A response to lies and nonsense said by Doug TenNapel
Doug TenNapel (creator of Earthworm Jim and other mediocre-to-bad video games) and Ethan Nicolle (who cares) are mad at me. I wrote a blog post and a twitter thread about their hateful little podcast with Mike Nelson, and Mike bailed on them. I also wrote some more Twitter threads highlighting the shitty things they say about Black Lives Matter, wearing masks, women, gay people, minorities, you name it. I suggest you read all of them.
How do I know they’re mad at me? Because they returned to their silly little podcast this week, and dedicated a good amount of it to me and the fallout I caused.
A lot of it is just rambling whiny bullshit about being canceled (also known as “facing consequences for doing bad things”.) But occasionally they attack me directly, often under false pretenses. I would like to take this time to address those accusations.
They can keep lying about me. I can keep telling the truth about them.
The Bigot Doug TenNapel and his friend Mike Nelson
Like most of humanity, I’m spending more time indoors these days, watching more movies, playing more games, reading more, and so on. Yay pandemic.
Recently, I started checking out some Rifftrax commentaries that are available on Amazon. For those who aren’t aware, Rifftrax is a show of sorts that offers humorous commentary tracks for bad movies, done by Kevin Murphy, Scott Corbett, and Mike Nelson, all of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame.
I started to watch the Birdemic one. It opened with a slightly racist joke about Korean drivers, but I shrugged it off. But it got me wondering about Mike Nelson. Mike is a conservative Christian who votes republican exclusively. While he’s a private guy who doesn’t give interviews about his politics very often, he has mentioned this in the past. I was curious to see if he had any takes on the recent events (COVID, George Floyd, Black Lives Matter…choose one, it’s been a hell of a year). I scoped out Twitter, but he doesn’t seem to have a Twitter.
He does have a podcast though.
*heaviest breath of my life*
He has a podcast with the bigot Doug TenNapel. Continue reading
Prog Walk – Going For The One To Toyama Park
My sleeping patterns have been odd lately, I often find myself crashing to bed at the relatively early time of 11:30 and waking up a quarter after five, wide alert and ready to start the day. It’s equal parts infuriating and refreshing. I wish I could sleep more, but getting an early start to the day can occasionally be great, especially during the blazing days of a Tokyo summer. Leaving the house after 10am can feel like an exercise in masochism, as temperatures have been well into the 90s almost every day for the past few weeks. So I’ve been taking advantage of my newfound early bird tendencies and trekking out around 6am for a prolonged early morning constitutional, always with musical accompaniment of course. Continue reading
A Nostalgia for MP3 Blogs
The internet is old enough for us to have nostalgia for how it used to be, but most people don’t. Sure, the internet is a flaming garbage pile now, but 20 years ago it was a really ugly flaming garbage pile that ran really slow.
But recently I’ve found myself waxing nostalgic for the internet of 2005-2010. Not because it was before social media ruined everything, but because it was the age of the MP3 blog. Continue reading
Queer Eye for the Trump Guy
Netflix brought back Queer Eye last month, and it is shockingly good. The new Fab Five are great, and the relocation to Georgia was a fantastic idea. Most importantly, the subjects chosen for the makeovers are all really interesting. There’s the 57-year-old single man struggling with Lupus; the semi-closeted gay black man who wants to come out to his family; the father of six(!!!) whose life is in a predictable amount of chaos; and so many more amazing and really unique individuals whose lives could clearly benefit from a head-to-toe makeover.
Oh, and there’s also a white cop who voted for Trump. Fuck that dude. Continue reading
It’s 2018, ironic use of the F-word (no, the other one), isn’t okay.
I have never been a fan of the word “queer.” Wasn’t a fan of it when I was in junior high and called one. Wasn’t a fan of it when it became popular term for LGBT people to use to describe themselves. Wasn’t a fan of it when I started college and heard it in academic circles. I forever associate that word with bullies making fun of me for my perceived…queerness.
But whatever. That word has transcended its original meaning and is now used in a positive manner for those who identify as it. It’s not a word you’ll hear me say often, but the masses have spoken. Queer is an okay word to say (in context). I’m not going to argue that one.
But I won’t give “faggot” the same courtesy. Continue reading
Blown Opportunities and Taking Stands
I was in a record store in Shibuya today (as am I most days) and there was a television crew there interviewing some white dude. I couldn’t hear everything they said, but I could tell they were asking him about why he came to Japan and about record stores in the area.
I was really hopping to get my chance on camera too. So after they finished up his interview, I casually sauntered over to them, hoping they would ask me too.
It turns out they were really mostly interested in tourists, but when I showed them my blog and my massive guide to record stores in Tokyo, they really wanted to talk to me. Before committing, I wanted to know more about what show/network the show would be on.
They told me TV Asahi, so I let out a heavy, depressed sigh and told them I couldn’t do it.
TV Asashi is the home of London Hearts.
And fuck London Hearts. Continue reading
Happiness Is a Warm Arcade
Japan is still well known for its video game and arcade culture, but neither are really what they used to be. I think its public knowledge that Japan’s importance in console gaming has long since diminished. Sure, its made a bit of a comeback as of late, but the majority of the classic Japanese game developers, Capcom, Konami, Sega, and so on, are all just fractions of what they used to be. And they’re the lucky ones, a hell of a lot more are defunct completely, or exist only as a holding house to license out old IP.
Sadly, arcade culture in Japan has diminished recently as well. It feels that not a year goes by where you hear of some classic or legendary game center in the greater Tokyo area shutting down. And the ones that remain have been forced to shift their focus away from classic arcade style games and more to redemption machines (crane games) or insanely complex rhythm games. And while I find both to be fun in their own ways, they’re very much not for everyone.
Sure, Akihabara has lots of arcade still, with some great ones that even focus on retro machines. And that’s awesome. If you’re a tourist then I totally recommend you check them out. But, the longer one spends in Akihabara, the sadder it feels. The pervy underbelly becomes more apparent. You start to notice the games less, and the disgusting old men lusting after women in schoolgirls more. Not to mention storefront after storefront catering to the most base-level otaku with anime porn featuring obviously underage girls. It’s an icky place.
Seeking an alternative to the perv-domain of Akiba, the boyfriend and I headed out to Odaiba last week, in search of a different variety of massive arcade. We escaped lustful sadness of Akihabara’s otaku culture and had some fun along the way, but also found ourselves face-to-face with a sadness of another kind. Continue reading
Getting Old and Escapism via Nostalgia
I turned 38 this week and I think I’m finally starting to feel old(er) [kinda] {I think}. Continue reading
America: Great for Golden Girls and White Nationalism
One of the interesting things about living away from your home country is that when you come back to visit, you notice how things have changed. Not just little things like new buildings or stores in your local hood, but larger trends and societal changes.
For example, this time around I really noticed a change in TV. The cable channels have really adapted to the Netflix viewing model, and allow their viewers to binge watch their favorite TV shows. That was kind of great. I got to watch Fresh Prince, Golden Girls, and Forensic Files pretty much non-stop whenever I was in my hotel room. I was totally okay with that.
I picked up on some fashion changes too. Nothing major, but I did see a slight rise in floral patterns and colored cuffs on men’s shirts. Considering both those things are very Japanese, that surprised me a little bit. Not a big fan of that style, but whatever.
Oh yeah, I also noticed the rise of ethno-nationalism, white supremacy, and fascist ideals being put forth in mainstream discussion.
I was a lot less okay with that. Continue reading