Monday, February 21, 2011

Xenomorph webcomic

Oh, this webcomic doesn't actually use the word "xenomorph" (that I know of), and in fact I don't think many people would, but I have come to consider it a very nifty term. Kaiju or dai kaiju or giant monsters are other, more common terms. I first saw the word xenomorph used in signage in a Godzilla movie from the 2000s, (I think it was Tokyo S.O.S.) and liked it. A bit of Googling revealed the term is perhaps better known as the creatures in Alien, but I think it's usage would be broader than that, simply meaning a "monster". As evidenced by this. In fact, "xenomorph" isn't even in Dictionary.com, although "xenomorphic" is, meaning simply "strange form" although applied to minerology rather than biology. I would think it could mean "foreign shape" or "alien form" as well. Now that I think about it, I suppose macroxenomorph might be more accurate for Godzilla and ilk, while a xenomorph is probably human-to-elephant sized (think, Tremors). A microxenomorph might be a parasite or "bug" of some sort.

The webcomic is Kill All Monsters and I found about it on another blog, herein posted. I was worth looking at, and the artwork is well done. The story to me seems a bit ungrounded in reality, but when you are making a fun-loving melee comic about giant monsters roaming the Earth, I suppose being grounded isn't exactly as important as artistic licence. I suppose I'm just more of a Hard SF guy myself. Even before I realized there was such a distinction in the genre.

http://michaelmay.blogspot.com/2011/02/kill-all-monsters-pp-39-41.html

I have to give major props to whoever it was who thought to give their giant beetle xenomorph an inner skelaton as well as an exoskeleton, revealed during its beheading. Anyone who knows about such things realizes that giant arthropods, if exact replicas of current species, are...improbable.

The whole Eiffel Tower thing was disqueiting. Intentionally destroying a monument to human culture has to be a crime against humanity in somebody's book. Perhaps is was merely a reconstruction and thus not especially valuable?

http://review2akill.com/tag/kill-all-monsters/

Saturday, February 5, 2011

what have you read by Nietzsche?

I am a bit embarrassed to say, nothing yet.

I picked up a copy of Neitzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra" when idle waiting at Barnes and Noble. When I say picked up, I did not buy it, but enjoyed reading the "scholarly" foreward while standing there. I learned a few things I hadn't come across before.

By the way, from what I can tell this work is a VERY scandalous account of Zarathustra. It borders on libel (spoken, slander), but since few Western people seem to care I suppose he got away with it. However, I take issue, becuase although I know next to nothing about Zoroaster (Zarathura) I am offended on principle with the blantant disregard for historical facts. Zoroastrianism (and present day Parsi)from what I understand features good and evil quite explicitly, and the consequences they manifest. However, the historical figure is mangled into a podium from which Neitzsche launched his ideas. I don't discredit the author, but I question his methods.

I have been aware of Nietzsche and his centrality to philosophy for a long time, but I have never felt a pressing need to study his works. I'm just not that into his style of thinking. Same with Immanuel Kant.

I did not realize that the term 'nihilist' originates (at least in some form) with Neitszche. The philosophy of Neitzsche's brand might be called "we're all doomed and nothing really matters."

Speaking of Kant, I have gotten the feeling Neizsche and Kant would really butt heads.
From my cursory understanding, Kant rejected all mysticism and founded his thinking on human understanding, while Neitzche rejected absolutism and founded his thinking of the human emotional experience. Neither of the men, as I understand it, liked organized religion very much of at all, and had other areas of agreement, such as the lack of good and evil as traditionally supposed.

In my personal opinion, Kant was a moron. There is so much that we as humans will never and can never grasp. Maybe I am misunderstanding Kant. I am open to listening to his defenders. At least Nietzche wasn't that, he was just ... bleak.

clip of Jennifer Aniston trying bra vibrator

Wow. All I can say is, wow.

Maybe I am unusually keen on watching people's expressions, but wow.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Warhamster 40K

I thought this was entirely a joke begun by Dork Tower (comic) and *perhaps* made into a parody later on, but I had no idea of the interesting story herein. (It's a pun on the widely played Warhammer 40K)

I am not a RPG (role-playing) gamer, but I am familar enough with many of the concepts to find this amusing to read.

It was a fun read (for me, anyway)
http://gamingoutpost.com/article/the_history_of_warhamster/