Stumbled Out

It's happened before, it'll happen again, and it happened just now. I exhausted the pages in my Stumble categories. It's tempting to add more categories, but Stumble is already a black hole for my time. I take this page to be my cue to do something else.

Team Fortress 2 Stats

For anyone uncertain about whether or not to buy the Orange Box, the answer is yes. Portal is the best single-player experience I've had in years, and Team Fortress 2 is the most enjoyable multi-player game I've played ever. It's balanced, approachable, and engaging all at once.
For any TF2 players who haven't yet discovered the Player Stats, check it out now. It's a bit distressing to see the total number of hours I've logged in, but it's fascinating for me to view my playing habits. I tend to play whichever class is most needed at any given time, which as you can see is medic. I love playing as an Engineer too, although admittedly most of my points were from building a single sentry in the enemy's sewers in 2Fort.
Generally speaking, the number of time I spend playing as a class correlates directly with the maximum number of points I've earned as that class. Part of it might be that the more time I spend as that class, the more accustomed I become to its nuances and the better I do. Or, contrarily, better performance as a class motivates me to play as that class more. The one exception is the Demoman class, which I still haven't gotten the hang of, and spend far too much time playing as. I've been playing more recently as the Soldier and Sniper, after realizing how much they CAN help my teams. Regardless, I'd never have discovered my playing habits without Team Fortress 2's handy dandy Player Stats window.

Corporate Diversity

Corporate tells you that you HAVE to celebrate it, not HOW you have to celebrate it.

THIS is Sparta

Ever since watching 300, I was struck by the "Athenian boy lover" line. While providing some cheap laughs, it made me wonder if Sparta was as homoerotic as the rest of Ancient Greece. And really, it makes sense. Based on the abdominal definition of the cast of 300, Margaret Cho would have to agree.

Futility

Sao Feng, Chinese Stereotype for the 21st Century

It's puzzling to me how Chow Yun Fat decided to play Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Perhaps he wants to become an American star, and is willing to play such an unappealing, grossly stereotypical character. He already tried to make it in the U.S. during the 1990's and really, if The Replacement Killers and The Corruptor didn't do it, the chink character depicted below certainly wouldn't do it.

No, that image was not altered it any way. This character is more than a little offensive, and if the action figure weren't $5, I wouldn't have bought it. But rather than rant or launch a tirade against it, I'll simply offer my humorous criticisms and hope that such an abomination never appears again. I should mention that the Chinese government censored the film, at least partially due to the atrociousness of his stereotype.

As you can see from this detail, the action figure actually doesn't look anything like Chow Yun Fat. The best I can figure is that the designer used the same reference material as whoever designed Sao Feng's make-up and costume. In other words, they took an action figure for Fu Manchu and changed his clothes a little bit.
Take a look at Sao Feng's feet.

That's right! Chinese pirate lords have black toenails. In contrast to the ever-so-dashing Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, Sao Feng's grody hygiene arouses passions in no female characters. I can only interpret one of two options from the above picture: either Sao Feng had some of the nastiest toe rot I can imagine, or was a fashion forerunner and used black toenail polish centuries before Goths and Emos existed.
Lastly, let's turn our attention to the ultimate:

My brother claims this is a punch dagger. And sure, maybe it is. It fits in his hand well enough. But doesn't it look curiously like an opium pipe? And based on the rest of his depiction, wouldn't that be consistent. For me, the highlight is the "Disney China" barely visible in the image.
So in a bizarre confluence of events, we have the following situation: a film glamorizing immoral pirates depicts only Chinese pirates as barbaric grotesqueries. Meanwhile, the production company complains that Chinese people are pirating the DVDs, while the Chinese government complains about the stereotypical depiction. And to round out the scenario, Chinese 6-year-olds and political prisoners (whose feet probably are filthy enough to resemble the action figure's) are responsible for making the action figures vituperatively depicting their countrymen and enriching the Americans who obviously think so little of them.

Sao Feng meets Russell Peters

Courtesy of: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php
Sao Feng's awe-inspiring chinkiness seems perfectly matched for Russell Peters' routine.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End now at Disneyland!

In honor of Chow Yun Fat's role as chinky caricature Sao Feng, Disneyland has decided to phonetically welcome visitors.

Jesus vs. Darwin, Best of 3 Falls

I've been listening to quite a few of TED's lectures on my new iPod. Of interest are Dawkins' lectures on the need for what he calls "militant atheism". Rather than emphasize the may theists who argue that evolutionary biology is consistent with their religion, focus on the irrationality of religious orthodoxy. Theists, both those who acknowledge Darwinism and not, seem to have no problem marginalizing atheists because they believe us to be wrong. It is not stooping to their level to do likewise. That said, my money's on Darwin. He's going for the eyes, which as we all know, is better than Jesus' strategy of going for the throat.

Balkanized U.S.

As a history teacher, this is an intriguing resource. I'm not sure if students would be able to handle its complexity, or agree to the validity in considering alternate histories, but nonetheless it's interesting.

Golden Compass, meet 300

Because mash-ups are too fun.