Looks like I somehow attracted a flamer. Not sure why anyone is even coming here, but this troll managed to find it and flamed a few comments.

hairy bush big nasty is such an original name also. Don’t worry though, I managed to read between the lines and understood exactly what big nasty bush meant to say. I edited the comments into plain English since big nasty bush’s writing is so bad.

by Ellen Brandt, Ph.D.

Join in their volley of insults, they’ll continue to play as long as they can . Ignore them completely, readers could take them to heart. In the Flame Game, a quick victory – fueled by wit – works best.

Most people don’t visit websites, blogs, or group discussion boards intent on making trouble.

Most people respect the opinions of others and debate them, if they must, in the spirit of fairness and camaraderie.

Most people don’t embark on lifelong vendettas based on a few words posted on the Internet.

But then, most people aren’t Flamers.

I sometimes think of Internet Flamers as Locusts. They descend upon a target website quickly. Under suitable conditions, they breed rapidly and form a swarm. Their noise is so overwhelming, they can drown out everything else in the vicinity. And if left unchecked, they can do great harm, sometimes devastating damage.

Like Locusts, too, Internet Flamers seem to pop up spontaneously more or less anywhere. If you write or publish anything whatsoever on the Internet, even the most harmless-sounding, out-and-out innocent site or blog – on kitchen countertops, say, or miniature poodles – chances are that somehow, someday, when you least expect it, Flamers will swarm.

In Internet terms, Flaming is defined as a hostile or insulting interaction between or among users of a discussion board, chatroom, or increasingly, the Comments section of a website or blog.

But the expression of hostility or anger per se isn’t necessarily Flaming. It’s when such expressions are aimed at others – including authors or website owners – and are neither constructive nor clarifying to the progress of a discussion that true Flaming occurs. Often, these attacks go off on a tangent so extreme, they have only the most tenuous connection to the original material that supposedly inspired them.

I wrote about a classic Flamer – I called him “Herbie” – in my story about extreme malice on the Internet. (“I Don’t Like What You Wrote. You Should Be Poisoned, Garrotted, Stabbed With Stiletto Heels, Thrown Off A Tall Building, and Have Vultures Eat Your Liver” http://wp.me/pycK6-5 )

Herbie, supposedly a genteel gentleman in his 70s, somehow found the Comments section of a reprinted version of my quite-popular story, “Summer Camp for Seniors,” which talks about unqualified activities directors at assisted-living sites and their disrespect for elderly residents. (See http://wp.me/pycK6-t )

On his first appearance there, Herbie made a statement along the lines of “There is so much that is horrible about this article, I don’t know where to start.” Already suspecting something – having worked for both the tabloids and women’s mags, I know a potential crazy person by instinct – I asked the site’s publisher to take down the comment and ban this fellow from his site. He didn’t.

So Herbie came back. And as I suspected he would, he quickly proceeded to make comments that were totally unrelated to the story itself, but nevertheless – without any citations from the text – called it untrue and unsupported and elitist and . . . I dunno, possibly seditious and definitely fattening. After which he went on to lambaste me – someone he knew nothing whatsoever about – as an unfit writer, scholar, dancer, chef, electrician, Olympic athlete, and Mayoral candidate. (All except the first two are, of course, accurate.)

Even Without an Audience, Determined Flamers Flame Away

With the unfortunate lack of civility in our public discourse these days, silly – but often hurtful – attacks of this kind are an everyday occurrence. Until recently, though, Flamers’ targets tended to be celebrities of some kind – actors, politicians, sports figures, or Jay Leno.

Now, if you breathe – particularly if you both breathe and write – you’re potential prey. My friend Elizabeth contacted me just the other day, horrified that her simple act of posting a news story from a UK publication on a message board attracted a vicious Flaming attack. She didn’t even write the story – for Goddess’s sake! – but her Flamer ripped into her with a “People like you don’t know what you’re talking about” diatribe that had scant threads linking it to the story in question and no threads whatsoever linking it to Elizabeth.

“People Like You” is a common kind of Flamer opener, by the way, mostly because it’s so versatile. “People Like You – (Baby Boomers, Lawyers, Moroccans, Bowlers, Meat-Eaters, Satanists) – should be condemned because you – (Own Two Cars, Don’t Recycle, Have Freckles, Talk Too Fast, Remind Me of My Cousin Jimmy, Have Bodies Buried in Your Backyard) – and therefore need to be (Censored, Quarantined, Tithed, Sent to an Optometrist, Drawn-and-Quartered, Forced to Read Marketing Copy).

In nearly every instance, Flamers like to jump quickly from attacks on things – articles, movies, music, games – to attacks on people responsible for those things – authors, directors, composers, athletes. That’s because things don’t have feelings and can’t get hurt. People tend to get hurt pretty easily.

To be sure, if you’ve been the target of Flamethrowers often enough, you develop a sort of immunity. Personally, I’m not prepared to run for president yet. How candidates – or even Britney and Lindsay – take it is beyond me. But in the case of my Baby Boomers-The Angriest Generation series, which has been the constant target of a group of Crazed Millennials who think I’m out to incite a rebellion of We-Won’t-Be-Bullied-Into-Retirement middle-class businesspeople – (Yes, of course, they’re right) – I now fully expect the attacks and have begun to find them rather funny.

The funniest was clearly an attack I endured when I posted one of my Angriest Generation articles – I believe it was “No Gold Watch When You Work For Pariah Corporation” (http://wp.me/pxD3J-N ) on one of the News feeds at a film-related group at Linked In.

Minutes after the story was posted, a tag team of Flamers – let’s call them Manny and Moe – bit into the Comments stream with relish. Not that they even mentioned the article itself. They first began with the standard “Boomers Are To Blame For the Ills of the World” harangue, which has been permeating the Internet the past few months and which I talked about in my story on Anti-Boomer propaganda. (See “You Have Cooties – Go Play Golf” at: http://wp.me/pxD3J-8 )

According to this so-predictable-it-has-to-be-scripted spiel, Boomers are to blame for not only our current economic malaise, but also for the Biblical Flood, the Black Plague, the Wars of the Roses, and Cholesterol. Moreover, both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are Boomers, which proves . . . absolutely nothing, but they think it does.

I responded to the first barrage of Flamelets – (for my Fight-Flamers Game Plan, see below) – with a link to my Anti-Boomer propaganda story and several of my own canned answers for dealing with criticism aimed at Boomers.

Predictably, Moe and Manny went on to attack me – my integrity, my scholarship, my ancestry, my hairdo, and my taste in breakfast cereal. Actually, their main attack centered on the fact that one of these two gentlemen – I believe it was Moe – had attempted to post a couple of Flaming Anti-Boomer comments on my blogsite, and I zapped him, which is my right as a website owner.

I made one additional post specifically aimed at this Fireball, stating that not only do I moderate my own blogs, I strongly suggest that others do the same. And I pointed out that M&M’s hero, President Obama – also a Baby Boomer, by the way – now moderates all of his websites at the White House. So call me Obama-like in my decision.

Manny and Moe disregarded the analogy and went on Flaming – but I decided not to participate further, nor did any other poster. So for the next two weeks, Moe and Manny continued their Flame-throwing dialogue, talking to each other, possibly without a single outside observer, and turned their Flamefest into a hundred-comment extravaganza. Alas, it’s been removed from the site now, or I would gladly link you to it, as a sort of relic.

Bring in the Clones

An even funnier Flamefest is in motion right now, at the date of publication of this story. I don’t think I’ll tell you where – think of it as a Treasure Hunt – but the venue is a political discussion board at a social media site. The topic which started this particular Comments thread is by now lost in prehistory, but the thread has now reached the 80-plus posts point. What makes it so hilarious is that there are – as in the Manny and Moe scenario – now only two posters left in the stream, trading virulent insults with positive glee. The twist is that these two “opposing” Flamers are almost certainly the exact same real person. A Man and his Clone, together at last.

The “Man” in question – I’ve confirmed he does exist – is quite intelligent, a Harvard grad in his early 30’s. The “Clone” is his Avatar, in the three-dimensional, rather than graphic, sense: a distinct Internet personality created by its user to represent him/her/it in Web interactions. Avatars like this are the essence of Virtual World-type communities, like Second Life, and various multiplayer games, like World of Warcraft.

I’m sure that the Man and the Clone are one in the same, because He/They have made multiple verbal slips in their Flame-Party-A-Deux. Sometimes, the Man (let’s call him Ralph) claims credit for remarks the Clone (let’s call him Rafe) has made and vice versa. Or Rafe insults Ralph insults Rafe for characteristics of “background” or “opinion” formerly attributed to the other.

Possibly, this is all preparation for a Hollywood blockbuster – or a political coup. One can’t be sure.

The moderator of this discussion board may have declined to intercede in this split-personality Flame thread because (s)he found it entertaining and/or mind-boggling. The moderator of the Manny-Moe Flamerama inspired by my article probably should have intervened and doused – i.e. deleted – the conflagration as soon as it included malicious insults.

As I have said elsewhere, most discussion board and other group moderators don’t take this facet of their responsibilities seriously enough. They don’t consider the emotional distress Internet bullying, sometimes escalating to character assassination, can cause, even among we sane and stable adults who make up the majority of Internet participants.

And by not choosing to Just Say No to Nastiness, they may be encouraging Flamers to continue in their dubious careers of Cyber-Sadism.

But We Who Have Felt the Burn can certainly do our part to douse the flames.

The Little Man Behind the Screen

Remember the denouement of the Wizard of Oz? Toto kicks over a screen to reveal the Wizard as a shriveled up, rather pathetic-looking little man, whose manifestations of power are nothing more than magic tricks.

Flamers are just junior Wizards, whose power is illusory, based as it is on a certain facility to string hurtful words together, reinforced by what are clearly sociopathic tendencies.

Your concern as a writer or website owner isn’t with the Flamer or Flamers, anyway. It’s with your audience of readers, potential readers, or website visitors. You don’t want to have them shun you because of lies and character assassination coming from your attackers. But you don’t want to participate in a “volley” of exchanges with your Flamers, either – because if you do, it may go on for years!

On your website or blogsite itself, there’s the simplest of solutions: Insist on moderating your own Comments streams. Allow in comments which disagree with your text or ideas, if they are made honestly in the spirit of discussion and debate. But simply zap comments which are irrelevant to your text, insult entire groups of people, or insult you.

“I find a logical flaw in your argument about aardvarks with leprosy,” is OK. “Dentists are aardvarks with leprosy,” “Romanians are aardvarks with leprosy” or “You are an aardvark with leprosy” are not.

In a social media discussion thread or the Comments section of a News feed, the situation is more difficult, because you don’t moderate the site. You can try appealing to whomever does moderate it to delete posts from Flamers. Good Luck! I have found that most site moderators either don’t care, are too busy, or – quite often – believe that a Flame Exchange brings new readers to their group and is therefore positive.

Your real concern is that Flamers might be taken seriously enough by the rest of the group that they’re persuaded not to read your article or visit your website.

So I suggest you post once – sometimes twice – politely but firmly stating why you believe whatever the heck they’re saying is all wet. If you can deflate them with wit or humor, that is a definite plus:

“No, our site was not designed by a ten-year-old. Stanislaus is 43, lives in Cleveland, and won the Website of the Century award last year.”

“There are 80 million Baby Boomers in the US. Surely, you’re not suggesting all of us are cannibals?”

“My parents are not a gangster and a chorus girl. Dad is a veterinarian, and Mom owns a dress shop.”

Then, painful as it is, just walk away.

Possibly, they’ll say more cruel, nasty things about you. Possibly they’ll continue saying them for weeks, like Manny and Moe, or Ralph and His Clone.

But you won’t be there to hear them.

What Do You Think?

Have you been the victim of Internet Flamers? OK – Of course, you have! But tell us about the most interesting, horrible, or funny incidents.

Should moderators of social media groups and message boards be compelled by top site management to delete posts that insult or damage the reputations of group members?

Should web security organizations or law enforcement agencies step in and stop the activities of perpetual Flamers?

What do you think motivates the typical Flamer? Does their existence indicate greater problems on the Internet or within our society?

Should Ralph and his Clone be given a Hollywood contract?

For the Introduction to the Media Revolution series: http://wp.me/pycK6-1Y

For our story about False Spam Accusations as Political Weapons: http://wp.me/pycK6-21

For Ellen’s popular article, “Will Boomers and the GOP Save Twitter? http://wp.me/pxD3J-K

Sebastian Flame!  Quite a homoerotic pic from young Sebastian. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Sebastian+flame&init=quick#/profile.php?id=1851009832&ref=search&sid=817573319.4140530850..1

If your Representative or Senator is supporting Waxman-Markey and Obama Care, or wavering on the fence, leaning toward a yes vote, and if you are too delicate of personality or polite to tell him or her directly where to go, relief is at hand.

A new blog page has been posted, which states with brevity and clarity, the reasons for rejecting both power grab proposals and displays in large, bold type, a profane execration expressing absolute rejection of the proposed legislation.

The page’s url is: http://snooper.wordpress.com/hell-no/ .  The direct link to the execration is: http://snooper.wordpress.com/hell-no/#Clarity . You can insert a hyperlink into a plain text email by using these html tags:

• <a href=”http://snooper.wordpress.com/hell-no/”>the bottom line</a>
• <a href=”http://snooper.wordpress.com/hell-no/#Clarity”>the bottom line</a>

Substitute your choice of link text for “the bottom line” in the a link. If you use the second form above, the recipient who clicks the link will see the big, bold, bright execration right up front.  If you use the first form, your recipient will see the pretext before scrolling down to the curse.

So, this is my first official post on my new blog. I hope people are able to find it alright, although I know a few people are going to be super peaved at me for moving, but I do ask that you change my link if you were so kind as to link me. I would be forever greatful, as I do not want to lose the few viewers that I do have.

For those of you that don’t already know. I am gay. That’s the first time I’ve really said it online, or even to this ‘magnitude’ of people. It is much easier to type it than it is to say it. All I have to do is push publish. But that is yet to come.
——-
So just a week or two ago I found out that one of my coworkers is gay. He is a really great guy. The only thing that bothers me is how much of a flamer he is. I never realized it before. If someone hadn’t said something to me I never would have known. But he is a hair stylist and is always talking about people’s hair and how awful or gorgeous they look. He carries himself very well and is clearly a gay guy once you start to watch him.

He is really a nice guy and he and his partner got a house about 2 hours away from where we work now. So I am disappointed I am extremely jealous of him, though. He has a partner, someone he can spend all his time and life with. He has a house to live in, a job that he enjoys… In my opinion he’s got it all.

I wish I could be that stereotypical gay guy. One that likes to go to gay clubs, dance and party all night with people I barely know. I wish I knew a damn thing about style or clothes or hair or anything. I wish I wasn’t an overweight workaholic American. Why the hell make me gay and give me none of the benefits?!?

I wish I was a flamer.

From My own site

I totally agree that the family of the child who killed herself need some sort of comfort knowing the death of their child can be turned into something good. I would want the same, but these people who are backing this do not understand how the internet works. The description is to broad and vague. There are tons of boys and girls who learn so much every day with just a simple battle of witts. Arguing, flaming and trolling on the internet. It opens their minds to a new range of thought. Without conflict and contrast, we all agree. If we all agree we do not learn from each other. Some people learn from a pleasant suggestion, many learn from brute force. Telling someone they are a moron for thinking the world is flat, pretty much tells the world ” hey don’t bother with this thread, this guys is a joke” . If it was not for the flamers, our world would only be trolls.
Here is an explanation of a troll .

And no im not a rude evil person to attack anyone. but i do want to defend myself from those who “killem with kindness” aka “trolls”

FOXNews.com – 4/13/09

President Obama’s pledge to open the White House up to the public through online forums faces an irksome challenge: a plague of Internet “trolls” — troublemakers who work to derail cyber-conversations through harassing and inflammatory posts.

The problem became immediately apparent last month when Obama held an online “town hall” forum on the economy and invited the public to post questions on the White House Web site.

Those questions, in turn, were voted on by users to determine which ones the president would answer.

Three and a half million people participated in the event, but the “trolls” had their way: Following a coordinated campaign by marijuana advocates to vote their topic to the top of the list, questions on the future of the U.S. dollar and the rising unemployment rate were superseded by questions about legalizing pot as an economic remedy.

The president himself had a good laugh about the volume of marijuana-related questions, saying, “I don’t know what this says about the online audience — we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.”

But the die was cast. Through a perfectly legal “underground” campaign, a relatively insignificant question had risen to the top.

For the White House, the question was not so much how to answer it — but what to do about it, and how to prevent it in the future.

Unlike privately run Web sites, whose managers are free to remove nettlesome material, the White House finds itself searching for a way to combat these disruptive users without infringing on their right to free speech and inciting cries of censorship.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that freedom-of-speech laws apply to the Internet after the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government over a federal law that would have criminalized the online transmission of obscene or explicit content.

“The law is well established, which doesn’t mean government actors aren’t going to try to restrict speech on the Internet, and that has happened,” said Aden Fine, an attorney with the ACLU. “Restricting speech on the Internet is something we all need to be concerned about.”

With all eyes on its cyber-presence, the White House will have to tread carefully.

Government institutions have the right to remove obscenities or limit comments to a specific subject area, but they are limited in their ability to remove comments that are merely repetitive or disruptive, said John Morris, legal counsel to the Center for Democracy and Technology.

“If the comment is on topic, they won’t be able to remove that without raising some constitutional issues,” he said. “Say they did a forum on national security issues, and activists say Guantanamo needs to be closed next month and not next year, and they flood the forum.

“It’s on topic and they’re not violating obscenity rules,” explained Morris. “The government would have a difficult time pulling it down.”

Ever since the first Usenet group was created in 1979, Web administrators have been contending with “trolls.”

In 1998 Judith Donath, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chronicled various cases, including one where a troll logged on to a brides’ forum and assumed the persona of an upper-crust matron, admonishing other users for supposed breaches of etiquette such as using a laser printer for their invitations rather than an engraver.

“Responding to a troll is very tempting, especially since these posts are designed to incite,” Donath wrote. “Yet this is where the troll can cause the most harm, by diverting the discussion off the newsgroup topic and into a heated argument.

“Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players.”

But scrubbing trolls’ comments from a site presents a whole new challenge. And considering the increasing role online discussion board and forums play in people’s lives, many don’t consider it a laughing matter.

While Obama’s marijuana advocates wouldn’t technically be considered trolls, who are defined by their lack of definitive positions and a simple desire for disorder, these special-interest groups do muddle the president’s message and related discourse.

How the White House will handle those and other disturbances in the future poses a conundrum.

Methodologies to control online discussion boards and forums are wide-ranging — including everything from filters that keep out spam and obscenities, to more advanced software that analyzes language for an overly negative or harassing tone that a Web administrator might choose to flag.

Many sites allow users to assess the value of other posts and determine their prominence in the forum, in effect creating an online democracy.

But even that can prove problematic, as evidenced by Obama’s first online Q&A last month.

Daniel Ha, CEO and founder of the Web site management company Disqus, said he was generally impressed with the White House’s online savvy, but that there was still work to be done.

“Content submitted by other people is really hard to — I don’t want to say control, but maintain and set a quality to,” Ha said. “A lot of the issues they’re going to have to address as they go along. [An online forum] is just a medium. It’s the same as if they held a rally in the park and people started making noise. That problem is going to exist no matter where you do it.”

Morris said he didn’t see any legal issues with using software to manage the forum, as long as the software was “viewpoint neutral.”

“If you have software that looks at repetitive and harassing comments, regardless of the content, that’s something the government can do,” he said.

A White House spokesman did not respond to specific questions about what online tools they were using, only saying, “we are continuing to explore ways to use the Internet to increase the American people’s access to the government and to engage with them about the challenges facing our country.”

“People were informed that this was a community-moderated system, and people should remember that even though they may not like the viewpoint behind someone’s question, everyone has a right to their opinion.”

No announcement has been made on the date of the next White House online forum.

alright, it was trolls and not orcs. i just wanted to have a LOTR joke in here somewhere. it seems that those pesky marijuana advocates are doing their damnedest to muck things up again. this time, they’re striking through the internet! oh, the horror!

well, my vote goes to subversion.

VIA Politico.com

POLITICO claims the White House is now backing away from attacks on Rush Limbaugh, as only two things have come from the President of the United States personally attacking a radio host in Florida:

(1) Rush’s ratings have doubled since these attacks began

(2) Obama has looked stupid lowering the presidency to a shouting match with Limbaugh

And that’s not a slam on Limbaugh, who is very good at what he does, which is being a controversial radio host. 

The President of the United States needs to debate foreign leaders, policy opponents of great stature, and other high-ranking leaders of note.  

A radio host, no matter how popular, should not be elevated to the presidential level. 

And the person clearly behind this bizarre Obama strategy must be Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, and former Juliard ballet dancer.  This is just the sort of reckless, combatative thing he enjoys – revels in, actually. 

Expect an endless stream of episodes like this for the next 4 years. 

Punctuated by sailor-blushing tirades of the bluest language imaginable. 

None of it will make any sense, the White House will engage in petty and vindictive feuds straight out of amateur hour, and the media will gleefully fan all of Emanual’s flames. 

And all of us here in Chicago know what a fabulous flamer Rahm Emanuel can be.

Your beloved DI staff (truth be told just me), after much deliberation, has picked the next class of inductees for the exclusive DI Hall of Fame. All right, I used my DI presidential authority in this induction process, so the blame is all mine if it goes south. These few individuals have over the years received a bad rap from most of the homophobic populace due to their sexual orientation, or hint at sexual orientation, or the fact that they based their entire careers off of “assisting men that are comfortable with their own sexuality to get in women’s pants faster” kind of music. As I may not personally agree with what some of them do on their own time, I do have the upmost respect for their professional careers, which has produced some of the greatest music our generation will ever have the privilege of listening to. No matter what they do behind closed doors at night, what they have done for the music industry is warrant enough for induction into our HOF.

Barry Manilow – duel entry, as Barry is famous on two different playing fields. First and foremost, Mr. Manilow the singer/songwriter/musician/kick ass entertainer performed greats such as Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head, Cant Help Falling in Love, Cant Take my Eyes off You, and remade the Righteous Brothers You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, just another reason that made Top Gun an all time great candidate. Joined the ranks of Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, and Johnny Mathis as the only entertainers to have five, count em five, albums on the best selling charts at the same time. Manilow also assisted in the clean up of Hurricane Katrina , matching dollar for dollar his fans donations to the American Red Cross. Once pissed off Donald Trump, skipping on an event and keeping the front money for nearly a month, which shows that this dude isn’t scared of much. Next, Barry Manilow also starred in the hit movie Road Trip a hilarious comedy about all kinds of dumb crap. Barry got bit in the hand by a boa constrictor, grabbed his bum several times on camera, and made out with a freakishly hot red head near the closing credits. Barry/Barry, welcome to the Hall of Fame.

Elton John – arguably the greatest performer of all time, definitely in the same league as the likes of Michael Jackson, David Lee Roth & Tom Hanks, John has tuned his vocal chords in order to make the sweet sounds of instant classics (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie and the Jets, Rocket Man, Candle in the Wind, Daniel, I Guess That’s Why They call it the Blues, I’m Still Standing, Honky Cat, Tiny Dancer, Someone Saved my Life Tonight, we could go on all night); assisted in the writing portion for the songs in the ’94 kids classic The Lion King (honestly, how many of you heard or knew what Hakuna Matata meant before Mr. John gave you that sample). This is not the first HOF nod for Elton, as he is a deserving member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. John also established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, pumping in a considerable amount of his own dough to assist in the worldwide fight of the deadly disease. And last but certainly not least, you must address him by the title Sir , as John was knighted by the monarch of England showing his true kickassness.

Neil Diamond – chosen for not only his superior vocals and performance characteristics, but he is also the reason for a pretty good flick in Saving Silverman, a movie about three grown men infatuated with the legendary singer/performer/kick ass entertainer. Provided the introduction for Elton John’s first American soil concert, one of the other inductees. Personally looks like he could hold his own in a bar fight, making him the man of this induction class. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in ’84, which may be a little more special than this one, but we wont hold that against him. His music is responsible for such great things as the theme song for the Red Sox Nation (even though he cheers for the wrong New York City baseball team, go Mets), soundtrack additions to “one of the greatest kick ass movies ever” Pulp Fiction, and inspired UB 40 to actually create something that would stick in Red Red Wine. Absolute classics such as Sweet Caroline, Oh Mary, and Evermore are just a taste of what Mr. Diamond in the rough of the music industry gave to us.

While these men do not possess qualities such as Chuck Norris or Rambo, they have displayed such qualities deserving the ultimate recognition, the introduction into the DI HOF. Welcome, and enjoy the company.

Your beloved DI staff (truth be told just me), after much deliberation, has picked the next class of inductees for the exclusive DI Hall of Fame. All right, I used my DI presidential authority in this induction process, so the blame is all mine if it goes south. These few individuals have over the years received a bad rap from most of the homophobic populace due to their sexual orientation, or hint at sexual orientation, or the fact that they based their entire careers off of “assisting men that are comfortable with their own sexuality to get in women’s pants faster” kind of music. As I may not personally agree with what some of them do on their own time, I do have the upmost respect for their professional careers, which has produced some of the greatest music our generation will ever have the privilege of listening to. No matter what they do behind closed doors at night, what they have done for the music industry is warrant enough for induction into our HOF.

Barry Manilow – duel entry, as Barry is famous on two different playing fields. First and foremost, Mr. Manilow the singer/songwriter/musician/kick ass entertainer performed greats such as Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head, Cant Help Falling in Love, Cant Take my Eyes off You, and remade the Righteous Brothers You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, just another reason that made Top Gun an all time great candidate. Joined the ranks of Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, and Johnny Mathis as the only entertainers to have five, count em five, albums on the best selling charts at the same time. Manilow also assisted in the clean up of Hurricane Katrina , matching dollar for dollar his fans donations to the American Red Cross. Once pissed off Donald Trump, skipping on an event and keeping the front money for nearly a month, which shows that this dude isn’t scared of much. Next, Barry Manilow also starred in the hit movie Road Trip a hilarious comedy about all kinds of dumb crap. Barry got bit in the hand by a boa constrictor, grabbed his bum several times on camera, and made out with a freakishly hot red head near the closing credits. Barry/Barry, welcome to the Hall of Fame.

Elton John – arguably the greatest performer of all time, definitely in the same league as the likes of Michael Jackson, David Lee Roth & Tom Hanks, John has tuned his vocal chords in order to make the sweet sounds of instant classics (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie and the Jets, Rocket Man, Candle in the Wind, Daniel, I Guess That’s Why They call it the Blues, I’m Still Standing, Honky Cat, Tiny Dancer, Someone Saved my Life Tonight, we could go on all night); assisted in the writing portion for the songs in the ’94 kids classic The Lion King (honestly, how many of you heard or knew what Hakuna Matata meant before Mr. John gave you that sample). This is not the first HOF nod for Elton, as he is a deserving member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. John also established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, pumping in a considerable amount of his own dough to assist in the worldwide fight of the deadly disease. And last but certainly not least, you must address him by the title Sir , as John was knighted by the monarch of England showing his true kickassness.

Neil Diamond – chosen for not only his superior vocals and performance characteristics, but he is also the reason for a pretty good flick in Saving Silverman, a movie about three grown men infatuated with the legendary singer/performer/kick ass entertainer. Provided the introduction for Elton John’s first American soil concert, one of the other inductees. Personally looks like he could hold his own in a bar fight, making him the man of this induction class. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in ’84, which may be a little more special than this one, but we wont hold that against him. His music is responsible for such great things as the theme song for the Red Sox Nation (even though he cheers for the wrong New York City baseball team, go Mets), soundtrack additions to “one of the greatest kick ass movies ever” Pulp Fiction, and inspired UB 40 to actually create something that would stick in Red Red Wine. Absolute classics such as Sweet Caroline, Oh Mary, and Evermore are just a taste of what Mr. Diamond in the rough of the music industry gave to us.

While these men do not possess qualities such as Chuck Norris or Rambo, they have displayed such qualities deserving the ultimate recognition, the introduction into the DI HOF. Welcome, and enjoy the company.

FLAMER

Raça: Orc Shaman

Classe: Dominator

Profissão Viscount

Titulo Flamer s2 Fael

PK’s: 36

PVP: 45

Sub’s Sagittarius – lvl: 76

uma frase: em CHAMAS…

Very Bloody Marys

I’ve owed M. Christian this review for a very long time and since it’s not timely with the release (2007 by Haworth Positronic Press), then why not a review in time for that holiday shopping list? And a huge mea culpa–I didn’t realize it had been that long. I still owe you.

From the title you might think this is about drinking, or murderous monarchs. If you thought one of these, you’re close to the heart of the matter. But really it’s both, about bloodthirsty vampire queens. Some are not so much queen as just murderous gay vampires. If you’re familiar with M. Christian’s work, you know he’s a prolific writer, and his writing includes erotic tales straight, gay, lesbian, etc. He’s very versatile. So I confess to thinking this book would be about gay vampires with  a lot of erotica thrown in. Though it has sensuous details this is more the tale of a gay vampire trying to gain experience as a detective. It’s a murder mystery with the supernatural thrown in.

While vampire detectives are not necessarily new, a gay vampire detective is. Valentino is thrust into the crime scene on a personal level, since his mentor is missing. And the crime scene: Vespa scooting vampires are killing the folks of San Francisco and risking the outing of all vampires, who tend to live by a code so that they aren’t hunted down. Coupled with mentor Pogue’s disappearance, Valentino has two mysteries to figure out.

The book opens with three different beginnings as Valentino tries on his authorial voice. This sets the tone, and gives this character high twinkiness. Valentino is a flamer, vapid and vain. The character was so irritating and flittythat I nearly put the book down, but his way in the world was intriguing. I think M. Christian might have cut it down a bit but then I realized there is a good reason about a quarter of the way into the book on why Valentino is acting this way. He comes to discover what’s been done to him and his personality deepens as it’s unlayered.

Valentino relies on other supernatural help and Christian’s writing uses some very descriptive phrases. For being an undead guy, Valentino is vibrantly alive and given to over verbosity that doesn’t stop in describing his zombie driver: “One time–big shudder here–I had caught a look at his eyes, two puss-filled boiled-egg eyes staring, unblinking, straight ahead, and didn’t sleep well for a week.” Of course that should be pus-filled not eyes with cats in them, but I blame the publisher for not putting a proofreader on it or maybe they did and missed it. There are very few typos, which is a good thing.

You get a good sense of Valentino’s world as he sees it. “Finally, the Brass Ass of the Great Emancipator (Abraham Lincoln) led me through silverfish heaven to a narrow doorway between the piles…In it was Saul, tarnished silver hair, rainbow sweater unwinding in spots into primary colors, brittle bones showing where unwinding yarn couldn’t hide it, eyes like bleached robin’s eggs, Indian blanket in his lap hiding the bones I knew weren’t just brittle but also didn’t work, and, because of those legs, an ancient wheelchair.”It took me a moment to realize he meant realbones, not bony legs; the visual setting is very concrete.

Much of Valentino’s descriptions go into overdrive, with buckets of adjectives. They hit their height when he’s talking about his lover, Julian. “Oh oh oh Julian Julian Julian–beloved, adored, venerated companion, compadre, mate, playmate, partner, betrothed, idol, best friend, love, lover–oh oh oh Julian Julian Julian…” A bit much? Yes, but then this is the turning point for Valentino.

Events pick up with dire and catastrophic discoveries. I don’t want to give it away but let’s just say the Very Bloody Marys are brutal, relentless, sociopathic, fashion sensitive vampires. As the fog clears from Valentino’s eyes he finds his world isn’t as he suspected. Sure it still has a few supernatural beings but all is not what it seems. He still richly describes things but there is a darker vein now to the vampire detective’s perspective. “The inky blackness didn’t so much as run as steadily walk out of that doorway. A pooling, a billowing, a smoking, and then up and into arms and legs and a wide-brimmed hat pulled down over hooded eyes.”

When  Valentino runs into Ombre, even the supernatural shade notices something has changed though the gay vampire tries to hide it. “It’s just that you seem different somehow. The flippancy is still there, that much is clear, but it’s like something else is missing.”

And Valentino has changed on several levels. In the process of discovering what has happened to Pogue, being threatened with permanent annihilation and in stopping the brutal gang, he earns his wings. He solves the mysteries, stops the Marys and finally grows up a bit after 200 years. M. Christian wraps up the tale in a very satisfying and unpredictable way. It’s one of the many bright spots in the story; very little is predictable. You won’t see this as another tired take on the vampire trope. It’s refreshingly bright and if not a complete happy ending, one with suitable revenge.

If you’re looking for a good, fast paced read, or if you like mystery or fantasy or gay fiction. Or if you just want something different and new, this book will be as satisfying as a vampire’s first drink of blood.

The Very Bloody Marys, M. Christian, 2007 Haworth Press Inc. ISBN: 9781560235354

M. Christian’s site: http://zobop.blogspot.com/

Un personaggio pubblico come Beppe Grillo assume per un verso il ruolo di sportello di una nuova banca dell’ira, i cui correntisti ideali sono gli insoddisfatti, i disillusi da sempre, i più-oltre. Coloro che magari già da tempo non votano. Ma quando dichiara che il suo movimento è contro la politica, entra nel gioco politico, ndo anche partito: Norberto Bobbio avvertiva che chi dice di non essere né di destra né di sinistra, è di destra.
Denunciare va bene; attaccare anche aspramente le posizioni politiche degli altri è naturale. Evocare però castelli di rabbia, temporali d’ira dalle piazze per poi disperderli, bruciandoli nell’invettiva catartica, è un’operazione – come si diceva un tempo – oggettivamente conservatrice, nel senso che favorisce senz’altro lo status quo, non capitalizzando e non facendo fruttare psicopoliticamente l’energia timotica dei delusi e degli irati. Esponendosi a critiche simili a quelle che i comunisti muovevano un tempo agli anarchici.
Personaggi politici come Giannini dell’Uomo Qualunque eo Beppe Grillo si pongono quindi come diretti avversari delle banche dell’ira, scegliendo un’ottica radicalmente antipartitica ed anti-economica: la protesta urlata, “de core”, funziona benissimo da valvola di sfogo del potere, viene vissuta dal Centro come un salutare allentarsi della tensione d’assedio. Cento Grilli bastano a disfare il lavoro di mille cicale della rivoluzione e del riformismo progressista.
Peraltro, la società dei due terzi è solleticata quotidianamente dalla televisione, specie dalle reti Mediaset, con programmi flamer come Striscia la notizia o Le jene. Che denunciano, spesso sulla base di fatti, storture e privilegi; ma una cui funzione non secondaria è proprio il tener alto il livello d’ira, il furore contro. Va da sé che l’intero palinsesto accompagna queste punte timotiche: titoli e servizi del TG2 e del TG4 sono spesso più efficaci di un’invettiva dello Sgarbi di turno.
La risposta sembrerebbe affidata a trasmissioni come Annozero, Ballarò o Report. Che mobilitano altrettanta rabbia sul fronte opposto, anzi: che a volte, ed in misura e con qualità diversa, riescono anche ad approfondire le ragioni del disamore nei confronti della malapolitica e della cattiva amministrazione, senza fare di ogni erba un fascio. Ma alle quali manca il più delle volte poi una sponda, un referente politico capace di far fruttare la denuncia dando una risposta progressista; mentre sul versante conservatore sono attivi collettori efficaci quanto il Partito delle Libertà e la Lega, capacissimi di introiettare dagli spettacoli televisivi queste passioni-contro e di tenerle vive.

Stessa mimica di Grillo, diversa capacità politica

Nei palinsesti, esistono anzi ormai una serie di palestre dell’ira che allenano gli spettatori alla rabbia, all’eccesso, all’attacco urlato, cosicché poi scatti più facilmente il riflesso identificativo nel momento in cui è il commissario ad acta dell’ira a dare il là. Questi sparring partner delle passioni timotiche affollano i palinsesti RAI e Mediaset.   Ecco la funzione principale di trasmissioni come Uomini e donne e Amici della de Filippi (una razionale e sagace incubatrice delle tensioni interpersonali) e di “opinionisti” come Vittorio Sgarbi, Raffaello Tonon, Antonella Elia,  provocatori esperti, in grado di scatenare effimere risse televisive su temi di nessuna importanza – intuizione, questa delle risse televisive, rivendicata da Maurizio Costanzo.
Vedremo in seguito quanto abbia contato, nel caso americano, la consapevolezza e l’affidabilità di una strategia di comunicazione ben programmata in un programma politico come quello dei repubblicani nell’era post-reaganiana. La riflessione di George Lakoff sarà l’esempio prescelto per mostrare quali considerazioni si possano fare per contrastare un programma conservatore ben orchestrato.
Resta sullo sfondo, davvero altra, la levatura dei banchieri storici dell’ira capaci di ragionare con la freddezza di un Wladimir Uljanov Lenin dopo l’impiccagione del fratello Alexander, attentatore fallito dello Zar Alessandro III: consapevoli che chi riesce a rinunciare all’assassinio del principe, ottiene infatti un giorno, come supplemento al potere conquistato, la salma del principe.

 And if you’re looking for a holiday card that’s fabulous for gays and lesbians, as well as their family and friends, we’ve got a great little collection of gingerbread (and snow folks) dykes n’ daddies this year! Blank inside, you can use them as greeting cards or party invitations. The designs (more than you see here, by the way) are available not just greeting cards, either, but on all kinds of products at our Zazzle store, including magnets and T-shirts. You can show your pride with a sprinkle of tinsel and a big seasonal smile!

Daemons are the..cute(?) things that I´m able to conjure, like Horrors. Here´s one: http://vnmedia.ign.com/screenshots/warhammer/39574714.jpg

Also, I can summon a Flamer at a higher rank:

http://bigtmac68.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/flamer_lg.jpg

Ain´t she a beauty? Not really, no.However though, these little guys can be very useful on the battlefield. So, the Magus is kind of like a……  WARNING!!WOW-RELATED TEXT APPROACHING!!

Like a……..Warlock.

Hi everyone, my name is Ian, and I’m a gamer. But not just a gamer…I’m a gamerholic…

Crowd: “Hi Ian”

…And not only do I play games a lot, I also have a fairly strong competitive streak in me, something which means I’m not always just playing for enjoyment…often I’m playing to WIN. Now until the last year or so, this wasn’t a massive problem in my life…most of my games were simple PC or console games and rarely did I get the opportunity to play with or against other people.
And then the internet arrived.

Admittedly, my first forays into multiplayer gaming left me feeling shaky and nervous. I was no longer playing against souless bots. At the other end of my gun, army or chessboard were living, breathing people. Or so I thought.

Cue my introduction to the typical gamer. This is perhaps best illustrated by an equation described by “John Gabriel” of Penny Arcade fame whereby…

Normal Person + Anonymonity + Audience = Complete Losebags (to use a term coined by the other half of OMS)

Almost everyone who has ever played an online game has experienced someone who fits the above description…indeed, youtube is literally brimming with prime examples for your viewing pleasure.

The problem is I’ve started to notice some of the common…symptoms of this disease…in my own nature. The aggressiveness in my general tone, the episodic flaming, the suggestions that “noobs” should RTFM…yes, even verbal assaults based upon fictitious relationships with their mothers.

My diagnosis? The main game of offence is highly focused upon teamplay, and having reached a level where I feel that I’m rarely the weakest link the chain, I have ironically turned heel and become the drill master, the school bully, picking on the weak and weedy.

The cure? Two-fold. A much needed break from gaming, at the very least the game in question, and a return to either single player games where I…and only I…am responsible for my own downfall, or other multiplayer games where I am as much a bottom feeder as anyone else.

Till such times…my best advice is avoid me, lest I tell you where to go…noob.

Trying to Stay classy,
Ian

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