But there are two glaring omissions from this little masterpiece: No skull, and no pizza box in the background. This is a very serious breach of ethics, I think.
There’s some great news for supporters of The Sarkeesian Effect, the seemingly random collection of badly filmed interviews with assorted people who dislike Anita Sarkeesian that is allegedly being edited into a film of some kind!
In a new video, Jordan Owen — the hairier of the two Sarkeesian Effect impresarios — has announced an amazing new opt-out opportunity for the alleged film’s backers to donate money to him and his pal (then enemy, then pal again) Davis Aurini.
The candid photo above, which I definitely did not assemble using photoshop ten minutes ago, reveals that this is not entirely true. He is, in fact, a tiny white nationalist on paper.
NOTE: When I say that I “definitely did not assemble [this photo] using photoshop ten minutes ago,” this should be taken to mean that, yes, I did in fact assemble this photo using photoshop ten minutes ago. I spent a few minutes of this lovely spring day crudely photoshopping a swastika armband onto a puppy. This is the sort of sacrifice I make for this blog.
Woah, as Keanu Reeeves, playing Neo or possibly some other character, might say.
Jordan Owen and Davis Aurini, the Sarkeesian Effect duo, are BACK TOGETHER AGAIN, and plan to finish their, er, “film” together shortly! Aurini posted the video above yesterday, announcing the reunion and giving a timetable of sorts for finishing the film, which obviously won’t be met, but hey.
Owen seems to have confirmed this, posting this video consisting of nothing more than the Owen/Aurini logo — yes, they have a logo — and the classic Peaches and Herb song “Reunited.”
Then again I haven’t seen Owen on camera announcing the reunion, so it’s possible that the wily Aurini has him tied up in the trunk of his car.
Also, Aurini is missing his goatee, which raises the possibility that the person making the “Aurini” video is actually his evil twin — or maybe his good twin, I’m not sure — from an alternate universe. You know, like in Star Trek.
Ah well. I’m going to assume this is legit. I was really looking forward to two Sarkeesian Effects, but I suppose I will be able to make do with just one.
Over the past few days I’ve been catching up with the small flood of Youtube videos that have come out that deal with l’affaire Sarkeesian Effect Breakup. The result is that I’ve spent so much time listening to Davis Aurini explain his terrible side of the story that he’s invaded my dreams.
And I mean that literally: the night before last, I dreamt I ran across a grouchy and dispirited Aurini sitting alone at a table in McDonald’s. When he saw me he declared “don’t even think about trying to sit with me!” As if, dude!
Later in the same dream I was performing improv theater dressed as a hippie, but I doubt you’re interested in hearing more about that, so I’ll keep it confined to my dream diary.
Anyhoo, so I thought I would share a few of the more watchable Sarkeesian Effect videos.
I am aware that not all of you will have the time or inclination to watch all or even any of these videos, so I’m interspersing them with videos of tiny puppies trying to navigate stairs that are bigger than they are. Enjoy!
If you watch only one 15-minute interview with Davis Aurini about his breakup with his former Sarkeesian Effect collaborator Jordan Owen today, make it this one!
Ok, I realize that might not be quite persuasive enough to get all of you to click play, but, seriously, this is pretty primo internet drama here, especially when a very testy Aurini starts comparing Owen to Elliot Rodger and basically telling us that his former filmmaking partner has none of the skills necessary to make a film.
And yep, it appears that they really did have their big falling out over Roosh. Which is a teensy bit ironic, because criticizing Roosh is pretty much the only decent thing that Owen has done since he first started obsessing about Anita Sarkeesian.
Anyway, the whole interview is worth listening to. Honest. But if you’re in a hurry, or just can’t tolerate 15 minutes of Aurini, skip ahead to 8:38, where it starts to get juicy, or to 10:30, where it gets even juicier. Here’s a partial transcript, courtesy of CringingAtTheWorld on the GamerGhazi subreddit .
I give it 4 “Ethics in Games Journalism” out of 5.
H/T — r/GamerGhazi, and everyone else who pointed me to this video.
Oh, say it ain’t so! The creative team behind The Sarkeesian Effect has fallen apart in a wave of mutual recriminations and accusations and general bad feelings! Owen is accusing Aurini of blackmail! Aurini is accusing Owen of being a nerd who can’t get laid! They’re both accusing each other of trying to take the money and run!
And apparently Roosh V — yes, that Roosh V, do you even know of any others — played the Yoko Ono role in this breakup. (Sorry, Yoko, it really wasn’t fair to drag you into this, so I’ll post a video of your awesome Walking On Thin Ice at the end of this post.)
Owen announced the firing of Aurini in this video:
“Cultural Marxism” – the alleged conspiracy of alleged secret Marxists allegedly trying to destroy Western Civilization through Political Correctness and feminism and racial equality – is a favorite boogeyman of the far right.
Seriously, is this just some elaborate practical joke? Are Davis Aurini and Jordan Owen deliberately trying to convince the world that they’re such bumbling nincompoops that they shouldn’t be trusted with $15 much less $15000 a month to make a documentary? Or are they really this incompetent?
