Link round-up!

[fickle]

1) Sarah Palin talks to "Sarkozy". For those of you not in the know, that's the French President. Except it's not -- it's two guys from a Canadian radio show who get Palin to embarrass herself by gushing with fangirl-like enthusiasm over Sarkozy, probably in hopes of getting an endorsement or some overseas support. She hangs up when she realizes she's been tricked, unsurprisingly, but what worries me is that she didn't even realize the voice was wrong! I can recognize his voice and I'm definitely not in the running for Vice President of a major country.

2) Check Your Bias Here. A test from Harvard that identifies if you have an hidden bias where white/black people are concerned and the two American Presidential candidates. My results were a slight automatic preference for Black people over White people and a strong automatic preference for Barack Obama over John McCain.

Amusing, considering that I was taking this test thinking, "Yeah... Black versus White again. No South Asians involved." And slightly pouty over that. The black preference surprises me a lot more than Obama, since that one's obvious. Maybe it's because I live in Austria and I've yet to deal with racism from black people but have had plenty of it from Austrians, argh.

3) There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama! It's a song. Be warned, it's catchy. I still have it stuck in my head, days later!

4) I've gotten hooked on YGO: 5D's despite having refused to watch YGO GX. I blame the motorbikes. Ever since I heard that there are duels which take place while people are on MOTORBIKES, I've been itching to watch this series. And yes, this isn't a link, but there's more detail on my latest shameful fandom addiction under the cut.

When the producers made the show, I was definitely not the target audience they were aiming at (22 female living in Europe) but let's face it, I'm hooked. Why?

1) It's a children's card game being played ON MOTORBIKES.
2) You can't summon certain cards unless your bike is going above a certain speed.
3) Class warfare, with Domino being split into Neo Domino City (rich) and Satellite (poor).
4) Rich antagonist who calls himself the King but is being blackmailed about his origins from Satellite by the Big Bad in NDC.
5) Protagonist who believes that every card is important. Especially poignant because Satellite workers do nothing but recycle trash, thus him having that viewpoint since he built himself a bike out of said trash.
6) The five main chars have tats on them that signal they're able to summon the guardian dragon god of a Pre-Incan civilization.
7) The tats represent different parts of the dragon god. (Mind OUT of the gutter!)
8) The protag and antago spend the first three episodes looking up at the moon and thinking about each other and how the moon was exactly like that on the night they separated. And they're rivals.

As the above list might've clued you in, YGO 5D's is pretty much crack. I imagine that the conversation must've gone like this in the producer's studio:

"What do kids like about Yu-Gi-Oh? The card games! Yes, we'll have card games. But to make it different, we'll have them play card games on MOTORBIKES. Because kids like motorbikes! And they like dragons, so we'll give them dragon part tattoos and dragon signature cards!"

"...Sir, what about a plot?"

"Hm? Oh. Oh! Plot. We did Egypt already. And Atlantis. Let us now MAKE UP a civilization that predates the Incas and had a guardian DRAGON god! Yes! And the tattoos can summon the god! Who will save mankind from the bad guy!"

"Another ancient evil?"

"No, a bureaucrat. Much worse."

"..."

"AND WE WILL CALL IT YU-GI-OH 5D's to represent the 5 dragon tattooed people! One of whom should act and dress like Seto Kaiba's reincarnation as the most popular character from the original series!"

"Yes, sir."

"But we'll make him blond."

"Yes, sir."

"TO THE DESIGN TEAM, MINIONS!"

"*sigh* Yes, sir."

And lo, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's was born.

Comments

[perivates.livejournal.com]

According to the bias test, I have a moderate automatic preference for whites over blacks (which probably has a hell of a lot to do with living in Philly) and no automatic preference between McCain and Obama. I figure my McCain-is-an-asshole response overrides his whiteness? :/ I dunno.

[lunarwhirl.livejournal.com]

Palin being tricked was hilarious. She's such a goddamn dumbass.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

"Yeah... Black versus White again. No South Asians involved."
There are only two races don't you know?

[ego-chan.livejournal.com]

My preference was for black people, but that's probably since everytime I go someplace new, my first friends are usually groups of black girls. They tend to be nicer than the white ones. Also, I am usually heavily intimidated by white [mainly american] girls before I meet them. I dunno why.

The black people further north can be mean, though. I'm intimidated based on location. My family in Chicago always warns me to leave the black people alone, not to go to certain neighbourhoods, etc. It used to be wierd to me, but now I just accept it.

Not that any of this affects my voting. lol. Race does not apply to my choice in elections. I didn't vote for Bobby Jindal (LA governor) because he was south asian. And, I don't like him particularly because I voted for him. I just really didn't want the other guy to win. That's probably why I would vote for Obama, too (my preference in the result was for Obama). I just really, really wouldn't want McCain to win. You know, ignoring that McCain is gonna win LA anyway despite what I vote.

ANYWAY, on to YGO 5D. lol. Is beautiful that the three tags fandom:yu-gi-goh, world:politics, and world:race/culture can all be used in a single post. That is what makes you so special. xD

I have not watched YGO 5D, actually. But, omg, motorbikes? That's way above awesome. Where to they play these duels? Just on your friendly neighbourhood established street? Or in arenas? Or on long, pointless motorways? lol.

[sharpest_rose.livejournal.com]

I'm in Australia, and pretty much all the non-white people at my high school were East Asian or Middle Eastern, and the same followed through into university and my working life; it wasn't until I went to America and it wasn't the same there that I became particularly aware of what media counts or discounts those groups. Which is my white privilege showing, that I wasn't aware of the presence/absence every day of my life just by living.

The thing that's rather horrid about how lots of Australians think of East Asian people is that they're the exotic other, the colourful natives who populate the pretty holiday destinations. I imagine that Pacific Islanders and Caribbean people are treated in a similar way in America; I'm not sure what the European equivalent would be. It's completely completely gross. To read coverage here of the trials in Bali for the night club bombers, you'd think that only Australians died and that nobody actually lives in Bali.

[lemoned-x.livejournal.com]

I actually have an appropriate icon for this. :O

[xindanobodie.livejournal.com]

I have a strong preference for smart, non-stupid people and a strong automatic preference to non[insertinsultshere] people ;3

Though, if you're seriously interested in my results:

"Your data suggests a slight automatic preference for Black people over White people

Your data suggests a strong automatic preference for Barack Obama over John McCain"


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I also thought what WR said... I find that sad, but I'm not the one making up these... "tests" either.

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5Ds. XDDDD I ... do need to watch that. But GX, first. Then 5Ds. I think. I donno. Hey, I like motorcycles >_>;