Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

Friday, 10 August 2012

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming Fanfiction [Olympics]

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming FanfictionIf you can dream it, someone has written dirty fanfiction about it. There's sexy fanfiction about everything imaginable — from Thomas the Tank Engine to RENT to Rainbow Brite. Years ago, I followed a blog called World Cup Sexual Frustration, which alternated between posting pictures of soccer players, which is what drew me in the first place, and posting elaborate, graphic, hilariously bad fanfiction about sexual encounters with one or more internationally famous footballers, which is why I kept coming back (one particularly memorable piece detailed one daring flight attendant's orgy with the entire Spanish soccer team at 30,000 feet. One situation where it was okay for soccer players to use their hands! Cue canned 90's sitcom WOOOOO noise!). It should come as no surprise, then, that the XXX (heh) Olympic games, and specifically Olympic swimming, have inspired the pens and libidos of thousands of lusty fans who would just love to watch Olympic swimmers screw each others' brains out. If you've ever morbidly wondered what sorts of depraved thoughts lurk in the pool of the human mind, there's no time like the present to dive in to the world of the awesomely awful, and awfully awesome world of Olympic swimming and diving fanfiction. It might just be the next Fifty Shades of Grey.

In The Lies They Say, follow the journey of Ryan Lochte as he breaks free from the clutches of his evil, angry dad, helped by one very special 19-time Olympic medalist.

"Stop whining." Steven raises his hand to slap Ryan again, but the slap never comes. There's another hand, a familiar hand, wrapped tightly around Steven's wrist, holding it back. Steven's other hand lets go of Ryan and Ryan struggles to stay standing, pressing against the lockers and watching in shock as Michael turns Steven around to face him. Michael looks angrier, scarier, much more dangerous than Steven has ever looked.

"Don't," Michael speaks, low and slow, enunciating every word. "Lay another hand on him."

"Phelps." Steven nods, trying to pull his wrist out of Michael's grip, but Michael doesn't let go. "This is between me and my son."

"You have no right to call him that."

"Stay out of this."

"No."

Eventually, Mike Edward Cullens the evil elder Lochte from the locker room, and soon the two are making sweet, sweet, locker room sex. Complete with postcoital expressions of love.

Ryan stops. His whole world is spinning and he holds out a hand to keep himself steady. Michael is there, instantly, grabbing his hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing the center of his palm with so much tenderness that Ryan can't find the words to argue.

"Yeah," Michael smiles. "I love you. I have, for a very long time."

"You can't." Ryan shakes his head. "You're wonderful and I'm- I'm not. I'm not worth it."

Michael gives him a sad little smile. "You're worth it, Ry. You're worth everything, and it's killing me that you don't see that." He takes Ryan in his arms again and Ryan goes, half-willingly and half because he's too confused to fight it. "I can't believe I never saw it before," Michael whispers, shaking his head against Ryan's. "I'm sorry I didn't stop this before now. I'm sorry."

And they lived fappily ever after.

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming Fanfiction

Just to break things up a little from the fictional Lochte/Phelps lovefest, here's a selection of fictional stories about Tom Daley. The British diver is a chiseled teen with a hairless boy band face and a heartstring-strumming backstory. Naturally, everyone wants to fuck his fictional doppelganger. A sexy girl diver named Jacqueline does.

And lo and behold, in front of us was none other than Tom Daley. Oh wow. Now I fully understood why someone would have wet dreams over this guy. We had men in the South African diving team but damn no one came close, Tom is fit. I couldn't help but let my eyes trail over the contours of his body. His broad shoulders, strong arms and defined abdomen made me feel excruciatingly uncomfortable standing in front of him in my swimsuit. And I loved showing off my body. Hell I'd be naked like 75% of the time if I could. But that was beside the point-after trailing my eyes over the rest of him and I mean the rest of him, I quickly averted my attention to his face.

He had warm pools of dark brown eyes and an arrogant smirk was etched on his face. He had short, cropped hair that would be perfect for running your hand through when he would-"Do you like what you see, love?" He said.

In this bit of fanfiction called "Surface Cracks," Daley dives his way into the hearts of multiple members of British boy One Direction, another popular subject of fanfiction:

With all the people having imagination sex with him, it's a wonder poor Tom Daley has time to do any actual diving.
When he got back with the rest of the team, nothing had changed, except the thunder was a tad bit softer. Harry began to smother his hands with chalk dust when all chatter ceased. Liam turned away, his face bright red, and Zayn began laughing. Louis wolf-whistled. "What's so funny you gu-" he stopped mid-question as he spun around, seeing a fully nude Tom in front of him. He clapped a hand over his mouth, a whole world of emotions flooding through him.

Tom grinned and playfully winked at him. "Like what you see?" he teased as he rotated fully around.

Fiction Tom, you little minx.

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming Fanfiction

In Paint, Ryan and Michael are a nesting gay couple in the middle of gut rehabbing their home.

Michael smiled and said, "Yes I did, but I think I missed a spot..."

Ryan looked around and saw no problems, the room looked perfect. "Where did you miss a spot? Ryan asked.

Michael kicked over the paint can and said, "There."

Ryan's jaw dropped as the paint got all over the old sheets that Michael had put on the floor and Michael leaned in for a kiss.

Ryan kissed him as Michael pinned him to the ground and said, "I just wanna do you in the paint..."

Ryan smiled and said, "Maybe I do like this surprise..."

Ryan rolled over so he was on top of Michael. Ryan kissed him and rubbed his hands in the paint and stroked Michael's face.

Michael rolled Ryan back over and rubbed paint into Ryan's hair, as he caught his boyfriend in a kiss.

Hope that paint was nontoxic, or at least washable, because I can't imagine the agony of trying to scrub dried paint off a scrotum.

At first, Michael's like, ugh this guy, and then they sort of start becoming friends. Ryan is a rock n' roll free spirit with a 'tude and Michael's a nose-to-the-grindstone nerdy swimming star. A match made in fanfic heaven.

The next morning in class Ryan's rolling a skateboard under his feet. He's in the same chair he picked yesterday, and Michael's not about to break from tradition by sitting somewhere else, so he takes his usual place too, which now apparently comes with a bonus Ryan Lochte on the side.

It's still too early to know exactly how he feels about that.

Today Ryan's wearing a t-shirt that says does your face hurt? cuz it's killing me and he looks at Michael seriously when he sits down and says, "Skateboard," like he's talking to a grade-schooler.

"Shut up," says Michael again.

Ryan grins hugely. "Don't be like that, baby. If you're nice I might even teach you how to use it," he says.

"I'm always nice," says Michael. "I don't really want to skate though."

"Then shit, man, I don't know if we can be friends anymore." Ryan shakes his head.

"We're friends?" says Michael. He means it to come out kind of…scathing, but mostly it just sounds curious.

"Jeah," says Ryan, nudging the board across the aisle and under Michael's desk.

But soon, their relationship turns blow jobby. The word "dick" appears 19 times. "Cock" appears 5 times. It's not for kids.

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming Fanfiction

London Olympic swimming fanfiction seems to focus on what sort of depraved things people's imaginations have made Ryan Lochte do, but before London, it seems like Michael Phelps was the preferred muse of the slash writer. In Michael Phelps, Bedhopper, the most decorated Olympian in history plays Donkey Kong with former US teammate Aaron Piersol — SEXY Donkey Kong.

Michael pops a boner and simultaneously makes Donkey Kong jump off a cliff. "Dude! That was just sad!" Aaron laughs in his ear, reaching over Michael's shoulder to grab for the game. Michael holds it away from him, laughing half at the fun, and half in embarrassment. Aaron takes this as a challenge, and pushes up on his knees to reach further. And then they're wrestling for it. Aaron climbs up on Michael's back, and he's bigger than Michael, heavier, taller, and stronger. His arms are also longer. He grabs the game, tugging it out of Michael's hands.

Here's the gist of And the Whole World's Just a Little Oyster: Ryan Lochte beats Michael Phelps at swimming, and then they start flirting, apparently as foreplay to really brutal sex..

"I beat you, you know," Ryan says, playfully shoving Michael toward the starting block. His hair's beginning to dry and his medal dangles away from his chest as he leans over Michael's back to his ear. He can see the glint of gold bobbing against Michael's spine, and he thinks, dude, this may be the most fucking awesome thing I've ever seen.

"For once," Michael counters, already shimmying out of his workout bottoms and boxers.

Ryan snorts. "Once is all it takes, bro. I think I've earned a piece of this," he says, slapping Michael's ass and admiring the red handprint it leaves behind. "And where better than the place it all went down?" He nips Michael's ear, hard.

Things escalate quickly.

"Whatever," Ryan murmurs cheerfully, pressing his mouth hard between Michael's shoulder blades and trying to pretend it's not a kiss, just something two guys high on a victory do to each other to blow off some steam.

The medal drags against Michael's back, and Ryan can tell he's got a pained expression at being beaten. "Can't you take that fucking thing off, dude?" Michael protests, but they both know that it's enough of a concession that Ryan isn't nipping down his spine with a fucking American flag grill right now. Ryan doesn't answer, just holds Michael apart with his hands and drags the pointed tip of his tongue across Michael's hole.

Shortly thereafter, sex is had. You can read about it if you want, but, I'm warning you that reading it feels sort of like the first time I saw a very detailed white out drawing of an erect penis on the back of a bus seat.

Ryan pulls his own pants back up and turns Michael around to face him. "Good to go, dude?" he asks, one hand on Michael's cheek, directing his face back to Ryan when Michael flinches away from the gold medal shining brightly against his tanned chest.

"Wait until the four hundred, asshole," Michael says, mustering up a shaky smile.

Oy.

Michael pokes his rib. There's a spot he knows is ticklish, and Ryan slaps at his hand. "The winningest, that's who."

"I know, I got to hear you fangirl over talking to Obama for like an hour." Ryan's moving up his neck now, his body shifting so that he's almost on top of Michael's own. "I think you should take off your clothes."

"Uh-huh," Michael agrees, ignoring the Obama comment (because it was awesome, and whatever, Ryan's just jealous that Obama called the gymnasts and not him). "Sounds like a good idea."

"Fo shizz," Ryan responds.

For shizz indeed.

Fifty Strokes of Gay: The Wonderfully Weird World of Filthy Olympic Swimming Fanfiction

In Taper, Michael and Nathan both have crushes on Ryan. The waters of love are far from smooth sailing! Choppy seas ahead! Things are about to get wet! Another water-related double entendre!

But Nathan Adrian is in France, restless, and seriously jonesing for a teammate. There is one person he knows he can talk to about this and luckily for Nathan, he's just down the hall.

The door is cracked so Nathan pushes it open only to pull it closed almost immediately. Seared on his retinas is the image of Ryan sitting on Michael's lap on one of the tiny European beds doing something … untoward. Without thinking he shouts through the door, "You're ruining your taper!" and then slaps his hand over his mouth. He's going to always be considered the goody-two-shoes of the National Team if he keeps this up.

The noise inside the room sounds like a pissed off Michael Phelps and a highly amused Ryan Lochte, so Nathan is only half-surprised when the handle on the door turns in his grip and is pulled open.

He is 100% surprised to see Michael in the doorway, though he is snarling. "What the fuck."


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Tuesday, 7 August 2012

Hillary Clinton Runs the World and the Dance Floor [Snap Judgment]

Aug 7, 2012 9:45 PM  

Hillary Clinton Runs the World and the Dance FloorSouth Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, left, dances to African music with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a gala dinner at Sefako M. Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)


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Friday, 3 August 2012

The World According to Cosmopolitan [Mag Hag]

The World According to Cosmopolitan

Most women we know can only stomach Cosmpolitan Magazine if they read it ironically and pretend it's The Onion for ladies. (How are tips like "Draw an attention-grabbing circle around your nipples using rhinestones and body glue for a special night in" not genius parody? Ugh.) But to say the maniacally sex-obsessed magazine is successful is a major understatement: Cosmo is the number-one-selling monthly magazine in the U.S. and has 64 international editions in countries like Kazakhstan, where women aren't so used to reading about the various X-rated activities you can do with a doughnut. "If all the Cosmo readers from around the world came together," a recent Cosmo South Africa article noted, "this group would form the 16th-largest country in the world."

Cosmo's international editions vary according to their consumer base — for example, Cosmo France is artsy while Cosmo Kazakhstan focuses on career and travel — but every editor Edith Zimmerman met while researching the "global juggernaut" seemed convinced she was a feminist missionary:

The magazine recently tried to cement its mythology through a two-minute Web video called "The Cosmo Effect." Onscreen text asks viewers if they take for granted that they can have it all ("dream job, independence, dreamy guy, fun fearless attitude, baby") or, if they prefer, a modified version of "it all" ("sexy single life" and "a great pair of heels"). Because not so long ago, the video explains, women's choices were limited. Until "one woman's vision changed the world."

Is it possible that post-Helen Gurly Brown Cosmo actually makes women feel empowered? (When they're not too busy having fifteen-minute-long orgasms, that is.) Apparently:

"Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world," Fira Basuki Baskoro, the editor of Cosmo Indonesia, said over a lunch of salad and paella. "When Cosmo came to Indonesia, it changed the way the Indonesian woman thinks. Before Cosmo, it was taboo for women to talk about sex openly."

White told me that during a 2010 trip to New Delhi, the editor of Cosmo India correlated a rise in love marriages over arranged marriages to Cosmo's influence. "I don't know if this is true statistically," White said, but "Cosmo has been very, very popular there. And I'd like to think that one of the messages we're delivering to women is: You don't have to marry the guy your parents told you to marry. You should marry who you want to marry. You can have a job if you'd like. You can have a career if you want. These choices are open to you today."

When asked via e-mail if there were statistics to back up this correlation, the editor of Cosmo India, Nandini Bhalla, politely evaded the question but provided more interesting anecdotes. "When we launched in 1996, we were flooded with letters — women wanted to know if kissing could cause pregnancy. They were clueless about the basics of having sex, and they had a million questions about what was right and wrong. The Cosmo team actually tackled these questions personally — writing back to readers with answers or carrying stories that tackled their concerns. Indian parents are usually conservative about sexual matters, and friends were often equally ignorant, so Cosmo was the only one with reliable information."

It's great that Cosmo readers are actually learning lessons beyond how to make a whipped cream bikini, but let's call a spade a spade (or a vibrator a vibrator?) here: as Zimmerman points out, "for all of the magazines' differences, Cosmo is still pushing 'the same standards of beauty' around the world." The same sexy baby-faced starlets grace international covers and the magazine is curiously quaint about sex and relationships: almost every article assumes the reader is sleeping with her boyfriend or husband and not a casual hookup. (And forget about the LBBTQ community; the only woman-on-woman activity Cosmo seems interested in is the male gazey threesome fantasy.)

So while Cosmo editors might genuinely think they're helping their country's women — it's hard to feel cynical when the editor of Cosmo Kazakhstan says, "this is what Cosmo keeps telling them: You are strong, you can control your life, you can earn as much as men do and you can have sex before marriage and not be condemned by society" — it's doubtful that the first female president of Kazakhstan will credit Cosmo for her success. Women might not only read Cosmo for the sex tips, but most subscribe because they want to embody a semi-empowered but not-so-subversive lifestyle. "When I would read Cosmo, all it made me want to do was grow up, wear a pretty dress, nice heels, move to the city and have an awesome life," a 28-year-old U.S. senior editor said. "And I just don't think that's a bad thing to want, you know?"


99 Ways to Be Naughty in Kazakhstan — How Cosmo Conquered the World [New York Times Magazine]


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Monday, 30 July 2012

Embryos Before Hoes Advocates Want Supreme Court to Declare that Fertilized Eggs are People [Roe V World]

Embryos Before Hoes Advocates Want Supreme Court to Declare that Fertilized Eggs are PeopleIt's really too bad that the word FAIL emblazoned across a picture of something failing miserably has become a cliche, because America's floundering but tenacious Personhood movement is perfectly suited to be meme-ified. In 2008 and 2010, voters in Colorado rejected a Personhood amendment that would have defined human life as starting at the moment of conception and given all rights pertaining to human life to single-celled zygotes. In 2011, voters in Mississippi also said thanks, but no thanks to a similar measure. In Ohio, a Personhood amendment failed to get the necessary number of signatures to appear on this fall's ballot, and in Oklahoma, the state Supreme Court unanimously declared that personhood amendments are really, terribly fucking stupid (at least, that's the technical legal term). But Personhood advocates are undaunted! They're going to keep fighting for the microscopic babies we may all be pregnant with right now all the way to the Yoo-nighted States Supreme Court.

To review: Personhood is a terribly stupid idea that would outlaw all abortion and threaten the legality of many forms of birth control and some fertility treatments. It would give fetuses more rights than pregnant women, as it would prioritize rights of non-sentient bundles of cells over the rights of women not to have other people living inside of them after they have sex. It treats the penis like a magic wand that makes life happen and the female body like a passive baby holder.

The right wing yokels who run the state government in Oklahoma are mostly in support of a measure that would force women who become pregnant to stay that way, but the State Supreme Court didn't agree, as the measure was "clearly unconstitutional." But proponents of Personhood want to take this to Washington. Says Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, via press release:

The proponents of this measure have made explicit the ultimate objective of the anti-reproductive rights movement: to strip all Americans of their constitutional right to make their own decisions about whether and when to have children.

The scope of the fundamental rights and longstanding court precedents under attack by the opponents of reproductive rights is stunning.

In other words — the goal of the Personhood movement is to bring America back to the dark ages, from coast to coast.

No need to get your Fallopian Tubes in a twist just yet, though — it's highly unlikely that the High Court will even agree to hear Oklahoma's goofy argument, and even if they do, the only way they'd win is if Justice Scalia clones himself 4 times and disguises the clones as Justices Bader Ginsburg, Kennedy, Kagan, Sotomayor and somehow knocks the real Bader Ginsburg, Kennedy, Kagan, and Sotomayor out for a few days, which is way too Scooby Doo dastardly even for a guy who goes hunting with Dick Cheney.

[CRR]


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Terrible New Arizona Law Forces Horrified Parents to Watch their Babies Die [Roe V World]

Terrible New Arizona Law Forces Horrified Parents to Watch their Babies DieIt's tough to find a job in this sluggish economy, but now, thanks to a law about to take effect in the state of Arizona, there may soon be a need for something called a "fetal grief counselor" in the American Southwest. Thanks to anti-abortion lawmakers' efforts, starting Thursday, mothers of babies with fatal fetal birth defects will be forced to carry their pregnancies to term, give birth, and then watch their babies die. See? Republicans are job creators, after all.

Earlier this year, Arizona governor/ terrible person Jan Brewer signed into law a measure that would ban abortions in the state after 20 weeks' gestation with no exception for fetal abnormality — but unlike other 20 week bans, Arizona's law counts gestation from the first day of a woman's last missed period. It's the most extreme abortion ban in the nation, and it's especially heartless when you consider that many fatal fetal abnormalities can't be detected until after that point in a pregnancy, which means that if you're pregnant in Arizona, you're placing a pretty bold bet that your fetus won't have any defects it can't survive. And if it does end up completely non-viable? Tough fetus, ladies. You should have thought of that before you had sex!

In anticipation of the disastrous effects House Bill 2036 will have on Arizona families, groups like the MISS Foundation and Embrace are directing their already-stretched-thin resources toward Arizona, where they anticipate having to help families to prepare for what's known as a "fatal birth," or the birth of a stillborn child, or a child who cannot survive for long outside of the womb. In addition to preparing families for "fatal births," they work to plan funeral services for children who are often wanted and mourned, and provide counseling to the families left behind, including women who were forced by the state of Arizona to carry a nonviable pregnancy to term.

Of course, 20-week bans are mostly political theater acted out by anti-abortion rights lawmakers who want to sound like big men in front of their rabidly anti-choice constituents — almost all abortions performed in the US occur before 12 weeks' gestation, and, according to Think Progress, only about 100 post-20-week abortions take place in Arizona per year, so if lawmakers want to reduce the number of abortions occurring annually in the US, banning late term procedures isn't the way to do it. Although the procedure is far from common, for the 100 or so Arizona women that need it annually, a late term ban could be disastrous, forcing them to either give birth and watch their babies die or spend considerable time and money traveling out of state for the medical care they've decided is best for their families.

To borrow words from anti-abortion rights, pro-forced ultrasound Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett, women can just cover their eyes!

[Think Progress]


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Sunday, 29 July 2012

Queen Elizabeth Parachutes into the Olympics and the World Giggles with Delight [Olympics]

Queen Elizabeth Parachutes into the Olympics and the World Giggles with DelightIf somebody took a time machine back to 1946 and told King George VI that one day his daughter would take part in a stunt that made it appear as if she was jumping out of a helicopter and that this would be hailed in the media as a turning point in the British monarchy's uphill effort to rebrand itself as "hip," he would have waved his scepter (he didn't have a scepter) and scoffed because that's the noise monarchs make when they think something is so absurd that the absurdity isn't even worth articulating. "But, seriously, King George, — may I call you George? — everyone is going to go ape-shit when your 86-year-old daughter fake-jumps out of a helicopter and then makes out [sort of holds hands] with Daniel Craig. Not that she couldn't have totally made out with Daniel Craig if she wanted to..."

Queen Elizabeth II appeared to jump out of a helicopter and flutter to the earth at the end of a Union Jack parachute as part of her arrival at the Olympics and to help promote one of the U.K.'s biggest exports — vaguely misogynistic spies who wear nice watches. Polls show that the Queen is still extremely popular among English, Scots, Welsh and Irish, and her stunt, designed to delight her subjects, comes at a time when the U.K. is facing one of its worst economic slumps since the Great Depression. A Scottish soldier working at the Olympics gushed (even though he's not really allowed to speak to the media) about the opening ceremony, "She [the Queen] was the best bit. I think it shows the people another side to her. I think the people love her but since the Jubilee and after this a lot of people see just what a wonderful queen she is."

Meanwhile, ensconced in his moth-eaten bathrobe and eating a stale scone, Prince Charles languished in his bed this morning, thinking about how hard he would have scowled at the downtrodden masses had he been the presiding sovereign during these summer games.

Queen's "Bond girl" stunt crowns majestic rebrand [Reuters]


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Pussy Riot Goes on Trial Monday as the World Watches Uneasily [Pussy Riot]

Pussy Riot Goes on Trial Monday as the World Watches UneasilyThe three women who staged an extremely punk-rock protest concert against Vladimir Putin on the altar of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral will go on trial this Monday as the rest of the world watches, not particularly convinced that the members of Pussy Riot are going to get a fair shake in Russian courts. Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich will face charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility, and, if found guilty, could face up to seven years in prison.

Pussy Riot's members have already been languishing in jail since February. The Human rights groups and high profile musicians such as Sting and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have made no secret of their skepticism regarding Russia's judicial process, and think that the girls' fate is subject largely to the whims of President Vladimir Putin as well as the head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill (whose name and title, we might note, are just a few typos away from the being the name of a potentially awesome punk-rock band). Kirill, who speaks on behalf of an organization that has gained political influence in the wake of the Soviet Union's disintegration, has used particularly harsh language to characterize Pussy Riot's impromptu performance, which he styles as a far-reaching anti-clerical campaign. Pussy Riot has no lead singer, leaving room for rotating membership. The band modelled itself on riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, and organized their performance as way to demonstrate dissatisfaction among young Russians with Vladimir Putin's intransigent existence in Russia's political hegemony.

Russians face trial for "punk prayer" about Putin [Reuters]


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Tuesday, 5 July 2011

7 Free Online News Games That Are Based On World Affairs & News Events

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-intro.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games"/>Tucked away in the smorgasbord of online games is a genre called news games. Yes, you read it right. News games take any past or present global happening and turn into an interactive game. Newspapers and television inform and educate; so do games. Come to think of it, if href="www.makeuseof.com/tags/news/">news and games come together, they can really make us appreciate how events are panning out around the world.

Free news based online games are also important educational tools. We have seen how history can be spiced up with interactivity. The same holds true for teaching kids about current affairs and world events through a fun tool like news games.

The games may not reflect news as it is happening right now, but they are still fun to play. You can relive an alternate reality and again understand a bit of why an event became newsworthy in the first place. Here are seven news games for you to try out right now.

href="http://www.breakingnewsgames.com/">Breaking News Games

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game01.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games" width="580" height="496" />

The name of this online Flash based game site reveals the purpose. We know that Hillary didn’t make it to the grand throne of the Presidency, but you can still help her along her campaign by collecting points as she marks her campaign trail. This game is really simple and in the genre of what we call ‘time-wasters’. All games are arranged under heads like – Politics, Business, Sports & Entertainment, and World. You can turn to a shooter game like href="http://www.breakingnewsgames.com/game/2">Celebrity Hitman: Terrorist Alert and win brownie points for world peace.

href="http://www.newsgaming.com/">NewsGaming

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game02.jpg?54167" alt="online news games play" width="580" height="383" />

The news gaming site has only two games on its roster but they are worth a few clicks of the mouse. href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/madrid/">Play MADRID reflects the attacks in Madrid on March 11th, 2004. href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm">September 12th. It’s a simple game that pays homage to the victims. September 12th is the other game – a game without a result – that is simply a simulation on urban terror and the civilian casualties that it inflicts. You have to pick out and shoot the terrorists who are moving around a crowded city sprawl.

href="http://www.darfurisdying.com/">Darfur is Dying

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Darfur is Dying is a viral video game that was released in 2006. The very popular game promotes change and action for the benefit of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. Players role-play a Darfurian refugee who must survive and keep the refugee camp functioning in the face of attacks by Janjaweed militias. Players also can understand the genocide in Darfur that had taken more than five million lives before the cease fire was signed. The Darfur genocide may have slackened off, but there are similar conflicts brewing around the world. The game gives a glimpse into history and encourages critical thinking.

href="http://playspent.org/">Spent

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game04.jpg?54167" alt="online news games play" width="580" height="315" />

This game on American unemployment remains topical, because joblessness continues under Obama’s presidency. Get a peek into what it really means and how prepared are you for the daily costs of living when you get the pink slip through this excellently designed game. I won’t go into the details of it because Angela did a great review as recently as three months back. Read up on – href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/spent-online-game-designed-avoid-homelessness/">SPENT – An Online Game Designed To See If You Can Avoid Homelessness. As she recommends – I’d personally love to see high school students playing this before they leave home, go to college, get jobs and try to manage their own financial lives. It could prevent a few bad decisions along the way.

href="http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/563589">You Shall Know The Truth

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game05.jpg?54167" alt="current events game" width="580" height="406" />

If you are for free journalism then you will like this darkly satirical game about the attacks on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wikileaks-whistleblower-website/">Wikileaks. It’s a role-playing game and you play the spy tasked with the mission of retrieving leaked documents and biometric data among other things from a Wikileaks employee’s apartment. The game is like a treasure hunt where you have to click on every object and find clues. You are also up against a clock (timed at 999 seconds).

href="http://www.molleindustria.org/leakyworld/leakyworld.html">Leaky World

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game06.jpg?54167" alt="current events game" width="580" height="370" />

Let’s continue with Wikileaks and its socio-political impact with this slightly offbeat game that is an interactive version of the essay “Conspiracy as Governance” by Julian Assange. It’s difficult to understand at first, but gradually you can make out that the red dots on the world map are cities and your goal is to create a network interconnecting all these cities in a limited amount of time. Basically, you are connecting the dots and rendering the idea of conspiratorial interactions among the political elite on the map. The backdrop of the game is the essay by Assange and it is also interspersed with Wikileaks news items which you can pause to read.

href="http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2009/cutthroatCapitalismTheGame">Cutthroat Capitalism

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/news-game07.jpg?54167" alt="free online news games" width="580" height="291" />

This game is embedded on Wired.com’s site which is traditionally not a gaming site. The theme of the game is on high sea piracy around the Gulf of Aden which continues to this day. You play for the ‘other side’ as a pirate commander who has to capture a ship and successfully negotiate a ransom. The game is nicely designed and very addictive.

As href="www.makeuseof.com/tags/online-games/">online games go, news games are definitely not news reporting but they can fall under edutainment for children which is an ever growing genre these days. For us adults it is just entertainment because we can turn to regular news channels to get the scoop. What do you think of free online news games? Do you know any more cool ones that are newsworthy?

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=12448273">Shutterstock/>/> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-free-online-news-games-based-world-affairs-news-events/">7 Free Online News Games That Are Based On World Affairs & News Events is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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