:(

Michael Jackson died today. I was going to write a long-ass post on the deaths of some Africanists, but MJ trumps them all. Michael influenced so much of my life, and I hope he found happiness in his later years. You will always be my dude MJ.

E3?!?!

Ahh E3. The big-ass videogame expo that used to consume my soul before it became a crappy conference trade show. Flashing lights! Techno! Booth babes (and yes, they are all women :( )! If I had a 'bucket list', attending an E3 and spending three sleepless nights having my senses bombarded would most definately be on it. Yet for some reason this year I completely did not care about what was going on. I did not download any trailers, or watch any of the conferences, or scour the internetatron for big gaming news. I do not own any of the big three consoles (I still have my gamecube and my N64, but they do not count), and my pc has not been upgraded for... four or five years. I just do not keep up with this stuff anymore. My lack of interest in the E3 either means that I am becoming less of a gamer or losing my humanity. Niether option makes me comfortable. Still, the Brainy Gamer has a great discussion on the meaning of this year's E3, which I heartily recommend you check out.

PS the other thing I HAVE to do on my bucket list is go to a World Cup. I was set for South Africa but I have to work! Curses! It will take another decade minimum before it returns to the Continent.

Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years...

And howdy, sorry for never posting anything. Been busy. Some highlights before I begin some regular posting (I am aiming for one thing a day, I know I can do it!).

First, my dad got cerebral malaria, and so the past two weeks have been... hectic. He did not die, he should be straight, he has some other complications but nothing major. Yay! Of course, considering that malaria still kills about half a billion people in the world, his health and well-being must be balanced with the knowledge that a whole lotta people are going to die of something that is preventable.

Second, I have been playing through Baldur's Gate II. I dunno why, I got the itch, and I absolutely pulverized BG and its expansion but never got into BGII (I think the second chapter was too large and intimidating, a problem I had with, like, all of Morrowind). It is a ridiculously awesome game, but christ I cannot stop getting all grad-skooly when I play it: I look for the racial implications of having most of your potential party members as human, or whether I can court big, burly Minsc as a human monk myself (I admit it, I only play as humans!), or how come basically EVERYONE in authority is a man (and all the in-game books, which I read cover to cover because I am a dork, only reference kings and male heirs), or how are poor and rich are represented, or the way history functions in the game. I CANNOT turn it off, and I am trying desperately to do so. If you have any suggestions how to deprogram yourself from this stuff, please let me know!

Third, I am going to purchase all the books by my favorite professors AND read them. This is not to score brownie-points, because I am already a graduate, so I do not owe them anything, but that these people were straight intellectual pimps and I want to see the stuff they wrote. And not enough people read their books, so I gotta show them some love in the ol' Amazon list.

Fourth, I have been reading a lot of stuff I have meant to read/never heard about but found out I should read. So I got through the Bluest Eye, The Brief and Wonderous life of Oscar Wao, Shadow and Act (Ellison's badass collection of essays), etc, and I realize something: I am a horrid writer. These people can string words and sentences together like... well, its their job. Nothing makes me feel more inadequate than when I read some really good prose... which is also why I love academic history, because a lot of people are not that good at writing, so I look GREAT in comparison!

Meh, more random thoughts to come. Thanks for tuning in!