nothing (Jon Snow). This blog was a first step out of a rather depressive phase and I guess it worked. I even got over my Mumford and Sons obsession and started to appreciate, nay, love Laura Marling, so all is well with me.
I lost a lot of things in the last 10 years: quite a few blogs, the dream of becoming a journalist, the claim of never being one part of a horrible office affair, two jobs, at least two banking cards, too many passwords, a lot of pounds (food allergies: lose weight until it gets creepy and let people speculate whether you have an eating disorder!), a lot of stuff during two moves and my heart to the best person in the world.
All in all, the last ten years were mostly an uphill battle to becoming someone I don’t hate half as much as I hated myself back then. That’s growth, baby. And I guess that’s also the reason why I still have this blog because it’s a beautiful constant and I could always do and write whatever I wanted and still have (laughably few) people reading it and liking it. But those few people were and are great people and in a way, that’s fantastic. To have people like your (niche) stuff who are awesome instead of many horrible people misunderstanding what you do (or maybe not which means that you’re horrible as well!). So, thanks for all old and new readers for sticking with me for so long or for stepping into this blog that never exactly knows what it wants to be about and has large gigantic phases of absence.
Thank you.
And thank me! 10 years in blogging is amazing. I’ve seen so many 404-sites and abandoned blogs in the last 5-10 years (some of them even belong to me!), so I know how dedicated you have to be to keep it going without the blog being a success, you getting any money for it or getting a book published through it or whatever. The fact that this blog still exists even though it never showed any promise in rising readership or big popularity (except that one boob-songs-article that still draws clicks), is a clear sign that I have neither the drive nor the social networking skills to make it big in the world. But it also shows that I can do something just for myself and not give up just because hardly anyone else gets it. Since all kid’s movies, aspirational feel-good comedies and TED talks tell you otherwise, I am quite proud of that achievement.
So, here’s the song that started it all (it’s still one of my favorite music videos, after all these years. Only, I’ve since seen Shrigley’s work in a museum in London which was a hoot.
The last time I did one of these chain mail-majingies was in December when I did the whole b/w-challenge (7 black and white photos in seven days without any people as motives) on Facebook which was actually quite fun.
Before that, it has been at least 3 years because I remember that I did that one questionnaire on my blog to intrigue and amuse my then very new boyfriend (spoiler alert: it worked).
So, since then, because relationships and 9-to-5-jobs suck out every ounce of time I had before to waste on this blog, it has been a little less social on here. But then Muriel did the thing and not in the murdery sense like that one chain letter horror novel I once read and which cannot be googled because all you get is Christopher Pike and that’s not the story I am thinking of, argh! Wait, where was I? Ah yes …
No, he invited me to yet another blogger award which still is a thing if you can believe it.
So, let’s get this started (as enthusiastically as I am when that Black eyed Peas-song of the same name starts which is not very):
Put the award logo/image on your blog.
At some point in this chain, this image will have the worst resolution and be just three pixels with a mysterious file name, so it fits the theme, I guess.
List the rules.
(How is this #2 on this list and not #1?)
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
You know what, that blog looks airy, light and pretty, I will actually check that out, haven’t been on good pretty blogs in a while: okoto enigma
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
I think I am naturally uncool and real life cool people make me really nervous because I know that I simply can’t measure up to them.
I love to read and have a lot of great books at home and generally, I love all sorts of genres but most of the time, I will pick a horror novel instead of that really amazing sad novel by that young German writer because I love to be spooped.
I usually play games on the easy mode and only sometimes on the normal mode because I hate dying in games (like, I really hate it, it stresses me out). I will rather cower behind a box for twenty minutes to stealth kill an enemy instead of trying out a bold move.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
This is … look, I am 33, I have the aforementioned boyfriend, I have a job, I apparently play video games and struggle on easy mode and I have a few other embarrassing hobbies I will keep secret for now. How in the world can I know 10-20 blogs that I read regularly?
Ok, so here it goes: dear fellow bloggers, you don’t have to do this and if you don’t, I will not spam you or be mad because I really get it. So I mainly put you in this list because I truly enjoy your blogs and want others to enjoy them as well.
Spoiler Alert: all of these are mainly in German, sorry, not sorry.
Fluegge: this lovely lady writes about journeys, “Fernweh” but also about other things and she is just an amazing human being (as far as I know, who knows what deep dark secrets she will reveal, muahaha). And I guess because these awards are also here to extend readerships, I simply have to nominate her.
JHubner: my music blog is a sorry excuse of a blog compared to Mr. Hubners amazing trove of alternative and indie music, musings and pop culture tidbits. If I have the time and want to discover something new, I can just randomly pick a review of his and it will be at least a 8/10. He also makes his own (good) music, so it’s a given that I will totally recommend him.
Loosy Says: because she did the thing back then and helped me to be charming for my new boyfriend. I recommend Loosy for everyone who loves food and cat pictures which on my account is at least 99% of the internet.
That’s it, my fourth choice would have been Muriel but he already did the deed, I told you I don’t read blogs. Gosh dammit, should I start again? Is it even worth it? This award really got super depressing …
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
I will … I did.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)
Urgh.
Which song reminds you most of your hometown and why (second part doesn’t need to be answered if too personal)
What’s the one place you always wanted to travel to but haven’t gotten to yet?
What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate and did it taste good?
If Steve Buscemi had to play a main character in a hot new remake of “Mean Girls” who would he play?
What movie always makes you happy, no matter what?
Share a link to your best post(s)
It should be that one about the boobs-playlist but to be honest, one of my favorite posts is my apocalypse-playlist because – without really planning it – it veered into crazy territory.
And I guess to get a glimpse into my writing about music, this “defense of pop” is a nice entry.
And here’s the five questions asked by Muriel (I gotta say, though, it’s pretty difficult to decide which one is the weird one …)
Do you like meat?
I do. I like it less than I did, I noticed, but sometimes I turn into a ravenous beast and then I eat a lot of it. I don’t like all kinds of meat and usually try to get the ethically less horrible version but yeah, I like it.
Do you think you’d write for Springer if they offered enough? For the purpose of this question, we will suppose that they might be generous, but the perspective should be in the realm of possibility, so if you’re going to say „Sure, for 500,000,000€ a day I might consider it“, please don’t. Or actually: Go ahead. You can just name a price. I guess that would be a good measure of your willingness to write for Springer, or lack of same.
(For the international readers: Springer is a publisher who publishes stuff like the US FOX news or British the Sun – some of it is really bad and badly written, some is okay but still ethically dubious because there is a lot of sexist, racist shit with blaming all problems on poor people, migrants and other minorities and they also show a crass disregard for privacy rights of individuals)
Here’s the thing: I already sold out when I entered the marketing world right after I got my degree and I even worked in boulevard journalism for a while, so obviously I have no soul and would work for Springer in a heartbeat.
BUT! I am at a point in my life where I actually enjoy writing for a company and would rather look for that kind of job than being a journalist. I also – at least now (knock on wood) – am not the kind of person who needs that much money to enjoy her life, so it wouldn’t really be about the amount of money that made me do it. I am quite happy with what I have, and of course I know how horribly cheesy that sounds.
So, I guess my answer is: no. But I really get why others would and definitely wouldn’t fault anyone for it (I would only fault people if they write actually ethically dubious stuff for Springer). And maybe at some point I have to make a decision like that. But it wouldn’t be about “how much are they willing to pay” and more like “do I not have other options, are they paying much more than literally anyone else for an amazing job and working atmosphere?”
Sorry, to be so lame with this answer, I know I should have been super witty and sarcastic with this one but …meh.
What’s your favorite post of mine?
I really enjoyed your/Muriel’s writing experiment for “Bright Outlook.” which is – sorry, dear English speaking readers – in German. It’s a psychological experiment-thriller kind of story (something I really love) and I am so amazed that he basically put his story as a work in progress out there to let us – me included – comment and criticize away. It’s also a fun read. Also, I am technically cheating because this is not one but about a gazillion posts but if this was about movies and I would say “Godfather Trilogy” – or rather, in my case, “Lord of the Rings”, no one would bat an eye.
If you were caught in a different time stream than your own and had to kill Christian Weirich for a chance to return to your own, which kind of weapon would you use, if any?
Who is Christian Weirich? What kind of time stream is it? Are the people I know in that time stream as well? Do you know that I am against the death penalty and therefore could never kill someone, so what kind of sadistic shit is this, Muriel?
Is this some kind of insider joke and I get drawn into it, naively, innocently? Am I part of bullying a friend or foe of yours?
Also: do they still have the Szechuan Sauce from McDonalds in that timeline? Because if so, I would totally stay (I’m kidding, all McDonalds sauces are gross).
How do you feel about being nominated for this? Please be very honest and very extensive in your answer, especially if your feelings run in the general direction of „Was this really necessary I HATE those things!“
Well, I actually like questionnaires but I always feel horrible when it comes to the nominating part. Like, why would I want to be someone who forwards a chain letter. Didn’t we learn back in school that you can never win with chain letters?
I also always think that surely no one can read this and think ‘oh, this is interesting, she plays video games on easy-mode!’ – I know that this is some boring-ass shit and that it’s super egocentric and banal.
However, to fully answer this question, I think it’s nice that I got nominated because it’s nice that there’s at least one (and probably not more than two) person out there that reads my blog. So, thank you, Muriel (this time without the sarcasm).
I’ll play myself out with the iconic song by the Blood Red Shoes: “it’s getting boring by the blogging award entry”
It is Thursday, nearly 7pm and I am sitting in the subway, tired, grumpy, In front of me, a men, unfazed by the world around him, trying out all his ringtones, all of them, the volume up on Spinal Tap levels. Everyone looks at him, looks around, for some savior who might step in and approach him, ask him to “(ring)tone it down” but no one does, everyone just staring at each other, staring at him, looking away. Because, you see, what kind of person sits there, with their headphones in one ear but the other ear clearly aware of the fact that he’s trying out all of his ringtones over and over again in full Spinal Tap volume level to the misery of at least 20 people in earsight. What kind of person sits there, not even blushing, not even looking? Now, he might just excuse himself and turn down the volume but this is a subway in Berlin. He might just as well shout, scream, get vulgar or say things no one understands, wild conspiracies under a shining tin foil, spit flying, arms flaying.
So, we sit and look around, nearly scared of someone to step up because what kind of person would step up to face this probability of subway madness? Someone equally if not more so unfazed by societies etiquettes, someone willing to turn a parade of ringtones into a subway brawl. But it’s Thursday, nearly 7pm, we’re all tired. So we think: only 3 more stops, only 10 minutes, only 26 more ringtones until I can step into the cold, awful smelling night and hum one of the ringtones – surely the most annoying one – till I get home.
There’s currently a great read on Vulture, an interview collection of people who talk about the Strokes and how they blew up and then petered out. The article is great but the notion is all kinds of wonky. Continue reading →
Hello, dear readers, did you miss me? Did you even notice that I was gone? Oh, private (yeah, I know that’s an oxymoron) blogging nowadays is a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, you basically do it for yourself and can do or not do whatever you like, on the other hand there is always the nagging sense that if you only do enough, write enough and stay on top enough, you finally get those 10K-readers and media-attention and then maybe even someone famous like Taylor Swift mentions you and life will be perfect (I mean, I would totally be fine with someone like Lil Bub because we all know that she’s way more influential than Taylor will ever be).
But the reality is that reality is work. Work is work and I do it and I do it quite good which means that I don’t have that much time.
Moving from pretty much inside the city to not so much inside the city is also work and it is stressful as heck (why are there so many cartons still, when it feels like there’s already so much stuff unpacked?). It’s also time because now it takes a thousand years to reach home. On the plus side, I read more.
Being in a relationship is work…well, sometimes. But it also takes up a lot of time and is so nice to have that I don’t really want to go back to them single days when I was writing blogs on a Friday night till 2am.
And generally being in a state of flux since a few months is work because I am neither spontaneous nor adventurous and I like things when they all come together but hate the part of coming together because you never know. YOU NEVER KNOW what is going to happen.
OMG, is this a breakup-post?
No, don’t worry. I just want to explain what happened because it’s rude to kinda stall a relationship and then get back to it as if nothing happened. Something did happen, alright and I have a little less time for this blog but I am not gone or at least I don’t plan to be gone. Actually, I plan to reshape the blog a little, maybe write a little less pieces but make them a little longer and more analytical. But then again, I might just as well be lying and start writing about Pusheen on a daily basis. Who knows. YOU NEVER KNOW!
There was a time, in my late teens and early twenties, when I would have claimed that I was an Indie/Alternative-fan, thereby limiting myself (and other’s perception of me) to maybe not the smallest portion of music but to a lot less music than I was actually listening to.
Since then, I realized that I like a lot of music – tons of music in fact. I love Motown and basically everything sung by black artists from the 40s, 50s and 60s. I love Britrock ca. 60s/70s, I love prog, I love some choice Hip Hop artists, I have a few metal bands in my playlist each year, I am quite fond of certain musicals, I do love classic when I have to read long texts at work and I am genuinely, continuously in awe with Kate Bush, David Bowie and Peter Gabriel – the three artists no one can ever touch (or should cover) in my humble opinion.
But I also love pop in all its variety. I love Indiepop, I love Artpop, I love Folkpop and boy, do I love „Oldies“ as we like to address old pop songs from the 80s, 90s, 70s and so on. Personally, nothing in the 80s is too cheesy for me, with the exception of some German artists who were beyond cheesy and simply stunk.
But I also love pop in its Billboard-glory. I always did but I didn’t always love that I did.
But why wouldn’t I love pop music?
I have a boyfriend (much as my mom has a boyfriend like that) who loves everything that is niche. His ambition is to give lesser known artists an audience (of one, sometimes). He thinks that Sophie Hunger is a mainstream artist and thinks that Regina Spektor is way too popular to really get into her music. He wouldn’t even touch Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus with a ten foot pole and boy, the look in his eyes when I declared that Bruno Mars is one hell of an artist…Once he and his mom (both not very much into music but if, more into the „high“ art of it) somehow fascinated listened to me explain why Pink is a superior artist to Celine Dion (it lies in the believability, btw).
He liked, though, how I explained the concept of deconstructed pop with Jenny Hval’s new album as an example. But here’s the problem with disliking pop: if you don’t get pop, every music that is not pop is only half the fun because sure, you can admire it but you don’t know how much different (or alike) it is from the mainstream, the charts and the mobile ringtones. Furthermore, listening to pop is all the more fun if you notice streams of art pop in current chart toppers. No high-brow music fan could ever be as happy as a pop fan who just heard Lorde for the first time or who celebrated that some nerd like Gotye could ever be the culprit of the annual Summerhit hype.
Furthermore, pop like nothing else is a great mirror of society. It’s frustrating sometimes but can also be incredibly hopeful. The fact that female popstars with sass, strength and a serious attitude can own the market right now, shows that despite all the misogyny people want strength and diversity. How long did we suffer through the self-same tame female songwriters or RnB-artists? And suddenly we have Janelle and Lianne and Lorde and FKA Twigs who is nearly anti-pop. Amy Winehouse opened the gate to a yearning we had for quite a while – intimate songwriting by the singer herself. And suddenly, there’s thankfully a whole load of it roaming our radios.
Bruno Mars – much more than Justin Timberlake – fulfilled the need for a surprisingly self-reflective superstar who actually seemed to have fun on stage (and with his band).
And whether you like Taylor Swift and/or Miley Cyrus (no need to pick a team), they both show that there’s no need to fill a certain role as was done for years (and still is done, let’s not be naive) with tween-stars. Heck, even Carly Rae Jepsen can do tween-pop without feeling like an adult lost in puberty.
And again, how much of a miracle is it that all of this is such a female-centric music business? Sure, the executives, the producers and moneymakers are still mainly male and the sexism in this industry as much as everywhere is nothing to ignore nor to underestimate.
But pop is like a weird, absurd reflection of society and it does seep into the background, the CEO-chairs and the fanbase that there’s more desire by the musicians themselves and that feminist pop is not a genre anymore (think of Alanis or Tori) but rather a state of fact and whoever can’t deal with it, will still make money but probably won’t be able to grow and to evolve with the music scene (or create something new, even though I hardly believe that many head honchos have that ambition).
How much of that do you learn via niche artists? Sure, they can spin some cynical and highly conceptual albums about serious topics. But in the end, pop touches them (and influences them) because it is always the bigger, the overwhelming part of our culture. And as long as it is, the niche can be as daring and exciting as it is and slowly tug at pop’s elbows to give a little back, so pop doesn’t get stale. So don’t hate on it and take it for what it is (with a grain of sexist and racist grain of salt).
Loosy from “Loosy says” nominated me (and 14 other bloggers) for the “One Lovely Blog Award” which is one of those never-ending blog-chain-mails that go on forever (did I mention that they never stop?). I am kind of a douche when it comes to these things because I never forward them (I remember chain mails from school and just can’t be bothered with it). I am too lazy of a mofo to find and write 15 bloggers with this (my lovely blogs are in my blogroll or get linked when I mention them in articles, that should be enough, you guys). But I am not ungrateful, plus I love talking about myself and one of the “rules” of this thing is to write 7 things about oneself. So, first, thank you Loosy, that’s super nice of you to think of my humble blog. Secondly, let’s do this and get into the magical and mysterious world of Juliane W.
1.
The first dream job I ever uttered was forklift operator back when I was 5 years old (I think I even have a drawing of a forklift driver somewhere). Back in the GDR we apparently visited the exciting world of a warehouse once and I thought that this was the coolest job ever.
The back of the picture says: “My favourite moment at the firm of Daniel’s mother” – I assume that Daniel was a kindergarten mate. The date is 2.10.1989 – I clearly never was destined to become a great artist because there are so many things in this picture I can not identify. The whole left area will forever be a mystery.
2.
Amongst the many things I started to learn but never finished were Judo, guitar lessons, Tae Kwon Do, Breakdance and Swedish. In contrast to terrifyingly many people, I never present my half-assed skills in the hopes of actually being better than expected (because I am not and I know that).
3.
According to my dad, the violin player of the famous German band City once complimented a very young me (I guess I was 8 or 9 years old) on my expert recorder/flute playing. I suspect that he was just nice to a dorky little kid and therefore never pursued a career as professional recorder player.
4.
Among the maybe three jokes I actually remember and could tell to other people, my favourite one is: Why did the mushroom go to the party? Because he was a fungi.
5.
One of the worst nightmares I ever had involved the game “Bravo Traube” and my family as the grapes. To this day I think it’s absolutely absurd and sick to invent a game with anthropomorphized grapes that get tortured to death.
6.
I don’t like Olives but once was told that I look like I do.
7.
I became a full-fledged atheist whilst studying Theology.
Just for your information, dear (German) blog readers (or German speaking blog readers or blog readers who actually are able to understand whatever google translate spews out), I resurrected my German blog over at sickcellmate.wordpress.com. The frequency won’t be has high as on this blog but there will be some pictures and some texts whenever I feel like writing about it. Why? Because I feel like it and apparently working in a super fancy office building like in “The Office” (UK) is a lot more inspiring than working at a hip gossip news agency. Who would have thunk?
Also this, because no one wants to have Arnold Schwarzenegger stuck in their head for the rest of the day.
I can never quite figure out which League of Gentlemen-Gentlemen deliver the greatest pieces of pop culture but for fans of their tv-series, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith definitely lead the way for unconventional, dark and horrifying comedy which – weirdly – is still quite seldom to be found (and no, “Supernatural” doesn’t count).
The newest (well, more recent, it’s been out there since a few months) gift to fans of the macabre is “Inside No. 9”, a rare form of the clever genre of horror anthology that – in stark contrast to the grim and almost misanthropic “Black Mirror” by Charlie Brooker” – has a lot of fun with delving further and further into the depth of human depravity. Even though not every episode might be outright terrifying, there’s not one that isn’t entertaining and interesting because there are many ways in which Pemberton and Shearsmith try to work with their environment – oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the gist of the show is that every episode features a room or a house or a building that has the #9 (hence the name). Therefore, some episodes play in a single room whereas others have a whole creepy villa to roam through (one that reminds me a lot of the beany baby-heaven of “Psychoville”, by the way).
Although the first episode is – in my opinion – as grim as it gets, the gothic/horror elements of each episode stack up to a truly awesome finale that had one of my favourite jokes of the entire season in it. The whole series feels like a nod to Roald Dahl who equally managed to mix up the terror with the grotesque and comedic and who also kept us glued to the pages (or in this case, the screen) through very concise storytelling and thought through characters. For horror fans in general this series is riddled with great references and inside-jokes as pretty much everything else this golden writing team has come up with. It’s very weird, very British and very amazing.
2. Bad Machinery goes Mod
For reasons unknown, I kinda stopped reading my daily/weekly/monthly webcomics and only recently got back to it only to discover that I had abandoned the great stories of John Allison so much that I missed one and three quarters of new stories. GASP! The current one is a great romp through a re-discovery of the mod-movement (with great hairstyles and dire consequences) that – as all teenage movements go – soon plunges into chaos.
Teenagers, ey? *scrunches up nose in disgust*
3. The funniest thing that happened to me since the last Cake Box
Ok, so because it’s summer, I logged into OkCupid because around this time every year I do something very regrettable because I am bored (’tis true). That’s neither funny nor entertaining and I never ever would have mentioned if it weren’t for this thing that happened. So, because I am not really actively looking for my soulmate (mainly because I don’t believe such a thing exists), I am mucking about a lot and usually send random (but not creepy) messages to funny profiles. One of the dudes got a picture from me that featured Bill Cosby in a pineapple-shirt (there is an explanation for that but it’s tltr). Anyways, he went on my profile, apparently didn’t find it as amusing and charming as it obviously is because he didn’t reply. However, one day later he did message me to blame me for a dream he had in which Bill Cosby offered him a drink on a train to Alaska.
Juliane W. – subliminally putting random stuff in your dreams since 1984.
I wonder whether I should simply send everyone the Bill Cosby-picture from now on to see whether they all will dream of him and whether the dream-situations with him vary, like offering some chili on a sailboat to Greece or dancing on a plane to Honolulu. (edit 02/2015): since I didn’t know about the countless accusations against Cosby, I guess that I really should not make anyone else dream of him in the near or far future unless I wanted to commit to my dark side and turn everyone mad)
Who wouldn’t love some more Cosby in their lives?
4. Margarethe
When I still worked at the gossip-mill, I once wrote an article about a former German tv-host who had since more or less retired. I wanted to know more about her present life and decided to add her on Facebook because unlike most other celebrity profiles only friends could see her posts and because unlike many many more famous people, she didn’t have a Page but a profile. Well, nothing happened that day and I wrote the article and forgot about it.
Weeks later, Margarethe accepted and I thought that it was so funny and weird that I simply left her in my feed even though I am highly picky with my Facebook-friends and regularly weed out people. Well, she’s still there and I tell you why – her Facebook-profile is one of the most charming celebrity-profiles I’ve ever seen. She writes like a typical somewhat older person who can work her way around the internet but is not really savvy: Her entries are really long and read like postcards or personal letters. And they are full of trivial infos about her garden and her holidays and what she cooked, how she spent her weekend with friends, etc.pp. It’s just a lovely Facebook-island that is innocent, maybe a little naïve but incredibly good-natured.
Remember when Edward Snowden blew the whistle and then jetsetted to Russia to see Putin halfnaked on a horse? And then the media were superfocused on Snowden and where he was, what postcards he sent from Russia and whether Russian vodka really is that good? And when political writers/thinkers really were concerned because that focus on Snowden took a lot of necessary focus off the NSA and Obama?
Well…at least Snowden was celebrated as a hero.
Before we really get this going, an added editor’s note: This post got liked by a self-proclaimed anti-feminist blogger. I don’t know why and I don’t know whether my writing made it unclear or ambiguous but this entry as well as this blog is coming from a very strong feminist perspective. If she liked it because she agrees with me, that’s cool but before someone confuses this entry somehow, let’s make one thing clear: I am for equal rights for all races, gender-definitions, sexualities and religions. Do I think that we are all equal? Of course not, I am not stupid (plus, I am a woman of science and therefore know better). BUT I do think that we all should be treated like equals because that is the main core of feminism (if you don’t believe me, read about feminism in academic sources and not internet comments), of human rights and of my ideal social construct. Thank you.
Now, where were we?
So, there’s this female game developer who made a game about depression and who is a feminist and whose ex-boyfriend recently outed her as a cheating meany who had slept with, like, all the important people in the gaming history to get ahead.
And I am like – well, it’s probably not the first time that someone bribed a journalist or producer to get their little mole-whacking-game (with skin-moles, get it?) produced and that gaming journalists are corruptable, quite often don’t actually play the whole game but still churn out their reviews and use the evil thump as they like (or as they get urged by their chief editors who are desperate for those ad-banners by that big game company that has really bad games). I mean, it was dickish of her (if she did it) and if she really did fake some of the harassment she received then it was extra-dickish but I doubt that she faked all those horrible comments that I read about her, plus, is this thing really such a gigantic nipplegate?
But the internet is like – dude, that gal is the worst in the whole wide world and she alone is responsible for the downfall of gaming journalism because this is about integrity and she has none and we need to talk about this, no wait, we don’t need to talk about this but about her and how horrible she is, so let’s shame her, harass her and her family, release her private information on public comment boards, make up a gigantic conspiracy theory (suddenly that gal is the Illuminati) and tell everyone who speaks out in her favour that they are brainwashed/feminist bitches/not informed enough.
And some people think – well, but isn’t the real problem a bunch of guys in higher positions who let themselves be corrupted by something as stupid as sex? Are guys – again – really that helpless in face of a vajayjay that they can’t help themselves and that a single horrible feminist was able to simply use her sexual powers to corrupt a whole system (and also ruin feminism for everyone as some of the “well, I don’t have anything against feminism but…”-commenters will point out)? And even if her supposedly cheating on her boyfriend and supposedly using sex for her own career-gain is dickish, why is the focus 90% on her and only 10% on those dudes? Shouldn’t it be at least 50% just to be even or…forgive the pun…equal?
Or shouldn’t we instead – just for shits and giggles – start a much more general discussion on journalistic standards in the gaming industry and ALSO on the obvious emotional rage-issues the community has when it comes to women?
And the internet is like – no, you’re stupid!
And I say:
For fair balance, I will link an article that is pretty ok.
PS: But what really got me fuming while reading way too many of these fucktarded comments was the fact that people (and I am wildly assuming here that “people” refers to 90% dudes) referred to the gal in question faking some of her harasser’s actions as a “she pulled a Sarkeesian”. Remember Anita Sarkeesian who was actually, really harassed by a gigantic group of sexist morons because she simply – and not even aggressively – talked about gender issues in video games? HOW is that even closely comparable? Do you mean that the gal in question actually didn’t fake anything and that it indeed was just a bunch of assholes? Because that’s what it would mean if you so loosely compare these situations.
GOSH, I really wanted to stop these posts because they rile me up but people are just so
I lost my panties in the moshpit! 