CNN Trys To Make The NSA Surveillance Scandal Seem Not That Bad

First Episode of Tropes vs Women in Video Games Released

After being called everything under the sun from scam artist to whore... having a video game made where you can assult her (the game has since been taken off of Newgrounds), and having received multiple death threats; Anita Sarkeesian recently released her first installment of her "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" series. The video is not at all offensive and it seems that the only problem a lot of people online have with Sarkeesian is that she is a female. It is refreshing to see critical analysis performed on a medium where less than a decade ago, people would argue over whether or not videogames constituted as an art form or meaningful means of communication at all.

Meanwhile, in an actual scam, a reactionary group formed a "Men vs Tropes Kickstarter" and have run away with the money. Sarkeesian was being accused of pulling a similar swindle, as she had received over 160 thousand dollars and took a little under a year to release the first video, but looks to be now releasing the content and had been providing regular updates on her project's status. It makes me think that if you get death threats on the Internet for something other than hate speech, you're probably doing something right. I unfortunately expect to see wider backlash against her as people whose identity of being a "Gamer" let their ture colors show.

Update

The Free PC games post has been updated. Check it out!

What Happens When You Live Abroad

Thought Catalog has a short essay on the experience of living abroad. An interesting read for our foreign language major and international readers.

Adam Curtis Documentaries

Adam Curtis has made some of the most fascinating contemporary documentaries for the BBC. He uploads them to the Internet so that one does not have to purchase them, and they cover a wide range of topics. The two films which our readers might fin most interesting are The Century of Self and The Trap. Century of Self is preoccupied with Freud's theories concerning the unconscious, and his nephew Edward Bernays' development of public relations. The use of desire over need is discussed in its application in American media and advertising. The Trap - What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom is concerned with the concept of freedom in contemporary society.