More discussion on an extreme-skier's death (2 April 2009)

re: “It frustrates me that so many are quick to judge those who are killed doing dangerous outdoor sports. I sometimes wonder if they would be happier if the youth only got their inspiration from mass-murder video games, ultimate fighting, and crystal meth.” (Armor de Cosmos, response to post, “Vancouver Ski Legend Dead at 39,” The Tyee, April 2, 2009)

Hey Armor. Some of us aren't quite sure if there's a whole heap of difference in the phenomenological experience of extreme skiing and engaging "obstacles" in hyper-violent video games. If you can argue the case, go ahead. Strikes me that pretty much all the soldiery you play in first-person games, are unshaven but it in great shape, and engage with villains amidst awe-inspiring scenery. I actually think a lot of good things can go on in these games, but it is the kind of epic aesthetic that appeals to the militant as much or more to the peace-loving environmentalist -- no? (Wasn't nazi-youth all into fresh air, and crisp, manly, mountain climbs?) And again your take reminds me of my concerns with Geoff's: apparently to some extreme skiers have inspired, the alternative to the pure, manly "pioneer," is either (with Geoff) pathetic laziness or (with yourself) drugged-up decipatedness. (And yes, society right now is getting to like the idea of shaping up youth and creating a more pure society: which, since it's the mentality that's everywhere just before a nation gets seriously militant, is very much our collective, concerned problem.)

That you're grateful that people like Shane showed you what is possible, is very much the appropriate reaction for you, though. I'm glad people like Shane have showed many that life can be exhilarating self-actualizing. But they shouldn't shy away from a thorough exploration of the motivations behind such charged, aggressive, embattled fun

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re: The B.C. tradition of extreme skiing is strictly a peace and love aesthetic. Shane was part of that tradition.

It's not that I want to "shy away" from discussing the motivations behind "such charged, aggressive, embattled," activities; it's just that I know that is not what the culture is about.

Don't believe everything you see on TV, Mac. I'd suggest instead that you go take a hike. Trust me, it won't make you a war-monger.” (Armor de Cosmos)

Lately in threads were hearing from soldiers who are saying that the infantry is primarily about helping people and promoting peace, and from extreme skiers, that their sport is all about brotherly strolls, ease, peace and love. Hmm . . . Might it be fair to conclude that the most accurate take might actually come from those who see things from a distance (like, on T.V.), rather than from within?

An extreme-skier advocate isn't one to "shy away" from anything. I get it, and perhaps regret my use of the term. Still, I think to present a more plausible case you should explained exactly why the sport got to be called "extreme" in the first place? Isn't the extreme label used 'cause the sport wants to see itself as well-beyond ordinary limits, beyond what the rest of sport offers and the rest of us can handle? And isn't this charged, aggressive -- macho -- stuff? And isn't this what the military advertises itself as offering?

Link: Vancouver Ski Legend Dead at 39 (The Tyee)

Link: Who don't do the dew (Open Salon)

Discussion over the fate of Jolenta, at the Gene Wolfe facebook appreciation site

Patrick McEvoy-Halston November 28 at 10:36 AM Why does Severian make almost no effort to develop sustained empathy for Jolenta -- no interest in her roots, what made her who she was -- even as she features so much in the first part of the narrative? Her fate at the end is one sustained gross happenstance after another... Severian has repeated sex with her while she lay half drugged, an act he argues later he imagines she wanted -- even as he admits it could appear to some, bald "rape" -- but which certainly followed his discussion of her as someone whom he could hate so much it invited his desire to destroy her; Severian abandons her to Dr. Talus, who had threatened to kill her if she insisted on clinging to him; Baldanders robs her of her money; she's sucked at by blood bats, and, finally, left at death revealed discombobulated of all beauty... a hunk of junk, like that the Saltus citizens keep heaped away from their village for it ruining their preferred sense ...

Salon discussion of "Almost Famous" gang-rape scene

Patrick McEvoy-Halston: The "Almost Famous'" gang-rape scene? Isn't this the film that features the deflowering of a virgin -- out of boredom -- by a pack of predator-vixons, who otherwise thought so little of him they were quite willing to pee in his near vicinity? Maybe we'll come to conclude that "[t]he scene only works because people were stupid about [boy by girl] [. . .] rape at the time" (Amy Benfer). Sawmonkey: Lucky boy Pull that stick a few more inches out of your chute, Patrick. This was one of the best flicks of the decade. (sawmonkey, response to post, “Films of the decade: ‘Amost Famous’, R.J. Culter, Salon, 13 Dec. 2009) Patrick McEvoy-Halston: @sawmonkey It made an impression on me too. Great charm. Great friends. But it is one of the things you (or at least I) notice on the review, there is the SUGGESTION, with him being so (rightly) upset with the girls feeling so free to pee right before him, that sex with him is just further presump...

The Conjuring

The Conjuring  I don't know if contemporary filmmakers are aware of it, but if they decide to set their films in the '70s, some of the affordments of that time are going to make them have to work harder to simply get a good scare from us. Who would you expect to have a more tenacious hold on that house, for example? The ghosts from Salem, or us from 2013, who've just been shown a New England home just a notch or two downscaled from being a Jeffersonian estate, that a single-income truck driver with some savings can afford? Seriously, though it's easy to credit that the father — Roger Perron—would get his family out of that house as fast as he could when trouble really stirs, we'd be more apt to still be wagering our losses—one dead dog, a wife accumulating bruises, some good scares to our kids—against what we might yet have full claim to. The losses will get their nursing—even the heavy traumas, maybe—if out of this we've still got a house—really,...

The Invisible Counterpoint

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