Tech

“Forspoken” abuse of black women’s leadership

Published

6 days ago

March 15, 2023

admin

Because they’re literally mad at disease, the antagonists, like Fry, have no depth, and the mysteries of why Fry ended up in Athea and what happened to her parents feel uninspired once they’re revealed. (I won’t spoil it, but if you’ve consumed enough Chosen One stories, I’m sure you can guess.) FacebookThe town center, Cipal, to tie up loose ends – has more Frey-Cuff squabbles itself, which is uncharacteristic of them at that point in the plot.

Throughout my gameplay, I was constantly waiting for some aspect of the game to feel fully immersed, but it never happened. Taking into account the The number of delays and the game’s failed marketing campaignthis is not surprising, but still He is Disappointing, because it seems to be a relatively easy problem for AAA game developers to improve on, if not solve. Luminous Productions and game studios as a whole need to hire better writers, and yes, some of them need to be black. (None of the writers on this game were people of color.)

It wasn’t all bad, though: I found myself briefly admiring the narrative flashes he did not do He feels either bland or insensitive. For example, the game focuses women, including black women, in leadership (although, yes, witches can still turn evil and kill). It also provides a space for black women to be unwanted, unwilling to sacrifice themselves for others and still ultimately be the hero.

and the song “Damn!” To Frey at the right time after being beaten up or seeing some sort of weird fantasy nonsense was the closest I’d ever come to laughing at dialogue. (Most importantly, she loves cats, and there are plenty of them to pet!) But keep in mind that she’s a gamemaster Palinska was described as having a “very hippy kind of walk” during her motion capture performanceHowever, the game’s treatment of race (not to mention its depiction of mental illness) raises the question of whether any representation given by the game’s major developers will be anything more than window dressing.

It betrays the games industry’s cynicism that they would create a brown hero to be “a reflection of our diverse audiences” (As claimed by a Square Enix spokesperson during a December 2021 preview of the game) without actually doing the work of getting that character fully formed and moving through the world like a POC in real life. You can be black in the ways that the mainstream media deems authentic, like walking “extra chic,” collecting sneakers, and stealing cars—which Fry does—but nothing more than that. You want to make some players uncomfortable.

To be fair, Frey is far from the worst video game hero you’ve come across, of any color, and Kotaku reports that Square Enix has hired “a number of consultants from BIPOC backgrounds” to vet Frey’s characterization. Palinska also made “emotional” notes during the recording sessions. Strange Fry “How are you guys?” – The style pranks are stimulating at times but could easily have faded into the background if the game was actually, well, joking. This is, after all, what we’ve come to expect from a blockbuster. Comfortable satirical rhetoric does not suddenly become sardonic more Annoying only because the protagonist is a black woman.

Instead, I’m annoyed by the lack of effort among game developers to innovate when it comes to the richness of their characters, especially when those characters are people of color. The interactive nature of video games means there’s always a heavy dose of wish fulfillment – we want to fantasize about ourselves like The protagonist, he does all the cool things our fingers and the story tell them to do. But if Frey Holland is wish-fulfilling, she’s not wish-fulfilling for black women in general. It is the desire to achieve a certain kind of non-black or privileged black person that romanticizes the struggles associated with poverty and systemic neglect without actually wanting to name any of those things.

Source link

Tech

Here are the best cheap wireless earbuds under $25 on Amazon

Published

10 hours ago

March 21, 2023

admin

I’ve lost my AirPods, and I simply refuse to pay for new ones. The latest 3rd generation AirPods – And it’s great! I checked it! Starting at $169. The older, second-generation version is $120 (yes, there are sometimes deals online). These prices are not ridiculous. After all, they’re premium products, and the price point is in line with other high-quality wireless headphones.

However, I simply don’t want to pay $169 for headphones. I’d rather pay way less. Say… $20, maybe $25? I don’t think I need to explain myself here. I would like to keep more money in my pocket. This seems somewhat reasonable.

And yes, I am very willing to settle for quality. Apple AirPods have spatial sound with Dolby Atmos, great pairing functionality, and long battery life. I don’t expect $20 to make all of that happen, but I do want something completely acceptable.

Fortunately, Amazon has an amazing selection of cheap AirPod-like wireless earbuds. They have weird brand names you’ve never heard of, prices seem random (and there’s often a coupon on Amazon, which makes it even more confusing on pricing). I set out to test them out to find out which one fit my needs: cheap, but still usable.

I tested five anonymous brand white earphones, or, as I like to call them, the ShitPods.

My criteria for selecting five of the many options were:

• It should look like an AirPod. I skip the colorful or differently shaped earbuds that might have been just as good.

• Price point under $25.

• Lots of reviews, good or high rating. (Yes, this can be played around with, but at least it’s a start.)

• Free shipping and returns with Amazon Prime.

But first, there are two disclaimers:

1) I use headphones mostly to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Music quality is not my primary concern. If you are an audiophile or music is your passion, you will likely pay more money to get better headphones. I also use it for phone calls, so microphone quality—the person on the other end needs to be able to hear me well—is important to me.

2) All of these things were available on Amazon, but by the time I tested them for a month, two of the original five listings had already disappeared. That’s because Amazon’s marketplace for cheap electronics is a fun house for hyper-capitalist acceleration, as New York Magazine’s John Herrmann explained in his recent article “Paired Amazon. There are strange fake brand names like “CXK” or “Raviad”. Reviews often deceptive or fake, The sellers are often not the manufacturers, and the prices are constantly changing. Chances are that if you read this a few months after it was posted, the product links will change again.

Source link

Tech

@therapistzach deals with his bad TikTok username

Published

1 day ago

March 20, 2023

admin

Laser, 30, is a licensed clinical social worker in Chicago who runs his own center Special training, created TikTok less than a month ago to post videos about the kinds of things he focuses on with his customers: self-esteem, body image, anxiety. Then, last week, he got a comment on one of his videos.

“At that moment, my blood was hot,” Laser told BuzzFeed News.

Laser, who now has nearly 31,000 followers on the app, said he never thought of a different reading of the words when he did the math, and in his job he sees the word “therapist” so often that he never thought of another interpretation.

Several commenters have pointed out that it looks like a joke in a Saturday Night Live Sitcom “Celebrity Jeopardy” featuring Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery:

Source link

Tech

Gen Z adults pay rent with credit cards

Published

2 days ago

March 20, 2023

admin

“I will never put rent on my credit card,” said M, a 26-year-old in Boston. She’s been trying to pay off the credit card debt she’s had for about a year She asked that her full name not be used. “I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable—or, to be honest, trust myself—to try this tactic.” She lives paycheck to paycheck and fears she will forget to pay her card for a month or fail to set aside that portion of her paycheck if her rent goes to a credit card. “It looks like a rabbit hole waiting for me to fall into,” M said.

“Credit card companies make money off people who don’t pay their bills on time,” said Lamarre. “Credit card people, like me and my friends, are at least getting rewards for using the cards responsibly. … It’s not something that I control, that people aren’t responsible for, but I try to tell people how to work within the system and not be a victim of it.” .

the Average credit card balance Among Gen Z consumers last year it was $2,854, according to Experian. LendingTree’s Channel predicts that Gen Z consumers’ credit card use will increase as they age, as did millennial consumers. Many of them are still not fully financially independent. When the pause on student loan payments is lifted, and more Gen Z adults are coming out restrictions Which makes it difficult for people under the age of 21 to get a credit card, their dependence on this type of debt is likely to rise.

As credit card companies develop new incentives, the channel has encouraged caution. “I certainly wouldn’t invite Gen Z, or anyone else, to come out and say, ‘Gee whiz, I have to start making my car payments with my credit card now, because I’m going to get more points,’” the channel said. For most people.” ●

Source link