Panem et circenses – Absynth's blog

The guys and gals at Blizzard have been extraordinarily busy this year, posting April’s fools left and right.
The first one is a slightly redecorated Armory Profile for each character. I turned into a tusken (see screenshot) and the achievement/activity records have been updated to correctly state “Ninjaed loot” on each item.

Then, there is the Neural Interface for WoW in the Blizzard shop. Not so subtle.

The third one is actually funny, because it has a couple nice details and it is very close to the truth (if you take addons like GearScore into account): WoW Equipment Potency check. Technically, it’s all there – the phasing technology (as used for example in Icecrown for people who haven’t done the Ebon Blade questlines) allows to selectiveley show or hide content (although currently no terrain, I think, but this will change with Cataclysm) according to the player’s status. Item levels determine how “powerful” an item is and can be mapped to a numerical bar. And: check the items that are looted on the screen shots.

“Bread and circuses” (or bread and games) (from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metaphor for handouts and petty amusements that politicians use to gain popular support, instead of gaining it through sound policy. The phrase is invoked not only to criticize politicians, but also to criticize their supporters for giving up their civic duty.

In modern usage, the phrase has become an adjective to deride an infantalized populace so defined by entertainment, instant self gratification, and personal pleasures that they no longer value civic virtues and the public life (not necessarily accomplished through deliberate pacification by politicians but through the popular culture itself). To many social conservatives, it connotes the wanton decadence and hedonism that defined Rome prior to its decline and that may similarly contribute to the decline of modern society.

Source: Wikipedia

This is the first posting in what is going to be my “private private” blog. I’ve been struggling to find a meaningful distinction between this and christopher-kunz.de and I think it’s looking like I will put stuff that I don’t find relevant for my main blog here.

That’s not to say this blog is a second-class citizen, but some things that don’t belong on my other site will go here. Mainly this is stuff about games (WoW, first-person shooters, all that stuff), music and movies.

I’ll try to balance both blogs a bit – stay tuned!