72august

Dec 8th, 2009

On Football and Race

In response to “Football, the great racial leveler [link]” I see two problems with the argument that the recruitment of blacks and the celebration of black players correlates to a decline in racism. First, the majority has always been happy to let…

Nov 6th, 2009

The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester

It is difficult to judge this book fairly so many years after it was published. Many if not all of its conventions have now become mainstream, and have been retold in more (and less) compelling ways.

Nov 1st, 2009

Kanye and Reverse Racism

I’ve noticed something about the reactions and counter-reactions to Kanye West’s “I’mma lechu finish!” antic. Most people thought it was funny — or at least the resulting jokes that came from it, but more than a handful of people on…

Sep 25th, 2009

Fax Machines Are Ridiculous Inventions

Imagine having a printer that automatically printed out every piece of SPAM you received. That was the norm at the company where I started my career. Add to it that fax machines were practically one-way communication devices, jamming and screeching and failing whenever one tried to send something, and you have an unbelievably stupid package. Environmentally, it's a nightmare, and the fact that the technology remains so poor and undeveloped--and that it's still in use years later, is baffling. It feels like we made a bad and strange technology mistake, but only a few caught on. That's all.

Sep 9th, 2009

Why ‘The Hulk’ is a Broken Character, and How I’d Fix It

I think the idea of the Hulk should terrify us. Banner is an interesting and compelling character exactly because the consequences of his anger are so enormous. As long as the enemy is his anger, the premise has meaning, but as soon as the villain is another, and all that anger is responsibly and predictably channeled, the premise changes entirely. Rage is replaced by strength, and we’re left with He-Man–a nice guy who needs a slap to get his fight on, and a kiss to turn him back. It’s suddenly about Superman’s glasses instead of a compelling and dangerous internal struggle. Here's how I would retell this myth.

Sep 4th, 2009

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

Rand would have us believe that altruism and compassion do not really exist--that strength and intelligence are never applied honestly to improving the well-being of others. A person is either intelligent and driven, in which case their highest goal is their own personal fulfillment, or they must be a lecher who "clutters up the world" and pretends to care about the poor only in order to steal from those who work hard. This is an important foundation of fear-based conservative politics.