Tag: ‘murica

This is precisely why Northern Virginia wants to secede

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I want to do nothing but make fun of the fact that they’re all carrying tiki torches, probably purchased for $3 a pop at their local Walmart or convenience store, and how they probably bitch about how fuel costs more than the hardware itself.  And how it’s hard to really take them seriously because they’re protecting themselves from mosquitos at the same time they’re marching like sheep, preaching bigoted messages of white purity and some other hateful rhetoric.

But it’s because of the bigoted messages of white purity and some other hateful rhetoric that I can’t just laugh at the tiki torches, and instead have to wince and acknowledge that somehow, this is 2017 and not 1917.

Here’s the thing – I am a native Virginian.  I was born in Virginia, and spent 21 years of my life in Virginia.  Seeing shit like large, organized white supremacy groups marching down the campus of the University of Virginia is something that I never thought I would really see in my lifetime, and really, really makes me glad that I don’t live in Virginia anymore.  It makes me ashamed of the state I was born in and grew up in, and I wish I could deny my Virginia origins.

This isn’t a post about a topic because it’s topical, it’s a post because there is a part of me that has some relation to the situation in the fact that this shit is happening not that far from where I grew up.

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This makes me think twice about Airbnb in the US

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I like Airbnb; I’ve stayed at several before now, ironically more outside of the United States than in it.  I think it’s a great way to save a little bit of money versus pricey hotels and all their random fees, and it’s also a great way to stay in places unique and different than in bustling lodging districts.  And when it comes to extended stays anywhere, it’s often times the de facto option to not get charged up the nose for multiple nights.

That said, this story I came across about an Asian girl who was basically duped and screwed by a racist Airbnb host kind of makes me think twice about utilizing the service, especially in the United States, my own home country.  Long story short, the girl made a reservation at a cabin, and had numerous correspondences with the host.  But then while minutes away from their destination, in the midst of a snow storm, the host rips her mask off, revealing a mutant racist, spouts all sorts of hateful and bigoted rhetoric and cancels the booking, not before saying it was because she was Asian and saying “this is why we have trump.”

Now I’d be fine if a Hilton or a Marriott pulled this shit on me, because I’d sue the ever-living shit out of them and become Oprah-rich.  But Airbnb is mostly hosted by fairly every-men and every-women who want to make some side scratch renting out their properties; despite the fact that the racist host in question was actually somehow punished to the tune of a $5,000 fine and requirement to take an Asian-studies course, there’s no making good the potential damage they’re doing when they decide to screw over a potential renter.

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=/

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That emoji is kind of how I felt when I read about Mein Fuhrer deciding for the whole country and pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement.  I don’t really know how to explain why I felt sad by it, it’s not like I’m the greenest person on the planet either; I don’t go out of my way to recycle, although I am cognizant about turning off lights and shutting down electronics that aren’t being used.  That’s the kind of person I am when it comes to climate concerns, if that paints any picture at all.

I think it’s more a sense of dissatisfaction at a situation where pretty much the vast majority of the American public can agree that, not even for just the sake of the climate, whether it’s believed in or not, there’s nothing really wrong with trying to reduce pollution and find simple and efficient ways to not be so wasteful, but the guy in unfortunate charge of the country seems to operate at this seemingly predictable reverse psychology methodology, so whatever the people wants, he simply does the opposite.  So when the vast majority of Americans are saying to not leave the Paris Climate Agreement, he decides to leave, joining like, two other countries as the only countries in the entire fucking planet that isn’t a part of it.

And then to add insult to injury, there’s always the tagline at the end that claims to “be for America’s best interests,” that I can’t even believe for one second that those who say it can believe it.

By now, I’m entirely convinced that if Twitter started proclaiming that they hoped that this administration would never end, the Comemeder in Chief would resign full stop right then and there, because he’s so accustomed to doing whatever it is the American people don’t want.

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A new genre of horror

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few months, I’ve watched a lot of television shows and movies, that albeit good and entertaining, I’ve noticed an unnerving possibility that these stories could be realities.  Such in themselves transcend a typical horror genre of jump scares or traditional psychological fright, and seem like it’s becoming something of a new genre of horror, in the horror that such fucked up stories could be modern day reality, with just a few realistic tweaks to the world here and there.

Black Mirror and Get Out come to mind pretty quickly, but what really pushes the ball down the path is The Handmaid’s Tale, which the present story is disturbing and disheartening, but it’s really the series of flashbacks that really invoke horror, as modern American society crumbles and deteriorates into the dystopian, Christianity-driven world of Gilead.

That’s really the horror of the show; believable, relatable situations, that especially in today’s modern society, feel like things that could very easily happen with just a little bit of coercion in the wrong direction.  Dystopian inequality?  Just a few wrong bureaucrats voted in away.  Legalized xenophobia?  Same impetus.  Fahrenheit 451 becoming a reality, technology evolving into wrong directions, people getting hanged in public, these are all things that feel like they could become common place with just a few wrong decisions from society here and there.

And I feel like storytelling of today is very much aware of this new genre of horror, and is capitalizing on it, leading to such frightening and captivating television and film.  Much like trainwrecks, they’re hard to turn away from, but goddamn does it provoke thought and make you wonder just how close to chaos it feels like the “real” world is actually operating under, and if things will ever get better, or are all these nihilistic ideas a little too close to reality, and it’s not so much a matter of if, but when shit hits the fan and these stories become reality.

In Korea, it’s called “every day”

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Those who follow competitive gaming might not be shocked to find out that, more often than not, the highest level of competitors tends to come out of the east…ern hemisphere.  Asia.  Specifically, depending on the game, between Korea, China or Japan.  This isn’t to say there aren’t talented gamers in Europe, other parts of Asia, South America or North America, but it is safe to say that the upper echelon of gaming typically exists in southeast Asia, and this is punctuated by just how often times gamers or teams of gamers from this region win global tournaments and international competitions.

Although I’ll ultimately get back to primarily talking about League, this doesn’t apply to just League.  Overwatch, Counterstrike, Street Fighter; anything that is played competitively, for legitimate prize money, notoriety and business advancement, usually the best players of these properties are coming out of Asian countries.  Sure, there will occasionally be upstarts from different regions from time to time, but on the wider scale of the small competitive gaming history, it’s typically been some Asian guys hoisting trophies the vast majority of competitions.

One cliché that’s come into very popular fashion in the competitive gaming scene these days are the wide number of professional gamers from North America and/or Europe that flock to South Korea for weeks at a time to play the same game they play at home, but on the Korean servers, against Korean competition.  The logic behind this stems from the notion that you’ll only be as good as the strength of your competition, and if Korea is where the strongest competition exists, then Korea is the place pro gamers need to go play.

The best part about it is that all these non-Asian professionals call these Korean excursions “bootcamping.”

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When the pen is truly mightier

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s extremely difficult to use that phrase without thinking of SNL, but honestly in a potential case like this, there’s really no phrase that is more succinct or accurate to the situation.  Basically, because six redneck state reps are so eager and desperate to have guns be allowed on Georgia campuses, they neglected to have any proofreader go over their revision to the Campus Carry bill, and let it fly with a pretty ambiguous word choice, that if the bureaucratic process works the way it does both ways, could effectively kill it.  Again.  Until the next time it pops back up.

Long story short, because of improper use of commas, there is a sentence that suddenly becomes very vague, ambiguous and is subject to having numerous different definitions, subject to the eye of the beholder.  Yeah, as often as it unfortunately does pass, the law really shouldn’t be one of those things that’s supposed to be vague and up to interpretation:

Not apply to faculty, staff, or administrative offices or rooms where disciplinary proceedings are conducted.

The ambiguous line in its entirety.  Anyone notice where it seems weird?

Basically, it’s a weird double-clause, and even a potential double-negative.  Smarter people than I have deduced that there are potentially eight different ways this line could be interpreted; from what I can tell, some of the more humorously ironic ones would be:

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WBC: It’s about damn time

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s only taken four tries in the last 12 years, but the United States of America has finally won the World Baseball Classic, the tournament that they invented in the sport that they invented, when they shut down Puerto Rico in the championship game.

And it’s about god damn time, is all I can really say about the long overdue international accolade.  Seriously, when the WBC was debuted back in 2006, it seemed like that on paper, the United States should cruise to a victory in a tournament that they debuted, with maybe some resistance against an also stacked Dominican Republic team.  Instead, teams like Japan, South Korea and Cuba showed up to play and have fared well in the tournament’s short history, with Japan winning the first two WBCs before the Dominican Republic finally played to their potential and won the third; all while the USA repeatedly failed and fell flat on their faces, fielding squads of primarily B-talent, because the A-listers refused participation, fearing risk of injury and subsequently to their earning potential.

Honestly, going into this year’s WBC, I thought that the United States were sending yet another mish-mashed rag-tag slop pile of a roster to the wolves, with a pitching staff full of 2-3 starters, and a bunch of set-up men with no truly dominant closer.  The players that were committed to the cause weren’t bad players necessarily, but there’s a notably long list of superstars that could’ve played for the United States, that opted to not.

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