Machina Non Grata

 It's been a year of soul-searching.  And in that, I've discovered just how much time I've wasted, not only PLAYING video games, but outside of playing them, hanging out in those spaces.  I've always been drawn to games with certain visual aesthetics. Be they dark, whimsical and anime-esque, tasteful fanservice, I've always gone for characters that I could relate to, wearing outfits that I would wear. And it kind of turns me off knowing that, if I'm playing a game, say Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire the Maquerade, The First Descendant, Stellar Blade, I'm thinking "holy shit, I wouldn't mind cosplaying this character," or "I wouldn't mind wearing a similar outfit to a nightclub," but the majority of people sitting behind the computer screen are dumpy guys, probably wearing a baseball cap, and saying "bruh" and "sheeeesh!" a lot.  I've always hated how CHAV and dweeb-ish gaming spaces are.  Even games that were play...

  “The  sky above the port was the colour of black and gold, tuned to dead meme... ” Los Angeles, November, 2019... The free market has been sabotaged. The lines between organic and synthetic beings have been blurred. Man, now become woman. Woman become man. Man and Women become null. Hair as blue as the ocean, before the Marxist uprising wiped out the global powergrid, with a super-EMP, codenamed "Soy-lent Grün."  It was cold, with acid rain that burns the skin. I searched for shelter.. and a beverage. It is difficult in these years to find a nourishing meal. Newspaper (on datapad) covering my head, I ran for the nearest cafe I could find on the street corner of desolate downtown Los Angeles. I couldn't bring myself to decide whether the neon-red LEDs of "Das Kapital" cafe were blinding or inviting. Eyes fixated and studied me head to prosthetic toe, as I wandered into this small establishment, gingerly. "Can I help you?..."  "It's Dockyard.....

To Preface this, some questions should be answered: 1) Is being alternative a choice, or fashion style that can be easily removed like a costume? 2) Who sets the standard of acceptable dress codes? 1) I do not believe it's as much of a choice as most people would say it is. I believe there's underlying psychological factors that make a person attracted to things outside of 'the norm;' especially things of a morbid nature. Alternative people seem to have less of a fear/disgust response than most people. There also have been links by psychologists, between tattoos, piercings, body scarification, and sexual orientation: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/piercings-tattoos-and-scars 2) Where do "the rules" regarding what is 'acceptable' or 'normal' stem from? Those are socially mores based on religion, and gender roles. It's the same reason why men are told in the work force t...

After watching Todd Phillips' film Joker, I've seen a lot of parallels to what happened in the 90's with the tragic events of the Columbine shooting in Colorado, by the plot of the film, and the media, in general's reaction to the film. Columbine happened on April 20, 1999. The birthday of Adolf Hitler. Two social misfits decided to seek revenge for being bullied by bringing an arsenal to their high school, taking the lives of 12 students, as well as themselves. Most people that lived through that decade remember how horrifying it was, what a change it brought to American culture, how it shifted conversations about possession of firearms, and how the media tried to scapegoat entertainment as the culprit. The "Goth subculture" was blamed, even though neither Eric Harris or Dylan Kleebold were part of it, they did listen to some Industrial (more leaning on the Industrial-Rock side of things like KMFDM, NIN), but weren't affiliated with the subculture built...