• Explore Vox
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Life
  • Music
  • News & Politics
  • Technology
  • Join Vox
  • Take a Tour
  • Already a Member? Sign in
orcist

\o/

All a drifting, he's a no-good boy-o

  • orcist’s Blog
  • Profile
  • Neighbors
  • Photos
  • More 
    • Audio
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Links
    • Collections

/I withdraw my previous apology

  • Mar 17, 2008
  • 2 comments

Subject: [girl] gets smoked by professor
From:    [redacted]
Date:    Mon, March 3, 2008 10:22 pm
To:      [redacted]
Cc:      [redacted]

[girl]'s been disrupting her Psych class with [professor]. She and
[professor] have been having it out over email and [her] stupid ass has
replied all to the entire class and so this is getting sent out to pretty
much every frat.

On Feb 21, 2008, at 11:22 PM, [girl] wrote:

Hi [professor] - Thank you for this email because I was overly
discouraged/ frustrated after lab today. I have been working hard all
semester to participate as best I can and fully engage myself. I am
extremely interested in psychology, and do my best to stay on topic
butsometimes it is HARD over such a long class period. It is really
hard as astudent to try to add meaningful commentary and hear the response
"that is completely irrelevant" from a professor. I thought that in psych,
nothing is irrelevant, there are always confounds to experiments that
should be discussed.

I am a curious learner, I like asking questions and
bringing in new ideas - I understand that you are interested in your own agenda
as a teacher, that's your duty, but isn't it also your duty to give the
students who desire it active time to participate and feel
appreciated?

After today, I have no desire to participate in class anymore
because of how you made me feel. However, thank you for your apology, its greatly
appreciated.

[girl]

PS I truly was not talking at the end of class - a lot of the rest
of the class was and that sound builded up. I know when to be quiet, pay
attention, and listen.

And the response:

Hi, [girl],

        your email deserves another response from me. You're right in
general that the instructor should give students who desire it active
time to participate and feel appreciated, but apparently it's time
for at least one instructor to be a little more brutally honest with
you since you can't seem to take a hint. It's also the instructor's
obligation to keep the class on track and keep any one student from
dominating the conversation/discussion, ESPECIALLY when that student
continues to disrupt discussion by being off-topic and not
understanding the point of the discussion.

(1) You (and your group) were definitely a continuing distraction and
annoyance througout most of the class yesterday and it was really
ticking me off. It made it difficult at times for the entire class to
hear and attend to the presentations of other groups. Perhaps at the
particular time I addressed your group, you weren't talking. I don't
know. But it is a fact that your group was disruptive during most of
the class's attempt to discuss other groups' projects, and then when
you were paying attention to others' presentations your contributions
were largely off-topic.

(2) you truly don't seem to understand the difference between simply
wanting to contribute noise/talk instead of contributing something
productive and on-task. It seems to me as an instructor and to the
rest of the class in general that despite your enthusiasm for
participating, your contributions are mostly off-topic and
distracting, as if you talk before thinking, or as if you're really
not understanding what's going on. Yesterday was an example of this.
I repeatedly tried to tell the class as a whole, and you in
particular, that your personal experience/intuition about the
possible results of a study and the underlying explanations for those
results was not the topic or point of the discussion. After several
weeks of trying to politely listen to your input then having to
return the conversation/discussion back to real point, I think it was
about time someone did indeed shut you down a bit.

If you really think that "in psychology, nothing is irrelevant," then
you need to do something else with your time. If you really think
that you "know when to be quiet, pay attention, and listen," you are
sadly mistaken and I can't imagine I'm the only instructor or fellow
class student that thinks this. There's a real and important
difference between constructive engagement and participation in class
and simply talking about what ever tangential information pops into
your head. Clearly I took the wrong tone in my previous email. I was
hoping that by taking an apologetic approach it would lead to a
productive conversation (with give and take) about your behavior in
class. Instead you seem to think that you're not at fault at all, and
I find that just another bizarre example of how clueless you can be.
I withdraw that previous apology -- it was not warranted nor deserved
-- and simply ask that if you continue to attend lab, do not continue
disrupt class and attempt to dominate the discussions.

[redacted]
Visiting Asst. Prof,
Dept of Psychology & Dept of Math & Computer Science
[redacted]
(###) ###-####

2 comments Tags: overheard, sewanee, fail

/WTFuck

  • Jan 24, 2008
  • Post a comment

I can't imagine what kind of synaptic misfire led to the utterance of this gem:

I want to fuck the world. Stick my dick in a volcano.

Assuming he goes to school here, he will, ostensibly, acquire a degree, and be considered an "expert" in his field of choice.

In light of volcano-fucking, the above realization scares the shit out of me.

Pictures unrelated:

MerryDesktop-Background-(2)


Post a comment Tags: overheard, artfag, ass to mouth

/Moonspeak

  • Jan 24, 2008
  • Post a comment

Instead of

  • cleaning my room
  • writing one of 5 papers I have due in as many days
  • reading the growing stack of books and articles that would, ostensibly, help me write those aforementioned papers
  • transcribing any number of interviews from back in October
  • working on any of several features pieces for Destructoid that are currently clogging up my Google Docs docket
  • honey-doing my way through a long list of errands
  • or, heaven the fuck forbid, actually playing video games
I've been playing with my new computer. I haven't actually done anything productive with it, mind you, but I do have it adequately personalized and shiny-looking. Like some kind of new-age, Bauhausian minimalist, I've managed to reduce my desktop to nothing but this image:
Japanese snowman?
Japanese snowman?
The computer that has replaced the one lost in The Wreck is a Dell XPS M1530 with a 100 GB harddrive, an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.67 Ghz, 2.05 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA video card, for which I can't find the specs right now. Much like the moonspeak accompanying Frosty-san, I can't actually say that I know what half of those words actually mean, but I do know that they are a verifiable, tangible calculation of my e-peen. Of course.


Like a small child on Christmas day, the implications associated with my new toy are vastly overshadowed by how fucking cool it is; which is another way of saying that I haven't come to terms with the sizable dent in my point-mass pocketbook. 

Post a comment Tags: toys, geek, artfag

/What is Tomopop?

  • Jan 19, 2008
  • 1 comment

Topher has created a monster. He's gotten me and mines addicted to interested in vinyl toys, what with his Bastardino icon and his Tirehead-dog-thing-humping-his-360. After buying some for the missus, signing up for the Tomopop newsletter (what is Tomopop?), and playing with Castle Crashers, I'm pretty sure I'm hooked.

Thankfully, web 2.0 is a vast labyrinth of deep links upon deep links, leading me to various and sondry (that's the Middle English spelling. I'm taking a Chaucer class, but more on that later) factoids, pichurrs, blog entries, and this video.

Colette's c-blog --> Colourlovers --> Digg --> Video.

"The Vinyl Frontier" Comic Con Trailer
In other news, I'm off to cover Lanwar 40, which will entail finding stones, and trying to squeeze blood out of them. After that, I will need to find a molehill, and attempt to make a mountain out of it. Maybe some sensationalist yellow journalism will make it seem more interesting than a bunch of dudes playing G.R.A.W. 2 or whateverthefuck.


1 comment Tags: video games, video, artfag, vinyl toys, destructoid

/An angel's hug from behind her is her seatbelt

  • Dec 15, 2007
  • 1 comment
Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends
When andrea sent me the video to the right, I instantly fell in love with it. It's just so happy and catchy and layered (you know I dig on that), and the animation is everything that I love right now. I don't know enough about pop art to know what I'm trying to say, but I'm totally in love with the little characters and the Web 2.0 curves. The only description I can think of is it that makes me think of vinyl toys. I spend a lot of time looking at Tokidoki and StrangeCo and if it weren't so cost prohibitive, I would be snatching them all up. Is there a catchy buzzword or -ism that I can use in the future, just for clarity and brevity's sake?

Anyway, YouTube's "Related Videos" feature is a godsend, especially when it comes to obscure indie artists and their obscur-er videos. I don't know ... is Daedalus obscure any more? I'm so out of touch, I couldn't begin to tell you about his hipster status. Maybe he sold out, for all I know. Whatever -- I like the fuck out of him, and have since I discovered him in high school through Epitonic. "Quiet Now" by Busdriver is by far the best track on the little collection there, but they're all worth a listen. And they're free! And legal!

So yeah, more Daedalus videos -- all poppy, all catchy, all with a similar aesthetic, all jawsome.

A friend and I were discussing music videos a few days ago (specifically Animal Collective's "Peacebone") and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't sure why artists made them any more. I can't remember the last time I actually saw one on TV, much less one that was visually and orally compelling. But then I just spent an hour watching artsy-fartsy Daedalus videos and I remembered why people still make them: because they can be fucking awesome.

P.S. The fine folks at NinjaTune have Daedalus' Fair Weather Friends EP available for stream. See Orcist stream. Stream, Orcist, stream.

Daedelus - Just Briefly
Daedelus - Just Briefly
Daedelus feat. Busdriver and Pigeon John - Something Bells
Daedelus feat. Busdriver and Pigeon John - Something Bells
Daedelus - Sundown
Daedelus - Sundown













Daedelus - Lights Out
Daedelus - Lights Out
Daedelus - Taking Wing
Daedelus - Taking Wing
Animal Collective - Peacebone
Animal Collective - Peacebone










1 comment Tags: music, video, artfag, hipster hobo

/Burninating villages in the night

  • Dec 14, 2007
  • 5 comments

While studying for my for my Astronomy exam (P.S. I helped discover a fucking comet!), I came across a star named Thuban, in the constellation Draco. With my encyclopedic knowledge of Final Fantasy X -- I played it for 173 hours; I ought to know something -- I remembered that this was also the name of the last, terrifying optional boss in the Arena. I had a suspicion that the names of celestial beings might pre-date 2001, so I went searching.

And what do you know -- Thuban is the Arabic word for "dragon!" And it's the constellation Draco! Thuban is a Chinese Meth Dragon!* My connections, let me show you them!

Anyway, I've strayed significantly from the topic of this post: how did I found out what a Thuban was? The T entry in the myth alphabet book. Not only was it informative and interesting, but it was accompanied by this stellar image:

Trogdor!
Trogdor!

I love this so hard. I'm glad that whoever chose to compile this didn't use the same old Greek and Roman and Norse gods and chose to mix it up. Most of these are Slavic, Eastern, or Irish -- a refreshing change from Ares and Thor. I mean, you guys are cool and all, but Kevin Sorbo isn't. Not only are these really cool, indie, low-fi deities, but they're all accompanied by fantastic artwork, each featuring the cutest amorphous blobthing I've ever seen. Seriously, take 15 minutes and scroll through all of these.

Unfortunately, there's no author information to be found, so I don't know where to mail the handjobs and the human sacrifices. That's really about the nicest thing I can say about a serendipitous find. It's just so good.

*There is some speculation that the actual phrase is "Chinese Myth Dragon" but Dragonite smokes hella meth, and you all know it.

5 comments Tags: science, geek, video games, artfag

/Peach fuzz

  • Dec 14, 2007
  • 2 comments
Hey meng

So -- I've never filmed myself before. Let me clarify -- I've never filmed myself before and put it on YouTube. That shit is for crack-addled teenage girls and pretentious boobs. Seriously, nobody gives a shit.

But.

What if someone did give a shit? What if half a dozen someones gave a shit? What if making videos of yourself is an incredibly effective procrastination tool?

One of the good things about the whole Destructoid thing is that, once you're a part of it, you can relate, at least on a few (perhaps perfunctory) levels, to everyone else there. We might not all like robots, or toys, or flannel shirts, but we all like Destructoid enough to have signed up for it and to check out where the mascot came from.

For the record, I didn't plan for the fucking robot to stall out at weird times and interrupt me when I was talking. I also don't know what compelled me to a.) use this take or b.) do this at all, except for the fact that it was more fun than studying.

I like to think that when you break your YouTube cherry, it's acceptable to compulsively watch yourself over and over. But, that might be my raging egocentrism talking.


2 comments Tags: video, perso, destructoid, toy.

/Fake palindromes

  • Dec 12, 2007
  • 3 comments
My new desktop image, as soon as I get a new desktop
My new desktop image, as soon as I get a new desktop
1 comment

It's been a long month.

Between exams, totaling my car (and all of the consequent hassles -- insurance, getting new glasses, shopping for a new computer, etc.), receiving word that I won't be going abroad next semester, and general just-too-much-ery, I haven't had much time to chronicle the goings-on of the internet in this handy dandy blog-cum-social network. The Flaming Lips are great, but I can't just leave them up for months at a time.

In an effort to efficiently remedy this situation, here are a collection of images that, for various reasons, I deemed worthy to leave in the digital Purgatory of my inbox. Sure, they'd get posted eventually, but when? The time of The Ascension is now!

Part of what I've learned during my tenure at Destructoid is that it's polite and considered good form to link back to the original source of compelling and interesting content. Alas, the problem with your friends peddling their sweet internet wares via e-mail is that filenames don't leave manageable paper trails. While I'd love to give credit where credit is due, I'll leave it to karma (as opposed to ad hits) to repay whoever is responsible for this cornucopia of jawsome.

BioShawkhentai_baby_textbook_uncensored.jpgThey don't even fitSrsly ... hly sht
Mario 3Mario 2Mario
In case anyone was wondering, the header image is a high-res rendition of the cover art for Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. I have no idea where it came from, but it may just compel me to track down an original copy of Tactics.

3 comments Tags: images, video games, miscellani

/Oh, Yoshimeh

  • Oct 28, 2007
  • 3 comments

Poking around Ectomo instead of tackling a huge and sexy to-do list, I stumbled across this Flaming Lips video. Thank you, Ross Rosenberg, for reminding me of this delightfully quirky and endearing tune.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1

But, seriously, he's right. It would be bad if the robots won.

And since I'm here, check out this sweet tattoo:

The Kraken
The Kraken
2 comments

As cuddly as Cthulu and Yggdrasil are, the Kraken will always be my favorite mythological beast. Sorry, Lovecraft.

[via Ectoplasmosis and Ectoplasmosis, respectively]

3 comments Tags: music, video, tattoo, artfag, cosmic weirdness

/Left right, left right

  • Oct 26, 2007
  • 4 comments
Beirut
Beirut
Hey guys, remember that time I wouldn't shut up about the new Beirut album? Well, it came out earlier this month (the 9th to be precise), entirely unnoticed by yours truly since I cheated and got it early. If you're still on the fence about whether or not to purchase what I feel to be a very impressive collection of folk-pop lovelies, then La Blogothèque's Take Away Shows should help you make a decision. They've all been uploaded to The Flying Club Cup website (finally) for your viewing and squee-ing pleasure.

Or even if you could give a shit about finely-orchestrated gypsy music, the videos are overly artsy enough to be disdainful of.
4 comments Tags: music, video

Read more from orcist »

orcist

About Me

orcist
United States
View my profile

places and things

  • /destructoid
  • /livejournal (defunct)
  • /facebook
  • /destructoid community blog

Photos

  • Desktop-Background-(2)
  • Merry
  • Japanese snowman?
  • Trogdor!
  • BioShawk
  • hentai_baby_textbook_uncensored.jpg
  • They don't even fit
  • Srsly ... hly sht
  • Mario 3

View more of my photos

Neighborhood

  • Robot Scott
    Robot Scott Updated: 4 hours ago
  • ee.en.
    ee.en. Updated: Yesterday
  • .tiff
    .tiff Updated: 2 days ago
  • ydnar
    ydnar Updated: 2 days ago
  • Wil
    Wil Updated: 3 days ago

Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.

View my neighbors

Tags

  • animation
  • artfag
  • ass to mouth
  • daedelus
  • dance
  • destructoid
  • do want
  • electronic
  • indie
  • miscellani
  • mush
  • music
  • overheard
  • perso
  • pretentious verbosity
  • sewanee
  • toys
  • video
  • video games

View my tags

Recent Additions

  • Andromaque, texte intégral

    Andromaque, texte intégral

    by Jean Racine

  • Le Cid, texte intégral

    Le Cid, texte intégral

    by Corneille

  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Signet Classics)

    A Portrait of the Artist as...

    by James Joyce

  • "The Vinyl Frontier" Comic Con Trailer

    "The Vinyl Frontier" Comic ...

  • Daedelus - Lights Out

    Daedelus - Lights Out

View more of my audio, videos, or books

Videos

  • "The Vinyl Frontier" Comic Con Trailer
  • Daedelus - Lights Out
  • Daedelus - Taking Wing
  • Daedelus feat. Busdriver and Pigeon John - Something Bells
  • Daedelus - Sundown
  • Daedelus - Just Briefly
  • Animal Collective - Peacebone
  • Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends

View more of my videos

Audio

  • Where is My Mind?
  • 20 Dollar
  • Xiu Xiu - I Luv the Valley, OH!

View more of my audio

Books

  • Andromaque, texte intégral
  • Le Cid, texte intégral
  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Signet Classics)

View more of my books

Archives

  • March 2008 (1)
  • January 2008 (3)
  • December 2007 (4)
  • October 2007 (11)
  • September 2007 (9)
  • 2008 (4)
  • 2007 (27)
  • Powered by Vox
  • Theme designed by Tiffany Chow
  • Use this theme
  • Home
  • Explore
  • Tour Vox
  • Start a Vox Blog
Already a member? Sign in

Back to top

View Vox in your language: English | Español | Français | 日本語

Vox © 2003-2008 Six Apart, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Help | Learn More | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright | Advertise | Get a Free Vox Blog

Loading…

Adding this item will make it viewable to everyone who has access to the group.

Adding this post, and any items in it, will make it viewable to everyone who has access to the group.

Create a link to a person
Search all of Vox
Your Neighborhood
People on Vox

(Select up to five users maximum)

Vox Login

You've been logged out, please sign in to Vox with your email and password to complete this action.

Email:
Password:
 
Embed a Widget
Widget Title: This is optional
Widget Code: Insert outside code here to share media, slideshows, etc. Get more info
OK Cancel

We allow most HTML/CSS, <object> and <embed> code

Processing...
Processing
Message
Confirm
Error
Remove this member