targeting the supervillain: norwescon edition

It’s Target the Supervillain time! That’s easy – aim at Norwescon, of course, starting tomorrow. But if you’re the sort looking for more specific targeting, here’s my schedule:

THURSDAY:

• “The Tumblr Effect” – 4-5pm, Cascade 9.
  Fandoms like Steven Universe and Dragon Age inspire passionate online communities and fan art that will take your breath away. The podcast Welcome to Night Vale doesn’t even have a visual component, yet somehow there are instantly-recognizable Cecils and Carloses roaming the halls at every con. Let’s discuss how social media is changing the way we interact with the things we love, and the people who love them with us.
• “Home Recording” – 5-6pm, Cascade 12.
  Everybody wants to make a demo. What can you do with what you’ve got? If that won’t do (and it probably won’t) what do you really need to create a good demo? How little can you get away with? And once you have it, what do you do with it? How do you set it up? How do you use it to capture or create the best sounds you can? We’ll discuss both software and hardware solutions.

FRIDAY:

• “Chiptunes: It’s Video Game Dance Music” – 7-8pm, Cascade 10.
  Chiptunes. 8-bit electronica. People have been hearing those awesome raw electronic sounds and thinking, I LOVE YOU BEEPY NOISES! HOW I MAKE YOU INTO SOOOOOOONGS?! From the Blip Festival to PAX, chiptunes are the native sounds of electronic gaming. Interested? Come find out more.
• “Find Your Instrument” – 8-9pm, Evergreen 1&2.
  Have you ever wondered how people figure out what kind of musical instrument they want to play? Several of our pros have volunteered to bring their instruments and introduce them to people. This is a hands-on workshop. After an introduction of the instruments, participants will be able to try out various instruments, and receive brief introductions on how to play them, by their owners. This panel is aimed at teens and adults. Kids are welcome, but must be of an age and attitude appropriate to handle other peoples’ musical instruments!

SATURDAY:

• “Nerdcore Hip Hop: Rapping About Star Wars” – Noon-1pm, Cascade 9.
  What is nerdcore, how did it get started, why are they rapping about videogames and Star Trek, and how can I learn more at this very convention? Come meet our nerdcore artists and learn where this came from and what all this is about.
• “It’s All About You (Or Is It?)” – 3-4pm, Cascade 10.
  Musicians, writers, and artists, can all now be their own labels, their own imprints, their own galleries. But in the modern era, how do you, a tiny fish, get noticed in the sea of information and other stage-grabbing attention whores like yourself-without being an annoying annoyance? Some of our independent musicians, writers, and artists talk about being heard on the internet stage.

SUNDAY:

• “Accessories on the Cheap” – Noon-1pm, Cascade 2.
  Our panel of experts will discuss resources and construction of creative costume accessories using inexpensive everyday items!
• “Geekmusic Elsewhere” – 3-4pm, Cascade 3&4.
  Where do you find this stuff? How do you get there? Where is it being played, outside of Norwescon? Want to see your kind of music, live, when you’re not here? Our panelists talk about the venues and events that support different kinds of geek-friendly music.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby

impressive speed when queerbashing

Well, Republican legislatures can sure move fast when they're bashing faggots - check out the speed of this anti-queer bill they went into special session to pass. Repeals all LGBT civil rights protection ordinances, bans transgendered people from washrooms, particularly aimed at students. Some of the language is identical to that in the bill they failed to pass here - clearly all coming out of the same organisations.

There are a lot of people who thought the queer rights fight was over with marriage. Got news.

Oh, and did you notice how stuck in the middle of it is a repeal of local minimum-wage ordinances? Nice.



Bill text here.

eta: And BOOM! Just like that, passed in the Senate. Boy, these SOBs can move when they've got some children to hurt, you know? It's like a goddamn rocket shot.

The governor of their wretched state asked for this bill, so it will be signed. The only question, I suppose, is whether they'll have a little ceremony where they beat the crap out of some trans kid and use their blood in the pen for the governor's signature, or whether they'll stick to a symbolic gesture of hurling out a bunch of slurs at trans kids instead. That's latter course is what they've chosen so far on Twitter today, but who knows, maybe they'll step it up a notch for the signing.

goddamn these SOBs can move fast when they’ve got kids to hurt

North Carolina’s GOP-controlled legislature came into special session today and passed through both houses a bill repealing all LGBT protections and making it illegal for trans kids to use most washrooms.

God damn these sons of bitches can move fast when they’ve got some kids to hurt.

The bill also repealed all local minimum wage laws – that was buried in the middle. Surprise! Also workplace safety and the like.

Hey, Republican Party, NC GOP, I just want to know – so far, you’ve just been hurling slurs on twitter, but for the signing, are you gonna step it up? Maybe drag some trans kid up on the stage and bash ’em in the face for blood for the governor’s pen? Or is that too, I dunno, theatrical?

I have to say, from out here, it’s hard to know. You’re very fond of torture, we know that, and nothing gets you hard like hurting queer kids. But at the same time, you’re not so very fond of getting your own hands dirty. You like hurting people from a distance, so you can relax, point, and laugh.

I can’t really, at the moment, imagine being more contemptible than you. I can imagine more evil than you, sure – that’s easy.

But more contemptable?

That’s difficult, I have to admit.

eta: The reason it was unanimous in the Senate is that the Democratic caucus – which could not win – walked out in protest.

eta2: North Carolina Gov. McCrory confirms through his spokesman that he will be signing the bill tonight. All this in one day. Boom. OUTTA MY WAY, SMEAR THE QUEER IS BACK ON AND I GOT ME SOME FAGGOT KIDS TO SMASH, say the Republicans. Grotesque.

eta3: AND AND AND it voids CHILD LABOUR RULES. SPECIFICALLY. WOW, how did I miss that part? They really like abusing children.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby

okay this just got next-level bad

Wow okay this got super-serious:

"Trump's vision for how he would earn Muslim respect included such controversial proposals as returning to outlawed harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding; monitoring mosques in the U.S.; and leaving open the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons against the Islamic State."

I'm going to write about this after Norwescon, but at the moment, I just have to say that this is some next-level bad.

This man cannot have access to nuclear launch codes. Cannot.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-23/trump-lays-out-vision-for-gaining-respect-from-muslim-world )