neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: February 2014
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_archive.html
Saturday, February 15, 2014. AMC's The Walking Dead and the many ways in which it *ahem* bites. With the return of AMC's The Walking Dead. This week, here are my much-delayed but eagerly-awaited (or not! Reflections on why the show is terrible, and how it manages to screw up everything that the the comic does right. (Be warned! I will probably end up spoiling stuff.). 1) The Walking Dead are supposed to be the people, not the zombies. The visit to the grocery store was interrupted by bunches of zombies f...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: March 2014
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Friday, March 28, 2014. Daryl Dixon and the phantom menace of his turn to the dark side. Eventually, I'll stop beating up on AMC's The Walking Dead. Eventually. Probably when it's over. In the meantime, I want to use the last episode to pick out one of the things that show routinely does wrong. And my example is Daryl's most recent character arc. (arrrr! Thar be spoilers ahead.). What I want to complain about is how hilariously unconvincing I find this ham-fisted attempt to create drama and tension. ...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: Brief thoughts on a Conservative anti-drug radio spot
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014/02/brief-thoughts-on-conservative-anti.html
Sunday, February 09, 2014. Brief thoughts on a Conservative anti-drug radio spot. From a Conservative Party of Canada radio ad:. There's so much I worry about as a mom. Justin Trudeau's plan to make marijuana legal certainly doesn't help. Imagine, making it available just like alcohol and cigarettes. He's sending the message that recreational drug use is okay.". 2) If pot were available in the same way that booze and smokes are available, it would actually be harder. For kids to buy. One of the thing...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: Why Rob Ford's rehab - if it's even occurring - will fail
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014/05/why-rob-fords-rehab-if-its-even.html
Tuesday, May 06, 2014. Why Rob Ford's rehab - if it's even occurring - will fail. I've recently decided to embrace the uncommonly-used genre of the tweet-essay. Here's an effort from earlier today. It may work as something that I can translate to the blog, it may not. (The latter would be unfortunate, though, since I otherwise can't find time to work on my blog.). 1 One hugely pertinent detail in the Rob Ford rehab story is being ignored. Twitter essay on Rob and the family Ford to follow. 5 So, getting ...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: October 2014
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html
Sunday, October 05, 2014. Anita Sarkeesian Was Right". Amazingly, I don't think I've ever blogged about video games and sexism. I suppose that I don't say much about video games because I really don't play many of them. (I mean, I've owned every Nintendo console but the Wii U, but I wouldn't call myself a gamer and I don't think that would qualify me, regardless.) But it's still a bit odd, isn't it? You've probably heard about Anita Sarkeesian, or are at least familiar with her Tropes Vs. Women. Let me s...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: The X-Men and identity politics #4: Reconsidering Wolverine
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-x-men-and-identity-politics-4.html
Wednesday, February 18, 2015. The X-Men and identity politics #4: Reconsidering Wolverine. A decade ago, I wrote a paper about the X-Men. It's been, amazingly, by at least a few thousand people, which is why I'm now turning it into a book. And which is why I'm not re-evaluating a lot of the things that I said 10 years ago. For instance:. First, my apologies for the over-writing of an aspiring grad student. In Geoff Klock's excellent book about Matt Fraction's Casanova. He argues that Casanova Quinn.
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: Dangerously early guesses and questions about The Triple Package
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014/01/dangerously-early-guesses-and-questions.html
Tuesday, January 14, 2014. Dangerously early guesses and questions about The Triple Package. Amy Chua, the Tiger Mom. Author, is back with a new book. Co-written by her husband. And it looks like it will be unintentionally racist and blissfully unaware of social theory. Now, since it isn't out until February, I obviously haven't read it. And I don't know that I will ever. Who came up with the eight "cultural groups", and how? What role in their success do you attribute to American society? Which would ma...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: "Anita Sarkeesian Was Right"
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014/10/anita-sarkeesian-was-right.html
Sunday, October 05, 2014. Anita Sarkeesian Was Right". Amazingly, I don't think I've ever blogged about video games and sexism. I suppose that I don't say much about video games because I really don't play many of them. (I mean, I've owned every Nintendo console but the Wii U, but I wouldn't call myself a gamer and I don't think that would qualify me, regardless.) But it's still a bit odd, isn't it? You've probably heard about Anita Sarkeesian, or are at least familiar with her Tropes Vs. Women. Let me s...
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: Why everyone should have assumed Jian Ghomeshi was lying (courtesy of math)
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-you-should-never-have-believed-jian.html
Thursday, November 06, 2014. Why everyone should have assumed Jian Ghomeshi was lying (courtesy of math). You've probably seen some form of this critical thinking exercise. There's this description of a person. You're asked to choose their likely profession. The description usually looks something like this:. But, in fact, no. It isn't. You're wrong. You are so, so wrong. That is to say, you're probably. You needed to be asking "just how many. People work in these professions, anyway? That being the real.
neilshyminsky.blogspot.com
Guilty Displeasures: This is Canada, according to the folks that you/we elected
http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-is-canada-according-to-folks-that.html
Thursday, September 12, 2013. This is Canada, according to the folks that you/we elected. I want to write about two very recent developments in Canadian politics, two things that seem largely separate and unconcerned with one another but strike me as very much related. Intentionally or not, both say a whole lot about what. Counts as "Canadian" and why. Even when that's not what they think. They're saying at all. Seriously, what's the difference between the first and second crucifix? I think I spotted at ...
