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The Republican Party’s Willful Ignorance Problem

March 25, 2012 / Matt / 0 Comments

In my opinion, there is no single entity more responsible for the dumbing down of America and the elevation of willful ignorance than the Republican Party. For decades now, the Republican Party has deliberately stoked fear and prejudice in order to put butts in the voting booth and no ruse has been deemed too ridiculous. (Death panels, anyone?)

For most of the modern era, however, the poor Republican patsies who have propped up the party have gotten next to nothing for their loyalty. They’ve been repeatedly baited to the voting booth by the hot-button issue du jour only to watch the nation continue to progress socially both without them and in spite of them. For instance, they’ve been unable to stop the spread of racial and gender equality; they’ve been unable to stem the tide of real religious freedom; they’ve stood by, helpless, as now even marriage equality rears its shining head in state after state. Time and again, they’ve been used by the cynical suits that run the Republican Party, only to see their ignorant, self-defeating dreams dashed against the rocks.

Until now.

The Lorax hates Android

February 10, 2012 / Matt

…and, apparently, any mobile OS other than IOS.

I’m actually kind of interested in seeing the upcoming CG version of the Dr. Seuss classic, but I’m perplexed as to why such a blockbuster film would have an Apple-only mobile version of its web site. I mean, even if Apple is giving Universal (or whoever) wads of cash for some kind of exclusive mobile deal, it still seems like a terrible idea to make your site available to only a fraction of the mobile web. Unless, of course, we’re talking really huge wads of cash, I guess. The kicker for me, though, is that the desktop version of the site is built in Flash. How weird is that?

Android: 'But I thought you liked green!'

Addendum

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, I tried to visit the official movie site on my Android phone and was greeted with this notice:

No Lorax for you!

Upon clicking “OK” I saw a lovely white screen. That’s it. No simplified version of the site, no hold page, not even any text. Just a blank white screen. And, see, here’s the thing: they are apparently proactively deciding not to show me any kind of site at all simply because I’m not visiting with an iPhone or iPad. It’s astonishing to me.

I know this doesn’t rise to the level of importance of, say, starving children in Africa, but I’m tempted to stage a boycott of the movie simply because of this practice. Yeah, I know: good luck with that. Nonetheless, the very idea of dividing up the web based on who has what device is completely contrary to the concepts of open standards, net neutrality and the like. It’s not a behavior I want to reward with my hard-earned dollars. It is kind of par for the course for Apple, however, although it’s still unclear to me exactly what – if anything – Apple has to do with this particular instance.

More Animate Pro drawing practice

February 8, 2012 / Matt

But only a very little bit. And, yeah, that’s a feeble attempt at a Preston Blair dog.

Animate Pro doodles

On a separate note, I saw this in an ad for some kind of fashion school. People actually pay money to learn how to turn women into hideous scarecrow rejects? And women actually let these people do this to them? I’ll never understand fashion. At least this model was smart enough to keep her face mostly hidden. Or is that the part that’s supposed to turn me on?