#now it's all down the drainhole

[choicesenthusiast]

Representation at Pixelberry: The Follow-Up

One year ago, on June 15, 2020, Pixelberry released a statement regarding representation at the company. Here is the LINK to the original blog post, and here was MY RESPONSE. Oh, how naïve and optimistic I was. It contained a list of goals and promises they hoped to accomplish within a year. Well, a year has passed, and here is my attempt to hold PB accountable. I'll be going over the five main points of their representation plan and if they achieved what they promised. All criticisms are about content released after June 15th. Long post beware, but I'm not putting it under a read more because I feel like it's important for all to see.

1. Commitment to diversity of Love Interests - FAIL

We’ve already been moving towards having Love Interests have customizable skin tones. We will continue to do this with some stories, while also having some characters with clear ethnic identities. At the same time when we have multiple love interests of different ethnicities, we are aiming for those Love Interests to have equal game time.

"LIs with customizable skin tones" mean they come in three flavours: white, black, and ambiguously Asian/Latinx interchangeably. So far I have rarely seen an LI as connected to their culture/ethnicity as Rafael Aveiro, and he just talked about his Vovo's food if he ever were on screen. They had many chances with the other OH LIs as well. Even Ayna Seth and Tatum Mendoza were confirmed to be Indian and Filipino, respectively, though FA gets a little leeway, as it was set in a fictional west-European continent.

As for equal game time? I'm sure the biggest example we can all think of was the mess that was Open Heart 3, which was written during the hiatus (which only existed because they were going to straight up kill Rafael in Book 2). Game time was not equal among LIs, and the white male LI was heavily favoured. PB also continues to pay female LIs dirt by giving them no screen time. In addition to that, LGBT+ players, who are consistently underrepresented, receive one (1) unprepared pride month survey, prpbably only because someone asked them about it on Twitter.

This is the meat and potatoes of everything because it's what they're outputting to their audience. It's what the people see. Given that things haven't been going so well lately in this department, consider this promise a big fat fail.

2. More authentic and diverse hairstyles for people of color - QUESTIONABLE

Our team will focus on providing more authentic and representative hairstyles. We are prioritizing these hairstyles outside of our normal book processes and will introduce them in new books as they are ready.

While, yes, they have added two new hairstyles in WEH, they also just took Jade Bonet's hair and recycled it for LoA F!MC. PB recycles all their hair more often than not.

3. More diverse book covers - QUESTIONABLE

This is an initiative we started in January of this year. As a result the number of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed, and other characters on new book covers increased from 35% of characters in 2019 to 60% characters in the first half of 2020. However, the number of black characters is still not high enough this year. More are already scheduled for books later this year. We will make sure that Black characters are well represented on our covers in the future.

"Diverse" does not just mean by race, but also gender, sexual orientation, etc. FA has the only recent MLM cover. And don't tell me that the FA and LoA covers are any different from each other. The only black characters on covers are Zoey Wade (QB), and Black!Gabe Ricci (LoA) and Bastien (WB), which aren't even their canon races unless you choose them to be. This is the case for many single-LI books, such as Cassian Keane (W:ABR, which technically premiered on Mar. 16, but the sentiment is the same), Sam Dalton (TNA), and Dakota Winchester (WEH). Not to mention the customizable/multi LI books like DS, RT, BaBu2, MTFL, etc. Majority of these covers are just cishet couples delicately cradling each other's bodies or whatever. And we're not even gonna get into how PB literally put the Open Heart LIs in order of their favouritism on Book 3's cover.

4. Writers/Staff - QUESTIONABLE

We will be engaging in professional training on historical and current racism for our writers to ensure more of them have a better understanding and more context for views of diverse characters in Choices. We will also create a program that gives more authority to people of color in the studio to advise writers and artists on more authentic portrayals in both writing and art of black, brown, and minority characters.

A story with a Black-led cast is something I have asked for in the past, but failed to follow-up on. We will very likely start this with a Black-led cast story led by Chelsa, one of Pixelberry's Black writers.

We will increase the number of diverse writers we source for new stories, starting with hiring more Black and Latinx writers to lead the charge.

For all teams at Pixelberry we will actively work to bring in more Black and Latinx candidates with the goal to increase the number of Black and Latinx employees at Pixelberry. Although Pixelberry is over 50% female, on teams where females are not at 50% we will actively work to source more female candidates.

This promise seemed like a copout from the start because we have no way of knowing who works on what at PB unless we very meticulously stalk their LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever. We have no solid statistics except for what they feed us. I do know, however, that they recently let the Ms. Match writers go and were hiring for external writers, but there really is no way of knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes with their 112+ employees, and of course there would be NDAs involved. We are yet to see a book with an all-Black cast, and receive rare development updates with new books. Actually, I think a really good way to promote diversity is to do staff showcases on their social media. Just a way to show the public who's responsible for what. Writers, game devs, the art team, etc. Don't think it'll happen, but it's always a good idea.

5. Donations - QUESTIONABLE

Pixelberry will also be making $100,000 in donations to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective at Techqueria. Rather than as a lump sum, we will be making these donations over the course of a year to remind us that we are not making short term changes, but are committed to long term sustainable actions. We’ll also be donating up to an additional $100k from profits for this week, 6/15-6/21.

There has been no proof, no receipts, no evidence from PB that they have donated anything to anyone, and as far as we're concerned, their word doesn't mean anything. No news or updates news about it. I would love to believe that they did something, but as you can see, I've become quite the pessimist. BWC still uses PB's old logo (like, pre-Choices) on their sponsors page, and the last interaction they've had with BGC was in 2013. They don't even follow each other on Instagram. In fact, BGC received a huge donation from MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos last July. Yes, that billionaire Bezos, and that got coverage from them. Obviously donations don't need to be for publicity, but in this case I think it's important there should be proof. Again, it's really hard to tell with these behind-the-scenes things, but given how PB loves to gloat and hates to keep promises, we can assume that none of this happened.

~~~

So, what's the takeaway? That PB's fallen down the drainhole of shitty content and empty promises and has no intention of climbing out as long as they still make that bank? Seems counterproductive, because good representation gets good feedback and income. They pump out bad books with barebones "representation" if you can call it that, then drop their precious merch and pretend all is fine and dandy. But just as I suspected one year ago, none of this matters, because people forget things, and people move on, and shit gets swept under rugs. Yet, here I am, yelling at a company in a post I for sure doubt they'll see. Because if not me, then who?

@playchoices Your move. It's been your move for a year now. When will you actually make it?

#playchoices #choices stories you play

[spring-2022-nola]

Nola caps COVID

After 24 months of taking every pre-caution, just when I thought it was all behind us and let my guard down, COVID finally caught up with me. It turned out to be a mild case; with vaccines, boosters and antivirals the worst of it was a few days of isolation. On the plus side though, a good doctor friend advised me that post infection, I was the least likely to be re-infected, or be infectious (at least for a little bit). Happily then, I ditched my mask and experienced life like it was before this drasted virus changed life as we knew it. A long weekend in Nola seemed just the right place to be to enjoy my freedom.

We stayed at the very funky Eliza Jane hotel on Magazine street. Named after the first woman to publish a major newspaper (The Times Picayune), the hotel once housed the headquarters of said newspaper, as well as a factory for Peychaud Bitters - a mainstay of many cocktails. The interior of exposed beams, bricks, books everywhere, cozy nooks to hangout in, a bar in the middle of it all...a cool place to stay in a cool city. 

The Big Easy has big murals - this beautiful untitled one near the World War II museum is by MOMO. His note says 

“My paintings have no theme, like music without lyrics. There’s a composition of things to be felt the way rhythms, tones and harmonies reach us beyond narrative or language.” 

The WW II museum itself was vast, excellent, and a stark reminder of the horrors of war. 93M lives needlessly lost, the enormous scale of destruction, the sacrifices by so many to turn the tide, and how close we came to losing it all. 

References to Hitler’s promise to “...make Germany great again...” reminded me of another similar slogan close to home.  The allies’ 1938 appeasement of Hitler, giving up Sudentenland - a german-speaking border region of Czechoslovakia - without protest reminded me of what’s happening in Ukraine right now. As Benjamin Franklin said, “A Republic, if you can keep it” indeed.

Walking by, just outside the WW II museum, I came across some Nola street poetry

“Looks like freedom but it feels like death - it’s somewhere in between I guess”

says Jistoid the drainhole cover poet 

Nola, of course is all about Jazz - this band at a tiny Bourbon street venue (Fritzel’s European Pub) belted out amazing music for the price of a beer and tips (if you dont have cash, Venmo is fine too). Music was everywhere in the city - wherever we saw a line (e.g. outside Café Du Mond for Beignets) there was sure to be a musician hustling for tips and applause. 

We also checked out a performance at one of the oldest Jazz venues - Preservation Hall. The place hasn’t changed in a hundred years and the Preservation Hall All-star band entertained a small seventy-person crowd sitting on wooden benches or standing at the back of a very small hall. I liked the music at Fritzel’s better but the atmosphere at Preservation Hall was very authentic.

 Right by our hotel, at the corner of Canal and Magazine, we ran into Sazerac House - a museum dedicated to Nola’s famous cocktails. Featuring Bourbon, Peychaud bitters and an absinthe-like liquor called Herbsaint, the pretty three-floor museum was an interesting mix of history, liquor factory, cocktail samples and a unique digital bartender experience.

Bourbon Street known for revelry, especially during Mardi Gras, but also most nights, anytime of the year. Balconies, grenade cocktails, a bar every 20 feet, music of every kind, and bead necklaces abound.

(Picture credit my wife Smitha)

Some of the side streets near the famous Bourbon Street had these horsehead hitching posts. I can imagine revellers of the past riding up in their 1HP magnificent beasts and tying them up outside their favorite watering hole. 

We took a side trip to the Bayou to ride Air boats and find alligators. An entertaining guide took us into the marshes, and we saw several Alligators including one that was a sucker for Marshmallows, though it seemed like he would just as easily settle for a human arm. Here’s the video

Finally, even as I peek outside the Bubble to check if its really gone, I realize that there is no real escape from Covid - its a path to nowhere

Leandro Erlich’s - sculpture aptly titled “Too Late for Help” in the NOLA Art Museum sculpture garden

#new orleans

[humofun-blog]

Bob Hawke's 'big life': conversations with an Australian legend

Reading Wednesdays with Bob, the latest biography of former prime minister of Australia and Labor party heavyweight Bob Hawke, written with Derek Rielly, is a total joy, but it is also an exercise in mourning.

When it comes to politics, they just don’t make them like him anymore. These days, politicians seem to be scripted within an inch of their lives, repeating the same old boring soundbites, but in Derek Rielly’s affectionate look-back at the Hawke government, Hawke is the diametrical opposite of the modern politician.

Rielly meets me in a North Bondi cafe, overlooking the ocean. He may as well be carrying a surfboard under his arm. In truth, he looks part amphibious. Better known in the surfing world for founding Stab magazine, he also has a deep and abiding love of Australian politics. Growing up in Western Australia, Rielly was the child of a politics lecturer and current affairs were discussed around the dinner table. It was the years of Australia’s America’s Cup win, the deregulation of the economy, debates about uranium mining and the conservation of Antarctica, promises to eradicate child poverty and talk of a treaty with Indigenous Australians. It was a time when members of Hawke’s cabinet were all household names.

Part of Hawke’s appeal was personal charisma, accompanied by an honesty that Rielly reckons we don’t see too much of anymore. Now 88, he is just as vivid, profane, honest, hilarious and profoundly himself.

“Bob was a unique personality and people actually trusted him,” Rielly says. “He’d go, ‘Listen, we’re going to have to all pull together.’ And they’d go ‘Yeah, yeah Bob, we’ll do it for you’.”

This biography of Hawke was originally pitched as a roadtrip narrative, with Rielly accompanying Hawke back to WA as he campaigned for Bill Shorten in the 2016 federal election. It became more modest due to Hawke’s uncertain health. Each Wednesday for a year, Rielly would bring Hawke a cigar (only one – they were too expensive for Rielly to buy one for himself) and a topic to be discussed: love, the economy, the Middle East, the environment, Keating, family, the trade union movement. The book is comprised of these conversations at Hawke’s house in Northbridge, Sydney, interspersed with reflections from Australian public figures such as Richard Woolcott, John Howard, Kim Beazley, Gareth Evans, Ross Garnaut and John Singleton.

The title riffs off the hugely successful self-help book Tuesdays with Morrie, in which a younger man spends time with his dying professor, soaking up the wisdom of a life well-lived. Here though, Hawke’s wisdom is a little less saccharine.

On the issue of euthanasia, for example, he says: “If I was to lose my marbles … I don’t expect it to be a pillow pressed exuberantly over my nose, but I’m sure she [his wife, Blanche d’Alpuget] could organise something with a family doctor.”

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 Queen Elizabeth II and then Australian PM Bob Hawke at the running of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, 1988. Photograph: The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media via Getty Images

And on the right way to die: “On a golf course. Blanche’s stepfather did it that way. He completed a round of golf and he was sitting in the cart, filling in the card. Fell over dead. I reckon that was pretty cute.”

Today’s politicians, Hawke says, “are frightened by people” and Trump is particularly on the nose: “This bloke’s insane … he’s just a passing aberration.”

The quips from Hawke’s contemporaries are possibly even more amusing, peppered with curses and hilariously caustic observations of their friend and colleague.

Yes, Wednesday’s with Bob is undoubtedly a fan book. Even the cover has a strong element of myth-making to it. There’s Hawke, silver quiff under a cloud of cigar smoke, looking raffish, like a slightly younger, happier Samuel Beckett.

Rielly, who had no personal connection to Hawke, had to get past a series of gatekeepers – not the least Hawke’s wife, the highly accomplished writer and biographer Blanche d’Alpuget – to secure the interviews.

“The first time I interviewed Bob, I was pretty nervous. I had three recording devices in my bag. I just didn’t want to fuck it up. I was dressed in a suit and everything,” says Rielly, who looks very much to be a T-shirt kind of guy.

“I get to the house, all the doors were open, then I see Bob and, honestly, it was like an old friend. So approachable and friendly. And he was like, ‘You got a cigar?’”

The cigar acted like an egg timer on the interviews. “I would go to his balcony at three in the arvo and the sun would get a bit lower. It was winter and he’d have a cigar, and by the end of cigar the sun would get quite low and he’d be finished and [the interview] was done for the day.”

In one chapter, Rielly’s interview is momentarily interrupted so Hawke can urinate down a drainhole on the balcony into the garden below.

As well as telling the story of the Hawke government, Rielly “really wanted to tell the love story of Blanche and Bob, because it feels like a very mature love story that has played out very cartoonishly in the press”.

So what about the infamous bathrobes on the cover of Woman’s Day?

“The story behind that is that they were at the Hyatt in the Rocks [in Sydney], and the photographer said, ‘Can you just put this on? Just one shot.’ And that’s followed them around.”

Blanche appears throughout Rielly’s book, often ducking in and out of the house with her personal trainer and offering wordly asides.

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 Then prime minister Julia Gillard (centre) with Bob Hawke (right) and his wife Blanche D’Alpuget (left). Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

“Her book, [1982’s] Robert J Hawke, convinced many that he was the right leader for the party,” says Rielly. “In many ways she is more responsible for his success than [Hawke’s former wife] Hazel. They’ve been married for 22 years, lovers for 40, friends for 50. It’s not just a flash-in-the-pan affair – and it’s incredible to see people that age so in love.”

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And also so in lust.

“She’d go to the shops or the optometrists, and he would come up behind her and nuzzle his head in her boosies and say, ‘Who is this vision of loveliness?’

“They are very physical people – still very hot for each other. They are both deeply intelligent. There’s this incredible sexual attraction but intellectual attraction too. It was the first woman he’d ever met who he could talk trade unionism with.”

Hawke’s was a big life: a Rhodes scholarship mixed with a love of the racetrack, drunken nights with embassy staff in Jakarta in the 1970s, insults, feuds and bloodletting, and wild behaviour such as receiving diplomats in the nude at poolside meetings and banishing the Singaporean prime minister to a frigid Canberra courtyard because he objected to Hawke smoking a cigar.

Stories of Hawke’s boozing run right through the book but they run alongside tales of discipline as well, when Hawke gave up the booze for 13 years while in politics.

“The drinking thing was so important to him,” says Rielly. “He didn’t want to do a shitty job as PM or embarrass his country so he gave up his great love, drinking. He didn’t drink until 1992 – it was Hazel’s birthday. Then he rediscovered how great it is.”

And now? “He’s so old now, you just go off drinking naturally as you get older. He used to only have one drink a night but that drink was a massive bucket of wine.”

The big life continued after he left office. At his 70th birthday party in 1999, wine was served from the genitals of nude sculptures. At the same party, Hawke’s great mate, advertising mogul John Singleton, gave him a quarter share in what looked to be an unpromising racehorse. The horse, Belle de Jour, went on to win millions for its owners in the 2000 Golden Slipper.

“I wouldn’t have given it to him if I knew how much he was going to fucking make,” says Singleton now.

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Singleton – who doesn’t share Hawke’s politics but created many memorable Labor advertising campaigns – has some of the best lines in the book.

On how Hawke coped with being deposed as Labor leader by Paul Keating, Singleton says: “No quivering lip like that wuss Fraser. No self-important speeches like with Gough and these other cunts. Fucking cop it on the chin and move on.”

Afterwards, aged 68, Hawke moved into Singleton’s Birchgrove mansion and learned how to live without all the prime ministerial trappings. “He learned how to buy milk and everything. You give them money, they give you milk,” says Singleton.

Hawke too had a withering side.

“It would have been scary in 1980s to be on the receiving end,” says Rielly. For example, there was his description of party rival Bill Hayden as “a lying cunt with a limited future”.

“People were a bit stronger in the 80s than they are now. Back then they would say, ‘mate, you’ve been a total dickhead’. It’s just strong leadership – if you don’t like it, get out.”

For all that though, Rielly believes Hawke most loved talking about his mother and father.

“When he talks about his dad, his parents, you forget he is a man of 88,” Rielly says. “His eyes open so wide, it’s almost like he shrinks into this gorgeous loving child, a bright boy. He just talks about how he loved him so much and how he felt very loved and how he couldn’t wait for him to get home and he’d bounce down the street. Couldn’t wait to feel his dad’s arms around him.”

• Wednesdays with Bob by Derek Rielly and Bob Hawke is available now through Macmillan Australia

December 25, 2017 at 11:38PM http://ift.tt/2DRZ8Xh