Icycalm 2.0

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:25 am

It's been just about one year and seven months since Icycalm was banned from here. But recently, he's been linking to threads from Shmups on his own forum. So I think it's time we check up on our ol' lost friend, and see what he's been up to over there. I could probably dig up shit like this for hours, but meh.

No hard feelings, eh?
http://forum.insomnia.ac/viewtopic.php? ... ght=#11590
"People do not realize nor care how much time editing this forum takes from my day. And so they continue to post as if this place was gamefaqs -- as if I had nothing better to do all day than sit in front of a computer making their retarded posts legible. Very well, then. Here is your last warning: If you so much as miss a comma or an apostrophe YOU WILL BE BANNED. If you post "fps" YOU WILL BE BANNED. If you post "2d" YOU WILL BE BANNED. Any retardation, no matter how minor, will not be tolerated. There are six billion people on this planet -- I have nothing to lose by banning 5.9999999 billion of them -- there will always be several million more to join my forum and contribute."

Science bashing and philosophy worship! Also, bonus Hitler handjob.
http://forum.insomnia.ac/viewtopic.php?p=11522#11522
"As for the original question -- "What did the worthwhile philosophers have to say about physics?". Well, physics is a branch of philosophy. So of course they studied it a great deal and, contrary to what people like Feynman or Hawking thought, knew all about it. The problems begin when physicists, who are only aware of this one tiny branch of philosophy, turn around and try to pretend that physics "explains everything" and that therefore all the other branches of philosophy, and ultimately philosophy itself, of which these people are completely ignorant ("vulgarly" ignorant, as Shopenhauer said) are superfluous. At that point you just have to lol. There is really no other response to the idiots -- any kind of idiots. It's either concentration camps or lols. If you are not able to do the former, you simply accept that fact and do the latter."

More science bashing, and Stephen Hawking is an idiot.
http://forum.insomnia.ac/viewtopic.php?p=11515#11515
"You do not understand what I mean by "intelligence". Stephen Hawking is in no way intelligent in my use of the word -- he is in fact quite stupid. It's funny how, whenever the subject of intelligence is raised, people always mention some "clumsy empiricist" as an example of an intelligent person. Never a philosopher! Never a Montaigne or a Spinoza or a Baudrillard! It's always some little dude who mucks about in a dark room for three decades with half a dozen little equations. He shuffles them around for a while and then eventually, finally comes up with a new one! And that's what people mean by "intelligence". "

MORALITY IS A LIE! Also, "You're with us or against us" ridiculousness.
http://forum.insomnia.ac/viewtopic.php? ... ght=#11390
"But we must pass beyond that, if we want to make sense of the phenomenon of videogames. We must catch up, intellectually speaking, with the times in which we are living. And the times in which we are living are times in which morality has been thoroughly exposed for the pack of lies that it is. It is only analysis rooted on this fact that can provide answers. Only by accepting the "glamour of the accursed share", the "Satanic power of Evil", in Baudrillard's hilarious terminology, can anyone make sense of the world(s) in which we are living -- both the "real" and the virtual ones. It's either that or Leigh Alexander and her kind. There are no other options. "

NEWS FLASH: Women suck at videogames because they have vaginas! Also, men are made for WAR.
http://insomnia.ac/commentary/cocksucki ... ogameland/
"The solution to the riddle that woman has always been for man is childbirth. The sexes are distinguished by many other minor differences, but this is the most important, the most fundamental one. Thus man's primeval instinct is for war, whilst woman's for childbearing. With this insight in one's mind there's no sexually conditioned problem one cannot solve. The reason, therefore, that men are so easily seduced by virtual worlds whereas women are generally indifferent towards them (and in fact usually fail to even see the point in them), is because man's vital function, war, can be just as easily performed in virtual worlds as in the real one (and in fact even more easily there), whereas woman's vital function, childbirth, cannot be performed in them at all."

Momijitsuki · Post by **Momijitsuki** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:45 am

Read one or two sentences, felt my IQ rapidly dropping, clicked back.

dcharlie · Post by **dcharlie** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:09 am

Given the ongoing abuse of the comma in those posts I assume there is a level of irony to his post-quality Nazi act?

-- , -- , -- , -- , --

who edits the editor?

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:22 am

Udderdude wrote:If you post "fps" YOU WILL BE BANNED. If you post "2d" YOU WILL BE BANNED.

Welcome to the two dimensional shoot 'em up community! Sorry, people who aren't native speakers of English are not welcome here.

Post by **undamned** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:13 am

He actually contacted me via GaijinPunch's forum a while back. Asked if he could re-post (not postback, lol) my F3 PCB 101 article in the hardware portion of his site. Even when I questioned some of his thought processes and attitude toward others he was polite, which I was pleasantly surprised at, considering that last memories I had of him were me not being happy about something. I just hope that one day he gets over himself.
-ud

AraraSPAMWitch · Post by **AraraSPAMWitch** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:59 am

This is probably a shmups forum faux paux, but I actually enjoy Alex's writings and if you look behind the vitriol and insults his underlying ideas are quite right. His criticism of Hawkings and physics is dead-on, and he's certainly not the only person to level similar criticisms against Hawkings for the incomplete understanding of philosophy that he demonstrates in his writings.

His stances on morality and women, though unacceptable to the modern, democratic reader, are firmly grounded in philosophical traditions and refreshing in our society that simultaneously preaches respect for diversity and equality along with moral certitude. Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of Morals" convincingly debunked the myth of an absolute morality in the 1880s, so I think his claim in that respect is well-founded. I have a much more difficult time accepting the arguments on women and men, but the logic is sound and he makes it clear in the forums that exceptions to the rule--women like Clare Edgeley--do not disprove the rule. Videogames, if not biologically, are at least socially an overwhelmingly masculine activity, and anyone would be foolish to deny that. I've noticed this in my own experiences in terms of the number of female gamers vs. the number of male gamers that I've met, but also in the level of investment in the hobby between the sexes. Again, it's not a hard and fast rule (and he admits this), but the phenomenon has been extensively noted and Alex has done a better job than anyone else in attempting to explain it.

Apart from those issues, his site has some of the best and most insightful reviews of games ever written, some of them written by him and some of them not, it has some great and really illuminating writing on general gaming issues, as well as a bunch of excellent essays by some great thinkers. I had never read Baudrillard prior to visiting insomnia, and I'm glad I've discovered him, as he's a brilliant writer. However, I can understand the hostility a lot of people have towards the site and particularly Alex in that many of his ideas, if a reader has not thought them himself or already read the earlier works underlying them, will seem threatening and, perhaps, a touch insane.

I'll be perfectly honest, I was introduced to the site via the Arcade Culture article a few years back after already knowing the one-credit rule and if I had read it before learning the rule, I probably would have gotten very offended and written him off as a frothing loon. But a friend of mine introduced the rule to me and I learned that playing by that rule made games infinitely more fun; already knowing this I was able to appreciate the article much more. This may seem elementary to shooter fans, but I needed to have a basic grasp of that rule before I could appreciate the article. Similarly, if one encounters these provocative philosophical ideas on morality, gender, science, religion, or whatever topic without first having some germ of the idea in mind, or at least a mindset that makes one receptive to it, of course it will be dismissed immediately.

Does he act like a douche? Yeah. But hell, Jesus spent the last several years of his life trolling the Jews, so I feel Icy's in good company.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:51 am

Shoe.

AraraSPAMWitch wrote:Does he act like a douche? Yeah. But hell, Jesus spent the last several years of his life trolling the Jews, so I feel Icy's in good company.

lul Icy's sockpuppet!

And then we discovered all discourse on the internet was really just eight guys and their sock puppets.

cools · Post by **cools** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:47 am

Man, I'll take RevStu over IcyCalm any day of the week.

Admittedly, some of his articles are a good read. The aforementioned Arcade Culture one being a particularly good example.

My thoughts on philosophy are generally best kept away from the web, suffice to say there are very few people into the philosophical arts I can tolerate.

The guy can write, but his hostile nature means he'll always be stuck feeding at the teat of those greater than him. You learn far more by studying a creature than by stamping on it.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:18 pm

2D FPS CORE GAMEPLAY will get you banned

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:26 pm

I thought the process was if you wanted to come back you had to apolgise for what you got banned for and make admends to what you were doing. Thing is does he aqctyually want to come back? If he did he would of contacted the mods and asked if he could. Instead of people asking him he can be brought back in (either on his behalf or off there own back) . Point is its up to Icy and the mods. It has nothing to do with us.

thats quite the mile stone post there dude 1500 post is quite topical

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:56 pm

Anyone else got the impression that Icy nurtures a secret crush on that Leigh Alexander and tries to hide it behind a wall of insults like a 12-year old, all the while phantasizing about her jumping up and down on him instead of her Wii Fit board?

Funniest shit I've read in a while. Although not intended that way, the following quote sums up the article quite nicely:

Icyjesus wrote:incoherent babbling is because of the sexual frustrations of socially-stunted virgin

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:26 pm

I haven't read the articles on that site, but it does seem strange why someone would be insulting Leigh Alexander in particular. I see that she recently reviewed Demon's Souls (probably the most trailblazing hardcore niche title this year) and that review seemed perfectly reasonable to me. (Sure I'd have given it a higher score personally, but the review wasn't far off the mark at all, and communicated the draw of the game nice and concisely.)

z0rly · Post by **z0rly** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:50 pm

AraraSPAMWitch wrote:This is probably a shmups forum faux paux, but I actually enjoy Alex's writings and if you look behind the vitriol and insults his underlying ideas are quite right.

Agreed. He is one of very few people to even attempt to look at games in any disciplined manner.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:57 pm

He is a twat, and his articles are pretentious babble. Acutally, how Mr Campbell has (to my knowledge at least) avoided a run-in with this guy is unbelieveable. Utter, dirbbling buffoonery.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:29 pm

What a twat. Nothing more to add.

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:15 pm

Marc wrote:He is a twat, and his articles are pretentious babble. Acutally, how Mr Campbell has (to my knowledge at least) avoided a run-in with this guy is unbelieveable. Utter, dirbbling buffoonery.

i would pay to see that match up!!!

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:27 pm

AraraSPAMWitch wrote:snip

I concur. His words are caustic and he's overconfident about his own views but the reasoning beside those arguments have sensible underpinnings. It's clear he has some basic understanding about the subject and actually thinks about his ideas before he posts them, which is more than I can say about some posters...

If icycalm had a softer tone and was a bit more open at considering alternative (non-ignorant) viewpoints, he'd be an asset in any forum. And if I had more time to spend posting my own opinions, I'd probably post at his forum to get some mental exercise and expand my world view. Plus, anyone who loves cats can't be bad!

Post by **undamned** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:42 pm

Ganelon wrote:If icycalm had a softer tone and was a bit more open at considering alternative (non-ignorant) viewpoints, he'd be an asset in any forum.

That's how he was here at one point and then he started experimenting with ego enhancement drugs.
-ud

Ruldra · Post by **Ruldra** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:40 pm

Ganelon wrote:If icycalm had a softer tone and was a bit more open at considering alternative (non-ignorant) viewpoints, he'd be an asset in any forum.

This. People would be more willing to sit down and listen to him if he didn't treat everyone like shit. His attitude is sabotaging his own work.

I remember him saying he acted on purpose like an "overbearing cunt" (in his own words), and he was going to write an article about it explaining why. It never happened.

ASK · Post by **ASK** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:53 pm

dcharlie wrote:Given the ongoing abuse of the comma in those posts I assume there is a level of irony to his post-quality Nazi act?

What you don't realize, however, is that by quoting the names of various authors, their publications and, by misplacing conjunctions behind commas, you soon find yourself appearing to be an intellectual.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:57 pm

Ugh, this hateful bullshit is not welcome, I'd have been happier to not know it's out there. The science bashing sounds hilarious but I can't even bring myself to read what he wrote.

Looking only at his writings online I hope I can be forgiven for wondering if he's a sociopath. He seems to love nothing but to hate.

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:02 pm

Not only the president of the Shoehorn a Schopenhauer Society (for men), but a member too.

EPS21 · Post by **EPS21** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:20 pm

He does good in areas actually inciting some sense intillectual discussion, an artform long lost to nearly all internet users, which explains the general retardation across many other communities that consist little more than mindless drivel. He'd do better if he could represent his views less stand-offish though, but I think it's necessary sometimes.

evil_ash_xero · Post by **evil_ash_xero** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:23 pm

He just got too confrontational for this forum. I can see he hasn't changed much.

AraraSPAMWitch · Post by **AraraSPAMWitch** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:33 pm

Thunder Force wrote:I haven't read the articles on that site, but it does seem strange why someone would be insulting Leigh Alexander in particular. I see that she recently reviewed Demon's Souls (probably the most trailblazing hardcore niche title this year) and that review seemed perfectly reasonable to me. (Sure I'd have given it a higher score personally, but the review wasn't far off the mark at all, and communicated the draw of the game nice and concisely.)

I disagree about the quality of that review: not having played the game, I get very little sense of how it plays in relation to other games. One point of his that I feel almost all gamers should agree on, whether or not they hate Icycalm, is that game reviews should refer back to previous games. My old English teacher from eons ago told us: no writer writes in a vacuum. Similarly, all videogames build off on previous games, and to effectively criticize any game the review must demonstrate in some way the game's relation to previous ones--what it takes from them, how it improves and advances upon earlier ideas, or how it regresses. Leigh tells me quite nicely that Demon's Souls is an exciting high fantasy romp, and that it is both fun and intense--but that doesn't tell me any more than the back of the box will.

I also think part of his criticism of Alexander stems from the cute/sexy persona she attempts to cultivate on her website and that without this feminine aspect no one would give a damn about her piddling writing. I agree with others that this article in particular comes off as especially juvenile and that if he were more level-headed more people would take notice of what he says, but he's given explanations for his stylistic choices on the forums--and this is really an issue of style, not content--so if he enjoys writing in such a style, more power to him. It's not going to help his already warm-and-fuzzy reputation online, but that does not, and should not, matter.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:42 pm

EPS21 wrote:He does good in areas actually inciting some sense intillectual discussion, an artform long lost to nearly all internet users, which explains the general retardation across many other communities that consist little more than mindless drivel. He'd do better if he could represent his views less stand-offish though, but I think it's necessary sometimes.

What's with this topic bringing out all the lurkers who also take a lot more drugs than are good for them?

z0rly · Post by **z0rly** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:47 pm

Interesting how all the personal attacks in this thread so far have actually come from Icycalm haters, and they, unlike Icycalm's own personal attacks, have not been accompanied by any reasoned argument for or against the writing.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:12 pm

z0rly wrote:Interesting how all the personal attacks in this thread so far have actually come from Icycalm haters, and they, unlike Icycalm's own personal attacks, have not been accompanied by any reasoned argument for or against the writing.

Really? Excuse my arrogance dear sir but right now I just feel on a so much higher plane than that inexcusable sociopath that I really can't be bothered to write down some silly reasoning hidden behind a fuckton of commas and silly cliche quotes. I'm out of this thread, there's nothing sane to discuss in here.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:38 pm

I'm not an Icycalm hater. I'm just saying 'What the f&%k is this?!':-

"But we must pass beyond that, if we want to make sense of the phenomenon of videogames. We must catch up, intellectually speaking, with the times in which we are living. And the times in which we are living are times in which morality has been thoroughly exposed for the pack of lies that it is. It is only analysis rooted on this fact that can provide answers. Only by accepting the "glamour of the accursed share", the "Satanic power of Evil", in Baudrillard's hilarious terminology, can anyone make sense of the world(s) in which we are living -- both the "real" and the virtual ones. It's either that or Leigh Alexander and her kind. There are no other options. "

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:51 pm

ZOM wrote:
z0rly wrote:Interesting how all the personal attacks in this thread so far have actually come from Icycalm haters, and they, unlike Icycalm's own personal attacks, have not been accompanied by any reasoned argument for or against the writing.
Really? Excuse my arrogance dear sir but right now I just feel on a so much higher plane than that inexcusable sociopath that I really can't be bothered to write down some silly reasoning hidden behind a fuckton of commas and silly cliche quotes. I'm out of this thread, there's nothing sane to discuss in here.

I did it for the lulz. Did not expect all the Icyclam heroes to crawl out of the woodwork. Although in retrospect, I should have expected it.

To said heroes: Anyone who can read what I quoted and still have any sort of respect for him needs a mental enema. He has a few common-sense, mostly obvious points about videogames buried under a mountian of insanity.

Oh yeah, and here's one more thing I found on his forum.

http://forum.insomnia.ac/viewtopic.php?t=3021
"His email address is (removed here, but not on insomnia forum). Feel free to sign him up to any number of scat-porn or child pornography mailing lists. I bet he will learn more about the world from such images than from all the rubbish scribblings he has so far been filling his brain with."

shmups.system11.org

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