Originally a companion blog to AnimePodcast.net, now commentary, opinions, and more or less general angry thoughts about anime and Japanese pop-culture fandom in general.
Still no cure for Foot in Mouth Disease. Before anyone goes full WHARRGARBLE about the term "SJW" being used here, please keep in mind that it is not the same as when drunk-uncle or some Fox News chud uses it. This is pure internet circa 2006 traditional meaning of basically someone who develops an overly-righteous sense of impetus for immediate action, to engage in activities that are actually harmful to the very causes they explicitize their support for. In short, picture the Ralph Wiggum from The Simpson's "I'M HELPING" meme combined with Social Justice Sally from way back when.
I set the standard brah! Not you!
With the release of Ghosts of Tsushima, The White Man’s Burden of the 21st Century awakens within the campus collective of SJWs shooting themselves in the foot and saying “look at me, I make virtue signal!” with all the self-awareness of the hive-minded student body and staff of Oberlin College. The same crowd that boldly stood up to the oh so egregious cultural oppression of a non-Asian actress playing a character who uses a cybernetic body based on a European design, in a future where the global population is super-portable from location to location and rapidly erasing genetic racial differences, in an English language movie from a Hollywood studio that was obviously doomed to fail as a commercial film – is now trying to scream bloody murder because a successful commercial venture in video games has not conformed to their standard rubric of what is appropriate when global business spans more than one specific socio-cultural group.
Notice no one got upset when an "Asian" character was played by this guy. Yeah... total mystery.
The argument of requiring a pre-existing qualification to engage in story telling as commercial entertainment being necessarily tied to the actual race or nationality is mindbogglingly stupid, yet through the efforts of these people it has almost become ipso facto default in American entertainment media. To make matters worse, this absolutism is zealously pushed by a mentality that would have Chairman Mao saying “wow that’s a little too intense” and all by groups of idiot morons who can not differentiate between “race” and “nationality.” Furthermore, these mentalities actually devalue cultural practices and histories by indelibly tethering them to things like “nationality” turning cultural practices into compartmentalized commodities that are confined to convenient little boxes they can access as memes and use as tools when they have some meaningless discussion about “identity” and “diversity” in a racially segregated safe-space. This completely ignores the very real fact that nations can have many cultures within them, and that cultures can span the borders of nations. When these people look at things like race, culture, and nationality, they don’t see wide areas of sociology and anthropology too large to be fully understood, but rather they see poker chips or Pokemon cards, to be used to strengthen their own hand in their posturing and pontificating about what they know is best for specific groups of people.
Such an outrage mechanism was engaged when Ghosts of Tsushima was released and some American noticed it wasn’t made part and parcel 100% by genetically pure Japanese. This was a problem that the enlightened ones would not sit still for. Those of the proper higher education were here to protect those unfortunate victims of “cultural appropriation” or whatever, even if the people of the culture being appropriated are so simple and basic that they can’t tell how appropriated their culture is getting, and how it must be stopped before they totally run out of it (just like what happens when you over-mine molybdenum, you’re gonna run out of it forever!). Yes, this was all needed despite the game going over well so well in Japan it scored 40 out of 40, 4 times in Famisu. Just in case you forgot, they know more about video games and the video game business than anyone reading this. Yet there they were, the ever-outraged SJW Brigade who support their America-centric assertions with an absolute authority that comes from being born and raised in Reseda with a Vietnamese mom and Pilipino dad, half way through a weaboo inspired trek through Japanese 201 at whatever-college …because “Asian!” You know, just like how some guy outside Boston who has Irish grandparents is a default authority on Serbian history and culture because “European.”
Hunting with Good Will.
So having a game, set in Kamakura period Japan with a sprinkle of Edo anachronism here and there, made by a company that is not owned by Japanese investors, not located in Japan, and not staffed 100% by Japanese citizens of Asian ethnicity; is apparently a serious affront to ...either all Japanese nationals or all Asian people from Palau to Kashmir (you can’t really tell with these kinds of half-assed arguments). Jeez, I guess Japanese owners of Ferrari or Audi with right-hand drive should feeling very much of shame not buying Japanese cars! And these people from outside the existing contemporary culture that is Japan (no, watching a lot of anime and learning hiragana does not get you anywhere near that), go on a crusade of moral righteousness, to save the people of Japan and video game consumers around the world from Namibia to Nunavut, from what they know is oppression in the form of Red Dead Redemption set in Tsushima.
What happened next is the ultimate manifestation of White Man’s Burden of the 21st Century. Japanese markets embraced the game en masse, and regular average fans, as well as luminaries in the video game industry reacted with a perplexed dismissal at the notion of the game coming from a source that was not racially pure enough being something that would detract from its quality or entertainment value. At that moment, basically all of Japan was labeled “Uncle Tom” and cast as simpletons who simply don’t know what is best for them. Japanese lack of their own “cultural identity awareness” was something that needed to be addressed and it was now up to the American (notice this didn’t happen in France), ivory tower enlightenment-class to bring “civilization” to wield the flaming sword of Social Justice in their defense. Japanese-ness had to be preserved, and the Asian American with their white allies(tm) were just the ones to install such preservation, keeping it un-corrupted like a perfectly unchanging museum piece to be looked at and admired for its own unique-ness-of uniquecallitisity in a uniquely unique way. Like the perfect example of a pure-bred dog, no outside influences shall be allowed to taint such an elegant specimen worthy of cultural admiration.
And then as if that wasn’t stupid enough, the land mine of foot-in-mouth disease was trod upon with all the subtlety of a drunk elephant. And yes, I am of course referring to the performance of Cornelius Boots at E3. Genius level jingoist racist Dani Jo and company a took one look at this and deemed it to be entirely unacceptable that a non-Asian person (not necessarily a non-Japanese, just non-Asian… but something tells me if it were some dark skinned dude from Bangladesh, she wouldn’t be happy either) was playing a traditional Japanese musical instrument to promote a video game. Did she know Cornelius Boots was considered a master of the shakuhachi? No. Did she do anything to find out about him at all? No. Did she look up the word "shakuhachi"? ...No. What she saw in that single observation was enough for her to pass judgement with the unassailable authority of “I are Asian.” By her standards, the shakukachi by its very nature can only be played by someone who is racially and nationally pure enough to meet certain pre-determined standards. She also called the promotional costume he was wearing “traditional Japanese” in her self-righteous ignorance, when what he was wearing was as traditionally Japanese as the outfits at Medieval Times are “traditional” Middle European (ie. they’re not). It was marketing for a product promotion, the same way people put on George Washington costumes for President’s Day mattress sales or the Bacardi group sends out people in cinematic themed pirate costumes with eye patches and shoulder parrots to yell "aarrrrggg." It evokes a modern notion of “concept A” in most people, and that formula is being used to sell stuff. Dani Jo and those who followed suit were quickly shut down for being an embarrassment, because when you apply the same level of diligence in your arguments as flat-earthers do, jingoist racial zeteticism shall get you nowhere (other than relentlessly ridiculed).
Do you think Dani Jo would have said the same thing if the shakuhachi was being played by a very non-Asian black Congolese woman? ...yeah I didn't think so either.
The culturally appropriated rage onslaught did not stop there, and further delved into the trivial idiocy that only has value to their owned warped perceptions. Arguing about the “correct” conjugation of 続くthat’s “tsuzuku” meaning “to continue” actually started happening. Yep, people who live in suburban America with no JLPT scores were ever so sure that the version as written in the game was “wrong” and therefore un-Japanese enough to cause outrage. The correct response to this notion is simply “shut the fuck up” and nothing more.
It was not saddening to see game media like Kotaku, Polygon, Technocodex, and even The Washington Post twist in the wind trying to appease the SJW commandments they have sworn themselves loyal to and say something bad about this game without making their motives obvious. After Ghostbusters 2016, media critics became worthless. What was saddening was seeing potentially meaningful SJWs decide to use their time on something like this, while Black Lives Matter is still happening, at a desperate point where it needs to make significant headway. Nice use of your time, dickheads.
Still a thing. A much much more important thing.
In the end the keepers of objective reality have had a victory against an opponent who we didn’t even notice was trying to fight us. Their arsenal of misconceptions, double standards, and factual inaccuracy, simply had them trying to land punches with fists made of smoke. But in doing so, they exposed their willingness to embrace the White Man’s Burden of bringing education and enlightenment to those who are all but too underdeveloped and savage to even know they need it. The noble SJW Burden, has them bringing American academic social concepts to nations, cultures, and ethnic groups in the name of “helping” them, for they no not what they need protection from. Somehow the perpetrators of such insidious evil believe themselves to be righteous. May their efforts fall as flat as this every time.
- Keep Making That Face and it will Stay That Way.
Anime conventions in flyover country have started “banning” (it's just prohibiting) clothing and other items with ahegao images on them. Prints, books, commissions, videos, towels? What about… a tattoo? Like any amateur we-know-best bunch, they haven’t really mentioned them in any specificity, so apparently non clothing items are permissible. The reason that seems to be given by one of the conventions for such prohibitions is “social climate.” Now, there is no way to successfully parse “social climate” with the notion embodied by the phrase “what other people think” since they are the same thing. Thusly, a sweeping policy which is being applied to everyone is now in place because of … “what other people think.” Following that logic, it becomes very apparent that the actual end of that equation goes from “what other people think” to “what WE think.” You don’t need to be well versed in post-Revolutionary France and the Société des Jacobins, amis de la liberté et de l'égalité to realize where this leads and the CRG squads that will inevitably prowl the convention halls looking for any and all infractions contrary to the new Little Red Book of obscena- prohibetur.
The New Sherefettes:
The blatant hypocrisy of this development has already been exposed by writers and commentators out there who are quicker on the draw than I am. Animemotivation.com has handily pointed out that the new “rules” are only applicable to clothing items which have “ahegao” images in an effort to promote a “family friendly” atmosphere. In a telling indicator that this may be also influenced by Anti-Sex conservative creep effect, these rules do not apply to cosplay in this case, just a specific image on clothing items (more on this later). So we end up with:
The machine wants you! Service Guarantees Citizenship.
This dynamic alone is a red flag made of red flags. Not only is the regulation so specific mentioning ahegao as to suggest an intentional targeting of certain people, but relies on definitions which are beyond vague. What IS ahegao and more importantly what ISN'T it? Is it a cropped image which depicts sex outside the frame? Is it a cropped image with depicts simulated sex? Is it just that facial expression, which a character could be making while performing an otherwise mundane task? Is it only applicable to female or female-appearing characters? Can masculine characters make an “ahegao” face and would such depictions also be against these new rules? How crossed do the eyes have to be? How far does a tongue have to stick out? They gonna make a chart or something? A new anime convention Hays Code is no doubt in its infancy right now.
But wait there’s more; Colorado Anime Fest has added another tier of inappropriateness. From their stated rule policy, “…will not permit ‘ahegao’ or similar clothing with graphic sexual imagery to be worn on the convention floor” (emphasis added). The danger of such ambiguity can be summed up with the simple explicit question of; Well what the fuck does that mean? Will individual conventions come up with their own criteria for “graphic sexual imagery” and go around enforcing them with vigor? Does such a development remind you of something?
Yeah ...that.
Missing a history lesson:
A social conservative resistance to anime and blatant hatred of everything from manga to video games was once a real threat to anime fandom itself. When one has to invoke Miller v California in order to establish one’s “innocence” in wearing an Urusei Yatsura t-shirt, it is indeed a civil rights issue (not the biggest one, but one none the less). From book confiscations to the decades-long moral panic around video games, anime and otaku fandom has been attacked numerous times in the name of social standards and anti-LGBTQ and other sentiments so ridiculous, that they were (until recently) simply laughed out of the public sphere by fans and non-fans alike. These new convention authorities seem to be completely ignorant of how hard fought the evolution of otaku fandom was going from fringe element to massively accepted and commercially viable sphere of influence, and so bring such threats back to bear, this time from within the fandom itself. This is what you get when you let people with undergrad degrees from Evergreen State College (or any SJWs R Us campus) actually exert authority over entities that operate outside the academic bubble of their calcified nodes of absolutist thought.
But now, the threat to the fandom comes from within, and begins as always with all but seemingly innocuous pleas of “for the children!” cloaked in a self-projected righteousness. Such restrictions and prohibitions on creative works and thought shall slowly spread as their efforts progress, much as an unhealed wound slowly expands from repeated puncturing by those who seek to add unnecessary remedy. If allowed to continue unchecked, such efforts will bring their exclusionary authority to increasing more types of expression and art (be it commercial or otherwise). What will the result be? A convention bereft of the qualities that make anime and anime conventions fun.
No fun allowed you counter-revolutionary sex racist!
"I say, You Can’t Have a Negro" -Charles Murphy, Comic Code Authority, 1955:
For those of you who don’t know the story about that line, here is the primary source account. It can be distilled into the basic singular event; specifically the publication of Incredible Science Fiction in 1955, and story in it called “Judgement Day” a short comic where only at the end, the “Hero” astronaut is revealed to be a black person from Earth. This had already been published to accolades before the CCA came into being. The head of the CCA, Charles F Murphy rejected the story based on the notion “you can’t have a negro.” So it was asked of him, “where in the code does it say you can’t have a negro?” to which Murphy responded simply with “I say you can’t have a negro.” From that moment, the Code became simply whatever the Chair said it was, and it wasn’t until decades later that a wholesale rejection of its necessity did the CCA become unable to exert influence on creative works. If you are under the impression that this ahegao thing won't lead to something similar, the shoehorn for getting your head out of your ass is somewhere around here.
Total Assholes, ruining my fandom? It's more likely than you think.
This is a dank-meme for all you zoomers out there who don't know shit.
It is easy to dismiss this incident, as Charles F Murphy (who somehow attained the rank of Judge) is the kind of guy who you would absolutely expect to find vigorously helping to frame the Central Park 5 in his free time. The platitudes of being far more socially enlightened (which some people think means “woke” but it doesn’t), do not, in fact, shield such overzealous entities, be they groups or individuals, from the exact same perilous cognitive entrapment. The misplaced notion of the need for censorship can find itself misplaced under any guise, be it the preservation or morality, blatant racism, or the happy fun-time feely feels safe space rainbow of the all-encompassing greater good. Once that happens, the individual whims of someone, whoever they may be, in such a position of absolute authority will become the exclusive maxims, and limits, of toleration. This scenario has played out many times in history, always for the worst. What fans have now witnessed is the emergence of micro-tyrants within the convention space. What fans must decide, is how they will fight such an emergence.
The Penis is Evil!
So is this a case in which Dworkin style feminism has managed to creep into the fandom? Who fucking knows… but what other mechanism would so necessitate banning ahegao images and nothing else which could be considered equally or even more sexualized? Ahegao does seem to indicate a particular enjoyment of a female character engaging in, as they say, the fucking. Dworkin is notoriously sex-hostile, so by singling out ahegao and it's potential to be sex-positive, it does seem as if this is something that fits the prohibitionist puritan agenda. I promise none of the links are about fart-rape. Except this one, this link goes to fart-rape. To be honest, this is just a notion of a possibility which may or may not be the case, Kind of a "hey look at that" type of observation, but it is more likely than aliens, a secret cabal or whoever, or something stupid.
Expose Yourself.
No I don’t mean get naked, this isn’t some off the rails furry convention. What I mean is someone needs to get a 2 or 4 person team, one presenting male and one female, have them walk around a convention each in the exact same ahegao gear, and set them up with hidden cams and mics (kind of like the 10 Hours of Walking experiment). Document what kind of differences there end up being between the two if any. Send them out the next day with ahegao images of exclusively male characters, see what kind of things happen then. Put yourself out there to expose inevitable double standards that will apply to female and male attendees regarding this policy. I would love to see a shirt/hoodie made of characters making “ahegao” expressions but engaged in mundane tasks like buying a drink from a vending machine, or using a calculator. Have the whole image shown so as to clearly demonstrate that these faces do not spring from any sexual activity. See what happens then. Will you be asked to take it off / leave? Then expose that hypocrisy to the world.
Kick Them in the Nutz!
Contact any sponsors of the convention and tell them you can no longer support their products or services if they will sponsor this kind of censorship. Companies have a serious phobia of this kind of thing. I know it sounds like “ok Boomer” advice, but an actual printed letter with a stamp on it via snail mail to whatever company might have a bigger impact than most people think. Just keep in mind there is a difference between a sponsor, an advertiser, and a venue. In marketing, people who do this are called “brand terrorists” but I would shy away from self-identifying as that unless you want a visit from the FBI. I've had that, it's not fun and doesn't look like some innocuous little Mulder and Scully jam session, when the FBI agents show up they show up.
Contact the CBLDF… they won’t do anything other than possibly wag their finger or release a statement or something.
Shut the Fuck Up about your “rights” and stuff. This is important because someone is going to go straight into "doing it wrong" when it comes to this subject. None of the First Amendment or its relevant case law applies here. These are private events that have rule sets you agree to follow by buying a ticket. Your First Amendment Rights don’t protect you from any rule these convention entities decide to put in place. Challenge that by deciding not to leave if you’re asked to, and you will most likely be charged with a crime. That crime won’t be “wearing an ahegao shirt” either, it will be “criminal trespass in the whatever degree” which, if you’re lucky will get dropped down to something like Disorderly Conduct (that’s what it is in NY, I have no idea what the equivalent is in MN or CO, I’m not licensed to practice there). So stop thinking this is some fight against the great oppressors, it’s not. This is an internal fandom thing. Going on about “free speech” (or “free expression” if you’re in Canada), is not going to get you anywhere. You will just make yourself look dumb.
What to do, What to do...
Thus, dawn shows its light on the convention floor, where some seek to enforce a wall of incongruity between creative art and high context self righteousness, and others seek to fight against it. Nobody can say they don’t have a horse in this race because arbitrary rules are just that, arbitrary. The longer they are allowed to manifest, the closer the chances that something you like will end up being disallowed skyrocket to 100%. Keeping your head down is not a good option.
One might easily dismiss these developments as the inevitable excretions of Middle America. Flyover country where semi-sentient MAGA hats Teach the Controversy, and Jesus is your birth control. Where wild Karens roam the land in their I want to speak to the manager haircuts, all complaining in unison about how Amerika has lost its small town feel while driving for 35 minutes each way in their SUV to buy groceries at a Wal-Mart. What they do can easily be bathed in the beige light of insignificance since these places are not epicenters of… well pretty much anything really.
But one must remember that the most virulent cancer can have its start even in the most vestigial of places, and if not addressed quickly, will metastasize to interfere with the functions of the primary organs. So too has this cancer of thought come out of the provincial interior to potentially effect storied and more progressive conventions of the higher qualities. The notion that a truly great international convention would even entertain such similar nonsensical regulations is both ludicrous, but now also terrifyingly real.
What’s banned now? Your face! Literally.
In summation; These types of vague knee-jerk regulations are antithetical to what the anime fandom was, is, and strives to continue to be. They should not be welcomed, entertained, sympathized with, or defended. An initial backlash combined with fandom efforts to force these rules to be more trouble than they are worth is the remedy which must be administered immediately and with unending consistency. Give no ground, lest it be taken by those would evict you from it and leave but salted earth.
March 2017 News and Event Roundup ...With stuff, and things.
In thelast post of every month, we look at stories we didn't cover, either they weren't big enough for a whole post, or they just slipped past us. Additionally we will leave you a recipe for a Japanese dish that you may have seen featured in an anime or two that you like.
High School of the Dead, dead.
Daisuke Satō, the artist and creator of High School of the Dead, has himself become dead at the age of 52, which for a Japanese person seems way too early. It is very sad that we're likely to never get any more of this awesome series any time soon. Maybe in his will he left instructions for George Romero to pick up the torch and carry on. Hell, I'd take Ric Romero if it meant we got even one more episode of this awesome series. Probably not going to happen though. At least he kept the jiggle alive.
Photo from Animate Ikebukuro, Tokyo, 2010. ...I think.
He will be missed.
JonTron becomes Destiny's child (and the internet's bitch).
So there's this guy on youtube who I am told regularly produces funny and entertaining content, and his channel is called JonTron. And boy did this guy step in it recently. I was actually planning on checking out that channel at some point because I've heard good things, but now I don't know if I can enjoy it. That's because regardless of content, I know I will have to engage in mental gymnastics in order to keep what he said over on the Destiny channel separate from the contents of his entertainment videos. That's like, actual work, and a big detraction when it comes to the enjoyment factor. Regardless of what anyone thinks of that issue, one of the end results of the 2 hour incoherent mess between those two was the following:
Yep, bitch got fired. Consequences will never be the same! To which my reaction is:
What a dumbass. C'mon you should have known better.
The back and forth itself between JonTron and Destiny doesn't last for the entire video, but it is still like enduring a mental root canal when the only anesthetic available was Fugu Venom mixed with Sriracha and then injected it straight into your eyeballs. Both parties involved seemed to know disturbingly little about what they were talking about (25% at best), and JonTron spewed forth mindbogglingly ignorant fallacies based on conjecture and jingoistic assumptions, and tacit racism. On the flip side, Destiny seems to trip over his own face in his spastic reactionary attempts to refute the mental misfires that JonTron delivers... which should NOT be hard to do. It was like watching an animal shelter burn down but being too far away to do anything about it. JonTron's arguments are, (for the most part) easily blown out of the water, but it seemed as if Destiny had the only gun and not the ammunition to do it, as there were a lot of things he himself seemed to be unaware of or just not acknowledge for one reason or another.
Don't say I didn't warn you (seriously, it took me 3 days to get through all of it, even that self-congratulatory stuff at the end), but if you really want to check out all 2 hours 1 minute and 5 seconds of this disaster, you can follow the link to the youtube video here. However, if you would like a more concise and mercifully brief summary of the conversation, please take a look at the below video which I believe sums it up perfectly:
Yeah, it was an hour and a half of that.
So the fallout; Jon Jafari goes on to blither a whole bunch of jingoist nonsense and sprinkles a bit of tacit racism dust over it for good measure (see, he's totally notbeing racist, but just offering up arguments which seem to need mechanics that most people would consider racially biased in order to be valid, and that can make people interpret it as racist sometimes. Oh, wait that's what being racist literally is). And the guy did it as JonTron all within the public sphere. Is Playtonic being reasonable by Removing him from Yooka-LayLee and any (or presumable all) of their upcoming releases? Hell yeah they are, what do you expect a company to do when faced with that kind of thing? Seriously, what can you expect? Remember how fast Nike dropped Tiger Woods? What, did you think they were gonna double down and start a new campaign with him, with commercials going "check out how much our guy gets laid... yeah! So, just do it. Nike!" ...yeah what were they thinking missing out on such a golden opportunity like that </sarchasm>. Companies are always super-touchy about this kind of thing (and that's not a new phenomenon, it's been that way for a long time).
But Platonic gave such bullshit reasons; "oh we're so self-rightous, and we are sensitive to the great cultural struggle of blah blah blah!" (shut the fuck up). Yes, it's the UK and they do have thought police over there, so maybe they're afraid to not say something like that. Over there, if you don't constantly "support the cause" you can expect a visit from the modern equivalent of The Committee for Public Safety to escort you to the guillotine for being counter-revolutionary, so maybe they're hedging their bets, but c'mon, Playtonic can't pretend this isn't totally about the money. Because it's about the money.
What's really going on is, JonTron is a brand. That is the asset that is being payed for, and when potential customers now have to do mental gymnastics to try and separate the performance of JonTron from the now very public pariah persona of JonTron, and it takes a lot of work. Having to do that work, quickly causes the evaporation of any potential enjoyment the customer might otherwise get out of this entertainment product. It also signifies a support of what that person did/said, which is not something they should do. JonTron took a shit in his own Golden Grahams. I don't even care what the points were because it was an absolute shit-job making them... he really did. In terms of businesses in general, no company is going to let something like this hurt their own bottom line. JonTron is probably still going to get paid for his initial work, as he should (even the Animaniacs had pay or play), and this is just about Playtonic engaging in damage control rather than actively punishing someone. If he did a better job separating the JonTron brand from what happened, and had more of a (well let's face it) more of a not-biggoted adult discussion, he most likely wouldn't be in this situation.
The one thing I think shouldn't happen is people asking for refunds, or not buying the game even though they had planned to just because they booted JonTron, or didn't boot him fast enough or whatever, it doesn't matter. It just hurts the employees and the other workers who had fuck-all to do with this or the subsequent Playtonic decision later. They're just working stiffs, don't punish them because of this fucking mess.
Long story short, JonTron came is a dick and now I am going to move "checking out his channel" much much much very-a-lot further down (off) my to-do list. Geez after enduring "debate" or "interview" or whatever you can call it, I need a Gin-tonic, forget Play-tonic. Gin
donations can be sent to our Patreon, which we do not have, so go give it to our other blog Pinky Mixology which also doesn't have a Pateron. ...Just mail us gin... that works. Tequila is fine also... bourbon too. Ya know what, we're not picky.
Move over Ken Olson, SONY is the new fool in town.
Sony Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Rothman just opened up SONY's 2017 Cinema Con presentation using the phrase: "Netflix My Ass" with absolutely no self-awareness what so ever. It may just be pandering to an audience who view the proliferation of streaming as the greatest threat to their industry, but when that industry collapses, this quote is sure to displace the infamous Ken Olson quote that always tops articles and trivia lists with titles like; "The top 10 times corporations got things super wrong" or "Top 5 worst technology predictions by CEOs."
Seriously, this guy's entire life is now defined by this one thing and that's never going to change.
This kind of statement not only shows contempt for Netflix, but for the entire Netflix subscriber base, which (news-flash) have 100% overlap with customer base of Sony Pictures. That statement not only insults those people, but also the entity that they derive a significant value from. Contempt for your customer used to be the norm, but now that's really only something Airlines and Comcast can do. The "Netflix My Ass" statement is going to become the indelible marker on the timeline of progression of entertainment media consumption and delivery, where every analyst, student, commentator, and industry publication will look at and say "right there" when trying to find the exact moment when the old-guard of the industry passed the event horizon and was no long in a position to adapt to a changing market (even if they wanted to, which they don't).
In 5 years, Sony's Tom Rothman will have to be handing out resumes, but he might as well just hand out head-shots with "I'm the guy who said 'Netflix My Ass' that one time" written on them, and just hope someone out there hasn't heard of that yet. Sony will sluggishly continue but will learn nothing, because we are talking about the same company that thought putting Barbra Streisand's hairdresser in charge was a genius move. Actually, speaking of companies which are painfully out of touch...
GameStopped.
In what should be a shock to
absolutely no one, GameStop has announced the planned closure of over
200 of its retail locations. GameStop is a textbook example of when
"just keep doing what you're doing" can take a company down when they
forget to keep track of what's going on in the outside world. In this
case it was a combination of failing to keep up with media technology and a complete ignorance of the massive cultural
progression in terms of the general popularity of pop-culture and its
growth into multi-billion dollar industries (yeah, vidjya games included).
GameStop
is one of those pop-culture entertainment companies founded at a time
when it was seen as good business to have barely restrained contempt for
your customers. The locker-room Alpha Male was still the embodiment of
the perfect executive, and nothing said alpha-male more than shitting
on those "nerds" and "geeks" that were into stupid stuff like video
games and comics. (Hell even the owners of Anime Crash did that until the very end... made it impossible to get any effective marketing done). This also caused many of these retail spaces to give off a a
vibe of a particularly hostile environment to potential female customers, so strong
that even Vivian James is like... "man, fuck this place" (again I'm talking about back in 1999-2002, not like 6 months ago).
This vile contempt also manifested itself into some of the most
counter-productive sales tactics and business decisions. Combined with
the disastrous environments created by studios with poorly executed
pre-order strategies, and neglecting of beta testing. Remember when I said that in today's business landscape only Airlines and Comcast can show open contempt for their customers? Well, even though you can't really count the people who use it as "customers" the DMV springs to mind as well. See, it's a place where everyone inside would rather not be there if they had the option. When you're a business that operates like that to your customers, then you really have to hope that any alternative option to you, doesn't come along any time soon. Basically, if your company acts like a douche, don't be surprised when no one wants to be anywhere near it if they have a choice in the matter.
This now puts
Game Stop on the same path as Borders Books or Blockbuster Video, being a
place so unpleasant and inept at filling the expectations of customers, that the hemmoraging of said customers away from them is going to prove fatal. That migration when there was an alternative to getting
the same thing from a different source, has in fact occurred and can not be undone. People have flocked to alternative providers in droves and
have no intention of coming back.
This is actually in the GameStop strategy handbook under "dealing with customers."
These kind of death-spirals are usually where incompetent executives and CEOs do the most damage, implementing quasi-effective penny pinching cost-cutting measures that serve only to alienate customers and lose more money for the company (yea, that really annoying thing you did saved the company $100... but the fact that the customer you pissed off was planning to come back and spend $1,000 and has since changed their mind because of that, kind of puts it in the loss column don't ya think?). They erode any goodwill or consumer trust they had, treat employees like crap, and then go on to do unethical things banking on it being worth it because of the chances they won't get caught.
In an age where there are so many examples of "fucking up" in terms of retail chains, it's amazing how their management never notices when it is happening to them. If they were smart, they would become an online marketplace to facilitate people re-selling their unwanted games and take a piece of the transaction in exchange for facilitating an indemnified and trustworthy purchasing environment which is something Craig's List can't and won't do. Close your brick and mortar, your own customers (through their use of the service) will also function as your inventory managers, and you just cut overhead by 80%. You're not gonna beat Amazon on the new stuff, but this is a great place to be. Well that is if the Supreme Court doesn't ruin it, because...
Justice is Blind (from eating lead paint).
Yes, the Supreme Court of The United States of America, the bag of robe wearing dildos who brought us the judiciary shit-stains of Morse v Fredric, Citizens United v FEC, who hate your "num chuck sticks," and know less about technology than a sea slug, are now about to potentially further fuck over America even more, by hearing a case about product repurposing and re-selling as it applies to patent law. This is a horrifying prospect, because if the case is decided in favor of Lexmark, it has the potential to make unlawful, the second hand selling of anything patented, once it's been altered in any way.
Even if this only extends to hardware, a decision like this would be the rallying cry for Intellectual Property holders to make the same grab at limiting what people can do with the physical packaged media they buy. They have tried this before, but if they smell blood in the water they will gladly make another try. SONY, Electronic Arts, Warner, Marvel, Disney, all those companies would love to make it a violation of their copyright protections for you to take a movie, game, book, music album, or anything physical that has one of their properties on it, that you legally purchased from a retailer, and directly sell it to someone else. Get ready for some new awful challenges coming in the future.
One thing we can get optimistic about is that as Americans, we know our government is run and influenced by large corporations and pretty much nothing else. And one of America's largest would really hate it if this case went Lexmark's way. Mega-retailers (all of them), the credit card and finance companies that enable their sales, logistics companies, and a few other major players are worried about an impossible onus of tracking down the source of every original patent, and being commercially liable for not getting it right. When all that corporate power wants something to happen, it's going to happen. And as insane as it sounds, we can actually add "hopefully" to the end of that sentence.
For the first time ever, this might be a good thing.
Keep your ghosts in shells and wash your whites separately.
Non-Japanese actors playing Japanese characters in Hollywood adaptations? What is this, 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's? We need to end casting decisions that don't take race and nationality into account at the highest level. Not only has a non-Japanese actor been chosen to play a Japanese character, the actor isn't even Asian.
End racism in Ghost in the Shell! Remove Lasarus Ratuere from Ghost in the Shell! A non-Japanese actor being shoehorned into a role of the clearly Japanese character of Ishikawa is just intolerable!
Like, so OMG racist!
Oh... you thought I was talking about Scarlett Johansson. ...well I guess the same would apply. Both are clear cases of casting decisions which obviously don't take the race and nationality of the original character into account. I mean, if you feel that way about Scarlett Johansson but not about Lasarus Ratuere then... what kind of criteria are you using again? Yeah, see what I did there... Taking that position is not one you can really come out of all smelling like roses. So if you bitch about Scarlett Johansson but not about Lasarus Ratuere being cast in Ghost in the Shell, then it's you, you're the one being racist. Also can we please remember this is a Hollywood production that will just become another temporary shitstain on the giant list of movies in the ceaseless dumpster fire that is Mainstream American Cinema.
Well, lets see what the "victims" of this horrible cultural appropriation think about the situation...
I know you've seen it already, but it's still here... still a thing.
Of course the only opinion that matters is that of Masamune Shirow, but I think Shirow still in his stasis chamber (it's either that or he's still too busy counting all the money from the ginormous payment coming out of this). Somehow I doubt shit given either way. With the trailer making the movie look like "Jason Bourne with Robots: pew-pew-pew! wooosh! ka-boom! Matrix stiff!" or as some have named it "Bland-Runner" ...I don't think I really want to be first, middle, or last in line to see the thing anyway.
Fearless Extended.
Fearless Girl, the new and very talked-about art instillation in Lower Manhattan, remains temporary, but its presence in its current placement will be extended to February of 2018.
NYC Public Advocate Letitia James is leading efforts within city government to make the statue permanent. You can still support her in her efforts by contacting the Office of the Mayor, your NYC Council Representative if you live within the City, and ...I dunno, maybe The Parks Department or something? In dealing with government, writing hand-written letters is always much more effective than emails, twitter, or some online petition that no one is going to read. So seriously, it's not that hard to just buy a stamp and send something on its way. they take this thing seriously.
An Ai for Art,
Artist Ai Weiwei will be doing art in NYC. So... that's a thing.
You got a Weiwei in your eye...
Looks cool but y'all know the pigeons are just gonna crap all over them things in the first week anyway...
You Smell That?
I know last time I said I'd put up Teriyaki, but something happened, so too bad, it's not happening. In it's place, we shall be showing you another Japanese staple of cuisine you may have seen in one anime or another, Omu-Rice. Yes omu-rice, rice in an omelette, with... like ketchup on it. The filling can often vary but is usually some default of beef consume cooked rice and some stuff. Although, filling it with straight up mac & cheese w/ bacon is also an option.
Beef flavored filling;
So start by making some rice.
While that's cooking, misen your plus by taking 3 eggs out of any refrigeration and just setting them someplace where they will come to room temp.
Chop yourself up half an onion into itty bitty bits.
Mash 2 cloves of garlic into mush (or you can boil them before-hand and they'll spread like toothpaste).
You can use ground beef, or just use some shredded slices of roast beef from the deli counter, if you're looking to same time and not deal with raw meat and so on.
So start up a pan with butter/sesame oil/olive oil/lard/whatever, and add onions, and the meat. Let that cook for a bit while adding soy sauce beef broth or bullion, and any spices you like or whatever. As it cooks, add your cooked rice in with it and stir it around, getting everything mixed together evenly. You may want to continue to add water or just have some around to prevent this from burning. You can add things to make it spicy, sweet, savory, or add shreadded cheese to make it all Philly Cheesesteak or cheese-burger, or even taco spices for taco style. Anyway once that's all cooked up (doesn't really matter what you cook it in) put it aside and get the eggs ready.
Ends up looking like this mess but that's ok because this isn't the part people see.
Eggs and such;
Regarding the eggs, it's best if they are already at room temp when you start, so take them out of the fridge before hand. Eggs in the USA and Canada are scrubbed, so they don't have their protected membrane covering the outer shell, which means refrigeration them is a good idea. Anyway, whisk 3 together in a bowl, and then add 1oz of water (seriously, do this, your eggs will cook better and not stick. No, don't add milk, milk burns, add water it doesn't burn).
In an omelette pan, or something with curved edges, add more oil than you think you're going to need, get it hot, then pour in the egg. move it around a bit, and as it cooks just kill and bubbles that get too big. The heat from the oil is mostly likely enough to cook this stuff on contact enough so that sticking won't be an issue. once it's half solid, add the filling and you can probably kill the heat.
Don't put the filling in the center. Put it 1/3rd from the edge.
Then flip the top while plating and get it under there so that everything's bundled up. Add ketchup, mayo, bbq sauce, whipped cream, whatever you want really.
Time-saving cheat; Just get some whatever-fried-rice from your local Chinese take-out place and use that. Maybe jazz it up with a little pepper sauce or something. Perfect for creatively dealing with bland and boring leftovers.
Browning is to taste. The less oil you start with and if you skip adding that water, the more browning will happen. I like browning but some people don't.
Here is one broken in half, which is how you'll often find it in presentation windows at omurice restaurants. Except I just mashed this one because I was about to eat it.
Then you eat it. And remember, the best part of omurice is that there is really almost no limit on what you can stuff in there. Mac & Cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni, pulled pork, poutine, loaded nachos ...something healthy I am assuming. All that good stuff.
And that's it for this post. Go get ready for Hanami or something.
That means stock up on saké. Might we recommend a domestic variety? It's good. Not Harushika good, but still good.
Somehow, Wonder Woman keeps ending up atop the plinth of misdirected self-absorbed outrage. Apparently, this time it's because a distinct lack of visible armpit hair is an affront to everything in the universe and you're a misogynist agent of the patriarchy if you don't get out in-front of DC's offices right the hell now with a protest sign and 3 different whistles. It is amazing how identity politics wielded as a cudgel by out-of-touch people just ruins everything it encounters. Actually that's not amazing. What is amazing is that this is working its way into pop-culture via a most agonizing exploitation of ridiculous minutia.
Just to point something out, I naturally don't have any significant armpit hair. It's always been like that. You gonna get on my case for not growing it out harder? WTF.
The above sentiment is what brings an added degree of frustration to this mess. The people doing all the bellyaching, moaning, whining, kvetching, shouting, ranting, back-turning, and finger waving or whatever various other unproductive disruptive activities they do, know exactly nothing about Wonder Woman other than "something something The Patriarchy!" They also will never bother to learn. To many people critical of these things, pop-culture is still something for the "nerds" or "basement dwellers" out there and they themselves with their oh so mighty opinions of what is and isn't appropriate are just so much more sophisticated. It's understandable that people thought that way in 1987, but not 2017. Seriously, ask one of them what Wonder Woman's real name is and they'll have no idea, but they'll have plenty to say about her outfit and what books/art you should be able to read or buy. These social pontifications serve only to damage an existing brand and prevent people from accessing it who wish to do so. Therein lies the problem. The "I think it's bad! So no one can have access to it no matter what" mentality is simply censorship under the guise of socially progressive propositions. But this does not build anything, nor does it offer alternatives to something they believe is deficient in terms of being "woke" or whatever the comic book equivalent of that is. It just destroys what it deems as antithetical to its own sensibilities and moves on to a new target. Or just comes back to bashing Wonder Woman again because these people are insane.
This is either sexism or the school engaging in micro-tyrancy. Or both.
Yes that's a school punishing a student for bringing "violent imagery" into the classroom in the form of those above images. This is most likely a case of not only hostility to Wonder Woman, but also the broader problem that schools have devolved into Zimbardian nightmares of out of control administrators and teaching staff, seeking to dehumanize every student to the point where they can exercise absolute control over them. There is really not much difference between punishing a student for something so innocuous as the instance above, and that scene in Cool Hand Luke where the prison guards make him dig a hole and then fill it back in just for the hell of it, so they can show him who's boss. It doesn't end well in either situation.
Returning to the armpit hair issue, Wonder Woman is Greek, and has been alive for a long time. Regarding specific tastes, you ever see Ancient Greek statues? You know what's not there on the ones of both women and men? Armpit hair. So maybe we can get historical accuracy in on this and say that it is period specific if it means so much to people? Actually, she's basically half Goddess, so she probably has the ability to straight up will her hair right the fuck off any part of her whenever the fuck she feels like it.
Hell, the Ancient Egyptians hated body hair so much they all shaved and
waxed every inch of themselves (that's both the havers of XX and XY chromosomes), so if an Ancient Egyptian character had
no armpit hair and a bikini wax, would that be sexist? Of course not, it would be
straight up historically accurate, but some people would call it sexist anyway by incorrectly applying modern social norms to areas outside their effective purview.
Oh but that isn't the only bone of picking that the Anti-Wonder-Warriors have with Wonder Woman. In late 2016, she was "fired" from being an Honorary U.N. Ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls, because... sexism I guess. Like maybe she is sexist, or represents sexism or is the result of sexism ...something stupid, the reasons don't make a lot of sense. This kind of thing is so ridiculous. Sure there are legitimate issues of sexism and imperialism you could bring up when talking about an affiliation of Wonder Woman with the U.N., however the action was intended to be positive, and helpful. Then, rather than offer a replacement role-model, these protest people seem only concerned with tearing her down. A fictional character getting removed from a semi-fictional position at the non-fictional U.N., is something that is apparently worthy of major action, because nothing says gender equality and female empowerment like firing a woman because of her looks.
This guy knows what I'm talkin' about... Yes that should worry you, it's terrible.
Yes you heard right, Saudi fucking Arabia is (somehow) on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia should not be on the U.N. Human Rights Council. They behead people for "witchcraft" there. But yay, you got Wonder Woman fired over using a Schick, because what kind of message is the U.N. sending by associating with a fictional character who has been portrayed battling sexism herself but has the wrong outfit on while doing it and was "too sexy" or something... she should cover up I guess! Hey wait, doesn't Saudi Arabia have something she can use?
It's a good thing the U.N. isn't doing anything else that might send out an even worse message to the world... like letting the country where this shit happens (Warning: very disturbing image) have a say in how the world approaches human rights.
You probably forgot, but...
Most of these girls (and lots of others as well) are still missing, but that hashtag you put on your twitter 3 years ago is definitely totally helping, they should be getting rescued by Instagram any minute now. You know Vine was actually killed for getting too close.
Wouldn't it be great if there were perhaps a League out there, which dedicated itself to Justice, made up of people with powers beyond that of average people, they could rescue these kidnapped children by using those powers for good... perhaps rescued by a Wondrous Woman if you will, who would fight for the safety of other women and girls throughout the world? You're about to open up Google Maps right now...
There is still a violent war and terrifying rape epidemic in the Central African Republic. I am guessing you don't know where that is. But hey, you wrote an angry Facebook post when Harambe got shot so it totally evens out (I am guessing you can't remember what the date was when that happened either).
Too depressing? Here's a First World problem for you...
The art instillation in New York City known as Fearless Girl is a temporary one and is scheduled for removal at a later date. There is vocal support for making it permanent. All you have to do is contact the office of the Mayor and if you live in NYC you should also contact your City Council Representative. If you don't live in NYC, you are still a potential visitor/tourist/student/whatever so you should write in anyway. If you have 5 minutes and a stamp, this shouldn't be a hard decision to make.
There, I just listed a bunch of stuff that you really should be concerned about, and might be able to actually do something that resembles helping, depending on the resources you have available to you. You're not helping anyone involved by "checking" your "privilege" ...you help by using it to improve situations for others.
Maybe just stick to TV? Coming back to super-hero movies, I would like to add the disclaimer that I hate hero movies. Marvel/DC cinematic tripe is something I actively avoid. With
the exception of 30 minutes of Iron Man I saw on an airplane, I have
not, nor do I intend to see any of this garbage (this includes
GI Joeand Transformers). So I already know I don't like this movie, but it's
because I think the movie is going to be crap (DC couldn't even make Harley Quinn: The Movie without fucking it the hell up). It's not because of some sort of warped notion of
social values that I am avoiding this thing.
Another disclaimer I should make is that it seems apparent that the notion of armpit hair on Wonder Woman to be but a cause du jour with a relatively limited number of people and is most likely getting CNN-ed way out of proportion by the media machine. Since Trump's tweets don't bring in the viewers like they used to, they have to come up with something. My writing this is most likely in no way helping the situation either. Actually since only 4 people are going to read this I don't think it's going to make any difference.
Comic book stories as TV have definitely contributed to our new golden age of television that we are currently enjoying. Walking Dead, Lucifer, Preacher, DareDevil, Arrow, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, ...and The Flash I guess? Is The Punisher still a show? Also Iron Fist exists. I know there's more and I'm not even going to go into animated shows but there's now so many all at once that it becomes possible to start doing actual scatter-plots with this stuff. Television actually removes the three main components that usually combine and conspire to kill major movies and make them utterly shitty. So what specifically is it that makes TV better?
Hey, Maze, you got... a little something... on your... um... never-mind.
#1: No MPAA. TV Ratings turned into a joke the day VOD became widespread. With entire streaming services out there now making original content, the notion of making a solidified TV rating system akin to the draconian MPAA a reality, is reduced to a complete fallacy. I have previously mentioned how damaging MPAA ratings are and most moviegoers who aren't 100 years old have recognized them as mostly useless relics of time when interracial marriage was illegal.
As long as movies mutilate themselves in some sort of manic episode of body-dismorphia, cutting off their own fingers to fit within the glove of the "commercially viable" PG-13 rating, we will get nothing but equally mutilated works of cinema. Like a super-model with anorexia, it is not fun to look at, no matter what designer rag you drape around it and how much "confidence" it has. Hey parents, if you're not convinced yet, then go watch 007: Casino Royale then go watch The King's Speech. Now come back and tell me which rating should be on which movie.
#2: China hasn't ruined TV yet like it has ruined movies. The CCP exherts a serious amount of control over Hollywood. No, there are not people sitting in some dark room, wearing sunglasses, calling the shots and slowly smoking cigarettes while ominous music plays. However, in financial planning, China as a market is now a significant fixture in earning projections for any project. Producers, writers, and studio executives now have to take this into account when they decide what projects to finance and how they want them to be made. So because of that, if you don't think that every major movie made by Hollywood studios has entire teams around them which have the sole function of making sure the final product will meet Chinese government censorship standards and resonate with Chinese audiences, then you haven't been paying attention over the past decade. So, low context stories and simple dialogue, jokes that are more "universal" and therefore more pedestrian, and a style that favors slapstick and visual effects over depth and intensity, those are what you will see a lot of, and those qualities are usually what makes a movie a stinking pile of shit. That's why Ghostbsters 2016 sucked, it was counting on China and desperately tried to make it appealing to that audience as well... didn't really work out for them.
So to recap, Movies are multi-million dollar investments, the investors are going to want to earn as much as possible on them, and that means following CCP rules. That's how investing works. Unfortunately, this leads to un-funny, one-dimensional, rubber-stamp stories with dialogue so simple you can't tell if the entire cast has brain damage. Since TV doesn't need to kowtow (look, a pun) to the CCP, they can get very deep into the high-context type of narrative that domestic audiences can appreciate. They also not only are able to freely ignore Chinese Government censorship laws but U.S. ones as well.
As awesome as this looks, it would probably end up as a shit movie unless you involve Rule 34.
#3: Technology... technology everywhere. This is a broad one, but technology has allowed for productions the level of which would have been unthinkable even as recently as 10 years ago. Higher production values with less equipment. Post production and effects that can be done in a single home-studio by a creative professional. And a pool of talent that is able to get more done remotely than ever before. These things help make the mega-hits possible.
But wait there's more! It's not just RED cameras and production technology that is helping, but media delivery and storage technology as well. When you have a delivery system that frees the audience from an appointed airtime, you have fundamentally changed how people can consume media. For example, although the last episode of Breaking Bad aired years ago, if I wanted to get into the show, I could still just fire up the Netflix and watch every episode on my own time without having to purchase packaged media which takes up space and has no exit for me to bail in case I end up not liking the show. No more rushing home to catch whatever episode of anything because you can watch it on your tablet tomorrow on your way to work. While this can lead to an overwhelming feeling when you realize how much is out there, it is ultimately helpful in building bases which have strong loyalty and follow-through. It lets people integrate this entertainment into their lives and schedules like never before, which will lead to increased commitment when it comes to following a series.
Netflix is your friend. Who could not like this show?
So in terms of Wonder Woman, though I don't like Marvel/DC dreck, I actually hope the movie does well, because there is a notion out there about a crossover between the DC and the Power Rangers universes. I don't know why, but that actually sounds like it would be cool. I am sure people will complain about something being sexist and all kinds of other -ists and so on, but if both Wonder Woman and Power Rangers are successful, then a tidal wave of investment capital is going to push right through any opposition, whatever it may be, and that movie is gonna get made.
Please line up for the armpit sexism check. Armpit sex is ok though, it's just armpit sexism that's banned. It means what you think it means.
The "Angry Otaku" is a licensing and media professional who has lived in New York and Tokyo, and has licensed media properties around the world.
M.B.A., 一橋大学
I set the standard brah! Not you!
Notice no one got upset when an "Asian" character was played by this guy.
Hunting with Good Will.
Still a thing. A much much more important thing.
Posts
