Rachel Soma » The Real World

Yasi hit QLD so hard it moved south…

Rachel Soma — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:25:36 +0000

Good work CNN! I guess Brisbane is in Capricornia now.

In related news… As much as I hate to reference Joanne Nova (No link love from me for that crazy lady) this image is too good not to share.

Australia is BIG, yo!

Game On 2.0 in Tasmania

Rachel Soma — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:45:06 +0000

Get ready to play your way through the history of video games at the international blockbuster exhibition Game On 2.0.

This action-packed celebration of video games culture has thrilled more than one million players of all ages around the world and is exclusively in Tasmania at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.

Game On 2.0 tracks the development of videogames from the earliest computer games to arcade-era hits and the very latest from today’s billion-dollar industry. With more than 120 playable games, as well as rarely seen consoles, controllers and collectables, this is a showcase of games history like no other.

Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery – Exhibitions@Inveresk.
>>download flyer (293k pdf)

Game On 2.0 exhibition
Saturday 3 July – Sunday 3 October 2010
Open daily 10 am to 5 pm
Plus Late Night Thursdays until 9 pm
QVMAG @ Inveresk, Launceston

Tickets: Full $15 / Concession: $12 / Family (2 Adults, 2 children) $45

James + Rachel

Rachel Soma — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:40:36 +0000

James + Rachel on Flickr

Gamer Activism, Zombie Style

Rachel Soma — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:18:01 +0000

In the wake of Left4Dead 2 being refused classification in Australia a lot of facebook groups and forum threads have sprung up to wail and wring their hands, but some groups have decided that what they really need is public protest – with gore.

Facebook group “Gamers for a proper rating system in Aus” (one of dozens of similarly titled and focused groups) is planning an EPIC ZOMBIE LURCH to get gamers out of the house and raise their decomposing fists to the sky and tell the Attorney General that we want an 18+ rating for games.

The cynic in me wonders if the organisers are also wanting for some brains, as traipsing around the city covered in muck may not be the best way to tell the AG that we’re grown-ups and can choose what games we want to play.

What do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?

Rachel Soma — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:13:19 +0000

The woman at my polling place asked me do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people. I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?

YouTube – Philip Spooner – www.EqualityMaine.org.

Riot in the Streets

Rachel Soma — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:52:44 +0000

Lex Wotton was sentenced to six years, with a minimum of two to be served for rioting with destruction.
Marcus Kapitza was sentenced to 12 months jail after pleading guilty to one charge of riot.

Brent Lohman was sentenced to 11 months jail with a parole period of six months for repeatedly punching a man of Middle Eastern appearance in the head at Cronulla railway station.

Yahya Serhan, a Lebanese Australian was convicted of one count of being an accessory after the fact of malicious wounding over an attack outside Woolooware Golf Club in Sydney’s southeast on 11 December 2005, that ended when a knife snapped off in the victim’s back. Serhan had acted as the “getaway driver” during the attack and was convicted in April 2007 to which he was sentenced to thirteen months jail with a non-parole period of nine months. However, he was released on the day of his sentencing as he had already spent nine months in prison.

What is the difference between these men? Lex Wotton led a riot that caused no physical harm to a human being. Lex Wotton is also an Indigenous Australian.

I’m fluctuating between being stoked the sentence was so much smaller than expected, and horribly depressed that we were forced to keep our expectations so low that this seems like a positive outcome.

It’s not.

Palin Throws Stones in Religious Glass Houses

Rachel Soma — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:35:37 +0000

McCain’s gentlemanly refusal to use Rev. Wright to attack Obama doesn’t sit will with Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin: “To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”

Perhaps Palin should be looking closer to home as new information is coming to light about her own preacher Thoman Muthee with his stirring words of violence: “The violent take it by force. People that have spiritual backbones are the ones that are going to advance. They are the ones that will move forward. I thank God for what I see happening in this place. I thank God for the vision, the passion that I can see here. And my word is this: the more violent you become, the more committed you become, the quicker you will see things happen in this region.”

Media outlets have also reported that Muthee decared a woman a witch because several car accidents occured near her home. The reverend and his congregation proceeded to harass and harangue her to the degree that she was threatened with stoning, her house was broken into, her pet was killed and she was thrown in jail with the demand that she convert to Christianity.