02.21.07
new seeing-implements
Since the company which makes the nice, comfortable contact lenses I’ve used for four years has decided to stop making them - thus leaving me with unpleasant, painful ones to wear instead - I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have to wear glasses more often in future. In acknowledgement, I’ve acquired a new pair - nearly 250 quids (ouch!) worth of eye-enhancement technology.
I’m not entirely sure whether they make me look like an utter fucking prick or not, since they’ve got a bit of an unpleasant Hoxton Square Media Twat feel to them, but at least they’re nice and comfortable, I guess.
Speaking of Media Twats, I noticed that the odious GamesRadar managed to get its knuckles rapped by some of the more reputable gay news sites this week for publishing this frankly incredibly offensive article. Anyone who knows me will know that I’m very laid back about my sexuality and don’t get remotely uptight about friendly insults or jokes about gay people, but in this instance, I was pretty genuinely shocked that nobody at Future had the cop-on to think “hey, maybe this isn’t actually funny and will upset people”.
The author, one Matt Cundy, has clearly never actually met a gay person - not that he’s afraid of them, if any of them tried anything on he’d just deck the lot of them! - and exists in some kind of sniggering 14-year old twilight world where The Gays are flamboyant, camp, sexually perverted woman-haters who exist out there somewhere. As opposed to, say, being a widespread demographic of people, and probably a good five to ten per cent of your readership. I can understand that one individual, Matt Cundy, might be this sheltered - but the fact that not a single editor at GamesRadar, a well-funded and high profile site run by a huge publishing company, saw this as off-colour and offensive is frankly astonishing. Fucking poor show.
That said, I guess I’d probably be pretty disappointed if any fellow Friend of Dorothy had poor enough taste to read that godawful e-rag anyway.
Keith Andrew said,
February 28, 2007 at 12:49 am
I saw that, and actually thought I was being a bit uptight about it at first.
It was linked from another site, and I pretty much just scrolled down the first time, more concerned with the fact that GamesRadar actually considered it newsworthy rather than any of the actual content. It’s only when I saw the edited highlights on GI.biz that I nipped back and read the story in full and saw that not only was it a crappy piece of news, it was also a piece of writing stuck in the 19-fucking-70s.
Like yourself, I don’t like to think that I make a song and dance about the gender of people I choose to sleep with - and I’d like to think I’d have been equally disturbed by this story if I was heterosexual - but it did get to me, I must admit.
Anyone know where this Matt Cundy lives? (Joke.)
(No really. That was a joke.)
Rob Fahey said,
March 12, 2007 at 10:22 am
Most of the people I know who got angry about the article are straight, so I guess that kind of childish, intolerant shit isn’t acceptable to people in general, not just to the people it’s aimed at. Which is good news, I suppose.
I’ve not heard a whisper about it since it all kicked off, though, so I guess Future decided just to put their fingers in the ears and wait for the offended people to go away. I’d be disappointed, if I had expected any better from them.
By the way - I think you sent me a message on MySpace ages ago which I can’t read, because for some reason I can’t actually log into my account there any more… Doh :/
Keith Andrew said,
March 15, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Ahh. Yes I did. You can’t log on at all? Give me a mail fella - I actually have something I’d been meaning to ask you. That sounds ruder than I’d intended. Anyway - yes, mail me at badcoe@gmail.com.
Meanwhile, it would seem Future don’t give a toss. Cundy is at it again - http://www.gamesradar.com/us/xbox360/game/features/article.jsp?releaseId=20060321132945404017&articleId=20070312135726482036§ionId=1003&pageId=2007031214531328028