Play Podcast | “The Romney Tax”

When Governor Mitt Romney finally heeded to repeated calls from his opponents and the press to release his tax returns late last month, a flurry of even more media attention followed. Romney’s effective tax rate was 13.9 percent, and no one was happy about it. It was also determined that the GOP presidential contender isn’t just a member of the “one percent” of America’s highest earners—he’s in at least the top 0.006%. Needless to say, people weren’t happy about that either. But is this really something Romney did wrong—some kind of loophole or tax break from the rich—or was he just playing the name of the game? Lucky for us, Associate Professor of Economics Robert Rebelein looked through the 200-page document to help make sense of it all.

—”Primary Education” is a weekly podcast series covering the 2012 Election with Vassar’s professors

Thank you, Daniel. You’re welcome, Pamela.

In the far future, (We’re never told how far, and it really doesn’t matter), the biggest, baddest and most exciting underground street race in the galaxy is the Redline. Taking the best of the best from the qualifying events, this race is a twice-a-decade spectacular featuring fast cars and big explosions. JP, a cool dude with a sweet car and a rockin’ pompadour, has made it his life’s goal to win the Redline. There are just a few small problems. First, he has to win the Yellowline qualifier, past bloodthirsty opponents and his own past. Then, there’s the slight issue of where the organizers decided to hold the race: The friendly local totally-not-cyborg-Nazis-planet, Roboworld. As one might expect, Roboworld isn’t too happy about the racers, or the cameras following them exposing all their military secrets, and they’ve vowed to stop the race by any means…who am I kidding, by blowing up the racers.

Redline’s biggest draw, and probably the reason it took half a decade to complete, is how SHINY it is. It’s shiny, it’s loud, it’s a wild wild ride. The visuals are absolutely and completely stunning. Characters are well drawn and smoothly animated, the direction knows how to make full use of the visuals, and lest we forget, the races have a sense of overwhelming speed. To quote the Internet, “Every single frame is wallpaper quality!” The music complements the visuals well, though if you don’t like techno it might begin to grate after a while. Thankfully, the movie knows we need some time to recover from the trips that are the races, so in between the action are (relatively) quiet sections. These sections carry most of the weight for the plot, which is probably not going to be winning any awards. While there are some issues, like disappearing plot threads and some awkward parts, the film does quite a good job of compressing the plot into the quiet sections. You won’t be confused by the end, and let’s face it, you’ll be too busy picking your jaw up after the latest crazy stunt or astounding shot.

I think this sums it up. Fast cars, outrageous visuals, and a wicked pompadour.

All in all, if you’re looking for a fun movie to watch on a weekend, heat up some popcorn and check out Redline. It’s on Youtube for 4 bucks, although if you want to find it in the original Japanese you’re on your own. It’s not the deepest movie out there, but it’s good for a rush. (Oh, and if you watch the trailer it mentions Paprika. That’s a good alternative if you prefer plot to speed.)

Join me next week when I tell you all about Non-Con.

Nick Michel is a Junior STS major of Cushing. Seriously, Non-Con! It’s gonna be so sweet!

The story I’ve grown up hearing is that of “the Great Race” in which the emperor announces a race to his palace, and the order in which participants arrive will determine how time will be measured. The participants are animals who use strength, trickery, and intelligence to make their way to the finish line. The Chinese zodiac was determined by the order that the animals reached the finish line – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig – and the characteristics of those who are born in the years corresponding to the animal is partially reflected in the methods the creature used to will its way to the finish line. For instance, the rat tricked the ox into carrying him to the finish line, and those who are born in the year of the rat are now said to be intelligent, sociable, and charming, with a propensity towards manipulative and vindictive behavior. Similarly, at the beginning of each new year predictions for the year are made based on the zodiac sign and the traits of the zodiac animal. This year, an auspicious one, is the year of the dragon – a symbol of power and good fortune.

The traditions are innumerable and are all about ringing in the new year full of hope for prosperity, health, and happiness in the months to follow. But isn’t that what every culture’s new year is about? The major difference here is that the Chinese do everything they possibly can to facilitate the arrival of fortune in the new year.

For the first few days of the new year, no one is allowed to clean. All the cleaning must be done before the new year, lest you sweep your luck out of the house. If you, like me, are a neat freak and feel compelled to do some cleaning, you absolutely have to sweep all the dirt into a dustpan using sweeping motions that draw the dirt inwards, rather than outwards toward the door.

And over the fifteen days of non-stop eating, you should always have more rice, and never utter the word “full,” because fate might be listening and you may find yourself hungry in the future.

Food in general is a huge part of celebrating the new year, and everything has significance. Each of the fifteen days has a specific purpose, and generally a meal that is associated with it. The first few days are to be set aside for visiting the houses of your family members (in the order of eldest to youngest; however, everyone you visit is older than you, anyone younger than you should be coming to visit your home). Then there is “everybody’s birthday,” the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. And at all these meals everyone has un-cut noodles, for longevity; shrimp, for laughter because the Chinese word for prawn sounds like someone laughing; fish, for prosperity; and something sweet, for sweetness in the year to come.

For many, this is their favorite part of the year. In the first place, who doesn’t love a holiday? But the Lunar New Year really makes a strong case for itself. You get free money. All anyone wants you to do is eat. You are prohibited from cleaning. Everything is done up in red and gold, and there are flowers everyone. And it’s fifteen days long! I could hardly make up a better celebration if I tried. This year the festivities began on January 23^rd, and it’s almost over – so enjoy what’s left while you can!

also:

The Misc Weekender (2/2/12 – 2/5/12)
compiled by Kristen Palasick ‘14, Jon Ruiz ‘14, and Social Media Editor Matt Ortile ‘14

THURSDAY
Late Night at the Lehman Loeb @ 5pm (until 9pm) – The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
It’s an anniversary celebration of Late Night! Enjoy extended gallery hours featuring a variety of creative happenings each week at the Art Center’s Late Night. Tree City Coffee serves their finest brew. The first 20 visitors receive free coffee.

Vassar Prison Initiative Presents: Zero Percent @ 7 pm – Sanders Auditorium
The Vassar Prison Initiative is screening the multiple award-winning documentary Zero Percent, which shows how the Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison is making a positive effect on the lives of incarcerated men and women, so much so that zero graduates of the program have returned to prison.

Modfest Performance: “Grandmother Talks, Grandmother Dances” @ 7:30 pm – Aula
Molly McGlennen, Assistant Professor of English, and Kathy Wildberger, Senior Lecturer in Dance and Drama, present a dance and poetry performance piece about indigenous continuance.

ViCE Film League Presents: Somewhere @ 8pm – Blodgett Auditorium
The ViCE Film League is screening the Golden Lion Award-winning Somewhere, written and directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, and Michelle Monaghan.

Campus Life Women’s Center: Queer Lady Social @ 8pm – Faculty Parlor
The last QL social of the year! There will be wine for those with a valid ID.

NO-VICE Presents: Dive and Thee Souce ov Fawnation @ 10 pm – The Mug
Join No-Vice for some dreamy, psychedelic music to kick off your weekend.

FRIDAY
GAAP Presents: All Campus Activists Event @ 3pm – Rocky 210
Interesting in getting more collaboration between Vassar activist groups? Then come to this discussion by the Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics (GAAP) which includes workshops by the Vassar Greens, MEChA, the Vassar Prison Initiative, Rebuild the Dream, Rural and Migrant Ministries and VARC. And there’s dinner!

VC Women’s Basketball (vs. Skidmore) @ 6pm – Athletics and Fitness Center
Tied in fourth place with Skidmore College in the Liberty League, Vassar College Women’s Basketball hopes to rise to the top!

Barefoot Monkeys’ Shiva Show @ 7pm – The Shiva
Cheatcode: Monkey.

Philaletheis Presents: Spring 2012 Directing Workshops @ 7pm – Sanders Classroom
Phil is presenting short scenes directed by new up-and-coming student directors! 

QCVC Presents: Fast Friends @ 7:30pm – Aula
The speed dating event everyone’s been waiting for! Come meet some new faces and maybe even find romance…

VRDT – Modfest 10 Performance @ 8pm – Kenyon Hall
The Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre presents its faculty and guest works for the College’s 10th Annual Modfest celebration, featuring Larry Keigwin’s “Take Off” and Edwaard Liang’s “Whispers in the Dark.” To reserve tickets, email dancetix@vassar.edu.

Davison House Presents: Beyoncé Mug Night @ 11pm – The Mug
In celebration of the House, Blue Ivy Carter, all around fierceness. IDs and guest passes are mandatory.

SATURDAY
VC Women’s Basketball (vs. Union) @ 2pm – Athletics and Fitness Center
The ladies will definitely ride their winning streak from Friday, for sure.

Barefoot Monkeys’ Shiva Show @ 2pm, 7pm – The Shiva
Cheatcode: Monkey.

Philaletheis Presents: Spring 2012 Directing Workshops @ 7pm – Sanders Classroom
Phil is presenting short scenes directed by new up-and-coming student directors! 

Women’s Squash: Seven Sister Championships @ 9am through 8pm – Kenyon Hall Squash Courts
Join our fellow Brewers as they host our sister colleges in a day long squash tournament.

Class of 2012 Presents: 100 Nights @ 10 pm – Villard Room
Only 100 nights left until the seniors graduate! Come celebrate by dancing with them while you still can.

SUNDAY
The Asian Students’ Alliance Presents Lunar New Year Dinner @ 6 Pm – UpC
2012 is the Year of the Dragon! Ring it in with food and friends.

Play Podcast | “Painted Politics”

This week I asked James Mundy, Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, to look at Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich’s official government portraits—two seldom discussed paintings of the most talked-about men in politics. Romney had his done as Governor, and Gingrich as Speaker of the House. These portraits were commissioned as each candidate was on his way out of office—and so the works may be able to tell us something about what Romney and Gingrich wanted to leave behind.

—”Primary Education” is a weekly podcast series covering the 2012 Election with Vassar’s professors

Though we are only a week into the course, I have already found the “playcentric design process” to be a helpful way of organizing creative thoughts about video games. Both Fullerton and Schell use abstract, mechanical terminology to break down the creative process, thereby letting readers bring their own ideas to the format they provide.

However, we had one other reading assignment in the first week besides Fullerton and Schell: the first two short chapters of How to Do Things with Video Games by Georgia Tech professor and game theorist Ian Bogost.

Bogost’s book took a different approach than Schell and Fullerton.  He speaks as a game designer unconcerned with monetizing games by appealing to a wide audience. While Fullerton encourages game designers to always have their players–essentially, their buyers–at the forefront of their minds, Bogost’s conceptualization of games ” incorporates another feature of art more broadly: the pursuit of a particular truth irrespective of the demands of reception or sales. The sense that the artifact has something to relate and will not relent until that thing is expressed, rather than an experience to be optimized, is at work here” (17).

All three of these writers avoid using the word “art,” a controversial term in the world of video games. Instead, the word ‘aesthetic’ appears with far more frequency. But Fullerton and Schell employ a definition quite different than Bogost’s. To them, aesthetics are the emotions and reactions that a game provokes in a player: excitement, empowerment, frustration, awe, fear, anxiety, joy.

Bogost’s notion of aesthetics implies not  “what emotions are we trying to draw from the player?”  but “with what elements will we imbue this game world?”   Here, aesthetics are not designed to evoke specific emotions–they are elements that connect the player with the game world, the means by which an emotional and even empathic connection is forged.  Bogost’s  definition encompasses the beautiful art styles of Flower and El Shaddai, the proceduralist mechanics and minimalist art of Braid and Passage, and the powerful emotions of Hush and Darfur is Dying.

Fullerton and Schell speak from within “The Industry, approaching game design in terms of production.   Bogost speaks from without; , though he begins the book by rejecting the eternal “Are Games Art???” debate, treats his subjects as exactly that. His words hold the games he discusses like one would hold an Easter egg, or a dried flower: carefully, respectfully, intimately.

Fullerton offers a method of production, a tried-and-true means of creating good games. Bogost suggests that designers start not from the desire to entertain, but from the desire to craft a world as delicate and as beautiful as an egg.

Play Podcast | “Does Character Matter?”

It was President Richard Nixon, of all people, who said, “You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character,” he said, “is the most important qualification a president can have.” That was in 1964, when he was campaigning for Barry Goldwater. Fast-forward 10 years and Nixon was offering his resignation following Watergate—a scandal of dirty tricks, harassment, money laundering and, most of all, bad character.

Last Thursday, one of our current presidential candidates had his own character attacked. Just two days before the South Carolina primary, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was accused by his second ex-wife of asking for an open marriage. And this on top of what we already knew about Gingrich’s past—two extramarital affairs and a congressional ethics violation.

Professor Richard Born, of the Political Science department, explains how character plays in the Republican primary.

Born points out that forgiveness is a hallmark of Evangelical and socially conservative voters, and that Gingrich has apologized for his checkered past. Recently, he even signed a fidelity pledge, which Born has posted on his office door. Still, Born likens Gingrich’s character to Nixon’s, saying that voters will have to overlook an awful lot to accept the former speaker as their nominee.

—”Primary Education” is a weekly podcast series covering the 2012 Election with Vassar’s professors

Bastion is a hack and slash style action-adventure game, kind of like The Legend of Zelda with more frantic swinging and shooting. The story goes as such. You are a white haired fellow, only referred to as the Kid, who wakes up one day to find that his world has been shattered. Literally. Like, pieces of it are floating around where they have no business being. Turns out some kind of Calamity happened, and while your city had an emergency shelter, the titular Bastion, almost no one made it there. As the Kid makes his way to the Bastion, pieces of the old world rise up under his feet. Of course, pieces aren’t all that’s left of the old world. The creatures of the world have been driven mad, and the Kid has to fight through them if he wants to make it.

What makes Bastion so special? Few things. First, this guy narrates the Whole. Entire. Game.

Every event in the game is commented on by this smooth talkin’ fella. Pick up a new weapon? He’ll talk about who used it, back in the old world. Choose a new persistent buff from the spirits at your local distillery? He’ll comment on the taste. Complete a gameplay challenge rendered in the form of vigils held for those claimed by the Calamity? He’ll offer up a few words of encouragement, remembrance, or remorse.

Among other things, the booze and vigils are fine example of how seamlessly Bastion integrates its’ story and gameplay. There is no half hearted justification or handwaves here. Every gameplay element has some reason for it. The reverse holds true as well. As you complete your quest to restore the Bastion, you unlock more of its’ functionality, including the aforementioned distillery and vigil, as well as an upgrade forge, shop, and shrine to the gods, used for invoking additional challenges.

Finally, the last thing worth mentioning is Bastion’s astoundingly good visual and audio design. The narrator is the most obvious example, but the soundtrack is always appropriate, and a joy to listen to even while not playing the game.

The visuals are just as good. The game is rendered in a jaw droopingly gorgeous impressionist style, making it seem like you’re shooting and smashing your way through a painting, rather than the twisted landscape of a dead world. The visual design manages to skillfully avoid the usual problems associated with this game, namely the tendency for the screen to get cluttered and messy, by making each enemy type visually very distinctive and easy to read, and by making the Kid stand out quite nicely.

Now ain't that pretty.

All in all, Bastion was the best $15 I’ve ever spent. It’s a bit short, with the main quest clocking in at 5 hours if you hurry, but extra missions and new game plus mode will keep you entranced.

Join me next week, for a review of an hour and a half of pure speed.

Nick Michel is a Junior STS Major of Cushing. He hates your northerner weather.