Josh Ritter's "The Temptation of Adam"

I haven't done a post about a song (or poetry) in a good long while, but Josh Ritter's track, "The Temptation of Adam," has been on my mind a lot recently. I've discussed it with a few people and come up with some interesting and divergent close readings, so I want to explore the track here. I'll start by posting the song and lyrics before I get into the meat of my rant.

Thoughts on Sexuality in Video Games

Last night my girlfriend linked me to an article discussing sexual relationships in video games that Alex Raymond posted on GameCritics.com back in August. Apparently the link just recently popped up over on Feministing (On a tangentially related subject, if anyone has any suggestions for feminist oriented/leaning blogs that are better than Feministing, we're all ears). I know that Rayond's article is a bit stale but it’s an interesting issue that is definitely still relevant to the medium as a whole. I started to write a response and it snowballed on me until it suddenly became this post.

From Around the Web - 10/27/09

France: Pretty awesome, but still not as awesome as Germany
and
In case you hadn't heard, why Germany is awesome

No wonder Jay-Z's bitch isn't a problem for him, UK experts find that he's ahead of the curve on science

Journalism students are being sued for investigating innocence claims by a man convicted 31 years ago
and
Commentary on the absolutely ridiculous story

The latest in the continuing struggle to apply outdated laws to new media

Because you should already be reading Orhan Pamuk
(Append) BUT
While definitely an incredible writer and progressive thinker, the word on the street is that he's a bit of a douchebag in person

How It Should Have Ended: Transformers 2

The "How It Should Have Ended" video series is pretty hilarious. The reimagining of the Superman ending is still probably their funniest entry, but almost everything they've ever done is worth watching. I'm not totally sure that this is new, but today I found the ending they put together for Transformers 2. Given how much I've discussed the ridiculous number of things that are wrong with that film, it would seem wrong not to post this:

The Continuing Struggle for Dollhouse to Realize Its Promise

Dollhouse is a problematic television show. There have been some significant disagreements between the creative minds involved and the FOX network, all of which have only hurt the show. The first season asks viewers to slog through seven or so boring and formulaic episodes before giving us any real reason to come back. Then, after a series of incredible concluding episodes, the second season begins with another set of lackluster installments that reeked of network intervention. The best, and in a sense final, episode of the entire series was never even aired on television.

Despite all this I keep coming back to it, for a whole mix of reasons. Because I love and trust Joss Whedon. Because this is potentially the most mature content he has ever tackled. Because the concept of Dollhouse has so much potential. Because when it's good, it's really good.

The episode that aired this past Friday night was really, really fucking good.

If you've seen the episode then check out this great post on io9 discussing the plot points of the episode and what they mean, with in depth analysis and clips from various sequences. I'll get around to an extended discussion of Dollhouse at some point, but for the moment consider this post as largely indicative of my thoughts.