OMFG THE VOX

It feels like I’m still in college. I’m sitting by the pool at UT Austin’s Pearl Street Co-Op, a charmingly dated alt res hall surrounding a generous courtyard. A mural on the balcony has “Your dorm sucks” painted over some cannabis-looking palm trees. There are leaves in the pool and pool cues on the floor. Beer cans are everywhere, as if a party just ended. It kinda did, hints a girl eating a bowl of scrambled eggs. Apparently the visitors from New Orleans’ Community Records and Boston’s BUFU Records made something of a ruckus when they arrived last night.

They’re about to make a bigger one, as All People take the stage with more energy than possibly anyone I’ve ever seen perform at three in the afternoon. It’s to be expected from Community cofounders Daniel Ray and Greg Rodrigue; the pair seem to have organized their first-ever unofficial SXSW showcase with as much charisma as hard work. After the show, Rodrigue works the crowd and the merch table, apologizing for the price of hoodies and handing out lagniappe. In the background, Caddywhompus run a sound check. “Is that too loud?” asks Chris Rehm to an enthusiastic, “No!”. The duo face one another through an intense, introspective set, and a rapt audience immediately demands an encore.

Boston band Free Pizza are up next, putting on a friendly and engaging show even when their band name prompts a hungry, “Where?!” Designer follow with a fearsome post-punk torrent. BUFU stands for “By Us For Us,” making the tiny Boston label a logical partner for Community Records’ ethic of DIY positivity. The day is running late, and it’s well past five before New Orleans’ Donovan Wolfington close out the show. Phones collect inside the patio door as their owners charge up for Thursday night. Pearl Street is a nice spot, honestly—enough distance on New Orleans to see local bands with fresh eyes, enough distance on SXSW to be my most restful afternoon in Austin.

Kim had a rad weekend. Scully and Mulder were there. Here are some photos from the house show with Rachel, Pope, and Yelephants. Things gotta lil' crazy when Yelephants went on so not too many pix of that.  

All photos by Kim Firn

Elise is one of our Art Directors at WTUL

Here are some of her mad kewl art wrks.

Synopsis~*

The Punk Singer is a documentary about feminist women in punk, most notably one, ~the chosen one~, Kathleen Hannah. The film gets up close and personal with the front Woman herself of the punk band Bikini Kill. The band’s 7 year run consisted of liberating women in punk throughout the world. The goal was and still is to educate everyone no matter the gender, but Kathleen focuses in on the “riot grrrl” revolution she started herself. Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth singer/bass player) and Joan Jett are also featured, sharing thoughts on Kathleen's career.

  The Documentary explores Bikini Kill's efforts to change what was (is?) a male dominant world   punk scene. Kathleen Hanna is a force of nature. As an artist she used music as her medium to get a much needed message across that punk was not just the hard, fast power chords that made you mosh around that mattered so much. Punk was always full of angry rule-haters and anti-establishment mantras but Bikini Kill transcended and took it to personal level. Kathleen is, like all great artist, just vulnerable like that. Never mind the masculine based mosh pit- here is something more honest and full of raw power, a voice. She speaks very honestly about her experiences as a woman and reaches out to the viewer to question society, your personal life and thoughts, and hey hi hello, what can YOU do to be a better feminist?

 In 1997 the band had reached a peak of popularity, but Kathleen couldn't go on any longer. It wasn't the feminist hating press or even the death threats that got to her, but a sickness that weakened even the ever powerful stage presence that is Kathleen Hanna.

  I was always a Bikini Kill/Le Tigre fan but I've never experienced one of Kathleen's live shows. Luckily the footage seen in this documentary and all of it’s energy far surpassed anything I ever picked up on. Kathleen’s strength lies not only in her lyrics but the energy that flows out of her when she’s singing on stage. The complete nonsense and wtf energy that is punk rock always had a hold on me even from a young age and Kathleen Hanna reinforces that hold. Energy is key when it comes to art. How much of yourself are you putting out there and are you able to connect? While watching the live footage in the film and listening to what Kathleen had to say I began to understand why she starting singing, why anyone should sing. I truly connected with her art. And I believe rule-haters and artist all over the world are connecting with the same beliefs that Bikini Kill screamed about over and over. Because as far as I'm concerned, any punk scene now consist of riot grrrls (and boiz) and every gender and all cultures coming together to do the only thing that ever really saved anyone - make art.

(note: I *think* Kathleen coined the term riot grrrl herslf. idk google only let me watch this once.lol anyway.

vivE LE PunxX

SRY about teh grammar LOL

ty for reading

  I actually decided to get out of my house Saturday morning to catch the Nontest at Parisite Skate Park. Parisite is a community built free park located under the I-610 at Paris Ave. It's an impressive feat of community activism and punk rock dedication. Saturday's Nontest served as the "open house", since a bunch of new ramps were completed just in time. There were awards for Worst Trick and Best Slam, a lot of great merch, and a ton of skateboarders. Where did all these dudes come from?

Dj's Rotten Milk, Poly Abastter, and J-Bla provided the soundtrack. Some local bands played, too

    Mystic Inane (ex Necro Hippies) channeled Sac Trust and Flipper into their set. They only have demo's up here (hyperlink http://mysticinane.bandcamp.com/) but the city's punks yearn for a full length.

  Community Records All Stars All People brought a lot of energy and a younger, cleaner cut audience to their set. Intense, Dubby, Post-Fugazi echoes. Best Merch table in town

  In between the bands, a group of kids from Plan B's community outreach program stopped in to check out the commotion and had a giant percussion jam. It was really cool

  Vibe Ruiner was really funny and lots of fun to watch. They sang a song about magic cards. Punk as Fuck who cares what your patches say

    This guy won worst (best) trick for a massive 360 flip off the launch ramp, I missed who won best slam, although there were some gnarly ones off of the Black Cat Movers truck. 

All in all, great weather, great spirit, just an awesome display of what can  happen when the people of New Orleans come together. 

 I am seriously considering using Thursday night Bounce shows as a weekly workout class. Whether this is your intention or not, you’re going to get sweaty AF. Leaving this show, I looked like I had just biked through the entire state of Arizona in August and then jumped into a pool of strangers’ body fluids. The great thing about bounce shows is that ass shaking is the one unifying theme regardless of gender identification, race or queerness. EVERYONE IS SHAKING HIR ASS. Also, Katey Red & Big Freedia are fucking fierce. DJ Jubilee too.

At the beginning of each of her Feminist Frequency videos, Anita Sarkeesian gives a short but extremely important discalimer.  She says something along the lines of, "It is important to be able to simultaneously critique the media we consume while also enjoying them for their narrative, cultural and other merits". Anita, I couldn't agree with you more.

It appears that nearly every one of her critics does not make it this far in the video or is mentally not capable of such higher brain functioning. Her critics seem unable to understand this key part of social cultural criticism that I have also struggled to convey to my peers. Those who respond to her posts, Instead of engaging in discourse on her level, decide to attack her success, her gender,and her character.  There are countless videos and articles that criticize her for exceeding her kickstarter goal, disabling comments on youtube (which have been flooded with death and rape threats) and even how she dresses in her videos.  This overwhelming  and disturbing response has exposed a deep-seeded collective misogyny of that infamous group of men ages 18-34.  Their attempted focus on her kickstarter and youtube channel are lame attempts of attackers to mask this sexism.

What many of these people are trying to say, even though they are having trouble getting their point across, as that they fundamentally do not believe what she does, that media and pop culture influences society and our daily lives.  People who play video games often feel like they have to defend this point as they have been targeted for causing violent behavior as well.  This theory of influence makes people helpless and therefore they reject it flat out.

There seems to be a misunderstanding in what Sarkeesian believes and what the public thinks she believes.  I cannot speak for her directly, but I do not think that she believes the men making video games are out to oppress and dominate women intentionally.  Probably more accurate is that she believes that the continual use of male dominant symbols perpetuates the idea of the video game community being a 'boys' club'.  Play any recent entry in the Resident Evil franchise and this becomes immediately apparent.  The women wear ridiculous clothes and the "camera" does not use a traditional over the shoulder shot but instead utilizes a high angle "behind the woman's butt" shot for no real reason other than to sexualize Jill Valentine et al.  In addition, no one can deny the damsel in distress trope.  Whether or not each individual case is inherintly harmful to women is debatable, but the fact that men are always saving women in video games, Mario, Link, Master Chief, Booker, Chris (RE5), Jackie (Darkness series), Meat Boy, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. and then some more.  Would it really retract from the playability, entertainment and fun factor of these games if a better proportion of them had the roles reversed?  I understand that this story archetype has been in human existence since the ancient Greeks and beyond but we can keep this tradition alive in a much more balanced, modern and educated way.

I love video games.  I love some of the games discussed above, but I understand the problems that they can cause culturally.  It is no wonder that so many male consumers of video games are mad about this.  They have had these views reinforced in media their entire lives,. I myself have been bombarded with these female negative images and narratives.  It is only through years of cultural studies that I began to realize the severity and importance of these trends.  People who play video games are always trying to say how games are more important than the culture believes.  Anita Sarkeesian agrees whole-heartedly with this sentiment whether she likes the games or not. Sarkeesian is only trying to educate people about what they consume and give people the tools to not let the media sway them so easily.  She is not attacking a medium that these people love, she is reinforcing that love with critique and ideas on how to move forward.  She does not only focus on the negative elements either, as she points out games that buck the trend and are models for the future.

If you have made it this far I urge you to listen to what she has to say as objectively as you can.  If you disagree, with me or her feel free to engage in conversation that is constructive and respectful.  She is far from radical, far from a "feminazi" and far from a man hater.  She is a trailblazer and deserves her amazing success.  I can only hope to be as prolific as a cultural critic some day.

It’s extremely easy to take a cursory look at the gaming industry right now and say that it’s all bullets and blood. The biggest, most hyped up and advertised games are all about murder, war, guns, etc. I often wonder if outsiders look at the games they see now and wonder what happened to the games that they experienced in the past, in particular nostalgic experiences like The Oregon Trail and Sim City. These are games that focused on larger experiences than some sort of cinematic story driven narrative. Sadly, most games of that ilk have left the limelight and are buried beneath a bulk of guns. But more meaningful, varied experiences do exist, and are doing what their predecessors could not ever even think of acheiving. I decided to share 3 different games that really push what the medium means and how games are conveyed, and in addition, each one of them are free so anyone can go out and give ‘em a try.

Papers Please

Ever wanted to walk a mile in a TSA agent’s shoes? Better yet, ever want to do it in a nation that lives and dies by these border proceedings? Papers Please scratches that itch and gives the user a dark insight into how life works for those behind the TSA counter.

The Arstotzkain Government has opened its borders for the first time in 6 years after the wake of a conflict with the neighboring Colechian state and reclaiming the border city of Gerkstin. After the employment raffle, you have been chosen to work the border, checking to see if everyone's papers are in order and if they are cleared to enter the country. With your wage, you are to feed and nurture your family, all the while keeping Arstotzka safe from insurgents and civil unrest.

It quickly will become clear that in order to feed your family, some people are going to have to go through that shouldn’t, or others that should but don’t have the papers. Some people will trick you and some forgeries will be far too good to fool the naked eye. You’re going to make mistakes, and that’s the point. A lot of the world moves against, with, and without you

Cart Life

On the topic of making mistakes in games, this one is brutal. Often described as a poverty simulation, Cart life will put you in the shoes of either a recently divorced and out of work mother, an Eastern European immigrant, or a man whose just been spat out of the system at every turn. Each of them are scraping by while a custody battle, crippling debt, immigration, permits, and any other trials and tribulations that the powers that be can throw in your path.

Nothing about Cart Life is easy. Even if you have a plan you are going to outright lose for the first few playthroughs you try. Time management, starvation, nicotine and caffeine addictions, picking up your kid from school, and oh man the permits, each of these things stand firmly in the way of your success. Things are bleak. Always bleak, but there is the possibility of success, or at least you’ll try and convince yourself that there is.

Every aspect of this game is painstakingly shaped into a misery simulator. It’s grayscale color pallete and dated looked gives it a passed over look that reflect the dejected protagonists, each of which are given extremely sympathetic back stories and dialogue. It’s a critical darling as well, sweeping the IGF awards, and independent gaming festival, and rightfully so. It’s not fun, but it’s engaging, and it reminds us that games don’t have to be fun to be important.

Dys4ia

I’m going to go out the gate here and say that this is probably the best game on the list to start with. It’s simple, it’s concise, it’s focused, and it’s extremely ambitious. It’s also only a flash game, so it’s a game that you don’t even have to worry about downloading.

Dys4ia is a first hand account with Gender Dysphoria told through a series of small games meant to confuse, punish, reward and alleviate you. It often looks like it’s ripped straight from a woodgrain atari 2600, but the message here is plain as day. Life as a transgender individual or a transitioning is not pleasant.

What really shines about Dys4ia is the idea of mechanics as a storytelling device. Each bit of the game is designed to reflect how the developer feels, awkardly trying to fit in to a mold to show the developers body images, dodging and deflecting the insults of her peers, you’ll read and play her entire story.

What it creates is an extremely personal and extremely endearing process that creates empathy through an almost shared experience. It does what most other mediums can’t effectively do and really puts you there in her shoes.

There’s more games like these out there, especially if you’re willing to shell a dollar or two. The purpose of this piece is just to put it out there that games often try to do more than they are given credit for. To show that the medium can be used for higher expression that it’s pidgeon holed to.

I wish I had an IOS device. I have a great phone, laptop, Pc, and way too many consoles, but I really envy the amazing library of small scale games on the Ipad, Iphone and Itouch. I have no practical use for these devices other than gaming, so I’ve never made the dive. The extensive library of these devices is often wasted on a large group of people who will never pay small monetary fee to try out some amazing games.

I understand it, it’s not as if anyone is inclined to spend money on something, when its direct competitors are free, and this often happens with iOS games. Why spend three dollars on a game like Ridiculous Fishing when you can get Candy Crush Saga for free? It’s a pretty cut and dry argument and it makes complete fiscal sense. Let me frame it another way though, what are you really paying for?

I’ve played through a good bit of Candy Crush, I can see why it’s got the following it does. It’s free, it has great social integration, and it’s a match three puzzle game, something that has always done well on the mobile market. Worked great for Bejewled as well. It’s the constant pestering that gets me. For free you get to be badgered into buying in access to powerups “given” to you through play. You can buy extra lives to continue your progress. You can buy the rest of the game that sits in front of you every 15 levels. If you still don’t want to pay, you can always be their shill and advertise the game all over your facebook and badger your friends the same way the game badgers you.

Contrast that to a game like Ridiculous Fishing. You get a feature filled, fun, pretty and great sounding game. It’ll never bother you, and it really only wants you to enjoy it. Something that it seems , at times, Candy crush would never want you to do.

Think about where the money goes. A lot of the developrs often are not giant companies, and all too often it’s a small team just trying to make ends meet and get enough funding to create their next game. You likely pay more than five bucks to see a band you like, eat food from someplace you enjoy, or watch a movie. It’s a paltry sum of money that goes a long way for the developer. People who are often not much different than you.

You also open up yourself to a big bright world that way too. Rich narratives like Phoenix Wright and especially Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Puzzlers like Hundreds and 10,000,000, and countless others. Do your research and you’ll be knee deep in quality titles and likely only pay around 5 bucks at most per title. You just have to get past that first price barrier.

The Game industry lives and dies off marketing and hype. Games marketing budgets have become so inflated that often cost more than the games actual development. It’s almost impossible not to get swept up by media hype and Bioshock was no exception. I remember seeing claims as audacious as the most important artistic expression of this generation.

Now that the Honeymoon period is over, it seems as if a more level headed response is starting to form. It has issues. Repetive bland combat that is often at ends with the actual narrative. Themes of the narrative are poorly discussed and poorly analyzed. This is especially noticeable considering how serious some of those story beats are (you really can’t brush over ideas like the ‘white man’s burden’ or the inherent troubles of populist movements). The game is no longer the gaming messiah, but it is still a considerable accomplishment, especially since so many of it’s peers would never even touch the topics it takes a stab at.

I personally found it to be a bit middling; it’s a gorgeous game with an entertaining plot line, but it never takes any of it’s ideas and runs with them, a couple steps away from a real accomplishment like it’s predecessor.

What I take away from all of this is just how much should we expect from games? Is it alright to take some less than complex themes if they are themes that the game’s peers aren’t even trying to explore? Do certain other aspects like gameplay have to fit the narrative in a way that bolsters everything around it? You really could go either way. You should demand more from what you play, but you likely shouldn’t be jaded enough to not enjoy it at all because it doesn't reach all of your expectations.  

Kickstarter has become much more popular as a way to fund the creation of new video games. The phenomenon began when Double Fine Games Kickstarted their new adventure game and raised a few million dollars. Ever since, a whole slew of games have popped up on the Kickstarter marketplace, many getting funded and some falling short.          

Some people wonder what the best way to market the game in order to get it funded. Yacht Club Games may have just hit the nail on the head with their new game Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight is an old school side scrolling game in the same vain as Castlevania and Mega Man. The game sports a nice 16-Bit style and has that old school game control. But something occurred recently that allowed for it to reach every stretch goal the game wanted to achieve.

Game Grumps, a prominent “Let’s Play” channel on Youtube featuring the antics of JonTron and Arin Hanson, better known by his animator name, Egoraptor, recently played a demo of Shovel Knight on their show. Their channel is more like a podcast over gameplay footage as they actually play the game and talk about anything on their minds. But the interesting thing about this specific episode is how it sold the game. Even I donated to the Kickstarter. It showed off the games feel and style. It had Jon and Arin praising the game, saying how awesome the game actually was, and added their regular old antics. But this idea, the idea of using a “Let’s Play” channel to advertise a game really helps.

Shovel Knight ended its Kickstarter with well over $300,000 backed by 14,749 people. I really feel that Game Grumps helped add some hype to the game. While many of their episodes are older games or bad games, this could start a new trend in Game Grumps episodes and could be a new way of showing off a game to get it Kickstarted.

  The episode of Game Grumps is located here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcP3yp6w7Pw

  And Shovel Knight is still taking donations to own the game until April 30th here:http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight-paypal/

  Head on over to Game Grumps, check out the game, and think about donating. You won't be disappointed.

I recently attended PAX East, a wonderful gaming expo on the East Coast run by people who straight up love video games. It’s always a sweet time. Between the awesome games I get to play, the swag I get just because I touched the game, and the people I meet, PAX East is a heaven. Big companies show off what I should be getting excited for and Indie developers show us the heart and soul of projects. But something has always been off about a singular aspect of PAX. Yeah, I haven’t been to any other expos, but I just can’t fathom a decision some companies make.

  Expos are run to give people a first hand look at new video games and peripherals in order to raise consumer interest. And while there are many playable demos for games, it seems that bigger companies think it is alright to just show gameplay footage instead of handing the player the controller and allowing them to get a first hand experience with the game.

  Ubisoft is a huge perpetrator of this unfriendly act. I am not paying $75 to watch gameplay footage or CG animated trailers. I am paying to play games and find new ones I am willing to buy months down the road. I am paying to play something new, innovative, or flat out cool. Ubisoft’s offerings this year included Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist, and Watchdogs. These are all games I am willing to play and buy (if I ever get through Revelations and III (besides the point)). But when a big game company, especially one as big as Ubisoft, only shows gameplay footage at an expo booth, it really deters me from their games and I sort of feel alienated. I saw their booths and avoided them like the plague. I wandered over to the much more friendly indie area. I even waited in line for 2.5 hours just to play Zenimax Online’s Elder Scrolls Online. The difference is that I was able to play the game for 20 minutes and was able to talk to game designers and even the lead designer of the game came up and asked us about how excited we were for the game. It made me feel like I was having an impact on the game’s creation. It made me feel involved with the process and with the gaming world. But when a company such as Ubisoft only shows gameplay footage or a company such as 2K Games has an inexistent booth, why should I give them my time and money? I’d much rather go over to Supergiant Games’ booth and play Transistor, their follow up to Bastion. In fact, that’s exactly what I did at PAX.

  If I wanted to watch gameplay footage, I’d stay at home and meander on Youtube.

  Hey, Ubisoft, step up your game.